Author's Note: It's time for my first real fight scene! Granted, it's actually pretty short, but it's one that wasn't in the original G.U. games. Let me know how I did on it, and feel free to offer any suggestions! Also, I haven't seen Roots, but I came up with a reason why getting PKed in The World would be such a pain.

Oh, and speaking of the original G.U. games, things are going to start going slightly off the rails soon, in terms of G.U. canon.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or the .hack Conglomerate. They are owned by Square Enix and CyberConnect2. I also don't own anything from Metal Gear. That's all owned by the Daedric Prince of Madness, Hideo Kojima. And I don't own anything else that showed up last chapter either. I'm doing this for free, and for your enjoyment, as well as my own.

Δ Peaceful Leading Freedom

As the light that had briefly blinded them faded, Silabus and Haseo noticed a few things. First, Bordeaux and her compatriots were picking themselves up off the ground. At least, Grein was beginning to pick himself up off the ground; Bordeaux had managed to get back on her feet relatively quickly. The pained grunts and squeals above them drew everyone's attention there, and the jaws of those who were capable of viewing the spectacle before them collectively dropped. A red blur appeared to be bludgeoning Negimaru with two objects, faster than anyone's eyes could follow. With another shriek of pain and a vertical slash from the red thing, the PK was sent crashing into the ground, kicking up a plume of dust and pebbles that was half the height of the gargantuan entrance to the Beast Statue chamber. The blur dropped shortly after him, and everyone barely got a glimpse of it before it was already dashing across the ground towards Grein, whose eyes were currently going wide as he brought his massive blade up into a hasty guard.

If someone had told Haseo yesterday that the words "cool" and "Sora" could be used to describe one another unironically, he would have called you an idiot, laughed derisively right to your face, or laughed in your face while calling you an idiot. After today, having seen the sight of Sora-fluffy tail and ears gone and clad in a red and black outfit with a bold, red fleurs-de-lis motif-charging towards a man twice his size with his usual goofy smile replaced with a mask of grim determination, Haseo had to admit to himself; Sora was pretty damn cool. Bordeaux's shocked statement really drove the point home, however.

"Two?!" It was then that Haseo noticed that Sora's Kingdom Key was in his right hand, slung over the same shoulder, and he held a new Keyblade in a reversed grip with his left. The second Keyblade-a blue blade with a crescent moon keychain-was already slashing out from where he held it by his right hip at the Edge Punisher into what Haseo was sure would be a three hit combo, followed by Sora activating his Skill Trigger. After all, Sora had explained that, in order to use his Skill Trigger, he first had to land a combo of three or more hits.

He was understandably shocked when Sora only struck Grein once with each Keyblade, knocking him back slightly, then called out the name of a Skill he'd never heard before from him. "Back off! Omega Finale: Brave Shot!" Instead of shooting forward, or firing something from his Keyblades, Sora slammed both of his weapons upon the ground, followed shortly by massive geysers of light erupting from the spot Sora had struck, blazing a path forward towards his target. Grein leapt out of the way, seeing that it was a straight path that the giant beams of energy took towards him. The rotund Edge Punisher's grinned as he saw the attack passed his previous location, followed by his eyes shooting open in horror as the pillars looped right back around to his current location, engulfing him in their light.

Sora finally allowed a small smile to creep onto his face as he saw that the attack had connected with Grein. He was already dashing towards Bordeaux. I can win! She was guarding, but it wouldn't do her much good against both the Kingdom Key and Star Seeker. I feel great! He was within range now, swinging out with the Star Seeker to begin the attack that would finish her off. I! Can! Do! Thi- It was right as Star Seeker's strike was about to connect when, with a dull, muted flash, Star Seeker disappeared and Sora dropped out of Valor Form.

Oh, you have got to be kidding me! Okay, her eyes are still closed in anticipation of the hit. If I act fast, I can grab Gaspard, Silabus can grab Haseo, and we can...aaaaand she just opened her eyes. Crap. She's got that grin and that crazy look back in her eyes. Double crap. She just revived the other two back to half health with healing items. Triple crap. Everyone here but Silabus and Gaspard are glaring at me…

Sora voiced the thoughts of his current predicament with two simple words. "Oh, crapbaskets."

Ah, hell. We're about to lose half our GP, a good chunk of our experience, and most of our items from getting PKed. Fantastic. Haseo would have voiced these thoughts, but right now he was in so much goddamn pain that he could barely think straight. It felt like something was about to burst forth from his entire body. He could swear that he could almost hear something calling out to him, from deep within him.

Wait a minute...

"It was such a small seed…"

What the-

"I had to find out what was growing inside."

Something is...Something is...starting to…

"That's why...I decided to raise it."

"Thou art I…"

It's...It's growing?!

That was then that the slow clapping started, and an authoritative voice called out. "Hold it!" Everyone looked to face the newcomers.

The taller figure was clad in a hooded black cloak. Two silver drawstrings dangling down the zipped up cloak that, were this not a game, would surely be stiflingly hot to wear. The hood was quickly pulled down to reveal a man with long, pointed locks of red hair, three tiny red teardrop marks trailing down his left eye; eyes that were glancing all around the cavern. A grin that could best be described as somewhere between "confidence" and "immature, cocky wit" was plastered on his face. It was when the figure spoke that Haseo figured it was more of the latter and that he had not been the first to speak. "Boo."

Then Haseo saw the second figure beside the man, and saw that, yes, it was indeed a woman that had spoken first. His head didn't hurt as much, so he was vaguely aware that Sora and Silabus were openly gawking at the second arrival, and with good reason. For she was quite a woman. The other man didn't seemed as phased as them, but he still seemed to be looking in her general direction.

The burgundy "armor" she wore looked like it would be more fitting in the bedroom than here, flaunting her shapely legs, straps accentuating her exposed stomach, and the tiny burgundy and white top she wore doing nothing to hide her large breasts. Granted, this was an online game, but this was just a bit too ridiculous for Haseo. The fancy gloves and tiny red tie that was practically being swallowed by her ample cleavage just made her look even more ridiculous to the Adept Rogue. To top it all off, she had her bright pink hair braided into two twintails. The pair in front framed the rectangular glasses she wore, bells at the end of them jingling slightly as her glasses reflected the light ominously. The larger pair of braids in the back draped all the back down to her hips. For most boys, she was a wet dream come true.

Haseo, and by default Ryou, was not most boys.

The light from a small hole in the cave ceiling framed her figure, a hand on her hip as she swept her hair to the side. When she spoke, and it may have just been his imagination, there seemed to be a slight undertone of excitement to it-or was it sensuality? Didn't matter to him; he wasn't looking for those sorts of companions online. "Well then, you guys look like...you're having fun."

A hundred yen says she's a sado-masochist. A thousand yen says he's a pervert, he thought to himself. First impressions were kind of a big deal to Haseo, even online. Right now, neither of these two were getting high marks in his book. It seemed that Bordeaux didn't regard them very highly either, given her tone as she spoke to them.

"Who the hell are you? You wanna be killed too?!" Bordeaux snarled, tapping her sword against her thigh.

The duo didn't seemed phased, strutting forward as if they owned The World. As they came closer, the redheaded man held his hands out to the sides as the very air around him erupted into fire, a pair of red and silver chakrams materializing from the flames that he held in a loose grip. He grinned wildly at the PKs, a spark of something in his eye that Haseo recognized. That Haseo knew all too well. After all, the relatively few PKKs that inhabited The World knew the rush that came from causing the hunters to become the hunted. Most PKKs even relished it.

Haseo absolutely fit in with that particular stereotype. Hell, he practically defined it. Maybe, just maybe, Haseo could get to like this guy.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" The woman, on the other hand, Haseo was rapidly beginning to like less and less. She gave off mixed signals, and that was one of the many things that pissed him off, right up there with "self-centered pricks" and "manipulative bastards". She spoke like she was the leader, but still followed ever so slightly behind the other man. Her hips swung as she walked, but she had a perfectly neutral expression on her face. Not a smirk nor a frown. Just...neutral. He just couldn't get a read on her, and that really bothered him. Of course, when you played The World, one was perfectly within reason to be paranoid, given the nature of how some player killers operated.

"Please say that you want to. Go ahead..." The man's grin grew even more wild as he idly twirled one of his chakrams. "...give me a reason."

Bordeaux growled, but gave a questioning look to the woman, who had given the man a brief glare. "The guild that you PKers hate the most…" She adjusted her glasses slightly, fixing Bordeaux with a piercing stare. "...might be heading this way as we speak."

"Moon Tree?!" Bordeaux sounded shocked and angered. "I can't believe it…. You tipped them off, you bitch!"

The woman's mouth finally shifted into a smirk. "Maybe I did." It was then that Haseo realized just what it was she was doing, and he had to stop himself from smirking as well. He still didn't like her, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Hey! W-What are we gonna do?" Negimaru squeaked frightfully.

"Fighting them now is only gonna bring more problems…." Bordeaux tapped her sword against her thigh a few more times before she sheathed it, jabbing a finger at the duo. "You two! I won't forget this!" The PKers dashed off, heading to the nearby Warp Point to leave the dungeon.

Once they were gone, the woman spoke aloud. "What a silly girl. Doesn't she realize that I just saved her?"

"Eh, probably not. People like her are usually pretty stupid like that." The other shrugged, his chakrams disappearing in a small puff of flame as the two continued walking forward, the man giving Sora a knowing smirk as he passed him. "Isn't that right, Sora?"

Sora laughed, running up and giving the taller man a pat on the back. "You said it, Lea."

Lea almost did a double take before he bent over, laughing heartily. "So, you finally got it memorized, huh?"

"Um...yeah. Thanks a lot for saving us." Silabus bowed at the waist to the woman, who ignored the green-clad Brandier and loomed over Haseo as he got back to his feet.

"You're Haseo?"

"I don't recall telling anyone like you my name," he replied, frowning at the woman. Now that he was back on his own two feet, he saw that, not counting the hair, she was actually a couple inches shorter than him. Lea, on the other hand, was a good half-foot taller than her, without the hair. With the hair, he was a good eight inches taller.

"You're an unruly child, just like I heard you were." The woman crossed her arms under her breasts, most likely trying to intimidate him.

Haseo was unphased. He rolled his eyes at her. "What are you? A groupie?"

The woman smirked as she shook her head. "Nice try, but I'm not interested in brats."

Haseo smirked right back at her. "Well I'm glad...because I don't have any interest in old hags." The eyes of Sora and Silabus widened, and Lea slammed a gloved hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing. He didn't do very well.

"What?!'Old hag?!'" The woman's jaw was slack, and Haseo was pretty sure that her eye was twitching behind her glasses.

"Only an old person like you would use such an outdated phrase like 'unruly child.'" Haseo elaborated, mimicking the woman's tone with the last two words.

Oh, yes. Her eye was definitely twitching behind those glasses. "Damn brat!" she growled. "I'll have you know that I'm-"

"Now, now, O-Pi-Sama. Let's keep the lid on that for now." Everyone was now gawking at Lea, followed by them cringing as he suddenly found the woman's fist driving him face-first into the ground.

"How many times must I tell you to stop calling me that?" Pi ground out. A few tense moments of silence passed before Pi sighed and began to walk off, leaving Lea on the ground. "I'll come back another time." Haseo idly noted that she had a purple mark upon her right shoulder, one that he hadn't seen on other characters. It was probably just some special event cosmetic.

"As you wish," he shrugged.

"Let me just give you one warning; Haseo..." Pi paused, glancing over her shoulder towards him.

Oh, great. Here comes the lecture about how I should be more careful, and-

"...you hide something within you. There is a dangerous power inside you."

...Okay, wasn't expecting that.

"Dangerous...power?" Sora tilted his head to the side, hand on his chin in thought.

Pi ignored Sora, turning to face Haseo fully once more, but making no move to come back towards him. "Have you ever had the feeling like there was something strange growing inside of you...as if it is trying to get out?" She stared at him. No, not at him; it seemed like she was staring at something inside of him, right by his heart.

Growing...inside of me?! Like a parasite, or- Haseo suddenly heard the same three words he'd heard only a few minutes ago, far off and nearby at the same time. It seemed to be more prominent than last time, though, if only by a little bit.

"Thou art I…"

There was a part of Haseo that was curious as to who or what could possibly be saying those three words. There was another part of Haseo that was screaming at him, telling him that he should not try to find out. A shiver unconsciously went down his spine, thankfully unnoticed by almost everyone. Pi seemed to notice, but said nothing.

"Well, anyway…" she nodded, turning back around. "I'll see you again." She stepped up to the Warp Point, leaving the dungeon.

Lea had finally picked himself up from the small crater he'd been imprinted into. "I should probably get going too. But before I do…" Lea handed something to Sora. "I believe Bordeaux dropped this when she ran off. She probably picked it up and found she couldn't use it. Probably held onto it, given her, ah, 'unique' interests. I'm sure you'll find a better use for it, though."

Lea then turned to Haseo. "Now, as for you…I kinda wish I could offer you something more than what Miss Bundle Of Sunshine gave ya, but…" Lea suddenly became deadly serious. "She is right. You have a very dangerous power sleeping within your heart, Haseo. It can bring forth the destruction of all that you hold dear…or it could be the salvation of, not just your precious things, but of many other's too. It all depends on the whim of the user."

The whim of the user? Salvation or destruction? And it's...asleep in my heart? Lea continued speaking.

"I once told someone this so that someone else could manipulate him, but I hope that this time, these words will be to help you. Our most precious memories lie deep in our hearts, out of reach, as do our most painful ones. If you awaken this power you have in you, then there's a good chance that your memories might return with you."

"My memories? What the hell are you talking about?" Haseo frowned.

"Heh, I never said I'd give you a hint." Lea chuckled humorlessly, before the frown returned to his face. "Be forewarned: when your sleeping power awakens, you may no longer be who you think you are." Before Haseo could question him further, Lea was already walking towards the Warp Point.

Silabus walked over to the downed Gaspard, pulling out a Revival Medicine to resurrect him, pulling him up from where he lay on the ground as he did so. "Phew! Oh man, that was pretty scary," the Shadow Warlock sighed.

"Oh! Can't believe I almost forgot," Lea called out. "Sora! Haseo! Take this!" Lea flung two cards to the two of them. Haseo quirked a brow as he looked at Lea's Member Address; it looked different than the normal ones, bordered by red flame decals. "If you see me online, gimme a holler, and I'll join up when I can!" He grinned, giving them a lazy salute. "Oh, and Haseo? In case you decide to get your old character back, just let me know. I'll put in a good word for ya with my co-workers. Got it memorized?" With the deed done, Lea proceeded to Gate Out.

Haseo took a few minutes trying to ponder the meaning behind Lea's words, before he came to a startling realization. Holy crap, I just got saved by two CC Corp Admins...and I probably pissed one of them off. Dammit.

It was around this time that he noticed Silabus waiting for an opportunity to speak. He seemed embarrassed for some reason. "Wow. I...owe you an apology. You were telling the truth the whole time. I'm really, really sorry." Huh? Oh yeah, that thing about him roleplaying. Haseo had practically forgotten about all of that.

"It's fine, really. It all probably sounded pretty crazy anyway." The Adept Rogue rubbed the back of his head. He wasn't quite used to sincere apologies.

Silabus smiled appreciatively. "Okay. So, I didn't really get all of that, but basically, your character has some really messed up data, right?"

Gaspard jumped a little. "Whaaat?! Really?! Well, then...then you should do what Lea said! Go and tell CC Corporation all about it and have them recreate your character for you!"

Silabus nodded. "It's not normal to go from level 133 to level 1 so suddenly."

"Yeah, I know. You're right. It's definitely 'not normal,' but…" Haseo paused, the memory of Tri-Edge appearing in his mind. Should he tell them that? No. Better to not get them involved unless they want to. "I guess you could say my enemy's not normal, either."

"Enemy?" Silabus looked a little confused, tilting his head to the side.

"If that 'dangerous power' or whatever they were talking about can help, then…" Haseo clenched his fist, his mind made up. "...then I've got no choice but to keep using this character!"

Silabus hummed. "That sounds pretty serious to me…" Haseo thought he was going to ask more before Silabus simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well. Anyway, good luck!"

Haseo breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. The fewer people involved in this, the better. I've already dragged Sora into this. If something were to happen to anyone else…

"You know what? Come to think of it..." A light bulb had seemed to come on in Gaspard's head. "...didn't that lady say that she had already called the Moon Tree guild?"

Haseo scoffed a little. "That was just a bluff."

Gaspard seemed a bit confused. "She lied?"

Sora chuckled a little, shaking his head. "No, not a lie exactly. She just never said that she'd actually called them."

Haseo nodded his head, grinning slightly. Sora was definitely smarter than he appeared. "Took the words right out of my mouth, Sora."

You could almost see the gears in Gaspards head turning while Silabus spoke, rather impressed. "A bluff, huh? She's quite the strategist."

"Eugh!" Gaspard was suddenly looking around fearfully.

"What's wrong?" Silabus chuckled.

"What are we doing wasting our time? I mean, what if those player killers come back here?!" Gaspard truly sounded fearful. Had something happened to him with PKers in the past?

"That's a really good point," Sora nodded, looking a bit nervous as well. "I don't think I'll be able to pull something like that again for a while. Let's hurry back to town!"

"Yeah, about that...you're gonna have to tell me just what that was." Haseo gave Sora a look that told him that he wasn't getting away with leaving him in the dark this time.

"I have to admit, that was pretty cool. I mean, I've never seen anything like that before!" Silabus grinned.

Δ Server Root Town Eternal City Mac Anu: Back Alley

"Goddammit! That bitch was bluffing! I should have known." Bordeaux slammed her fist against the nearby wall. Oh, Haseo wasn't going to get off so easy next time.

"C-Calm down, Bordeaux." Negimaru stammered weakly. "B-Besides, didn't you see? They were obviously System Admins. That guy in the black coat looked like he wasn't as tolerant of player killing anyway. Why don't ya take a look at that charm you found the other day? Th-that usually helps calm ya down, right?"

Grein was silently staring at the staircase leading down to their hangout. For a moment, he'd thought he had seen something, like light bending around some odd shape. It must have been a trick of the light, or a little glitch, for it wasn't there anymore. He shook his head, staring back at his two comrades.

"Yeah...Yeah, you're right, Negimaru. Looking at that keychain will help while I think of-" Bordeaux froze, before she let out a furious shriek. "MOTHERFUCKER! THEY FUCKING TOOK IT!"

Negimaru looked about ready to bolt. "B-B-Bordeaux?"

The Blade Brandier ignored him. "WHAT IN THE FUCK IS THEIR PROBLEM, STEALING FROM ME LIKE THAT?! WHY WOULD THEY EVEN NEED A-" She stopped mid-rant, as she connected the dots. "That boy. That Sora kid. His weapons… They had keychains on them. He had to be the one that took it. There's no other reason." Oh, she was going to get them good, System Admins be damned! When she got her hands on that little brat, she'd-

"Greetings, player killers." The three turned to further down the dark alley, where a blurry shape was walking towards them. No...it looked almost like it was stalking towards them.

"W-Who's there?! Don't you fuck with me! Show yourself!" Bordeaux had just about had it with people screwing around with her today.

Electricity crackled around it's form as it glowed orange, what seemed to be a prehensile cord wrapping around something on it's back. As the glow outlined it, there was a loud buzz of a chainsaw starting up as the four-legged thing gouged the blade into the ground beneath it, sparks and detritus flying up as it did so.

The intellect contained within it's form gazed at the three, seemingly reading their expressions. The green-haired one looked ready to faint. The fat one's brow was furrowed in it's direction. The female looked intrigued. In truth, it was discreetly hacking into their their accounts, gathering as much information as it could to use as potential leverage.

Chance Further Intimidation Tactics Needed: 25%

Most Probable Scenario: Subjects [Bordeaux] and [Grein] engage in combat while Subject [Negimaru] flees

Threat Level of Subjects [Bordeaux] and [Grein]: Negligible

Chances of Defeat: 0.000001%

Bordeaux narrowed her eyes at the being that stood before her, lowering her weapon slightly. "And just what the hell are you?"

Reassessment

Most Probable Scenario: Subject [Bordeaux] expresses interest in potential for Assassination of Subject [Sora]

Chances of Successful Partnership: 89%

Chances of Completing Mission Directive: 99.99%

The creature set the chainsaw blade upon it's back as it deactivated it's active camouflage, revealing a rather impressive-looking form of metal alloys and CNT fibers, true to it's canine shape in the real world. A light below it's red visor flashed as it introduced itself to the three, the metal of it's body groaning slightly as it dug it's claws into the ground. "LQ-84i. A prototype UG with a conversational interface. I believe we may be able to reach a...mutually beneficial agreement."

Author's Note: And now I've added Bladewolf into the mix of things. If any of you properly guessed who one of Maleficent's new allies was, you would have probably seen this coming.

For those of you who have no idea who this is, go play Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. It's really short, so some of you may just want to rent it. But this game...just...this freaking game, son.

Anyway, Read, Review, and Recommend if you like it!