1ERROR 25

"There is nowhere to run this time."

It was true. As long as Empty Skies anchored BlueRose, he couldn't separate himself from Azure Kite.

"Do you know what happens when AI programs like you get drained?" Azure Kite whispered maliciously as he prepared to activate Data Drain.

"I'd rather not find out," BlueRose smiled and grabbed his enemy's wrist. "A change of scenery is in order, don't you think?"

Suddenly they were in Mac Anu. Only a few players had noticed their sudden appearance, and were whispering amongst themselves. BlueRose, still gripping Azure Kite's wrist, forced the arm away from himself and directed the attack towards the small group.

"Be careful," BlueRose grinned. "Shoot that off in a place like this and someone is likely to get hurt."

"You bastard," Azure Kite powered down his attack and stepped away from BlueRose, his blades disintegrating. "You're a lot stronger than just your level, aren't you?"

"Well, this was fun," BlueRose winked at Azure Kite, ignoring his question. "Let's do it again some time."

"You're not going anywhere."

BlueRose turned. Near the Chaos Gate, two players had just warped in and were approaching him quickly. One appeared to be a modded character similar to a huge cat with a humanoid body shape. She was rushing to catch up with the other, who had spoken. He looked similar to the character whom BlueRose had encountered outside of the cathedral, but bore an appearance that seemed familiar outside of that.

"I finally found you," k1t3 said.

"So this is the guy?" Mia finally caught up with her companion.

k1t3 did not respond, but stared angrily at BlueRose. Holding out his hand, he spoke coldly.

"I would like my character back."

ERROR 26

"It's a miracle this thing landed in a bush," Ryou breathed heavily and he placed Kite's computer monitor back on his desk. "I know you're mad, but you should take better care of your stuff."

Kite shoved Ryou out of the way and hooked the monitor back up before turning on the computer. The power had come back on a few minutes ago.

"I talked to the dorm manager, and she said some maintenance worker had accidently cut the power," Ryou sat down on Kite's bed and reached into the bag of chips he had regained from the desk when Kite wasn't looking.

"Did she happen to tell you his name?" Kite responded irritably as the computer loaded up.

"Ha ha," Ryou looked nervously at Kite, not sure if he was serious or not.

Akira had left earlier to do some shopping, though Ryou was sure she was making excuses to get away from Kite while he was angry. Kite finished rebooting his computer and waited silently staring at the screen. After a few seconds of silence, a small window popped up. Kite breathed a deep sigh of relief and smiled at Ryou, pointing at the window. Ryou walked over to the computer and read the screen.

BACK-UP FILE SAVED.

"Ha! Lucky you," Ryou grinned and stuffed a few chips in his mouth.

Kite was too relieved to care about his chips being stolen a second time. Opening up the file, he began typing again.

"Looks like it's all here," Kite smiled as he worked.

ERROR 27

"That explains why I recognized you," BlueRose sighed and took a step towards k1t3. "You're that Wavemaster I drained earlier. I'm surprised you actually came back."

"I want that character data back," k1t3 glared at the corrupted AI.

"Sorry, I can't help you with that," BlueRose shrugged. "I can only drain. Can't put it back once it's gone."

k1t3 tensed. He slowly lifted one hand and grabbed his hat, which strongly resembled Kite's.

"I guess I'll just have to drain it back out of you then," his tone remained cold.

He suddenly ripped the hat from his head, and a bright light formed around his body. Most of the players in Mac Anu could see nothing through the light, but BlueRose and Azure Kite saw everything through different eyes. In the center of the light, the body of k1t3 was changing. He was taller now, his body clothed in purple fabric. His hair was long and blue. On top of his head he now wore a different hat wreathed with roses.

"My name is Endrance, for endurance!" he shouted. "No matter what you do to my character data, my true form shall endure!"

With that, his Avatar appeared.

His Avatar was a large blue cat-creature that looked similar to Mia, only it wore a large dress that appeared to be a rose.

"MACHA!!!! CRUSH THIS LOSER!!!" Endrance prepared to attack.