[IC] Deep Ground Online: War of Strangers

[RoflsMazoy]

Reiko, Princess Rainbow

Back again

Goodbye, Princess Rainbow.

Reiko woke with a start. She was still reeling slightly, from what she saw. She was also feeling a little disoriented, having used Rainbow Rush so much. She had also left Taro in Deep Ground although she had left him a message telling him to log out in 1 hour after the message was sent and meet her in the library. She said 1 hour because she needed some time to find out about the day’s events.

Browsing the forums, she tried to find out what had happened but it was a little difficult. There were many people like her who were asking what had happened to the Green City. There were many theories flying around as well which didn’t help her any.

Sighing, she leaned back onto her bed. She was a little bit tired but she had an appointment to meet and she couldn’t exactly go to sleep now. She lay in bed, head buzzing with a storm of thoughts. She tried to pin one down, but they refused to comply and as she tried to grasp a coherent thought, she felt her eyelids get heavier and heavier and before she knew it, she was sound asleep.

Keith, Eclipsed Tower + Lucy, Tender Fern - Green King

Collab with Arrayah

Keith slowly opened his eyes.

I’m back. He thought wearily. It was the first time he’d died in a long time. Of course he had deaths, but ever since he had gotten to level 3, his deaths dropped off due to the fact that he had gotten his first disruption ability. You wouldn’t get hit if your enemy couldn’t attack, and his disruptions had carried him through many levels afterwards.

He had only been in trouble when his disruptions weren’t effective and the fight against the Dragon was a good example of that.

In the end he had won, but he hadn’t survived the battle. Even so, he had gained a level and all of the people he fought had died. He had been satisfied with his performance, but he had been left wanting. He had fought and won, but the achievement had been practically for nothing.

It didn’t amount to anything and it made him feel empty again. Like the time he found out that he was truly alone for the first time. It wasn’t like Deep Ground filled anything in particular. It was more like he felt his emptiness more acutely when he realized that his efforts essentially came to naught.

He had learnt not to dwell on it, and eventually he had come to forget about it. But once you start thinking about something you know you were supposed to forget, it’s difficult to stop yourself.

I should study some more. He thought to himself.

Studying was a good distraction, it required him to focus on what he was doing. He did it often enough, he always distracted himself with work, regardless of whatever class he was in.

I already have enough for the rest of the week. He noted, looking around the stacks of books and paper piled on top of his desk. Well, there’s always next week.

He picked up a few exercise books and text books from his table. He opened his door, intending to head to the library to study, before promptly running straight into a hurried student.

He'd come out of nowhere. There was no way Lucy could have predicted some boy just opening his door and walking straight into her path, and as such, she could not stop herself in time. Instead, they'd collided and though she was the one that found herself falling hard on her behind, Lucy was still the one that ended up aplogizing.

"I'm sorry!" She looked up and exclaimed, finally getting a good look at him. The boy looked younger than her, not in her class, and she didn't recognize him, but Lucy saw something that intrigued her. He had two different colored eyes.

"I should have seen you coming. You're okay, right?" She asked while she began to try standing up.

"Yes, I am alright." He said, extending a hand to help the unfortunate girl up. "But I am curious as to why you're in such a hurry." He also noted that she was wearing some rather unusualy clothing for this time of day. "Do you have somewhere you need to be?"

Lucy took the hand grateful for his help and pulled herself up. She was quiet as she spent a few moments brushing herself off and trying to think of how to respond to the boy. The truth was that she wasn't really sure why she'd been rushing down the hall. There wasn't anywhere she needed to be really, but she wanted to check on her guild members. That was a reason, she supposed.

Her voice was quieter this time when she spoke, a little nervous. It had been a month since the King's were murdered and all tha time she'd kept her identity a secret, not even disclosing what guild she belonged to. But, Lucy had made a decision, and she was sticking to it.

"I need to check on my Rangers." Her use of my instead of the other along with her clothing made it clear just who she was, or at least she hoped.

He stared at her for a few seconds. The Green King? He thought. The Green King, who had recently lost almost all that she had worked for in the recent battle, previously unknown, and now making a statement of herself? There must have been a reason for it, one big enough to warrant exposure of her identity. Or perhaps, she was just that kind of person.

Thinking about it on his own wasn't going to help much, he decided to just ask.

"If you truly are who I think you may be, do you really think its such a good idea to reveal yourself like this?" He asked cautiously.

A sigh escaped Lucy's lips as she shook her head. "No. I don't, but what else can I do? They took everything, destroyed everything. All that I have left are my guild and its members, and this is something I can do for them. If I let everyone know who I am, if I show them that I'm still around and I'm proud to lead the Rangers, then perhaps they'll realize that we're stronger than they think."

For a moment, she thought quietly, and then added. "We're low in numbers, but we're a family. I would do anything for them, including risk myself, if it meant that more people might join, or take us seriously despite what we lost today."

And then she looked at him, asking a question of her own. "Do you think I'm crazy for doing it?"

He thought for a moment. Some people would say that her actions were the height of madness, that no King under any circumstances should reveal themselves especially considering the recent deaths. But people say a lot of things, and he stopped caring about people a long time ago.

"I'm not the right person to ask for this kind of thing." He said finally. "I stopped caring about the opinions of others a long time ago," he continued, "But if you truly are willing to risk yourself for the sake of your guild, then I think you should just do what you need to do. The rest, whatever it may be, will follow in your wake."

His words caused her to smile even though Lucy wasn't sure why. They weren't really very encouraging, but she liked them nonetheless. "You're right. Thanks."

Here, she held out a hand to him, and finally introduced herself. "My name's Lucy Hall. I don't think we've met before."

"My name is Keith Knight." He said, grasping her outstretched hand. "Good luck, with whatever you may do." Shaking it firmly, he let go of her hand and walked off to go find the library.

Keith. She'd have to remember that name, she thought. As he left, so did she, once again rushing off to see her guild members. His words had helped her even if he hadn't really intended them to. They'd let her see that if it was necessary, she needed to do it, regardless of what others would think or how it would affect herself.

Lucy was just thinking about what she would tell the Rangers when she ran into yet another student. This one she knew, as he was in her class. Sten.

[Lord Santa]

When Taro had nothing else to do, he spent his time studying. He technically had plenty to do, but in regards to things he could do, he couldn’t do much. So Taro spent time studying uselessly. He was never good at studying, however. Today was not an exception.
‘I’m not getting this at all.’ Taro sighed.
He got very low grades normally and most people would probably give up at this stage. In fact, Taro himself knew that he was extremely unlikely to get smart enough to be able to create space travel and become a space pirate. Hell, it was probably near impossible for him to be smart enough to be a normal pirate, much less a space pirate. Even so, Taro was determined. It was a promise he made to his childhood friend when she left and he intended to keep it.

He looked down at the myriad letters covering his books and he was once again swallowed by despair. He closed his books and leaned back in the library chair, fruitless studying wisely given up on for the moment. Normally, he could barely get it and he couldn’t concentrate right now at all.

Part of the reason was his recent experience with Deep Ground, and all the stuff that had happened to him today. It started off as a regular day, running away from a fight. Running from another fight. Running from the 3rd fight, and then meeting Solitary Watcher. Then meeting the Red King. And then a rainbow princess grabbing him out of nowhere, getting knocked out and ending up on a building in a crater full of dissolutions. The rainbow princess’s run had given him a lot of head trauma, so when he awoke, he was disoriented. And then he was confused as he looked out and saw a massive crater with a ton of weird black things in it. And then a note from the rainbow princess, telling him to meet her in the library in an hour.

Who was rainbow princess? She sounded familiar, though he wasn’t sure from when. And he had no idea where he recognised it. He’d headed over to the library early and tried to put in some studying, but that fell through.

He started to think about his avatar. Grim Buccaneer. It was almost a joke because the only skill he had was an escape skill. He’d managed to use it to great effect running away, but he couldn’t kill anyone. But he needed kills. He needed money to discover space travel.

Taro had no idea why he was so fixated on becoming a space pirate, but he had no other plans in life. And all he really had to do to live comfortably was be good at Deep Ground so even if he didn’t discover space travel, he could still live comfortably. That said, it meant that he needed to be good at the game and Taro wasn’t good at the game. Also, a pirate wasn’t as cowardly as Taro, more physically fit, more vicious and uncompromising… The list went on and on. But these thoughts weren’t foreign to Taro, he’d thought about it more than he liked. But he couldn’t do anything about it. At least, he thought he couldn’t do anything about it.

He had to change, somehow.

It was almost time for Princess Rainbow to arrive and he looked to the library doorway in anticipation.

[MaskedHeroZ]

1.Watch This City Burn

Stalwart Bruiser-White King

Bruiser smiled when he saw the small battalion of War Machines charging toward him, it was exactly what he wanted. He found particular interest in the one called 'Scythe', it wasn't like the others, more melee focused than it's comrades. It's heavily armored chassis and swinging blades tugged at the White King's heart. He was going to take it and paint it white.

With that thought in mind, Bruiser dug his heels into the ground, arms outstretched and ready to take on the vehicles. While to any onlooker, it may have seem just a tad bit suicidal, The White King always had a method to his tanking. And in this case, it was getting close enough to view 'Scythe's' pilot and their username.

"Lunatic Brigadier, you poor noob." He muttered as he put one of his feet back, like one would see a linebacker doing. Of course in this case, there wouldn't be much of a touchdown, just pain and desolation for the Sweeper.

Locking on to Brigadier, Bruiser activated his Carbonate! skill, jetting forward to meet 'Scythe' face to face. The blades managed to get a good chunk of his health as he crashed through the windshield. Both he and Brigadier tumbling towards the back of the vehicle from the momentum and speed at which the White King was going. Bruiser of course was the first to get up, albeit in a much worse state than he would like to admit. With a grunt, he picked up the assassin class Sweeper.

"Whoa, wait. What are you doing?!" Brigadier asked with a tone of panic, struggling to free himself from the King's grip.

"Justice....and killing you. That's a thing too." Bruiser responded as he tossed the poor Sweeper outside of the broken glass he had arrived in. Watching as 'Scythe's" blades quickly took care of the rest. He did feel the tiniest bit of sympathy for the guy, but honestly, he would probably respawn after the cooldown anyways.

Quickly taking the controls of the War Machine, The White King set it against the other vehicles behind it. Or he would have, if the out pour of Dissolutions didn't distract him. They came in all their different shapes and sizes, and all of them were directed against the last defenses of the Fanged Rangers and their other allies.

Why were the NPCs siding with the Strykers and Sweepers? There shouldn't be anything like that in-game, at least, nothing he was aware of. The confusion just made him angrier, especially at the one person he considered responsible. Moon Rider.

Unfortunately, he could nothing more to help his allies or hinder his opponents, he couldn't even see the Green's Guild Hall at this point. His own ability would just make it even worse if he even tried to get close. So, he did the only thing he could.

He fled.

2.Unrest In The House of Ivory

Richie Barret-Stalwart Bruiser
Switching into 50/50 mode, Richie hurriedly began to type on his keyboard, looking up any and all information he could find on Dissolutions and their habits. Bruiser was put into auto mode, driving the war machine back to the White Guild.

As his screen showed nothing useful, except for some early reports in the forum as to what happened in Green Territory, Richie was beginning to feel something bad well up inside of him. For once it wasn't anger or some need to try and be heroic.

It was fear.

A cold, dark, and silent fear. It took a hold of the young teen, giving him imagined visions of what was to become of his own Guild. They were going to come after his people at some point, the people he had promised to fight for. The ones he had wanted to secure a better future for. It hurt to admit it, but he was going to have to do something drastic to protect them.

He had made the plan up when he was still under the last White King, a more 'what would you do if..' type of thing. He never imagined the day he would actually put it in action. But then again, fear was a far more devastating driver than anger.

Switching back into a full dive, Bruiser continued to cruise into White Territory. Mirthlessly opening up his Guild Member List, he began to check each and every members' name on it but his own. He made sure though, to read and every one as he did so.

Pernicious Innovator

Mendicant Bias

White Death

These people had either stuck by him as he rose to take the title of White King, or joined through his promises of greater things to those who would listen. He wasn't going to be able to make good on any of what he did, or perhaps he would? Perhaps this would let them achieve their goals on their own, maybe they would join the Black Guild? They would be safe at least that way, and in the end, that's all he wanted.

He clicked confirm without hesitating.

In what seemed like an instant, the guild list shortened to only one name. He had exiled them all, banned them from bearing the name and target of the Ivory Masks.

"Heroes sacrifice for others." He muttered in the driver seat, trying to find some solace in what he just did. . He couldn't stop the flow of anger that came afterwards. All of this happened because of her, why did she have to kill the last Kings? Why couldn't she have just stayed in the dark, the same place he had just put himself.

Getting out of 'Scythe', Bruiser decided to take his anger out on the last part of his fail-safe. The White Guild Hall itself. With a choked roar that rung in his ears long after he had finished, The White King set to demolish his own headquarters. If and when they did come to attack it, there would be nothing for them. Not even a King. He wasn't sure what he was anymore. At the moment however, he didn't care. There was just blind fury raining down on something he had fought so hard to build up. He would avenge it, somehow, someway.

He would make the Ivory Road from the ground up again, when the Black King was just a worn out footnote in the forums.

3.Due Vendetta

Richie Barret
He doesn't remember logging off, on the other hand, he does remember why his throat feels hoarse and his pillow is wet unfortunately. Despite his fearsome anger and devastating blows in game, Richie was for all intents and purposes just as confused and angry as any fifteen year old boy would be in his situation.

He had done something stupid and impulsive, something he couldn't take back. There was no course of action for him now but to destroy Moon Rider, completely and thoroughly. And he knew the one person to ask for help in doing that. Quickly logging back into the forums, Richie sent a message to the Orange King.
- - -
From: Stalwart Bruiser
To: Conquest Pantheon
Subject: What you said...

Hey, I remember back in the group conversation that you had an alternate plan to defeat Moon Rider...Maybe I can help? You'll probably hear about it soon, but I don't have anything anymore. I gave it up before she could take it from me....Just, if you're interested in something different than the alliance, message back and we'll meet up.
- - -
He didn't know if he would reply or not, but it was the only chance he had now to surmount some sort of retaliation. His thoughts drifted back toward his guild, or the people formally in it. Richie hoped they were doing okay, but he was thankful none of them knew his identity outside of the game, he couldn't bear to face them. Not yet at least.

[Erasmus]

Melancholy Smile ran at a swift pace, nearing the city he could soon see a huge object over the city. It fell as if in slow motion, clouds parting from the sheer size. A loud crash, as if it were a meteor cratering into the earth. A huge gust of wind would reach Melancholy. He held his arm up, blocking his eyes from any debris flying passed him. The gust would stop, and he advanced. Reaching the edge of the crater, that was the former green territory.

The dust was still settling as he arrived, he blinked with turmoil in his eyes. The game he loved was being destroyed. Melancholy had to do something about this. Seeing as the whole territory was gone, he figured there were many deaths. He'd get more information at the school. He logged off.

Goobye, Melancholy Smile.

[Psyker Landshark]

Gleeful Jackal - Blue King

Grinning as Unrelenting Jukebox took his leave, the Blue King turned back to watch the last of the Fanged Rangers get cut down by an Ebon Stryker. In fact, the same Ebon Stryker that he'd seen fight Corpse Collector a month ago. Interesting. And yet, the rampaging Dissolutions did nothing to harm Arms Slave, or any of the Ebon Strykers.

"...Oh, come on." He groaned, slamming a palm into his face as he turned to leave, the battle over. "You've got to be joking." He muttered under his breath as he started making his way back to the Blue City, sending a guild-wide message as he did so.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, bad news. I don't care if you're about to start ganking, but I'm calling off the attack." Gleeful Jackal paused for a moment to allow his guildies a second to bitch and moan to themselves, as he assumed them would. "Now that you're done bitching, let me explain why. I just watched some Ebon Strykers hit the Fanged Rangers, and you wanna know something cool? They've got Dissolutions under their control that attack everyone else but them. That's right, those assholes are hacking. We're not going to win a direct assault by ourselves. All units pull out of the Black City right the hell now and get back to the guild hall. Bunker down and keep the war machines ready. We're definitely going to have to start working with the other guilds at this point."

The instant that Gleeful Jackal made it back to the guild hall, he started composing a PM to each of the other colored Kings, using the same chat as before.

[OverconfidentMagi]

The air next to Zealous Calm rippled and shimmered as it took on the properties of water, and a moment later Bellowed Mist and the Orange King stepped out of the distortion. Mist’s avatar abilities were incredibly useful to move undetected over great distances, and the plan was for Pantheon to strike at the Black Guild from a new location as frequently as his skill’s cooldown would allow.

Pantheon was just about to ask Zealous Calm for a status update on the Marauders’ assault on the Black Guild’s territory when he saw the wizard’s eyes grow wide.

***

Aaron almost threw himself of the bed he sat up so fast. He could still see the death notification as the game faded to overlay mode. The pain was slow to hit him, but when it did it felt as if he’d gotten all of his ribs smashed in with a wrecking ball. Pantheon had died quite a few times early on to insane amounts of fall damage as he’d trained using Skyborne and later Sky Climber, and the feedback from a mile fall hadn’t made his body ache this bad.

What the hell had just happened!? He sent that very question to Bellowed Mist and Zealous Calm in the game. Zealous Calm responded first, with Mist’s reply flashing in a fraction of a second later.

From: Zealous Calm
To: Conquest Pantheon
Subject: Re: WTF

Someone didn’t take kindly to you throwing a stick at their window. There isn’t much left of Pantheon’s body, but it looked like your own spear just appeared through your chest and then kind of exploded. Some of the guys here almost pissed themselves when they saw their king just kind of blow up.

From: Bellowed Mist
To: Conquest Pantheon
Subject: Re: WTF

It was definitely Heavens Torn Asunder that hit you. Either the enemy has a player who can copy abilities, or you got really unlucky with your aim and happened to hit somebody that had Reflect up. Either way, for them to have reacted in time to your attack should have been impossible.

Aaron thought about what this could mean. First, the enemy knew exactly where he was when he attacked. It was incredibly unlikely, as he’d made sure to avoid detection by taking Bellowed Mist with him, and he’d approached from the air. Second, the enemy knew exactly when he was going to attack. How could they have, when the only reason he’d chosen that moment to attack had been the clouds moving to give a clear line of sight? Third, the enemy had the ability to nullify his most powerful attack and throw it back in his face as if it was nothing.

Aaron picked up his book from April’s desk and barely stopped himself from throwing it across the room. Instead he opened the book slowly and looked at its contents, his eyes reading nothing. When he’d calmed down, he closed the book and stood up. He wasn’t going to give up, he wasn’t going to lose, not to her. Sliding Darius out of the way, Aaron left April’s room and walked in no hurry back to his own room.

He didn’t like being in his room; it was always too dark, too empty. The greatest fear of the Orange King was that he’d meet the same fate as his predecessor. He didn’t want to just disappear, to die alone in his room with no one knowing how or why. People would talk, maybe a few would mourn for a day or two, and then he’d just be gone from their memories. The possibility chilled is heart and made it hard to think every time he was alone. It was terrible, something Aaron didn’t want anyone else to have to go through. If there was one thing he could do, he would keep the Black King’s murderous attention away from the other players of Deep Ground Online.

Aaron pulled three darts from the board he had hung on the far wall of his room and threw them back at the dart board. Three dull thuds barely a second apart left three darts embedded just outside the bullseye. He repeated this process of pacing back and forth from the dart board to the far side of the room, each time marked by three thuds, over and over until Aaron stopped thinking entirely and just let the motions take over.

It was a message from the White King that pulled Aaron back to lucidity.

From: Stalwart Bruiser
To: Conquest Pantheon
Subject: What you said...

Hey, I remember back in the group conversation that you had an alternate plan to defeat Moon Rider...Maybe I can help? You'll probably hear about it soon, but I don't have anything anymore. I gave it up before she could take it from me....Just, if you're interested in something different than the alliance, message back and we'll meet up.

Aaron sat heavily on the corner of his bed and leaned back to stare at the ceiling. The game popped up in overlay mode, and Aaron spent ten minutes just looking through everything posted about the day’s events. If he hadn’t already accepted the day as lost he would likely have been furious anew. He saw the fallout from what the White King had done in the most recent postings. It wasn’t good. Aaron brought up Stalwart Bruiser’s message and entered his reply.

From: Conquest Pantheon
To: Stalwart Bruiser
Subject: Re: What you said...

Very well. I’ll be waiting in the library.

Aaron sighed as he stood up and left his room. He stopped and bought a coffee to try to chase away the cold that had settled in his chest on his way to the library, arriving to find the place as unpopulated as usual. People only ever came here due to the fact that it was quiet anyways. It was a convenient place to meet others to, since there was hardly ever a lot of people there. Aaron spoke to the ever-present librarian for a while about nothing truly important, but they could tell that he wasn’t interested in talking today though, and it wasn’t long before Aaron found himself sitting alone in his usual spot.

While he was waiting, Aaron was notified that someone had posted a message in the Kings-only chat. He opened it and read what the other Kings had to say about the day’s events.

[Scarifar]

Michelle - Shooting Star-Yellow King
Shooting Star sighed. The thought of her city being destroyed so easily was getting to her, and she couldn't think of anything else. With a sigh, she logged out of Deep Ground, hoping to find something to distract her.

Goodbye, Shooting Star-Yellow King

Michelle opened her eyes, finding herself back into her room. Same old, same old. She decided to go on the forums to see what was new. Not much, apart from news about the Green City being destroyed. This wasn't helping matters one bit. Her mind was still plagued with thoughts of that giant coin and the hordes of Dissolutions. She grabbed a bag from a shelf and opened it, revealing a stash of sweets. She pulled out one those peanut butter Snickers and opened it, then started chewing on a square. She was about to move on, but then she noticed that the Kings-only chat had another message in it. Curious, she opened a window and joined the chat.

Daniel - Free Runner
Free Runner laughed. He was having a blast, both literally and figuratively. He was holding a rocket launcher he had stolen from another player, and had shot the guy with it. He dropped it, then pulled out a pair of new weapons he had obtained during the month of war. A pair of small shotguns, 4 shells each. Not as powerful as his double-barrel shotgun, but quick to reload and semi-automatic. The people he was currently fighting were just a group of Level Ones and Twos, except for the guy he had stolen the rocket launcher from, who was Level Four. With a few quick shots and a double jump, he dispatched them all in one shot in the head each. As he landed, there was a success noise, and a notification popped up saying that he had leveled up. "Sweet, finally!" Daniel said as he opened up his Ability menu to see what his new Ability was.

[drewccapp]

Collabaritis post between Sten and Lucy

Sten flinched and stepped back a few steps as he collided with Lucy. His chin hurt slightly as they had bumped into each other. He rubbed the discomfort away before he actually looked at her. He left out a dull and emotionless. "Owch." To express his pain.

He remembered her from his class, except this time she stook out. The green dress, the jade bow, the scarf, and her prideful expression... all of it shouted "I am the Green King!" Sten found such pride and willpower to be admirable. Before he knew it he had breathed out an awed. "Beautiful."

He cleared his throat and looked her in the eyes, sincere apology in his expression. "Sorry. Are you hurt?"

Due to her fall just a few minutes before, Lucy was already hurting. This one just added even more pain. Thankfully, though, this time she didn't fall back. Instead, just ran into an elbow, chin, maybe a knee? A groan escaped her lips before she could stop it.

It was almost all forgotten when she thought she heard him call her beautiful. Of course, as she tilted her head to look at him in confusion, Lucy convinced herself she must be crazy. After all, they saw each other most days, and he'd never had that reaction before. So, she put it behind her and instead let out another, "Sorry!" at the same time he did.

This caused her to smile a bit. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you. You?"

Sten chuckled a bit, the simultaneous apology amused him. "I've had worse." He stated it pretty simply, mostly just to brush the bruise he'd be getting later off. "It's my fault really. I was lost in thought and wasn't paying attention. Trying to figure things out with DGO and all the mess going down there." He hadn't planned on speaking as much as he did, but he just let slip with his thoughts a bit there.

He scanned her over once more. Breaking dress code like she was certainly left an impression that the normal attire that everyone wore couldn't match. "Very brave to break dress code like that. I like that. Very admirable." He hesitated a moment as if he wasn't certain that these were the words he was looking for, but he didn't say anything after that as he wasn't sure of what to say either way.

At the mention of DGO, Lucy's expression fell. With the worry she felt for her Rangers, she'd gotten her mind of off most everything that had happened. Now, she was reminded. The Green City was gone, destroyed by those terrible Mayhem Riders and the dissolutions they could somehow control. But the worst of it was knowing that the Fanged Rangers had been targeted because of their weakness. Even with the help of the other kings, she had not been able to defend her territory. It was shameful.

His words brought her out of her own head, but her expression did not change. Lucy responded to him much as she had to her earlier run-in. "What else can I do? I've let down everyone. Showing that we're still here, that we haven't been pushed down into nothing, and that we aren't afraid... It's the only thing we can do, and this was the only way I could think to do it."

The moment Sten saw Lucy's expression fall, he felt something like regret, or maybe it was sympathy whichever it was he wasn't certain. He kept mostly to himself and because of that his understanding of social interaction had been hampered. He doubted his choice to join the Ebony Strykers, but he didn't want to lose integrity by leaving them as soon as he joined them. Joining them also was the best decision for him if he wanted to figure out their plans, at least that was how he felt.

What else could she do, he wondered. Part of him wanted to give her some advice, but his own lack of experience left him doubtful that he could do anything aside from some words of encouragement. "I-I don't know what I can say." He admitted. "You're stong enough to make a bold decision like this. I have no doubt you and the Rangers can pull through this."

He thought for a moment as he continued working his brain to figure things out. What had been done was not something that was supposed to be done. It was an unspoken tabbo. A game changer. His expression went from uncertain to "eureka!" within a few moments. "I think I've figured something out. I need more evidence though." Why was he admitting this to her? There wasn't any point to it was there? Since when had he needed to speak to other people think?

A small smile graced her lips as she heard the words. Lucy knew that her and the Rangers would pull through, rebuild somehow, even if it took everything she had, but to hear it from someone else was... relieving. That was exactly what she wanted. For other people to believe that they would bounce back as well. For other people to know that there was no way the Fanged Rangers were out of the fight, not even close.

During his quiet, Lucy took the time to actually look at him. Normally, she was so focused on her invisibility and keeping it, that she didn't even bother to get to know other people anymore. The only time she had any type of conversation was when it seemed like someone else was bothered by someone. Lucy had always had the type of personality that made everyone want to tell her their problems. Most people would be annoyed by this, but not her. It was something she took pride in.

Silently, she wondered what Sten took pride in. It didn't really matter, but it was something she was curious about. It seemed like most people didn't really have anything like that, and the ones that did usually had.... well not bad qualities, but more... selfish.

Her mind had been sidetracked, Lucy realized, and she turned her attention back to the boy in front of her. She was just starting look at him again when she noticed his face light up with some realization. One he voiced seconds later. Her smile grew, though she also did not know why he was telling her this.

"Well it's always good to learn something new, but do me a favor, yeah?" Here she paused and gave him a serious look. "Be careful getting that evidence. Lately, both of our worlds aren't exactly safe."

Sten couldn't help but notice Lucy's smile grow. It was something almost entrancing. He had never really shown any interest in other people before, so why was this so fascinating? He nodded quietly as she requested he be careful. She was right about both worlds not being safe with the recent history of things going on in DGO. The murders. The hackers. What if those incidents were related to the battle that just happened? That was just another question to be answered.

Sten finally decided to smile slyly. "I'm always careful. I'm a solo player after all." Even though he had just joined a guild, he couldn't call himself a team player, yet and getting rid of that mentality would be no easy task. The facts were he was still likely to go off alone and hunt dissolutions or outlaws. Even if he was a team player, he doubted he'd forget the tactics he learned from his time soloing.

He still wanted to afford her as much respect as possible. He couldn't imagine many people committing to something like she did. It certainly sent a message out clear. He extended his hand for a shake and smiled. "Thanks for your concern though. Best of luck, and I guess we'll see each other around."

That smile was back as she held her hand out to him as well. It was strange to be shaking someone's hand when she'd met them plenty of times before, but it made sense in a way. It was like a hug between strangers or in their case, acquaintances. Mostly, she was glad that he was a solo player because it would be the safest place for him. Any guild he joined would be part of the war. The Ebony Strykers would be safe for now, but sooner or later, the rest of the guilds would get to them just as they had got to her.

"Of course we will! If you need help with your evidence gathering, don't be afraid to ask. You know who I am in DGO after all." Lucy grinned at him before pulling her hand back and stepping around him. She was just about to continue towards the Ranger's meeting place when she turned around for a second, saying one last thing. "And try not to be so solo-oriented. It sounds lonely."

One last smile at him, and she was racing down the hall just as she'd been before their crash.

Sten nodded once to her and waved as she turned back around and rushed down the hall. He shoved his hands into his pockets and stood around a bit thinking. That was the first extended social interaction he had had with anyone in his age group. It felt nice. He felt proud that he had been able to have such a pleasant conversation. He then began his leisurely walk around campus to consider the new ideas he had floating in his head.

[TheWendil]

Deep Ground Online

Silver Jester the Masked Man
“Not just war… but conflict. Strife, Antagonistic actions that define the core of living things… yes. It’s a beautiful day for paradoxes and shifts to occur,” The Masked Man said.

This line didn’t reveal very little and Albus had no idea what to think about the man. When people spoke like that, they were either delusional, or they onto something. That is, delusional around 99% of the time. But the masked man spoke with confidence, so he either completely believed his delusion, or there was something he knew that Albus didn’t. Either way, Albus wouldn’t let it get to him.

‘Yes, conflict.’ Albus said, leaning casually on the building, in a display of confidence. ‘And if that’s all you have to say, then I’m sorely disappointed.’

‘A boy who seeks to find truth in death, reasoning in sacrifice. That is the kind of person you are, Albus. Very fascinating…’ The masked man said.

Albus was confused, but he didn’t let it show. What did the masked man mean? Finding truth in death? Reasoning in sacrifice? Albus was, at the core of his being, an extremely logical person. So maybe that was what he was alluding to. But what did it mean?

Albus couldn’t read this man. The light in his eyes didn’t change and he couldn’t detect any changes in his heart beat. His posture was straight and remained unchanged during their conversation. This said that he was confident, confident that Albus wouldn’t do anything. And he wouldn’t until he knew that the masked man wanted.

‘Tell me.’ The masked man continued. ‘What can you tell me about a player called Corpse Collector? Would you like to know more about the self-proclaimed hacker?’

The words ‘Corpse Collector’ caught Albus’s interest. He’d heard of Corpse Collector, or rather, the events that took place when Corpse Collector emerged and the aftermath. That is, the death of the 4 kings. Corpse Collector was a hacker who had caused a lot of chaos within the DGP as a result of her actions and was brought to justice shortly after some intervention from the black guild. But not much information had been disclosed. Her hacking techniques, her motives, where she was taken… Albus knew about the incident, but he knew nothing about the person. That said, was it safe to tell the masked man what he knew? It was best to hide what information you know and what you don’t when collecting information. All he knew about the masked man were half-baked ghost sightings scribbled onto forums and his status as the enemy boss. He had to evaluate the risk of telling him what he knew, or rather, what he didn’t know.

First, he had no idea how the masked man discovered his name. He had put it down to hacking, but if so, then he should know a lot about Albus. He should know that he was the heir of Phantom Corporation which dealt with the DGP, but personal information as well as avatar information should be secured in government owned databanks. No one should be able to gauge the identity of the player behind Carnage Liberated unless he told them. So basically, the least this masked man could be was an extremely skilled hacker capable of breaking past the best security the world had without leaving a trace.

‘I know about the Corpse Collector incident, but as for the player…’ Albus said, deciding to reveal his lack of knowledge. There was no harm in telling him he knew nothing about the player, at least. ‘Well, that’s a different matter. Assuming there are no strings attached, I’d love to know about the Corpse Collector.’

The Masked Man narrowed his eyes, interested and amused by Liberated’s answer. Yes, he had predicted correctly, as usual. This boy was an interesting being, one that would hopefully cause as much fun as the Corpse Collector had done.

“Oh? I see ambition is only quenched by greater knowledge when it comes to you. Is that what the Phantom Corporation has amounted to now? A collaboration of fools seeking power beyond their comprehension? If that is the case…then I find that very interesting.

Albus made no comment, but was surprised at his thinking. He too believed that his father, along with his co-workers were all thoughtless fools lusting after money and power, at times out of their depth, still attempting to exploit profit. He had no attachment to his father’s business or what he did, and he was almost glad to see someone who had the same views as he did, but he withheld his emotions as he had no idea where the masked man was headed. It was bad business to be led around on a string by emotional appeals so Albus kept silent.

The Masked Man stood up now from his resting place as he outstretched a hand towards Carnage Liberated.

“Oh, didn’t you know? I go by Silver Jester now, but you may refer to me by either title. I’m no one…and I don’t want to be anyone. Now on to what has been burning your curiosity, yes?”

A pause. What did he mean by he was no one? That he didn’t want to be anyone? At this stage, Albus would just label the masked man as a crazy person, but the masked man – no, Silver Jester suggested he had more knowledge than he let on. Knowledge about the corpse collector incident which had personally piqued his interest. What could he know? What will he tell him?

“Albus…what if I told you that I was the one who gave Corpse Collector her destructive hacking powers?”

‘Well, if what you said is true, then this has becoming VERY interesting.’ Albus said, standing straight. ‘But it raises more questions than answers.’

Albus was shocked, to say the least. However, he didn’t show it. The Corpse Collector incident had gained popularity because the perpetrator, Corpse Collector, had shown game breaking hacking prowess. Hacking skills enough to crash a game stretching the world. Yet the hacking methods used were still unknown, or barely known, as revealed to the Phantom Corporation and the Corpse Collector hadn’t said much herself, at least, according to information given out to the Phantom Corporation. This Silver Jester had enough power to overload a worldwide program – as well as the power to pass it on? There was a chance that Silver Jester had even greater powers, judging by his ease and his sightings, blatantly observing the battles fought all over Deep Ground. Albus was more cautious, observing the being in front of him to have more power than he did. He didn’t know the extent of his powers, but he didn’t fear Silver Jester. He hadn’t shown any animosity or ill intent throughout their conversation and this was becoming far more interesting than Albus could’ve imagined. So Albus feigned confidence.
‘For starters, why did you give that power to someone as unhinged as Corpse Collector? And why me? Why are you telling me this?’

“Why?”

The Jester tilted his head to the left, as if genuinely caught off guard by the follow-up question…no. No it wasn’t that at all. It was almost as if he was analyzing a new species right before his eyes, a haunting curiosity burning in the pupils. It was more than a little unsettling.

“She was a perfect specimen,”he finally said. “Her hatred for the Black King made her liable to obtain more power to overthrow those who stood in her way. I simply…gave her the tool to do so. As for you…isn’t it obvious? Surely your father would have expected a common deduction by now.”

Silver Jester’s eyes shifted only slightly.

“I want to offer you the very same abilities Albus. Why? Well…wouldn’t you like to find out about the deaths of four Colored Kings? I can give you that purpose…”

So he knew. Silver Jester knew the reason behind the deaths of the 4 kings. He was also the one who gave Corpse Collector her game breaking powers, whatever they were. Maybe Corpse Collector was more closely linked to the kings’ deaths than he thought. At least, it was clear to Albus that something big was going on. But there were too little details. Too many gaps to see the big picture. And the offer for power… Truth was, one of the things he needed the least was power. In real life, he was strong. Strong enough to be practically untouchable, courtesy of his father’s assets. In Deep Ground, he was strong. Courtesy of his own strength, but he wasn’t invincible. That was what made it fun. And now, Silver Jester was offering him more power. Power he didn’t particularly want. Sure, it was tempting. Extremely tempting. Power and knowledge, knowledge he was interested in. It pricked in his mind as he made his decision, one that he might regret.

‘Sorry. I can’t say I’m not interested, but I might regret it. More than if I refused, anyway.’ Albus responded.

It was tempting. Too tempting. Almost tempting enough not to see the bad sides. First of all, there was a high probability that Albus would get caught. He would most likely be better at hiding it than the Kleptomaniac Corpse Collector. That was pretty much certain. But he didn’t want to take that risk. The information on the deaths of the 4 kings, however, was even more tempting. It was almost enough to negate the downside to getting caught. However, the second point countered that almost too well.

He didn’t trust Silver Jester at all. What did he have to gain from this? What were his motives? From his earlier statement about corpse collector hating the black king, it meant that the Corpse Collector’s vendetta against the black king was profitable to Silver Jester. But that wasn’t what it sounded like. It sounded more like he was a bored god, giving power to those he deems would do something interesting with it. It made the deal seem less and less appealing as he thought about it. Becoming another pawn moved for amusement, to satisfy the boredom of a whimsical, all powerful being. And while this Silver Jester probably wasn’t an almighty being, it didn’t make him anymore trustworthy. There were too many unknowns, too many variables he didn’t know. There were many questions unanswered, and he began to suspect that they wouldn’t be answered unless he sought after them himself.

As the fanged rangers died around him, Albus had one thing to say to the masked enigma.
‘There’s one thing I’m wondering, however.’ He started. ‘You probably won’t give me a straight answer, but I need to know. Why are you doing this? What do you gain for offering me game breaking power, power strong enough to bend a game that spans the world and governs our entire adulthood? I can’t see what you have to gain from doing this.’

“Ah, so you seek to understand my motives, yes?”

The Jester answered Albus’ question with one another one, a low chuckle being audible from just beneath the masked face.

“You wonder why I’m doing this, no? You don’t trust me…and rightly so. Who am I, after all to offer to you anything? I’m no one…and yet you think of me as a god? Perhaps I am…so what possible reward have I to reap from you?”

As confusing as they were, the Jester’s words were a clear indicator that he could either read Liberated’s mind or he was just that easy to read and figure out.

“Some may like to participate in the conflict, but I personally enjoy watching it. What do I gain from this interaction of ours? Absolutely nothing. So then, why do I do it?”

Jester narrowed his eyes.

“It’s fun. I ask again Carnage Liberated; would you like to possess the same powers I bestowed upon Corpse Collector? Of course, I don’t expect you to actually use them in any sort of conflict. Now where is the fun in that? No…no I’m offering you a chance to obtain greater knowledge. Ah…that is what you’re after, yes? Think about it. With the powers of a Hacker, you could bend the system’s limit. And who knows what things you can discover by taking a simple viewing of Deep Ground’s past records? Heh, you might just find the murderer you so desperately yearn for.”

It was fun. Albus couldn't refute that. This masked man could do things in deep ground that were only possible in deep ground. And he had to admit, it sounded fun. Giving power to random people and watching the chaos unfold. Albus's way of having fun was much the same. He did things in deep ground he normally wouldn’t do. Butcher people weaker than him or fight toe-to-toe with someone equal to him. And while their methods of having fun were fundamentally different, he could sympathize with Silver Jester. That said, it was extremely tempting to find the cause of the information. That said, Albus had already come up with his decision, which he was regretting already. In fact, Albus was being uncharacteristically stubborn. But he didn't like conforming to anyone's plans besides his own and it felt like he'd be playing into someone else's hand should he agree.

'Sorry, I don't feel like accepting. I doubt I'd like the outcome anyway.' Albus said.
The around them was soon to be over, the last of the fanged rangers were dying around him. 'And it looks like this'll end soon anyway.'

The Masked Man narrowed his eyes, the only indication that he was affected at all by Liberated’s answer. After a moment’s pause, he reeled his outstretched hand back to his side and watched the other Player with a burning fascination shining in his eyes.

“So you would refute the prospect of ultimate knowledge for a sense of self-accomplishment and pride? You are very interesting indeed Albus…very well then. If you do by chance change your interests…then you can seek me out for yourself.”

The Jester eyes widened as his body began to fade and distort away. Something about him-be it his voice or his posture or even the words themselves-was wrong. As if he had clearly won something despite Carnage Liberated declining his offer.

“It appears that the tragedy of the four Kings will not be paved by you. Such a shame. You would have made quite the Hero…you’ll get your answers soon enough. Tomorrow perhaps…well then. It was nice…chatting with you Albus.”

And just like that, he was gone. As silent as a phantom in the night.
Albus watched Silver Jester go, somewhat regretting his decision. But, it was his decision and he had to deal with the consequences. Apparently, the masked man could read minds as well and that made him very tricky to deal with. While this normally would've been impossible, it's possible to have an accurate guess of what people are thinking just by reading their body language, but one must be extremely skilled to be able to do it so well. Either way, that kind of ability on another person who's alignment was unknown wasn't a great prospect.

Albus looked down onto the green city. It was doomed. The dissolutions were making short work of whoever remained and he could see... A massive coin about to obliterate the city, killing all who remained. Not Albus. Albus logged out and his eyes found the light of the real world. Too many questions were flying around his head, too many things left unknown. And the first thing he wanted was answers. He took out his phone to call his father's butler. It was 3 seconds before he was answered.

'What can I do for you, Master Albus?' A curt voice said into the phone.

'I need everything the Phantom Corporation has on the Corpse Party Incident. And a little more...' Albus said, succinctly.

'I take it that you've started on your father's request, young master.' The butler asked.
Albus paused at this statement. Had he really? He'd returned to Purple Crown not to investigate, but just to leave the stifling atmosphere. Had he started on his father's task? Did he want to? He laughed inwardly. It wasn't his father's task, it was his personal interest.

'Yes... Tell him that I need information about the Corpse Party incident. All of the information we have.' Albus said.

'Very good.' The butler replied.

Albus hang up promptly and rose to stretch his stiff muscles. The conversation with Silver Jester had left him with many questions he needed answers for, and it would be hard work ahead to find them. Albus looked forward to the thrill, however. He realized that forces beyond his comprehension were at work, but humans excelled at messing with things beyond their control. Things were going to get more exciting, and Albus was going to be a part of it.

---

Retsu Goroshi + Donny Kain / Dark Wraith + Arms Slave
Arms Slave cursed under his breath as his Chain Catch attack was deflected, and before he or his group could land a hit the Yellow King fled. A few tried to chase after her, but Arms Slave did not. As much as he'd like to kill a king, there was something else egging on his thoughts. Something that he needed to talk to Dark Wraith about. After loading everyone back into the war machine, Arms Slave opened up a private channel to Dark Wraith.

"Oi, you moody bitch! Mind explaining what just happened at the Green City!?"

Dark Wraith was fighting a few fires herself. Most notably, a lot of info just came in regarding not only the results from the battle with the Fanged Rangers, but also what just occurred with the Ivory Masks, information that Dark Wraith received from her lackies out in the real world, and finally Arms Slave yelling at her through a private message. There was a lot on her plate, and she went after the one she knew she could finish quickly, Arms Slave.

"I do not have time to debate with you Arms Slave. Now if you want to know what we had to do with the Dissolutions at the Green City, the simple answer is nothing. We did not tame them, we cannot summon them, and we do not know why it has happened. Or rather, we do not know how it happened. But I do know that this is not good for anyone, not even the Ebony Strykers. The Sweepers have already amassed the unfortunate rumors that they are hackers, but they've been careful and clever. They made sure to leave reasonable doubt that they're nothing more than an well organized group of vigilantes, but this stunt with the Dissolutions potentially negates their hard work. The other guilds have seen this flagrant act of cheating and now they bide their time, or worse, would resort to their own hackers if they have any. So no, we did not just try to give the Ebony Strykers a blatant hack. But someone wants to frame us that we are, which means that something more powerful than any of the guilds are going to come crashing down on us."

Dark Wraith took a breath and sighed. "System Admins..." Which was just more work for Dark Wraith since she was one of those System Admins. System Admins were the ones who kept Deep Ground running and ensured that everyone was fighting more or less on equal grounds. Not even Moon Rider would be able to challenge them, because they weren't a conventional opponent you could fight. They could very well wipe the entire Deep Ground system clean, and even Dark Wraith would have little way to stop it. And if these obvious acts of hacking continue, that may just happen, forcing everyone to stop from ground zero.

"There's no plans for invasions tonight. I want you and your Mayhem Riders to stay within the city and ensure that none of the enemy guild infiltrates. There will be no spamming or other help from the Erasers. Am I clear, Arms Slave?"

Arms Slave was having a hard time taking in all this information. He had no problems with destroying the Green City, and even he didn't really complain too much about using the Eraser's access to the Deep Ground system for his advantage, but he disliked how they completely made his efforts worthless. Those Dissolutions were part of the plan, sure, but the way it was done made his efforts look completely moot. He disliked how it looked like the Erasers were just flexing, but from what Dark Wraith said, they had nothing to do with the Dissolutions. Not that Arms Slave beleived a word she said, but there was some reasonable doubt. Upon being told to stay within the Black City Arms Slave just grunted. "Fine..."

The Mayhem Riders made it back to the Black City without further complications. Most of them scattered through out the city to serve as sentries or simply hang out and talk about the recent raid and what their future plans might be. Once his War Machine was in the garage, Arms Slave logged out of the game. He needed some time to think to himself.

---

Retsu Goroshi / Dark Wraith
That was one problem solved, but that was just one small ember in the raging inferno. Crimson Bolt and Shining Ray gave her another report as they were heading to the White City, and much to their surprise they saw the White King himself destroy their guild hall. Not only that, but some Ivory Masks Sweepers just told her that they've been kicked from the guild. Not one to waste a opportunity, she quickly elected a high level Armsman to become the new White King. Dark Wraith had no idea what Stalwart Bruiser had in mind when he decided to disband his guild, but someone needed to be the White King, and Dark Wraith was going to take advantage of this power gap. No doubt other former members of the Ivory Masks will begin to create their own splinter factions to become the new White Guild, but with Dark Wraith's backing she was certain by the end of this week, a new White Guild will be formed, and they will be allied with the Ebony Strykers.

Now all she had to do was deal with the remnants of the Fanged Rangers. With a potential new White Guild under her thumb, Dark Wraith hatched a plan to bring the Fanged Rangers to the new White Guild under the pretense of protection, and than force them to either disband of merge with the Ebony Strykers. That would only leave the Yellow, Orange, and Blue king left. And the reason she didn't include the Red King was because of an urgent message from Yoshino. One of the more stressful pieces of news.

Yoshino was meeting with the Red King, Stuffed Rabbit, or as Retsu knew he- No, him as, Michael Faye. Indeed a very strange phenomenon, she has never heard of someone playing an avatar of the opposite gender. Sure there were plenty of tales of people confusing their genders, but Michael Faye's avatar was a bonefide female, and he himself is actually male. Or at least, Dark Wraith is certain of that. Who knows. What was more important however was that he was meeting Yoshino, and even if she thinks that Michael is a kinder sort than Aaron, Dark Wraith did not like the idea that any of the kings would be meeting her personally, least of all without Retsu close by. That message was from an hour ago, and Yoshino said that she would message Dark Wraith back after Yoshino was finished with her meeting, but so far Dark Wraith received nothing. She feared the worse, and quickly delegated the rest of the defense of the Black City to her Erasers.

"The Orange King just attempted to destroy us with one of his attacks, and I have no doubts he is dead now because of it, but there will be more to come. Those like Dosh King and Orange King posses powerful attacks, so make sure that you are ready to employ the Thunder Rod stratagem at a moments notice. I have to log out now, but I should be back soon."

[TheWendil]

The Real World

Goodbye, Dark Wraith
By the time Dark Wraith had successfully logged out of Deep Ground Online, a certain Student President was sitting at the table in her small dorm room alone. A small smile was present on her face as she hummed idly to herself about the day's past events.

There was no doubt in her mind now that the Green Kingdom was no more, and with the sworn loyalty of the Red Guild's King, the powers of the Scarlet Harley's would come to be new allies as well.

And Michael. Yoshino's smile widened a little at the thought of him. Especially Michael.

Retsu had put on her jacket and was already out of her dorm room. If her eyes could produce flames, she would have burned down the dormitory. Using an overlay mode she sent Yoshino a message as she marched out of her house, woke up her chauffer, and stood outside next to her car.

Yoshino, what happened with the Red King? Are you okay? It's been almost two hours and I haven't heard back from you. Where are you at right now?

Retsu didn't want to sound like a nagging mother, but Retsu was worried about Yoshino. She didn't care how happy-go-lucky Michael is, the fact that he was the Red King alone made him an enemy to the Ebony Strykers, and Retsu was not about to let him off simply because Yoshino met him personally. She waited with bated breath for Yoshino to respond as the chauffer started up the car.

Yoshino blinked as a familiar buzzing startled her from her thoughts. Activating her personal interface, she realized with a little dread that it was Retsu. She had forgotten to reply back! Scanning the message, she instantly replied back in the hopes of putting her second-in-command’s mind at ease.

I'm at my dorm. Don't worry; the Red King didn't harm me in anyway. Personally, he wasn't exactly in any position to be threatening at all, but that's besides the point. He pledged his Guild's allegiance to the Ebony Strykers. You should probably get here as soon as possible.

As Retsu sat in her car Yoshino replied to her. The Red King did not threaten Yoshino in anyway, and more surprisingly, actually offered her alliance to the Ebony Stykers. Retsu immediately came up with ideas to take advantage of this, however she had to stop herself. Why had Michael just, out of the blue, decided to join the Ebony Stykers? Even after they declared war on all the guilds? If her intel was also correct, the Red King was even a participant of the battle, only to have escaped at some point during the fight. Was this why he left the battle early? Retsu didn't like this at all. She already knew that Aaron would attempt to play mind games with Yoshino, and Retsu wasn't about to let Michael do the same.

And shortly after Retsu read Yoshino's message, Retsu appeared in front of her dorm building. Retsu also had a room here, but instead she lived at her own home near Purple Crown Academy. It was much more spacious and there she had her family's men around at her beck and call. Retsu made a beeline strait towards Yoshino's dorm and checked her pockets. She had one of her wallets, just something to carry some cash, her phone which she used solely for communication outside of overlay interface, like on the rare occasions she calls her family, and lastly coil of wire. Retsu was no stranger to having to protect herself, and the simple roll of metal wire could be used to garrote or, if attached to her phone, make an exceptionally deadly flail. Of course, Retsu could also just use her bare hands if she had to; the first obstacle before Retsu could enter the dorm was the front entrance.

It was locked because it was late, but if she had her Dorm Key she could use that to open the door. She did not. But that wasn't going to stop her. With a show of surprising strength, Retsu simply crushed the door handle with her hand. With the doors effectively unlocked, Retsu continued up to Yoshino's dorm. She sent her a message so Yoshino would be ready to meet her.

I'm at your dormitory now. I should be there in a few minutes. I'll knock when I arrive.

Yoshino didn't reply back to the message, instead getting up and heading towards the front door. Retsu would be here at any give moment, and she had to consider just how to explain her conversation with the Red King. There was one topic that definitely floated around her mind, and she dreaded a little upon facing that reality.

The discussion of her long-term goals. After all, was that not what Stuffed Rabbit had used to draw her attention? Her eyes narrowed. Then again, who had given him that information? This Masked Player was starting to become a bigger nuisance than she had originally anticipated.

Mulling over these new thoughts, she waited at the door patiently to let her friend in.

Retsu came to the door and knocked. Just three raps on the door. Retsu barely waited for more than five seconds before Yoshino allowed her inside. Retsu was a bit surprised with how quickly she answered, but than again Retsu did just show up five minutes right after logging out of Deep Ground. Wasn't really her place to question someone's speed.

Yoshino's dorm was surprisingly humble for the School President. Though she had more possessions and furniture than Retsu had in her dorm, the room was about the same size nonetheless. Retsu took a seat at the couch and waited for Yoshino to join her before Retsu began asking her questions.

"What happened with the Red King? Why did he want to ally with the Ebony Strykers? This is just all too convenient to believe Yoshino-san. The Red King may not be a total arse like the Orange King, but he still signed up with the other guilds to fight against the Ebony Stykers. I don't want to think that he's only allying with the Ebony Stykers to betray them when it's most efficient for him."

As Yoshino took a seat next to Retsu, she waited in silent patience for the other girl to voice her concerns before replying. The smile was still seen, albeit small this time as the gravity of what had commenced did weigh on her heavily to some extent.

"Believe me Retsu, I know quite well the potential dangers we could be putting ourselves in. However...I think we can trust Michael for two reasons. First and foremost...well I'll be honest here, he can't manipulate. At all. If anything, I was directing the poor boy a bit too much."

She said this with a slight tinge to her cheeks, momentarily forgetting that Retsu was literally sitting right there.

"Second, he spoke of Moon Rider's goals. My goals. He claimed to have been told by the Masked Player himself, and that the Masked Man directed Stuffed Rabbit to join our Guild."

She adjusted her glasses in apprehension.

"While it does sound like a generous gesture on his part, we both know that the Masked Man is a solo Player, or at the very least, he likes to watch from the outside. Why would he actively assist us now?"

Retsu's eyes narrowed. This wasn’t' sounding any better even as Yoshino was explaining it. If anything, it was worse. "You mean to tell me... That the Red King knows your goals and decided to join you... Because of the Masked Man? A rumor from Deep Ground? Someone who we don't even know if he exist?" Yoshino might have thought the Red King and the Masked Man was helping, but Retsu knew a Trojan when she sees one.

"Yoshino-San, we do not know who this Masked Man is, let alone what his motivations are. Worse still, it seems that this Masked Man knows what your goals are, and then somehow manipulated the Red King to assist you. That might sound good, but to me that sounds like a set up. Something similar just happened at the battle of the Green City as well. A curse in the guise of a blessing."

Retsu took out her phone and projected a video through it. It was a recording from one of the Mayhem Riders. As the video was shown, Retsu spoke as the events occurred. "Powerful Dissolutions were summoned during the climax of the battle, shortly before I had the Dosh King clear the area with a boosted Roof of All Evil attack. The plan was that after the Mayhem Riders destroyed all the building within the Green City, the Dosh King will use his strongest attack to eliminate as many players as he could, and I would have Crimson Bolt and Shining Ray bring in Dissolutions from the north into the Green City. There I would have changed their respawn location to the city to ensure that the Fanged Rangers could not rebuild. But instead, someone else summoned Dissolutions directly to the city. Worse, the Dissolutions did not attack the Ebony Stykers. This may seem like a good thing, but Dissolutions, chaotic as they are, are not known to show favoritism towards anyone, no matter their affiliations. Even though the Dissolutions were immensely useful in destroying the Green City, it was apparently obvious that they were hacked to give us an unfair advantage. And while I have no problems cheating to win, this was way too blatant. Now everyone would think that the Ebony Strykers are employing hackers, which means we will be under investigation by the System Administrator’s. And no amount of power in Deep Ground will save us if the System Admins discover that the Sweepers employ hackers. This may result in many of the Sweepers and Erasers, myself included, getting banned from Deep Ground. Much like Corpse Collector."

Retsu let the video continue but changed the subject back to the Red King and the Masked Man. "I would not consider the Red King's sudden understanding and willingness to ally with the Ebony Strykers to be a boon. At best, he's being manipulated by the Masked Man. At worse, this is a pretext to get to you personally, and do something to you that will compromise your ability to lead the Ebony Strykers. Don't trust him Yoshino-san. It doesn't matter what he has told you so far, being so trusting towards the Red King will only end in grief."

Yoshino tensed up, swallowing hard as she watched the footage and listened to Retsu's logic and reasoning. Of course she knew it was probably some ploy utilized by the Masked Man. That much was certain, and there was a definite possibility that Stuffed Rabbit was only being used.

"Still...I don't think he's doing it to get to me Retsu," she said quietly. She was used by now of betrayal and the severing of fellowships, but this? If this was some sort of trick, then it was just cruel.

"The Masked Man...I know he's real Retsu. I know because I...I encountered him once."

She turned away from the red-headed girl, fiddling her glasses as shame rolled off of her body in waves.

"I don't know if I ever told you this before, but I saw him...shortly before I opened up the gates to the Black Guild. His status read "Final Boss". I was so excited; that I had finally found the end of the game, the way to end all of this. And then he...he looked at me. He looked at me Retsu...and I couldn't look at him. It was like...he knew I was afraid of that unblinking stare..."

Yoshino wrapped her arms around herself and fought to suppress a shudder as the memory came back.

"Something has to be real to make another human feel that way Retsu. Of course, the only other person I told was Haruka...and she didn't believe me. Heh, imagine that."

Yoshino turned back to Retsu with an unreadable expression now on her face.

"I think we should take this threat very seriously," she warned. "We can assume that the Dissolution behavior was a result from Masked Man, seeing as it was beyond even your control. What I don't understand is what he's trying to accomplish. If he does end up having the Admins shut down the system...I just can't figure it out. But what I can say for sure, is that Michael was not lying," she said with a hint of finality creeping back into her voice.

"Despite my glasses, I'm not blind Retsu. I saw that Michael was listening to my words. When he asked for a reasoning behind my goals, he was listening as intently as you are right now. That's why, I know I can trust him for now. When the Masked Man makes his move...that's when we'll take care of him."

Retsu crossed her arms and closed her eyes. While Yoshino might be taking the thought of the Masked Man being a threat more seriously, Retsu still didn't like how much trust she was putting into Michael, the Red King. In a sense, Retsu was almost... Jealous. She had been with Yoshino for much longer, working at her side for a month, doing everything she can to make sure that the Ebony Stykers were rightfully feared and powerful in Deep Ground. It was hard given Yoshino's aloof personality, but Retsu was glad that her efforts have be rewarded with trust. And than suddenly the Red King shows up and Yoshino automatically puts her faith into him? It irked Retsu severely. And than a thought creeped into Retsu's mind. One that really challenged her ability to temper her emotions.

"Yoshino-san... Do you like Michael?" Retsu didn't look at Yoshino directly, but even as her eyes were directed down at her feet, Retsu gave off a dangerous aura. Like one filled with a furious wrath.

"D-Do I l-like him?"

The beet red flush on Yoshino's face all but proved it to the stoic Yakuza. The Student President could deny it all she wanted, but it was quite obvious that she had been smitten by the boy.

"I-I mean...well, he did confess to me, and I...he said he liked me before finding out I was Moon Rider, and-"

Yoshino halted in her speech, the slip-up being too blatant for her to take back now. She had just admitted that Michael now knew her real life identity.

"He what!?" Retsu shot Yoshino a quick glare. It was filled with anger and fear; anger that someone else knew Yoshino's true identity, and the fear that it will be exploited. "This is bad Yoshino-san! It's one thing if the Red King had simply came to offer his alliance, but now he knows your true identity! Who's to say that he does not tell the others? They still think he is their ally, hell, he may still be their ally! And now they know who the Black King really is! You saw what Aaron tried to do today. He came in to hurt you emotionally, to rile you up to make a mistake. I'm sure that Michael plans to do the same, but instead of trying to make you angry, he's going to try to make you fall for him. Those... Those bastards are just trying to hurt you Yoshino-san! They're trying to provoke you, take advantage of you, to make you weak! I won't allow it!"

By this point Retsu had stood up and was glaring at her own fist. Retsu wanted to protect Yoshino. She didn't want to see her hurt anymore, to lose everything because of a fleeting moment of passion. Retsu didn't want to have opened up to Yoshino only to see her taken away. Retsu couldn't look at Yoshino directly, but her next words held a touch of sadness. She lowed her hand only to grab her other arm, as though she needed to hold onto herself.

"<Zettai ni mamoru>... I will protect you."

It took all of Yoshino's willpower not to look away from that heated glare. Her eyes widened behind her glasses as she listened to Retsu's declaration of protection towards her. She knew the other girl had seen common ground in her and was even understanding of her situation, but she had never expected Retsu to feel so strongly about their bond. How foolish she was all this time to underestimate their friendship. Or was it just a poisonous possession?

"Retsu...are you jealous?"

Probably not the best thing to say right now, though Yoshino wasn't smiling. Reaching over, she wrapped her arms around her friend and squeezed tightly. She did not let go, instead forcing Retsu into the huge hug.

"I know you're worried," she said softly. "And I know you're scared for me. But you have to realize that I can protect myself too Retsu-chan. I knew the risks when I accepted that invitation...and I knew the risks when I revealed my idenitity too."

With her left hand, she gently patted her friend's back soothingly.

"I think...that it's time I need to start protecting you. You're my friend Retsu. No boy or game is going to change that. Not in the virtual world...and not in the real one either."

Finally pulling away, she smiled brightly.

"So please, calm down Retsu-chan. We'll take on the world...together. If they come after me, I'll cut them down. If they come after you...I'll cut them down and then have them expelled. Ok?"

Retsu didn't look at Yoshino as she embraced the red head. She just stood there with her eyes closed tightly. She wanted to laugh out of contempt and joy. The idea of Yoshino protecting her... That's what Retsu was suppose to do. What's what her Sweepers were for. Retsu was seeing Yoshino as just a teenage girl in over her head, being led by her emotions and allowing herself to be toyed with. And Retsu wasn't sure how much different she was in that regard. She wanted to keep her head steady and defeat her enemies in a logical, mechanical efficiency, and here she was, about to breakdown because a friend she barely knows might be in danger to something that hasn't even revealed itself yet.

"I... I'm just so worried what would happen... I don't know who our enemy is or what lengths they would go to. I mean... I'm not a kind person, Yoshino-san... I've done horrible things in the past, and I know that one day I'll get what I deserve for it. But I can't stand the thought of those things happening to you. I just can't let that happen. I don't want you to have to fight alone. I want to be able to help you, to save you, and..." Retsu tentatively reached up and put her hand over Yoshino's. It was so soft and warm, Retsu was afraid that she might actually crush it in her own cold, hard hands.

"I have to be ready for the worse. I don't want to just hope for the best and pray. I need to do something, anything, to make sure that I'm in control. Please... Don't keep secrets from me, okay? If something happens, you'll tell me, alright? Promise me if that if there is anything wrong, or if you ever want something to happen, you'll come to me?"

Yoshino almost laughed bitterly at Retsu's words; not because they had little meaning to her, but because of how eerily similar they sounded.

"And you think I'm any more innocent than you? If you recall, I'm not exactly the best poster boy in Deep Ground right now. I don't think I ever was...besides, there are things I've done in that game of which I'm not proud of either."

She grimaced, her amber eyes focusing on long past memories from a time long ago. She was only ripped away from those thoughts when she felt Retsu's hands over hers. A small blush crept on the Student President's face. Retsu may have viewed herself as a well-working machine, but Yoshino saw faith and loyalty in her. She wanted to cherish that loyalty and maybe make her friend just a little bit more human.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I hurt you...just like I ended up hurting everyone else due to my actions. I never meant to...and I promise Retsu. I promise I'll rely on you always."

She gripped the cold girl tighter and looked up at the Sweeper with almost pleading eyes.

"I won't hurt you again. I promise I won't hide anymore secrets from you, ok? Please...can you forgive me?"

The begging was now present in her voice as an arrow of fear pierced Yoshino's heart. She had once lost Haruka in a similar matter; her own stubbornness and enigmatic nature had put them at odds with each other. And when Haruka was found dead in her own bedroom, Yoshino blamed herself for it.

"Retsu, p-please, I don't want to lose you as well. Maybe I am being led on. Maybe I am having my emotions toyed with. But I can't go back to being stoic and strong like you Retsu...at least not outside of Deep Ground. I...It hurts too much to be alone..."

Yet another reason why she despised the program. It had an uncanny ability to twist and distort people's inner personas.

Retsu wanted to be the girl with all the answers, a counter for each move and a plan for every situation, but she was never really prepared for Yoshino's pleading eyes to be staring right at her. For a girl who didn't like to be looked at, her gaze made Retsu shutter. Yoshino begged Retsu for forgiveness so that she wouldn't leave her, but Retsu wanted to laugh and cry. Of course she didn't plan to leave. And it was almost hurtfully hilarious that Yoshino would think that Retsu would do that. But than again, maybe that's what happened with Haruka too. She probably promised to be by Yoshino's side... And now she's in the morgue.

"I won't leave you. I'll protect you Yoshino-san, and I'll make sure to make you happy too. So... So don't worry about it anymore. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here, by your side."

Retsu wondered what had come over her. She's never done this before, but even to manipulate her underlings. Perhaps the power of running the Sweepers and Ebony Strykers were getting to her head. She was starting to get more passionate now, and that scared Retsu. Emotions were powerful things, but she wanted to be in control. She didn't want to lose Yoshino or everything else because Retsu couldn't control herself. So maybe she needs a tether, some one to help her keep a cool head. Yoshino would be the prefect pick, so Retsu thinks.

"It's... It's getting pretty late. Come on Yoshino-san, we have a lot of work to do tomorrow. You should get some sleep! We can't have the school president look like an insomniac!"

"An insomniac? Heh, well we don't need any more rumors about me I suppose."

Yoshino's words were significantly more laxed than her previous mood just seconds before. Retsu had promised to stay by her side. She had forgiven her for what she had done. Now to see if the Yakuza could keep such a promise. Someone very similar had said the same thing once before.

"Retsu. You have a dorm here, correct? Do you know how far it is from here? As you've said, it's getting late and I don't want to put any strain on your mind. I've done enough of that already for one day."

Yoshino adjusted her glasses, the familiar habit further calming her down.

"If you want, I don't mind you staying over here for the night. After all, we do need to formulate our next plan of action. And...we have to decide on what to do with the Red King."

Struggling to fight back tears, Retsu put on a strong smile for Yoshino. She offered to allow Retsu to stay at her dorm for the night, which would likely be for the best. There was a lot she needed to inform Yoshino of, and besides that her Dorm was likely barren and dusty. She hasn't been in there for months at least. "I don't mind staying here. I'll have someone drop off some new clothes for me tomorrow though." As it stood, Retsu was in her pajamas, with a thick jacket over it to keep herself warm.

The Student President nodded, leaving Retsu with some short words of assurance to wait for her while she entered her bedroom to change into her own sleep attire. Upon entering out of her room, Retsu would see her precious Student President dressed in simple black pajama pants with a matching t-shirt.

And then, something impossible occurred.

Without thinking and realizing that Retsu was still sitting right there on her couch, Yoshino had taken the time to remove her glasses and leave them on the nightstand next to her bed. Noticing the other girl looking at her strangely, Yoshino raised an eyebrow.

"Yes? Is there something wrong?"

"Ah... It's nothing. Just... Deep in thought." True enough. What strange feelings which had overcame Retsu that moment. It was... New. New and needed to be thoroughly looked into. Retsu adverted her gaze and thoughtlessly fluffed one of the soda cushions. She didn't want to tell Yoshino, but she looked rather... Cute. "That's forbidden love~" The meme went off in her head. If she could strangle thoughts she could, but instead she simply kept to herself and tried not to look flustered.

"I guess I'll be sleeping on the couch, right? I mean... There is only one bed."

Yoshino didn't think much of her friend's flustered answer and only shrugged. Soon after, a yawn overtook her sense and she walked back into her bedroom...only to walk out with a futon and an extra pillow.

"Do you mind if we discuss our plans tomorrow morning? With all of the drama in Deep Ground, I doubt they'd let early classes carry on for quite some time. Also, I'll be sleeping on the futon in here with you tonight."

At once, the Black King's gaze darkened significantly, and it looked to be a mixture of both grief and a contemplative rage.

"I tend to sleep uneasily in the bedroom these days," she said flatly.

"Oh... Of course." Retsu decided it would be best not to pry a reasoning from Yoshino, since Retsu likely already knew. Retsu actually wondered why Yoshino would still sleep here after Hakura's.... End, but perhaps that was because Yoshino did not have anywhere else to go. "Hmm... When the time is right... I should offer her to move into my place..." Retsu pondered this thought, and made a mental note to prepare some space for Yoshino first before she would pop the question.

Retsu helped Yoshino set up the futons and pillows, making the living space much more comfortable. "You have a very comfortable couch Yoshino-san. I would take the futa if you'd like. After all, this is your dorm, you should have the best spot."

Yoshino paused in fixing the futon, staring at its blankets in silence. Futa. The term in itself was enough to trigger one specific memory as the Black King clenched her fists shut repeatedly. She had made that same little slip-up, futon not futa, before. Except, White Terror had been there to promptly tease her about it.

The White King....

After what seemed like an eternity, she slowly turned to fix her gaze on Retsu. It was strange seeing her without her traditional and ever present glasses as well as witnessing her not flinching away without them.

"Haruka died in my bed," she said with no emotion. "I slept in the futon that night...I need to sleep here."

Retsu didn't have anything to say about that. She knew already, so she tried not to bring it up. Seemed like Yoshino didn't think the same. Getting herself comfortable, Retsu took a deep breath. Time to test their bonds. "Yoshini-san... Tell me about Hakura. I... I don't know anything about her, aside that she was the White King and that... When she lead the Ivory Mask, I knew they were the strongest guild before the Ebony Strykers showed up. But I want to know more about Hakura. What was she like?" Retsu may never have the same feelings for the fallen white king like Yoshino did, but maybe, just maybe, Retsu could help Yoshino get over Hakura if someone else knew her like Yoshino did.

Yoshino sat on the edge of the futon, the small light in the living room being the only source of illumination. She continued to stare blankly at the other girl for a while before letting out a sigh she wasn't even aware of.

"Haruka was my opposite in every way," she said quietly. "I'm sorry if this sounds repetitive, but she was my first friend. We were both popular, or at least I was supposed to be. I was the one actually running the day's events as Student President. Haruka gained followers by her extroverted nature. And...well, she found me to be the first of her long line of friends."

The Black King craned her neck to stare at the cold and barren bedroom before turning back to finish her story.

"Haruka was my inspiration in a way. She was my rival...but she could be stubborn sometimes. Actually, alot. Heh, she worse than me sometimes," she said with a smile at the fond memories.

"Even when that bastard Orange King-no. No, I shouldn't be insulting the dead like that...the previous Orange King. Even when he planned to turn us into enemies, we both yearned to be friends again one day. That's why on the day I opened up the Ebony Strykers, she was one of the very first ones to come to me, claiming that she would pledge her Guild to mine. And she meant it too. We spoke in the real world after so long and...she promised she would help me that night...I should have stopped her. I dunno, maybe find some way to predict it. I told her about the Masked Man, and she just thought it was a glitch. I thought that too, but now I can't even tell her how wrong that thick-headed skull of hers was now..."

Retsu sat quietly listening. Already she could gauge what Haruka was like, but she also noticed that Yoshino was still beating herself up about Haruka’s death. Though it did make Retsu feel a bit bad that she was now manipulating the remnants of the Ivory Mask to become a puppet guild for the Ebony Strykers. The Ivory Masks were the name that Harua gave them... Simply assimilating the remnants into the Ebony Stykers would be the simplest thing to do in the short term, but to ensure a wider range of options in the future Retsu wanted to leave the Ivory Masks independent.

"It's not your fault Yoshino. No one knows how they died... You can't believe that you had anything to do with it."

"Of course I know that," Yoshino said, a little more dismissive than she had intended. "I know that...but that doesn't bring her back. And that doesn't make mistakes I did cause any less forgivable. Now...I suggest we get some sleep now Retsu."

It was obvious that Yoshino would say no more for tonight as she promptly turned off the lights before settling herself onto the futon. That should have been the end of it, but Yoshino said one last thing aloud.

"...sorry."

Closing her eyes, it wasn't long before sleep and exhaustion of the day's events finally took a hold of Yoshino's mind and soon the inky blackness of dreams filled her vision. Or, it should have. Instead, the hours waned on as small mutters of slurred words began to fill up the room. Soon, it sounded like Yoshino was even twisting in bed covers as she weakly called out the names of those who had perished. The names of the Kings...and Haruka.

It was clear to any observer; Yoshino was having a nightmare. And by the sound and intensity of her whimpering, it looked as if these night terrors had at least become a part of her lifestyle since one month prior.

A light sigh broke the relative silence.

Retsu had no problems simply falling asleep right after Yoshino told her too, but many times during the night she woke up to Yoshino talking in her sleep or generally making more noise than she really needed to. Retsu tried to ignore it at first, but after the fifth time she laid on the couch and listened. Yoshino seemed to be whispering names of the Kings, but mostly about Hakura. "She never really did tell me much about Hakura..."

Retsu actually counted the seconds. She tried to count to a thousand in her head, and hope that before she'd reach even five hundred she'd fall asleep, but by the time she hit 1654, enough was enough. Yoshino seemed to be having some sort of nightmare disturbing both their sleep, so Retsu sat up, got off the couch, threw down a pillow next to Yoshino's head, and laid down on top of the futon. Retsu slept on top of the blanket and only had her jacket to cover herself.

"Nggnh...?"

The sudden rustle of motion was enough to force one amber eye open as Yoshino turned around with a sleep-drenched gaze. Retsu was now on her futon, apparently there to stay.

"Retsu, what are you doing?"

She was much too tired to argue if the other girl refused to leave her and so didn't even bother to formulate a rebuttal to her actions in her mind.

"You're making too much noise..." Retsu whisper drowsily. If she was fully awake she might have thought her actions through more, but this seemed to be the simplest and quickest solution. Indeed if she was awake she should have taken the time to go find herself a blanket; her jacket didn't cover her legs, and though she was slowly falling asleep now that Yoshino wasn't stirring, Retsu shivered underneath her coat.

Yoshino stared back at her second-in-command, sighing to herself.

"As always, you seem to place too much concern for your King," she said with an air of amusement. "Still, I'd be lying to say I don't appreciate it." Reaching out, she carefully lifted her own blanket up and drenched it over Retsu's shoulders in a small attempt to keep her warm.

"Now go to sleep my Violet Moon," she muttered to no one in particular, her own eyes dropping into unconsciousness. She did not stir after that.

---

The Following Day
Anger. Frustration. Rage. Those were the emotions that were most prominent in Student President Yoshino Tsugumi's mind as she read the message once, twice, and five more other times. Impossible...unthinkable...this was...

Yoshino had woken up early as always to make breakfast for both her and her guest while also preparing for another tedious and stressful day at Purple Crown Academy. Of course, what she wasn't expecting was a message sent to her at the first crack of dawn. Actually, the message had been sent to every single Deep Ground Player that was currently enrolled in the program.

That fact alone was enough to make one question the validity of such a message, but one could not ignore the sheer persistence in which it was made. And the contents...

---

From: Silver Jester the Masked Man
To: The Players of Deep Ground Online
Subject: Your Final Vengeance

Greetings Players of Deep Ground Online. As you may or may not know, I have come forward to reveal my presence to all of you in light of this dire situation. Some of you may claim me to be a Hacker, or even a myth. I assure you that my abilities are the least of your worries and that I am very much real.

After a whole month of living in constant fear and under the scrutiny of lowly threats, I stand before you as a brave brother at arms. I was there when it happened. I saw it all. How the Black King struck down the players in game...only for their real life bodies to subsequently perish soon after. There is no doubt; Moon Rider is the King murderer.

I would have revealed this information sooner had it not been for the efforts of the Ebony Strkyers to repeatedly silence my knowledge forever. As you all may know, the Ebony Strykers have now utilized the illegal method of Hacking themselves, the most blatant example being the taming of Dissolutions witnessed by yesterday's battle.

It sickens me deeply...the time has come Deep Ground to finally purge ourselves of this disease that plagues our lives and our futures. I will give you the tool to end this chaos and strife for the sakes of the innocent...and the Kings. Thus, I hereby state.

The real life identity of Moon Rider, the Black King...is none other than Michael Faye. Do what you must to maintain justice in our ever changing world.

---

Disgusted. That's how Yoshino felt. Absolutely disgusting. The message was obviously crafted with the intention to draw her out of the real world and escape to Deep Ground. The true Black King narrowed her eyes.

Michael...the bastard was using Michael and directing all of the blame to him. Every Player now had their mission; to hunt him down and force him to pay for his sins. Yoshino would not allow them to lay a finger on him.

Without thinking, she leaned back on her kitchen table chair and closed her eyes, her mind slowly beginning the familiar process of logging into Deep Ground Online.

"Yoshino-san!"

A loud thud hit the table just as Yoshino closed her eyes. Retsu had been awake all this morning with urgent messages coming from her Sweepers, Erasers, Ebony Strykers, and just about everyone else who knew who she was. Sweepers who have taken it upon themselves to find Michael and protect him, or those who sought to attack him. The Erasers at least knew better than to believe this "Silver Jester", since most of them knew who the true Red King was, and they knew him as Michael. But even so, some of those same Erasers became suggesting conspiracy theories that Michael may have the very rare and next-to-impossible ability to have more than one Avatar Character. No one could do that, not since your Avatar was derived from the chip in your head, and even changing to a new one still made you use the old Avatar. But that's only because Retsu thinks that this isn't possible. Frankly, with all that's happened so far, she could not leave anything out simply because of how absurd it may sound.

And that was just one of her problems. While most people rightfully had a tentative belief of this Silver Jester Character, she already received word that System Admins were investigating the Ebony Strykers. Retsu made sure to cover her tracks well enough that they won't be able to link any form of hacking to her, but she couldn't say for sure for any other Eraser, nor if this Silver Jester character might have tried to plant false evidence against the Ebony Strykers. And she had no doubts that the other guilds would approve of this, or even attempt to plant their own evidence just to counter act the advantage the Sweepers would normally have.

So at a time of crisis like this, Retsu needed to keep a cool head. And she needed to make sure Yoshino did not jump the gun either. "Don't let the Silver Jester provoke you. You and I both know what sort of bullshit he's trying to spread, but we can't be hasty. An immediate reaction from the Black King herself will only serve to show that have something to hide. I've sent some Sweepers to find Michael and protect him, but we have to plan our actions carefully. First what we need to do is secure Michael and get his side of the story. If I'm right, he's just a tool, but if he does have more involvement in this, than we need to make sure we stop him before this spirals out of control. The second thing we need to do is find out who this Silver Jester is, who his player is. For all we know this could just be a scare campaign to take advantage of everyone's hatred for the Ebony Strykers. What I need you to do is stick with me. I'm sure that everyone is going to mob you at school demanding answer, but I'll make sure that no one gets close to you. I'll handle Deep Ground; make sure there are no dissenters or allow the chaos to be taken advantage of by the other guilds. As the spokesperson of the Black King, you cannot directly prove the Silver Jester wrong, but he's no more correct than any other conspiracy nut. We have to play this cool and just treat it as another loudmouth trying to rile everyone up and get attention."

Initially, Yoshino was fully prepared to yell at the girl and try to justify her reasons for doing what she wanted to do. However, her viewpoints soon changed as she listened to her words. The Black King breathed a sigh of relief and was grateful at how Retsu had handled the situation. Michael would at least be protected in some way out in the real world. She had promised to protect him as well...funny how that all worked out.

"Retsu."

Yoshino had since put on her glasses and stared right at her deputy. Her voice was low but commanding. Yoshino Tsugumi was gone now, at least for the time being. The girl that sat before Retsu was Moon Rider, commanding in the waking world .

"Can you cover a Player's trace from entering Deep Ground Online?"

It was clear what she was suggesting...and that it was now impossible to sway her decision.

Retsu's eyes widen at Yoshino's request. Her mind blazed with nearly thousands of questions and responses, but there was only one that she could give. "Yes... Yes, I can, but why? I mean, if you're going to enter Deep Ground, the best I can do is erase the log in data, and maybe mask Moon Rider's identity. You'll still be playing as Moon Rider, but you'll be doing so under a different alias, and even so nothing else changes. If anyone recognizes your abilities, or if they have anything like my Cherry Hunter system, even what I can do won't be enough." Retsu kept trying to think of other ways she could help, but she couldn't do any of it just standing here or even at school. She'd need to head to the Deep Ground HQ to alter the data right at the severs themselves. She could do more if she had her laptop, but she'd need to focus her entire attention to it, which isn't good since there are a lot of battles that need to be fought right now.

Retsu took a deep breath and recollected her thoughts. There was something else she could do. "Alternatively... I could give you moderator privileges. They actions and arrival are recorded differently than regular players. They're strictly suppose to only be used to play test new features, potential bugs and glitches, and other general Deep Ground maintenance stuff, however I can log you in as a moderator and change you back to a normal player. You won't be logged in as a player but you'll more or less still function as one, and when you log out I'll make sure it's also as a moderator. It'll be under one of my names, so no one will know that Moon Rider entered the game unless they personally see you. However! You also must make sure you don't die in the game, or kill anyone! I can't alter your KDR without tipping off the System Admins, since they will be looking for Moon Rider and checking for your arrival."

Retsu took a seat and rubbed her forehead. So much to do and she hasn't even gotten a chance to brush her teeth yet.

"Alright then. That should be good enough for me," Yoshino said with finality. "Judging from how bold he's acting, I'm sure he has some way of countering Player death anyway so killing him wouldn't be an option anyway. However, I need to know if we can still fight with moderator privileges."

She looked at Retsu expectedly.

"It's.... Complicated. You can still fight, but for the purpose of hiding that you've logged in, I'll give your moderator privilege so that next time you enter Deep Ground it doesn't really count as you logging in as Moon Rider. However, I basically take away your moderator privilege once you are inside, thus turning you into a regular player, albeit one that isn't "Logged" in. It's something of a glitch that no one has actually fixed due to how rare something like this happens. Still, if you kill anyone, or if you die, it'll still be counted into your KDR, which may give the System Admins an alert that your active and they might start investigating, which could interfere with whatever you're doing. And I can't change it due to my own connections to the Ebony Strykers; none of my Erasers, fellow hackers, would dare do anything to alter the game while the System Admins are looking for us. So..."

Retsu stood up and looked at Yoshino. "I'm coming with you. You might not be able to enter Deep Ground conventionally, but there's nothing stopping me. I can log in as I normally would need to, and since I'm a System Admin I'll just make up an excuse for what I'm doing. This should allow me to operate alone without them watching over me, and I can help you fight the Silver Jester. I'll have to be the one to land the killing blow, if that's even possible, in order to keep your presence in Deep Ground a secret."

Yoshino looked over Restu closely, searching for any signs of disloyalty. This girl...was willing to go this far to serve her?

"I can see there won't be any luck convincing you to stay away," she observed. "Still, it's probably for the best. School doesn't start for another hour or so, and I can personally afford to miss a few classes. I don't want to kill the Jester; under your explanation of the Moderator's Privileges, I can't. However, I will make sure his existence in the game never interferes with our goals again."

With a silent look of grim determination, Yoshino closed her eyes for the second time and focused closely. Soon, her mind felt the familiar slip from reality to the virtual world, and she opened her eyes as the one and true Black King.

---

Welcome Back Moderator
Frowning, Moon Rider realized that they had been placed within the very heart of Faded City, at the intersection where all the Guilds met at a crossroads. How fitting. Time was growing short. Moon Rider turned to the spot that would eventually spawn Dark Wraith.

"Right then. Let's find our Masked Bastard."

[drewccapp]

Sten hadn't gotten back to his room until it was late and even then he pursued information gathering for the rest of the night. He read the forums finding out as much information about the incidents from a month ago. The Hackers. The Dead Kings. The rumors of the Masked Man. As far as he was concerned everything was connected until proven otherwise. Every time he found a piece of valuable information he wrote a note and stuck it up on the bulletin board he used in his room for his schedule. By the end of the night had everything he could find and the board was full of information.

He sat on his bed and looked at the the board. Hackers, their skills changed the state of the game, some did it to screw around and others had a goal. Corpse Collector and the Masked Man fell under the category of hackers. There was unsurprisingly little information on the later, but the history of her actions left quite the story to tell with the Collector. The war, he had very little information, but the total destruction of the Green City was something not normal. It changed the state of the game, even if it wasn't hacking. The dissolutions were definitely hacked though. No skill existed in the game to tame dissolutions. Were the Ebony Strykers hacking or employing hackers? Some things didn't add up. He was certain of one thing, the Black King had game changing plans.

Then there was a beeping sound signalling he received a message. He checked it to find a message stating the Micheal Faye was the Black King. That didn't make sense. The fact that it didn't make sense and he was tired from staying up all night irritated him. Silver Jester was the Masked Man. So he had a name after all. A hacker would probably be able to find out that information, but Sten refused to believe it. There was no way a guy could have a female avatar. That was unheard of. Sten grumbled and stood up. He typed in a message response that was quite very grumpy. "Bullshit." Send.

With that he left his room to find Micheal. Something smelled badly about all of this and he wanted to be there to see if he could sort things out. Had he been more awake he may have chosen not to bother, but tired, irritable, and stuffed full of information and theories he marched his way there. Wherever there was. He didn't want a hanging on his conscience.

[Scarifar]

Daniel - Free Runner

Free Runner was sitting on one of those crossroad signs that pointed in multiple directions the location of each city. He preferred it when he wanted a good place to test his Abilities. Right now, though, he was thinking about the message he had received that day. Apparently Moon Rider's real identity was someone named Michael Faye. He was a bit confused, since Michael was generally a male name, and Moon Rider had a female avatar, but that thought quickly left his mind. Personally, he didn't really care, especially since he was part of the Ebony Strykers now, although there was now some issues due to some battle in which Dissolutions had attacked everyone except the Ebony Strykers. He wished he was there when he heard about it, but it was probably a good thing he wasn't there since he might have gotten some bad attention involving that incident. Oh well, another time, perhaps. Free Runner thought.

He was about to head over to one of his hunting spots when he saw someone below him. He grinned, wondering if more unfortunate prey had logged in at the wrong time, but that smile faded away when he read the name of the player underneath him. "Moon Rider-Black King." He stayed his hand, wondering what on earth she was doing here. Fortunately for him, people rarely looked up, so he doubted Moon Rider noticed him. Whatever it was, interesting things were bound to happen around Kings, so it might be a good thing to watch what would happen.

[RoflsMazoy]

Keith, Eclipsed Tower

Dream Sequence

Keith was tired. His head lay on his mother’s chest, the rocking of the car a lullaby for his aching mind. It wasn’t a good idea for him and his mother to be in the front seat, but they had done it anyway. He liked the warmth, and he was still fairly light.

This was the last memory he had of his parents. It replayed itself in his mind many times, but in his dreams there was always one dark twist. He could see all of the details while he was dreaming it in extreme clarity, but he always saw one extra thing that he knew wasn’t real.

As the car trip continued, he could see his parents crumbling. Their bodies slowly turned into sand, and the sand waas whisked away by some ethereal force to somewhere he couldn’t see. He couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t speak up, he couldn’t touch them, he could barely even move his head in the dream. He could only watch as his parents slowly disintegrated.

He’d had this dream before, he knew how it happened. The crumbling would continue until the accident itself occurred, the accident that had left him alone. He saw it now, a truck speeding towards them, collision inevitable. Deaths, inevitable.

He watched again, as the truck tried in vain to stop itself as the driver realized his error. He saw again, the twisted metal crashing through the windscreen, his father fully disintegrating under an onslaught of steel and her mother wrapping herself around her only child, a cruel spear of metal piercing her and taking away her warm embrace forever. She too disintegrated, joining his father, the spear that took her life barely scratching his in comparison.

He had been conscious the whole time when it had happened in real life. He had fainted later mainly due to a mix of shock and blood loss. When he came to in the dream, he was awakened by his Grandfather, also slowly crumbling away. His grandfather was ill. He was constantly reminded of that. His grandfather wouldn’t be able to take care of him, he could only teach him how to take care of himself.

Soon, his grandfather too crumbled away and joined his parents. Now he was alone. His last relatives had long since died, his friends were nowhere to be found and he was well and truly alone.

Now came the last part of his dream. He stood alone, in somewhere that felt very familiar. It was dark, but not really dark. His surroundings were inky shadow, but he could see himself bright as day. He stood alone, silent and emotionless. And then he started crumbling. It started in his hands, then he could feel it in his bones. He was crumbling away, like his parents and his grandfather.

He looked down at himself, his body ever so slowly turning into sand. He raised his hands, he saw crumbling into dust. He felt himself fade, and he felt nothing. He was going to die alone, and he felt nothing.

And then he woke up.

(A song for your troubles)

Reiko, Princess Rainbow

Dream Sequence

”What do I want to be when I grow up?” Reiko said. ”Hm…”

She didn’t recognize her own voice, it sounded much smaller and… younger.

”I’ll be a princess!”

What was she saying? It sounded so incredibly clichéd…

”What’s that? You want to be… a space pirate?”

She couldn’t remember it clearly, but she had said these words some time ago, when she was…

”That’s amazing! Promise me, when you grow older.”

She was close to remembering, she could practically feel the memory at her fingertips.

”Promise me that you’ll be the first Space Pirate, no matter what.”

Then she remembered. The memory hit her like a freight train, long overdue. The scene appeared in front of her eyes, a very young Taro, sitting in front of her on the playground pirate ship, the last time she would see him for a long time to come. This was the first time Reiko had ever had to haul him out of a situation, he had been bullied for a long time owing to what people saw as a ridiculous dream. He had been chased into the pirate ship, his final refuge before Reiko had shown up and chased his bullies away.

She remembered it clearly now, the sun was setting and it was her last day that she could be with Taro. She was moving out of the town, and away from Taro. But before she had left, she decided to make a promise. They had told each other about their dreams at that time. Reiko wanted to be a princess, and Taro had wanted to become a space pirate. But his parents told him that it was impossible, and so had everyone else except for Reiko. At the time, she had thought not about how possible it was, but how awesome it would’ve been to become the first space pirate. In fact, she was probably largely the reason that Taro still wanted to become the first Space Pirate.

Her younger self stuck out her pinkie finger in front of her.

”I want you to promise me,” Her younger self said. ”That when we’re adults, you’ll be the first Space Pirate, and I’ll be a true Princess.”

Taro looked at her, confused.

”I can’t be with you forever,” Her younger self continued, ”After today, we’re moving away.”

Realization dawned on Taro’s face.

”Make this promise with me,” Reiko said. ”So that even if we’re apart, we can always remember our dreams.”

Taro extend his pinkie, and they intertwined, sealing the promise. A car pulled up outside of the playground, signalling the end of their final interaction. Reiko stood silently, and climbed out of the ship. She took one final look at Taro before getting into the car and driving off.

Her dream ended with her looking back into the pirate ship, wishing with all her heart; that someday she would be Reiko the Princess and Taro the first Space Pirate, and their promise would be fulfilled.

Her eyes snapped open, and she woke up.

Just a dream. She thought. Wiping her eyes groggily, she slowly sat up in her bed. She felt a little woozy, like she’d been asleep too long. She looked at her clock and she realized what time it was.

”An hour to school?!” She exclaimed, mentally smacking herself. She’d missed the appointment! And now she had to eat, take a shower and change in an hour?

Damn it! She thought to herself. She quickly got up and started to get ready for school.

[YandereNoodle]

Michael

Sten remembered that all the guys in his class were in the same building, which meant he wouldn't have to go far to find Michael. He even suspected some students that read the message would know where he was, which would make things easier to find him, but if he dawdled too long who knows what might happen. There were a few students on his floor already talking about the message, but he didn't bother to listen in too much. Then he heard. "Isn't that his room right there?" He saw someone pointing at the door of a room not far from where he stood.

Two men, rather, boys. Students. Stood on either side of the door, unbeknowst to Sten they were both Sweepers tasked with protecting Michael from would-be assassins.

Sten stepped up to the door and knocked three times loudly. "Michael! Wake up! It's Sten. Let me in we gotta talk."

Michael laid in bed and groaned loudly when he heard the noise at his door, "...hrgh, one moment."

Michael rolled out of bed and teased his hair to make himself a little more presentable. He shuffled his way to the door and pulled back the lock and swung the door open. He yawned and looked at Sten, "Oh, hi... uh..."

He was drawing a blank. Why was Sten here so early? Was Sten on laundry duty as some kind of punishment? What was going on?

"...are you here for my laundry?"

Sten groaned. "No... No I'm here to tell you some serious crap is going down." That damned yawn caused Sten's eyes to reflexively become heavier. All-nighters were awful, but once his mind got going sleep was never an option. "You may not have gotten the message..." He looked around. His shouting had woken the neighbors up. "Can I come in so we can talk this out without the entire hall listening in?"

"Ah... yeah."

Michael stepped back and let Sten in before shutting the door behind him. He logged into his Interface

"Goodmorning, Michael. You are -1h -34m -21s late for your alarm this morning."

Michael motioned in the air to swipe the alarm clock out of his HUD. He noticed the pulsing envelope and pressed it, must be that message Sten mentioned and some Color King correspondance. Michael opened up the message from the Silver Jester and sighed.

"Right... uh..."

Sten waited patiently for Michael to open up and read the message. He might have found some humor in Michael's dull sleepiness, but his own lack of sleep severely hindered his sense of humor. His response was pretty dull, Sten imagined Michael was not a morning person if such serious news impacted him so little.

Sten found a seat in a chair that clearly was set up for visitors since it was somewhat out of the way. He crossed his arms and gave Michael a serious look. "I doubt you're the Black King, but I also spent the last night trying to figure things out. I doubt most students have the same theories and information that I have, and I bet this is going to stir up quite the hornets nest. Some serious... stuff is going down and I plan on getting to the bottom of it. I want to help you though, this whole scandal is going to screw things up big time." Sten had a hard time not swearing while tired, and an even harder time keeping his thoughts to himself.

"The question is... how the hell do you think you're gonna get out of this?"

Michael walked over to his bed and laid down on it while Sten was talking. How was he supposed to get out of this? Michael groaned audibly at the question.

"Can I phone a friend..? I want to phone the Black King."

Michael lifted a lazy arm up to swipe in the air, bringing up his contacts and shuffling through it to find Yoshino's contact info. He brought it up and opened a private call, ring, ring, ring.

Sten sighed and leaned back in the chair... it was comfortable. He hadn't expected him to make a call to the Black King herself, but this just helped solidify his case. "Sure."

Back in Deep Ground Online, Moon Rider's callobrated mindset was suddenly interrupted by a small beeping noise. It took her all of five seconds to realize that someone was trying to contact her from the real world. Being the recluse she was for all these years, the sudden realization that this was happening to her of all people was...suprising to say the least.

With an annoyed glare to Dark Wraith, Moon Rider turned away to answer the call. More suprises awaited her as she read the caller out to be Michael Faye. The Red King. Stuffed Rabbit. Activating her Avatar interface, Moon Rider placed the call on speaker phone; after all, she did just promise Retsu a night before that she would no longer conceal any secrets.

"Michael?"

The moment she said those words aloud, she could feel the sheer negativity raditating off of her second-in-command. The Black King stifled a sigh; the Jester would have to wait a little longer.

Not that he was going anywhere.

"Ah, yeah, hey... guess who's the new Black King," Michael said lazily. He yawned loudly and the sound carried over the chat channel.

Sten sighed. This wasn't going to help his position any. Why did he come here in the first place? Sten was beginning to realize that he was letting his fatigue affect his actions and mindset.

Moon Rider frowned.

"I'd appreciate less of the snappy one-liners Red King," she said seriously. "Your life is in danger...and did you just wake up or something? You sound dead."

Before Michael could respond Dark Wraith - Retsu - butted in.

"Michael!?"

Dark Wraith's voice broke though the quiet. She had to reign in her anger before she let it rage too far, but her voice still held an inferno.

"Michael, you have exactly three minutes to explain your part in today's message, or you'll find someone at your door with an axe, ready to stuff your corpse into a wood chipper."

As Dark Wraith said that, a car pulled up at the boy's dormatory.

"Right uh.... first off I just woke up. Like five minutes ago..."

This time Moon Rider did sigh.

"... Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven...." Retsu began counting to 180 it would seem.

"I'd rather not die today if I can help it," Michael rolled over and buried his head in his pillow. He groaned before sitting up, "I don't have anything to do with the message..."

Sten glanced over at Michael. An incredulous expression on his face. "Just how seriously are you taking this? You have everything to do with that message whether you want to or not." Sten's tone was quite irritable.

Moon Rider had to wonder the same thing...wait, who was that?

"Michael, is there someone with you? You're not cheating on me already, are you?

Why did she say that? Partly to lighten the mood...and she was curious on how much he was willing to save his own ass.

Michael let out a tired laugh at the President's dry humor, "It would seem. But uh... yeah, Sten from our class is here. He woke me up and told me about the message."

"Twenty one, twenty two, twenty three, twenty four, twenty five..." Outside the sound of a chainsaw being revved up could be heard by those outside the dormitory. Either a chainsaw or something else that tore apart wood. When Moon Rider jokingly mentioned that Michael might be cheating on her, Dark Wraith decided to only give him two minutes.

Seeing Dark Wraith's silent numerical mantra of madness, the Black King decided that it was time to get to business.

"It's pretty obvious that this Silver Jester wanted to use you Michael. The fact that he spoke to you only yesterday followed by...the other events, all leading up to today? That's too much of a coincidence to overlook. We've already taken precautions of sending people to protect you in case the rest of the student populace believes these lies.
All I can say now is to keep hidden. Skip school if you have to. Logging into Deep Ground might ensure you some time of safety since you are Stuffed Rabbit, but I can't insure anything absolute. Do you understand?"

Despite the President's harsh and objective tone, there was a small voice of concern heard in her words.

Sten was beginning to wonder, just what kind of relationship did Michael have with the Black King. He couldn't imagine her wanting to talk for overly long unless there was something going on between them. His expression settled to a more curious one than anything else.

"Yeah, I dont want to log in until I'm sure that the mafia isn't after me." He let out a sigh and stood up, walking around the room to try and shake off the drowsiness, "Can you help me out a little?"

Michael crossed by the door and pulled the locks shut then over to his window and unlocked it so he could bail when shit hits the fan. "Please?"

Sten watched as Michael asked for help, quite politely in fact. He could conclude that they must at least be friendly with each other if he's asking for favors. Just who was Michael though, Sten wondered.

"You can help by telling me just what this 'Masked Man' told you. And tell Solitary Watcher to stand outside. He'll have to deal with my associate."

The Black King closed her eyes and breathed calmly, trying to ignore the fact that she very much felt like the center of some demented lover's quarral right now. Still, the diplomat within her felt it was best to let Dark Wraith handle the conversation now. Her own feelings were still a liable factor; one that she was all too aware of.

Michael looked over to Sten, "Go on, shoo." Michael walked over to the door, unlocked it, and shepherded Sten out, locking the door behind him.

Sten grumbled. "Fine. Fine." As he was shepherded out the door. He had done his service and now it was time for him to be on his way. He brushed himself off as he left the room and mumbled to himself. "I need some coffee."

On his way out, someone who looked like a janitor was walking towards Michael's room. He seemed to be pushing a large laundry cart that was already filled with bags. Of wood chips.

"Seventy-eight, seventy-nine, eighty..."

Michael sighed, "Yeah, well, all the Jester told me was that the Black King was trying to take down the DGP and that I should join her because it'd be 'interesting.' So I met up with the King and she explained why she was doing what she was doing so I decided to do it."

Of course, that wasn't all that had occured in that short time frame. But details were details, right?

Sten observed the janitor-like person pushing the cart of... wood chips. What? Why? Something wasn't right about this. He wearily paced away while keeping the janitor in he corner of his eyes. He didn't want to go far, not if something interesting was about to go down.

Dark Wraith stopped counting. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. She glaced at Moon Rider briefly with a questioning look before speaking. "Have you told any of the other colored kings that you've joined with the Ebony Strykers?"

"Nope, I went to sleep after getting back from the meeting and just woke up like ten minutes ago."

"Alright. First, there's a janitor at your door. Tell him that you're a Sweeper. If he asks for proof, which I doubt he'll do anyways, tell him that 'The numbers don't lie'. If that doesn't work, I'd suggest you fall out your window. The fall will kill you before he does."

And just then, the janitor stopped in front of Michael's door. He knocked once.

"Open the door Michael, and do exactly as I told you."

Michael sighed, who the hell was this girl? Was her dad the Godfather? Christ.

Michael walked over to the door and pulled the lock back and peeked his head around, "Yeah, I'm a Sweeper."

The janitor looked at Michael questioningly. His hands were thick and calloused. The edge of his hand bebind the pinky in particular. Or at least, what was left of his pinky. He simply grunted and went on his way. Outside some wood was getting pulped.

Sten saw the janitor stop and knock once on Michael's door. Michael after a few moments opened it and said something he couldn't hear as he was now a fair distance down the hallway. The janitor looked puzzled or confused or something of the like before simply continuing on his way. The lack of anything happening felt a bit odd, but Sten simply decided to completely leave altogether. He needed to stop at the cafe or someplace for some coffee.

Noticing the lack of a gurgling death, Dark Wraith assumed that Michael was still alive. "What a pity. Okay Michael, now here is what I want you to do. Since the other kings likely still think that you're allied with them, I want you to message all of them to meet with you somewhere at school. I don't care what you all talk about, but I want you to stall them. No doubt that they'll want to check up on what's happening in Deep Ground, and I'm sure that one way or another they'll just happen to find Moon Rider like Free Runner has. You keep them off of Deep Ground while me and Moon Rider deal with some matters ourselves. If you really beleive in the Black King's cause as you say you do, don't mess this up. Because next time that janitor won't knock."

Dark Wraith than pointed upwards at Free Runner, so Moon Rider and Free Runner would be aware of each others presence.

Likewise, Moon Rider made a note of Free Runner's presence before turning away. Seeing another Ebony Stryker was a little comforting; at least it was a Player from her own Guild who hopefully didn't buy into these bullshitted accusations.

"Did you get all that Red King? For your sake, I hope so. My partner isn't too keen on repeating herself to dead men."

"Uh... yeah, that sounds a little impossible, but I'll try. Can you send me some Sweepers or something for the meeting? I'd hate to die before your friend kills me."

Michael walked over to his closet and reached in, pulling out his last clean uniform and slipping in to it, he sighed and brought up the interface and typed out a message.

---

To: Gleeful Jackal, Tender Fern, Shooting Star, Conquest Pantheon, Stalwart Bruiser
From: Michael Faye
Subject: About the Message
If you haven't read the Silver Jester's message, go ahead and do that. So, if you want answers about that I'll be in the old school gym, the one next to that statue of the cats. Attendence is mandatory. I'll be there shortly, see you there.

---

Moon Rider finally opened her eyes once more and glanced at Dark Wraith. Michael's request did seem a litte much, but given the circumstances, she couldn't overlook it. He was being pinned for murder of four of his fellow peers, and if the World Interface caught wind of this, the consequences would be dire.

"Dark Wraith, I ask you this; can you abide by the Red King's request?" she asked softly, knowing how the other Player felt towards Michael.

Dark Wraith was already on it. She knew just the person to send to protect Michael... And should he prove to be trecherous, the right person to get rid of Michael. Dark Wraith contacted one of her Erasers to find Donny.

"Done. Someone should be at your door. Same thing as before; he'll knock, you'll tell him that you're a sweeper, and to confirm tell him that the numbers don't lie. Also, he will be giving you a bug to put on you. I want to hear everything the kings tell you. If anyone asks about him, tell them that he's in your guild. Now get yourself ready Michael. I had better not hear anything unfortunate from you in the next six hours."

The Black King could breathe easy knowing that, to some extent, Retsu and Michael had gotten along. Of course, there was a very fine line present there, and she hoped the Red King understood that perhaps his affections towards her might just be in vain. Regardless....

"I'm going to end the call now Michael," she said. "Stay out of sight and do whatever the Sweepers tell you. Your life may depend on it soon enough. And also...don't do anything stupid, ok?"

"Mhm, I'll try. Oh- wait, should I tell them that I'm not the Black King or what?"

"As long as you do not tell them who the real Black King is, I don't care what you tell them. I doubt they would beleive you if you told them you were the Black King anyways."

"Just run if things go wrong," Moon Rider added, hoping to be more helpful than her jaded partner. "Run and hide. That's an order."

Michael smirked a little, "Alright, sounds like a plan. If I live will you bring me some cake to my dorm afterwards?"

The Black King didn't have to look in a mirror to see the red tinge to her face at that statement. Seriously, there was alot of blood rushing to people's faces these days. Must be those teenager hormones.

"I'll think about it," she finally answered, already predicting another sharp threat by Dark Wraith. Was this really Micheal Faye? If so...where the hell was all this bravado last night?

"If you live, you'll be eating your cake through a straw. I can promise you that."

"Don't mind her. Bye Michael. Stay safe."

Moon Rider hung up before Michael made any more crapshoot one-liners and before Retsu discovered some way to strangle him through her Interface call. Knowing the Sweeper, it wasn't too impossible to imagine such an outcome.

Michael opened his mouth to reply but heard the tones of the call dropping before he could let out another of his ever-so-witty one-liners. He sighed and walked to the door, opening it up and setting course for the gymnasium.

"So," she began after a few moments. "What do you think of him? You know, besides the obvious urge to shove a knife down his throat?"

"He doesn't seem to be the type who'd panic and do something stupid at least. I'm more worried that stupidity is an innate trait of his. Come on, we have to hurry before he or someone else inevitably makes things harder for us."

Moon Rider nodded, taking the lead and continuing on their mission.

"It almost feels like I'm stuck between someone who's completely Genre Blind...and a Yandere," she mumbled to herself, too quietely for Dark Wraith to hear.

[Arrayah]

The Night Before - Donny and Lucy

Lucy was walking through the halls again, but this time it was without the same urgency and purpose. In fact, she was feeling rather glum despite everything that had just happened. The meeting with the Rangers had gone much better than expected, and somehow this served to make her feel even worse about what had occurred in D.G.O. Her guild members were supportive, understanding, and tried to tell her that it wasn't her fault the Green City had been destroyed. The looks full of encouragement and trust had made her stomach sick with guilt. They had relied on her to protect them, to defend their territory, to lead them, and she had failed, failed so miserably that Lucy couldn't stand to look at them a second more. She'd rushed out of the room and down the long halls until she wasn't entirely certain of where she was any longer. Even then, she did not stop. Instead, she continued to wander aimlessly, just trying to focus on anything but the events of today, or the past month really.

But now she was thinking about it all again, and Lucy found herself leaning against the wall in need of its support. The Kings had always made it look so easy, effortless, that she hadn't known how hard it would truly be. Honestly, she suspected that it was her caring nature that made leading so difficult. If not for that, she could have easily gotten over the loss, or possibly even strengthened the guild with more higher level players, but that had never been her goal. Lucy had only wanted the Rangers to be a family, as they'd always been, and to help those who needed it. Why recruit more people when they were perfectly fine? She'd accepted any new player that wanted to join, but because of their neutrality, it wasn't necessary to create a strong, PvP based guild.

And it had been their downfall.

Many of the other Kings thrived on fighting each other, so they had built their guilds up to help with that. It was what allowed them to defend against the Ebony Strykers, something that Lucy had been unable to do. More so, she was only a healer. The other Kings could actively fight, while she had to stay behind and watch her guild members die.

The Fanged Rangers would not stay defeated, just as she'd told the two boys she'd run into, but that did not ease the knot in her stomach, the feeling that perhaps she should step down and let someone else lead.

Donny didn't like this at all. The secrecy, the cloak-and-dagger, the scheming. He wasn't the perfect person to speak of honor or honesty, but he certainly knew a thing or two about trust, and he certainly didn't think that anyone in the Ebony Strykers trusted each other. They were like the Sith; always planning to use and usurp one another, instilling hostilities even though they're suppose to be allies. Donny may be looking for a fight, but he didn't want to have to deal with betrayal from everyone who's suppose to be at his back.

Even within his Mayhem Riders, he knew that he didn't really control them through any sense of loyalty to him or the Ebony Strykers. They were just a roaming horde of players looking for a fight, and Donny just happened to have the means and knowledge of where to find the next fight. There was what, ten core members of the Mayhem Riders? Everyone else were just tagalongs from the Ebony Strykers. And Donny was no chessmaster; he dind't care about manipulating people, just the next fight. It was really all he had to look forward to, all things considered. One battle after another, until he can no longer fight.

Donny wasn't really looking for a place to stop for the night. He just wanted to walk around, maybe find someone to talk to. Sure enough as he wandered through the desolate halls he saw a girl leaned up against the well. She looked ill, and worried, Donny went over to the girl. She wasn't wearing the school uniform, so he wondered if she had came from outside the academy. "Hey! Are you okay?"

Lucy's gaze snapped up when she heard a voice, but she didn't recognize the boy it came from. It was the third time she'd been asked this question today, although this was the first time it wasn't preceded by some sort of collision. Normally, she probably would have answered with a fine, and let him move on, out of habit. But right now? Her thoughts were bubbling over, and she couldn't stop them from rushing past her lips.

"It's gone. Everything. The whole city. I couldn't stop it. Why couldn't I stop it? Isn't that all I'm expected to do? Lead them and keep the territory. That's it, and I couldn't. I let them all down..."

She paused, and then took a deep breath to try and calm herself before she continued.

"Sorry. Yes. I'm fine."

Donny looked at the girl. He already knew who she was, or at least, he knew why she was feeling so down. From what little she said, she was present at the destruction of the Green City. Donny couldn't believe it, because surely the universe wasn't trying to collect on his tab already. This was Tender Fern, the leader of the Fanged Rangers. And here he was, the man behind Arms Slave, the one who took it all away from her.

If this was Deep Ground, Donny might have mocked her. To challenge her to face him in battle and to defend what she wanted. To him it was all just a game, one that he was good at. But now in the real world, he saw Tender Fern taking the lost more personally than he had thought. This certainly put a bitter taste in Donny's mouth, a familiar, bitter taste.

"No... It's... You're not really okay, are you?"

Donny crossed his arms but couldn't look directly at the girl. Perhaps it would be best for both if they kept their Deep Ground indentiy a secret from one another.

"I was there too... And... There was nothing you could have done. Those Ebony Strykers.... They just aren't playing anymore. It sucks to say that, but to them it's... It isn't a game for them. To see them be so aggressive and merciless. But... But you can't let that bother you. Otherwise, they'd win. It's true, those guys are really brutal, but come on, don't you think it's too soon to give in?"

Donny would have to put a spin to his usual "Taunts". Instead of trying to insult the girl, he was going to try to instill some fighting spirit into her. To give her a goal to rise up towards. Hopefully anyways, he never expected to keep the Tender Fern in real life, not this soon. "Think... Think of a line from a movie... Ah, there we go."

"If you can't protect your guild, than you can avenge it."

Lucy straightened, the determined look back in her eyes. "Of course I'm not giving in!" she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and it was. Though she was feeling terrible about what happened, there was no way she'd be letting the Strykers get away with it. There was no way she'd let down her guild a second time by walking away from the fight altogether. And there was no way she would be backing down just because they'd taken her city away from her, because the Black King was ruthless and shouldn't win. That was the one thing she knew.

Even so, Lucy couldn't find that same fire that she'd had earlier. "I know... rationally I know that I couldn't have done anything to save it except join with them, but it doesn't really... somehow I still feel responsible. Maybe if I'd focused the guild on pvp to begin with, maybe if I'd been actively recruiting, so many maybes and ifs. They don't help me now, but maybe..." she sighed and then realized in surprise that he was trying to make her feel better. That was amazing in itself. It was almost always the other way around. Mostly because Lucy tended to be happy no matter what was thrown at her. The destruction of her city, though, and the death of her King were piling up on her shoulders and she found it harder and harder to just brush them off.

"But... I'm not sure I want to avenge it. They were wrong in what they did. It was... against all morals, but even so... I don't want to do that to the Strykers. It would be falling to their level. I don't want them to get away with it, but... there has to be a better way. I just don't know what it is yet." For a moment, she was quiet as she thought. "Even that Arms Slave guy... He was in charge of the whole attack, and I still don't think I would wish the same fate on him."

Lucy looked away and added, "Though I'm not sure it would even affect him like it has the Rangers and I."

Donny stood there listening to Tender Fern, slowly starting to regret his actions. Just a little. Mostly because of just how kind-hearted Tender Fern was acting. He had figured that the whole "Neutral Pacifist" schtich she had in Deep Ground was just because she was a Healer and new better than to wad into combat. Still, Tender Fern didn't know how to get payback, how to avenge her guild. "Well, no need to go eye-for-an-eye. It's not like you need to destroy the Ebony Strykers or nothing just.... Show them that no matter how vicious they are, what they do, that you and your guild won't quit. I know that sounds really silly cause of course you aren't going to quit, but you have to show everyone else that the Fanged Rangers still have their teeth."

Donny wasn't really sure where he was going with this now. Granted, given that he was part of the Ebony Strykers, he didn't exactly want to lose, but at the same time, it was no fun going against a player who doesn't have the will to defeat you. Donny pondered what to do for a moment and had an idea. "Uh, I got an idea! I'm... I'm pretty well connected to the Ebony Strykers, in a sense... I could try to figure out what they're doing. This Arms Slave guy, I uh... I know him personally. It won't be too hard for me to get him talking, and maybe I could rely that information to you. Knowledge is power, yeah, and I'm sure you could use as much as you can get! So, how does that sound?"

A small smile formed on Lucy's lips as he told her she should be doing what she'd set out to do the moment she put on the clothes and left her room. He was right though. If she didn't want to actually do to the Strykers what had been done to the Rangers, then showing them she was still around, that her and the Rangers weren't giving up, that they would do whatever it took to rebuild their city, and that there was no way they were staying down regardless of how many times they were attacked.

So, she nodded at his words. At least the first ones. His proposition that came after set her a bit on guard. This guy knew Arms Slave? Did that mean they were friends? Or worse... were they in league? He had said that he was connected to the Strykers too. So why in the world was he here? More importantly, why was he offering to help and could she refuse it? Could she take the chance that he was telling the truth? Because Lucy really did need the information. She needed to know exactly why the Strykers had attacked the Green City intent on destroying it. More so, she needed to find out what the best way to respond would be.

Could she trust this guy? Anyone else would have walked away, but Lucy saw something sincere in his actions, and so again she nodded. "Yes. Yes please. I could use all the help I can get." And then, she held out her hand. "I'm Lucy Hall."

"Donny. Donny Yang. It's nice to meet you Lucy."

Donny reached out and shook Lucy's hand. It was so soft and warm, he was a bit worried he'd break it in his cold, hard hands. He let go after he shook and quickly popped another question.

"So... It's getting pretty late, but I can look into what Arms Slave and the Ebony Strykers might be up to. I'd rather not just message you over the net however, what with the possibility that the Sweepers might be looking into my emails or something. So... Maybe tomorrow morning, we could meet... For breakfast? I know this nice place that serves a great breakfast steak in the morning." Donny dug through his pockets and gave Lucy a gift card for the cafe, which had an address and opening hours.

Lucy didn't think his hands were cold or hard at all, not that she knew that he did. Her head tilted at his suggestion, and a small blush creeped into her cheeks before she could stop it. She knew he probably hadn't meant it to sound like a date, but it certainly did. And that was something that Lucy very obviously had no experience in. Her blush deepened as she took the card.

The poor girl could barely manage out an "O-okay. I'll see you there." Before she took off in the other direction.

"Ah!" Donny was surprised to see Lucy run off, but in hindsight, perhaps he was a bit too aggressive. Still... A fire burned in his heart. He wanted to help Lucy gain her courage and face him in Deep Ground like a real King. He wasn't going to make it easy for her... But he also knew that she would be strong enough to defeat him with her own power. He just needed to awaken her inner strength. Finally, he would have an opponent, a rival, and... Potentially, a girl friend.

Donny just realized that he inadvertently asked Lucy out. He was so used to inviting friends for breakfast. That was just business as usual. But this would be the first time he's invited a girl, and potentially one that might kill him if she ever found out who he really was. He knew that she would discover the truth eventually, but... For now, that didn't matter. What did matter was that he had to wake up early tomorrow and wear something clean. Donny ran back to his dorm to get ready for the next morning.

Current Day - Donny and Lucy

It was morning when Lucy found herself waiting for her... informant? She wasn't really sure what to call him, but he was bringing her information, so that was probably the closest. She still wondered if she could trust him and anything he told her, but what other choice did she have? Lucy was terrible at getting information, and he apparently had the connections to do it easily. Then again, that was the problem. Having those connections meant that he was somehow associated with the Ebony Strykers and Arms Slave. Lucy just wished she knew how. The curiosity was killing her. Well, that and the hunger for steak.

She'd arrived early which was even more embarrassing than the fact that she'd literally run away from him the night before. Lucy had always been a social person, and never had a problem interacting with people, even if she hadn't really done so in years, but for some reason he unbalanced her. She couldn't explain why. Maybe because it had been so long since someone had asked to do something with her, even if it was as innocent as meeting for breakfast to discuss what he had found out. Yes. Innocent. This was a casual meeting.

Despite how many times she'd tried to tell herself that, Lucy had shown up in her usual outside of school attire. A green scarf around her neck, a short brown skirt, and a pink short sleeved shirt. As she was adjusting that scarf, a ping informed her that she had a message, and its contents shocked her. Michael Faye was the Black King? She knew him, or well, knew of him. The strange part was that she also knew that the Black King was a girl. Was it even possible to have a girl avatar and be a boy in real life? Lucy didn't know, but why on Earth would anyone lie about something like this?

And then the previous statement in the message hit her. Moon Rider is the King murderer. "No." She breathed. Of course, people had suspected it was the Black King all along, but not Lucy. She couldn't believe anyone could be capable of doing something like that because of a game. Her hands clenched at the table she sat at as she tried to reason through it all. Who was this so called Silver Jester that was telling them this and where had he even gotten the information? Her emotions were all over the place, but something was wrong about this message. Lucy couldn't trust it, and so instead she waited, hoping to find out what Donny thought of it.

"This is not the kind of shit I want to go through in a morning..." Donny groaned as he washed up. Normally he wouldn't really care too much about his appearance, but this was special. He took a shower, a healthy application of body wash and shampoo, even sprayed a bit of cologne. He'd never use it otherwise, sticking solely to deodorant, but he didn't want to creep off Lucy by looking like a bum. He didn't really have any "Stylish" clothing, mostly just copies of his school uniform. Even what he did have that wasn't his school uniform was home-casual stuff; various plain shirts, sweatpants, socks, underwear. Really basic stuff. He had to keep digging through his drawers and closet to find something that he figured might be rather cool looking. A fitting pair of khaki pants, ankle boots, and a black coat that he hasn't worn in a while since it was never really "cold" enough for him. What he worried most was what was suppose to go underneath that coat; all he had was plain shirts. White and black. "Goddamn. Why do I have to be so bland?"

Donny eventually left his dorm looking somewhat okay. He had managed to find a rather quirky dark green sweater vest from who-knows-where, which while it may seem rather... Strange for his attire, it least gave ti some variances. He wore a white shirt underneath. He also took his school bag which contained some basic necessities; his books, laptop, crowbar, writing utensils, bandages, lunchbox. He made it a note that he really needs to go clothing shopping sometimes; he might have excuses for not making Arms Slave look cool since most people don't have clothing that fits four-armed giants, but the only thing big about Donny was his gut.

And that was just one of his initial problems this morning. When he woke up he noticed a new message in his inbox from some guy named "Silver Jester". A quick scan of the message and Donny just threw it into spam. Oh, he read all of it, and was quickly deduced that it was a load of crap. While he never met the guy hismelf, he knew that Michael didn't have the chops to be the Black King. It would have been more beleivable for Yoshino to be the Black King. Not only that, but how many people was still going to beleive in the "Black King killed the other kings" rumors? That was at least a month old, and starting to get real repetative now. Everything else Donny quickly dismissed for another, more vital message. A job from an Eraser.

He was calling in a favor, which would explain why he didn't bother to go through the usual procedure of explaining the context of the job and Donny's payment. But his Eraser contact wanted him to find Michael and protect him. On one hand, Donny didn't want anything to do with that message today, but on the other hand a favor was a favor. Just how he was suppose to go about "Protecting" Michael he didn't know, but he knew that he'll have to address it eventually. But first things first. He needed to meet Lucy and tell her what "Arms Slave" was up to.

Donny reached the cafe, Imizu, before most of the employees had even began to set up shop. He thought he would have gotten here first, but much to his embarrassment Lucy was already there. While hew as glad that she showed up, he felt bad that he had made her wait for who knows how long. It wasn't even eight AM. Just when did she come here, right after she ran off?

"Lucy! Morning, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

Lucy jumped when her name was called, dragging her out of her own worries. She was going to turn, tell him it was fine, but then she got a good look at him and her eyebrows shot up in confusion. He didn't look anything like he had the night before and was that cologne? She could smell it from across the room. A small smile graced her lips as she realized he had dressed up for her. It didn't really matter in the long run, maybe he always did that when he was off campus, but it made her feel better about things. Why, she didn't know.

"Hey." This time she grinned at him and pointed to the chair across from her, "It's no problem. I've never been good at the whole sleeping thing!" Which was true. Ever since Lucy was young she'd always had trouble staying asleep and often found herself waking very early or staying up very late. It was part of the reason she could be found wandering hallways and streets when everyone else was sleeping.

Her grin disappeared and her tone turned worried, though, as she brought up the message she'd received. "Did you see what the Silver Jester sent? The Black King couldn't have killed them could she? It's a lie, right?" Lucy looked at him, hoping he would agree, but fearing he wouldn't. All this time, she'd been trying to think the best of Moon Rider, knowing that she probably had reasons for doing what she did even if it was hurting other people. There was never a reason for murder, though. If she'd really killed the Kings... well Lucy wasn't sure what she'd do.

Taking a seat at the table Lucy picked up, she started mentioning her insomnia. "Strange, I got a different problem. I just can't seem to not fall asleep at the slightest provocation. But that's what the coffee is for." Just some light conversation to break the ice, though they both seemed to hit it off rather well. The the lighthearted mood changed when Lucy brought up the message. She seemed more concerned that Moon Rider may gave killed the kings, or at least that's the first thing she mentioned. "Tch, of course she wouldn't. I mean, granted, I dunno who the Moon Rider really is, so I can't say I know how she's like.... But let's think of it like this. That silver joker says that Michael is the Black King, the Moon Rider. Now do you know Michael? I don't, not really, but even I don't think he'd have what it takes to murder the kings in cold blood. And beside that, didn't one of those kings die with the school president? If Michael really did have the kings killed, how did the school president make it out alive? Honestly, I think the entire thing is just an elaborate troll. First this guy says he's the "Masked Man" who's been popping around Deep Ground, than he says that the Black King has killed the other kings, which by the way is a old rumor, and now he claims that Michael Faye is Moon Rider all along? This is just way too much to swallow, though I have no doubts some fools would believe it and do something stupid."

After all, that's why Donny had been hired to protect Michael; because there were some people stupid enough to believe everything told to them, and surely someone would attack Michael for reasons unknown. It wouldn't be shocking to Donny if another Sweeper had been hired to hunt down Michael.

"I wouldn't believe a word of that message. Like I said, troll post. Likely someone trying to take advantage of everything that happened yesterday to ruffle everyone's feathers. Bastards."

Soon someone came over to ask if they were ready to order. Donny, being a regular, asked for his "Typical" and turned towards Lucy. "Anything you'd like? I'll cover the cost."

Surprise showed on her features when he offered to pay for whatever she wanted, and once again she had the nagging feeling that this wasn't casual or innocent. Pushing this feeling away, she said quietly, "Eggs. Scrambled. And... bacon." She gave the waiter a smile and a genuine thanks before turning back to Donny, relief clear on her face.

"I do know Michael. I don't think he could be Moon Rider. He doesn't seem the type to do... what.. she did." Her expression fell a bit as she remembered the events of yesterday, but she pushed forward. "I didn't really believe the message either, but I... the last Green King and I were really close..." she sighed, placing her head in her hands for a moment. "I just want to know what happened. Who could do something like that? How? Why? It's impossible to figure out, and it's... terrible. Sometimes I feel like it's just a nightmare and that tomorrow I'll wake up and everything will be back to the way it was."

Lucy looked back up, the determination from the night before back in her eyes. "What about you? Did you find anything out?" Donny was probably her only chance to get ahead of the Strykers and figure out just what was going on. If he had nothing for her, she'd have to come up with some other plan.

Donny bit his lip as Lucy told him about her relationship with the last kings. He didn't really cling to the past, but he couldn't blame Lucy for being concerned. Who knows what killed the last kings, and nothing really stops the new ones from meeting the same fate. Lucy had every right to be worried, even if Silver Jester's message is nothing but lies. "It won't remain a secret forever. I'm sure someone is investigating and we'll get our answers soon. Ah, speaking of answers,"

Donny reached into his bag and took out a printed map from Deep Ground. It was Scarlet Harley territory. "I couldn't contact Arms Slave directly, but I heard from some of his Mayhem Riders that they're waiting for orders by either Dark Wraith, the Ebony Stryker's second in command, or even Moon Rider herself. But in the event that they don't have any plans for today, Arms Slave is suppose to lead his Mayhem Riders to attack the Scarlet Harley territory tonight after school. It's not going to be quite the same as the Green City, as they plan to simply circle around the city and bombard it from the outside, that way they won't have to deal with any Brawlers destroying their war machines and so they could escape at a moments notice. I tried to figure out more about that giant coin or if more dissolutions were going to show up, but I'm afraid that I couldn't find any answers about that. Best I can tell is that they plan to just wreck the Red City and finish the job some other way than like they did with the Green City. Ah... And, I think I've got some plans how you could stop them..."

This was the part that made Donny nervous. Mostly because if Lucy does follow through with this, he was going to get screwed big time. The best he could do is maneuver himself to be unaffected, but this may tip off Lucy that he's Arms Slave. He'd have to play it cool for now, and just do what he has to do.

"They don't plan to take the open road to the Red City. There is a tunnel in the White Territory connecting to the Red Territory. That's where the Mayhem Riders will be going towards, under the impression that they're heading to the White Territory to attack them. However, recently the Ivory Mask have disbanded, so this is just a feint. Once they're in the white territory, they'll split off into a main force and an auxiliary force. The main force will be taking the tunnel to the Red territory while the auxiliary force makes a big ruckus to attract the other guilds. I hear that Arms Slave is actually going to be in the auxiliary force, since he knows he'll be a high priority target by the other guilds. So while he's distracting everyone else, his main force will sneak to the Red City and bombard it. So here's where you and your Fanged Rangers come in; you can sabotage the tunnels to ensure that the main forces never make it to the Red City. I don't really know how you'd go about that, but it's an idea. So? What do you think?"

"I..." Lucy started, but stopped looking down at the map again. How had he gotten all of this information? Who had given it to him? The amount of detail was crazy, and why would anyone involved tell Donny what they were going to do? He must have been close to someone in the Riders, or he could even be a part of them himself. But then why was he helping her? None of it made sense, but she was certain his information was good, even if it was some sort of trap. The Red City was Rabbits's territory. She'd called all of the guilds together and was they reason they were allied in the first place, but why was she next on the targets? Lucy had thought that the Mayhem Riders would go after Yellow next. After Green, they were probably the easiest to destroy. And what had he said about the Ivory Masks? They'd disbanded?

Lucy pushed her hands into her head, trying to force herself to keep her mind on the plan he'd suggested. She needed to stop getting distracted so easily. It was part of the reason that she wasn't doing a great job as King. "Okay. So..." she paused a moment, thinking it over. "You think if we can close of the tunnels, the plan will be ruined? Couldn't they just turn around and come through the roads though?" Lucy looked back at the map tracing the lines. "I don't even know how we'd go about doing that. I guess that there's..." She didn't finish. There was perhaps one member of the Rangers who could do it, but it wasn't fool proof. There was a chance that it wouldn't work the way she envisioned. Donny had helped her, but there was no way she was going to give him anything in return by way of information. He was too close to the Riders, and the risk of him passing it on to them was too high.

"There's just one problem," and this was where both of their plans flawed. "All of my Rangers except Jukebox are out of the game for most of the day. If the Mayhem Riders attack before the 24 hours are up, it's going to be just me. I mean, I may be a King, but I can't distract that many people for that long. But Jukebox...." An idea was starting to form in her head, but a question interrupted it.

"Where will you be?"

Donny froze up. He knew this question would be asked, but he feared to have to answer it. "Okay Donny, just like you rehearsed. You already planned this out, just.... Say it." Donny took a deep breath and readied himself for what he was going to say. "Well... I'm... I'm going to be in the Red City. Cause... I'm a Sweeper."

It was the truth, but not the whole truth. However he had already made up an entire cover that ought to be believable for Lucy. Or so he hopes. "It's... It started a few years ago. I was, you know, a newb. Had a hard time in Deep Ground because of all the outlaws. So I asked for help. One thing lead to another and... I joined up with the Sweepers, sort of. I mean, you don't really 'join', you just sort of know some people who do Sweeper things, and suddenly you're a Sweeper. I never really considered myself one, but even after joining the Scarlet Harleys, more often than not I was working with the Sweepers Hunting outlaws and stuff. When the Sweepers allied with the Ebony Strykers, I was told to stay in the Red City to be their spy, you know? But.... But like I said, I never really 'joined' the Sweepers. I liked their ideal, and when they joined the Ebony Strykers they sort of... Weren't the same."

Donny took a deep breath. He was lying out of his butt, but he spoke with such certainty that even he was starting to think he was actually a Scarlet Harely player. It helped that not everything he was saying was a lie; at the very least, he did join with the sweepers when he was a new player, and he did believe that the Sweepers weren't the same when they joined the Ebony Strykers. Or rather... Now they were showing their true colors. Donny continued to speak.

"But I couldn't quit, or at least I knew better not to. By pretending I was still a Sweeper, they'd keep me informed of what they would do, and all I had to do was play my part and try to be all spy like. That's why I'm helping you, and that's how I know they'll be attacking the Red City. I'm suppose to help them by getting some Scarlet Harley players and drawing them away from the city, but there is another way I can help. After their attack yesterday, I logged on to nab myself my own war machine. It's a tank I call the Prowler It has twin-linked autocannons which should be able to do enough damage to collapse one end of the tunnel, and a unique anchoring ability that allows it to move up stuff like walls and ceilings. The terrain around the red city is trecherous, so our vehiciles need to be able to traverse the cliffs easidly. I can't stop them because I'm suppose to be helping them, but you... You could stop them. I'll leave my Prowler near the Red City were you and this Jukebox guy could pick it up. Than you'd have to ride to the tunnels, collapse them, and effectively stop the attack on the Red City. Who knows, you might even be able to make it to the otherside of the tunnel in the White Territory and collapse that end of the tunnel, trapping the whole main force underground. That ought to limit the Mayhem RIder's ability to fight, right?"

Donny was giving Lucy plans to screw himself over, but on the bright side at least if this works out, Lucy would give her Fanged Rangers the hope they'd need to stand and fight against the Mayhem Riders. He'll figure out a way to save his Mayhem Riders later, so first things first.

She didn't believe him. Lucy didn't really know why. He sounded convinced of the lie himself, but there was something else going on here. Even so, he had helped her, continued to help her, and so she let it go. If he wanted to hide something from her, she understood. After all, they weren't friends. Barely even acquaintances. It was probably a bad idea to follow his advice knowing that he wasn't telling her the whole truth, but it was the only lead that Lucy had, and she did believe he wanted to help her, though she wasn't sure why.

There was one thing about his entire plan that was bothering her. "Trap them underground..." It wasn't exactly hurting any of them, but still. It sounded like a terrible fate regardless of who they were. It was only a game, but even so. Just as she had been destroyed by the burial of her city, things that happened in D.G.O. could affect players in real life. Being buried alive in some cave tunnels seemed like it could be a pretty traumatic experience, and as such, she wasn't sure she was entirely comfortable with the idea of it. Even so, Lucy could at least block off one end to keep them out of the Red City. Or more, she'd sent Jukebox to do it while she made sure the Riders got themselves out of the caves and went back to the Black City.

"No. I'm not going to do that." Her expression was wary as she looked at him, wondering just how cruel someone had to be to come up with a plan like that. It wasn't necessarily surprising. Most people didn't consider anything that happened in the game to be real, but while in D.G.O, she'd come to find that it was real enough. "Keeping them out of the City will be enough. I don't want to... I couldn't imagine being trapped in those tunnels. I won't do it to anyone else." Her voice was disappointed, almost, as if she'd expected better of him.

And then she was reaching across the table, placing her hand on his arm. "Donny. You don't have to help them. If you don't believe in what they're doing, then just leave. I..." she paused, afraid of sounding like some idiot who didn't know what she was talking about, "I think you're better than that. All of it. The fighting, the destroying, the hate. You don't have to do it. We don't." By we, she was referring to the Rangers. "Just... keep it in mind."

Donny kept a tight lip. That last statement. "All of it. The fighting, the destroying, the hate. You don't have to do it." He was going to say something, but than a waiter came by with the breakfast. He put down Lucy's scrambled eggs and bacon in front of her with a short stack of pancakes, and gave Donny a breakfast steak cuts with mushrooms and hashbrowns, also with a stack of pancakes. The waiter mentioned that if there was anything else they'd like, all they would need to do is ask and left.

Donny looked at the food before him and remembered how hungry he was. "W-well, enough talk about Deep Ground! Let's just enjoy our breakfast while we can. There's still plenty of time, so let's just... Chillax." Donny smiled and began took out a pocket knife. It was a small, three inch serrated blade. Great for cutting steak. He also pulled out a pair of chopsticks, using those to hold and eat his cut of meat.

Lucy stared at the food feeling awkward, just as she had the night before. Her cheeks colored red again now that she was not able to distract herself with thoughts of Deep Ground and her guild. "I.. y-yes. Breakfast." The food did look good, but her appetite was not very great. Not after all the talk of death and fighting. So, instead of eating, Lucy picked at the food and tried to steer the conversation towards topics that woule help her to feel less... embarassed. It had been too long since she'd spent this much time with someone else.

"Um... so.. what..." She nervously brushed her blond hair behind her ears, trying to think of a question to ask him. "What do you do for fun? Besides D.G.O obviously."

Half way through his steak, Lucy started up a converstaion. She wanted to know what Donny does off of Deep Ground. "Hmm..." Chewing and swollowing his mouthful of food, he thought about it. He wasn't really into school, and he usually lasts a while in Deep Ground to spend a whole night. So what does he do outside of it? "Well, I sometimes visit the gym and do some... Karate. Just something that I picked up as a kid, you know? Granted, I certainly haven't, uh, kept up as well as I could." Donny jokingly poked his own stomach to emphasis his lack of training.

"I do play some games aside from Deep Ground though. Usually just something to do after I get killed and I need to wait in between ressurections. Let's see... Mostly RPG's. Build your own character stuff, epic plots, that sort of thing." Donny kept deliberately vague, not out of any dark secracy, but because he was afraid that if he elaborated further, Lucy might discover that he's a total geek. Back at his dorm, he had a rather extensive collection of collectables from his trips to gaming and anime conventions. It was his guilty pleasure. On one hand, he wasn't really a "Hardcore" fan, but on the other hand, he didn't have much interest outside of things like Touhou, Monster Hunter, Bioware, and whatever else catches his interest at the time. "What about you? I'm sure you lead a much more interesting life than I do."

Lucy only shook her head. She didn't lead an interesting life at all. Most of her time was spent trying to get as far as she could in Deep Ground. It was her only chance to get away from the home that she never visited, the only way to get far enough in life to finally help other people in a lasting way. What she really wanted was to be a doctor, and she spent much of her time studying because of it. Plus, it kept her away from people that judged her too harshly and let her spent time alone in a corner somewhere.

There was one thing, though, that she took pleasure in. Something that was for her and her alone. Music was her secret. It wasn't shameful or embarrassing, so Lucy didn't why she didn't want to speak about it. Maybe because it was so close to her heart. That sounded stupid, she thought, but it was right. So when she spoke, her blush deepened until her cheeks were blood red. "I.. study. A lot.. but.."

Lucy bit her lip, still embarrassed by the whole thing. Why had she brought it up again? "I like music. Sometimes... I like to spend time singing." Then to take the attention off of herself again, she asked another question. "You know martial arts? That's cool. I don't think I'd be able to learn or use it if I did."

"Singing huh? Hmm..." Donny had this funny thought in his head to combine his physical technique with Lucy's musical ability and create a fusion of the two that danced rhythmically. He didn't know what brought this thought upon him, but it made him smirk. "Yeah, though I don't really get to use it much. I mean... Most of the fighting I do is in Deep Ground. It's been a while since I've... Did full contact karate." By that he meant it's been a long time since he himself got into a fight, much to his chagrin.

"But you sing huh? You know, just a thought, but maybe..." Donny looked at his breakfast. He still had some steak left and room in his stomach, but for some reason he didn't eat. What he wanted to ask was on the tip of his tongue, but he wouldn't dare say it. At least not unless Lucy was really curios.

Lucy's eyes were wide as she finally looked up at him. "I-I. I mean I don't... I w-wouldn't say I'm very good at it." But even so, she wondered what he was thinking because for once he seemed just as embarrassed as she'd been since he'd asked her to meet him here the night before. There was no way she could resist asking as she tilted her head to the side, much like a questioning dog.

"What were you thinking?"

Lacing his fingers together Donny thought long and hard about what he was going to ask. If this worked it, it'll be like taking Lucy to the next level. It would really challenge his ability as Arms Slave. He gulped and spoke out. "Well... With your... Musical talent... And my martial abilities... Maybe... You and I could... Learn to dance together."

If Donny could turn back time he'd do so right than and there. If he could wipe memories he'd make Lucy forget what he just said. Heck, he if could snap his own neck he might have just done that to save himself from the embarrassment. He just kept looking at his breakfast steak. He ordered it medium rare, but right now his face looked redder than the meat.

If her eyes could grow wider, they did, so much so that it was painful. He... wanted to dance with her? Lucy had no idea what to say to that. It was getting harder and harder to convince herself that all of this was casual. The breakfast had to been to get information from him. Nothing more. But learning to dance? What would that be considered? And what kind of dancing?

"I..." Lucy knew what she wanted to to say, but not exactly what she should say. The boy in front of her had lied to her, and she still had no idea who he was or who he really worked for. She had no clue why he had helped her, but had a feeling it was not necessarily for a selfless reason. Even so, she found herself smiling. "Okay."

"Aw yea." Donny now wished he could hug himself, but he played it cool. "Alright! So maybe we could meet up, I dunno, tomorrow or something at the Gym? I think they have some clubs or something we could look around for, maybe we could find something that we both would like. How does that sound?" Donny couldn't believe this was happening. Heck, he hardly even expected her to show up today. And yet here she was. And all he did was ask.

Her smile grew a bit, and she nodded. "I should have the time unless something huge happens, you know. Responsibilities of a King and all." Her words were light, joking, but also true. It didn't often happen to her, but she knew that other Kings were pretty much always busy doing something or other for their guild, usually preparing for some kind of battle. Lucy's territory was gone now, though, and she had nothing left to protect. They would have to build the City back up, but for now it was too dangerous with the Strykers able to control the dissolutions that plagued the crater where her guild hall used to be.

"I've never danced before. I'm not sure I'll be any good, but I can certainly try." It was hard for her to believe that he even asked her to learn. All this time she'd been invisible. It'd only taken a green dress for people to notice her. Now, Lucy just had to decide if she preferred being seen.

Donny broke into a smile and nodded his head. "Yeah. Yeah! I'll look into it today, see if we can find something that would be okay. I'll clear out my schedule too, so ah, maybe you and I could meet back here sometime later, see if things can work out?" Just than, Donny got another message from his Eraser contact asking him what the situation with Michael is. Donny signed at the buzz kill, but he did have a job to do. "Atch, looks like my friend needs to be picked up. Well... I'll handle the bill. It was nice to meet up like this Lucy. So... Want to meet for breakfast again?"

And the blush was, unsurprisingly, back when he asked to meet her again. "I-I... yes. I would like that," she said, her voice quiet. Here she was, agreeing to meet with this guy who she didn't even know again, crazy. Lucy was crazy. Before she turned to leave, though, she looked at him with that same expectant gaze she'd had earlier. "Remember what I said, Donny. You don't have to.. be like them. Okay?"

And then as she made her way to the door, her head was ringing again. Another message? This one from Michael, who apparently wanted to talk to all the kings except for one: red. Maybe Michael was a King as the message had said and the Jester had just gotten the color wrong. Either way, when she left the cafe, she did as she was told and headed towards the gym, wrapping the scarf tighter around her neck.

Donny left the cafe and headed back to his dorm. Which also happened to be where Michael should be staying at. Donny stopped by his own dorm to pick up a package dropped off by his Eraser, and than left to find Michael. He found Michael just about to leave before Donny stopped him. "Hey, hold up." Than Michael told Donny that he was a Sweeper. Donny asked for confirmation, and sure enough "The Numbers don't lie." Seeing that Michael was in the know now, Donny took out a button-looking device. He attached it to one of Michael's buttons on his shirt, and this was the bug that Retsu mentioned.

"Alright, now I'm going to be out of sight. Don't worry, if something happens, I'll be close by to stop it. The only reason I'm staying out of sight is so I can handle things before they become a problem, savvy?"

And with that, Michael would be able to safely tread to the Gymnasium without anyone bothering him. Donny in the mean time stayed out of sight, watching from afar... Making sure Michael did as Retsu told him.

[Scarifar]

Daniel - Free Runner
Daniel listened in on the call Moon Rider was in, learning quite a bit. So apparently Michael Faye was the Red King, Stuffed Rabbit, and he was being framed to be Moon Rider. He suspected that as much at least. Dark Retsu was more observant than Moon Rider, though, and pointed him out. Moon Rider looked up, and he waved in response. It seemed appropriate. When the call ended, he dropped down to Moon Rider and Dark Wraith, grinning. "So, Red King is being framed for the message, and the so-called 'alliance' is being broken bit by bit," Free Runner said. "I would never have guessed. So many exciting things are happening."

He made a saluting gesture with his right hand, bringing up his first two fingers to his forehead and jerking them away a second later, then continued, "Well, you got my word that I won't tell a soul about this." He then brought his two hands behind his head and said, "Besides, the Scarlet Harleys was my previous guild. I'm interested to hear about what will happen next." He then leaned against the crossroad sign and asked, "In the meantime though, while I'm here, what's going on? I could have sworn I saw the word "Moderator" appear above Moon Rider. Then again, we got some hackers on our side, and something tells me that Dark Wraith here is a high-ranking Sweeper, am I right?"

Michelle - Shooting Star-Yellow King
Michelle was currently reading the message given to her, something about Michael Faye being Moon Rider, and the Sweepers the cause of the Ebony Stryker-friendly Dissolutions. She had no trouble believing the latter, but the former was something that raised more questions than answers, For one, why would Michael, which was undoubtedly a male name, be Moon Rider, who undoubtedly had a female avatar? Granted, such occurrences did happen, but rarely. Number two: how did Silver Jester get this information? It was highly unlikely he'd even be awake the exact moment the Black King supposedly killed the 4 former Kings. Number three: who was Silver Jester? She never came across him before, not even on the forums. The more she thought, the more she found holes in Silver Jester's, enough to distrust almost everything in the message. The real purpose of this message was undoubtedly to cause chaos among the DGO players, and poor Michael was the scapegoat.

She closed the message, then looked at other threads on the forum, some in rage about Michael Faye killing the Kings, or conspiracy theorists explaining their version of events, none of which she really paid attention to too much. A few people had come up with ideas similar to hers, though, and tried to spread them to others, but they were quickly outnumbered by the others who had their own beliefs about the message. She was about to leave the forums, but noticed that she had another message that just came in. It was a message to the other Kings, and from Michael Faye himself. It was apparently a summons to the old school gym, who most likely wanted to tell his version of events. Michelle was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and decided to accept it. Before she closed the message, though, she noticed something. There were only five Kings who were sent the message. The only ones who were not were Moon Rider, which was understandable, and.... Stuffed Rabbit. The Red King. That confirmed it for Michelle. Michael Faye was mostly likely being framed in the message, and the message was full of lies and garbage only idiots would believe.

Michelle was already in her uniform, since she rarely wore anything else, and left her dorm room to go to the gym. She pushed her glasses up slightly, sighed, and headed over to the gym. The Kings were now in something deep, and Michelle intended to find out what.

[drewccapp]

The weary Sten sat down at a table at the cafe and a waitress quickly came to take his order. "Hi, my name is Ally, and I'll be your waitress for today. How may I help you?" She was a fair brunette with decent bust and green eyes.

Sten gave her a bloodshot stare. "Coffee, black, two of them." She nodded once, clearly disturbed by his eyes, wrote down the order and scurried off.

He sat back to relax. The day was fairly nice, a few clouds in the sky, and a nice breeze. Then something caught his eye, Lucy was there and she was sitting with another student he didn't recognize. He smiled and waved. They seemed to be getting along nicely. He then altered his gaze to the waitress as she returned with the coffee. "Thanks." He needed this caffeine more than anything. All-nighters just weren't his cup of tea.

He took a swig of the bitter drink and smiled. That was heaven. The scorching hot liquid energy that he so loved. He waved the waitress back. "I'll have a bagel to go with this too. Umm... an onion bagel with cream cheese on the side." She wrote down the order, smiled, and said. "I'll be right back with that."

Another swig. Now he felt alive instead of zombified. He saw Lucy and the other guy leave and go off into separate directions. Another swig. Ah good old caffeine. The waitress came back with the bagel. "Can I get you anything else?" She was so sweet and polite. Sten shook his head with a smile. "Nah, I'm good now. Thank you." She smiled and went off to take care of the other customers.

He finished the first drink with a great big grin. He then tore the bagel in half and dipped it in the dish of cream cheese that it came with. Chomp. Mmmmm. That mello sweetness of the cream cheese combined with the bitterness of the coffee sent chills down his spine and on top of that the spice of the onion. He just loved it. Last night had been long, but it had been successful he felt, and now he could find the energy to have pride in it. He just loved putting together puzzles like this. A few pieces were still missing, but he had a feeling that he was close to connecting all the dots. Sten took another bite of his food while his brain mismatched metaphors.

He began his second drink, which contained as much zing as the previous mug. The drink had cooled down so he could drink it quicker than the last, and he did in fact drain the mug within seconds. The flavor almost knocked him out. He scarfed down the rest of his bagel and waved the waitress over to pay the bill. "I'll take the bill now." She came back with it after a few moments and he paid it with a handsome tip as well. He had a new piece to slide into his puzzle: Michael Faye. This game was become an elaborate work of intrigue.

He hustled back to his room to add another note to his bulletin board. "Michael Faye knows the true identity of Black King and they're close. He may know her plans." He stuck it right under, "Black King has a game changing plan." He stepped back and stared at his masterpiece taking a proud stance. He was bursting with so much energy that it wouldn't be surprising if his neighbors or any passerby in the hallway felt it through the walls.

[Lord Santa]

Taro was having a bad day again, and he wasn't even in Deep Ground this time. He was in a box. With a cat (which wasn’t actually that bad). And, he was hiding from a bunch of guys he'd managed to piss off on his way to class.

Earlier, he was walking to class. The last night, princess rainbow hadn’t showed up and he went to sleep without incident. In the morning, he saw the message that everyone apparently received from the 'Silver Jester.' Truth be told, he didn't know what to think of the message. He didn't even know who Michael Faye was, or what he looked like, and he didn't even know that Moon Rider was the name of the Black king. He also didn’t know who Silver Jester was, so he'd decided to stay out of DGO, for a little while at least. And he always made it a point to go to classes.

Unfortunately, just as he was heading out of his dormitory, he saw a group of boys talking amongst themselves. This wasn't an irregular occurrence, but Taro heard the words 'black king' and was intrigued. He decided to spy on them. There were 3 of them, in a group, and looked like troublemakers, people Taro usually avoided. And they were discussing the message they received in the morning.
‘Michael is the Black King?’ One of them said to another.
‘Nah, the Black King’s avatar is a girl, isn’t it?’ He said.
‘Maybe Michael is actually a girl, in disguise.’ The third said.
‘Dude, that’s stupid.’ The first said.
‘But it makes sense, right?’ The second one said.
‘Hell no.’ The first one said.
‘Still, we should do something about it.’ The third said.
‘Huh? Why?’ The second one asked.
‘We’re cobalt Bruisers right? And if Michael is actually the Moon Rider, we need to do something about it, right?’ The third one said.
‘Hey, that’s actually smart.’ The first one said.
‘Let’s go pay him a visit.’ The third one said, grinning.

Taro didn’t know why, but he couldn’t sit there and do nothing. He didn’t even know Michael, but he didn’t want to sit there either. And against his better judgement, he picked up a rock, got up from the bush he was in, and threw it in the third guy’s face. It landed squarely on his forehead and left a sizeable mark.

‘OW!’ The third guy yelled.
‘Hey!’ The second one yelled, turning towards Taro.
Taro’s momentary bravado gone, he turned around and ran away. And of course, the 3 guys ran after him.

Taro dashed away from the dorms, unfortunately heading towards the oval where there were no hiding spots. The people he’d accidentally pissed off chased him, trying to run him down (probably). He’d picked a really bad spot to run to as there were no hiding spots. Fortunately, he was running in the direction of what looked like an old gymnasium, what Taro didn’t know was the old gym. He sprinted towards it and arrived soon, random dudes at his heels.
‘Hey! Get back here!’ The guys said, as Taro ran around the building.
He needed to lose them somehow. Run around the building then get inside, maybe fooling them. He dashed into the entrance and leaned against a wall. He could hear them running around outside.
‘Where is he?!’ One of them asked.
Taro grinned. Now, all he had to do was wait. Or, that would have been the case, if the cat wasn’t there.
‘Meow.’ The cat said.
Taro looked at it. It’d come from the shadows, a small white cat he couldn’t have missed. It was adorable. And it had also alerted the guys outside.
‘What was that?!’ One of them said.
Desperately, Taro looked around for a hiding place. There! A pile of boxes in the corner. As quickly and quietly as possible, Taro scooped the cat up, ran to the corner and jumped into a fairly large box. He closed the lid behind him. Just in time, the 3 bruisers burst into the gym. They searched for Taro or the source of the noise as Taro sweated it out in the box. The cat was wriggling in his hands, trying to free itself. Taro’s grip slipped and the cat stood on his chest, poking its head from outside the box.
‘Meow.’ It said, greeting the guys.
‘It’s just a cat.’ One of them said.
‘Scram!’ Another yelled at the cat.
The cat leapt back into the box and Taro grabbed it and tried to keep as quiet as he could.
‘He must be somewhere else.’ One of them said.
Taro almost breathed a sigh of relief as the 3 guys left. His legs were weak, and he couldn’t get up. The cat squirmed out of his relaxed grip and stared at Taro. Taro decided he would stay here a while, to calm his nerves. The cat, as if sensing his intentions, curled up on Taro’s chest. Yep, there was no way he could move now. Taro’s day began with Taro missing class, in a box, with a cat, hiding from some dudes he’d managed to piss off.
‘Good way to start the day, huh.’ Taro said to the cat.
‘Meow.’ The cat said, grooming its face and then falling asleep.

[Psyker Landshark]

Sam Jensen

Minutes after waking up, Sam was already linked into the World Interface, browsing the school forums while checking his messages at the same time. But like anyone else this morning, his attention was immediately called to a certain message sent by a certain masked asshole.

"Oh, no fucking way." Sam laughed as he read the Masked Man, or rather, Silver Jester's message. "He's trying to pin the murders on Mikey?" The teenage boy shook his head as he stood up to make himself a cup of coffee. "That kid's literally the opposite of Blackie." And even if he wasn't, just the appearance of the Masked Man on that one night a month ago was still enough to make Sam know that the guy was lying out of his ass. The masked asshole had been fixated on Gleeful Jackal even being in-game at all, and from what he'd known at the time, both the Black and Yellow Kings had been logged into Deep Ground that night as well, despite the server issues. After a month of thinking it over, the only conclusion that Sam could come to was that all the Kings that weren't logged into the game that night had been killed. Naturally, that made what Silver Jester was saying impossible.

Still, there were probably some people gullible enough to fall for this bait. Shaking his head as he dumped an excessive amount of sugar into his coffee, Sam chuckled ruefully. Michael probably wasn't making it through the day without getting his ass kicked by an angry mob of idiots. But that wasn't his business. Even if he'd interjected, in the real world, he was just another slacking asshole. Outside of Deep Ground, he didn't have Gleeful Jackal's blistering speed to cut his enemies down with.

Sipping at his coffee, Sam opened his other important message, which turned out to be a PM from Michael himself, sent to every Colored King, asking to meet in the old school gym. Well, then. Michael was a straightforward enough guy that this probably wasn't a trap. Probably. Still, even if it was, telling everyone that the King-killer was in the old school gym would be enough to get an angry mob there in minutes. Throwing on a hoodie and jeans, Sam stepped out of his dorm and started making his way over to the old gym.

"Wait a minute...what the fuck?" Sam muttered to himself as he read over the sender line again while he was walking. Stuffed Rabbit hadn't been sent a message. What the hell was this supposed to mean? Was the Red King in on this? Did she already know that Michael wasn't the Black King? Of course, the obvious answer was that Michael was the Red King, but that was retarded. No one had ever heard of a student having an Avatar of the opposite gender as themself, after all. Then again, maybe there was something else to this. Michael could be the Red King's boyfriend or something. Of course, if the guy was single, Sam was back to square one. Shaking his head, Sam cleared his mind of idle speculation and kept walking towards the gym. He could get more answers once Michael actually started talking.

As he approached the old gym, Sam slowed his pace for a moment, pulling his phone out to type a quick message to put on the school forums.

____________
Subject: MICHAEL FAYE IN THE OLD GYM
Poster: Gleeful Jackal

So the King-killer's in the old gym right now. Anyone who wants to a piece of this guy, get over here.
____________

Sam finished typing the post, but didn't actually put it up on the forum. Instead, he stuffed his phone back into his pocket, still clutching it while it was put away. If Michael or anyone else tried anything, all he had to do was send the message and stall for a few minutes. With Gleeful Jackal's cocky grin on his lips, Sam strode into the old gym.

[McFazzer]

It was 5:30 am when Alex woke up face down on the hardwood floor. His throat was dry, his eyes watery and every muscle hurt. He was in such pain because he was the idiot that passed out from exhaustion on the auditorium stage. Moving slowly Alex got up, feeling each and every muscle scream in pain. Looking around Alex was ashamed of himself, sleeping in the gross clothes he exercised in, not going back to his dorm and possibly the worst was not getting a good nights rest. Slowly Alex made his way around the stage picking up all the paraphernalia he brought with him. When he got to his laptop it was still open on a Michael Jackson video, smiling Alex closed it down The Moonwalk wasn't so hard once I got a hang of it... that zero-gravity lean though, it's probably why my face hurts more than the rest of me. After picking up his laptop Alex made his way back to his dorm, forgetting the Ballet instruction manual on the podium.

Once back Alex quickly had the hottest shower he could bare. Feeling unbelievably better Alex went put on a fresh uniform and started on breakfast. Scrambled eggs and bacon, that will make me feel better. As he started cooking Alex felt weird, like something was missing. It wasn't ingredients or anything like that it was some thing else... then it hit him Oh God. I feel weird that my Soundtrack of Life isn't playing... I think I might hate Deep Ground a little bit. Turning off the heat Alex sighed and went over to his laptop and just had it start playing music.



Getting back to his cooking Alex cooked up, plated up and sat down to eat. Midway through his early breakfast Alex was notified of receiving a message through Deep Ground Online. Alex debated actually reading it, mainly because he hadn't read anything sent to him since he went on his hiatus. Deciding that he didn't care what spam this Silver Joker was sending him Alex deleted the message without looking at it "Your Final Vengeance"? That's pretty arrogant assuming there is a vengeance I want or that if I did want it, it would be my final one. I could be an extremely vengeful person for all this Joker knows! Finishing his meal in piece Alex savored the nice feeling he had from good music and a good meal that he made. After cleaning up after himself Alex grabbed his old music player that he got from his dad and for the first time since arriving at Purple Crown Academy he went out with his ear buds in and the music playing loud.

It was still early, but Alex decided to start making his way to the main campus. As he went down stairs he saw an older girl in green, this reminded Alex that he hadn't even had contact with the Green King, something he needed to do for a laundry list of reasons. Pausing his music Alex decided to send the 'new' Green King Tender Fern

------------------------------
To: Tender Fern
From: Unrelenting Jukebox
Subject: I should have contacted you ages ago

---

Hi Tender Fern,

I'm honestly not sure where to start. I suppose I should apologise for my year long absence from DGO, but more importantly I should congratulate you on becoming the Green King, even with the circumstances being so unfortunate.
Second I want to apologise for not even arriving in time to assist in the defense of our base. (Well I would have been as useful as a bucket of water at a volcano, but I still feel awful about the situation)

I want to make up for this rudeness and lack of punctuality in any way, if I can please let me know.

With the Kindest of Regards,
Unrelenting Jukebox
------------------------------

Sending the message, Alex hit play again and started on his way again, light on his feet occasionally there was a skip or a pause to enjoy a particularly good part of a song.