Hello people!
I know. It's been a loong time *sing it* but I have a story to tell. After 12th, I did start the third chapter and wrote half of it. But my computer got formatted and I lost all the written shit I ever started. Including other stories. :-(
But I did write it again! Finally! Welcome to the third chapter of NeuroLink!
Replies to Reviews:
Randomnize (Guest): It is yaoi, dear. Just mild yaoi. And, well, pairings will be revealed later. :)
FalynELF: Here's the new chapter!
Guest * 3: Here's the update, bruhs
MistyMachine: Yes, I am alive. :) Thank you for the review!
crissylove: The pairings will be revealed later, (though it ain't NaLu for sure.)
Rewinsan: Here's an update for you then!
Warning: Random technical shit
Disclaimer: I don't own shizz.
Chapter 3 – Leveling Up
"Umm…" Natsu tried his best to grab his comrade's attention, "Luc-"
"I AM CELESTICA, YOU DOLT!" Lucy screamed, as she kicked her opponent, RockBoi, and sent him flying. It was like her sophistication and status were stripped off the moment she logged into the game. "How many times do I have to tell you not to throw around names to carelessly?"
Natsu struggled and tried to free himself from the mess he had gotten into, but miserably failed to do so. "Cele- whatever, I need your help. Right now," he said, dangling downwards from the vines suspended above ground. His opponent, OssumPlantXOXO, scoffed at him, "Get ready to die, Salamander."
Lucy finally took notice of the situation. Natsu struggled with the vines gripping him hard frantically, as he saw his opponent approaching him, his attack ready. Suddenly, he let out a very unmanly squeak as the vines were cut in a swift motion. Natsu landed unceremoniously on the forest ground as Lucy sent OssumPlantXOXO flying as well.
The gold-armored blonde turned towards him, "You could have burned those vines, Salamander. Don't tell me you forgot again." Natsu looked at her with wide eyes, thankful for the silver helmet hiding his blushing face. Lucy sighed, "I told you that if you defeat one partner, the whole team loses, right?"
Suddenly, the patch of trees in front of them was uprooted by the huge green vines, with the sound of explosion right behind them. Natsu and Lucy got into battle stances. Their enemies approached them from both the sides.
"Salamander," Lucy whispered, "On the count of three." Natsu readied to attack. OssumPlantXOXO attacked with his vines, which zoomed in super fast towards both of them. "Celestica, get down!" Both of them ducked as the vines zoomed past. He had an opening. And just then, Lucy shouted, "THREE."
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" With the power of his attack, OssumPlantXOXO's XP suddenly dropped to zero and he vanished into thin air. Natsu turned behind right on time to see RockBoi getting demolished with Lucy's whip. "I won't forget this, Celestica." RockBoi threatened. "We will see about that, bitch," Lucy said as he disappeared as well. The word, "Congratulations!" flashed in front of them.
"Well, this is what we call overkill," Lucy said, removing her helmet along with Natsu.
"Sure. The plan was just to finish off one of them with my attack."
"Yeah, and one more thing," She turned towards Natsu, "Fire Dragon? Seriously?"
"Hey! It was cool, okay?" Natsu huffed and turned away when suddenly the scene in front of him changed. "Umm, Celestica, what is happe-" Natsu turned around, only to realize that Lucy was not with him. He was alone in a mysterious and creepy cave.
Suddenly, a female voice said, "Congratulations, Salamander! You have cleared Level 4! Your XP capacity has been increased 10 times." Words flashed in front of him:
INSTRUCTIONS
You have successfully completed the practice levels of NeuroLink!
Now you can enter the NeuroWorld.
Arena of the game: Ishgar.
Your ability of joining guilds has been unlocked.
To continue, you need to choose a partner.
"A Partner…?" Natsu wondered out loud. He scrolled further.
This feature in the game enables you to share your XP and items with the player you chose as a partner. It increases the size of the inventory and makes leveling up faster.
Do you wish to select a partner?
Yes No
Lucy had mentioned this before. Partnership was the new feature introduced into the game by the developers for promoting the sense of friendship and trust between two players, which later turned into the formation of guilds. Natsu clicked on Yes.
You have one request to partnership. Select one of the two options:
Do you wish to accept the request?
Do you wish to select manually?
Natsu chose the second option and wrote down, "Celestica." Suddenly, an error message flashed in front of him,
Celestica is already paired up with Leo. A player can have only one partner.
Natsu cursed out loud. Lucy should have warned him!
Do you wish to accept the Partnership request or continue as a pending player?
Natsu remembered Lucy saying something about pending players. Apparently, there were thousands of them, with their numbers decreasing very slowly. And all of them were lagging behind in terms of XP and Levels, except one player. She refused to disclose his name.
And who sent him a request anyway? Natsu shrugged and accepted the request.
Suddenly, the cave wall in front of him glowed with blue gridlines appearing on it. And then the scene changed into a city. "Whoa!" He exclaimed, looking at the scenery. It was a bright sunny afternoon. On the left were buildings lining the road and on the right was a canal. There was a sign in front of him saying, "Strawberry Street."
He reached out his hand and the invisible barrier in front of him rippled as his hand passed through it. Natsu grinned broadly. But in is excitement, he nearly missed the words that had flashed in front of him. And when he noticed them, his jaw dropped. The message in front of him said,
You have been partnered with BlackIce.
Enjoy the eternal adventure!
"Salamander," Lucy called out from behind Natsu. Natsu turned around and saw her running towards him. What surprised him was the fact that she looked the same as she did in the real world. Lucy smiled at him and said, "Congratulations! I had completely forgotten that you were gonna level up! And when you disappeared, I linked into Ishgar as fast as I could and sent all my nakama to different entrances. You have no idea how fast we had to do this and I was lucky that they were already prepared! Thank goodness you landed here. I was so scared! Thank gods you did not end up in Crocus because those people are assholes. Maybe you showed up here because you were on my friend list-"
"Lucy!" Natsu shook her shoulders, "You are rambling again!"
"Oops, sorry," she giggled, putting the random strand of her behind her ear.
Natsu looked at her, "How can I see you in your normal appearance?"
"Oh, this? I added you to my friend list, remember? All my friends can see my real appearance. And I can see you too. You can limit your appearance as well! Just see it in your menu."
Natsu saw his friend list. All he could find was Lucy's name and "BlackIce" in it.
Suddenly, Lucy exclaimed, "Holy shit! You are actually friends with BlackIce? How and when did that happen?" Natsu glared at her, "I had his partnership request and I accepted without checking who it was. You should have warned me that you were already paired! Now I am paired up with some stranger."
Lucy sighed, "I am sorry. It slipped my mind. But it is incredibly rare for a new player to actually have a partnership request at all. So I didn't mention it. And anyway, BlackIce is not a stranger."
"WHAT? He is on your friend list?"
"No, I told you I don't add people I don't know in real life! But yes, I know him." Natsu looked at her skeptically.
"Remember that I told you about the only solo pending player beating even the paired up players in the terms of abilities and power? He is the one."
"Holy shit, he is that strong?"
"Yes, he is a very old player frankly, and knows more about the game than any of us do. He had been here before the partnership feature had been introduced, so he has been continuing solo and due to his stubbornness. But… wow. He finally paired up with someone!"
"That's… weird. Why did he pair up now, with me of all people?"
"That is something you gotta ask him personally. And you might meet him soon! After all, he is in the same guild as I am."
"And what guild might that be?" Lucy grinned widely and suddenly dragged him along. "The best guild in Ishgar: Fairy Tail."
After frantically informing all her comrades (she called her guild mates comrades) about finding Natsu, Lucy showed him around Magnolia. She took him to the house she lived in and the market places for weapons and food. She showed him the train station. Then she told him that the Kardia Cathedral, in the centre of Magnolia, was the place where players would go for assigning quests. Finally, she led him to Fairy Tail.
"You will love this guild," she said, "They are a crazy bunch of people, and you will fit right in. Our master is a pervert, but a great man. After all, he is one of the producers of the game."
"Wait, what? He is a Dreyar?"
"Oh, yes. And my guild mates… you will see. They are all very strong and they have a great sense of Nakamanship. We are like a family," Lucy stopped in front of the guild, as Natsu admired the huge building. Then he asked her, "What if I don't want to join a guild?" Lucy turned towards him, wide-eyed.
"What?"
"What if I want to play solo?"
"Oh, umm," Lucy's bright expression faded away, "It is your choice, I guess. I mean, if you don't want to join us, it is fine." Natsu did not like the way she was saddened by the mere thought of it. "I-I mean, who am I to stop you, haha, of course you can continue solo. It might be a great experience. You were that kind of guy who loved his friends so I assumed you might want to join. How silly of-"
"You are rambling again."
"O-Oh. Sorry."
"I will join the guild," Lucy looked at him in surprise. "I mean… It sounds fun. It won't hurt to meet these people. After all, I can always leave some other day if I wanna." Suddenly, Lucy hugged him.
"Yes! You will love it! And I bet you won't find a reason to leave." The bright smile returned to her face, much to Natsu's relief. She dragged him towards the gates, "You will love this place," She said, opening the door, "And the-" suddenly, a random table flew towards her and hit her on the face.
"What have you done asshole? You hit Lucy with a table!"
"Hey, she wouldn't have been hurt if you hadn't dodged it!"
"Why you-"
Natsu died of laughter as Lucy fumed at the entrance. Then she muttered, "Star Dress: Aquarius." Natsu ceased his laughter. He watched in awe as her gold avatar returned, with fancy wave patterns on it and the Aquarius sign in the middle. A magic circle appeared in front of her and the next thing he knew was that she had drowned half of the people in the guild.
"Whoa," Natsu said, looking at the destruction caused by the Heartfilia family heir. He wondered how she even managed to have multiple personalities.
"Oh, you are finally here," a female player with scarlet armor approached them with a cake in her hand. "Welcome to Fairy Tail, Salamander," she said. "Umm… Thanks," he looked at her name floating on top of her near the XP meter, "Uh, Titania?"
She nodded at them and proceeded towards the bar, sat down and continued eating her cake. "That is Titania," Lucy said, "She also is a Summoner like me. Her armor signifies that she is the person with real war experience. People with authority or combat experience have armors shaded red."
"That's… amazing."
"Lu-chan!" someone called from right.
"Oh, Levy-chan!"
"They know your name?" Natsu asked.
"We all know each other's names. Except yours. And BlackIce's." She said and then she went to the player called Levy. "I will talk to you in a while!"
"Umm, okay." Natsu looked around. The guild was full of life. A girl, called AlbaTross, was drinking something straight of a barrel. Some guy was claiming to be the manliest man or something.
Someone tapped him on his shoulders. He turned around to find a girl with white armor, named SatanSoul. "Welcome to Fairy Tail!" she said in a sweet, melodious voice. People sure were contrasting here. "I am Mirajane. Where do you wish to have your guild mark?"
"Oh, umm, on my right shoulder, please." She then activated an archive, sending him a guild joining request. He accepted it and the guild mark appeared on his shoulder. "Congratulations! The master is not here right now. He has currently logged out. You will be able to talk to him tomorrow. Enjoy!"
"Oh hey," A guy named Leo approached him. Natsu remembered. He was Lucy's partner. "So you are the guy responsible for stealing my partner away for all these days," he laughed and stretched out his hand, "I am Loke." Natsu shook it, but then suddenly realized something. "Loke… as in Loke Celeste?"
Loke suddenly froze in his place. "Natsu? Natsu Dragneel?" When Natsu nodded, Loke clicked something in his menu and Natsu got a friend request. The moment he accepted it, Loke's orange armor disappeared. He was wearing a black suit with a red tie. "I didn't even know you played this game. Congrats, man!"
He then dragged him towards the intimidating red-armored player. "Hey Erza," he called, "This is Natsu Dragneel from school."
"Really?" Mirajane piped up, who, Natsu realized, was none other than his next door neighbor. Suddenly, his panel flooded with friend requests. It was facebook all over again. Most of the people here were known to him! They were either from his school or around his house. No wonder Lucy thought he would like the place.
He finally started to feel accepted. He talked and laughed and even fought a random unknown brute named IronMan. But then suddenly, the guild doors opened.
In the darkness of the night, a dark silhouette stood at the entrance of the guild, his black armor shining in the moonlight. He slowly entered the hall, and walked towards Natsu, ignoring the gazes of the guild members who had completely fallen quiet.
"We finally meet again, Salamander," BlackIce said.
BlackIce sighed for the third time, "So you are saying that you randomly accepted my request."
"Yes."
"Without knowing who I am."
"Mhmm."
"And now you want out of this arrangement."
"Yeah."
"So that you could pair up with a random stranger instead of a guy who kicked your ass."
"Exactl- Hey! You didn't kick my ass, Ice Princess!"
"Yeah sure, Flame brain! What do you call you losing to me then?"
"That… That was because I let you, Ice block!"
"Aww, they already have nicknames for each other!"
"Lucy, what the hell!" Natsu fumed, as BlackIce scoffed. "Too bad," he finally said, "I have realized already that I am stuck with a complete idiot for the whole week."
"WHAT?" Natsu exclaimed.
"Yeah. Like, didn't you read the instruction manual?" Natsu stared at him blankly. BlackIce sighed again, "As expected from someone with pink hair."
"What did you say-" Natsu was cut off when Lucy stopped him, "He doesn't really like to read. He was relying on me and this must have slipped my mind." BlackIce looked at her. Then he shook his head, turned around and walked out of the guild hall.
"What's with that guy?" Natsu said, turning to Lucy, when he noticed people looking weirdly at him. "What?"
"You are paired with him?"
"He is, like, the most antisocial guy I have ever met."
"He has never had a partner before!"
"He is probably not friends with anyone here."
"I don't even trust him."
Before he could get buried in the guild chatter, Erza dragged him outside. "Go to him," she suddenly said. "Sorry?" "I said go and talk to Gray." Natsu looked at her, shocked and Erza stared at him in the eye. "I know you have fought him and I know you know his name. He might not be friends with anyone else here but he is with me."
"But… they said he does not talk to anyone…"
"Yes, but he is friends with me and the master. Look, I accept the fact that you didn't want to be partners with him, but don't abandon him so early without even knowing him." She sighed. "To be frank, this was the first time I saw him talk to someone so freely. And I don't want it be... Please. Don't abandon him so soon." With that, she went inside the guild hall to Jellal, her partner, and Natsu was left, wondering about what she just said.
Natsu found BlackIce sitting under the tree in the park.
"Oi, droopy eyes!"
BlackIce looked up at him, "You can see my eyes?"
"Well, yes. Through that helmet thing, I can. Why can't I see your natural appearance anyway?"
"I don't know. Maybe I was born this way." Natsu looked at him blankly. "Geez, Natsu, there is this setting by which one may not let the other person see their real self. Did you even read the… oh, nevermind."
Natsu looked at him, annoyed, "But Celestica said that the person on their friend list can see the other person's real appearance."
"Yeah, well, maybe it is some partner-acceptance-and-bonding-thing." He slumped back on the tree. "Why are you here, anyway?"
Natsu fidgeted, "umm, I wanted to know how the partnership might be like so I wanted to try it with you once and we have a week anyway so…"
"Erza sent you here?" Natsu froze and Gray sighed, "Oh well. I have one week then. And you have one week to prove to me that I was right to choose you that day."
"You mean the fight?"
"Of course, it was a test, after all. Why do you think you were the only one I ever sent a request to?" He got up, dusted himself and walked forward. "Follow me. We have a quest to complete."
Natsu got up to follow him when he suddenly thought of something. "Wait," he asked, "how do you know that my hair is pink?"
The only reply he got was a smirk hidden behind the tinted glass.
Before they could reach the Cathedral, they were stopped by Lucy. "I'm sorry, but I need to borrow Natsu," She said to BlackIce, who shrugged in response. She dragged Natsu away.
"What's it, Lucy?"
"Natsu, you have to be careful from him."
"What do you mean?"
"This game… this game got the partnership update because the previous version was faulty."
"And what does it have to do with him?"
"I am coming to that. Natsu, this game, NeuroLink used to be a deadly game. It literally harmed the players physically."
"W-what?"
"Yes," Lucy closed her eyes, as if remembering something painful, "I used to have a friend, who fell into the curse of the game. The rule of the game stated that if the XP of a player dropped to zero, that player's character would die and would never be able to return to the game again. But then, the developers soon discovered that the moment the XP dropped to zero, the… the mind connector would malfunction and the player, the real player, would go into a coma."
Natsu stared at her in shock, "Lucy, that's… that's impossible! There are laws and technologies protecting us against such a thing from happening! How is that even possible?"
"I am serious, Natsu. The developers were changed because of this and that was how the Partnership concept was introduced. People loved this game too much, after all. But that didn't change the fact that people still could end up the same way."
"Lucy…"
"Let me finish. Before the authorities could take a step, there was a huge war. People… people died, a lot of them. They are still found to be in a coma and the researchers still cannot comprehend what is wrong with them. And one of those people… was Lisanna."
"Lisanna." Natsu's whole world stopped by that one name. "Y-You mean Lisanna Strauss?"
"Yes."
"Mirajane's sister?" Natsu couldn't comprehend what was happening anymore, "My childhood friend?" Lucy bit her lip. "You… she told me Lisanna got into an accident! And I…" Natsu covered his face with his palm. "Is… is that why you introduced me to this game?"
Lucy sobbed silently, but then stopped herself, "I couldn't see it anymore, Natsu. I couldn't hide it from you anymore. I… I am sorry I have put your life in danger but… you were so skilled in other Virtual MMOs that I…"
"Lucy!" Natsu couldn't believe it! Since when did Lucy start hiding thing from him, tricking him?
"I thought you could find a solution! But instead, you got paired up with that person of all people."
Natsu froze, "What… what do you mean? What does he have to do with all this?"
"Natsu, BlackIce did not have a partner for a reason. He couldn't be trusted. And moreover… He was one of the people present in the war. Rumor has it he was responsible for the death of someone he knew. And that was the reason he would not pair up with anyone else."
Natsu looked at her strangely, "How… how can you judge a person based on a rumor!"
"I know... I know it is silly! But I know for a fact that he cannot be trusted. After all, he lied to you."
"W-what?"
Lucy looked at him seriously, "One can change, of remove partnership with another player, anytime he wants. There is no weekly restriction, Natsu."
"Lucy… gods! How is that worse than what you did to me?"
Lucy was taken aback, "W-What?"
"You lied to me. You knew about Lisanna and you knew about this game and you hid it from me!"
Lucy's lower lip was trembling again, "Natsu I-"
"No, you listen to me this time. I trust you. You are my best friend. And I hate to even think that would hide something so huge from me." Natsu then took a deep breath and turned away from her, "Wh-what are you gonna do now," Lucy asked with a slight fear in her voice.
"I… I will go on a quest with BlackIce. I want to know him for myself and I need to be away from you. Just… for a while." Saying that, he walked away from Lucy towards the Cathedral, as Lucy lowered her head and started to go back to the guild.
"You shouldn't have told him, you know," Lucy bit her lip as Erza came out from the alley she was hiding in, "You shouldn't have told him about BlackIce."
"I couldn't help it Erza, I know you know BlackIce well, but… I cannot lose another friend to a silly game. And this time, if something happens to Natsu, it will be my fault."
Erza put a hand on her shoulder, "Then let's just hope that they actually are able to achieve what they are after."
"Oh, you are here," Gray said, as Natsu approached the Cathedral. Gray noticed that Natsu was fuming, "What happened? What were you guys talking abou-"
"You lied to me." Gray looked at him blankly. "I don't have a time restriction to changing partners, do I? You are messing with me from the very beginning. Tell me the real reason why you, the mighty Black Ice, wanted me as your partner or I will abandon your sorry ass and leave you to complete your own mystery-quest."
Gray's eyes blazed, "Very well. You wanna know why I chose a noob like you? Lemme get this clear then. I did not need a partner. But the quest, the most important quest in my life, required me to have a partner and everyone here damn well knows that no one trusts me. I needed a new player and you were strong enough. Does that answer your question? Is it enough for your reality check?"
Gray glared at him as Natsu glared back. "And one more thing," Gray said, turning his head slightly, "I do not appreciate being the person you vent out someone else's anger on."
Natsu stared in shock. How did he know?
"I read people for a living, Natsu. And you are an open book," Gray replied, as if reading his mind. And all Natsu could do was gape at him. Just who was this guy? Gray turned around and walked away towards the cathedral, only to turn again, as if waiting for Natsu to follow him. And Natsu did.
Of all the events that had happened that day, Natsu was sure of one thing. Black Ice was a mystery, with some deep dark secrets, and he had to unravel him.
After all, they were partners!
I hope you all enjoyed the impending mystery. And once again people. This might seem technical to you, but really, this is pure angst. I am an angst writer after all. Also, as you can guess, Natsu x Gray is my OTP. So, people expecting Gray x Lyon... let's just say you won't be disappointed. XD
Anyone else extremely disappointed with Laxus stealing Gray's spotlight moment in the anime? As if the impending Gruvia wasn't enough to make my days shitty.
Feedback will be appreciated!
Have a nice day!
Dark
