Chapter 2

The soft music playing in the background masked the slight creak as the cathedral door opened and a girl walked in. She seemed rather depressed. The girl took a quick look around and proceeded towards the alter. She didn't see the wavemaster laying down in the second row.

Upon reaching the alter, the girl knelt down and folded her hands in prayer. She wore a fitted, purple body suit with yellow accent lines. The sleeves and leggings ended just before her elbows and knees. Two daggers were strapped to her cloth belt. She wore a head band to keep her long, brown hair out of her blue eyes.

Several minutes passed before the wavemaster began to stir. The girl took no notice, and she seemed to be in some kind of trance. Ichikuke sat up slowly, mindful of his stiff body. He stretched and opened his eyes. He saw the girl and hesitated. She seemed to be at peace, and he didn't want to disturb that.

Ichi sat watching her for a little while before she moved. She stood up and gave a short bow before turning around, eyes locking with Ichi's. Her expression changed from one of calm, to one of fear. Ichi stood up slowly, trying not to seem hostile. He left his staff on the ground.

"I apologize," Ichi said gently. "I didn't know anyone else came here. I thought I'd get some sleep before heading back to Mac Anu. My name is Ichikuke."

"Ichikuke?" the girl asked, a little calmer now. "Aren't you one of the people who can't log out?"

"Yeah… wait, did you say one of the people?"

"Yes. I also can't log out."

Ichi stared for a few seconds before collecting himself. "Have you reported to the administration?"

The girl looked at the floor. "No I haven't, I don't know anyone from the admin. I don't even know a system admin like Balmung of the Azure Sky."

Ichi's eyes lit up. "I know Balmung! He can help you. He helped me."

Ichi ran forward and grabbed the girl's hand saying "Come on!"

Too surprised to reply, the girl let Ichi lead her out onto the broken bridge. Once there, they exchanged member addresses and formed a party. Ichi warped them back to Mac Anu.

"Wow, it's busy today," Ichi said looking around. Mac Anu was filled with players.

"Oh that's right," the girl said. "I haven't told you my name Ichi. I'm Vera, the Twinblade."

"Nice to meet you Vera," Ichi said. "Give me a moment to contact Balmung."

"Okay."

Ichi closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them he was smiling.

"Don't even need to contact him," Ichi said. "Balmung is already on his way."

"There you are Ichikuke," someone said. Ichi turned to see a man in white and blue armor walking toward them. His attached wings matched his white hair perfectly.

"Balmung!" Ichi cried. The wavemaster and the blademaster shook hands.

"I have something I wanted to share with you Ichikuke," Balmung said. "It's regarding the other version of 'The World' that's been out for almost 2 years now."

"Really? Something you wanted to share? That's kind of funny because I have a favor to ask of you Balmung," Ichi said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well then, why don't you go first," Balmung replied.

Ichi dragged Vera out from where she'd been hiding behind him. "This is Vera, I want you to send a report to CC Corp about her."

"What seems to be the problem?"

Ichi pushed Vera forward slightly, so she could try to explain. She twiddled her thumbs for a moment before glancing up at Balmung, who was giving her a polite smile. Vera turned beet red and hid behind Ichi again. Balmung raised his eyebrows and looked at Ichi again.

"She must be shy about meeting someone as famous as you Balmung," Ichi said. He looked over his shoulder at the girl holding onto the back of his robe. "Want me to explain Vera?"

The girl nodded, keeping her face buried in the back of his robe. Ichi turned his attention back to Balmung. "She's having a similar problem I'm having, she can't log out. Could you send a report to CC Corp?"

"Of course," Balmung said. "I'll do it right now, just give me a moment."

Balmung's character froze, an arm held out casually as if halfway through a conversation. Ichi chuckled and Vera finally relaxed enough to glance around.

"You okay back there?" Ichi asked with out looking.

"Y-yes," Vera replied. "I think so."

"Balmung's no one to be afraid of you know."

"I know, I'm just not very good around important people like that."

"Very well, you just stay back there, I'll handle everything."

"Thank you so much."

"Don't mention it."

Vera buried her face again at the exact same moment that Balmung started moving again.

"Okay, I have notified the president of Vera's situation and he should start an investigation soon," Balmung reported.

"Thanks Balmung," Ichi said, glancing back at Vera who was still hiding. "Now, what was it you had to tell me?"

"Ah yes, almost forgot. I received word not too long ago that CC Corp plans on merging the two different sets of servers that are keeping each version of the game running into one whole database. That way, there's only one version of the game they need to maintain."

"Sounds like a good plan."

"Yeah, there's going to be a specific date where no one will be able to log in while they finalize the merging process."

"Wait, what about people like me and Vera? We can't even log out, what will happen to us?"

"The president is attempting to come up with a solution to that. Don't worry your little heads off, you'll be just fine. I hear they are even coming up with a way for you two to alter your characters to better fit into the new version of 'The World.' That's probably because wavemasters won't exist anymore. You should receive a message soon with instructions."

"Thanks a lot Balmung," Ichikuke said slightly.

"Not at all. Well, I need to get going. I have the final event to set up in this version of 'The World.' See you guys in 'The World R:2.'"

Balmung walked over to the Chaos Gate and warped away. Things stayed quiet for a few moments while Ichikuke pondered the possibilities of what CC Corp was going to do about him and Vera. It was then that he realized Vera was still hiding behind him.

"You can come out now," Ichi said over his shoulder. "Balmung left a few minutes ago.'

Vera looked around and gave Ichi an embarrassed smile. She stepped out from behind him and smoothed her hair.

"What are you going to be doing today?" Ichi asked, leading them to the bridge over the canal.

"I think I'll go meet up with some of my friends. I hope they're online though."

"I'm probably going to do the same thing. I hope Kite and Orca are around."

"You know Kite and Orca of the Azure Sea?"

"Yeah. I've been friends with them for a while. Ever since Kite found out I was trapped in the game anyway. He also introduced me to my friends Tsukasa and Subaru."

"You sure know a lot of famous people."

"Probably because of my situation. Would you like to meet them sometime?"

"I don't know. I might freeze up again and hide like I did with Balmung."

"Don't worry, everyone else is a lot less intimidating than Balmung. Well, except maybe Orca. But he's just a clown inside."

"Oh, well, maybe I will. If none of my friends are on, then can I meet them? If they aren't busy that is."

"Sure you can meet them. Just send me a message. I'll be on the Theta Server. That's where we like to hang out."

"Okay. I'll check it out. Talk to you later Ichi."

"See ya!"

Vera walked off, heading for the Chaos Gate. Wondering if his friends were at the usual hang out in Theta Server, Ichi soon followed. When he reached the Chaos Gate he shouted, "Theta Server!" and warped away.

He reached the cliff based city and headed out towards on of the bridges near the Grunty ranch. The old wooden planks creaked under his feet as he crossed. He was concentrating so hard on the planks that he never saw the person running up behind him, until she ran into him of course. The impact almost sent Ichi over the side, but the girl who had hit him caught him.

"I'm so sorry I didn't mean that!" the girl was saying, as Ichi bent over to steady himself. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Ichi said. Looking up at the girl, Ichi received a surprise. "BlackRose?"

The girl looked confused for a moment before realization hit. "Oh, you're Ichikuke. Kite's friend right?"

"Yep, that's me. I was just on my way to see if Kite was on or not."

"Really? Well, we can go together. I received a message from him saying that he'd like to meet up again, so I'm heading over there now."

"Alright then, let's go!"

With that, Ichikuke and BlackRose, who looked very much like Mimiru except for colors, set off in search of Kite.

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Sorry again if this seems a little fast paced right now. I'm just trying to get everyone into the new version of "The World." Once that happens, things should slow down.