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Late one night in the world, a reddish-brown haired girl asks another girl named Hotaru for a favor. She is going to be logged
off for 3 days, and was hoping Hotaru would watch her Grunty. Although Hotaru knows nothing about raising Grunty's, she accepts.
The next day, Mireille, Rena, Shugo, and Ouka go and check out Mireille's secret warehouse of rare items to see if she
could shed some light on the powers of Shugo's bracelet. Mireille, inspects Shugo's bracelet and notes that it is a very
high level item. She can tell because the higher the level, the stronger the material the bracelet is made of. Since the
bracelet is such a high level, this makes Mireille covet it even more because she believes it to be the ultimate bracelet
in the game. While Mireille is fantasizing about owning the bracelet, Shugo has a flashback to when his Data Drain malfunctioned
back in the Cherry Blossom quest. Ouka thinks the reason the bracelet malfunctioned was because the higher level the bracelet
is, the higher level the owner must be to use it. So, they convince Shugo that they should go train in an intermediate level
area. This will help him level up faster and hopefully be able to control the powers of the bracelet.
Balmung and Reki get together to talk about the Kite and Blackrose contest. CC Corp claims that they did not authorize
the contest and that they know nothing about it. Balmung thinks that either they truly know nothing about it, or that they
are refusing to talk. Balmung tells Reki to report is as a number one emergency claim. Hopefully then someone will decide
to talk.
On the field, Ouka, Mireille, and Rena tell Shugo to stay out of there and just practice swinging his sword when they
fight. That way Shugo can still level up along with the group but he does not have to do any actual fighting. When the group
mentions that Rena is doing very well in learning how to fight, Shugo gets jealous and mentions that they are at the same
level because they both started the game at the same time. Upon hearing this, Rena confesses that she was leveling up in
secret when he was not around to achieve her higher level. Frustrated by this news, Shugo looks for anything to take his
mind off this information. He spots a treasure box and eagerly opens it. Unfortunately, it is a level down trap box and
it takes him all the way down to level 1. Frustrated because he feels like he is holding everyone back, he gets mad and teleports
away.
As Shugo sits by the river in Mac Anu, wondering why Aura gave him the bracelet, he notices the girl Hotaru sitting beside
him. She is concerned because she thinks her Grunty is sick and does not know what to do. Shugo decides they should stop
at a doctor, who diagnoses it with Grunty Influenza. Curious if there was anything they could do to help it get better, the
doctor said that the only way they can save it is by getting the Wings of Phoenix from Blazing Purgatory Valley. After finding
out that the level is not for beginners, both Hotaru and Shugo try to call their friends to help, but unfortunately nobody
answers their messages. Realizing that the Grunty would die without the Wings of Phoenix, Shugo and Hotaru decide to take
their chances and make their way through Blazing Purgatory Valley. When Hotaru asks what are they going to do if they get
meet a monster, Shugo replied that he will use a Speed Charm and attempt to outrun the monsters.
Blazing Purgatory Valley is filled with lots of high-level monsters, so Shugo and Hotaru try to be very careful. Soon
they find themselves trapped between several monsters. Realizing that they are trapped, Shugo wants to go back, but Hotaru
cannot let the Grunty die. Realizing that they are out of options, Shugo tries to fight the monsters but is easily outmatched.
As a last ditch effort, Hotaru begs the monster to let them past so they could save the Grunty. When the monster attacks
Hotaru, Shugo decides to use his Data Drain to save Hotaru from sacrificing herself. The Data Drain connects and Shugo is
easily able to defeat the monster. Just after Shugo defeats one monster, another one is ready to strike Hotaru. Luckily,
Sanjuro comes to the rescue and easily kills the monster. He immediately recognizes Shugo as Kite and asks why he is playing
with such low level opponents. Shugo explains that he is not Kite and that the reason he looks like Kite was because he won
a character contest. Sanjuro said that they must have pulled out all the stops in this contest (referring to Shugo's bracelet)
and he leads them safely to the Wing of Phoenix. With the Wings of Phoenix now in their possession, Hotaru and Shugo go back
to Mac Anu to heal the Grunty.
Shortly after the Grunty is healed, the reddish brown haired girl comes back, surprised that it is all healed. She said
that she thought it was sick but decided to go out of town anyway. It was too much responsibility to care for a Grunty in
a game. But, now that it is healthy again, she wants the Grunty back. The Grunty tells Hotaru that he does not want her
for an owner and that he wants Hotaru. Sanjuro tells the reddish brown haired girl that a true owner would care for the Grunty
not only when it is healthy but when it is sick. The reddish brown haired girl claims that it is just a Grunty and that it
does not matter. Ouka, Mireille, and Rena show up on behalf of the Grunty and proceed to carry the girl away.
Back in Mac Anu, Balmung asks Sanjuro if he would train Shugo on how to fight. When Sanjuro asks why Balmung explains
that "The Twilight is approaching and Shugo has the key".
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