.hack//RE:Boot

Fragment

"Fragment was programmed and designed by Harald Hoerwick, who based it off of the epic poem Epitaph of Twilight by Emma Wielant. After finishing the game, which he did completely on his own, he sold it to CC Corporation for practically nothing. CC Corp beta tested the game using a mixture of their own employees and testers brought in from outside the company. Though the test was considered a success, the beta was ended early for unknown reasons and the game was upgraded to the retail version The World."

The World R:1

"The World is the first massively multi-player online RPG since Pluto's Kiss. Developed for the ALTIMIT OS, The World had a lot of media hype, resulting in over 100,000 preorders being taken in November of 2007. The World was sold online for download, and in the first day alone it sold 4,576,623 copies."

"In the game the world has been under attack by monsters, which has forced the forces of good to retreat into fiercly defended cities and forts. Only adventurers (represented by the players) are allowed to penetrate the magical shields around these safe havens and battle with the monsters that lurk outside. These adventurers draw their power through their mastery of waves, symbols that are inscribed onto their bodies and equipment that allow them to channel the power of the elements into their bodies in the form of magical skills and abilities."

The World R:2

"In 2015, a fire destroyed most of The World's game data, so CC Corp quickly began work on a replacement. By splicing together the remaining data from The World with another game they were working on, they created R:2. It was released on Christmas Eve, 2015. However, fans of The World disliked the change as they were unable to transfer their character data to The World R:2, and many referred to the launch as "Goddess's Death". Despite this fact, the game goes on to sell 12 million copies, though it still falls short of its predecessor's 20 million."

"R:2 has a much more in-depth background story for the players, which takes place about a hundred years after the background story of The World. Much of the world of R:2 uses steam as a form of power, creating a steampunk fantasy setting. Many more races are present within the game, including humans and beasts, who are divided into three different Factions."
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"Welcome to The World"

"A place of excitement and adventure", The scene rises in a dark cave. Three players suddenly run across the cave halls, seeming to be running from something... or toward it. "Where players can fight together to gain prizes they can only dream of". They stumble to a stop and the camera changes view in front of them, showing them in amazement as it zooms out quickly. The sight of a giant floating statue; The Beast Statue. The three approach a chest and nod to each other. They open the chest and a light shines-- the camera passed into the chest into darkness.

"Or embark on quests..." The camera emerges upon an open desert field, following after a single player. They ride a single wheeled bike that exhausts steam behind it. The bike tears fast across the desert as a goblin jumps out of the desert. The goblin began running, the player on the bike falling behind him. "... That test their ability to adapt.." The player held onto the bike with one hand while his other hand drew a rifle with a bayonet from his back. He aimed the gun and fired-- blackness.

"A place where players can test their steel, not only against monsters..." The camera drops from the sky and spirals, falling toward the center of the arena. The camera zooms in on three players; Three Edge Punishers. "... but against each other..." It pans left to see three more players; A Twin Blade, A Shadow Warlock, and a Lord Partizan. The two teams rush at each other and begin combat. The players move at each other with a flury of strikes and magic, dodging and blocking when the opportunity arises. "Will you rise to the challenge..." The scene changes to a pile of bodies and a single player, a female Twin Blade, stands in the center of the arena with her back turned to the camera. Only a silouette of her can be made out. The camera zoomed in on the girl and faded to black.

The camera backs away, changing the scene to the Guild @Home of Mac Anu. New Players are seen, following players clearly very Advanced. The scene changes again with the camera zooming out from the hands of a woman. She passed a weapon to a male player, he took it and looked it over then nodded with a smile. The camera panned right to two short Beasts who chatted and seemed to get excited. They started running toward the bridge. The camera followed them across the bridge to the tower on the other side. As the large doors open, the camera approached the Chaos Gate and passed through it.

The scene quickly changed. The two small Beasts from before ran across another bridge toward a large Cathedral. As they entered the Cathedral, a crowd was formed. The camera zooms past the crowd to two players, a girl and a boy. The girl swung down a Scythe toward the boy, who defended with two swords. As the sound of their clash is heard. The camera pans up and fades into darkness. "This... is where our story begins."

At the Hulle Granz Cathedral...

CHING! TSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSTSSSS The sounds of the two players weapons clashing echo'd loudly in the cathedral. Scythe floated off the ground with her weapon held tight. She looked Arsenic in the eyes and a look of intense anger flared in her. With a strong impact, Scythe's foot struck Arsenic's chest and the Flick Reaper went flying back. She landed onto the ground and took a few steps back to get distanced from him. Scythe took her stance to prepare another rush on Arsenic.

"What are you doing here!? Why did you follow me again!?" Scythe cried out at Arsenic.

She didn't wait for his response, Scythe charged the Twin Blade again with a vicious look in her eyes. She brought her weapon up over her head and swung it down, clashing against his Dual Swords. She lets her weapon clash off of his blades and be brought back up, only to be swung down again. Scythe clashed with Arsenic's weapons successfully multiple times, pushing him back toward the pillar.
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At the same time...

From the sidelines along with the crowd of other players stood the Tribal Grappler, Raven. His arms were crossed while he watched his partner. It seemed to bring both interest and curiosity about in him. Raven was Scythe's Teammate for a while, but he didn't often get the chance to see her in conflict with her previous lover.

"Hmhm," Raven snickered as he watched the fight. "Watch this..." He whispered to a nearby Edge-Punisher.

Arsenic continually blocked Scythe's assaults, looking for an opening in which he could retaliate. He found himself growing more irritable by the moment as he stood his ground, a very rare thing for him. He had grown a reputation within the world as being one of the most laid-back individuals in the game, however when in conflict with Scythe, that reputation had grown to mean nothing.

Spotting an opening, he swept his feet across the ground, tripping Scythe as she readied another swing, then leapt across the way, catching his breath for a moment.

"Who are they, Scythe? Tell me that much and I'll let you leave!"

He spun his blades once, a sign that his guildmates had come to know as a trademark of his. It never meant well for whatever he was fighting... However, they had never before seen Arsenic in conflict with another player, especially not one of Scythe's caliber.

Knowing he had only one chance to come out on top, he charged the blades, rushing forth as she managed to recover, his voice echoing throughout the landscape.

"Sword Dance!!"

He leapt into the air, spinning as he did so and assaulting Scythe with a barrage of power from his blades, though to his chagrin, every strike bounced off of her scythe.

Badum-- Badum-- Badum. The sounds of heartbeats shook the area. The scared little boy, appearing only in early pre-teen years looked around, scared. He was crouched down, in the bushes. The sounds of others, yelling, screaming are heard.

"Where is he?!" A male voice yelled.

"He hid somewhere, find him!" A female voice yelled. More bustling filled the brim of the would-be silent night at the park. The location-- unknown.

"Shhh.. it is fine," an older, but quiet voice re-assured the boy. A larger figured was kneeling beside him, peering out through the openings in the leaves. A white beard graced his face, down toward the ground, his head filled with white hair-- the top covered with a black bowl hat. The man wore a matching business suite with other great attire.

"B-But.." The young boy pleaded-- but was soon silenced by the old man with a hand to the mouth. The man only said, "Do not worry, I will always protect you, no matter where you go."

In the world, the sounds of fighting are heard. True Blade, stood in the sidelines at the Cathedral. His eyes shook as he heard a whisper-- from a nearby Tribal Grappler, whispering to an Edge-Punisher to his left. "Watch this..." He heard.

True Blade blinked as he turned to watch the fight. It was obvious to him that these two had something before, but he could not put his finger on it. He looked over his character's profile.

"Level 10 Adept Rogue. Level 3 Edge Punisher Job."

He sighed with disappointment. Perhaps he chose the wrong job to get? Perhaps he should have gone for something that could aid him better.

Regardless, with his idol thinking he knew that he couldn't turn back. He had to go with what he had chosen in the beginning.

His thoughts began to drift elsewhere though, the kind sweet face of a certain girl-- was abruptly cut off by a loud-- hard clang from the two contenders. His eyes focused back on the fight, unsure if he wanted to be there anymore.

Rhyme happened to be near the cathedral when she heard the familiar sounds of battle. The adept rogue moved through the crowed to see the battle and was surprised to see Arsenic fighting the scythe wielder, she had met him in real life after a run in at a club she was playing at A few months back, he said that he and a girl friend were on vacation from Japan but his girl had stood him up that night and they had exchanged info.

Rhy watched the battle and it would seem they were evenly matched, for the most part. Rhyme crossed her arms and watched the fight.

A beep could be heard in the real world and it seemed to grabbed Joanna's attention she quickly took off her visor and spun around her chair and bolted to the kitchen. Jo then ripped open the Microwave and pulled out a hot pocket, she juggled her food in her hands avoiding being burnt. The gamer grabbed a plate and was on her way back to her room but she was stopped by her room mate and was trapped by idol conversation.

AppleJuice, an odd Harvest Cleric with a Broadsword upon her back and a staff in her hand, pushed through the crowd to get a look at the fight with wide eyes. Oh Wow! She exclaimed, excited to see such a battle. She raised her hand up into the air. Go! Ya! Go Girl! She obviously had no clue what was going on but seemed to be rooting for Scythe. Soon she had at least a foot of spade around her clear of people who knew of her. The Healing Blunder. A healer who, despite her words, tends to blow up a player rather then heal them. She threw her hand with her staff up and the tip of her staff sparked, a random healing spell going over herself. The spell made her stop and blink, looking up to her staff. The people around her stepped back further not wanting to be randomly blown up.

Kaylan wiped a lock of black hair from his face and lowered the virtual reality visor over his head, sitting in his comfy computer desk chair. The rooms curtains had been drawn, so whichever colour the walls of the room were, they were now a darkened; slightly charred-wood sort-of colour.

As the visor covered his eyes there was an almost blinding flash as it tuned to his vision, before adjusting the brightness to more comfortable levels. His grip on the controller tightened, and a grim determined look creeped onto his face as the log-in screen appeared before his eyes. This was the third day he had logged into the World, and this time he wasn't there to just play a game.

KnightReaper, and KnightSlayer they had called themselves, two Sword Master rogues. Only this time the Slayer had already been slain, and the Reaper would have to scour the world to get revenge for his fallen brother. Kaylans friends game had been hacked, and his friend had been somehow deleted from the game world by a group of players. Kay was determined to find out who they were, and stop them. His friend had been found in a coma, and he was going to find out how.

* * *

The wind swept KnightReapers light-reddish brown hair, as he was loaded into the game world. The starter town for low-level players. There were shops and social areas, and players hopping about. There seemed to be an event on up ahead, where there was cheering and the sounds of fighting. He crunched some dust under his boots, and started forwards. "Thats as good a place to start as any." He said, mostly to himself, as he walked towards the event, swords sheathed on his back, his black outfit outlined with red, flicking behind him.

Scythe brought her weapon back harshly and her body seemed to buckle a moment. After a hint of hesitation, she launched herself toward Arsenic. Her eyes widened in a rage that almost reflected insanity, as if in the center of her heart she had such a hatred of him that it could not be held within her. She cried out in a furious, almost terrifying anger, "Whoever you're talking about can go to hell, ALONG WITH YOU!!!!"

A dark reflection of herself appeared from Scythe, acting as almost a guardian that followed her movements. It was massive in size and had an HP Rating of ∞. Scythe brought her weapon toward Arsenic's Skill Attack. The two player's weapons clashed and from the result, a massive shockwave that shook the Cathedrals ground. A strange occurrence, as Scythe clearly over-powered Arsenic by using her illegal modifications. Arsenic's PC was sent skidding backward until it was slammed into the nearby wall of the inner Cathedral. Scythe assumingly took damage from Arsenic's strike but hers left him pinned to the wall. Her strike tore out, like a flaring wave that caused intense cosmetic damage over the walls and ground around Arsenic. Something that would most likely call for the attention of an Admin. It left tears in the image texture, a look familiar to corrupted areas in the past. After the darkness faded, Scythe was no longer there and it was assumed that she gated out.

*****

Yui dropped her headset and walked to the wall. Her hands rose from the wall, grabbing at it and tearing down slowly. The sound of her nails scratching over the wall screeched in the apartment. Damn him, DAMN HIM!!! She cried out in her mind. Her teeth were grinding. Yui swung her knee up into the wall and broke a hole in it-- the wall, before she stepped back and left the room with her game still on. It could be assumed she was coming back.
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Raven remained in the Cathedral, even after Scythe left. His hands remained in his pockets. He began looking around with a bit of curiosity. Usually, a place like this wasn't very popular for lots of players to gather around at once. After all, it was relatively small and as a sort of field itself, anyone who came here became a target for PKers. Raven smirked and tilted his head down. It was almost like he was waiting-- expecting-- praying, for a dagger in the back. He stopped smirking and rose his head, enough for his sharp eyes to glare at Arsenic. Scythe.. He thought to himself. So this is him.

Raven raised his right hand and tightened a fist, though his eyes weren't once taken off of Arsenic. He thought of the result, should he decide to attack the player. He'd be defeated without question. Oh well, a nice thought.
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5 Minutes Earlier

"Broadswords!" a gentle feminine voice called out loudly. "Get your broadswords! Longswords, Bayonets, anything you need right over here!" The source of the voice, a cut blonde female Twin Blade. She hopped back and forth, side to side, spun with a few of her steps. She called as much attention as she could to her store, hoping to gain at least a few sales. After a few minutes though, she lowered her hands and placed them together. The girl looked around with a sense of concern. She knew why nobody was around today, it's because they were fighting again. TESMEI really did want to go and speak to them, to calm down her friend and his ex-lover, but she knew that getting involved would only be trouble.

"Rare items!" She shouted again, hoping to gain someones attention. It was hopeless though, she'd get no sales while they were fighting.
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Somewhere in the SIGMA//Server. A field with vast desert like fields...

"Please, no--" SHIIIISSSH!!! The body of a Harvest Cleric dropped to the ground on her knees, then onto her front. Above her stood a Female Steam Gunner. She tilted her head back, as if to crack her neck -- then she tilted it to the right.

"Yuna!" someone called. The Steam Gunner turned to look at the one who called her. It was a Shadow Warlock. She nodded and approached him. The Shadow Warlock stood with two other players, an Edge Punisher and a Blade Brandier. When the Steam Gunner reached them, the Shadow Warlock began to speak again. "That was the last one, servers are slow today."

The Steam Gunner held up a hand quickly and leaned forward. "It doesn't matter, I still get my pay." The Shadow Warlock cringed. Working with someone like Yuna wasn't all that enjoyable. She charged a fortune and of course, there was always concern. Regardless, the PKers agreed to it and transferred her a sum of gp. Yuna smiled as she received it, then she turned, calling upon a Steam Bike. Yuna swung a leg over the bike and mounted it before looking back. "Nice working with you" Yuna said sarcastically. The PKers laughed at the comment and turned, preparing to head back to the Warp Gate to Gate out themselves.

However... On their way back, the sound of an engine roared. The Edge Punisher looked at the Blade Brandier. "What's that?" The three PKers turned to see a terror inducing sight. A Steam Bike charging on them-- before they could react, the Steam Bike crashed head on into the Shadow Warlock. It sent him flying and hit him with such force, his HP went spiraling out of him. The rider-- Yuna, flipped off the bike and fired two shots. It took out the Edge Punisher quickly and immobilized the Blade Brandier.

"ASTA!" the Blade Brandier shouted. His eyes widened as a sudden blade was before his sight. The bayonet held by the blue haired girl was pressed to the Blade Brandiers head. It turned and aimed down his eye-- his pupil dilated. Suddenly, he screamed loudly as the sound of a piercing stab echoed out. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Arsenic fell to his knees after a moment, the attack having stunned him and dramatically lowered his HP to almost nothing. He took a moment to use some healing items, then stood slowly, his blades sheathed. He never once looked to the crowd, instead passing his gaze over toward where she had been moments before. A moment or two passed, then he lowered his head, and his PC seemed to go blank momentarily.

Kiryu tore the visor from his face, standing and pacing slowly in circles, taking deep breaths as he did so. I don't need it... It's not going to help... Don't do it, Kiryu... You're making such good... He stopped, slamming his fist into the wall before walking back to his desk. He opened the drawer and pulled out a near-empty pack of cigarettes, the remains of his ration before he quit. He removed one, lighting it and slowly taking a draw before throwing the pack against the wall. Yui... You've gotten powerful with your modding, I see... It's not going to help you, though... I'm coming back for that information... And this time, i intend to get it... He pulled the visor back on, putting out the cigarette as he continued the game.

Back in The World, Arsenic's PC seemingly returned to life, still not acknowledging the crowd, but rather surveying the damage. He finally sat in the center of the room, staring at what remained of the beauty of Hulle Granz as thoughts raced through his mind, a silent rage remaining on his face.

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Back in Mac Anu, a Blade Brandier walked along the streets, looking around at how empty they were and smiling a bit, shaking his head. So, they're at it again, eh? Arsenic... When will you learn? He laughed lightly aloud as he made his way around the corner, stopping at TESMEI's shop. "Miss TESMEI, you seem rather down today." He sat down, his back against the wall. "I take it business is not going well because of the big ordeal at Hulle Granz?" He stood after a moment, then removed a few items from his inventory, gifting them to TESMEI for her shop. "Cheer up, Miss TESMEI. Today's wares, as promised."

During the fight, his eyes remained on the one who had whispered 'Watch this..' Though afterwards, he watched as new people gathered.

He saw many new faces and was quite excited. He wanted to meet them all, but first thing's first-- the man next to him.

He turned toward the man, who would be known as 'Raven' and began to speak, 'Hi! What was that spat all about? I haven't been here for a while but that was the most intense fight I've seen yet!'

AppleJuice looked wide eyed at the event and when the woman disappeared she frowned. Aww! Poopie! She kicked at the ground and turned, moving out of the crowd. Her lips twisted up as she set her staff to her shoulder in thought. Maybe she will just go out into The World and try her luck, though she tended to get killed from time to time and have to start over. She had a full log of failed mission attempts but she didnt seem to mind.. Unless others said she couldnt join their party because of her history.

Joanna finally gets back to her room after being attacked by her room mate and hoped she wasn't dead, it was probably a bad idea to go afk where she could be killed. Rhyme seem to come back to life as Jo took control, she came back in time to see Arsenic get stomped by Scythe. The crowd went crazy rooting for the female, Rhyme just stayed quiet and wonder how she'd fair against Scythe...

Rhyme's shadow cast over Arsenic and she gently kicked his boot, "you okay there buddy?" She said resisting the urge to yell You got knocked the f*** out!

KnightReaper watched as the Blade Bandier appreached one of the shops, and started exchanging in conversation, and trade. He knew there was an event at the Cathedral area, but he might go there later. First he needed t ask around town about the hackers that some-how deleted his friend which put him in a coma. As he strode through the street, passing various players and nearing Tesmei, and Arsenic. Hikaru knew he'd seen the player before, or at least someone similar to him.

KnightBlade stopped five meters away, and turned around. He could see the Zone-Gate somewhat behind where he had loaded into the world. Hikaru couldn't remember what they were actually called, but the name he had appointed them seemed apt. He half turned towards the two at the stall, the flaps of his clothing shifting slightly in the in-game breeze.

"You wouldn't know anything about the hacker attacks from the other day, would you?" He asked.

Raven's eyes opened and he raised his head to look at the Adept Rogue who questioned him. Before he even opened his mind to the question he was being asked, he thought to himself. The World is a game full of different classes. Sure, all of them are fun and sure, you might want to explore them all. But that's why making another character would be preferable. So many people now choosing the Adept Rogue class is a strange thing. It was the weakest class in the game, it had versatility but in the later levels they would easily find themselves overwhelmed without question. Unless of course they intended to become PKers, in which case they need only switch to a weapon-type that has an advantage over the class they're fighting. Upon investigating him, Raven quickly found the Rogue to use an Edge-Punisher Style. This meant he had 3 more points to spend, but what did he spend them on. Edge-Punisher is a slow class type, Broadswords wouldn't work well against someone like Raven who could easily deliver a steady stream of blows and knock them into critical state before even a single swing could be completed. Broadswords were only useful for power attacks, so this Rogue must have intended for power to boost him up to a point. Based on that knowledge, it was doubtful that he was a PK and thus it made it more safe for Raven to be near him. Still, why is he talking to me? Raven asked himself. The best thing to do would be to ask the person at the center of the conflict. As Scythe left, that meant speaking to Arsenic. Arsenic though, was still injured from battle, and no doubt seeing a battle take place could have shaken a few people. Still, there was little doubt toward what this meant for the Rogue. He was the type to ask others about others, rather than try to find the answer directly. He skirted around the problem. It was a good trick to stay out of the spotlight, but it makes the ones doing it look suspicious.

"The girl Flick Reaper was named Scythe," Raven began saying. "She's a Legendary Hacker in The World. Check the BBS and you'll see a few threads that mention her." He turned to take a glance at Arsenic. "That's Arsenic, a Twin Blade, he doesn't hack." Raven turned his attention off of the Twin Blade completely, only glancing toward the Rogue as he prepared to make his way for the doors. He felt something strange, the data shifted. Hackers? No. This was too clean to be the work of illegal tech, this was by the book, moderated, consent stuff. "Crap..." Raven quickly became defensive and stepped backward to rejoin the crowd.
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The Gate deactivated-- it locked, keeping players from entering or exiting. A text appeared in the air that read the words; Lockdown. A few players attempted to gate out, but it was met with failure. They tried to turn off the game in an attempt to log out-- but that too failed. Even disconnecting failed, keeping their characters logged in. The area was officially locked off from The World to all except for Administrators.

The players began to panic from this sudden outcome. What's going on? Some of them whispered. Their answer came to them in the form of angels.

The sound soon echoes in the air with PC's entering the area. The PC's are Admin Permitted Players, it is clear they are the ones responsible for locking down the area. Most of them look the same -- steel armor with golden trim, broadswords, a helmet with angelic wings. The one who leads them dawns the same armor, minus the helmet. Another Rogue with dark skin and white hair. Her wave-sign was unique on her forehead. Her design work was very unique and appeared to have originated with her. The others, weren't classified as Administrator's but rather regular Players with Administrator Permission, with some exceptions of course. The Angelic woman approached the players inside of the Cathedral with the blade being clenched. She appeared angelic in physical form, but with a hint of anger and corruption -- or possibly extreme purity, meant to follow after the ideal that even Angels weren't Perfection but rather extremists in their own perspectives.

As the woman approached the crowd, the others that traveled with her blocked off the exit. This may have been unnecessary as the area was locked down, but it helped to keep others from trying to start a riot. The woman s wings folded. She looked over the players once, giving each one of them a careful glance to try and memorize them. There was a look of disgust in her eyes, even when she looked at those who would otherwise be claimed as 'innocent'. She was steady and quiet at first. "Tsk, tsk, tsk" The girl whispered to herself. She went ahead and passed by the players toward the front of the Cathedral, where the graphic damage was made. When she reached it, she came to a stop. Her fists began to tighten -- clenching. "Hackers, illegal modifications, tampering with the games design." She turned harshly and looked directly at Arsenic. "I told you to stay out of this one," she said with both a sense of irritation and familiarity. It was clear the two of them knew each other, but not in what way. The Administrator turned from the Twin Blade and turned her attention onto the rest of the players.

"Attention Players," she spoke with a strong voice -- a powerful sense of authority rung from her throat. "One of the players here has been found guilty of Illegally Modifying their Player Character. Such a thing is against the code of the game and thus unforgivable." Though at first, she may sound even slightly reasonable, suddenly, her words turn to a growl. "But that's not all, is it? You all came to watch the show, because you found it interesting. Maybe because you wanted to see a player get killed... or maybe because you wanted to learn something to help yourself. So here's what is going to happen." A few of the Admin Permitted Players approach the crowd, commanding them to move into groups. Almost as if they are being herded. "All of your PC will undergo a scan -- if you are found to possess any illegal modifications, you will be terminated on the spot without exception. This is non-negotiable."

The players quickly found themselves split up. Each in a group of five. None of the notable characters seem to remain together, except for AppleJuice and Rhyme who are grouped together with three other players to be scanned. With the players all split up and dragged to separate parts of the Cathedral, the scanning began. As they were being scanned, their virtual interface began revealing details about their character data. This gave them a glimpse of all of what went into their character. While their character data was being scanned, the woman turned toward Arsenic.

"I did tell you not to come." She said with a hint of annoyance. "She was here then, no doubt."
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Jasper took off his interface with annoyance and dropped it onto the table in front of him. "Dammit!" He shouted, as he kicked the table to slide himself back in his chair. Good thing Scythe got out when she did, this could have been bad. The boy stood up from his seat and started walking around the room. It would take a moment for them to scan their characters. Luckily, he never used any mods or hacks with Raven. He kept that restricted to another PC in another location -- and even those were small time. Still, he can't help but be irritated by this. The admins are taking a stronger interest in The World than they did before. It's almost like it was seven years ago, from what Scythe told him. It didn't spell good things for them, they'd have to be careful should they choose to press on.

_______ At roughly the same time, in Mac Anu.... _________

TESMEI turned her attention to the Blade Brandier who approached. "Aaah, Arigatou, Jester-sama! (Thank you, Master Jester/Powerful)" The Twin Blade showed great appreciation for the items that she was graced with. Since their first meeting, Jester had done quite a bit to help TESMEI. She hadn't forgotten this-- as she also intended to keep her promise for when his young friend joined the game. The Twin Blade bowed to be courteous before she began to discuss the aspects of the unofficial event going on in Hulle Granz Cathedral-- then discuss the event soon to come, which was official. Before she could continue though, she was suddenly interrupted by an approaching Rogue. He was a low level and seemed to favor the longsword style to start. TESMEI turned to her stock to prepare a set of items to offer him but stopped as she heard mention of the 'Hacker Attacks'. Her ears rung with a sense of indecision.

The Twin Blade was in the Buying/Selling/Trading business, but she tried to keep this mostly restricted to items or aid. Not only that, but most of those that tried to investigate news of 'The Hackers' who were showing up on the BBS disappeared in a bad way. Clearly, TESMEI had no intentions of disappearing like they did -- her eyes went blank for a moment with her back turned toward the Rogue.

--------- Real World --------

Makoto Kasisaka, a teenage girl in her late teen years, nearly old enough to drink, yet preferring to stay home and read. At least on the outside. Makoto slid her headset from her eyes and slid on her glasses. She grabbed a notebook and a stack of books, pulling them onto the table aside her to look them over. She read at an impressive pace, quickly finding her information. She slid her glasses back off and once more dawned her visor.

---------- The World -----------

TESMEI's PC blinked twice before she turned back toward the Rogue with a big smile. "What you seek is not here!" she said aloud with a strangely obvious lying smile. She seemed sincere in how she spoke and yet the manner in which she did it was suspicious.

Arsenic lowered his head, not even turning to face the woman. "Hitomi... She has the information. We can't just let her get deleted... If the guilds get deleted... If MY guild gets deleted..." He gritted his teeth, dropping one of his blades to the ground and punching the wall he stood beside. "I'm not letting it happen. My guild depends on me too damn much for me to let them down. I'm going to be the one to take Scythe down. I have to be. It's the only way this can end favorably for all involved parties." He turned, a an apologetic look crossing his face. "I'm sorry that I went against your request. But you must admit, a small part of you knew I would as soon as you told me what was going on." The PC flashed a smirk, one that any of his player's friends would recognize as one Kiryu was infamous for. He leaned down, picking up his blade, and sat in place, awaiting the reprimanding he assumed was coming. His gaze wandered across the area, surveying the number of players who had watched the fight, as well as the amount of damage Scythe's final assault had caused. He shook his head, unable to keep himself from smiling a bit. Scythe... Looks like our fights have become something of a crowd-gathering affair... The next one will not be. Next time... I'll be ready. And you'd best be... Because next time... I'm pulling all the stops.

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Jester turned, facing the new player, surprised at TESMEI's sudden outburst. He hadn't seen this Adept Rogue before, though something about him was strangely familiar. He smiled a bit, tilting his head. "Hackers? Why in the world would you be searching for them? I can assure you, kid, they're beyond your level of expertise. Even some of the higher ranked Guild Leaders won't take them on." His words came in a polite, yet stern tone. Jester had never been one to push his information on anyone, but rather to simply inform. He had been told, however, that at times he could sound a bit... Reprimanding. He leaned against the stall, glancing back at TESMEI to see what the Twin Blade had gotten into, but noticed she stood in the same spot she had been in. "I'm going AFK for just a second, and I'll return, Miss TESMEI. If you need any assistance between now and then, you need only shout, and I'll be right back." And with that, his eyes went blank.

--------------------Back in the Real World------------------------

Kisaragi removed his visor, taking a moment to relax his eyes from the exposure to the in-game graphics. He had long heard it was bad for your eyes to stare at such marvelous designs for extended periods of time. He never had discovered whether or not there was truth behind those claims, however he knew that with his need for glasses already, he would be better off not to tempt fate. He sat back, rubbing his eyes, and then rose, walking to the next room and pulling a bottle of water from the mini fridge before returning to his seat, turning up the volume on his monitor, just in case he needed to jump back in-game to assist TESMEI.

The Adept Rogue blinked, bewildered and curious. He cooperated willingly and moved as they directed him. "What is going on?" He thought to himself, "Illegal modifications? Such is possible here?" He could not help but wonder, just what type of world this truly was.
He thought over what the man had told him, about Scythe and Arsenic. A Flick Reaper? A Twin Blade? One a hacker? Another..
He would have to study more as he knew little about the other classes, only that the Flick Reaper is a class talored to fighting multiple opponents, and the Twin Blade a fast-footed class who wields two swords. Two classes tailored to two different features.

These idol thoughts helped him pass the time while the others would be scanned. He knew at that moment how truly insignificant he was, and intended to keep it that way. He never liked the spotlight, he only wanted to do what needed to be done and have fun doing it.

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In the real-world Kazujin sits on his computer with the visor still on. A tall, semi-muscular figure steps behind him. The figure places a strong hand on the boy's back, which causes Kazujin to shoot into the air and slam his head into the ceiling. His visor is seen dropping and landing onto the ground. Kazujin quickly follows with a drop onto his back.

"H-Hey!" Kazujn quickly protests as he looks up at the figure. Kazujin wears a white t-shirt with black shorts. His body is well-rounded, not too thick, not too thin. His brown hair covers his eyes before he brushes it toward the right with his right hand. He can now identify the tall, now laughing, figure as his older brother, Taiju.

"Whoa buddy." The gruff man says as he steps forward, looking toward the screen.

"H-Hey! What're ya doing?" The boy speaks in protest.

The man puts on the visor and peers around. He then chuckles loudly before beginning to speak, "So this is the new world they've come out with?"

"Y-Yeah.. wait, do YOU know about the world?" The boy says in curiousity, taking his time to sit up.

The older male, wearing his white tattered muscle shirt that seems to conform on his seemingly sculpted body's most prominate features with black sweat pants surround his bottoms and his bare feet gripping the ground, lowers his head. The younger sibling tilts his head as Taiju takes the visor off. "It was.. a while back. I was there during the world's first inception. I've seen it all up to the opening of R:2."

Kazujin's eyes widened with a gasp, "Well why didn't you tell me!" He said with an excited voice, "We could have been playing and leveling together!"

Taiju extends his right palm with the visor within its grasp, handing it to Kazujin. "No, my days with that are long gone. However, I will do you a solid and tell you, if it is anything like the old world-- then it will be a very harsh, and unforgiving world if you're not prepared for it. You will make friends who share the same, or different interests than you. You will make enemies that will want nothing more than to see you suffer. So what are you in the world?"

"An Adept Rogue! It's a bit new, it lets you choice two or three classes! But I can only use one right now-- I think I need to unlock the other class somehow.." The young man said excitedly.

"Hmm.. I meant occupation, what do you do?" Taiju looked over at his brother with a raised right eyebrow.

"Well, I wanted to be an adventurer! Get into events, grind, and help out whoever I can! I want to level as quickly as possible! But leveling as Adept Rogue is.. a bit hard." Kazujin looks down sadly.

Taiju chuckles and puts a hand over his brother's head, "Look, you'll be fine. Just keep at it, and you'll be able to take on the world, and all of its issues! I know it!"

Kazujin smiles and nods, "Thank you brother!"

Taiju shakes his head, turning to walk toward the door. He stops at the door before looking back at him, "..So I'm heading to the store, want anything?"

Kazujin jumps up, putting on his visor, "The usual!"

Taiju sighs, "If you call beandip with soy sauce and potato chips the 'Usual' I'd hate to see what you call 'special'." Taiju says as he walks out of the room, waving. The door is heard shutting afterwords. Kazujin smiles, thinking to himself "Wow.. my brother played the world before I did, I really hope he changes his mind and starts playing!"

"Oh great, the Admins are here to save the day," she grumbled to herself. The area was sealed and there was no way to leave the lost ground, it was bothersome to be held up like this because of a damn hacker but what was she going to do. Rhyme complied with the admin so things could go faster, she was lead to a group of mostly newbies, she sat down next to a young harvest cleric and waited to be scanned, she knew she was safe cause she never messed with illegal mods. Rhyme looks at the harvest cleric profile and it was obvious that she hadn't played the game for for to long, "hope you don't have any illegal mods" Rhyme says playfully.

Joanna leans back in her chair and takes off her visor but is still able to hear the game, she turns to her laptop.that was next to her computer she used to play the game. Jo scrolls through the forums to see if there were any pkers baiting people to the field, it wasn't hard to spot them, if you knew what to look for. Jo scrolled down and found only the usual rumors and other bs that circled around but she found a thread saying with big bold words, "STAY AWAY FROM THE HARVEST CLERIC APPLE JUICE!" They were saying she was most likely to kill you then heal you, Joanna could only wonder how a harvest cleric could fail so badly, even for a newbie.

The Rogue waited turned as some commotion was starting at the zone-gate. Seemed that players were trying to go to the cathedral and were in-fact not able to. "Huh?" He turned back to the two he had approached. "I'm KnightReaper by the way, and yeah I understand I am far below their level, but I will become stronger."

AppleJuice blinked in wonder as she was rounded up with a few others. Why do they need to check us for? I don't have any Mods or anything.. she seemed to be pouting as if it was just a big waste of time. She looked to Rhyme and shrugged a bit as their group was being scanned.

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Katherine took off her visor and let out a sign. What a pain.. She pushed from her desk and stood up, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. She was only a 12 year old girl and not very developed so she didnt really care yet. Katherine made her way to her bed and grabbed another smaller controler before sitting back at her desk. The Visor was turned up so she could hear what was going on as she turned on a Console game.