Azure Kite

Alternative universe. Japan, 2017. VR and robotics are very advanced. Full dive VR games exist, the most famous is The World. Setting: .hack, G.U. in particular.

AIDA (Artificially Intelligent Data Anomaly), is a term used by the CyberConnect Corporation to refer to the anomalous ‘black spots’ appearing throughout The World R:2 and to the creatures that emerge from them. AIDA are drawn to human emotions, and frequently attach themselves to the PC bodies of players. Players PKed by those infected with AIDA become Lost Ones and fall into a coma in real life.

In general, any kind of system anomaly is associated with a sound of a tuning fork (e.g. the sound appears and then something strange happens).

Lost Grounds are special locations that have existed since Fragment (The World’s beta version). The area words for them are all in this format: ‘Hidden Forbidden X’ (e.g., Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground). They seemingly appear and disappear randomly and not many of them are explored by players, only those Grounds whose area words have been discovered.

Azure Flame Kite (or simply Kite) is an AI that was created by Aura, an AI that governs The World, to protect her and The World. His appearance and identity is based on the memories that Aura had of Kite, a player of The World R:1 that helped restore her and achieve the status of a perfect AI.

As Aura grew more reclusive and reluctant to directly interact with players, she created Azure Flame Kite, Azure Balmung and Azure Orca. Together the trio are Azure Knights, also based on the memories Aura had of the originals, and they exist to protect the system, combat things like AIDA and root out hackers and players that defy system parameters. Basically, they investigate any anomaly within the system. However, perhaps unwilling to have competition, Aura created them incomplete, ‘dumbed down’, so to speak – smart enough to fulfill their duties as metaphorical digital white blood cells, but nothing beyond that.

Kite is a lanky figure with pale skin that has an almost corpse-like greyish tint, dark teal hair that peeks out of his hat and falls over his eyes some and sharp triangular teeth. He is 170cm tall. His eyes are electric green, lined with red liner and always wide open - it creates a creepy, thousand yard stare look. He has triangular red markings on his cheeks (Wave Symbols). His mouth is often slack, showing teeth – this looks vacant at best or even zombie-like. High collar covers the lower part of his face.

Dressed in orange and red, Kite wears a slightly ragged leather vest, a dark undershirt, baggy pants (one pant leg is yellow, the other is orange), leather gloves, heavy boots and a yellow hat with flaps that frame the sides of his head. The hat has a W Wave symbol on the front. There are manacle-like things on his ankles, perhaps symbolizing his servile nature. As a Twin Blade, Kite carries double tri-edged daggers named Empty Skies in the system. The whole outfit is looks crudely stitched together; it creates a somewhat of a Halloween look. No wonder there are rumors about him on the The World forums spread by those who saw him, that he is a PK, a ghost, can curse you or make you fall into a coma. The 'Data Drain' ability is not something an ordinary player knows about, to them, it's just an unknown skill. Generally, very few know about Kite's existence, and no one is aware of his AI nature. Players refer to Kite as 'Tri-Edge' - largely due to Haseo, who searches for Kite obsessively. Haseo asks PKs "Do you know Tri-Edge?" before he kills them and in general acts belligerent on the forums and in game.

There is a special Twilight Bracelet on Kite’s wrist given to him by Aura. It gives him the ability to Data Drain and allows him to fight AIDA and AIDA infected players. Once again, if Data Drain is used on a person (even if infected by AIDA), that person will fall into a coma. Kite does his duties and has sent some into a real life coma; he is unaware of the consequences of Data Drain, but, most likely, his limited cognition will prevent him from understanding it. This bracelet allows him to travel without Chaos Gates. He takes the form of a small ball of blue light and, upon arrival in a barrier of azure flames, he turns into his main form. Aside from fighting AIDA he spends his time in a location in the Lost Grounds, waiting motionlessly until he is prompted into action. This location is a pure white void with a single object – a coffin in which the knights recuperate if their HP is reduced to zero. If all knights are killed at once, two more coffins spawn to accommodate all of them.

The Azure Knights operate primarily as independent units to maximize area coverage. However, they possess a low-priority data-link. If one is destroyed, the others are instantly aware of the location and nature of the threat. If a system-wide catastrophe happens, they can be deployed as a single unit with synchronized combat algorithms.

Azure Kite does not speak, the only sounds he makes are battle cries, breaths and guttural hiss like sounds. When Kite is spoken to he seems to understand, but he never replies verbally. Even if Kite tried to speak, all that would come out is something like strangled "Aaaahh...". NPCs in-game understand him, though, but not the players, of course.

While his cognition is limited, Kite can move around just fine, possesses battle tactics, ability to distinguish targets and is skilled with the Twilight Bracelet, using it to Data Drain or repair system data. Aura created Azure Kite using her memories of the original Kite, the player that helped her. Though in terms of personality Azure Kite is mostly a blank slate - Aura didn't bother herself with fleshing him out much; it seems, to her, he and the other knights are just tools. Azure Kite is stoic and fully obedient to Aura. The only time he shows any kind of emotion is during a fight. Very determined - nothing will stop him. No matter how many times he's beaten in combat, he'll regenerate (which, admittedly, takes time) and return soon after. But Kite is not completely robotic; occasionally, he displays flickers of curiosity. While it never happened before, Kite can blush, which makes him look cute.

Whether due to his limitations or something else, Kite is sloppy with the Data Drain. In a sense, he very well might allow a bystander to get hurt. For example, he is aiming at an infected player, and another player is standing between them, Kite will fire the Data Drain, disregarding the fact that an innocent will be caught in the crossfire. However, if, for example, Kite is hunting an infected player, and another player attacks him, Kite will not attack the non-infected and will simply block or evade while trying to reach his target.

While he doesn’t communicate verbally, if one somehow gets hold of his Member Address (a sort of in-game email system that allows to send emails, greeting cards and invite to party), and writes to him, Kite will respond. He communicates in very short, choppy/corrupted text (e.g. "…M%c Anu, at Cha%s G#te"). He never shows up in towns and places where a lot of players can be found.

During battle Kite fights with his Twin Blades and does so extremely skillfully, mopping the floor with anyone that dares to attack him. He possesses inhuman reaction and can block almost any attack, seemingly skipping frames to do so. When cornered, Kite can Data Drain his surroundings, destroying them, to regenerate HP. As a last resort, he can turn into an Avatar form (named Azure Flame God in the system), massive and deadly.