All right, disclaimer; .hack characters don't belong to me, only Eon. Axel and Hikaru belong to Miffin, but she let me use them for this story…and most of the other ones that I have or will write…
AIDA itself does not belong to me, but the new forms are my creation.
Ice cream is good and enjoy this chapter!
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Chapter 3: Shadows
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Kuhn gaped from Yata, to Eon, and back.
"But...How?" He demanded.
Yata merely crossed his arms again, turning his gaze back up to Skeith who was currently shooting long circular beams from its scythe at the monster.
"There are too many things that we cannot be sure of right now," he explained, still watching the white Avatar. "The revival of the AIDA may have created brand new type of Epitaph User in its wake."
Eon stared from Kuhn to Yata in confusion. What were they talking about? Epitaphs? Was that what that monster was? An 'Epitaph'? She shifted uncomfortably as the Steam Gunner looked at her yet again, apparently trying to say something, but the words didn't come. Thus he only stood there, gibbering nonsense.
Haseo was panting. Even with all of the Avatar fights that he had participated in prior to now, this one was starting to ware him down. Every time moved too close to the AIDA, it would hear him, rather than see him, and flap its wings to send him back another hundred yards. He swore. What was up with this AIDA? No matter how many times he shot it, no matter how many times he dodged, or even used his scythe, it would never become paralyzed for a decent combo, and what's worse, it was becoming stronger by every blow, and even learned a new word!
"KILL!" The AIDA screeched as it actually lunged towards Skeith this time, both claws attempting to bore holes into him.
Haseo just narrowly dodged the first claw, but to his surprise, the AIDA whipped around like an AIDA Helen and waved its claws at him, hitting him as well as sending Skeith flying to the opposite side of the Cyberspace, heavily damaged.
"DAMN IT!" He howled as Skeith lazily floated a little higher. He'd taken just about as much damage as Skeith could take...
Yata narrowed his eyes, noticing the amount of damage that Skeith had taken. If this kept up, Haseo would split with Skeith, or worse, end up as a Lost One under the influence of this monster. He heard Kuhn swear behind him but did not turn his gaze. As much as he wanted to help Haseo, Yata knew that Fidchell, his own Avatar, could not possibly hope to last against this AIDA, not to mention his lack of experience compared to Haseo or even Kuhn. It was then that Yata noticed the girl standing beside him, also gazing in the general direction of the combat, though her eyes were glazed in deep thought. Did she really see Skeith? He couldn't help but wonder. Only Epitaphs were supposed to be able to see Avatars, and other than Ovan, who was currently in a coma in the real world, all of the other Epitaph Users had been found. Had she stolen the Rebirth's Epitaph? Was that even possible...? So many things to wonder about, but Yata brushed it off; for the moment at least. Now was not the time to think of such things; they needed to help Haseo and fast.
"Is there a way...?" Eon started, surprising Yata with her sudden words.
"A way to what?" He questioned back sharply without looking down to her.
Eon's ears flattened angrily yet again, "To help of course! Do you really want him to end up like his name?" She asked, slowly looking up to the Macabre Dancer, hopefully. As much as she hated to say it, she owed Haseo for helping her out in that dungeon, however long ago that was.
Yata's glasses flashed thoughtfully as he turned his head the opposite direction from the dog-girl. "There may be ways..." He started, searching for the proper words, "but, I do not believe that we ourselves can do anything at a time like this. Even if we were to summon our Avatar's as well, that might only cause Skeith to go berserk in his state—" Yata cut himself off instantly as he noticed what he had just said. He, Yata, the leader of G.U., had just leaked information that only those that are indeed Epitaph Users may have.
Eon was silent for a matter of seconds, turning her gaze back to the fight.
"So that is what his name is... Skeith..." She muttered, mostly to herself. That was when Yata noticed that it was not the fight that Eon was watching, but instead, the red-eyed Avatar, Skeith. Her eyes matched all of his movements; left, right, up... There was no longer any doubt. For some reason this girl could see the Avatars...
Haseo felt sick and dizzy. He was now forced to use more confusing evasive methods to dodge the blind AIDA; this included spinning in his dodges and cutting it close whenever it charged at him.
I can't go much longer... He noted, grinding his teeth together as he spun one more time, this time narrowly dodging a tail of the AIDA beast. I've taken too much damage...
Another lunge from the beast and Haseo barely dodged to the left, but the after shock of the attack sent him flying towards Yata and Kuhn's tile, which he just narrowly stopped himself in time from colliding with.
Breathing heavily, he looked over his shoulder to his companions, as well as the girl that he saved earlier.
"It's—too strong—" He panted as Yata uncrossed his arms, eyes hidden under the shining glare of his orange glasses.
The AIDA turned around to face Skeith again, its 'head' swinging around as it tried to find his location.
"Haseo, we'll need to force our way out of this server!" Yata suddenly called up to the Adept Rogue, catching him off guard.
"What?" Both Haseo and Kuhn demanded simultaneously.
"Yata, we can't leave that thing here, loose in The World!" Kuhn explained, "it's too dangerous, not only for the players, but what if it continues to grow?"
"Do you think that I do not understand that?" Yata yelled furiously, wheeling around on Kuhn and looking at him from above the rims of his glasses. "But what good will we be if we all end up as Lost Ones here?" He demanded.
"I..." Kuhn muttered, but couldn't come up with anything to counter Yata's argument.
"Kuhn's right!" Haseo agreed from above. "This thing is getting smarter by the minute! If we leave it like this, here and now, we won't be able to finish it off later!" He explained, watching the AIDA move its head around some more, still trying to locate him.
Inwardly, Yata swore every swear he knew. How could he be so hard headed? Did Haseo not think that he didn't notice this fact? It was the best solution for time like this; sometimes it was better to run, especially when so many things were on the line.
The AIDA monster's head suddenly flung to the direction of Skeith, sensing his presence, and charged at him at full speed. Haseo swore as he watched the AIDA fly at him, at least twice as fast as he was earlier with its claws extended, ready to impale him.
"HASEO!" Yata yelled as the AIDA moved in, too fast for the white Adept Rogue to dodge. Yata closed his eyes, unable to watch before hearing a light voice at his side.
"Scorpio..." Eon muttered quietly, her eyes glazed over, as if in a trans. "Your name...is Scorpio..."
As if she had just said a password of some sort, the AIDA monster stopped instantly, claws extended around Skeith, but not touching him.
Yata slowly looked up at the beast in astonishment. What had this girl just done? She had just paralyzed this AIDA, something that both Haseo and Kuhn could not do themselves; with only with a word no less?
"You look...like a scorpion...Scorpio..." Eon explained, still staring up at the AIDA, her golden eyes completely glazed.
"Haseo!" Kuhn yelled, "Do it!"
The Adept Rogue didn't need to be told twice. He pulled Skeith's scythe up high over his head, and shot a spiralling beam at it. The AIDA didn't even defend. It couldn't defend! Somehow, this kid had managed to paralyze it for him...though how, Haseo still didn't know, nor did it matter right now. All that mattered was that he would take this chance, as if his last, to damage this beast!
With another powerful sweep, Haseo brought the scythe down, and diagonally twice, shooting three spinning blue-yellow beams at the AIDA beast-Scorpio. Scorpio roared in agony as it began to move again, and shot a tail towards Haseo, intending to skewer him.
"Stop...Scorpio..." Eon whispered, her voice distant.
Yet again, the AIDA stopped moving, paralyzed. Haseo took this second chance and dashed towards the beast's torso, slashing as hard as he could. It roared in agony as Haseo hit the floating, black core located just above its stomach. Scorpio flapped the purple wings down hard and raised itself, attempting to retreat from the Terror of Death, but Haseo gave it no chance and pursued.
"You're finished!" He yelled as he shot one more beam from his scythe, hitting the core once more directly. A light blue-green barrier suddenly appeared around Scorpio and shattered into little fragments of data, the words 'Protection Break' floating with the beast for a matter of moments as Haseo opened Skeith's right arm and transformed it into the familiar Data Draining Cannon.
Scorpio roared once more, attempting to retreat yet again, but Haseo was faster. He charged the cannon, easily dodging the small balls of black AIDA bubbles that its three tails shot at him, and fired the Data Drain at him in return. On contact, Scorpio screeched in pain as all of the data was absorbed from it and into the green-black ball, which returned to Haseo.
"Be...come..." Was the last word it managed, before all of its data was absorbed.
Haseo glowed red as he separated from Skeith and landed next to Yata and Kuhn, both of which who were starring at Eon in interest. "It looks like we're done here." He stated coolly as he turned to the girl who looked around wildly for something.
"What's wrong with her?" He whispered to Kuhn, careful she didn't hear.
"It looks like she can't remember!" He whispered back, obviously amazed with all he'd seen today.
"Let us go back, then." Yata said coldly before Haseo could test Kuhn's theory. "I presume that we all had a hard day today." The Macabre Dancer then headed towards the blue warp panel at the end of the remains of the white walkway dismissively.
-Dual City: Breg Epona-
The four of them transferred in a light blue flash to Breg Epona, Eon being the first to say anything.
"Well...uh..." She murmured to herself, trying to come up with something to say. "So...thanks for ...rescuing me...?" She said, though sounded unsure with all that had happened. She had actually completely remembered what had happened, but didn't understand it in the least. She did not know where the sudden 'Scorpio' comment had come from, nor why the monster she saw had even listened to it for that matter. Too much made so little sense at the moment, and she decided to leave it to another day to figure out.
"Will you be logging out...?" Kuhn asked, still a little down hearted about the damsel in distress cliché going down so badly.
"Yeah..." Eon answered quickly, and with another spiral o blue light, logged out of 'The World' for the first time in seven hours that day.
"Well..." Kuhn murmured, looking at the clock on his desk before putting the M2D back on. "It looks like we were in there for quite some time...I hope she doesn't get in trouble..." He muttered.
Haseo only shrugged, but did feel a little pang of sympathy for her. His dad was always at work late, and didn't care about what he did in his spare time; not how many hours he played The World, or to when. Kuhn lived on his own, or at least that was his impression, so no one could yell at him other than his boss when he came to work late in the morning for sleeping in. And Yata? He lived in the computer, or so it seemed. It didn't matter for him at all.
"I'll send you an E-mail soon, for now, rest." Yata ordered, and transferred to Mac Anu, leaving Haseo and Kuhn alone.
"Well...I guess that I'll see you too, Haseo." Kuhn bid farewell, and Logged Out.
Haseo yawned in the real world.
"I guess that I'll log out too..." He mumbled, heading to the Save Shop and finally Logging Out.
-Real World: Ippikiookami Residence -
Eon yawned, her mouth big enough to fit an entire pear in.
What a...Interesting day... She thought, removing the M2D from her eyes. She yawned again, and looked at the clock.
3:37 AM
Eon gapped at the clock for a moment, and giggled.
"Guess I was in there for longer than I thought..." She muttered to herself, suddenly hearing yelling downstairs... Again...
She sighed. Would her parents never learn? This early and they were already arguing about something. Some loving, caring family she had…
One more yawn and Eon stepped lazily over to her bed, nearly falling over with the surprise of moving from the seat. She had been sitting at the computer since 8:00; it felt strange to actually move now. She flopped onto her bed, enjoying the softness of the pillows and blankets.
Well... She thought, beginning to drift off, I wonder what tomorrow's adventures will bring... She then quickly drifted off to sleep.
-Real World: Misaki Residence-
Ryou opened his eyes lazily, turning over to see the clock next to his bed.
7:21 AM
He groaned. Only four hours of sleep; no wonder he felt so awful. He slowly lifted himself out of bed and headed into the kitchen, where he half-heartedly started to make himself breakfast.
Thank God it's Saturday... He mentally cheered as he loaded rice into the rice cooker. He knew from experience that things would have ended up horribly if it was a week night when he went to school. Memories of puddles of drool on the desk and teachers throwing chalk board erasers at his head made him shiver. Those were not good days.
After breakfast, Haseo wandered back into his room and almost instantly sat down at his desk, pulling the M2D over his eyes and picking up the controller. There was a bright flash, but Haseo was use to it by now, and the desktop of his computer flashed before his eyes. A message appeared almost instantly, stating that he had one important piece of mail, and flipped to the icon right to 'The World', and opened it. As expected, the E-mail was sent by Yata. He opened it.
"Come to Raven"
Ryou grunted. Why didn't he ever say why he wanted them to come? Was it really that difficult he wondered, exiting Yata's E-mail and seeing only one more new E-mail from Atoli. He opened it silently and read,
"It would seem that you got the girl back, great job, Haseo!"
Ryou grinned a little. It was just like Atoli to send him an E-mail like this, cheering him on from the sidelines when she wasn't able to do anything herself.
"Alright..." Ryou muttered, stretching his arms up, exiting his mail and flipping over to The World. With a simple click The World stated to load instantly, and within a couple of seconds he was on the Log In screen. He selected the first choice and with a 'ting' The World came to life, right before his eyes.
Haseo stretched once more, only this time within The World. It was good to be back, even if he'd only left the game four hours ago. The World was like his home, more so than the one that he was living in just on the other side of his M2D. In this 'World', he had friends, and reasons to continue playing. If not for The World, Haseo didn't know what he would do...
Even though Yata's mail said to come to 'Raven', Haseo could not help but wander away from the Chaos Gate and into the elevator of Breg Epona. For all that he knew, this could be the only time that he would enjoy all day, so he might as well go and find Silibus or Gaspard and see how his two Guild-mates were doing.
It didn't take long to recognise the cheerful voices of the two of them as Haseo entered the stairwell, just above the Guild Shop.
"Awww, no reason to be shy!" Gaspard said cheerfully.
"Yes! Our Guild 'Canard' helps out Newbie's like yourself!" Silibus put in.
It seemed that the two of them were trying to recruit yet another noob to teach, Haseo noted as he headed down the left set of stairs towards the Shop Acorn, which Gaspard normally took care of.
"I said no!" The newbie cried angrily, obviously not wanting to take part in one of Canards tutorials; her voice sounding oddly familiar to Haseo as he approached them.
"Oh come on, please?" Gaspard begged as she ran off in the direction of the 3-way Junction. He must've been unable to go with Silibus whenever he actually had Newbie's to teach, since the Shop Acorn would be lost without him.
"Oh, Haseo!" Silibus greeted him cheerfully. "I'm so glad that you're here! Gaspard wanted to go and help out some newbie's, since he hasn't been able to in a month; taking care of the shop and all." He explained, "so imagine our surprise when we met one right here, in front of the shop; though she refuses to come with us..."
"Yeah, Haseo!" Gaspard added, "Maybe if she knows more about your wins in the Arena, she might come with us!"
Haseo rubbed the top of his head in thought before sighing. How could he say no? It wasn't like he was going to force her to come anyway…
"All right, let's go and find her." Haseo said as Gaspard flung himself onto Haseo with a big bear hug.
"YAY! Haseeeeeeoooooooo!" He yelled cheerfully before the 'Terror of Death' pushed him off.
"Alright, stay off!" Haseo ordered, Gaspard looking a little sheepish, then raced off in the direction of the back alleyway, Silibus not far behind.
With another small sigh, Haseo chased after the two of them.
"Right here, Haseo!" Gaspard called as the Rogue rounded one of the many turns in the back alleyway to the larger clearing, where he had first met Aina.
"Introducing our Guild Master!" Gaspard announced as Haseo stepped forward, only flinch back as he saw who the two of them were attempting to recruit.
"YOU!" Eon yelled, pointing a finger at Haseo. "These guys belong to your Guild?" She demanded.
"Ah, I see that you recognise our Guild Master! No doubt from his feats in the Arena?" Silibus asked.
"NO!" Eon yelled angrily, making Silibus flinch. "I know him from yesterday, when everything went wrong!"
"I...erm..." Haseo tried, but Eon continued.
"You won in the tournament? How, with that attitude?" She demanded. "I was nearly PKed because you were slower than a turtle! Bakanakame!"
"Haseo...you know her...?" Gaspard asked, sticking a finger up to his mouth in thought.
"Yeah...and she's not a big fan either..." He muttered, trying to hide the malice in his voice.
Silibus looked back and forth from the dog-girl to his Guild Master.
"I-I'm sorry, Haseo!" He apologized quickly, "We didn't mean to put you into an awkward position like this... Let's go, Gaspard. There might be some more Newbie's in Mac Anu..." Silibus took Gaspard's hand quickly and lead him back up the alleyway.
Eon crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at Haseo.
"Wh-what?" The Adept Rogue demanded, taking an offensive stance.
Eon was silent for a moment, trying to think of what exactly to say. "They said that you won in the tournament..." She muttered.
"Yes, and not the tournament, I won all three of them." Haseo answered defensively.
"Then how...?" Eon asked. "Did you use...it?"
"What...?" He asked back. "Be more specific!"
"It...Skeith..." She murmured, almost inaudibly.
Haseo's heart pounded hard. How did she know about Skeith? Did she see it at the Sage Palace Tournament, when Sakaki attempted to ban him from The World? No, that couldn't be... She would've known that he had won the Tournaments then... So...how?
Eon turned and faced the horizon beyond the edge of Breg Epona. "I...saw it..." She muttered slowly. "He...it...fought that monster..."
Haseo froze. To be able to see his Avatar meant that she had one as well...didn't it? Did Yata know about this? IS that why he called him today...?
Eon turned, a smile forced on her face. "Well...uh...I'll be off then! I need to level up! Only level two now!" With a burst of speed, Eon ran past Haseo and up to the alleyway until out of sight.
"How..." Haseo breathed, slowly heading up as well. It was time to go to Raven.
-Eternal City: Mac Anu-
Haseo stepped out of the Cathedral quickly and turned to take the warp point next to the entrance, only to see Pi staring up at him furiously.
"You're late, Haseo!" She barked, pushing her glasses up her nose. "Master Yata has been expecting you for an hour! Where have you been?" The Tribal Grappler demanded.
"I-I've been..." Haseo tried, but no lies came. "I was in Breg Epona, and met Eon there..."
Pi seemed to calm down instantaneously. "O-oh...I see..." She murmured quietly. "Well, just don't keep Master Yata waiting any longer." She turned to head into the Cathedral.
"You're not going?" Haseo asked.
"No, I have another...mission..." Pi answered and entered though the large twin doors.
Haseo watched her leave for a moment, then turned to the warp panel and warped into Mercenary District.
-Raven: The Serpent of Lore-
Haseo entered the Serpent of Lore quickly, only to see that most of the Epitaph Users had already left. The only ones that remained were Endrance, who was obviously waiting to see him, and to his surprise, Atoli.
"I am glad that you have decided to join us today, Haseo." Yata said coldly, not bothering to turn to him from the monitors.
Haseo stepped forward to join Endrance and Atoli, who seemed relieved that he did show up after all.
"Yata." Haseo greeted curtly, unsure of what else he should say to him.
"You met the girl in Breg Epona, didn't you?" Yata asked Haseo, opening a new monitor in front of himself, showing Haseo talking to Eon in the alleyways of Breg Epona.
Haseo bit his tongue to hold back the sarcastic comment, 'I wonder', and instead forced himself to say, "Yes."
"Do you believe it possible that she can see the Avatars?" Yata asked, his voice uncertain for once.
Haseo paused and thought carefully about this. For some reason, the AIDA...Scorpio, as she called it, reacted to her words, and in the alleyway she asked him about Skeith.
"I...think so..." He said at last, Atoli and Endrance both watching him closely. "She asked me about Skeith; if I used it in the Tournaments...and the AIDA reacted..."
"Could it just mean that she was infected?" Yata asked, still staring up at the screen.
"I...well, maybe...but her character was completely reformatted; wouldn't that get rid of any AIDA within her?" Haseo tried.
Yata grunted then moved his hand over the floating sphere in front of himself. His hand moved slightly and the large screen of Haseo's conversation in Breg Epona vanished, only to be replaced with another large screen, overlooking a field with Eon's PC body running around in an area, Solo.
"Currently, we must gather as much information as possible. Kuhn, Sakubo and I will be gathering as much information on the AIDA as possible." Yata explained, looking up to the screen. "It is your job, Haseo, as well as Endrance, Pi and Atoli's, to shadow this player."
Atoli gasped. "Wh-what?" She covered her mouth. "I can't do that! It's not right!"
"Yeah!" Haseo agreed. "She's just a normal Player! There's no need to get her involved in this!"
"Is she a normal Player, Haseo?" Yata asked the Adept Rogue. "Do you not remember how the AIDA reacted to her? There could be some sort of connection with the AIDA and that player, which is why we must execute this with extreme caution. Until we know more about the situation, that is your job. Dismissed!" The Macabre Dancer announced, turning his back to them all completely and continuing to look at the screen.
Grudgingly, Haseo left the Serpent of Lore with Atoli and Endrance behind him. Once outside he swore.
"How does Yata expect us to do that?" He demanded, punching the wall.
"I don't know... Maybe Pi will do most of the work for us." She said hopefully.
"Whatever you choose to do, Haseo, I will follow." Endrance vowed, though it really did not help with the matter.
"Alright..." He muttered, thinking. "Let's go to the Chaos Gate for now...maybe we'll meet her there..." Haseo said, remembering Eon saying that she needed to level up again.
Yata watched the screen closely as the dog-girl ran in between monsters before slashing them with, as it appeared, her own claws. Yet another strange thing about her; the character class. Her class resembled a Tribal Grappler, but there was no weapon. With every level, her attack power slightly rose, not to mention how fast the weapon class seemed to raise as well.
"Was this your doing, Aura…?" Yata murmured as he watched Eon do a strange technique, a cross between Chaotic Strike for the Twin Blade weapon, only with her claws, like a Grappler.
-Delta Wondering King's Beast-
Eon raced across the field easily. This new PC body of hers was way more agile than the Blade Brandier she had before, not to mention so much stronger. Back then, Eon had also been a Solo Player, and resisted making parties with people that she didn't know. Considering that she was only level two when she entered this field, which was level six, she was doing pretty well. Eon had only used four Health Drinks and two Sprite Drops for healing. Pretty good, huh?
She could just barely see a party of three Goblin Rookies surrounding an alter across a bridge. With an eager burst of speed, she raced towards the alter before sneak attacking them with a simple push of the button. The fight was so easy that it was almost sad how fast she won. One 'Slash Wave' and that was one Goblin down; only two more to go. She then roundhouse kicked the other in the face and it went flying into the air. Without letting it land, Eon used the Skill Trigger one more time and used a brand new technique, Moon's Call. The Goblin came down, but only to land on her outstretched leg, catching it in the middle of the stomach. She pulled back her leg, and within a blink of an eye, gave it another roundhouse kick, this time to the face once more. It went flying into the barrier, dead before it landed. The final goblin started to whistle for a new comrade, but Eon gave it no time. She did a three hit combo with her claws and finished it off with an axe kick, right down on the top of its head.
The barrier vanished she collected the few items that the Goblins were carrying. Only a weak robe for a Harvest Cleric and two Health Drinks. She rubbed her forehead, as if it was a difficult fight, and kicked the chest open on top of the alter.
Just as she expected, a Symbol Fragment was in the box.
That makes three of them! She thought cheerfully as she watched the three fragments combine into the Judge's Symbol and heard the rumbling of the treasure room opening in the distance. She raced towards that direction after she coordinated herself with the map once more before suddenly stopping, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end.
"Huh...?" She murmured, looking around the now empty field. She blinked, seeing no one, slowly continuing to the Temple.
Pi stepped out from behind a hill after the girl had run off. Master Yata was right; she was different from normal players. Not only did her appearance and techniques surpass the system's normal parameters, but she seemed to notice her presence as well. She crossed her arms. Was it really time to test Master Yata's theory, or should it wait, just for a bit longer?
The sudden voice from her communicator-function answered her question.
"Pi, it is time to make contact with the player." Came Yata's voice, serious as ever. "We need as much information as possible before we can begin to understand anything about AIDA's reappearance."
Pi listened for a bit longer in silence, seeing if Master Yata would give her any new orders, but he was already gone. She looked into the direction of the Temple, a small figure now exiting the building. She sighed. Out of all of the dirty work that she had done thus far in life, spying and collecting information on Haseo, as well as the rest of the G.U. members, why did this particular task feel so...different?
-Eternal City: Mac Anu-
Eon stepped from the Chaos Gate and stretched triumphantly. That had been a successful mission, if she didn't say so herself; she even had a few new items to sell at a shop.
She giggled to herself. The game seemed much more interesting with this character for some reason. Maybe because she felt needed by the 'Ultimate AI', or just the fact that she had a new challenge to overcome.
"Excuse me, miss…?" A voice came from behind Eon, nearly making her jump. She thought that the room was empty before…
"Y-yeah?" She stammered, turning to the pink-haired Tribal Grappler. "What do you want?"
Pi paused, wondering how she should say this. Once she had the right words in her head, she smiled to Eon innocently. "Would you like to go on an adventure with me?" She asked.
Eon was silent for a moment, then stuck out her tongue to Pi's amazement.
"Sorry, lady, but I'm not a n00b." She said dryly, turning to face the door again.
"I-I don't want to go with you because of your level!" Pi assured. Only to fulfill Master Yata's orders…
"Then why do you want to come with me, Pee?" Eon asked, obviously attempting to get under Pi's skin.
"P-pee?" Pi said, shocked.
"Yeah, pee. That's yer name, right?" Eon asked, enjoying the Admin's expression.
"No! It's Pi!" She corrected, her eyebrow twitching in the real world.
"Oh, Pie." Eon typed, keeping her character from grinning like she was.
"N-no! PI! P-i!" Pi explained again.
"Oh...got it!" Eon assured before racing towards the door of the Cathedral. "Pee." She left as fast as her PC body's legs could take her.
A vein appeared along Pi's PC body's head.
"Th-that brat…" She growled, instantly reminded how Haseo was the first time that they met. She took a breath to calm down then headed towards the Cathedral door as well, only to bump into Haseo, Endrance and Atoli, who were watching the little miscreant run along the connecting bridge to Central, giggling her head off.
"Pi…?" Atoli asked, noticing the Grappler approach them. "I thought that you were supposed to be shadowing her…" She muttered, the last few words nearly silent.
Pi's mouth twitched as Haseo gave her a look, as if she couldn't do anything by herself. "I was shadowing her, and I was about to finish the mission." She explained, the three of them now listening carefully. "But she left instead of joining my party, or even gaining my member's address." She crossed her arms as if it was nothing.
"Finish the mission?" Haseo questioned. "Just what does Yata want you to do, Pi?"
Pi hesitated. Yata's plan was risky enough the way that it was. Haseo would only complicate things more if she told.
"Nothing. Just a field test." She lied, and walked off in the general direction of the dog-girl.
Haseo didn't believe that Yata just wanted a field test. That was why he had the Serpent of Lore at his command; but either way, he knew that he couldn't do anything but look as well.
"All right, let's go and find her." He ordered, and to his surprise, acknowledging nods followed.
Eon sat along the rail of Alchemy District, swinging her legs cheerfully. That was the highlight of her day; torturing a player that was too interested in her character. She leaned back. Probably an Admin… She decided, tipping her head to the side slightly. It still didn't make sense, to her at least, how an AI could give her a completely original character, as well as the Admins not knowing anything about it. Were all NPC's like that? She'd heard of Adept Rogue's getting 'Job Extension's' from taking an NPC's quest, but Aura was supposed to be different than them…
Eon leaned back a tiny bit more before forcing her character body to jump up from the palms of her hands and onto her feet, right on top of the rail.
Fifty points! She thought, then noticed a small, black-haired girl staring at her.
"What do you want?" Eon asked then paused, suddenly recognising the character name. "Axel?" She asked, looking from left to right after saying the name.
"Yep-yep!" She answered cheerfully, also looking around to listeners to their conversation.
Deeming that this wasn't a good place to talk, Eon quickly gave Axel her Member's Address, adding her to her party. Axel switched the conversation to whisper.
"What happened to you?" She demanded, surprised by how much her character's image had changed. That last time she was on, Axel was a Twin Blade PKer called 'Axel The Tempest', part of the Chaotic PKer's list, but now…now she was a short-looking girl with a lightning bolt tattoo through one of her eyes. She had a Chim Chim backpack attached to her back, and was way more adorable than before…
"What happened to me? What about you! The only reason that I recognised you was from that trick just now! You did it all the time before you disappeared!"
He…or at least, that's what she called him in the real world, was right. Prior to being stuck in a coma for all that time, the only party that she would ever make was with him and the Lord Partisan, Hikaru; yet she couldn't even recognise herself with this new PC body...
"Well…a lot of stuff…happened and…" She tried to explain before Axel shot up and glomped her.
"It happened to you too?" He asked, Eon a little confused before he spouted, "Aura!"
Eon was shocked. She wasn't the only one that Aura contacted!
"What did she say to you?" She asked, interested in the topic too much to notice Pi approaching them.
"Somethin' about taking a hard path… something else about being a Child of God's…whatever that is…and then she gave Hikki and me these awesome characters! Look, I'm even better than before!" He bragged, Pi now standing next to them.
It didn't matter if Pi was there, their conversation was now on whisper, and not even an Admin would hear them outside of the party.
"Cool! My level was reset when I logged back into The World, so I'm not that strong yet, but I've got a class to my own!" Eon explained, Axel just as enthusiastic as herself. "I don't even need to by weapons anymore!"
"I know, isn't it great? I still use twin blades, but they're different than normal ones." He explained. "Hey, wanna go and check it out?" He invited, Eon eagerly nodding her head.
Axel raced past Pi as he headed towards the Warp Panel to get to the Chaos Gate. Before Eon ran after him, she switched the conversation back to normal and couldn't help but say, "See ya, Pee!" She quickly raced off after the hacked Twin Blade.
Pi was furious. It was Pi! PI! She thought angrily before holding her hand up to her ear and contacting Yata.
"Master Yata…it seems that she is heading into an area with another player…what should I do?" She asked.
There was a brief moment before his reply. "Let's watch for now." He said, cutting out as quickly as last time.
Pi starred at the paved ground for a moment before slowly heading towards the Warp Panel as well.
What could Yata be thinking…?
-Delta Hidden Beast's Attack-
Eon, Axel, and the new and improved Hikaru, all entered the area silently. This was a cave dungeon; a low enough level to get by easily, but high enough to show off some new moves.
"Where do we go from here…?" Hikaru asked monotonously, his character's eyes closed.
"Can you even see like that…?" Eon questioned, receiving a small nod in response.
"TOO THE BEAST STATUE THEN!" Axel announced loudly, shooting his arm up into the air, pausing to grin. "Hey Eon! This character has some awesome new abilities as well…"
"Isn't that why we're here, Axel?" She asked.
"No, not only battle abilities…" He said, the grin on his PC body's face widening.
Eon took a defensive stance. "If you PK me, Axel, you'll regret it…"
"Don't worry, I won't PK you…" He muttered, making a hand sign with his PC body's fingers. In an instant a popping sound echoed all around the first floor of the dungeon and smoke surrounded Axel.
"Axel?" Eon called before a taller, stronger-looking character emerged from the smoke.
"See? Told you." The voice deeper but belonging to the original 'Axel'. "Now I'm a ninja as well!"
Pi entered the dungeon in a spiralling blue flash. It didn't take long for her to use a Fairy's Orb and start trekking through the dungeon after the trio. Most of the monsters were already gone, she noted as she approached the cliff leading to the second area. Once on that floor she used one more Fairy's Orb and started towards the Beast Statue in that area, skipping the poor Mecha Grunty in her haste.
She heard their voices before she actually saw them, running after a few Chim Chim's that they 'd kicked off of the Chim Train.
She sighed, relieved that she hadn't missed anything important until she noticed the black-haired one's mysterious transformation.
Is she a hacker…? Pi asked herself as they finished kicking the last remaining Chim Chim and headed into the final area of the Dungeon, the Beast Statue.
Pi followed silently, watching as the black-haired one kicked the box open a little harder than she should. The blonde one picked up a pair of level ten Twin Blades and handed them to the black-haired one, who added them to her inventory. She turned to look at Eon who was looking around hesitantly, before actually seeing it come…
"See? Pretty cool stuff if you ask me!" Axel said cheerfully, putting the Twin Blades into his inventory. "Next time I'll get you an item, Eon!" He promised, but she wasn't listening.
"Do you feel that…?" She asked, looking from the Gott Statue, to the walls, to the ceiling.
"Feel what?" Hikaru asked, still as monotonous as ever.
"Like someone's watching us…" She murmured, shaking it off.
"Well, looks like it's nothing…so let's go back! I still need to fulfill my quota!" Axel explained.
"What 'quota'?" Eon asked, though she already knew the answer.
"My PK's of course!" He answered as the floor began to rumble viciously.
"Get back!" Pi yelled, racing towards them as they turned to her, backs facing the now growing AIDA…
Whoo, rewrite, and let's all play a game, shall we? It's called, count how many 'before's' are in this chapter! 8D ….god there are too many… Sorry for the spam of it, but I REALLY couldn't think of any other words to use in these cases…sorry… I did manage to lose ten though… *Heh…*
Okay, about Axel, in case anyone was wondering. Axel has no gender. He's neither boy, nor girl. XP Thank Miffin for giving me something hard to work with. I will continue to refer to him as a 'him' from Eon's PoV, and from others that do not know him, as a girl, since he really does look like one…
Well, reviews are welcomed, again, but not really necessary. XP;; So have a nice day until the next update. Later!