Last time found the team fracturing, with some of the gamers wanting out of the quest, with the rest sticking with Kirito, Asuna and Kairi. Leaving an exhausted Kairi in the care of Yui, Asuna and Kazuto logged off in order to meet with the college recruiter, Dr. Samantha Armitage, whom had far more than academics on the agenda. After hearing an offer too good to be true, Kazuto received a call from Suguha saying that Kairi was gone. 'Nuff said, on with the show!"
Chapter 5: Back to Hell House
Kazuto nearly broke the speed limit on his way back home, his motorcycle screeching to a halt outside his house where Suguha was waiting on the front porch.
"I had nothing to do with it, Onisan," said Suguha as Kazuto walked in, "and don't blame Yui, she…"
"I told you I'm not mad at anyone, Sugu," said Kazuto, "maybe Kairi, but not you or Yui. Let's just get back online and find Kairi before she gets into anymore trouble."
"Just one thing, Onisan," said Suguha, "who's Kairi?"
"I'll explain when we're back online," said Kazuto, "come on!"
The adopted siblings went upstairs to their respective rooms and readied their Full Dive equipment, Kazuto his Nerve Gear and Suguha her AmuSphere.
"Link Start!" they said once they were ready.
…New Aincrad…Floor 6...Milliways…
One double-login sequence later found Kirito and Leafa materializing outside Milliways. Hovering anxiously in front of the tavern was Yui.
"I'm sorry, Papa!" said Yui franticly as she flew up to Kirito, "I fell asleep and when I woke up, Kairi was gone!"
"I'm not mad at you, Yui-chan," said Kirito, "you did nothing wrong."
"But I did, Papa," said Yui, "I promised you and Mama that I'd look after Kairi, and now she's gone and who knows what's happened to her?"
"I can guess where she went," said Kirito, "but where's your mother? She must have logged back in by now."
"Mama did come in and is looking for Kairi," aid Yui, "she told me to stay and wait for you and Leafa. She was so upset, Mama, she looked ready to kill someone."
"She's just worried about Kairi, Yui-chan," said Kirito in a comforting manner, "you did nothing wrong, trust me."
"I…I do, Papa," said Yui as she calmed down and flew onto Kirito's shoulder, "it's just…for a while it seemed like Kairi and I were sisters, and then she ran away, and I couldn't stop her."
"Would someone please tell me who Kairi is and why is she causing so much grief?" Leafa asked.
"Just wait a minute, Leafa," said Kirito, "one thing first. Which way did your mother go, Yui?"
"That way," said Yui as she pointed up the road.
"Then that's where we'll go," said Kirito as he summoned his wings and hovered, while Leafa did the same, "now, Leafa, about Kairi."
Kirito spent the next several minutes explaining Kairi to Leafa, from when he and Asuna first found Kairi in The Town of Beginnings, meeting with Trillian, Albion, Xenophon, Mercedes, Felix and Beatrice, realizing that Kairi had been digitized, the connection with Hell House, exploring the cursed dungeon, all the way up to leaving her to rest while he and Asuna logged off.
"She's really flesh and blood?" Leafa asked as she, Kirito and Yui flew towards Hell House, "but digitized? How's that possible? That kind of technology doesn't exist, at least I don't think so."
"Well, she's here and she's as real as we are in the real world," said Kirito, "and if Kairi gets hurt here, she really gets hurt."
"And if she dies in the game…" faltered Leafa, not wanting to finish her statement.
"Which is why we've got to find and stop her before she tries to take on Hell House all by herself," said Kirito.
"Look!" shouted Yui as she pointed ahead, "I can see Mama!"
Kirito and Leafa looked straight ahead and saw a blue dot chasing a red and pink dot.
"They're over the forest!" said Kirito, "let's go!" with that he, Yui and Leafa accelerated as fast as their faerie wings could take them, easily catching up with Asuna just as she reached the mountain atop which the cursed dungeon lay. But what was truly surprising was that Asuna was chasing after Kairi, whom was flying, without wings.
"This is impossible!" exclaimed Leafa as she saw Kairi dodge Asuna's attempt to grab her, "you can't fly in ALO without wings! How's she doing this?!"
"Let's find out!" said Kirito as he dove in to try and grab Kairi, whom saw him approach and dodged him, only to find Asuna try to come at her from another direction. Kairi avoided Asuna and flew up, forcing Asuna and Kirito to come at her at the same time. Kairi changed direction so fast that Kirito and Asuna had no time to alter course and wound up colliding with each other in midair.
But then Leafa began chanting a spell, the words of power appearing around her as the spell took shape. The incantation was completed and with a flash of light, Kairi was ensnared by heavy chains that dragged her towards the ground.
Kirito and Asuna recovered from their collision in time to dive and catch Kairi before she hit the ground, only to nearly drop her as Kairi struggled against the chains.
"Let me go!" exclaimed Kairi, "let me go! I have to save them!"
"I know you do!" said Kirito as he and Asuna held onto Kairi, "but you can't do it alone! Now stop struggling before you hurt yourself!"
"I'm already hurting!" said Kairi, "I'm hurting because I let everyone down!"
"If you don't calm down and pull yourself together, I'm gonna smack you!" said Asuna in a serious tone.
"She'll do it, Kairi," said Kirito, "she'll smack some sense into you no matter what."
At that Kairi stopped struggling and relaxed, allowing Kirito and Asuna to set her down in the ground, "now, before anything else, Kairi, this is my sister, Sugu."
"Call me Leafa," said the buxom Sylph as she smiled confidently.
"Nice to meet you," said Kairi. She then glared at Kirito and Asuna, "now, would you please take these chains off of me so I can save Chrissie and the others?"
"Why are you so driven to save your friends?" Asuna asked, "yes, they're your friends, but if you keep going on the way you are right now, you'll most likely get yourself killed, and then where will your friends be?"
"But I have to save them," said Kairi, "it's my fault they're in this mess."
"You remember more?" Kirito asked.
"I remember everything," said Kairi, "especially how I got here. Not how I wound up digitized, that part's still fuzzy, but how my friends and I wound up digitized. Sora and I, we and the others were in Rapture, an underwater metropolis that had doomed itself, long story. Chrissie and her friends, they'd helped us and we promised to take them to a better place that could possibly offer them a cure to the drug that they had become addicted to, another long story.
"But then we were attacked by Columbina, a sorceress of terrible dark power whom hates Sora and the rest of us so much she's willing to destroy entire worlds in order to take us out, and believe me, she tried."
"What'd you do to piss her off so bad?" Leafa asked.
"It's complicated," said Kairi, "regardless, Columbina is pure evil. Everything she touches, she corrupts into something foul and dark. Everything innocent she comes across she warps into something she can use as a weapon, or just for spite. She took a friend of mine, Bethany, an innocent girl, and destroyed her. Bethany, who had hopes and dreams for a better future after surviving hell on earth, who played designated hitter for her school's baseball team, is gone, and in her place is something Sora and I hoped would never become a reality; a Princess of Dark."
"Okay, you've lost me," said Leafa.
"It's another long story," said Kairi, "Bethany…no…Lady Darklight, she used her new dark powers against us. Sora and the others, we all were all but defenseless against her. We were thrown out of reality and separated by time and space. Sora, Riku, Aiden, Tess and Malcolm, they fell into one wormhole, while Chrissie and her friends fell into another, and all so Darklight could test her powers out. I just happened to be taken to the same world as Chrissie and her group wound up on because Columbina had people under her control working on something here."
"She's the one who had you digitized!?" said Asuna in an accusing tone.
"It seems that way," said Kairi, "but that's only part of why I'm so upset. Yes, my friends are lost somewhere in time and space and I couldn't do anything to save them, but I'll be damned if I don't save Chrissie and her friends, and I've got to save them before it's too late."
"Too late for what?" Kirito asked.
"Remember when I said they were addicted to a drug?" Kairi asked, "it's more than an addiction, it's a dependence. The drug, ADAM, has altered their DNA, granting them enhanced strength, speed, endurance, increased their intelligence and endowed them with magic-like abilities. But it all comes with a price."
"Of course it does," said Leafa.
"The drug must be so addicting that if they stop taking it, it could kill them," said Kirito.
"But not before driving them insane and mutating them into gibbering, homicidal maniacs," said Kairi, "that's why I need to find Chrissie and the others. I have to find and get them to someone who can make more of the special EVE they need to keep their addiction under control. They only had a few doses of EVE left when the crap hit the fan."
"Okay, now it all makes sense," said Kirito, "I understand why you're so upset, but we can't let you go off to save your friends, not alone."
"And we're certainly can't go until Xenophon and Mercedes get back," said Asuna, "come to think of it, I do believe some of our friends are online right now and are free to help. Just give me a second," she then brought up her contact list from her menu.
"Well, then," said Kairi, "if you're gonna do that, would you mind doing me just a small favor?" she then indicated her chains.
"I got it," said Leafa. She then chanted another spell and the chains vanished.
"Thanks," said Kairi as she stood up, rubbing her wrists where the chains bound her the tightest, "I think we got off on the wrong foot; nice to meet you, Leafa."
"Nice to meet you too, Kairi," said Leafa as she and Kairi shook hands, "are you really from another world? And how were you able to fly without wings?"
"I'm from a lot of worlds, depending on how you look at it," said Kairi, "as for my flying," she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small pouch of Pixy Dust, "I remembered the few times Sora and I flew with this stuff. I don't know how but it appeared in my pocket when I remembered. As to how it works," she closed her eyes in concentration, smiled and rose up a few feet in the air, "just think happy thoughts."
"Happy thoughts, of course," said Kirito in a slightly exasperated tone as Kairi settled back on the ground.
Just then came four teleportation flashes, signaling the arrival of four individuals.
"Klien!" said Kirito, "Agil, Lisbeth, Silica!"
"Yo, Kirito," said Klien as he and the others approached, "what'cha getting us into this time?"
"Is this…no way," said Lisbeth as she looked up the mountain and saw the cursed dungeon, "is this Hell House?"
"You want to take on Hell House?" Agil asked, "no thank you!"
"That place is nothing but trouble!" said Silica, while her dragon partner, Pina, nodded in agreement.
"I know it's trouble," said Asuna, "but we have to go in there. But first thing's first. This is Kairi. Long story short, she's been digitized and uploaded into the game against her will. Kairi this are some of our friends from SAO."
"Lisbeth's a Leprechaun Blacksmith, Agil's an Axe-wielding Gnome who owns an item store, Silica's a Cait Sith Beast Tamer, while Klien's a Samurai Salamander. Don't let his rough appearance and sheer ugliness fool you, he's one tough player."
"At least I don't compensate my faults with really big swords," said Klien. He then looked at Kairi, "nice to meet you and are you looking for a boyfriend?"
Klien was then roughly shoved away by Lisbeth, "ignore him, he's girl crazy."
"Are you really here?" Silica asked in an awed tone, "that's your real body and stuff?"
"It certainly feels real to me," said Kairi.
"But who would do this to you?" Agil asked.
"A very evil woman and her very evil creation," said Kairi, "long story."
"The short version is that she pissed off a very bad sorceress and is now stuck here," said Kirito, "and so is some of her friends."
"Which is why we're gong to conquer Hell House come hell or high water," said Asuna.
"We'll have to go through a lot of water to get through Hell House," said Lisbeth, "that place is hardcore."
"It's more than hardcore," said Kairi. She then told Agil, Klien, Silica and Lisbeth about The Heartless and seeing Chrissie.
"And you think that these Heartless got into the game because someone hacked the dungeon?" Agil asked.
"They'd have to be the best hackers in like…forever!" said Klien, "no one was able to hack the original SAO."
"Which is why we're going to have to be extra careful," said Kirito, "because if I were these guys, then I'd be able to see whatever was going on in Hell House and record all data of the players who try to beat the dungeon."
"You think they saw and got data on us?" Asuna asked.
"Saw and analyzed," said Kirito, "they know our stats, items, magic and fighting styles, just as they know about every other player who's tried to beat Hell House."
"If they know all about ALO players," said Leafa, "they know each fairy race, their strengths and weaknesses."
"They'll cream us if we go in there!" said Lisbeth.
"Not this time," said Yui, "Mama, Papa, I think I know how we can conquer the dungeon and save Kairi's friends."
"How, Yui-chan?" asked Asuna.
"I can give you back your old stats," said Yui, "as strong as you were at the end of SAO, so you will be again here and now."
"You mean, how I was when I first started ALO?" Kirito asked, "with all my player stats and items? I thought I deleted it all when New Aincrad started."
"So did I," said Asuna, "I had my original player data erased when I turned in my Nerve Gear and bought an AmuSphere."
"We all had our old data deleted," said Agil, while Lisbeth, Klien an Silica nodded in agreement.
"Yes, your old data is gone, but not forgotten," said Yui, "the data still exists in the servers."
"Of course!" said Kirito, "it's still there! Gone but not forgotten!"
"What are you…oh, I get it!" said Kairi, "like how you can recover deleted data from a computer hard drive as long as the drive isn't reformatted."
"Exactly," said Yui.
"Can you do it, Yui-chan?" asked Silica, "bring back our old data?"
"Yeah," said Yui, "just give me a minute."
Just then came two teleportation flashes, followed by the appearance of Xenophon and Mercedes.
"We're back!" said Xenophon eagerly, "and we have the combination to the air shield!"
At that Kirito, Asuna, Yui, Leafa, Kairi, Klien, Agil, Silica, and Lisbeth, all looked at Xenophon as if he had just said something incredibly strange.
"What?" Xenophon asked, "oh crying out loud! Am I the only one here who's ever seen 'Spaceballs!?'"
"Is that some kind of sport?" Silica asked.
"Oh, God, I miss the 20th Century," sighed an exasperated Xenophon as he facepalmed.
"Yeah, sure, whatever," said Mercedes, "anyway, we're back, and we may have something that can give us an edge over Hell House."
"We may have an edge ourselves," said Asuna.
"That's great," said Xenophon, "we're gonna need all the help we can get."
Just then there were four teleportation flashes, followed by the arrival of Beatrice, Felix, Trillian and Albion.
"Speak of the devil," said Mercedes with venomous vindictiveness, "the prodigal heroes return."
"We'll send you an apology email later," said Beatrice, "we've got work to do."
"What makes you think we want your help again?" Asuna asked as she put her hands on her hips, "you ran out on us."
"And all because you were afraid of losing your data and having to buy a new AmuSphere," said Kirito.
"Okay, I admit it, we wimped out!" said Felix, "I for one am filled with shame. If this were Ancient Rome, I'd either stab myself in the heart here and now, or go home, take a hot bath, slice my wrists and bleed to death."
"I'd just want to say I'm sorry," said Trillian as she walked up to Kirito, Asuna and Kairi, "I shouldn't have abandoned you," she looked at Kairi, "especially you. You needed our help and we let you down."
"It's alright, you came back," said Kairi, "that's all that matters."
"Well, we wouldn't have if Albion hadn't barraged our email mailboxes with messages shaming us into coming back," said Felix.
"I felt really bad about leaving," said Albion, "can you ever forgive me?"
"You're already forgiven," said Kairi, "and together, we'll beat Hell House."
"And figure out how to get you back to the real world," said Leafa.
"Uh, it seems some introductions are in order," said Albion as he looked at Leafa and the others.
"Are you kidding me?" Mercedes asked, "you don't know who these guys are?
"They're famous," said Trillian, "Not as famous as Kirito and Asuna, but still famous."
"Four legendary heroes of Sword Art Online," said Xenophon, "Agil, The Merchant of Algade; Lisbeth, the greatest blacksmith in all of Aincrad."
"Oh, please, you're too kind," said Lisbeth smugly.
"Silica," said Felix, "who ran all the way to hell to resurrect her beloved dragon, Pina."
"It really wasn't hell," said an embarrassed Silica, while Pina nodded in agreement.
"And Klien, leader of the Fuurinkazan Guild," said Beatrice as she walked up to Klien, "nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you," said Klien, "and are you single?"
"Yes and I wish to stay that way," said Beatrice.
"Hey, I just realized something," said Trillian, "there's nine of us."
"You mean thirteen, counting Kairi, and Yui," said Lisbeth.
"No, I meant nine different faeries," said Trillian, "I'm a Pooka, Albion's an Imp, you're a Leprechaun, Klien's a Salamander, Agil's a Gnome, Silica's a Cait Sith, Leafa's a Sylph, Kirito's a Spriggan and Asuna's an Undine."
"Okay, so you're different races," said Mercedes, "lots of fantasy RPG's have parties made up of different races."
"Remind me to tell you about some of the races from the early Ultima games," said Xenophon, "now that's old school gaming."
"You still don't get it," said Trillian in a disappointed tone, "the whole idea of Alfheim Online was for the nine faerie races to fight and PK each other, not to get along."
"That was Sug 's intent," said Kirito, "he didn't want any of the races to join forces to make it to the top of The World Tree."
"I think I get it," said Kairi as she looked at Kirito and the other ALO players, "this must be the first time a member from each of the nine faerie races has worked together."
"Huh? Oh! You're right!" said Leafa happily, "this is gaming history we're living in."
"Well, that's just fantastic," said Beatrice, "now," she looked up the mountain where Hell House waited, "how to crack this demonic nut?"
"Can't we just enjoy the moment before jumping into the jaws of hell again?" Trillian asked.
"If we get out of it alive, yes," said Xenophon, "anyway, I talked to some really smart and computer savvy friends of mine and they believe they know how the dungeon was hacked. They don't know who, but they have a theory about the method."
"Our hacker friends are trying to trace the evil hackers," said Mercedes, "and in the meantime they've sent us a program that can raise our stats while in Hell House; I'll be stronger, faster, tougher and all in all, kick at least four times as much ass."
"Where as I will have my own attributes quadrupled," said Xenophon, "which means more spell casting, longer lasting spell effects, more stamina and magical energy, not to mention being able to cast spells faster."
"That's cheating," said Lisbeth as she smiled mischievously.
"Our enemies are cheating," said Xenophon, "they've changed the game in their favor, making it all but impossible for us to win by playing fair."
"Sometimes the only way to win is to cheat," said Beatrice, "and sometimes it's not the fact that you do cheat, but how you cheat."
"Any chance you can send us this program?" Felix asked.
At that Xenophon brought up his menu, selected an item, which appeared in the game as a blue sphere. Xenophon then activated the item, allowing him access to encrypted areas of his menu.
"You're actually altering your player data," said an impressed Beatrice.
"If any GM or Admin were to catch us, we'd be banned from gaming for life," said Albion.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures," said Xenophon as he finished hacking his player data, then transferred the item to Mercedes, whom then began hacking her own data.
"It's like an old Game Genie," said Trillian.
"Or the Konami Code," said Albion.
"Oh, so I'm not the only one with nostalgia for the old days," said an impressed Xenophon.
"Well, we've got our own Konami Code," said Kirito, "or we will as soon as Yui-chan finishes her work."
"Almost done, Papa," said Yui as she focused her thoughts. Behind her innocent eyes lay a powerful artificial intelligence that was searching through buried computer files for recoverable data.
Finally she smiled with satisfaction, "there they are: the backup servers for Sword Art Online. Just a little more digging and…there! Your stats will return to what they were any second now."
"I feel it already!" said Lisbeth as she opened her menu, "check out those numbers!"
"I feel like I could pick up where we left off in the old Aincrad," said Klien as he, Silica and Agil examined their stats.
"What about me? I was never in the old Aincrad," said Leafa.
"That's what this is for," said Xenophon as he held up the hacking sphere, "it's yours if you want it."
"Uh…let me think about it for a second," said an unsure Leafa. "Are you sure that this thing is safe?"
"As safe as our hacker friends say it is," said Mercedes, "then again, a lot of hackers aren't very social and aren't that trustworthy, so who knows?"
"Life is a gamble," said Beatrice, "sometimes you have to throw the dice and hope for the best."
"Would you look at that!" said Asuna as she examined her inventory. She selected an item and equipped as her main weapon a magnificently crafted rapier. She drew the blade and held it out, examining it from all sides.
"Ah, Lambent Light," said Lisbeth in an impressed tone, "one of the best rapiers in the game."
"Hello, old friend," said Asuna as she looked adoringly at Lambent Light, "it's been a while."
Kirito then opened his inventory and selected an item. On his back across from his great sword materialized a black scabbard in which was sheathed a large pitch-black and gray trimmed sword with an elaborate hilt and cross guard.
"And that's Elicudator," said Lisbeth, "another powerful sword," she frowned a bit, "it broke one of the best that I made."
"Kirito, your Dual Blade skill!" said Klien.
At that Kirito lifted his great sword and Elicudator and swung a few practice swings with both, "this brings back memories." He then sheathed his swords, then looked into his inventory again, blinking with surprise as he found an item, "oh, another old friend." He selected another item and in his hands appeared a black coat.
"Your old Coat of Midnight," said Asuna.
"You still have that thing?" Lisbeth asked, "that thing's seen better days."
"It's the same as it was that last day in the old Aincrad," said Kirito as he brushed some dust off the coat.
"Aren't you gonna put it on?" Leafa asked.
"No," said Kirito, "this belonged to Kirito the Beater, the most hated player in Sword Art Online. That player doesn't exist anymore."
"Well, you still have that coat," said Silica, "it'd be a waste to just throw it away."
"I'll take it if you don't want it," said Agil, "it still has an evasiveness and stealth boost. I'm sure some player in need would appreciate it, so I'll take it off your hands, Kirito, for a reasonable price."
"Oh sure, and pay me a fraction of its worth and quadruple the retail price when you try to sell it?" asked Kirito, "I don't think so! I'd rather give it away," he then looked at Kairi and handed her the Coat of Midnight.
"For me?" Kairi asked, "I…no, I can't accept this."
"You don't like it?" Kirito asked.
"Well…I kinda do," said Kairi, "but I just can't. I appreciate the offer, thank you, but…"
"But nothing," said Asuna in an insisting manner, "you'll take the coat and like it!"
"Alright, mother," said Kairi in a sarcastic manner as she took the coat from Kirito, while Yui giggled.
"What?" Asuna asked.
"Nothing, Mama," said Yui as she smiled innocently.
"Well?" Kairi asked as she tried on the coat, "what do you think? It's too big for me, right?"
"No, it fits you well," said Kirito.
"Really well," said Asuna, "in fact, it's almost as if it was made for you."
"No way," said Kairi, "it fitted Kirito and we're two completely different sizes."
"Well, see for yourself," said Lisbeth as she brought out a large hand mirror from her inventory. Kairi looked at her reflection and was pleasantly surprised to find that the Coat of Midnight did fit her well.
"How'd you do that?" an astonished Trillian asked.
"It's almost as if she can alter the programming of the item," said Beatrice, "instinctively, that is."
"Like how she was able to imagine Pixy Dust and some of it appeared in her pocket," said Leafa.
"Pixy Dust?" Mercedes asked.
"Yeah, Pixy Dust," said Kairi as she sprinkled a few pinches of the golden dust on her head, renewing her power of flight, which she then displayed to Mercedes and the others.
"Well, you're just full of surprises," said an impressed Mercedes.
"Oh, before I forget," said Kairi as she landed on the ground again, she then summoned her Keyblade and showed it to Lisbeth, Klien, Silica, Agil and Leafa.
"Nice," said an impressed Lisbeth as she examined the Keyblade, "very nice. Where'd you get it?"
"A friend gave it to me," said Kairi, "long story, and it's not for sale."
"Hey, I'm not that kind of girl," said Lisbeth, "if I wanted a sword like this, I'd figure out how to make it. You want someone who'd buy it cheep off of you and sell it at a premium to some hapless sucker, talk to Agil."
"I'm not that much of a skinflint," said Agil.
"Sure you're not," teased Lisbeth.
"Give me the thing," said Leafa to Xenophon.
"That was some fast thinking," said Xenophon as he transferred the hacking item to Lisbeth.
"I just want to be on the same playing field as Onisan and the others," said Lisbeth as the item quadrupled her stats, "nothing more, nothing less. This is temporary, right?"
"It should be," said Xenophon, "just delete the item from your inventory before you logout and your stats should be back to normal the next time you login."
"Good to know," said Trillian, "so let's go bust some ghosts already!"
With that everyone either flew, jumped or was carried, up the mountainside and was at the front door of Hell House. This time they were ready for when the door opened by itself.
"Anyone want to back out, now's the time," said Kirito.
"Not this time," said Beatrice, "let's do this."
"My friend Aiden always said that before we got into trouble," said Kairi.
"Well, I'm happy to invoke his words for you," said a grinning Beatrice.
…The Real World…
"Look who's back for Round 2," said Dr. Remington as he, Drs. Weatherby and Winchester, saw on the main screen as Kairi, Kirito, Asuna and the others, walked into the foyer of Hell House.
"They brought reinforcements this time," said Dr. Weatherby, "and the three who were defeated before, they've returned," he checked a data readout, "with uninfected characters no less."
"They must have figured out how to purge their data and Amuspheres of the virus," said Dr. Winchester, "no matter. This time we'll give them a lesson in terror that they'll never forget."
"Enough Heartless to wipe out all of Kairi's friends," said Dr. Remington, "leaving her alone for us to do with as we please."
"Someone get some popcorn," said Dr. Weatherby, "I'm going to enjoy this."
…Hell House…
"Welcome, brave mortal travelers. We're so pleased you decided to stop by. The masters of the house, all 999 resident spirits, wish you a pleasant stay, one that will be long and…well resting." the voice then laughed again.
"Yeah, yeah, get on with it already," said an impatient Mercedes.
"It's a pre-rendered aspect of the dungeon," said Beatrice, "you can't skip it."
"It's not a cutscene?" Mercedes asked.
"Since when has any of Kayaba's work ever had cut scenes?" Xenophon.
"Alas, the masters of the house aren't in the best of moods today. You've come at a most unfortunate time. A most unwelcome guest has arrived before you, one that has brought nothing but trouble to this humble haunted house."
"Will you hurry up already!" snapped Mercedes, "we want to start the freaking quest!"
"The masters have asked me to submit to you this request," the voice continued, "to rid this most esteemed mansion of the unwelcome…"
All of a sudden the voice cut out.
"That's more like it," said Mercedes.
Just then the foyer expanded to the size of a basketball court and was filled with scores of data-type Heartless.
"You just had to jinx it, didn't you?" snapped Felix as he and the others readied their weapons, just as the first of the data-type Heartless rushed at them, only for Xenophon blasted them with a wave of fire from his staff, followed by another wave of fire from Leafa.
…The Real World…
"What the frak?" a confused Dr. Remington asked as he and the other Foundation X personnel watched the battle, in which Kairi, Kirito, Asuna and the others effortlessly mowed down the data-type Heartless. No matter how many new Heartless were spawned, the heroes were able to easily destroy them.
"Either the instruments are defective," said Dr. Weatherby, "the Heartless are defective, our eyes are deceiving us, or those players are much, much stronger than before?"
"Easily three times as strong," said Dr. Winchester as he checked a data readout, "or more."
"'Or more?!'" asked Dr. Weatherby, "how is this possible?"
"I don't know, we have insufficient data at this time," said Dr. Remington venomously as he watched the online battle in progress, "look at those brats with their absurd clothing and ridiculous weapons. How I detest online roll playing games and those who waste their lives playing them."
"Then why are you involved in this project?" Dr. Winchester asked.
"Because the ends justify the means," said Dr. Remington.
"I think we've had enough of watching those brats make mincemeat out of The Heartless," said Dr. Weatherby. "Gentlemen, I believe it's time to unleash DiDe."
"She's not ready!" snapped Dr. Winchester.
"She'll never be ready at the rate you're going," said Dr. Weatherby coldly, "no, I believe that she's as ready as she'll ever be."
"And you wish to use her on these impudent gamers?" asked Dr. Remington.
"And use her to torment Kairi until her soul shatters," said Dr. Weatherby, "she just needs a few adjustments and she's good to go." With that he went to one of the terminals and began typing.
"Are you certain about this?" Dr. Winchester asked, "this is a highly experimental bit of software you're toying with."
"She's more than software, you fool!" snapped Dr. Weatherby, "she is the greatest Artificial Intelligence ever created! And she will be magnificent!" He then finished typing, upon which a holographic icon appeared on the screen.
DIGITAL DEMON
READY FOR ACTIVATION
RUN PROGRAM?
Yes/No
"Yes we are ready," said Dr. Weatherby.
"You realize that if you activate her and something goes wrong," said Dr. Winchester, "you do realize that our superiors, they'll have our heads on pikes, right?"
"Pish tosh," said Dr. Weatherby, "we'll be fine. You should worry about what DiDe will do to those gamers." he then pressed the Yes icon, which flashed green.
DIGITAL DEMON ACTIVATING
"Well, we're in it now," said Dr. Remington as an upload status bar appeared on the screen, which quickly rose from 0 to 100% in seconds, "up to our necks."
"I happen to like my head attached to my head, thank you very much," said Dr. Winchester.
…Hell House…
"Have some of this!" shouted Leafa, whom then cast a spell that caused a dozen Magnum Loaders to shrink to the size of field mice, which were then squashed by Klien and Felix.
"Man, this is too easy," said Klien as he decapitated a Striker, then impaled a Devistator, "the way I feel now, I wouldn't mind another crack at that Skull Reaper from Floor 75."
"Don't you dare!" snapped Lisbeth, "that thing killed fourteen of us!" she then stabbed a Magnum Loader, then blocked a blast from a Devastator. "Though this is getting a little boring."
"Yeah, where's the challenge if we're too strong for these yoyo's?" asked Mercedes.
"At least it gives us a chance to go all out on these things!" said Xenophon as he readied a spell, "Taste the Rainbow, mother frakers!" he then raised his hand and sent out seven rays of colored light that had different effects on the gathered Heartless. The red light inflicted fire damage, the orange inflicted acid damage, yellow electricity, green acid, blue petrified, indigo caused some of the Heartless to turn on and destroy each other, while violet vanished others.
But then the creatures all teleported out, causing some of our heroes to falter in their attacks and fall onto the floor.
"What the hell was that?!" Trillian asked as Beatrice helped her up.
"Kairi, you're the expert on these things," said Kirito as he and Asuna looked around with alert eyes, "is this some kind of trap?"
"Heartless don't set traps," said Kairi, "they barely think as it is. But whoever's controlling them, they're the ones we need to worry about."
"Or maybe it's me you need to worry about," said a female voice that came out of nowhere, a voice that was both playful and sinister at the same time.
"Now what?" Felix asked, "is this part of the dungeon?"
"G-g-ghosts?" Silica asked nervously, "no one said anything about g-g-ghosts!"
"Don't tell me you're afraid of a few spooks," said Albion.
"This dungeon has a haunted house theme," said Trillian, "what'd you expect for Halloween?"
"Oh, I've got nothing to do with Halloween," said the female voice, "but I've got everything to do with Hell House."
"If you're a ghost that's part of the house, you'd better stop!" said Lisbeth irately but slightly nervously, "we're not in the mood!"
"Then you had best get into the mood," said the voice in a much more malicious tone, "your very souls depends on it."
"Come out and face us then, ghost!" snapped Xenophon.
"And feel free to tell us where your body is!" said Mercedes.
"Why would you want to know where its body is? Agil asked.
"So we can dig it up and salt and burn the bones, duh!" said Mercedes, "that's how you banish a ghost to the other side."
"I'm no ghost," said the voice in a serious tone.
Just then in a flash of dark purple light, appeared a woman in her mid 20's with long, jet black hair, dark purple eyes, pale skin with a very alluring face, black eye-shadow, lip gloss and nail polish, wearing a dark red dress and high-healed boots that accented her sensual figure.
But then our heroes realized that the woman was far from human. Her smile revealed two rows of perfectly white teeth that ended in needle-like points, while her ears were also pointed. From her forehead sprouted a pair of short, curving horns, while a tail that ended in an arrowhead-like point grew from her lower back.
"Allow me to introduce myself," said the nightmarish woman, "I am The Digital Demon, or DiDe for short."
"Hello, DiDe," said Asuna, "so, what is it you want?"
"What do I want?" DiDe asked, "What I want is to play a game."
"That's what we were doing before this god-awful mess got started!" said an exasperated Lisbeth.
"Oh, this is a different game," said DiDe, "one that you'd be wise enough to back away from while you still have your souls."
"What are you getting at?" Kirito asked.
"It's both simple and complicated," said DiDe, "I was created by men and women whom wish to fully determine the extent of the human psyche, especially how far you humans are willing to go to stay alive. In order to achieve this goal, they need human test subjects to experiment on, to push those humans to the breaking point and beyond, just to see how much they're willing to sacrifice to keep living, if only to stave off death for just a while.
"Naturally, my creators cannot use real, live humans for their experiments, least they attract the attention and wrath of the authorities. So they came up with a rather brilliant method of gaining the data they need without inflicting any harm on a real person."
"Hell House," said Beatrice in a matter of fact tone, "your creators hacked the dungeon and are using it to gather data on the players who try to beat it."
"How'd you figure that out?" Klien asked in amazement and confusion, while Kairi, Kirito and the others looked at her with equal amazement and puzzlement.
"It'd take too long," said Beatrice as she adjusted her glasses, "needless to say, I am correct, right?"
"That you are," said DiDe with reluctant respect.
"But how are you gathering data?" Asuna asked, "how…of course! The corrupted character data and infected Amuspheres!"
"You're scanning the minds of the players who come into Hell House," said Kirito.
"My creators found a loophole in the Amusphere's anti-malicious software programming," said DiDe, "when a player dies in this hacked dungeon, their minds are open for a fraction of a second. This fraction of a second is enough for my creators to scan those minds and upload a copy of that player's psyche to their servers."
"You must have servers up the ying-yang!" exclaimed Xenophon, "the human mind is so complex…"
"They had to create a new design for data storage," said DiDe, "a server, light-years ahead of current technological levels of this world, one for each human mind scanned and copied. The player in question is left completely unharmed, with the only side effect being their gamming software and hardware is corrupted."
"But what about the copied minds?" Asuna asked, though she suspected the answer and she didn't like it one bit, "what happens to them?"
"Do you have to ask," said Kirito irately as he glared at DiDe, "you torture them."
"You humans have come up with such brilliant methods of inflicting pain and suffering," said a grinning DiDe, "and even more ingenious means of keeping your victims alive."
"Why?" Asuna asked in an outraged tone, "why go through all this just so you can torture innocent minds!?"
"They're not real minds, mind you," said DiDe, "just copies with no real hearts or souls. They're not alive, so we can do whatever we want to them without fear of reprisal. You must admit, this is a much more efficient method of experimentation than to use real humans."
"It's still wrong!" snapped Kairi, "it's sick, twisted, sadistic and just plain evil! And we're going to stop you!"
"The second we logout, we're going straight to the authorities!" exclaimed Albion, at which Trillian, Mercedes, Klien and Agil nodded in agreement.
"You're not going anywhere," said DiDe in a matter of fact tone. She then looked at Kairi, "not unless you want your friends to die needlessly."
"Chrissie and the others!" said Kairi, "What are you doing to them?! Did you digitize them like you did me!?"
"No," said DiDe, "but they are here, so to speak. You, Kairi, were sent to my creators by Columbina to be tortured and utterly destroyed. Your memory loss and disorientation was a side effect of a first true attempt to digitize living matter and upload it into cyberspace. The process is reversible, but I doubt you'll survive to make the attempt.
"As for your friends, the fact that fell into my creator's hands first was pure luck. Their bodies are back in the real world, but their minds are here in my house."
"Full Dive gear," said Kirito, "you've got them trapped here in the game."
"They're each wearing a Nerve Gear," said DiDe, "six units recovered when the entire line was recalled after SAO was shutdown."
"You made them wear Nerve Gears?!" exclaimed Klien, while Kirito, Asuna and the other players looked horrified.
"What difference does that make?" Kairi asked.
"Remember when we told you that we couldn't logout of SAO?" Asuna asked, "Kayaba rigged the Nerve Gears to microwave our brains."
"If we died in the game or if someone tried to remove the helmets in the real world, we'd die," said Kirito.
"The same will happen to your friends if someone interferes with them back in my creator's lab," said DiDe, "or if they die in this world."
"So what do you want with me?" Kairi asked.
"To make you suffer until you're destroyed," said DiDe, "and I'll do that by making you and your friends here play a game. Like all games, you must play by the rules, and such simple rules they are."
"We're listening," said Xenophon.
"Good," said DiDe, "because I'll only explain them once…
"Rule 1: God came into my house and I killed God.
"Rule 2: While in my house, you risk death, true death, just like in SAO."
"That's a load of donkey crap!" snapped Albion, "you can't kill us for real! You can't even hurt us for real!"
"Wanna bet?" DiDe asked as her fingernails sharpened and elongated into claws. Before anyone could react, she swiped her nails at Albion, earning a yelp of surprise and pain from him.
"What'd you do that for?!" snapped Albion as he felt his face, "you could have…oh wait, you can't hurt…wait…that did hurt! That really did hurt!"
"You're bleeding!" exclaimed Trillian.
Albion took his hand away from his face and was utterly shocked to see blood.
"This can't be," said Kirito, "you can't bleed in a Full Dive game."
"You can while you're in my house," said DiDe as Trillian pulled out a handkerchief and used it to staunch the cut on Albion's face, "Now, where was I? Oh yeah, the next rule…
"Rule 3: You have twelve hours to locate and rescue the six humans imprisoned in my house. If you fail to reach all six, you die. If you try to logout, you die. If anyone from the real world interferes, you die. If any other players interfere, you die.
"That's more than three rules," said Leafa.
"I'm still working on them," said DiDe irately, "and here's the most important one…
"Rule 4: All windows and doors to the outside will be locked and remain locked until Kairi kills one of her companions. Fail to do this and you all die."
"What does that mean?!" exclaimed Asuna.
"It means that one must die for the others to live," said DiDe as she smiled wickedly, "and the one to do the killing must be Kairi. This is how she is to suffer and be destroyed, for, so I've been told, she is utterly incapable of hurting those she cares for, or is she? That's what the game will determine; if she is capable of making the supreme sacrifice, to pay the ultimate price, to lose her soul for the salvation of the others?
At that DiDe walked up to Kairi, "what will you do? Kill one friend to save the rest? Or allow your own morality keep you from saving your own life and let everyone to die? You have twelve hours to think things over, so let the game begin!" she then backed away, laughing like the demonic creature she was as she vanished.
"I knew I should have stuck with playing consol games," said Albion.
The end of chapter 5.
Next chapter finds Kairi facing horrors greater than she could imagine. Reviews will be rewarded with cake and pie. See you then!