/*Author's notes

This is currently a placeholder for anything interesting I have to say that is appropriate for this moment in time; however, nothing comes to mind except ranting. Sorry for wasting your time…

*/

The second years, Mio, Yui and Ritsu were all working, concentrating on some assignments that they had yet to complete whilst Mugi had gone home for the weekend. Unlike her sempais, Azusa had kept on top of her assignments by working whilst playing Illusia. As her computer booted up, she wondered what she was going to do for the day.

"I could play on my own," she thought at first but the lonely idea put her off. She pulled out of her notes hoping to revise.

"For what exams…" It was still early in the academic year. Beginning revision now would seem obsessive. It was also quiet in the room. Instinctively, like she had for the past week, she double clicked on the Illusia icon, a purple haired female.

"Hm…" A patch update appeared on the screen, telling her to wait. However, the image announced a tournament. With a few clicks, she was on the main webpage. "For the first year anniversary, we will hosting several tournaments in commemoration of this event." Entry requirements were level fifty or one hundred. Azusa checked her own level; twenty-five. "That's quite far away…" However, the prizes were very enticing. Entering would guarantee a consolation prize of a random piece of equipment. Fourth gave a piece of equipment where the winner could choose the brand and type. Third had a VR system. Second gave an egg. First was a 'unique item'.

"The unique item is going to be a special class to those who come in first place. This class id not the same as any currently existing unique class." A list of the current unique classes was displayed beneath; Aegyl, Black Swordsman, Blood Bather, Combo Master, Dragon Master, The Flash, Ice caster, Pirate, Shinigami, Steam Punk. The list carried on but Azusa's trail of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Excuse me," said a young voice and Ui entered the room. "Good morning, Azusa."

"Oh, morning Ui." The ponytailed girl quickly closed the browser, only to reveal that the patch had finished updating.

"Are you going to be playing again today?"

"Um…"

"It's okay, can I watch?"

"Oh, sure. Won't it be boring though?"

Ui smiled in response. "I'm going to get the game at some point, when I get a laptop, but I would like an idea of how to play before I start."

As the game flicked on, Azu-nyan yawned on the screen, stretching herself out.

"Well, the game introduction is really good. It goes through all the steps to start out. First you create your avatar-"

"Why do you have cat ears?"

"…"

The avatar stabbed her lance into the ground. "Because someone gave me a stupid name!"

Ui, "It's your nick name though."

Azusa, "Huh?" The small girl by her computer hadn't said anything. "Yeah, I chose Azu-nyan because I couldn't think of anything else. And the guide that helped me gave me cat ears." Suddenly, Azusa twisted round and grabbed onto her friend's shoulders. "We need to think up of a good name for you before you start playing!"

"Um… Sure." Before Ui could think through what just happened, Azusa kept on explaining the game from the top.

"Akira-chan, Akira-chan!" shouted Yui, barging into the guitarist's room. "Help me~"

"Don't barge into other peoples rooms like that without knocking!" The spikey haired girl sighed. "What do you want?"

"Can you help me with my assignments?" she asked hopefully. "It's really hard."

"Then pay attention in lectures, I'm busy." Yui glanced over her shoulder to see Illusia Online playing on her laptop.

"I'll grab mine too!" She darted out of the room.

"What about your assignment!?"

"This is the MMO world. I chose the Pride/Shame emotion and we start on this mountain."

Azu-nyan shivered in the cold as her master kept explaining every insignificant detail. Sadly, the last time she logged out was on the side of said mountain. Having gotten lost, she wondered why those with pride or shame isolated themselves in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly, an icicle spear struck her in the side, the cold spreading through her with a burning chill.

"Must have been a pierce attack," she thought, noticing how little her armour protected her. Instinctively, she faced her enemy, a standard ice elemental in human form. It cast another ice spear, ready for throwing.

"Ah!" Azusa cried out, "I'm being attacked!"

"You finally noticed," the avatar muttered and darted forwards on command, casually avoiding the next thrown spear and countering with her weapon. "Sunder!" Even though it was a lance she used, the pole arm was swung overhead to crush the enemy.

"Sugoi!" said Ui. "One hit."

"Yeah, my Sunder skill is really powerful!"

The avatar scuffed her foot in the snow. "Come one, I'm bored. Let me off this mountain or get me to the nearest village."

"Azusa, your avatar seems impatient," Ui pointed out. The girl leaned in close to the screen, watching the avatar's every reaction.

"Huh? How can you tell?" asked Azusa.

Azu-nyan paused and looked up, pondering on this second person. "What?"

"Let's play!" Yui sat onto Akira's bed, turning on the game. However, Akira slammed the lid shut.

"Do your work."

"But you're playing, Akira-chan."

"That's because I've finished all my assignments."

"But I can't work if you're playing in front of me."

"Then go back to your room!"

"I need some help." She pointed at some question she had been assigned. "Please?"

Akira sighed. "Ugh, fine. But you better do your work, you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am!"

Azu-nyan was really curious about this second person. Trekking through the snow and ice monsters was tiring but Ui, she had overheard the name, could tell what she was saying. One time, she even asked a question out loud.

"How many monsters are there?"

"Four of them."

Of course, Azusa was surprised at Ui's random outburst but she covered herself by pointing at one hidden behind a rock.

A while later, Azu-nyan stumbled upon a city in the frozen mountains.

"What the hell!" shouted Azu-nyan. Some avatars looked in her direction. "Ugh… Let me off this place." It was the beginning city for those who chose Pride/Shame.

"They put a lot of detail in the game, don't they?" Ui was admiring the frozen structures beside the wooden homes. Far off in the distance was a stone castle and gargoyle-like creatures flew in circles by the towers.

"There are shops and inn in most towns. There are loads of quests too. Maybe I should do one?"

"You know," shouted Azu-nyan, "we could just buy a teleport crystal and get out of here."

Ui relayed the information to Azusa.

"Oh yeah! Wait, how did you know that?"

"Um… Yui told me the other day I think."

Azu-nyan considered what had happened. "So can she hear me?"

"And what about this bit?" asked Yui, kicking her legs in the air.

"I can't do all of it for you," Akira sighed, wishing she were playing her game. Rosalie was about to level up. "Are you nearly done yet?"

"Well I have this essay… Can I read yours?"

"No!"

"Oh good, wolves." There was howling in the distance and Azusa's speakers portrayed the savageness vividly. The sound of paws on snow scuffled towards them, getting louder and louder until the black hounds appeared into view, eight of them. "This will be a fun quest." Azu-nyan's voice dripped with sarcasm, much like the saliva that dribbled from the wolves' mouths. They quickly formed a circle around the Fighter, cutting off any means of escape.

They took the first strike, attacking from behind. Azusa, watching from above, clicked on a skill.

"Whirling blow!" Grabbing her lance in both hands, she swung it full circle, fending off her attackers. They backed off but there was an opening and she took it, bringing the weapon over her head. "Sunder!" One hit KO on one of the enemies and stunning three others; she lagged a moment after the attack.

"Watch out!" cried out Ui. Four wolves attacked from behind, enraged by the death of their friend. They clung to the Fighter like hyenas on flesh, clawing and biting her armour. It took another Whirling Blow to shake them off but the stunned wolves had recovered and they regrouped, encircling her.

"I really don't have many skills…" Sixty per cent health and sixty per cent mana; Azu-nyan wondered whether she was going to make it. She decided to take initiative, suddenly lunging at one of them, trying to break out the circle.

The wolf easily dodged and the rest saw the opening, attacking from behind again.

"Whirling blow!" Pivoting quickly on one foot, the lance arced round once again and struck most of them. Going on the offensive, the lance was raised over her head. "And Sunder!"

Again, the remaining wolves hit her weak spots and she just had enough mana for another Whirling Blow. Azu-nyan was feeling out of breath though; she watched the mist formed from her mouth float into the chill air.

"You've almost levelled up, keep going!"

Azusa was surprised at Ui's sudden outburst. "Y-yeah." With a few clicks, she sent Azu-nyan after the one with the lowest health, hoping for the health and mana bonus on levelling up. As the Fighter was taking damage, she lunged heavily into a wolf. On cue, the words 'Level Up!' flashed across the screen as the enemy exploded into a thousand shards.

Revitalised, Azu-nyan twisted round with full strength and spirit, forcing the opponent back. Before they could circle again, she charged.

"Sunder!"

"Hey Akira-chan?"

"What's up?"

"What's being a Ravager like?"

She paused, wanting to scold the guitarist to do her essay. However, she did seem to be working quite well for a long time. Just in case, she peeked over to see how far the girl had got on with her essay. "You've almost finished, good job."

"It's because you're here, Akira-chan." The black haired girl sighed and waited for the other to continue her work. Instead, pleading, puppy-dog eyes beamed at her.

She sighed. "What?"

"What's being a Ravager like?" she repeated. "I thought you'd be a Fighter, like Azu-nyan is. Though I can't imagine my Azu-nyan with a weapon."

"I can't imagine you as a Ninja."

"Eh? I can totally be a Ninja! Nin-nin-nin-nin!"

"What? Where did that come from?" Akira sighed. She would never understand the girl. Better get this over with, she thought. "Well you need to be a Fighter to become a Ravager."

"But you're a Mage too, and that's weird."

"Says you…" she replied quietly. "Well Mages are really good with other classes. That's what the guides say anyway. And the Fighters and Mage unlocks the Ravagers who are really good in groups, de-buffing the enemy and stuff. Wait, let me read the description." She flicked on her computer, finding the guide she was using.

"Ravagers support the team by debilitating the enemy, hindering them so the others have an easier time of defeating the enemy making them valuable against bosses. They have no weapon preference making them useful for anyone regardless of previous skills. Ravagers are also fast to help apply de-buffs quickly and the extra speed works well with a hit-and-run strategy."

Yui blinked rapidly.

"Oh whatever, get back to your work."

"You're really getting into it, Ui." After the close shave with the wolves, Azu-nyan finally relaxed by sitting in the snow.

"I didn't want you to die, that's all," she replied with a smile.

"I'm going to the bathroom for a moment, I'll be right back." Azusa left the room, leaving Ui with the computer. As soon as the door clicked shut, Azu-nyan stared upwards at Ui.

"Oi," she shouted, ignoring any passers-by in game that would hear her, "can you hear me?"

Ui shook her head, taking up the microphone. "I can't hear you."

"What?" Confused, the avatar stabbed her lance into the ground in frustration. "You obviously can!"

"I can lip read."

There was a pause. "Oh… That explains a lot."

Ui smiled. "Hehe. But I didn't know you could talk, you really surprised me. And you can hear me."

"Yeah, we can listen in if you have a microphone. I'd be able to see you if you had a camera though that isn't really necessary."

Ui nodded, then realised her actions couldn't be seen. "It's really weird though. You're in a game, it's like you're alive, why is that?"

"I dunno; I don't do philosophy." Ui thought back to all the games she had played in the past trying to remember if she caught any of them trying to talk to her. However, Azu-nyan interrupted her trail of thought. "So are you going to play or what?"

"No- no, this isn't my game."

"Well, you'd probably be a better player than Azusa."

"R-really? What makes you say that?"

"Well you understand me a lot better- being able to hear me helps." Azu-nyan picked up her Lance again and gave it a few swings. "She doesn't actually know how to play; I do most of the skills, not her, and when she does, she spams the same skills until I'm out of mp. At least I'm covered by potions but still…"

"But Azusa isn't a serious gamer." How her best friend was roped into playing, she didn't know; probably her sister. "Whenever I see her playing, she is also working at the same time."

Azu-nyan wasn't really listening. "Her skill allocation is all wrong too. I have three attacking skills. Only three! And all she does is Sunder that's so over powered, it's wasting mp."

"I don't really understand the game mechanics but would you like me to tell her these things?"

"Really?" The Fighter thought about it. "Nah, I don't think I'm supposed to be able to talk to you people. Tell her to get the Lancer class. It's boring with Sunder, Pierce, and Whirling Blow."

On cue, the door opened and Azusa returned. "Sorry for the wait."

"It's okay. I was just talking…" Ui paused. How does one say they were talking to a game? "Thinking about your skill set up." Azu-nyan put up the skill tree onto the screen to show them.

"I'm finished!" Yui announced.

"Really now…" Akira replied sarcastically, "It's only been a few hours and- Oh, you have." She began flicking through the work, checking whether she was being tricked. However, the essay was finished and there were no doodles. "Well done. Have you proof read it yet?"

"I was hoping you'd help me, Akira-chan!"

"You know what, I'm beat. Let's just play."

"Eh, but you said you'd help me…"

Akira sighed again. "Fine." I'm only going to proof read it, shouldn't take too long…

One hour later…

"Damnit, what the hell is wrong with your grammar?" The essay was in ruin. The moment Akira took her pen to the paper, it was instantly bombarded with red ink as mistakes were circled, scribbled out and rewritten.

"Hehe, Ui says my writing is always interesting."

"That wasn't a compliment!"

Eventually though, Akira put her pen down. "Finished…"

"Thank you Akira!"

"Now go rewrite it all out."

"Eh?"

Akira pointed at the essay that was more red ink than black. "You can't hand that in! Go fix all those mistakes, now!"

"Y-yes ma'am!"

"Lancer Class; front line fighters that wield pole arms instead of swords for the extra range. The mix between the Fighter class and the Guard class allows them to be both offensive and defensive. They can keep enemies at a distance with their weapon speciality behind the safety of a shield or forgo defending and take the momentum of the battle with their charging attacks making them very useful in a team."

Azusa thought about it. "Well I am using a Lance."

"Oi, I'm using the lance, not you," shouted Azu-nyan.

Azusa, "But going Lancer means going Guard."

Ui, "It's only for a few levels."

Azusa, "Ten is not a few levels…"

Ui, "But the only other classes you've unlocked now are Swordsman and Barbarian."

Azu-nyan, "And I do not want to be a Barbarian."

Azusa, "I guess you're right."

Ui smiled; glad to have helped the Avatar.

"So what's a Ninja like?" Akira asked whilst waiting for the patch update on the game.

"It's fun!" Yui also had the laptop booting the game.

"Really? How so?"

"Because I can become invisible!" Suddenly, Yui dived beneath the duvet and poked her head out. "Heehee…"

"You look more like a ghost at the moment…" The white bed sheets were wrapped loosely around her, hiding most of her body. "Never mind, I'll just read the description."

"Ooh, let me see!"

"You're the Ninja, shouldn't you already know?"

"…Nope…"

With a sigh, Akira pulled out her guide again.

"Ninjas are the fastest class and improves on the Thief's assets, improving Stealth and speed. Whilst a very frail class, they gain many movement techniques used for evasion to avoid attacks. They gain access to quick casting elemental magic used for combos and flourishes, useful for distractions and striking at elemental weaknesses in the enemy. They require little support and are one of the best solo classes."

"What does solo mean?" asked Yui.

"When you play on your own."

"Eh, I don't want to be on my own."

"Well you don't have to."

"Oh, it's finished!" Yui pointed at the screen as the patch update finished.

"Hey wait, what's that?" Akira noticed the tournament advertisement. "That looks interesting."

"What, what?"

Akira skim read the page, noticing the prizes especially.

"Oh wow, VR systems. And only for third place."

"What's a VR system?"

"It stands for 'Virtual Reality.' It's a special device that immerses you into a computer generated world where you are the character."

"Sugoi! So if I got one of those, I'll be Giitar?"

"Yeah. That would be pretty cool being an actual Ninja. I'd be a Ravager too."

"But where would Giitar go?"

"Pardon?"

"If I'm the Ninja, then who is Giitar?"

"Well I'd guess you'd be Giitar."

"But if I'm Giitar then who is me?"

Akira paused, wondering whether to shout at her for being too philosophical or to just give up. The effort of the day was getting to her. "Yui, please stop…"

/*Author's notes (th feb)

Ui appears! She can lip read? Well she did learn to be a ventriloquist, and she's just kinda awesome that way. Not sure if she's out of character, I guess she kind of is. I've read a lot of fan fictions since I've seen the anime, though that's a lame excuse. *Considers re-watching entire anime and movie again… with the manga series and the anthology, even though I'm supposed to be revising…*

Sorry for the filler this chapter and last chapter. At least I have a plot point soon, the tournament!

And, there's a deleted scene next 'chapter'. You'll see what I mean when it appears. This deleted scene is something I'm really proud of- I think it's really good (and fluffy). What a deleted scene is will be explained at the start of said deleted scene.

Also, VR systems will make their debut in chapter 11!

*/

/*Review responses

I do this every three reviews, and it's finally happened! (Yay, more random stuff that has nothing to do with the story at all!)

Here we go.

Guest chapter 2 . Feb 13

Very interesting story so far. I had a feeling Mio would pick the archer as soon as I read about it. Giving the avatars a personality is also really cool and it will be interesting to see how it works when they get the VR gear. Can't wait for your next update :D

I've spent a lot of time thinking about it and I'm not going to divulge any details here :P. As mentioned previously in chapter 9, chapter 11 will involve a VR system (it also said don't get your hopes up…) When the VR systems do get properly implemented, it will get more serious. *Evil glint in eye*

shadowssj12 chapter 5 . Mar 2

I love this story. But chapter 5 LoL! It was smart for yui to log out. I do hope they get the new gear soon. But please update soon!

Shadowssj12 out!

I hope you enjoyed that fight chapter J I enjoyed writing it! Usually, I don't plan fight scenes and this is a case of that- I go with the flow of the battle. With the gear, I'm not going to go into that much detail until the VR systems where the characters can actually see for themselves. And there will be special equipment that will pop up every now and then- because rare items are awesome! (And then there were legendries.)

GearUnlocked chapter 1 . Apr 13

Good job on keeping the pace with both of your K-On! stories. Liking this story a lot so far and I honestly don't know how long I can't wait until the next chapter, but then again I have no choice. Keep up the nice job.

Well, you didn't have to wait long! :D Keeping up with both stories wasn't really a good idea since this one is trying to speed ahead whilst the other is being dragged through the mud so I might stop double updating. Only time will tell.

Thank you all for reviewing! It encourages me to carry on and emphasises that people DO read this so I can't be careless and ramble on too much.

Hah, *looks at author's notes* I'll never get rid of those.

*/

"Elizabeth!" shouted Giitar, bursting into the bar like a lost child.

"W-What is it?" The Archer's face was filled with concern. "Are you okay?"

"I haven't seen you, or anyone, all day!" The Ninja fell into her arms, to her surprise.

"It's okay, I haven't seen anyone lately." The waiter shot her a glance.

"Yui didn't turn on her laptop until late and I thought everyone was having fun without me."

"Right… Well Mio's been working all day so I've just been relaxing on my own." She mouthed 'sorry' to the waiter.

"So I haven't missed anything?"

"Since when were you so clingy?"

The door kicked open. "I'm back, bitches!"

"Tainaka, the door has a knob to open it."

"And look at what I found!" She slammed a guide onto the table. "We can learn how to play with this!"

The other two looked at the cover. "How to play the guitar."

"I found it in the trash!" the Mage announced.

"And pray tell what were you doing in the trash?" There was a sarcastic tone in the Archer's voice.

"It was a quest."

"Eh?" Giitar cut in, "that means you were playing today!"

"Yeah, aren't you supposed to be doing work?" Elizabeth scolded.

"Nu-uh, not me, Ritsu was supposed to be-"

"Why didn't you tell her to do her work then!"

"Well I'm a higher level than you now!"

"That's not the point!" The Archer paused. "What level are you now?"

"Twenty seven!"

"No fair!"

"Beat twenty eight!" Azu-nyan appeared, the door once again kicked open.

"Stop kicking my door!"

"Aw," Giitar pouted. "I'm the lowest level here… Azu-nyan, how did you grow up three levels in one day?"

"Because I'm awesome." She called the waiter over. "A Sidecar please."

"So anyway, back to what I found." Tainaka waved the book in front of everyone's faces.

"I see a problem," announced Elizabeth. "Tainaka; Ritsu plays drums."

The Mage paused. "I know that. I got it for you guys."

"That was a suspiciously long pause."

The 'one-who-forgot-she-was-playing-drums' ignored her comrades and pushed the book towards Giitar. "Take out your guitar and start playing."

"Giitar, you've got your fingers in the right place but it's not very smooth." Elizabeth was reading out of the guidebook. "Make sure your arm moves slowly."

"Yeah, and curl your left hand a bit more," Tainaka threw in. "Some of the sounds are off."

"Oh, it says to hold the pick gently between your fingers, not too tightly."

"And don't drop the pick; you're almost there. Straighten your back a bit too."

"Your left wrist has gone floppy again. Try moving your wrist forwards."

"I think you've got one chord down. Now for the next."

"I can't do it." Giitar handed the guitar to Tainaka. "My brain hurts." She collapsed onto the floor in silence. They all waited for her and the moment when someone was about to see whether she was alive, the Ninja wriggled like a worm out of the bar.

"Well that went well." The Archer put the book onto the table. "Hey Azu-nyan, why don't you give it a try? You're the other guitarist."

"After watching that performance? No thanks." The Fighter sighed. "We don't need to learn how to play anyway so what's the point?"

"It's interesting," replied the Mage. They looked at her as she pulled the guitar strap over her shoulder.

"Don't tell me you know how to play…" Azu-nyan got ready to cover her ears.

"I read that book from start to finish, I can't be that bad." Recalling all the advice from the guide, she readied her fingers and played a single chord.

"Oh." The Archer was surprised. "Not bad, that was an E."

"Here's the next one." An F chord rang out. "I'm getting the hang of this."

Elizabeth applauded the results and after a while of experimenting, she flicked to a certain page of the guide book. "Try playing this."

The Mage stared at the book and all she saw were squibles and blotches. "Does anyone know how to read sheet music?"

"Nope," Elizabeth replied.

"Nope," Azu-nyan replied.

"Well, there goes that idea." She placed the guitar on a stand. "Hey, has anyone seen our Prince?"

"No, why?" The Archer thought for a moment. "Didn't they say that one of them was going home for the weekend?"

The Mage put a fist into a palm. "Oh yeah, that was Mugi. Well, I'm off."

"Hey, don't leave that guitar here," the Archer began but the Mage shrugged her off.

"It's not my guitar, it's Giitar's. Return it to her when you get the chance."

"Geez," Elizabeth sighed as the Mage left the bar. She was about to ask Azu-nyan if she'd take the guitar back to its owner but the Fighter had disappeared as well. "Great, they love to disappear like that, don't they?" She stared at the guidebook still in her hands, and then towards the guitar. "Well, can't hurt to try."

/*Author's Notes

The 'advice' on how to play the guitar is taken from K-On! Season 2, episode 3, if you recognised their banter (soon after the opening song) where drummer Ritsu doesn't want to play the drums any more.

*/