.hack//RE:Boot

Yui walked around her room with cellphone in hand. She glanced over at her visor, her computer, then she went back to paying attention to the call. "Rika-chan, you at the house yet?" After a pause and a voice coming from her cellphone, she looked out the window and gave a smile. "Good. Make sure you wake Kiryu up. If he misses the event, hell will be paid." She nodded and turned, walking back through the room. "I'll be over soon. Love you, little sis." After saying her goodbyes, Yui closed her cellphone and grabbed her gear, securing it in her backpack before heading out the door. Today's gotta be a good day, Yui thought to herself before she got to her car. Her car wasn't very advanced, but it was reliable for her. She got into the car, started it up, and after checking her windows she took off. It had been a while since she saw Rika. She couldn't wait to see her again and help her with The World.

Rika looked up at Kiryu's house as she got out of the cab, her bluetooth headset lit up, signifying a call in progress. She nodded as a voice came over the other side. "I just got here, Yui-san. Looks like all the lights are out, so I'm glad you told me where the spare key is." She paused, waiting for a response as she walked up to the flower pot beside the door, lifting it to grab the key and opening the door. As she walked in, she continued her conversation. "I'll make sure to wake him in just a minute. I'm sure it won't be too hard with the Event today. He usually doesn't miss them." She dropped her bag in the room she had always used when she came over for the weekends, placing her backpack beside it, and then wandered into the kitchen and started some coffee before making her way to Kiryu's room. "See you soon, Onee-san! Love you, too!" She pressed the button on her headset, ending the call as she entered the room, throwing a book at Kiryu from his bookshelf. "Wake up, you lazy bum!" She smiled, remembering when she had adopted the saying from Kingdom Hearts back in the day. "Kiryu, you need to wake up! The Event is today, and you don't want to miss it!" She stood in the doorway, propping herself against the door frame with a hand on her hip, waiting to make sure he actually got up.

Kiryu groaned as the book hit him, finally raising up after a moment, and looking over at the doorway to see his sister. Oh right... I forgot she was supposed to arrive today. He smiled sleepily, getting out of bed and grabbing a shirt from the chair by his desk as he walked across the room, not even bothering to button it after he pulled it on. "Rika." He walked over and hugged his sister, then gave her a skeptical look as her words sunk in. "Wait, you don't even play The World... How do you know about the steambike race?" He placed the book back on the shelf as he spoke, grateful she had chosen a paperback to throw at him, rather than one of the many thick hardcovers he had collected over the years.

Rika turned, making her way to the kitchen. "I have my ways. So would you be horribly offended if I have plans for the day, rather than staying around here?" She poured herself a cup of coffee before sitting at the kitchen table, smiling back at her brother. She knew he'd be busy most of the day, and she was looking forward to seeing Yui. In the truth of things, she had always considered Yui to be the best of Kiryu's dating adventures, although she was a bit biased, considering Yui was the only one that had ever treated her as more than just a child. She shook her head, letting the thoughts clear. "Also, I've been thinking... And I may finally take you on your advice and start playing The World. I think it'd give us something fun to do, kinda like when we were kids." She smiled, taking a sip of her coffee.

Kiryu walked over to the counter, fixing himself a cup of coffee. "Yeah, it's good that you're getting out and doing things. I don't want you to sit around here bored all the time." He took a sip of his coffee, leaning against the counter as he did so for fear he'd go back to sleep if he sat down. "I'll be in The World most of the day running the race. I'm not particularly sure, but I think Mariko is going to team with me. Anyway, have fun today when you do get out running around, but try and leave a day free within the next couple of days so we can hang out, okay? I mean, we haven't seen each other in a few months, and I would like to have some time to catch up with my little sister."

Rika nodded, though a notable look of disgust crossed her face as he mentioned her. Rika had never been fond of Mariko, and on countless occasions, she had made this fact very apparent to Kiryu. "I still think you made a bad call, letting Yui-san go and then getting with that detestable devil woman." She drank a bit more of her coffee, then continued her rant. "I just don't understand what you see in her. She acts all stuck up just because she works for CC Corp. I don't get it." She stopped, realizing she'd said a bit too much, although she didn't feel too upset about it. She had done nothing more than spoken her mind, and she had no intention of apologizing for that. She finished her coffee, then poured herself a half cup, guessing that it was probably close to time for Yui to pick her up.

Mariko appeared at the front door and knocked on it. After being told she could enter, she walked inside and peaked around the corner, noticing that Rika was here. Oh joy, she thought at the sight of the girl. She had no problem personally with Rika, but she knew the girl disliked her. After fully announcing herself and entering the kitchen, she pulled a large silver metal suitcase up and placed it on the table away from the girl before turning a glance at Kiryu. "How is everything this morning?"

Rika drained the rest of her coffee, then stood from the table. "I'll have to excuse myself, brother. I'm going to go finish getting ready. I should be home this evening sometime." She placed her cup in the sink, then turned and made her way to her room, changing quickly and grabbing her backpack, making sure that everything was inside, then calling Yui as she walked out the front door to wait for her to arrive. As a response came from the other line, she smiled, then began to speak. "Yui-san, how long will you be? I'm going to be waiting outside for you when you get here. That evil devil lady is here, and I don't particularly care to sit inside with her." She heard a response on the other end, then sat on a chair out on the front porch, waiting for her friend to arrive. "Okay, I'll see you in a minute, then." The call ended, and she removed the headset, switching over to her iPod as she waited.

Kiryu refreshed his coffee, then turned to Mariko as she entered. "Quite well, I suppose. Coffee?" He turned as Rika made her exit. "Be safe and have fun, lil sis. I'll catch up with you later." He drank a bit of his coffee, then proceeded to give it a bit of an odd look. He reached into the cabinet, pulling out a bottle of Irish Creme and pouring a bit into the coffee, then testing the taste again, looking much more satisfied with the results. He pours a second cup, minus the liquor, and turns to sit across from Mariko, sliding her the second cup. "So the big race is today." He yawned, still in the process of waking up. "And you... never did answer me about teaming up for it." He smirked a bit, quite certain she would be his partner in the Event. The two had made a habit over the last few months of tag-teaming any events that had allowed parties.

Mariko nodded and took the coffee. She brought it up with her right hand and began sipping it, before taking a bored look. After glancing back and ensuring Rika was gone, Mariko reachedo ut and grabbed her suitcase, unclicking the latches and opening it up. She opened it up fully and began to pull out her gear. Her laptop, her visor, her controller. After setting everything up, she glanced back to him, her visor situationed just above her head. Mariko's fingertips began to slide the visor down before smirking. "Come and find out", she said before putting her visor down over her eyes. She logged in, entering her username and password before entering The World.

Kiryu stood, downing the remaining coffee, then making his way to his game room to procure all of his equipment. Taking a quick look around, he reached into the mini-fridge in the corner, grabbing a handful of energy drinks before he made his way back to the kitchen, sitting back across from Mariko. He pulled on his visor, logging back into The World.

Kazejin sat up in his bed and looked around. A grimace on his face at the time, he jumped out of bed to grab a shower.

During this, Kazejin's brother appears to be on the phone in the back room of the 5 bedroom, 2 story house. Taiju walks around with his cellular device in his right ear, his left hand holds it as his right hand directs his mouse. He appears to be watching videos. "So this is the world.. the new version. Mhmm.. yeah. Yeah. Oh I'll definately be coming back. Just give me some.. 'targets' to... practice on."

After a few minutes, Kazejin comes out of the shower with fresh clothes on. He walks over onto his room and sits down at his computer, beginning to look over his emails. He saw none. He sighs as he sits back, thinking.

Kazejin is usually called in daily to work at his Dojo, but recently there has been a shortage of students, and thus a lesser need for instructors and helpers-- like himself. He was a bit concerned that he maybe let go. He liked having a job, he loved the power he felt every time he would get off of work. Even if he was aching.

Regardless, he knew that he wouldn't be called back into work. Partially, this is due in part to the release of the new version of the world. Everyone's playing. Or at least that's how it seems like.

He closes his eyes, putting back on his visor after these thoughts have passed, before logging into-- the world.

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The World

True Blade appears in the Delta Server back in root town. He turns around and immediately moves toward the Chaos Gate. His eyes narrow as he moves back through it after entering a code.

He reappears in a cave-like setting. He unsheathes his blade as he continues forward.

Joanna sat at her desk with her laptop open playing music, she was blending songs so and researching new songs that were playing on the radio DJing was a science and she did her best to master it. As a DJ she could control the flow in the club, either getting the the dance floor filled or the bar, the power of a DJ was vast!

To the right of Jo was her faithful desktop that was used to play the world, she had updated her baby over and over refusing to get rid of the old computer. On the screen was her character, Rhyme, she was currently standing in the middle of a bridge in DELTA//MacAnu. The event wouldn't be starting a couple hours, which was why she was afk, however, lots of interesting things tended to happen with events were schedule.

Arsenic wandered throughout MacAnu, knowing he had time to spare before he met up with Hitomi for the event. He'd decided to spend the day wandering, meeting other players, rather than power leveling, as he normally would. As he made his way throughout the town, he looked upward, noticing a somewhat familiar face up on the bridge. Is that... Rhyme? He smirked a bit, shaking his head. He had only met her player once, back at a night club when he and Yui were still together. The two had barely spoken, but he vaguely remembered passing off his member address to her before leaving, though aside from adding one another as friends, the two had rarely interacted since. He roamed over to the bridge and climbed over the railing, landing in a seated position on the rail next to her.

"How ya been, Rhyme? Long time no see."

Joanna just happened to come back in game when she heard a familiar voice, Rhyme turned to see Arsenic, she had met the man behind the screen a while ago in the club and they had happened to talk and exchanged PC names. "Hey there, pretty crazy stuff at the cathedral huh?" She remembers the events of yesterday, the fight between Scythe and Arsenic, then Hitomi threatening to ban her account, and finally the net slums where Scythe took her and the others after rescuing them. Joanna let out a sigh out side the game, she had been so close to losing her account.

Hitomi was walking around Mac Anu with a bit of boredom on her face. Today was her day off, she took it exclusively so that she could spend time with Arsenic during the Event. But it wasn't yet time for the event, and until then-- she had to find a way to amuse herself. She was investigating the shops around the root town, picking up weapons and staring at them with curiosity. Those who would notice her might take note that her face wasn't as cynical as usual but rather studious. She investigated the item, its worth, its artwork, and even the means it was acqui-- she wasn't shopping, this soon became apparent. Even on her day off, it seemed Hitomi was at work investigating hackers and modders. Luckily, Arsenic was not around at that moment to call her on it.

Arsenic lowered his head, smirking a bit. "Scythe has some information that I need. I didn't want it to go into violence, but... Well, if you know her reputation, you know Scythe doesn't get along well with me, so it got a bit... Out of hand." He laughed lightly, then slid off the rail, standing on the bridge, and leaned back against the rail. "So, are you going to participate in the race later? Looks like some stiff competition out there."

Rhythm gave a slight laugh, Scythe and Arsenic's relationship problems were all over the forums. It was ridiculous what people would gossip about on the forums,she was personally on team Scythe, mostly cause Hitomi rubbed her the wrong way.

"Yeah, I wasn't but stomping some noobs while riding sounds pretty fun." Rhythm jest sticking out her tongue playfully.

As the day of the event arrived, Raven was already up and moving in the field, getting some training in. Fighting against goblins, living weapons, giant floating mushrooms. The thought of which all made him want to laugh due to Scythe's general comments about how large floating mushrooms made for an amusing enemy as no matter who you were you always had a snide comment to make about the fact that you're fighting such an opponent. Raven's felt at home as a Tribal Grappler due to use of pure hand-to-hand combat. Jabs, Uppercuts, Hooks, pure fist combat seemed much more relatable than fighting with weapons like say; Wands and Scythes. Though thinking about this also gave him unease. He was good with his hands and as Scythe said, a good grappler. However, in the case of being on a steam bike like he would be today... his fists gave him no advantage. In fact, he would be at a much greater disadvantage while riding due to his lack of reach. It was for this reason that his teammate that he chose to ride as his fighter was a steam gunner. This allowed them variable range and--
"Oof!" Raven coughed as he was thrown onto his back on the ground by the large behemoths wild swinging arms. After turning onto his side, Raven looked at his torso which was where he took the strike, then his health which took a big hit at the same time. With the gritting of his teeth, he pushed off the ground and slammed his fist as hard as he could muster into the belly of the beast. The behemoth was thrown back and shattered against the walls of the temple as the way to the treasure room was opened. With a moment of reflection, trying to clear himself of doubts and stick with his understanding, Raven marched on into the treasure room. He thought to himself, in that moment.

"Yeah... It'll go just like this."

The World

"VaK Don!"

Flames erupted between two creatures wiping their remaining health, Soul had been at this for hours and it was paying off, he was climbing levels quickly and soon he would have to switch to a higher level area. Soul collected some money and some miscellaneous stuff that he could probably sell later, he quickly looked around for more creatures to slay for EXP when he saw them. There had been a group of PKers out on the field all day and he was able to avoid them, until now. Soul looked around trying to assess his surroundings, "Nowhere to hide, no escape..." he said with a sigh.

The PK group had already surrounded Soul so he wouldn't have a chance to run, it was typical group PK tactics. The group stopped when they got close enough to Soul and looked pleased with themselves. "Sorry kid, wrong place wrong time," A steam gunner said making the others laugh. Soul looked at them nonchalantly, "Why don't you all grow a pair and PK people your own level?" his voice was calm but there was a hint of annoyance. The steam gunner smirked at Souls commit, "I like to see the panic in an newbies eyes, however, you seemed to have robbed me of that so why don't you just die." The gunner raised his gun and fired wiping out Soul's HP in one move, as Soul fell back he yells, "C**ts!" then falls silent.

The steam gunner crouches down over Soul's body, "I like the way you die, Names Yellow Star, look me up when you're higher level," he says then rises up and walks away leading his team to another victim.

RL

Masae slips off her visor and sighs as she places it down on her desk, she had been playing the game for a couple weeks now and this was the fourth time she was PKed. "Maybe I should find a guild..." she says softly to herself. Knocks came from her open door and a pleasant voice follows, "Hey Masae, I'm home from school. Have you ate anything yet?" Aiko says gracefully walking into the room. Aiko was Masae's younger sister by one two years but she seemed more mature then that, she had stepped in to help her older sister even though they had a live in nurse. "Yeah, the nurse made me some breakfast this morning," Masae replies and points lazily at the untouched food. Aiko shakes her head making her silky red hair bounce, "What the hell do we even pay her for...I'll make you some lunch and you're going to eat it even if I have to feed it to you." Aiko says only half joking. Masae gives her a lazy smile and says, "Don't forget who's older little sister." Aiko picks up the uneaten food and starts to walk away, "Yeah Yeah, just focus on staying healthy."

When Aiko is gone Masae's weak smile turns to a frown and tears escaped from her eyes, she was a burden to her little sister and did so much for her and never asked for anything in return, Masae allowed herself to slip in the darkest parts of her mind as she silently sobbed.