B.E.W.G.S.: Short for the Blue Eyes White Gummi Ship. Although many secret functions still remain to be revealed in this vessal, it is truly the easiest method of traveling across Gummi Space for anyone aquainted with its owner and designer, Seto Kaiba. Currently known features include a deceptively large interior, a computer navigation system not yet available to the public (copyright DDM Industries,) and several cannons illegally modified to draw and fire energy from adjacent lasers. The reasons for Kaiba's indifference to the law on this matter are moot point, as it serves to save the entire universe... apparantly.
DDM Industries: Short for Dimensional Direction Mechanics, founded by Duke Devlin, a longtime sponser of Gummi Ship technology and rumored aquaintance of the King. DDM controls over 76 percent of all Gummi-related trade and research, and was one of the three companies that funded construction of Traverse Town.
World Classes: A set of terms signifying a world's level of contact with other worlds; must be strictly enforced to undermine the importance of outsiders.
Class C: A world with little to no outside contact. Completely restricted except in emergency situations, usually a technologically underdeveloped world.
Class D: Worlds that require special disguises or arrangements to inhabit. Usually either hazardous to outside life (via atmosphere, residents, or otherwise,) or heavily populated with xenophobic citizens. The rules of Classes A, B, or C usually apply as well.
XOXOX
Kite wasn't normally nervous... wait, no, that was a lie. He wasn't normallythis nervous. Being a level 99 Twin Blade with maxed out weaponry and stats made it so he could afford a slight sense of safety, even on a solo dungeon quest in a Field that was reported to be bugged...
That had changed a week ago. Monsters appeared without having their seals triggered...in Fields, Root Towns, even in Net Slum, these strange black creatures, most of which had a heart-shaped emblem, attacked player characters, NPCs, and monsters alike.
Their appearance... and, in fact, existance, was a mystery to CC Corp and the rest of 'The World.' Helba had mentioned that they weren't normal monsters, not even really programs...shortly before she vanished. And this time, he knew she reallyhad vanished, and not in the usual way... she should have at least sent an e-mail by now.
Aura had dissapeared, too. Kite had made regular visits after returning to 'The World', and meeting his successor of sorts, Shugo, but on the day of the first attacks, she was nowhere to be found. Because of her absence, there was now no way to possibly figure out what these creatures where... and how to stop the attacks.
Then, just two days ago, he had found HIM. At first, he had thought he was a rare monster, one not related to the black beings that thankfully had not found this area yet... until he noticed the injuries. Monsters either died at a player's hands, or recovered instantly when all players in their Field were defeated...so whatever he was, he wasn't a monster.
Then the thought of Vagrant AIs occured to him, but that was shot down almost immediately; he could be wrong, but the newcomer's personality was far too real to be a program. And so, every day since then, Kite had been hauling food-based items to this dungeon, and medical supplies to heal this odd creature.
Today, the black things found the Field. On top of that, three players (obviously high-level, as they had quickly fought off an entire squad of the beasts) had entered, as well...and had seen him use Life Drain. They could've handled it without him, sure, but his 'hero' reflexes were still as annoyingly strong as ever.
He continued running through the passageways of the Dungeon, ignoring the cries of "Golden Egg" from the small Grunty Food of the same name, as he had no time to waste (and all the different Grunty types, anyway.) As usual, the golden, glowing seal in front of the Gott Statue room glowed brightly, releasing several large, dragonoid monsters. The door behind him had sealed, so there was a chance the pursuing players would be deterred...
But that would leave him free to attack by the element-breathing monsters in front of him. And he wasn't in the mood to tell Black Rose he forgot to save before losing a fight, and his planned Gift for her, to monsters 40 levels weaker than him.
00000
"At least this 'orange blur' left a path for us!" Joey said as they dashed through the stony halls. They turned wherever an empty, overturned treasure chest had been found. "Think it's some kinda' Thief Heartless?"
"Although it's likely one such Heartless exists, why would it help us by slaying its own comrades? Besides... Heartless can't think that far ahead." Kaiba shouted from behind his two allies; while they moved slower as well, unaccostomed to their new armor, his robe was frustratingly difficult to run in.
Amidamaru sighed as he floated at the same speed as them. "That may be true, General, but it has been proven that the Heartless take orders from others, and it is likely that such leaders must have fairly decent tactics, in order to manipulate them."
They followed a staircase down. Then turned right. Three times. Joey sweatdropped as they found that same staircase in front of them. "Uh... Yoh? Maybe you should lead..."
This floor had few treasure boxes to direct them, but, after a few dizzying minutes of dashing around in circles, Yoh noticed a door they had passed... the gate that once covered it being gone. "This way!"
They screeched to a halt as they saw them... several large, reptilian corpses vanishing, replaced by old-looking chests. There only appeared to be one path remaining, so they ran across the small room. "Why do I get the feeling that-ACK!"
Yoh barely stepped backward, tripping into an impromptu backflip, which his allies barely avoided. The orange blur they had chased had nearly slashed him across the neck. As the mystery figure did a more complicated flip the the center of the room, a better examination was possible.
He appeared to be around Yoh's age, possibly just a bit taller, with bangs of teal hair protruding from under a large, rounded red hat with an orange burst shape on it. His clothes were red-orange with white sleeves, several yellow symbols haphazardly arranged on them. He wore several small brown sacks and bags, and held two seemingly normal knives so that the blades were below the hilts. His blue eyes held an odd amount of innocence, but the way they examined the group and their surroundings, added to the fire behind them, proved he was a trained fighter.
For a second, something green seemed to appear around his right hand, though only Yoh saw it, before he spoke. "Who are you? Didn't you read the message boards? This area is off-limits until the problem with these monsters is resolved! You shouldn't even have been able to access it!"
The shield-user and swordsman blinked in confusion, but Kaiba reacted quickly. "Really? If so, why are you here? And likewise, who are you?"
The Twin Blade scowled, his battle stance still held. "Don't try to act like a bunch of n00bs; this is a level 59 field, and you didn't break a sweat out there!"
"And that somehow means we should know who you are?"
Several tense seconds, and the thief-like fighter gave a slight sigh. "Normally, I'd be thankful someone didn't know who I am... but... meh. I'm Kite. The dotHacker. The Twilight Dragon if you believe those old rumors in the archives. And if you listen to the new ones," here he blushed considerably," Kite of the Azure Earth."
"Never heard of them." Yoh admitted, earning a glare from Kaiba. Kite nearly dropped his guard at that, but quickly recovered.
"Regardless, this Field and Dungeon are locked, so you could only get here by hacking. I'll ask once more, who are you?"
"Yoh Asakura!" The Keyblade master raised his hand.
"Joey Wheeler." The knight smirked.
"Kaiba." The mage said dully.
"Alright, then... Yoh, Joey, and Kaiba, if you have a Sprite Ocarina among the three of you, please use it, Gate out of the Field, save your game if you have to, and log out. If you got here by accident, there's at least a small chance I can save your characters from getting the heck banned out of them by Kamui."
"No!" Yoh said, going back to a fighting position. Kite warily noticed the Keyblade before he continued. "We HAVE to search this area! I can't say why, but it's really, really important!"
Kite glared again. "Then I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that. Don't say I didn't try and help you...seriously, I have enough flame wars against me."
Kaiba started the fight that instant, blasting a Firaga from his staff...which missed by a humiliating length. By the time it reached Kite's previous location, the Twin Blade had flipped over it, side-jumped over him, then did a spinning slash across his back. A slash which, for all the pain is caused, left no blood...but had enough force behind it to propel the spellcastor into the wall on the other side of the room.
Joey charged for their assailant, who saw him coming, ducked under the swerving sword, and socked the knight in the chest with the bottom of his knives' hilts. As Joey released a pained burst of air, Kite did another flip, and Yoh had to swerve in mid swing to avoid his friend-made-torpedo, who he heard crash into the wall behind him.
He sensed Amidamaru asking him to fuse, but growled, ignoring it; he had to at least try and get stronger, himself, if Amidamaru was to gain strength.
Kite blocked the Keyblade with both weapons, so that a loud, swishing clang echoed around them. His own glare deepened as he saw the weapon's shape. "Take it from someone who completed the Item List; that weapon's a cheat. Did you make it, or get it from someone?"
Yoh's answer was a quick to the side of the thief's legs. Kite sheathed his knives mid-fall, so he could push himself away, but Yoh leapt into his path, and bashed his head with the key-shaped weapon.
The blazing red number 1783 came into Kite's eyes, mixed with the stars from the pain. That single strike had nearly taken a third of his HP... this guy was obviously NOT a regular player.
Though they had responded quickly, taking out the first two had been simple. Simple enough for him to weigh things in his mind about his foes' identities. The odd character designs...their presence in an unaccessible area... their appearant lack of knowledge of the most famous player in the game's history (he grimaced at that,) the weapon that didn't exist before today, and the nearly two thousand damage points with a single attack...
Even if he had reached level 99 as well, this 'Yoh' maintaned a story that would make him an intensely casual gamer..a contradictory fact on its own. But Kite had nearly a year of special stat-boosting item quests behind him, as well, making his character's stats, sans HP and MP, maxed out. True, that was before he came back to 'The World', and now the max stats had increased...but he should still be far stronger than a 'casual Lv. 99 PC.'
That meant one of two things. Either these three were cheaters of the lowest order (not quite as god-moding as Helba, but at least she never played dungeon quests,) or they were something much worse. Something that two of his three closest friends, the real 'Azure' knights of 'The World'. had theorized about the black creatures.
The Cursed Wave. To be technical, Morgana, or three viruses created by her. This would mean she was still alive... somehow, someway, somewhere in 'The World' she was still aiming to destroy her 'daughter.'
And Aura was missing. She could very well have already succeeded. His eyes burned a reddish color as these thoughts entered his mind, though the numbers had vanished.
Yoh had barely roused Kaiba back into consciousness before he had to move to avoid being skewered. He instantly fused with Amidamaru, which was good; the next five seconds were a complete blur of silver streaks and sword clangings.
Kite had used a Speed Charm, true, but that took second in the meaning for his speed. He flew into attacks, wielding combinations famous in his P.v.P. fights for defeating even the two Azure Knights. Even if it was only a possibility the thought that Aura... this world's core, the most precious thing that existed in 'The World,' was dead...
He was going to break the record for 'Most Brutal Player Kill.' Sora would never shut up about it, but he didn't care at the moment.
Meanwhile, Amidamaru and Yoh's mixed mind analyzed their own chances. Though they didn't know the world they were in was a game, they knew they might be in over their heads. Kite's speed was nearly impossible to follow, and they had seen for themselves a single attack would be fatal. They would have to risk an attack, one Kite couldn't expect... then they heard it in the corner, and Yoh grinned.
The samurai-styled warrior leapt into the air, missing ten consecutive slashes from Kite, who quickly looked up, and moved to follow...
His feet had barely left the ground when a giant burst of pure energy smashed into him, pushing him into a wall and continuing for several mind-numbingly painful seconds, the red number 3000 saying how great the damage had been.
Yoh sighed in relief as he landed, and grinned, waving at the blue-eyed, white-scaled dragon who swiftly vanished back into its card, and Kaiba fell on one knee, exhausted. "Note to self... don't summon after a half-minute nap..."
In the time it took Kite, twitching all the time, to regain his footing, Kaiba had healed himself, Joey, and Yoh, and guzzled an Ether to regain his energy.
"I think you'd better give it up, little guy..." Joey said, his anger contained at Yoh's request. Getting his back end handed to him by a guy of Yoh's height didn't sit well...at least Kaiba shared the sentiment. "Kaiba might whine about it draining him, but we can bring that bad girl back, this time with her two sisters at her side!"
Kaiba sighed at Yoh's confused look. "The Blue Eyes White Dragons are all female. I think it's the only reason they haven't eaten Wheeler yet... as much as a beg them to."
And now... they were even using summons that didn't exist. He doubted the red-armored one was bluffing, but he still HAD to win... there had to be a way. He gingerly raised his arms in front of him, and...
"Phal Repth!" The green number 9999 signified how much he had healed from that single spell. Taking advantage of their shock, he charged. Kaiba prepped the three dragons, and was about to summon them-
"What the heck's going on out here!" A loud, deep, annoyed voice demanded, echoing strongly in the room. Kite's eyes filled with shock and sudden fear, which made the slow 180 turn for the three heroes all the more tense.
"Oh. Crap." Joey summarized his and Yoh's thoughts. Yoh shook, the sight in front of him actually familiar.
The mural, in that dream...the one of the battle between an ordinary-looking man and a monstrous dragon-turtle...the humongous beast before them was that very creature.
Probably two heads taller than Kaiba, broader even than the Large Bodies they had fought in the Digital World, its front body yellow and scaley, with two legs supporting it like a pair of human ones. The shell on its back green, and coated with large yello spikes. A pair of horns on top of his head, with a long streak of flame-red hair. Large, humanoid eyes with several rows of teeth just below them, a long spiked tail on the other end, and two leather belts on each arm, one around its neck, with metal studs lining them. Finally, though it was thankfully absent in this scene, Yoh remembered the beast breathing fire in the mural.
The only thing that was different was the two long gashes across the right leg and left arm, both bright red and still healing. As it took a step forward, the monster winced in incredible pain, but stubbornly stood its ground. "Hey, Kite! Who are these three shrimps?"
"Bowser!" Kite gasped out, his voice filled with concern as he dashed between the other three to the giant. "You gotta sit down; those wounds are still healing! And these guys are really strong, they could-"
"What, you think they could beat ME?" The turtle now known as Bowser roared indignantly. "The great King Bowser Koopa, beaten by three kids? Did they hit your head, or something, kid?"
"Well... yeah, but..."
Bowser gently pushed his much smaller friend out of the way... which, translated into human proportions, nearly knocked him out. "If you three have a death wish, I DARE ya to take me on!"
He promptly fell to the ground, gripping his leg. "Ack, darnit! Lemme say that again..."
"Hold it!" Kaiba said suddenly, shocking them all. A look of realization was on his face. "I remember you... you were the one who invaded Princess Peach's castle during the last meeting our King had with her!"
"Pfff, like I remember everyone I've stepped on!"
"The princess's friend repelled your entire invasion force in a few seconds...you didn't step on anyone."
"WHAT? Why, you little.."
Yoh, Joey, and Kite sweatdropped. "Well...this is weird. And more than a bit confusing." The Twin Blade commented.
Yoh nodded. "Yeah...I know what you mean... you'd think I would be used to feeling like that by now..."
XXXXX
Eyes hidden from view, even if one's own eyes were right next to them, viewed the scene, and explanation that followed, with a slight amount of humor. As the events drew to a close, their owner knew what was going to happen. It was far to obvious to anyone who knew what had to happen, and had the open mind to look for it.
Regardless, it was going to happen if no one intervened. And since it helped in the long run, intervening would be idiotic. Without disturbing even the smallest bit of dust in the room, the unseen one left.
00000
"...I'm a what?"
"A Remnant." Kaiba repeated to the giant turtle, not noticing Kite pale at the word. "To put it simply, you're a survivor of a world that was destroyed by the Heartless. Why you survived when others did not is something that no science can explain, so I won't even try... and it's unlikely you're the only Remnant from the Mushroom Kingdom, given the strengths of some individuals in particular..."
Bowser merely glared, and turned to stare at the dirt-covered wall on to his right. "So, those black thingies really did destroy the whole world."
"The Heartless, and yes." Kaiba answered tactlessly. "We confirmed the Mushroom Kindgom's destruction a few days before we left on this journey. The King was startled, to put it mildly... I think that may have been what made him choose to go."
"Like I care!" Bowser yelled, loudly enough to make them all jump...both out of surprise, and because the entire dungeon had shook. "Those annoying little things... right now, I think Mario'd be a welcome sight next to those! At least HE only wanted to kick the shell out of me and save Peach whenever I took her, but those Heartless DESTROYED the world! How am I gonna take it over now?"
Yoh moved to answer, but didn;t get the chance. "That settles it; I'm gonna beat the crap out of those things, and all of you are going to help me!"
"Wha-"
"Onward, troops! To the Heartle-" A few steps into the chamber, and Bowser collapsed again.
Joey seemed to be at a loss. "... sheesh. Kaiba, I gotta admit, you don't look as egomaniacal anymore."
"What're we gonna do?" Yoh asked. "We can't just leave him here...but we literally CAN'T take him with us. At least not in the Gummi Ship..."
"True; he'd slow us down greatly." Kaiba agreed. "Let's play along until we get warp him into the Ship. When we find the Keyhole, we'll fly to Traverse Town and drop him off at the Clinic..."
"I... don't really understand what you're talking about... at least the 'different worlds' part... "Kite's voice said, and they turned to see the sheepish-looking fighter. "...but, if it'll help out 'The World,' and it could get him to safety, I'd like to help."
Joey grinned, anger forgotten. "Trust us, kid, you're welcome. Years of experience tells us that former enemies can be the best allies, right, Kaiba?"
"Then again, we might just have the same amount of density on the ship if we leave Wheeler's head here..."
0X0X0
Chapter Posted: July 24th, 2005.
Next Chapter: Healing Items.