Yay! I updated! Finally! Anyway... I tried my best with the fight scenes, but I puked out on it. nn; Forgive me. Also, is being a bitch, so I can't use some symbols. Damn.

Anyway, if you like this fic, please read "Log On!" nn It's a very good story. And she gave me advertising, so I must return the favor!

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Chapter 5: Tournament

The audience exploded with noise for the first match of the semifinals. Two doppelgangers faced each other. One dark, but flippant, the other dressed gaudily, but stoic. It was an interesting standoff. The similarities were startling, not only in their appearance (which could easily be done), but their demeanor (which could not). While Moonstone was more serious and laconic then Sora, both were eager to start the battle, and finish it to the end.

Moonstone said, "…Be strong."

"Of course." Sora replied.

No more words were said; the moment became charged. Sora leaped at his opponent, katars drawn and flashing, releasing the previous tension. Moonstone went back with the force and blocked it with his own blades; he released the parry, feinting to the right and jabbing to Sora's side. Quite an effective maneuver for an opponent with one weapon, but Sora parried both blades and kicked Moonstone back in the chest, sending him skidding across the arena.

"…The Hanged Man." Moonstone used a scroll on Sora, inflicting the status effect Paralysis on Sora.

"Crap." Sora muttered as he started mashing the triangle button in vain as his character flashed yellow and froze. 1 Moonstone, meanwhile, was taking advantage of the status and was busy unleashing combo after combo, effectively draining Sora's HP. By the time the paralysis effect wore off on Sora, his HP was a third gone. 2 The battle continued.

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Supreme Defense… Kite cannot kill me. His bracelet is no more. I will defeat him, and I will live. Cobernik will survive, I will survive. In the void comes Cobernik. The end will be the beginning of a new life for me, as The World descends into Twilight… No one will ever disturb me.

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"MeVak Kruz!" Sora used a scroll to unleash fireball doom onto Moonstone, taking away a chunk of his HP. They both went back and forth, attacking and counterattacking, whatever temporary advantage making no headway. Sora and Moonstone matched each other step for step, move for move. They both were evenly matched; this would be a close win.

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What… Aura… and those that got in my way. A Wavemaster, two Blademasters, a group, and… the Twinblade only spoke in childish sound effects. This… pang of nostalgia is strange.

No matter. They will not shatter it, even if it is cracked. A scream, and Kite… no! The defense was complete! I must… change again… and they will know the true extent of my power.

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The two fighters circled each other in a pause in the battle. This could take awhile, they were both strong, the same tactics, and thus predictable: the fall of any warrior.

The same tactics…

Sora got a brainwave; he adjusted his stance. It had been so long for him, he nearly forgot… How could he forget? It'd be just like old times. Sora launched himself at Moonstone like a dark dart from a crossbow, katars drawn. Moonstone put his own blades up, waiting for the attack that would come. However, instead of thrusting or slashing, Sora withdrew his katars with a metallic shink, leapt up and twisted in the air above Moonstone, putting a hand on his shoulder. Not relinquishing his grip, Sora let the momentum carry him down behind Moonstone. As he was falling, he quickly pressed his fist against Moonstone's back and drew out his katars, stabbing him. Sora then kicked away from him.

This was different. Such a flashy move… it'd be useless on a monster, it would only waste time for minimal damage. But it got past his defense, and neither of them had any more recovery items. He would have to account for this.

Sora was stationary, his eyes glittering as he looked at his opponent. This is what he needed: a different tactic. It had been years since he had PK'ed players left and right, ever since those idiots at CC Corp decided to remove the option. Because of that, Sora begrudgingly admitted to himself, he had gotten rusty. Fighting monsters and fighting people required a completely different style. With monsters, all that matters is to hit as much and as hard as possible, while keeping your health up. Not too difficult. But people think. They adapt to their opponents, block and counterattack any offense thrust at them. If most factors were done away with, like speed and strength, then surprise was a great factor indeed. Time to go back, back to the methods that made him the most feared PK in The World.

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Drain Heart… they will die for defying me. One, two, three branching treads of data streamed off. The server almost crashed, but… that would not be satisfying. I will deal with them myself.

First the Blademaster; he is drained in a flurry of those feathers. Now her… she is dear to Kite; it will demoralize him. She disappeared in pink petals. Now there is only Kite. He will die.

…Fool. Did Elk think that sacrificing himself would make any difference? He is weak, and his affection has only made him feel pain…

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Moonstone was being pushed back, so to speak. Sora was using moves from a lost occupation. He was holding his own, but he couldn't keep up such a defense for long against this erratic assault. Sora utilized the terrain, jumping, ducking, hiding, and attacking from amoung the rocks. It was impossible to predict where the former PK would strike next. He seemed to disappear and reappear randomly. He could feel the beginnings of panic buzzing in his brain; he quickly quelled it. This was no time to panic; he needed to fight back.

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What… what… how… did this happen? Kite's moving closer, closer, too close! Get away! Don't touch me! Go away! Don't… don't hurt me! I… I….

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Moonstone blocked the next attack, and unleashed a brutal force upon Sora, who took it all. Sora didn't expect him to merely use brute force. It was because it was a basic and inelegant tactic that he fell prey to it. Both players' HP was now in the red. The next player to land a hit would win.

Sora smiled, and the smile widened into a grin. "How fun!" he said, "This is great! I haven't had a worthy battle in forever!"

Moonstone, still wary but with like mind, said, "…Same."

"Let's end this and make history!"

With a nod from each, they launched themselves at each other with insane speed. Faster and faster they went, their feet hardly touching the ground in half flight. Closer and closer the two came, it would be over in a few seconds.

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I don't want to die...!

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A great gasp came from the audience as the two clashed; everything was still. Both Sora and Moonstone had their weapons embedded into the other. The next couple of second ticked by like hours as everyone drank in what happened. Then the spell broke and a black cloud erupted around Moonstone, with red letters spelling "Death". Moonstone fell, graying, then rematerialized on the announcement stage; Sora had won.

"…" Moonstone bowed his head, disappointed but oddly fulfilled.

"…The winner is Sora!" Reki said, recovering.

"Yaaaay!" Sora exclaimed, jumping around the arena in childish glee, making little sound effects as he bounced amoung the stone. He stopped momentarily, and ran up to the stage. With a small "Pyon", he jumped and spun, landing on the stage with a "Ta-da!"

Moonstone watched him with hidden eyes, saying nothing.

"I meant what I said," Sora said, "That was really fun. If I didn't have the 'Death' effect, maybe you could've gotten lucky." He winked, "Even though you died first, I only have 20 HP left. You cut that pretty close!"

Moonstone targeted Sora. It was true; his HP was at a nearly non-existent 20.

"So, let's fight again sometime! I don't want to be rusty. What do you say?" Sora held out his hand.

Moonstone looked at the proffered hand, and shook it.

"Wow! That was a great fight, right, Morgana?" Lane said, clapping along with the audience at the winner.

"…Hmm? Oh, yes. It was an… interesting display."

"…You weren't watching, huh?" Lane said, grinning.

Morgana was surprised at Lane's perception, "Er, no. I was… thinking about the past."

"Well, that's ok, but these fights are interesting, you should at least watch them."

"Ok. I will." Morgana watched as Sora flashed peace signs at the audience. Everyone was shouting, asking for his Member Address, each trying to make themselves heard. While Sora ignored them, he still all accepted Member Addresses sent to him by newfound fans.

After the fans quieted down, Balmung took the microphone from Reki's hand and said to the keyed up crowd, "Very good match, both of you. I think they deserve a hand, don't they, folks?" Wild cheers erupted from the crowd as thunderous applause shook the stands, "Our next match will be between the players Kite and Grove!" more applause as the two Twinblades stepped into the fighting area, "Everyone ready? Begin!"

"I get to fight the legendary .hacker, huh?" Grove said.

"I guess, yeah." Kite responded.

"So it's true; people said you were very modest." Grove smiled.

"Well, I just did what I had to…" Kite said, "But we should probably start, right?"

"Good point. Let's go!"

They both launched at each other, releasing multi-hit combos in midair, and then turning to leap up into the air again. It was a more direct fight then it was with Sora and Moonstone's match. Kite had the advantage, since he was five levels higher then Grove, and thus had higher stats, but Grove managed to hold his own for a while.

Grove moved about a lot, ducking and weaving between the rocky outcrops and striking Kite when he found an opening. Because of the level difference, he was forced to use these hit-and-run methods, but it may sustain him through the match.

No such chance; Kite pursued him where he went, aided by an Ap Do he had cast. Grove was forced to go head to head with Kite.

It was fast-paced, a barrage of blows and blocks from both parties, furiously pounded out in rapid tempo. Left, left, right, duck, thrust, X-slash, block, back, left-right, stab, duck, jump – Grove landed on a rock, kicking away a muttering Root Vegetable. Kite switched his weapons to a pair of katars and dove toward Grove with one blade outstretched. 3 Grove blocked with both blades in a cross shape and smiled.

"Do you know why I'm smiling, Man in Red?" Grove asked.

"Why?"

"Because I'm not left-handed."

Kite was confused, "What? We both have two weapons."

Grove sighed, then broke the parry and jumped back to the ground, "Never mind."

The battle continued at the fast pace of before. Grove could only block four out of five hits, and once the "Death" effect cause him to go into the red. Kite switched weapons back to Prepare to Die and left himself open. Grove delivered a blow, but it left his own defenses open for a stab from Kite, and Grove's HP was reduced to 0.

Away up at the admin's stand, Grove regenerated next to Moonstone. "Aw man," Grove moaned, "Ah well, I guess the best won, right, Kite?"

Kite's response was drowned out by the uproarious noise from the crowd as soon as they realized who won. There were many more cheers and adorations for Kite, along with support from fans of Grove. In fact, a group of female Long Arms Whispered to Grove that they could PK Kite, an offer which Grove soundly refused.

"That was awesome!"

"Wow, that was short, huh?"

"Well, they did have a level difference…"

"Oh, be quiet, Zaiten! You're boring!"

"B-but…"

Morgana turned from the noise of the crowds when Lane tugged on her sleeve. Looking at him quizzically, he pointed to a spot of pink in the crowd surging around Kite. The pink splotch then let out a shriek of joy and clambering back up the stands, and the pink dot turned into Kettle. She was out of breath but smiling. Her eyes gleamed as she exclaimed, "I got it! I actually got it! I'm so happy"

"About what?" Lane asked.

Kettle clasped her hands and sighed, "Oh! I got an Ivory Barrette from him! I'll treasure it forever" she took it out of her inventory and snapped it onto her hair. 4

Suppressing a laugh, but smiling nonetheless, Lane said, "Good for you, Kettle-chan."

"Thank you very much, Lane-kun." She glowed. She then leaned over to say to Morgana, "How are you enjoying the tournament, Morgana?"

She shrugged, "I'm not all that interested, to tell the truth."

"Oh, really?" Kettle asked, her enthusiasm wearing off. Morgana shook her head.

"Ok, how about we'll meet you back here when the tournament is done? How's that?" Lane said kindly. Morgana nodded and left.

She wandered around the area, though it wasn't all that interesting. The arena was rock-strewn, but the rest of the area was a copse. There were a few players milling about. A Long Arm and a Fighter were talking about the odds of each player, and a Heavyblade stuck her sword in the ground and leaded against it, falling asleep in the digital sun. Walking away a few paces, she settled under a magnolia tree amoung a group of crown imperial flowers; she looked up at the glossy green leaves, where large white flowers peeked out at her. On one branch, a fat red and white caterpillar was munching on a leaf. Morgana sighed. The wind rustled the leaves and bright yellow of the crown imperials. 5

Morgana thought about all of the players she had made friends with. The first was Lory, the chipper OL; then there was Nezumi, the gentle HeavyBlade; Shake, the acute Long Arm; Lane, a kind Wavemaster who liked mythology; Kettle, the darling Heavy Ax, and Grove, the Twinblade. Even though she knew some better then others, the way that they had treated her – warmly, kindly, amicably – had a profound effect on Morgana. She considered each one her friend, even the ones whom she had only just met. She finally knew why humans craved companionship: the connections forged with other individuals not only offered different perspectives, but it felt nice to be around other people whom you cared about, and care about you. Feeling friendship directly for herself gave Morgana new understanding to a whole side of human behavior.

Her musing were interrupted when a voice said, "Here you are." Morgana looked up and internally groaned; it was Balmung, and he did not look happy.

Morgana coolly raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be at the event?" she asked dryly, "After all, you did host it; it would be shirking your responsibilities to leave before the tournament was over."

"The battle already finished, so I am free of my obligations." Balmung replied coldly, "It was quick; a tie." He added as an afterthought.

"Good to know." She said.

"Who are you?" Balmung asked abruptly, "You appear in a forbidden field, you talk about me trivializing you when you said I trivialized The World. Also." He stepped closer, his green eyes narrowing 6, "Your name: Morgana."

"So?"

"So, I think you're just who I think you are."

"And that would be?" Morgana asked.

"The Wave."

Balmung and Morgana stared at one another, neither moving. Without another word, Morgana logged out. Things were not going well.

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1 Two things: one, Sora never swears, so he isn't going to now. Two, haven't you all started "flailing" with your PS2 joysticks, or mashing the menu triangle button when you got a status effect, even if the gesture was useless? It's a natural reaction.

2 Well, he does have a lot of HP, right? Please don't flame me D:

3 These are, obviously, Sora's Blades, which are different (in this fic) from the katars Sora uses in /SIGN onwards. :3 Creative license, yo

4 More creative license :3

5 These are a real flower, I suggest google imaging "crown imperial flower" – they're very pretty.

6 My God, Baltan's eye color changes like a Mary Sue's. In /SIGN, it's black; the games, green; /Udeden, blue; in the crappy /Udeden anime, indigo. It's confusing, so I'm gonna opt to stick with the game color, ok?

Whew! What's Obachan gonna do, huh? Things get moving, plot-wise. I tried making this chapter long, so that

Hehe, "fireball doom". XD That phrase was fun to write. I think the word "doom" is highly trivialized nowadays, at least online. It's always "noun of DOOM!" I dunno, doom kinda lost its impact since it's used so much.

Any way, I beat /Quarantine while writing this, so the flashbacks are edited appropriately :3 Woot. Also, I will chuck a brick through the window of the person who had the bright idea of having Sora speak leet in English D Seriously. His Japanese is normal, so why..? Grrr, at least my friends agree, so I can be satiated… ah well. So that's why his speech is normal, for all you nitpickers out there. :3

On a lighter note, have any of you lovely reviewers noticed anything? Within this fic, there is a secret message that is lengthened with each chapter. I will also include a separate message through my fic, which will also be lengthened, for the keen-eyed. Hehehe.

Actually, I asked a lot of people for their opinions about who should win, and it ended up even. I was distraught about what to do, but my friend suggested this end, and I loved the idea. . It solved the problem nicely.

I also like the references in here ;D See if you can find them all. There are three in total.

Random Omake: Stare

Morgana and Balmung stared at each other, not moving.

Morgana: stare

Balmung: stare

Both: start kissing

Me: Hey! Stop that!