I'm Right Here

“Oh? This one has gone through a change or two… but otherwise it just doesn’t change much.” Skeith noted. R:1 and R:2 changes were drastic but otherwise… meh.

“What kind of memories?” Azure Kite questioned, a little curious.

“Running away from home, joining the Twilight Brigade...” He frowned a bit, a distant look in his eyes. “Losing Shino, watching as Ovan vanished and Phyllo passed away... but also meeting people like Gaspard, Silabus, Atoli...”

“Alright…” Azure Kite gave a stiff shrug and then proceeded to do just that.

And there they were in the aqua capital among a few players and near the save and shop npcs.

“This is nice, haven’t been out this much in a lonngg time.” Skeith said, looking around a bit.

Skeith crouched down near him, “You can pace yourself, y’know? Keeping up with a tiger isn’t easy.”

Meanwhile Azure Kite shifted to ‘human’ form. He really didn’t look much different from his non beast counterparts this way. Only notable difference was his gloves were fingerless to allow his clawed hands room to breathe.

“We should check Mac Anu first…” he suggested, waiting for his companions to get back on their feet.

The two A.I.s were confident that they wouldn’t need any healing with such small fry… but neither said it. Skeith didn’t want Ryou to feel useless and Azure Kite… well he just didn’t feel like saying it.

“Gladly!” Skeith lundged forward, back on all fours. He charged ahead wiping out the outer bugs with tooth, claw, and brute force. If these creatures had been made of flesh it would have been a bloodbath.

Azure Kite only had to kill off a few things that managed to sneak past the tiger.

“Here we are!” Skeith announced in front of the Chaos gate. “Now… before we get going I think we should switch to human form. Attract slightly less attention.” Or so he hoped as he switched to look like an inverted version of the xth form.

“That’s alright, with me here you won’t have to lift a finger during any battle!” He puffed out his chest, he was one cocky king of the jungle.

“And when he messes up, I’ll pick up the slack.” Azure Kite adds, snorting at how big headed Skeith was.

Skeith growled at the comment but quickly rebounded. “Anyways, lets go. We can take care of any bugs along the way.” Outer dungeons were full of ‘em.

Ryou couldn’t help but snort at the two of them. “Thanks, to the both of you, then... I’ll try and be helpful if I can, I know a few healing spells, at the very least...”

“Well damn, that doesn’t sound good.” His ears flicked back, tail swishing. “Dunno if there’s anything I can specifically do…. but there’s magic users in this world, we just need to go find one!” He gives Ryou a pat on the head with his big ol’ paw, “I’m sure we,” he looks pointedly at Azure Kite, “can help you get back home no problem.”

“Right… I can contact the other knights if need be.” Azure Kite replied, his own tail swaying. He was almost jealous of how quickly the guy had moved to Skeith but…. he also still had has uncertainties about the boy from another world.

“Then... let’s go...! But, oh... I should tell you.” He bit his lower lip. “I’m not exactly in the position to fight right now, without my link to my Skeith, I’m... actually very frail and sickly.”

Azure Kite’s tail swayed, unsure how he felt about how close this other Haseo was…

Skeith stood upright, taking to his intimidating 7 foot height. Unlike that time when he was just a projection, he exerted a lot more power. Not that Azure Kite wasn’t just as strong… Skeith just liked to flaunt his strength.

“Hmm..” he moves closer, sniffing. “Yes, I believe we have. You’re the Ryou from that other world! What brings you here?”

After a quick hack of the gate they were transported to an outer dungeon sort of space. Very different from the place they just were as there was a lack of overlays and textures, just a grid pattern and exposed pixels.

“Skeith should be this way…” he muttered, not exactly keen on visiting the phase.

And it didn’t take long for the black and white tiger to show himself, pouncing into view and letting out a boisterous roar.

Azure Kite wasn’t too impressed, just flicking his tail in annoyance.

Ryou had already sorta moved to cling to Azure Kite, thanks to being so thrown off by how this place looked. This wasn’t the kind of place you would ever find in Alba...!

He flicked his tail lightly in response to the thank you, it was a sort of contented gesture.

“Hmm that is good….” though he was sure there were plenty of differences… such as the fact most people here weren’t in their real bodies.

He had to dispatch a few weak enemies on the way but they arrived at the Chaos Gate soon enough. “I have to use the bracelet to get to the area Skeith is in.” He explained before putting a paw up to use gate hacking.

“Don’t know… worth a shot though.” He wasn’t sure what else to do, honestly. “It’s fine… protecting is what I am best at.” He gave a sincere look this time, eyes intense with a fiery passion. Protecting others is what he was made for.

“We just need to get to a chaos gate.. stay close.” He motions with a claw for him to follow.

“I could just take you to Skeith…” At least the one he knew. Though would that do any good?

His glare just turned more intense at that comment but he said nothing more on the subject.

“No answer?” He tilts his head in a rather cute manner despite how deadly his glare had been moments before.

Azure Kite’s fire flared up again at that, “Well I have power over flames, too!” He didn’t like the way Haseo had worded it.

“Skeith….? Hm…” His ears flicked back, tail swaying. He knew Skeith but it was odd to find out there were two of them…?

And another step back he took. “W...well, I still think mine is cooler!” Was that because of romantic bias? Maybe.

“God..? I am a knight.” He snorts. Although he was quite powerful all things considered… and he had a ‘god’ form.

“I… do not comprehend.” Never heard of a god speaker before… However the boy’s genuine lack of knowledge here was enough to make Azure Kite calm down a little. It didn’t seem like this Haseo was lying… “Then… you should go back?”

“In my Alba, Azure Kite is the god of flames and Aura’s knight!” He huffed, a hand to his chest as he took another step back.

“I am Azure Kite.” He replies. Usually he wouldn’t bother to say… but too many misunderstandings had come from him not giving him name before.

“And this is not your Alba.” He moved closer, at a speed that was faster than the eye could see, closing the distance between them. “How did you get here?” He growled, close enough that his hot breath could be felt on the guy’s face.

“...No way, the same name as the god Azure Kite?” he shook his head. Just what was going on here...?

“Haseo?” He narrowed his eyes, apparently not happy with the answer. He wondered if this was some sort of imposter… then again he, himself, was a sort of replica of Kite… But that didn’t seem like the case here.

“This is The World… otherwise known as Alba.” Not that many of the players knew that second bit. “But you… do not belong here.” He growled again, flames bursting from his shoulders in addition to his own fur already bristling.

“Yes, Haseo. I used to go by Sora when i was a little boy, but that was a long time ago...” He shook his head. “W...who are you? You look like someone I know...”