RPG .hack//REMNANT(may contain spoilers)

[Bio]

[color=teal][size=1]This story takes place in the two year period between .hack//QUARENTINE and .hack//DUSK.

Corbenik was destroyed by Kite, but Morganna survived. She seeks to find a way to awaken the tainted version of Calibur, the male version of Aura. She has learned from her mistakes involving Aura and Tsukasa. She plans to succeed in fully corrupting the MMORPG, "The World," as well as the real world's electronics. She plans to do this by tricking the player character Kaiho(my character) into believing that she is his sister, who passed away years earlier. She plans to use Kaiho's negative emotions to wake up the tainted Calibur, the same fate that was supposed to befall Aura and Tsukasa. She does not succeed in trapping Kaiho inside "The World", but plans on tempting him in other ways. Her main objective, turning him against the other players inside "The World."

There is currently a rumor on the message boards about a strange boy floating around in Area Delta: Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground. Your characters decide to check it out.[/color][/size]
------------------------
[color=royalblue][size=1]
Kaiho was walking in the middle of Root Town: Carmina Cadelica when Morganna contacted him.

[i][b]"Kaiho, come to me."[/b][/i] she told him.

"I'm busy," he said, "I need better armor."

[i][b]"Nonesense. Your armor is perfectly fine. I need you. Go to Delta: Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground. That is where you will find me."[/i][/b]

"Alright, if you say so." Kaiho said.

He walked to the Chaos Gate, and warped to first Delta Server, then to Delta: Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground.

He appeared in the main room of the church, which was odd. Normally, characters appear in front of the castle.

[i]Oh, well.[/i] he thought, [i]Must be a glitch.[/i]

He looked up and noticed a statue of a boy, in chains on a raised platform. He had heard a rumor of this before, when he first began to play "The World." The only different thing about the rumor, was that instead of a girl in chains, it was a boy.

"Hey, what the-" he began, but was knocked aside by a large, red wand.

A tall creature, that appeared to be made of stones towered over Kaiho.

"Skeith..." Kaiho muttered, as if remembering something.

[i][b]"I've been waiting for you... For such a long time."[/b][/i]

The graphics began to act strangly, accompaneid by a loud, scratching noise.

[i][b]"I need you...Just as you need me."[/i][/b] Morganna continued.

"No, wait! what are you doing?!" Kaiho yelled.

[i][b]"As long as we walk toge- What is this?!"[/i][/b] Morganna paused.

A bracelet was opening out of thin air, pointed at the Skeith.

She commanded the Skeith to eliminated the source of interference, and the Skieth opened it's bracelet, too.

They both fired, met, and destroyed each other.

[i][b]"Impossible!"[/b][/i] Morganna exclaimed.[/color][/size]

[Avogadro522]

On the edge of the sands he stood there, as far out into the level as he could. He stood there motionless staring at the great stone monument jutting out of the water and into the sky. ?What are you? What are you?? he thought to himself, trying to understand the glowing screen at the top of the structure. ?They say you weren?t always like this. They say it started with Tsukasa, all those years ago.? Tsukasa had come and gone before Ockham had entered The World but people still talked about him and the chaos that struck The World while he was there.

But Tsukasa was not the last person system errors came with. Kite was surrounded by the unraveling of The World and now? ?Now it seems to have begun again," Ockham said to no one, "the errors and the rumors are popping up all over the servers." Ockham sighed wearily as he raised his staff and left the level. His mind wasn't on the rumors of the unbeatable monsters or the players who for short sretches of time couldn't log out and had to do hard reboots to get back into The World. It was the presence of the boy in the church that troubled him. It sounded too much like the rumors of the girl that the hackers and the old players spoke of.

When Ockham arrived at Delta: Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground everything seemed in its place. The sea of fog and perpetual loneliness of the building were unaltered and did not warrant concern. When he entered the church doors however, Ockham did not feel so certain. He saw a young blademaster watching a battle between mosters end in a stalemate and a voice that came from nowhere but everywhere. Ockham started making his way back to the door when the voice acknowledged him.

"Who are you?" she asked with anger. Ockham didn't answer. He merely raised his staff in a defensive stance and prepared himself for a fight.

"It doesn't matter who I am. What I want to know is how can a player exist without having a body."

"Don't insult me boy with such dillusions. I am above the players, I am above all. And I shall show you the price of disobidience." The celinig started to shimmer and bend and out of nothingness appeared a monster that Ockham di not know. A coloidial beast in the form of a barbell with a bracelet at its core that spoke like a whale and hovered like a bird. A tentacle shot out of the beast and struck at Ockham, but missed him when it hit his energy shield.

"What, what is this thing?!" Ockham cried as it shot out more tentacles and shattered the shield. He screamed out in pain as his body was peirced by the tentacles and his body gave up its energy and turned an ashen shade of gray. He fell down to the floor with a dull thump.

Kaiho watched the killing with confused fear. "Why did you do that?"

[Bio]

[color=royalblue][size=1]"Sister! why did you do that?!" Kaiho repeated.

[i][b]"Kaiho... you have much to learn. Some things... are simply above your level of understanding."[/i][/b] Morganna said.

The creature that resembled a barbell turned towards him.

"No, stop this!" Kaiho yelled.

He dodged a single peircing tentacle, and turned around, glaring at the beast.

"I don't care if you are my sister! PhaRue Zot!" He yelled.

The monster was encased in a block of ice, which shattered. The remainder of the ice fell hevily on the monster, piercing it. The ice that had pierced the monster shot out of it in large stalagtites.

It's HP bar read: @!$65#$^#^*.

"What's this?!" Kaiho yelled in bewilderment.[/size][/color]

[Revelation]

[size=1][color=ff66cc][i]Yuumei looked out across the horizon as she looked out from where she stood. She closed her eyes and felt the slight breeze fall on her face. Something wasn't right in the air. Someone was hurt. They were badly beaten. That was when she knew she had to get to Delta: Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground.

Yuumei turned to walk when she stopped and looked down the cliff. It was high, rocky, and easier to get down with a hack. She walked back a little ways and then she ran to the edge and jumped. As she fell, wings started to sprout from her back. Once she flew to the Chaos Gate, she warped to the second Delta Server. Then she warped to the Delta: Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground. There she found two players, a blademaster and a wavemaster. As well as tentacles coming from some being. She knew it must've been the one that tried to corrupt "The World" a while back.

Yuumei walked a little ways and the voice spoke to her.[/i]

"Stop right there. Who are you?"
"I am Yuumei. Class: Blademaster." [i]Yuumei replied to the voice.[/i]
"I seemed to have stumbled to the Delta: Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground. I came here for some quiet and to train, but I see that I cannot have some quiet training. Hmm. That would be alright. Well, I must go find a grunty. If you will all excuse me." [i]Yuumei said as she was about to leave.[/i]

[i]The voice's tentacles struck out at her, but missed her slightly. Yuumei stood there without fear. She just walked the other way. The tentacles shot out at her once again. This time, Yuumei turned and grabbed one of the tentacles.[/i]

"I did not come here for a fight. I came here to train quietly and meditate. But it seems that I cannot. Now, I am excusing myself so that oyu may speak to this blademaster here. Now, if you will excuse me I will go quietly." [i]Yuumei had said to the voice.[/i]

[i]The tentacles stopped let her go. Yuumei walked through the warp and warped herself to the Grunty Village. She walked to the farm and a man stood there looking to her. She smiled to him and he nodded his head back. Something wasn't right at the Delta: Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground.[/size][/color][/i]

[Bio]

[color=royalblue][size=1]"I won't stand for this!" Kaiho yelled.

He charged at the creature, slashing with his sword. The symbols on it's HP bar changed, as if they were real numbers.

The beast whipped Kaiho with its tentacles.

"Gyah... Pha Repth!" Kaiho said, healing himself completely.

He charged again.

The creature dodged the attack, and beat Kaiho down with the tentacles again.

He healed himself.

[i]There must be some way to beat it...[/i] Kaiho thought.

After a few more minutes of battle, the words PROTECT BREAK appeared over the creature.

A glowing bracelet opened from the statue of the chained boy, and it fired.

Streams of strange symbol appeared around the barbell creature. It then dissapeared.

[i][b]"Perposterous!"[/b][/i] Morganna yelled.

Three more of the barbell creatures appeared.[/color][/size]

[Avogadro522]

But instead of attacking the monsters merely bellowed and groaned. They lowered themselves to the ground and encircled Kaiho. They hovered and bounced in the air and almost seemed gentle and caring to him as they sang their sad song. ?Kaiho?? Morganna gently said, ?It doesn?t have to be this way. I just want to protect you. I merely want your life to be filled with laughter and smiles. And it can be Kaiho, it can be so long as we walk together, apart from the players.?

Kaiho looked up towards the ceiling, as if expecting to see her face. ?But why, why did you kill that wave master?? His voice faltered and shook as he spoke these words, he wanted to be indignant and harsh, but he also wanted to believe his sister. He wanted to believe that she was right.

?He was merely a distraction, a road block to happiness. You need not concern yourself with him. And look, he?s already logged back on.? Kaiho looked past the beasts and saw that in fact the wave master?s body was gone, it appeared as though he really was okay. ?See? You have nothing to worry about. Now my brother sit, we have much to discuss??
??????????????

Yuumei slashed and pierced at the air. She had found a place of serenity and quiet in a field in the woods. ?Lousy overpricing farmer?? she muttered to herself. The day had been filled with setbacks and disappointments. She could have been perfectly happy if she could train in peace, even without the Grunty. But that monster? There was something unsettling about it, something that still shook Yuumei to the core and made training awkward and forced. ?And those players, what were they doing there, and why was that wave master dead??

She was too preoccupied with her thoughts and her technique to notice the approaching figure, it was not until he had reached the edge of the clearing that she stopped to examine and size up her visitor. He was a wave master in a blue cloak with a cross-like staff and silver markings on his forehead. He was badly beaten and had only 1 life point left. He breathed heavily and held his side as if he were trying to stop bleeding. The addition of color made the identification hard, but she knew it was him. Somehow she was face to face with the wave master again. ?You?? she breathed as he fell to his knees and groaned in agony.

[Bio]

[color=royalblue][size=1][i][b]"My brother... How would you like to live in this place... You would be the most powerful of all the player characters, and you would never be pestered by the others again."[/i][/b] Morganna said soothingly.

Kaiho thought about it. He began to look around the room in thought. When his vision passed the statue, he took a double-take.

There were now two statues on the raised platform. Next to the boy was a girl that had no chains. She was holding the hand of the boy. Their eyes seemed to plead for him to not believe his "sister".

"I don't know..." He said.

[i][b]"Oh, but you do know! Wouldn't you love to feel the breeze in the Aqua Capitol Mac Anu? Wouldn't you love to feel the excitement of a real battle?"[/i][/b] Morganna asked.

"I have to go. Dinner's ready." Kaiho said.

He tried to gate out, but he couldn't. The golden rings dissapeared at his feet.

"...Sister...?" He began, then became frightened.

More of the Skeiths were appearing, in vast numbers. He readied for battle.

[i][b]"You must understand brother! I am trying to save you!"[/i][/b] Morganna said, and her voice shook the room.

The graphics began to act strangely again, along with the scratching sound.

Kaiho fled from the castle. He ran to the Chaos Gate.[/color][/size]

[Ryu_Sakura]

a little girl stood only feet away, staring up tword the sky... "I miss him... he will never come back, mommy said, but there he is." she says to herself, and walks tword the boy who just came running, and hugs him. "I missed you, mummy said you wouldn't come back but I knew you would, mummy said you we gone forever, but i knew you wern't" she mumbles.
"wh-who are you?" he pants.
"your sister" she says while looking up at him with vacant eyes.

(do you like or should i change it? hehehehe the double sister thing, DOUBLE the confusion.)

[Revelation]

[size=1][color=ff66cc][i]Yuumei hurried towards to the wavemaster. She dragged him to the grassy area she was at underneath a large shaded tree. She turned him onto his back and she looked him over. He was badly bruised and did not look well. She put her hands over him and she healed him of all his points. He opened his eyes and was breathing normal. He sat up and looked to her.[/i]

"You." [i]was all he said.[/i]
"Me what? You should be thankful that I saved you from being terminated from "The World". By the way, my name is Yuumei. What is yours?" [i]Yuumei asked the wavemaster.[/i]
"My name is Kaiho. Thank you for your help." [i]He replied.[/i]
"It was nothing more than saving an innocent from death. Why were you at the Delta: Hidden, Forbidden, Holy Ground and what was that large, tentacled creature? As well as that blademaster. Something strange was happening there. I felt it course through my blood." [i]Yuumei had told the wavemaster.[/i]

[i]The Wavemaster sat there as he looked out towards the Grunty Farm. He sighed and did not say anything else afterwards. Something was not right and that creature as well as the BladeMaster were involved somehow. It was .hack//infection all over again.[/size][/color][/i]

[Bio]

[color=royalblue][size=1][i]"Hunny, what are you doing? dinner's ready. Get off the game." Kaiho's mother said. She took off the goggles, and looked at him, then gasped. His eyes were blank, and he began to twitch. She put the visor back on immediately, and he began acting normally again. "Why did I ever let him play that game! All it ever did was cause trouble!" She said frantically, and called for an ambulance.
[/i]

Kaiho gated out of the area. In the root town, he ran to a crowd of people, still unable to log out. He thought he felt a breeze for a moment.

"Can anyone help me? I'm unable to log out!" Kaiho yelled.

"Stop trying to get famous, punk." Someone yelled back.

The graphics quivered, and the scratching noise accompanied it once more.

"Hey, what the-" someone yelled, but was unable to finish, because he fell to the ground because of the tremors.

Ten Skeiths appeared, along with hundreds of barbell guardians.

[i][b]"NOW, KAIHO, IF YOU WON'T EMBRACE HAPPINESS, THEN I MUST FORCE YOU TO!"[/i][/b] Morganna yelled, shaking the area as she did.

"Hey, that kid's not lying! Let's fight those things!" Someone yelled.

The players cheered, and charged, slashing and hacking at every guardian and Skeith. Amidst the battle, many people warped in from the Chaos Gate, and joined the fight. Many people where being data drained.

Every time a guardian or Skeith's Protection broke, a bracelet appeared out of thin air, and Data Drained that creature.

Cries of spells and skills being used rang through the area.

Soon enough, Lios, the administrator of the world appeared.

"What is this nonsense?!" Lios yelled.

"As I said before, she doesn't seem to care for us very much." said Helba, the legendary hacker, who had just appeared.

The battle raged on.[/color][/size]

[Avogadro522]

"So what was going on back there in the church? Something tells me it wasn't fun." Yuumei asked Ockham. He didn't look at her. He merely pulled his legs towards his chest and held himself tightly.

"I'm not quite sure. I went there to check out a rumor and when I arrived that blademaster was already there with some monsters. I tried to defend myself against that woman but I've never fought something like her." He paused for a moment and closed his eyes, trying to remember what happened next. "Everything after that was a blur. I woke up with my headset still on with a killer head ache. I think I was a little delirious because I reset my terminal and just typed in whatever coordinates I could think of. Then I found you and now I feel alright." Ockham turned towards Yuumei and stared into her eyes, trying to probe her for answer to the questions he could barely fathom. "What I don't know is why my body is reacting to the game, and why we've found one another again."

Yuumei looked down and sighed a little. "I don't think I can answer either of those questions, maybe some things are just meant to be." As she finished her sentence a quiet ping went off. She looked up and read her email. As she read on her face slowely turned pale.

"What's wrong?"

"Something very wrong is happening in a root town. My friend says there's a massive battle going on against new monsters. Not just a few of them, hundreds of them." Yuumei and Ockham looked at one another. Something told them that their dear blade master was going to be there and maybe some answers to their questions.

[Bio]

[color=royalblue][size=1]"Die, moster!"

More Skeiths and the barbell creatures were appearing by the hundreds.

"This is impossible..." Kaiho said.

He felt an odd breeze again.

Two characters warped into the town, on of which was the wavemaster he had seen earlier.

"That doesn't matter... I need to fight too!" he said to himself, and busied himself by slashing at a Skeith.

[i][b]"This can't go on forever, Kaiho. They will all die eventually.[/i][/b] Morganna said.

"What do you wan't me to do?" He asked.

[b][i]"I want you to let yourself be killed by one of my monsters."[/b][/i] Morganna replied.

"I don't want that to happen! Wasn't there some rumor a long time ago about a character that couldn't log out? They said he had a barbell..." He realized what the creatures where.

He looked into the sky.

"I thought you only helped me..." He said.

[i][b]"Some things are simply out of your grasp."[/i][/b] Morganna said.

"What do you..." He said, but was lifted up by a Skieth.

It's bracelet opened.

"Stop it! It's got the kid!" Someone yelled, and they all focused on that one Skeith.

After the Skeith was dead, the battle continued.

[i][b]"You could have stopped the battle, Kaiho. Now, you don't want all the players in coma's, do you?"[/i][/b] Morganna said.

"I...I..." He muttered.

For a moment he smelt the salt from the ocean channels.[/color][/size]

[Ryu_Sakura]

the little girl he had met before waarped onto the field
"god i'm sorry about before when i saw you, i blanked out and something took over" she said suddenly relizing what was going on. "Holy chimps of Hell!" she screams as she jumps to battle position and sticks a nearby monster, "i didn't know there we any of these left! my mom told me of these from when she played!" the girl says as she dodges the monsters tenticle.

(ishky finishky tomaroky.)

[Avogadro522]

"Alright, I'll do it." Kaiho conceded as he watched the blood bath around him. Monsters and players were dying and being drained at an endless rate. "I'll do it. Just get rid of all the other monsters but one, and I'll give myself to you."

"You need not be afraid Kaiho, it will not be permanent, merely a phase. You'll be stronger afterwards and I promise even better things yet to come." Morganna cooed as the Skeiths and barbells dissolved into the air. All that was left was one barbell, hovering above Kaiho.

The other players looked around in a mixture of confusion and dissapointment. None of them truly understood the true magnitude of what was happening both within The World and outside it. So many people had become comatose that medical services world wide had been thrown into chaos. Not even the two lone players running towards Kaiho could know how bad things had become. The only ones who could understand were Helba and Lios, neither of who had taken part in the battle.

Helba assessed things from a distance and noticed Yuumei and Ockham and the last Guardian. "Who are these players?: she asked Lios.

"Who cares? Things are calmning down here, let them run around as much as they want." But things weren't over yet. Yuumei and Ockham could not stop the guardian from piercing Kaiho, nor could they stop it from picking his body up and dissolving him with itself.

Yummei and Ockham stopped at the place where Kaiho conceded to Mroganna. "What do you think happens now?" Yuumei asked.

"I don't know, I just don't know..."
----------------------------------------------
When Kaiho woke up again he was still in the game. He was in a field he had nevered entered before, but it seemed familiar in an odd way. He hadn't noticed the chains that formed around his wrists or ankles, and it would be several more hours until he did. Back in the church the chains around Calibur had become loose and hung limply on his body. It was finally happening, the beginning of the end.

[Bio]

[color=royalblue][size=1][i]Hours later...[/i]

"Gyah- Ah..." Kaiho mumbled, getting to his feet. He felt tired.

"It must have been a dream then..." he said.

He looked around in terror at Mac Anu.

"B-B-But that's impossible!" he gasped.

He attempted to remove his visor, but he realized that there was nothing to remove, and that he couldn't find himself in the real world.

"No! No, it can't be happening!" He yelled.

Some players looked at him strangely.

"I'm... I'm not really in here... Am I?" He asked himself quietly.

He sat on the end of the bridge, enjoying the breeze, regardless of its irony.

"Fine then. I guess I'll make the best of it... Alright, to my favorite feild, then! Sigma: Bright, Never-Ending, Sea of Cloud!" He yelled, and recieved more strange looks from the players.[/color][/size]

[Avogadro522]

Two Weeks Later?
Kaiho strutted down the hallway of the dungeon. He felt like a god as he learned to control his new powers and with his ever growing reputation amongst the rumors of The World. He was looking for a monster to fight and when he finally came across one he found more than he bargained for. A silver-haired long arm was struggling with a large scorpion-like monster. Although the battle wasn?t one sided it was obvious she wasn?t having an easy time with it.

Kaiho smiled to himself as he raised his arm and pointed it at the beast. His chain bracelet glowed a light green and shot out an energy chain at the scorpion. The chain struck it and branched off into several other chains that encircled and strangled it. The beast quickly succumbed and the chains dissolved along with its dead body.

Siaga was dumbfounded. She did not notice Kaiho until after the scorpion was gone and while she had not seen the chains come from him she had no choice but to assume it was his doing. She did however see the metal chains that were on his body; a bracelet on each wrist and anklets to match. While they were not attached and they did not appear to hinder his movement they had distinct not of bondage to them and emitted an aura of enslavement to a power that was unseen but clearly felt.

Kaiho smirked and walked away to another corridor, looking for more prey. Siaga had no choice to but to continue her mission for the item at the end of the dungeon, she wasn?t too keen on trying to start a conversation with this strange player. Before Siaga logged off for the day she had the idea to inquire about her encounter. Instead of mentioning Kaiho she posted a question about the bracelets on the message boards that read as follows:

Subject: New Item or Power?
Does anyone know about a new item/power that can kill monsters with one blow? It looks like chains that emit other chains that kill whatever they bind. Were in the possession of a young blade master. If you know details please respond. Thanks.
------------------------------------------------------------
Yuumei sat at her computer with her legs pressed against her chest. She had not entered The World since the battle at the root town and was not about to do so without a plan. People were still in comas in the real world and some of those were Yuumei?s friends from school. Whether or not she wanted to admit it, she was scared of Morganna. Anything having that much malicious power over the lives of others was not something to be underestimated or taken lightly. But no matter how hard she tried to not think about it, she couldn?t get her mind off of the blade master and his death.

?Why would he just give himself up like that?? she thought to herself. ?Did he know what was happening in the real world? Did she tell him what was happening? And why won?t she leave him alone? Who is he? How are the two connected??

Yuumei sighed and lowered her head a little. She was about to walk away when she heard a slight ping. Ockham had sent her an e-mail. It read:
?The dust has settled on the battlefield
He is no longer with our sight.
I search amongst the living
But fear he is among the dead.
But fear has been for nothing
He walks with life again.
Though I have not yet seen him
The signs are in the air.
She has stumbled upon him
And announced it to The World.
Now she will meet with me
And I hope so will you.
Find me at the feet of a skeleton
As clock strikes six tonight.
If all goes as I hope with her
We have not lost the fight.?

Yuumei thought for a moment and smiled when she understood the true scope of the message. Her fear melted off of her as she logged in and set off for a new adventure.