.hack/FRAGMENT

Saya

version 7.0

Shadow of the Twilight

new topic posted 11.8.05

Erika walked out the door to her school, holding her book bag at her side. "Hey, have you heard?" one of her friends asked excitedly.

The dark-haired teenager gave a sigh, "Depends…" she had heard a lot of things, but she didn't know what her friend was talking about.

The other girl sighed and shook her head sadly, "You are so deprived…so uninformed, poor dear," she slung her arm around Erika's shoulder and leaned her head against the top of the shorter girl's. Erika gave her friend a glare, not that the other girl noticed at all anyway. "Supposedly, 'The World' came back online today. Man, I wish we didn't have school. I've been itching to get back for weeks!" Weeks…that was how long it had been since Erika and Koto had watched that odd video, since they had deciphered the encryption on CC Corp's missing file.

The teenager made her way home quickly and dropped her bag onto the ground beside her 'bed' (which was really the couch) before making her way up to her room and turning on the computer. Surely enough, when she clicked the icon that would open up the program for 'The World' it brought her to her main screen. The girl pulled the headpiece over her eyes, not even bothering to pull her dark hair back in it's usual comfortably loose bun.

As soon as Erika logged on a message appeared on her desktop, another new e-mail. Almost dreading what Koto would have to say, she clicked it open and was surprised, and a little bit relieved, to see that it wasn't from the Heavy Blade (come on, you know you love me). Instead the message was from the Wave Master Amaya with whom Erika had had little conversation lately.

"Hey, I've just got inside information that in order to celebrate 'The World' coming back online there's going to be a special Wave Master event. Would you mind giving me a hand?"

Erika grinned, of course Amaya would know whenshe was online. The other PC, player character, had specifically asked for schedules and time zone information. "Sure," the girl typed in reply, "I'll meet you in Mac Anu," it was her favorite city in her favorite server (mine too, for that matter).

A reply popped onto the screen almost as soon as the white-haired, blue eyed, white-clad Twin Blade set foot inside the city of water. "I'm bringing another friend along, too. She's really good, hope you don't mind!" Not a question, just a statement. That wasn't something she would have expected from Amaya, Koto maybe, but certainly not the reserved Wave Master.

Erika leaned against the fence of the Grunty stables (I've always preferred Puchiguso because it sounds so much cuter, it fits!) and waited for the Wave Master and her mysterious new friend. She did not have long to wait. "Hey! Erika!"

The Twin Blade turned around and pushed a strand of her long white hair behind her delicate ears as Amaya walked down the street toward her, her hand half-way into the air and waving self-consciously (reason one I don't get along with her very well). "This is Claire," the brown haired character announced when they were within a few feet of Erika.

"Nice to meet you," said the girl standing next to Amaya. She stood in stark contrast with the other girl. Whereas Amaya was a plain brunette with plain eyes, nothing extraordinary about her in any way really, Claire had brilliant blonde hair and captivating blue eyes that seemed to blend into green and back, like the sea on a stormy day. She was tall and thin, but not so thin as to be considered unattractive, with soft skin that was neither tanned nor pale.

Aside from her general appearance, though, she gave the impression of being a captivating person, not just as a character in the game. This strange girl had the look of a teenager, but also the look of a custom character. She wore what looked like a black corset, but was made of cloth and much too loose to be considered so, over a loose white collared shirt and white pants with what appeared to be the entire work of Romeo and Juliet written in different styles and different colors going down her pant legs (that was probably too much description but I just love those pants!).

Claire, as Amaya said her name was, held herself tall and straight. She had an intelligent face and seemed dignified in a way that Amaya tried to be. While Amaya always considered herself mature (reason two we don't get along) this new girl actually did seem mature as her black gloved hand rested against the hilt of the sword strapped to her side.

"Nice to meet you, too," Erika said sweetly, her usual smile playing on her lips. Just as she was summing up the other girl's character with a simple glance, so it seemed Claire was doing the same to her. Both girls laughed as if there was some sort of inner joke between them, but merely it was because they both knew exactly what the other was doing. Meanwhile, Amaya turned her head from one friend to the other, trying to figure out what was going on.

Getting nowhere at all, and feeling a little left out, Amaya spoke up and interrupted the round of odd laughter, "Let's get going!" she said eagerly. Within a few moments Erika received an invitation to join Amaya's party, which she quickly accepted. "Where did you say it was, Claire?"

The new girl, a Blade Master by all appearances, told her friend the coordinates while the three made their way through the throng of excited players and to the Chaos Gate. The Wave Master punched in the coordinates and they disappeared into the spiraling golden light that somehow gave Erika the impression of being warm and inviting.

Another player character was standing exactly where they gated into the new area and he spoke to the group before Erika even got a chance to get a look at her surroundings. "I'm sorry, but the event isn't up yet, we seem to have a bug—" He stopped mid-sentence when Claire gave a little nod and said no more as the group walked past.

"What was that about?" Erika asked, looking back at the man they had just passed as they continued walking forward.

Amaya and Claire exchanged a glance that went by unnoticed by their companion (Erika, you naïve, ignorant fool) and the Blade Master merely said, "Just forget about it." And so the Twin Blade did so, without much effort, I must say.

The area was certainly an interesting one, it was more like an entire dungeon, but not a dungeon (I have such a way with words). Each section of the area was closed off, separated from the others except by means of dual exits and entrances into and out of them, connection the ones that stood neighboring them. Within each section there were caves of varying sizes (and varying degrees of creepiness) that held a monster that had to be defeated.

Most monsters were immune to regular attacks, which certainly did seem very typical of Wave Master events. So, the three girls defeated their enemies with only slight difficulty (whenever a monster was defeated a treasure box appeared with a riddle that had to be solved before one could move on into the next area, did I not mention that little tidbit of completely useless information?). At least, it was simple until they got to the last area.

"This is it!" Amaya bounded forward into the cave. Claire and Erika were about to make their ways inside when the Wave Master ran back out, screaming (ha, ha…sucks for you).

"What happened?" Claire asked after exchanging worried looks, although they had only known each other for a matter of hours (that was how long it was taking them to finish this) they were already close friends. Such was Claire's extraordinary charisma (though not nearly as amazing as my own) and Erika's ability to make anyone feel relaxed.

Amaya took a deep breath, "There's something that goes completely against the system. They were right when they said there were still a few bugs to work out, there's a monster in there I've never seen before. I tried using a spell on it, but it didn't work!"

Erika shook her head, this sounded terribly familiar. She'd send an e-mail to Koto about it when they got back, but for now it seemed as if this was something that she had to defeat since it was she who defeated the last 'corrupted monster' as Koto had called it. "Alright, then…Erika and I will attack since your spells don't work. You can heal us from a distance…" Claire was taking control as if it was the most natural thing in the world to her, and it just seemed natural for Erika and Amaya to follow; another side effect of Claire's odd form of charisma.

The two blue-eyed girls unsheathed their blades and ran into the cave first with the third following as closely behind as the limitations on Wave Masters would allow. Despite herself, Erika let out a slight gasp. It was just like the last time, the monster appeared to be incomplete data, swirls of dark purple light like clouds of darkness covered patches were its skin should have been and streams of data flashed across the dark patches at random intervals.

Without a moment's hesitation, Claire had jumped forward and began fighting with the creature, though it was clear she was doing little to no damage whatsoever (fools!). The Twin Blade leapt into the action as well, though her attacks proved to have a different effect. The creature's hit points, its life, began to go down, slowly but they were decreasing nonetheless. Eventually, Erika delivered the last blow by jumping up and slashing at the creature with both of her blades trailing darkness as she fell back down.

The monster disappeared in a stream of data that floated through the ceiling of the cave to join the rest of the data that flowed throughout 'The World' and held the game together. "That doesn't make any sense," Claire said thoughtfully. Though her voice was quiet and she gave the impression of thinking aloud, it was all to clear to Erika that the statement was directed at her.

"You're right…but look! A treasure chest!" Amaya ran forward and the chest sprang open. "That's odd…" she equipped a new staff.

It was a deep red with black symbols spiraling down. In all, the staff was only slightly taller than Amaya herself (and she's pretty tall on the rare occasion that she isn't hunched forward a bit, reason three we don't get along very well, and if that reason was confusing then I'm glad because I don't understand it either). A black, thick crescent sat on top of it with an oddly shaped red gem floating in its center. "I've never seen anything like that," Claire said.

Erika did not say anything and instead her gaze fell to the two blades she held in her hands. In a lot of ways, they were like Amaya's new staff: the way they looked, surely, but also the feeling they gave off. "Are they authorized?" Amaya asked Claire jokingly and the Twin Blade watched them confusedly through her large blue eyes.

Just when she was about to ask, however, the man from the beginning of the area sprinted towards them followed closely by two Heavy Axe-men that held almost identical appearances albeit the fact that they were clearly different genders. "Miss Claire!"

As soon as she caught sight of the other player, Claire's laid-back attitude was quickly replaced by one of the utmost poise and authority (its amazing how people can change like that, right before your eyes). "You've brought them with you. This is obviously something important."

"You don't need to act that way with us," said one of the Heavy Axe-men, the girl. Her short, curled red hair was tied in a tight ponytail at the back of her head and her blue eyes studied Erika, Amaya, and the new staff that Amaya had received.

The other of the would-be twins smiled, "Yeah, we've known you long enough to know what you're really like." But Claire didn't say anything in reply, instead her gaze shifted rather quickly from the Heavy Axe-men to the scared looking PC from earlier and back. Apparently, they understood (took them long enough, the idiots).

"Anyway," the red-headed girl went on, "you're right. It is important…"

"Hey, Claire?" Erika interrupted, unable to contain her silence any longer. "What's going on? Who are these people?"

The blonde smiled knowingly, yet kindly. "Didn't you know? We're the three founders of the Twilight Brigade…" she said simply, as if it was no big deal at all. "Sorry I have to leave you guys so suddenly," Claire certainly did sound apologetic when she said it, "I'll see you later, Amaya. Don't be a stranger, Erika!" and she walked out of the cave with the red heads, tailed by the now timid PC.