.hack//LIMINALITY Fan Fiction / .hack//SIGN Fan Fiction ❯ .hack//CHECK ❯ Funeral ( Chapter 20 )

Chapter 20 // Funeral

. . .

"He appears to be stable."

"Brainwaves?"

"Functional in every sense of the word."

"So why is he still in that condition?"

"It's baffling..."

"Have I ever told you I have a bad feeling about this project?"

"Yes, sir, several times..."

. . .

It was early evening in New Mac Anu. The way it always is. Stan sat on the support rail of the bridge and pulled a cigarette from his pocket. He then put it into his mouth. All this time, and they still haven't made virtual lighters..., he thought. He never smoked in real life, he just liked the way the cigarette looked on his character. However, to him it always seemed funny to walk around with an unlit cigarette.

#Sigh# What do I do now?, he thought. Deac won't be on 'till tomorrow. Naomi's back, but this time, she has a stalker... Wait a second. I haven't picked up my prize... He sprang off the rail and ran to the save point.

"Thank you for your participation in the Cyber Connect Grand Prix!", said the NPC, "Here is your prize!" The NPC handed Stan a small, oil-burning lamp that was gold in color.

"...The hell is this?", said Stan aloud. He stashed it into his inventory.

"Oh, Stan! Thank God it's you!", shouted a voice. Stan turned to see Kenny running towards him.

"Kenny! Long time, no see! What's up?", asked Stan.

Kenny ground to a halt. "It's Cartman and Kyle! Something bad happened!", he seemed panicked.

"Calm down. What happened?"

"Well, we just finished busting Cartman out of the joint so we went to some dungeons to go level and stuff.", explained Kenny, "But in one dungeon, we met some guy..."

Stan's facial expression changed. "What guy?", he hurriedly asked.

"I don't know. He had white hair, wore red clothes, and carried a huge ass blade!"

"What did he do?"

"We tried to fight him, but he totally owned us! He lifted his arm, and used some kind of weird spell or something I've never seen.", he said, "When I got back to town, I couldn't find either of them."

"Did you try to call Carrie and Kyle?", asked Stan, but he already knew the answer.

"I tried that. There was no response! I'm worried.", said Kenny, "You don't think..."

"What?"

"You don't think this has anything to do with that incident all those years ago..."

"Try calling them again.", said Stan.

"Okay." Kenny logged out.

Cartman and Kyle were World I characters. He's figured out a way around it. He's sending us a message..., he thought.

ATTENTION PLAYERS: IN MEMORY OF OUR GM TEAM, WE ASK YOU TO JOIN US IN A MOMENT OF SILENCE.

. . .

Tiffany checked her e-mail.

"Greetings Players of World III,

In memory of our GM team, we will be streaming an update at 7:00am PST tomorrow. This was the update that the team had been perfecting prior to their deaths. The update features:

Guild creation

New Special Abilities

Gameplay Re-balancing

Increased Party Size

Item Re-attribution

A new city on a new server (the Rena Server)

As well as several other, less-noticeable features.

Replacing the GM Team will be our team of testers. They will be the new GM Team. We hope that you will show them the same respect and support that you showed the previous team.

Thank you."

Wow. A new server?, thought Tiffany, Well, the Nuke Server was getting a bit boring...

Tiffany got up from her chair, and plopped into bed...