//------------------------------// // 7- Brave New WAAAGH!! // Story: The Terror of Death // by FrostTheWolf //------------------------------// The Terror of Death- Brave New WAAAGH!! Crystal Empire         After he had gone to get something to eat with Kite, Haseo decided to go back to check on Cadence and Twilight to see if they were doing alright. The Adept Rogue was a little concerned that with the response that Twilight gave earlier and then trying to process everything that Aura had told them, it might’ve been too much for her to handle all at once. Not to mention that with the amount of changes that the empire had gone through since she was last here, it may have been hard for the unicorn to keep up with everything.         Though, as he came into the room, he was surprised to find that Cadence and also Radiant Hope we're helping explain everything. Including how some of the ponies in the city followed the professions and job systems. Something that she did not know about before, but seemed rather curious by it. “So everypony here is given a job and just follows it?”         “No no, Twilight, it’s different. The pony that applies for a particular job makes the choice themselves based on their skill level…” Radiant replied, before looking it over and thinking of something inside her head. “You use magic a lot, right?”         “All the time, yes.” The Unicorn replied back, nodding her head in response to Radiant’s question.         “Well, for that, there are various different job classes depending on what you specialize your magic on,” Radiant continued as her horn lit up and pulled out a couple of images for Twilight to see. “If you are somepony who uses their magic for battle, they could be a shadow warlock and use Grimoires. If their magic is best used for healing, they can be a harvest cleric. Macabre Dancer’s and Steam Gunners are different equivalents to those two, but with variations that would allow anypony who isn’t familiar with magic to use them. Like Earth Ponies.”         “What about the guard?” Twilight then asked. “I’ve been noticing that no two members of the royal guard are alike. Would that mean that they also be different classes as well, Cadence?”         “That depends on their role in the guard itself,” Cadence now took the chance to talk to Twilight. “There are some in which require them to have the strength to carry rather heavy weapons while some require a weapon that’s lighter and easier to carry. Lord Partizans use Lances, Edge Punisher’s have Broadswords and Flick Reaper’s carry either Axes or Sickles depending on which one they specialize with and all of them wear heavy forms of armor. Other classes like Blade Brandier, Tribal Grappler and Twin Blade use weapons that are a lot lighter in weight, but just as strong. Not to mention that they could wear lighter forms of clothing that makes moving around easier.” That was rather true. Those three classes, because of their choice of weapons and gear would make them rather agile on the battlefield than that of an Edge Punisher or a Flick Reaper, but there were other things too that could be taken into consideration that Shining Armor and Ironwings thought of. If you were to assemble a group of ponies on a reconnaissance mission, it would be better to send in a Twin Blade and someone else like a Tribal Grappler and a Harvest Cleric rather than an Edge Punisher if you needed to make a hasty retreat.         Then… there was the question that even caught him by surprise. “Hey… if this idea was originally suggested by Haseo… then what class would he be?” It was something that he had a feeling they would ask sooner or later, but he didn’t think it would be Twilight that would be asking that question.         “Guess it’s time to answer it then,” He thought to himself as he now walked over to where they were and spoke up. “Perhaps I can help answer that.”         All three ponies were rather surprised to notice him now as they all turned to face his direction. “Ah! Haseo… Forgive us for sounding rude. We didn’t know you were here.”         “No no, it’s alright… for the record, I should be the one apologizing since I had been listening to your conversation for the last five minutes,” He replied, before turning to Twilight. “But yeah, my job class is much different than that of normal ponies. Much different to the point that I didn’t tell Shining about it because I was concerned about the kind of reaction some ponies would have to it.” That had all three ponies look at one another in confusion, shortly before Haseo began to clarify on what he meant. “You’ve all seen me be able to use different forms of weapons and change them out, correct?”         “I believe we have on more than one occasion. Why do you ask?” Cadence then asked for clarification.         “Well, the job class I have is considered as a… jack of all trades if that is the right terminology,” He then continued. “They’re allowed to choose between more than one job class, but can only acquire the skills of the other classes they choose through a system called ‘Job Extend’. However, my concern was that when it comes to Adept Rogues, they are generally seen as a ‘jack of all trades and a master of none’, so my thought at the time was that it wasn’t along the lines of what Shining Armor was looking for. Again, that was back then and this is now.”         “How does something like that work though? Everyone can’t just choose to be everything at once now, can they?” Twilight asked.         “No, they can’t… It works like this,” Haseo said as he took a seat nearby them. “When you start as a Adept Rogue, you are given four points for choosing what classes you want to specialize in. Out of the ten normal job classes; Twin Blade, Blade Brandier and Edge Punisher cost one point, Flick Reaper, Lord Partizan and Tribal Grappler are two points and the remaining classes cost three. You pick and choose up to two to three classes from those given points and only unlock the other classes you picked through the Job Extend system when the time is right.”         That was something that Cadence and Twilight found as surprising… while also making them rather curious as to what classes he chose. “So in terms for you, what did you start out with?”         “Well… when I first found by Amore, I was a Twin Blade. But as I stayed and continued to help serve her and the empire, I was able to extend my skills into both the Edge Punisher and Flick Reaper Job classes. Though, it wasn’t easy in order to get to that point and what you have to do to get those forms isn’t always something to accomplish on your own.” He explained before looking back at Cadence. “In fact, I had to have Amber help me out with them.”         Both Twilight and Radiant looked back at Cadence now on the mentioning of the unfamiliar name as they looked back at her. “Who’s Amber?”         “She was one of my mother’s closest advisors and also the only other pony other than her to trust Haseo. She was also my caretaker, but wasn’t afraid to get her hooves dirty to keep me safe.” Cadence replied, before looking down a bit. “However… After Sombra’s coup on the Empire and you telling her to get me out… she went back for you and has not been seen ever since.” That… even surprised Haseo. Amber was important to the both of them, so hearing something like this about somepony who cared for them just as much as they cared for her was rather concerning.         “I… never knew that she actually went back for me,” Haseo cleared his throat as he spoke up. “All I remember is just fighting Sombra and then… everything fading to black.”         That… surprised Cadence even more. She would’ve thought that he had seen Amber before getting frozen away by Sombra, but according to what he just said, that was definitely not the case. Which only meant that either something had happened to Amber once she had made it to the Empire… or that she never made it at all. And the second possibility was one that she didn’t want to think about given the current situation. “Do you think we should ask Aura about it?”         “We can, but right now, I think we should think of a plan regarding Twilight’s Avatar,” Haseo suggested, “I know that she would be going back to Ponyville soon, but perhaps every so often, she can come by and I can help her with controlling Gorre. Even though she was able to use her avatar to stop AIDA back in Ponyville, that was out of pure luck.”         “What do you mean? I was able to use Gorre earlier just fine.” Twilight then asked.         “True, but you’ve only had your Avatar for just a few hours. I’ve had Skeith for much longer than that. After all, the more you practice with something, the better you get at it.” Upon hearing that, Twilight soon realized what he was talking about. It was indeed true that the more that you practiced with something, you would get better at it. Heck, it was the reason why Twilight had been so good with Magic because of the amount of hours she spent into reading books and practicing with it. So essentially, the same approach could be used in regards to learning how to fight with Gorre.         “When do you think we should get started then?” Twilight then asked, wanting to hear Haseo’s input on the matter.         “Well, I think given how soon this came up after what happened in Ponyville, we should give you guys some time to get your senses back in order before doing anything drastic,” The Adept Rogue explained, before making a suggestion. “How about we give it a week and see how things are going from there? Does that sound good to you, Cadence?”         “I believe that’s fair,” Cadence then replied. “By then, we should have those gates up and running so travel between towns would be a lot simpler.” That honestly surprised Twilight. She had no idea what Cadence was referring to and they didn’t even get the chance to explain anything about these ‘gates’ at all.         “I’m sorry, but what gates are you talking about?” She asked, sounding rather puzzled.         “She referring to a device were trying to make called a Chaos Gate. Now… despite the name, it has nothing to do with actual chaos magic. But if we are able to successfully get these gates to work, then you can be able to instantly travel to towns, fields, cities and other areas rather quickly. But again, this is something we’re still working on and hopefully all will work out well for us.” Haseo then explained. Which, upon finishing, caused Twilight to stare at them in awe and wonder… while not paying attention to her surroundings as she stared off into space. “Uh… I think we broke her.”         “Give her a minute.” The Princess of Love told him. Shortly afterwards though was when Twilight finally snapped back to reality.         “T-that’s so AMAZING!!! I can’t wait to see this for myself! Such an advancement in technology and science… it’ll advance everything we know by GENERATIONS!!!” That just caused The Adept Rogue to facepalm himself again as he looked back at her.         “Is it a good thing or a bad thing that she’s reminding me of Hoofstrong right now?”         “I think the real question is what would happen if both of them actually meet,” Radiant chuckled… before realizing the full extent of what she just said. “I just jinxed it, didn’t I?”         A small lump of metal fell onto the floor. Only noticed by Haseo as the three mares finished out what they were discussing. After a bit, Cadence decided to make sure that she took Twilight back to Ponyville while Radiant was going to retire for the evening. Leaving Haseo to investigate what the heck actually fell on the floor.         He first looked up at the ceiling, hoping that it wasn’t some kind of chandelier that was added up there and overall, it confused him. “What would a metal scrap be doing here if there wasn’t anything on the ceiling to begin with?” He asked himself. Though, unknowingly, he actually got an answer… from the strangest of places.         “Hi! I’m Tom if yeah need some help with something just hold dis an gimme a call!” That… voice came from the piece of metal itself. Which, in Haseo’s mind, made him want to throw that at a wall. In his mind, he knew that in .HACK//GU, AIDA could take on physical forms of objects, weapons and even a cat in order to infect someone with it. Given the recent incident in Ponyville involving the Alicorn Amulet, he didn’t want to take any chances.         So… Grabbing the scrap, he decided to set foot outside the walls of the empire. If this were truly a form of AIDA, then he had to dispose of it right now. Once he was far away from the empire, he drew out both of his DG-X guns and began to charge up a blast to fire at it.         However, when the blast hit the scrap, it triggered something else completely. Once the blast made contact on the metal a portal opened in it place, a large green portal that was even shooting out green lighting. More importantly though… it was slowly pulling Haseo towards it as he fell forwards and through it. “What the hell-!?”         Once on the other side of the portal there was loud rock music and a lot of yelling. “ERE WE GO! ERE WE GO! ERE WE GO! WAAAGH!” It was as loud as someone pulling death metal on full blast as he landed and had to cover his ears. But that just made him think of two things.         One, was that some sort of Chaos gate he was unfamiliar with? Two… Orks. “Why did it have to be freaking orks of all things? I know that Dawn of War was fun and all, but seriously!?” He groaned internally. He was unsure of how he got here in the first place… but the last thing he needed right now were orks coming to try to tear his throat out. Which left him wondering… Where the hell was he?         “Alright lads pack it in! Wez got a long day an I don’t need yeah all yellin’ like a fan club to death metal!” Yelled a large ork who had a trucker hat on his head. To which, when he noticed them, only made him sigh even more.         “Yeah, I’m definitely not in Equestria anymore… I need to get out of this place and back to the Empire before something bad happens.” The Adept Rogue thought to himself as he hid behind a boulder,, looking at his weapons and tweaking them a small bit.         “Oi, who da humie git?” Said the small goblin on the large Ork shoulder, this in turn made all the orks look at where Haseo was hiding. Especially when one of them proceeded to throw some explosives at the boulder and cause him to move out in the open to not get hit.         Unfortunately, he soon notice that was not exactly the best choice. “Oh hell…” once they exploded he was covered paint… The Orks then laughed.         “Oh zog not again… Lads, for the last time, think before yooz throw da paint bombs!” Yelled the large Ork as the others laughed. Only to see Haseo growl as he looked rather irritated at them as he still held onto both of his weapons. Looking at them, there seemed to be a big group of them. Possibly twenty-five or more… and in Ork terms, that was a war party. Either that or they were just screwing around out here just for laughs… or as they phrased it, laffs.         “Alright, come on lads back ta work with yeah!” The large ork yelled. There were groans from the other orks but they pick up random weapons and wounder off. The large ork looked back to Haseo. “Sowwy bout dem, daays only a few months old. I’m Tom, yooz one of deem dispast, Sorry Displaced.”         “The hell is that supposed to be?” He asked, sounding defensive. “Matter of fact, you sound like the voice on that piece of scrap metal that took me away from the crystal empire!”         “Aaa! Dat be me Token, I heard about it from some git who was here last time.” ‘Tom’ explained as the small goblin popped up with a bag full of sweets.            “Want some? Da pink one makes really good cake!” It said happily. When he heard ‘pink one’, that made Haseo think of only one other possibility as to who that was. That earth pony that was Twilight’s friend, Pinkie Pie. Which could mean one thing…         He… somehow… was in another Equestria… “Holy-” A large pink truck just drives by with said pony driving it screaming in joy. Almost having to make Haseo move out of the way if that truck were to somehow come straight at him.            “Knew I’z shodn't hav made der a truck….” Said Tom as he shook his head. Which left Haseo barely understanding anything that was happening. In his mind to try to simplify things, he thought that he was kidnapped by an ork, subjected to death metal that he couldn’t even hear the words right and now just witnessed Pinkie Pie just drive past him like it was driving the Grave Digger monster truck.         Whatever this place was… he wanted out. “How da yeahs get ere anyways?” Tom asked as his orks were running after a spuig.         “A piece of metal appeared out of nowhere with your voice on it. Thinking that it was something bad, I shot it and ended up here,” Haseo grumbled, moving away from the chaos and even cutting a branch from a nearby tree clean off with the blade end of his twin pistols. “Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to try to find my way back home.”         “I’z cod, wait.” Tom made sounds with his mouth that sounded like a dying cat. “There we go, now then I could help you if you want. Been working on something for a while now. Giblit, get my truck.” Tom Said as Giblit looked at him confused. Tom rolls his eye before saying. “Get da truck for mez, alright?”         “Oh got it boss!” Said Giblit as he ran off and started yelling at some of the other orks to get the truck. To Haseo though… he wasn’t wanting to trust this guy. Especially since it was technically his stuff that got him into this mess.         So, the blades on the weapons now began to project a fiery glow from them as he looked back at this… Tom. “Give me one reason for me to trust you… Because so far, after everything that I have seen, it’s not letting me think you're the trustworthy kind of ork.”         “Do yooz like bananas?” Tom asked. “Who’z dat pokemon? Gotta go fast… A small Doggo is a mini bark.” He went on and on about memes for a while. “I’z just like yooz yeah daft git. Used to be human dan ended up like dis.” He oped and closed his power klaw to show his point. That when the truck rolled up.         Though… Haseo was not entirely convinced, despite some odd similarities. “Yeah and I’m a human with freaking Skeith. May I ask what’s your point?”         “My point, iz dat in order ta get yooz back ta… wherez ever yooz come from we’ll need something orky. Seein as my token is orky.” Tom explained as he get into the back of his truck. Haseo, feeling like he had no other choice, actually decided to go along with this crazy reasoning of his. Why? Honestly, he did not care. But if it were to get him back to the empire and back home to where he was suppose to be, then he would play along. However, he wasn’t going to just openly trust an ork. Especially since if one moment they trust you… the next moment they’ll stab you in the back.         In the back of the truck was, to Haseo was full of junk Tom was rummaging around for something before bring up a pilon fixed up to a engine and what looks like a microwave. “Alright dan, got anything from yeah home?” Tom asked.         “Define anything.” Haseo stated bluntly, folding his arms for a moment.         “Anything, bit of dirt, gum, food, old boots yeah know. Anything dat wasn’t from ere.” Tom asked as he pulled on a ripcord to try and start it up. “Com on yeah zogging thin!” He then kicked it and it lights up and start running. Haseo himself, during this process, began to think over what possible items, other than his weapons, could he have on him. He still kept thinking that and also checking his pockets, even after he had seen them try almost seven different times in order to do something with the microwave that looked like it had been pulled out of one hell of a scrapyard.         Then… he came across something. Something that… to him… he honestly never thought that he would actually see again after all this time. Originally, when he was still serving Amore, a young Cadence had made him a crystalline figurine that looked almost like Skeith, even though she had now actually seen what Skeith really was. And somehow, even after all the years frozen away and even with being almost torn apart by Sombra shortly after waking up… it was still intact.         Yet, it was only seconds after he found it and took it out that the small trip down memory lane… was rather short lived. “Datal do, iz it important?” Tom asked as he worked on the machine. Before Haseo could speak, his head softly moved in a yes like motion, prompting the ork to snatch it out of his hands before putting it in a box then tossing it in there. Yet… doing so recklessly really wasn’t the best kind of choice.         “Bloody ZOG!” Tom yelled before falling on his back covering his eyes with his good hand. “Wat was dat!? Wat in Gork an Mork name was dat!? It was like something out of a nightmare or chaos boyz on the bing!”         “Uh… What?” Haseo asked, looking back at him in confusion… Only to realize that he was reacting the same way that Twilight had looked at his memories shortly after fighting Sombra. “Ah crap… You saw Skeith, didn’t you?”             “Wat da zog is a Skeaf?” Tom asked as he get back up then his face looked grim. “Yoo may want to get out of da truck. Das thin might... explode.”         “Skeith is… it’s my avatar. It’s a part of me in a sense where I gain power and strength. However, a long time ago, I almost lost control of myself and ended up frozen in ice because of it…” It was only then that he looked back at Tom, got out of the truck and then say something. “What I just gave you… must have some sort of connections to my old memories.” Tom’s expression didn’t change at all, but it caused Haseo to think for a moment before wanting to ask something.         Unfortunately though, he did not really have the chance to ask anything. Before he could speak up, Tom just picked him up by the scruff and threw Haseo out of the truck before closing the door as a loud boom was heard inside the truck as black smoke came out of the windows.         “Huh, Bossis telaporta busted again?” Asked one of the orks as another one nods it’s head yes. The orks just watched as Tom opened the door coaching and waving his hand to clear the smoke out of his way. “Right… Let try again.” Tom said before closing the door.         Though… it was when the smoke died down that the Adept Rogue noticed something. That the crystalline figure he gave… was still intact. “Hunh… well, that’s one thing that’s still in one piece.” He thought as he watched the orks get back to work. Throughout the day, Tom has been working in the back of his truck, as a number of explosions from the back of said truck. How Tom wasn’t dead yet after so many explosions? Haseo honestly had no idea. Especially with the amount of times he had seen the ork shrug off shrapnel and gunpowder like it was dust or dandruff. Followed by the one statement that he was bound to hear at some point.         “WAAAGH!” Tom yelled as the sound of a sledgehammer was being used on the teleporter. Then a large portal opened in front of the truck. “Ha ha! It works! Oh… Zog it works!?” Tom yelled as he scrambled to get in the driver set, as all his orks ran to get on the truck or try and stop it from being pulled in. Yet, it did have the original figurine that Haseo had given to Tom end up back in his hands.         “Well… If at first you don’t succeed…” He said, before backing up a bit once he realized… that something about this wasn’t right at all. “Oh… crap!!” The Adept Rogue, shortly after realizing the problem, bolted away from the teleporter as far as he could possibly go. He almost forgot that since he was dealing with Orks, anything could go possibly wrong… including what was happening now. They were falling out of the sky over the empire, the other orks were screaming in every joy or fear as they all fell.         “Zog it! Enjoy it while it last boyz!” Tom yelled as all the orks screamed WAAAGH! Though, thankful to the Adept Rogue, he was at least glad that he was in the empire… just a few miles out from the actual kingdom. So the only real sense of victory Tom and the others got… was just landing inside a place filled with freezing snow.         “Ow…” Tom groaned from the driver set as the sound of orks in pain filled his ears. Well at least they're all alive. “Dat, hurt…” It was the that Haseo turned towards him and facepalmed himself, looking back at the ork as he sighed.         “Great… this was not exactly what I was planning on when making an arrival…” The Adept Rogue happened to notice something by feet as he bent it over to pick it up. Ironically enough, it was that same piece of scrap that got him into this mess in the first place. “Okay, now that I’m back home, I need to send all of you back… and I have no idea how the hell we’re going to do that.”         “Just give the boss a few days, he’ll fix up dat truck and telepota we’ll be home before yooz knows it.” Said Giblit as he smiled. Though, it was not something that was to Haseo’s liking. Though… now that he thought about it some more… he was beginning to think of a better idea for this.         “Actually… I have a simpler solution,” He said, throwing the piece of scrap to where it was in front of the group and stuck in an ice block. “Though… all of you might want to get in your truck.”         It took the other orks a moment before they all smiled and jumped on the truck yelling. “ERE WE GO! ERE WE GO ERE WE GO!” Tom looked less pleased as Giblit ran to get back on the truck. “Iz diz how yooz ended up in dad badlands?” Tom asked.         “Sort of… but this will allow for two things… One, get you back… Two… see Skeith.” Just before Tom could even ask, Haseo stepped back some distance as the glowing avatar pattern of his took form. Within seconds, the orks now saw the avatar that was Skeith… and with it, locked onto the scrap in the distance.         “Homing shot!” With that single command, the swords that were behind him shot outward, striking the scrap as the same portal from before now began to drag the orks away while they were shouting their deaf inducing war crys. Though, after they were away, Haseo still found the same scrap lying in the snow as he decided to pocket it away… while also using the incendiary ammunition to torch the area that Tom and the others happened to land.         “Better hold onto this and make sure that nothing pops up here like wildfire,” He said to himself as he placed the scrap away. Right now… he needed some much needed sleep and an excuse to erase what just happened in the last twenty minutes. Though, anytime he thought he could be able to get some rest… he could still hear them shout ‘WAAAGH!!!’ in the back of his mind.         It was definitely going to be a long night. “God… dammit… orks.” Next Morning…         Throughout most of the night, Haseo wasn’t able to get much sleep. After his… well, abrupt encounter with the ork that called himself ‘Tom’, a lot of questions still remained in the Adept Rogue’s mind. Specifically because of one thing in particular.         He ended up in that other realm through that piece of scrap that he had shot. Doing so again proved to him that the scrap was clearly not something created by AIDA, but something else entirely. And there was only one other person that was within the Empire that may know a thing or two about what he had experience late that night. Because how he remember Kite and BlackRose ending up in the empire sort of reminded him of how he came back from whatever barren waste he was dragged to into the first place.         Now… all he had to do was find him this morning. Which, to be fair, wasn’t exactly easy. He knew that Kite and BlackRose were staying in the empire… though, he just didn’t exactly know where in the empire they were staying at. He thought that they would be staying in the guest quarters of the castle, but after the fierce discussion with Ironwings the other day, Haseo was unsure about that given that Ironwings stayed in the guards quarters nearby the castle.         Those thoughts soon evaporated though when he happened to find who he was looking for upon coming back inside.         Kite looked much better than before, even smiling, however tame it was. “Hey, been awhile Ryou, you haven’t visited us.”         “Sorry about that. Yesterday was a bit crazy… for more than one reason,” He sighed, before going on to ask something. “How are you and Tessa doing?”         “She’s having a blast. The power couple have been spoiling her with treats.” Kite said, smirking to himself. “I’ve been… okay I suppose. Guess I won’t be a DJ anytime soon.”         Haseo, hearing that… was reminded of something that he had heard about in Ponyville when Twilight was over earlier, so he decided to bring it up. “Actually, I think there’s one in Ponyville. Goes by… DJ Pon-3 I think the name was. Next time I check on Twilight, maybe I can find out some more information for you.”         “Thanks, but I don’t think Equestria’s looking for a monkey playing on a turntable.” Kite said, somewhat bitterly. “What are you here for? You wouldn’t be here unless you needed something.”         Haseo sighed for a moment before looking back at his friend. “Well… something occurred the other night that reminded me of when you guys got here,” The Adept Rogue replied, handing the scrap that belonged to the Ork Warboss he somehow met that evening to Kite. “I found this in the middle of the hallway and I heard a voice from it. Thinking it was AIDA trying to take on the form of an object, I took it outside the empire to try and dispose of it, but ended up finding myself crashing in a completely different place that was being run by some Ork Warboss from Warhammer 40k when I used to play back home. I was able to get back, but the whole thing reminded me of when you and Tessa somehow got here earlier this week… Can you help me understand what this whole thing is?”         “I’m still a bit unsure what’s going on here myself. All I remember is hanging out with you and my brother at the convention… Mostly my brother though, heh.” Kite shrugged. “I think I’m still processing this… I don’t know how to help you, man.”         “Alright… I just thought I would ask you if you know about anything…” The Adept Rogue said, remembering his friends brother. “Still… now that you mention it… do you think Luke ended up in the same situation we’re in now?”         “Possibly… Him and his friends were with Tessa and I the whole time. But Tessa and I were in the same place, whereas we haven’t seen them here at all.”         “Man, I never knew that he was there too… I really would’ve wanted to get the chance to see him there with you guys,” Haseo told him. “Was he dressed up like you guys were?”         “I offered, Ryou, but you had somewhere else to be. And yeah, Luke was dressed up, but not as a Dot Hack character. He didn’t like any of the games, so he went as that Kingdom Hearts dark form of Sora.” Kite replied. Haseo himself was a little surprised by that choice, but then again, this was Kite’s brother they were talking about… and a part of him felt bad for both of them getting split up.         “I see… Hey… is there anything you guys want to do today? I know that I’ve been a bit busy, but I think I can be able to hang out with you guys and help you get to know how everything works out here. It’s been too long since I’ve last seen you guys and I want to show that I’m here to help.” He offered, looking back at Kite and thinking of an idea.         “Sure, I’m up for it. And Tessa’s been cooped up for too long… I half expect her to blow up.” The Twin Blade told him.         “Hmm… If that’s the case,” Haseo scratched his chin for a moment, shortly before coming up with an idea. “Would you two like to do some friendly sparring? The training grounds are not far from here.”         “I suppose…” Kite replied. “Let me get Tes and we’ll start.” The Adept Rogue smiled in response as his friend went in order to go get BlackRose. Even though they had no idea who or what exactly was out there in the world… that really didn’t matter.         As long as Haseo had his friends by his side… no one will be able to stop them from protecting their newfound home. And that’s what matters-         “LEEROY JENKINS!” BlackRose shouted as she ran down the stairs before tripping over her sword, which she had been holding in front of her. Sliding across the floor to where she ended up at Haseo’s feet.         Well… Mostly what matters.