CHAPTER 8
MOSS
Kite stared at the flowing water beneath the Mac Anu bridge. Kenji came up behind him, his inventory having just been filled with items. They'd been waiting for a while for the rest of their party to join them, but so far there was nothing. They'd sent flash mail but no one answered.
"Where are they?" asked Kite. "I'm bored."
"They probably just got tied up with homework or something," said Kenji.
Another fifteen minutes passed when finally Akazu, Suzaku, Michoru and Magora approached them.
"It's about time," said Kite.
"Sorry," said Magora.
They were interrupted by a loud explosion coming from the alley. When they ran over they saw a crowd of people all watching a strange-looking boy as white doves flew into the air. The boy had long, blonde hair to his shoulders with one side in a pigtail. He had forest green eyes, and under his emerald green armor he wore a long-sleeved, cream-colored shirt that had tears in the arms. The shirt had curved green markings all over it and green trim on the neck and bottom. He wore a pare of leather pants that went down to just beneath his ankles. He wore brown leather boots with silver fastenings. A long, silver sword hung at his side.
"Ah, the Mysterious Daidoju has done it once again!" the boy exclaimed. He eyed the party and walked over to them.
"A rose for a lovely lady?" he said, creating a rose with a flick of his hand. He held the rose toward Michoru, who blushed briefly before punching him in the teeth.
"Even a rose has its thorns," he said jumping up.
"Who the hell are you?" Akazu demanded.
"Ah, you know not my name?" he asked, surprised. "I am the Mysterious Daidoju, the street performer!"
"Uh huh," said Suzaku. "We'll just be leaving now."
"Oh, but you just got here!" said Daidoju.
"Yeah, and we're really sad to go, but we, uh, have to-"
"But what could be more important than making a new internet friend?" he asked, pouting a little.
The crowd began to disperse as it became apparent that no new tricks would be performed soon. After everyone was completely gone, the party tried to move towards the Chaos Gate, but Daidoju grabbed Michoru's wrist. She struggled to get away, but his grip was tight.
"Wait," said Daidoju.
"What?" asked Michoru, turning around.
"That's a very interesting bracelet," he said, staring at her free wrist. "It must have taken a lot of questing to obtain it. Do you mind if I look at it for a moment?"
"Uh..."
He held her free wrist and stared at the bracelet.
"And what exactly is its function?" he asked her. "It's quite beautiful, fitting for a pretty lady like you. 3"
He ended his sentence with a heart to prove his point.
"Uh, just another piece of armor!" she quickly lied. "Uh, but it's really powerful. It's called the, uh, Neptune Bracelet! Yeah! And it, uh, gives me LaRue Zot and PhaRue Rom! It's really cool!"
"I see..." said Daidoju. "It appears to be quite rare. Where did you obtain such an item?"
"From a girl in whi..." Michoru stopped herself in mid-sentence. "I mean, from an event!"
Daidoju looked shocked.
"A girl in white..." he whispered.
"Huh?" asked Michoru.
"Well, travelers, I must be off!" he said, regaining his goofy demeanor. "And may your journey be a safe, fun, happy one! Farewell!"
Three rings appeared around him and he disappeared.
"What an ass," said Kenji.
"Seriously," said Kite.
"Aw, are you guys jealous?" asked Suzaku.
"What did you say?" they screeched at the same time.
"Oh, nothing!" said Suzaku, a little halo appearing above his head.
Kite and Kenji assaulted Suzaku, loud shouts and cries of pain emerging from their little heap.
"Why is everyone I know an idiot?" Magora asked herself.
"Good question..." said Akazu.
"You left the post on the board, right?" a woman asked.
"Yes," said a boy. "And don't worry, I didn't use my real name."
"Good," said the woman.
Aman entered the room and ran up to the woman.
"Kyougou!" said the man. "We've obtained data in regards to that certain matter."
"Excellent work, Akogi," said the woman, examining the data. "I see... So, Aura really has passed on the Bracelet."
The party returned from their trip and found that the board had new messages. Kite began to check them, and found that there was a new post under the subject "Girl in White". He opened it and read the messages.
Subject: Girl in White
Author: Waffle
I saw a girl in white in a dungeon. Is it an event?
Subject: RE: Girl in White
Author: Kazari
Yeah, I saw her too. Probably nothing to worry about.
Subject: RE: Girl in White
Author: Minotaur
What if it's Pluto's Kiss 2?
Subject: RE: Girl in White
Author: netspeak
u ppls r paranoid lol
Subject: RE: Girl in White
Author: Daidoju
I saw a girl in white once. I figured she was just another player, but I haven't seen her since.
Subject: RE: Girl in White
Author: Hikari
No one's seen her in a while. Do you think someone cleared the event?
Subject: RE: Girl in White
Author: Kyo
I saw her at the dungeon Theta: Expansive Silent Great Sea.
That was the last of the posts, so Kite logged back in.
"We've got to go to Theta: Expansive Silent Great Sea!"
"Why?" asked Magora.
"There was a post on the board!" said Kite. "Someone's seen Aura there!"
They all quickly jumped up and ran to the Chaos Gate. They formed a party and warped to the area.
The area they arrived in was not a normal field. Instead, they found a completely blank, white area. The only object they could see was a chain wrapped around the wrists of a girl.
"Aura!" Kite yelled.
Aura opened her eyes and looked at him.
"Help me..." she mouthed, her voice nothing more than a whisper.
The party advanced, when they heard someone gate into the area. They turned around.
"What are you doing here?"
"To see the girl in white," said Daidoju.
"Of course!" said Kite. "I saw his post on the boards!"
Daidoju ran towards Aura and grabbed at the chains. Immediately, Aura looked up, grinning. She began to morph, her arms coming apart and her legs sharpening to points. Her head sank into her shoulders and a halo appeared around it. Lastly, a great red wand appeared. The false Aura was really Skeith.
Kite turned toward Daidoju.
"You! Gate Out, now!"
"I can't! The system won't let me!" screamed Daidoju.
"Akazu, contact Helba!"
Akazu sent flash mail to Helba in the hopes that she would help them. Within moments, the area fell apart and the party disappeared.
"Damn! They got away!" cried a boy in green. "Kyougou will have my head if I don't get them!"
He thought for a moment.
"There's a plan..."
The party appeared in Dun Loireag, standing before Helba. She seemed upset.
"What you just did was foolish," she said coldly. "You knew Aura had been drained by Skeith, it was obviously a trap."
"Sorry," they murmured.
"Hmph."
She quickly warped away, leaving the party to stand alone.
"Well, we have no new leads," said Magora, "and Helba is pissed off at us. What do we do now?"
"Wanna visit the Grunty Ranch?" asked Akazu. "It's something we can do in between leads."
They agreed, and began to walk across the planks toward the ranch. When they arrived, there was no one there but a young girl kneeling before a grunty. She was lightly tanned, and had shoulder-length light blue hair that was accentuated by her dark blue eyes. Beneath a gold T-shirt, she was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt. She was wearing gold capris and shoes that were gold and white. On each of her cheeks was a small blue triangle, and two small swords hung at her hips.
The girl pulled a pumpkin out of her inventory and presented it to the grunty, who sniffed it for a moment before devouring it. He began to grow and change, when suddenly-
"MON AMI!"
The girl screamed.
"Oh, thank you Mon Ami!" said the grunty. "Thanks to you, I am now a gentleman. I am in debt to you, Mon Ami!"
"Go away!" she screamed at it. "I don't want a Noble Grunty!"
Teary, the grunty turned and ran away into the sky. The girl turned around and noticed the group watching.
"Oh!" she said, embarrassed. "Uh, hi! I'm Hikari!"
"Hi," they said awkwardly.
"I just don't like Noble Grunties much, you see."
"Uh huh," they said.
"So, what are your names?"
They introduced themselves to her.
"Well, you want to go on an adventure or something?" she asked.
"We can't right now, sorry," said Michoru. "We're kind of busy."
"Oh, that's OK," she said. "Well, take my member address. Call me anytime if you want to go to a dungeon."
She warped out, leaving the party by themselves. No grunties were wandering in the ranch, so they left and headed towards the Chaos Gate. They warped to Carmina Gadelica and entered the hideout.
"Well, what are we going to do now?" asked Suzaku.
"Nothing we can do," said Kenji.
"Let's all log out until we get some leads," said Kite.
"Good idea," said Magora.
A boy in green stopped a young boy on the streets of Mac Anu. The boy had straight, brown hair. His hair wasn't very long, but it was enough to be tied back. He had brown eyes and wore a bright red long sleeved shirt and red gloves. He had a brown belt that held his two swords and black pants with red boots.
"Hey, you," said the boy in green.
"What?" asked the boy in red.
"What's your name?"
"Gerik," said the boy.
"You've heard of the .hackers, right?" asked the boy in green.
"Yeah," said Gerik. "Who hasn't?"
"Well, I have a bracelet just like the hero Kite's," he said, "and I'm willing to part with it."
"Really?" said Gerik excitedly. "How much?"
"How much you got?"
"50,000 GP tops."
"Deal."
Gerik took the bracelet and handed the boy the money. The boy walked away, counting the money as he did so. Gerik, although he wanted to test the bracelet, found that it was 11:30 and so logged out.
The next morning Kite had the day off, so he logged in to The World. He walked in to the hideout and saw Kenji eating his breakfast. It didn't take long for everyone else to show up, and when everyone was there they began planning.
"So, I'm thinking we should go to a random area," said Kite, "and level up."
Everyone agreed. When they were done eating, they went to the Chaos Gate and entered a random keyword.
When they arrived, they were in a molten field, and they were all sweating uncontrollably. They entered the cool, dark dungeon as quickly as possible, ignoring all the portals on the field even though they were there to level up. They entered the first room and destroyed the monster with minimal difficulty. In the next room, however, they saw a twin blade boy in red struggling with a monster. A protect break appeared, but of course he didn't notice. Suddenly, he raised his hand and data drained the monster.
The party was shocked. No one else was given the bracelet.
"Hey, you!" cried Suzaku.
The boy turned around and walked toward them. He held up his bracelet.
"Pretty cool, huh?"
"What are you doing?" cried Magora. "No one has those bracelets but us!"
She held up her bracelet.
"That's weird," said the boy. "Anyway, I'm Gerik. Nice to meet you."
He held out his hand but nobody took it.
"OK..." he said. "So, you wanna team up?"
The party agreed. It was the only way that they could find out more about the bracelet.
Michoru invited him to the party. They quickly advanced through the dungeon to the Gott Statue. They opened the chest and found within it a Rainbow Card. Gerik used a Sprite Ocarina and they returned to the field, where the quickly gated out to Root Town.
"That was fun," said Gerik.
"Yeah," said Kite.
"You want to go somewhere else?" asked Akazu.
"Uh, OK," said Gerik.
"Here, Theta: Towering Shadowed Holy Ground!"
When they arrived, they found themselves before a great tower, stretching into the sky above. They ran into the tower and saw nothing but grey characters floating through the air. They were all dead, just drifting pieces of data. The only door in the room shut and a portcullis fell over it. They were trapped.
Maniacal laughter rang through the air, as the dead character data disappeared, reforming into Skeith.
"I'll kill you this time!" Kite shouted.
They attacked relentlessly, but Skeith never seemed any weaker.
"Revolver!"
"Staccato!"
"Juk Rom!"
"Hayabusa!"
"Triple Doom!"
"Brandish!"
"Tiger Claws!"
None of it ever seemed to work.
"Why won't it die?" Kenji asked.
They continued their assault, never getting any closer to protect break.
Suddenly, Skeith stopped and released his protection on his own.
"Alright!" said Kite. "Let's go! Data-"
"Hang on!" said Gerik. "Let me handle this! Data Drain!"
The limbs extended from around his wrist, growing bigger and bigger. Suddenly, they snapped backward over his arm. The bracelet crawled over his body, slowly engulfing him.
"Gerik!"
They ran over to him.
"Gerik!" said Michoru. "I have something to ask you! Who gave you that bracelet? Was it a girl in white?"
"No..." said Gerik weakly. "It was... a boy in green."
He shrieked as the bracelet completely ate him. He became nothing but a mass of green and blue. A boy appeared in the room. He had waist-length black hair and wore a long, green robe. He held a green staff in his hand.
"Perfect..." he said, watching the writhing mass.
"Who are you? You're the one that did this to him, aren't you?" screamed Kite.
"But of course," said the boy. "Oh, forgive me, I must introduce myself. I am Senbou, one of the Seven Hackers of Hades."
He smiled evilly.
"That bracelet that I gave him was nothing but a virus. It would activate if he used Data Drain against a Data Bug or virus. Now that he has, my plan is complete."
He pulled out of his pocket a small, green orb with a black pattern encrusted on its surface. He held it against the mass and it immediately began to expand. It slowly took form and turned into a great bird-like machine. It had thin, pointed legs and two great wings that looked like blades spread apart. Floating above its head were six swords. Gerik could be seen in the center, trapped by the thing.
"Well, I have to be going now," said Senbou. "Skeith! Let's go!"
He and Skeith warped away, leaving the party trapped with the bird machine.
"We have to destroy it!" said Suzaku.
"We can't!" cried Magora. "It's still a person!"
"That isn't the point, Magora!" said Suzaku. "If we don't destroy it it will endanger everyone else!"
"I know you're right, but..." she trailed off. "It doesn't feel right."
"We don't have time to be thinking about this! Let's go!"
"Sacred Slash of Buddha!"
"Dragon with the Jewel in its Neck!"
"Song of the Swallows!"
"Jeweled Tornado!"
"Flaming Arrow!"
"Frozen Knives!"
The attacks hit hard, but the bird just slashed with its wings and hit even harder.
"Repth!" said Kite. He cast the spell several times, healing everyone.
"The Moon!" said Akazu, trying to make the enemy fall asleep. It was ineffective, and the bird just threw the same thing back at him.
"Take a Restorative!" said Kenji, tossing Akazu the potion.
"Kite! Take this helmet!" said Magora, tossing him the armor. "It gives you La Repth!"
"Thanks!" said Kite gratefully.
"Crack Beat!"
"Gan Zot!"
None of the attacks did any good.
"Nightblight!"
Bats flew and struck the bird, but Protect Break still did not come.
"Staccato!"
"Vak Kruz!"
Nothing worked. After much work, the beast's protection finally broke. The group drained it and warped back to Root Town.
The group went to their home to discuss things.
"So," said Akazu. "Skeith was really being controlled by a group called the Hackers of Hades."
"Aura must have posed a threat to them," said Kenji. "Why else would they command Skeith to destroy her?"
"Maybe it wasn't Aura," said Michoru, "so much as the idea that she might pass the bracelet to someone else."
"Yeah," said Suzaku. "The bracelet rewrites the whole system, right? So then the bracelet is really the only thing that can stop them."
"Which would mean that they were after Aura because she would give the bracelet to someone," said Magora.
"So then," said Kite, "they're going to be after us. They're afraid of the bracelet. They're hackers, so they'll be able to track us down. We're going to be in danger. And most of all, we're going to have a long journey ahead of us."
OK, I'll try to work Minotaur in next chapter, and I'll also try to have Hikari play a bigger role. Anyway, to ensure that I update this story before July, I recommend that you PRESENT ME WITH IDEAS for the next chapter. So, anyway, thanks for reading! Review!