Chapter 8: Dance Battle!

Project X Zone 2
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Area:	Δ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground, Hulle Granz Cathedral, Cyberspace, The World (R:2)
Origin:	.hack//G.U. Vol.1//Rebirth (2006)
Previous Chapter:	Chapter 7: Going Commando
Next Chapter:	Chapter 9: A Part Of Me I Can't Let Go

Overview

"Dance Battle!" is the eighth chapter and thirteenth overall chapter in Project X Zone 2. Kite, Haseo, and Ulala join the party. This also marks the first encounters with Skeith, Shadow, and Coco ★ Tapioca.

Synopsis

In Cyberspace, with Sylphie's help they manage to get access to The World, an online game from the present time. The Maverick Hunters and Captain Commando decide to join up with the heroes since this problem isn't just theirs anymore. After flying for a while, they find themselves at a cathedral. While some are amazed by the scenery, Xiaomu suggests contacting Kite of the .hackers, a player who assisted them in the last incident. Since they met by chance that time, they decide to find Aura, the commanding AI of the game. Urashima stays inside to make repairs while the party checks inside.

Inside, Kite and Haseo see no statue of Aura and find a P-shaped mark on the pedestal. Haseo realizes they are in The World...R:2 to be exact. They are in Haseo's time, a time where Aura is no longer in The World. Haseo tries to log out, but was unable to. Kite explained that this happened last time as well, and suggests heading back to a Chaos Gate to try and get back to Kite's time.

Just then, some of the local monsters appear along with some strange ones. Haseo recognizes them as AIDA (Artificially Intelligent Data Anomaly), sentient programs that makes whatever it infects go out of control. He tries to summon his avatar Skeith, which surprises Kite, but it somehow didn't work...sort of. Skeith appears, but it's the one from Kite's time. Haseo explains that he is an Epitaph User and Avatars are guardians that they uses to fight enemies, and his is Skeith, the Terror of Death. Kite wonders if they were pulled apart somehow and they have to get him back.

The heroes enter the scene and find the two already in battle. It seems they were lucky to find Kite when they did, as he explains they are seven years in the future. The two explain how they met others from the real world earlier, and after some introductions, the heroes decide to lend a hand in the fight.

A mysterious black figure arrives along with eight short robots. While most of the heroes don't recognize him, Captain remembers him in several reports about civilian kidnappings and forcing them to dance. They are the Rhythm Rogues...as revealed by the reporter, Ulala of Space Channel 5. She gives her report on Shadow, the field captain of the Rogues, as well as the current situation inside The World. Some of them recognize the reporter from the last incident and now she's arrived for a new scoop after receiving a hot tip from a reliable source. Shadow calls a familiar robot: Coco ★ Tapioca. They managed to recreate it using a new virus, something they heard quite recently from their previous battle.

He plans to take their dance energy, a futuristic source of power harnessed through dancing, which he used to travel through time and space. While most of them don't understand the mechanics behind this energy source, they figure it would be easier to continue the fight. Like it or not, DANCE BATTLE!

After destroying one of the AIDA, Haseo is worried about it spreading and Kite decides to help out with that along with getting back Skeith. Ulala gives some colorful commentary on the Tapioca's defeat (as well as the Morolian's weakness). After Shadow takes a beating, he retreats. Once Skeith is defeated he warps away before Kite and Haseo could get any info from him.

With Aura not here, the party wonders what their next move is. KOS-MOS then detects that cyberspace is beginning to isolate itself, one databank at a time. With that, everyone heads back outside.

Party Members

Pair Unit

• Kite & Haseo

After Enemy Round 2

• Reiji & Xiaomu
• Chris & Jill
• Kiryu & Majima
• Jin & Kazuya
• Demitri & Morrigan
• Hiryu & Hotsuma
• X & Zero
• KOS-MOS & Fiora

Solo Units (After Enemy Round 2)

• Heihachi
• Phoenix & Maya
• Natsu
• Aty
• Ryo
• Captain Commando

After Enemy Round 3

• Ulala

Enemies

Image	Name	Lv.	Amount	HP	ATK	DEF	TEC	DEX	RNG	M-RNG	SP-RNG	SP-M-RNG	MOVE	Block	Gear
	Goblin Mage	6	2	1929	153	40	49	42	2	0	0	0	4	0	-
	Strange Head	6	2	1929	180	40	49	42	2	0	0	0	5	0	-
	AIDA Anna	6	2	14131	287	59	49	51	3	0	0	0	5	15	-
	Skeith	8	1	29233	319	85	67	58	3	0	4	3	6	35	Sora's Blades

After Enemy Round 3

Image	Name	Lv.	Amount	HP	ATK	DEF	TEC	DEX	RNG	M-RNG	SP-RNG	SP-M-RNG	MOVE	Block	Gear
	Rhythm Robot (Black Walker)	6	2	1715	162	49	63	63	2	0	0	0	5	15	-
		7	1	1928	178	67	70	70
	Rhythm Robot (Silver Walker)	6	3	2036	180	54	68	68	2	0	0	5	4	25	-
		7	2	2290	198	62	75	75
	Shadow	7	1	21254	256	55	67	67	2	0	2	5	7	25	Rhythm Rogue Suit
	Coco ★ Tapioca	7	1	35424	244	45	57	49	2	0	2	3	6	0	Yellow Submorolian

Items

• Holy Potion
• Great Ladle
• Broad Legged

Transcript

Chapter 8: Dance Battle! (Transcript)

Trivia

• AIDA are one of the main problems in the .hack//G.U. series. They cause players to go berserk and allow them to use special powers at the cost of their sanity. Some of the main characters, including Atoli, Sakaki, and Ovan, were infected by these and could only be cured with Haseo's Avatar; though in Sakaki's case, Ovan got rid of them before Tri-Edge, Azure Orca and Azure Balmung arrived to finish him off.
• Avatars are programs which a select few players are able to control. The avatar Haseo controls is Skeith (appropriate since his PK moniker is the "Terror of Death"). The others are Atoli (Innis), Kuhn (Magus), Yata (Fidchell), Sakubo (Gorre), Endrance (Macha), Pi (Tarvos), and Ovan (Corbenik).
• The Key of the Twilight refers to Aura and the Twilight Bracelet which Kite yields. But it is later revealed that the new Key of the Twilight is Haseo...and his new Xth form.

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Project X Zone 2
Chapters
Prologue 1 - Prologue 2 - Prologue 3 - Prologue 4 - Prologue 5 - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19 - Chapter 20 - Chapter 21 - Chapter 22 - Chapter 23 - Chapter 24 - Chapter 25 - Chapter 26 - Chapter 27 - Chapter 28 - Chapter 29 - Chapter 30 - Chapter 31 - Chapter 32 - Chapter 33 - Chapter 34 - Chapter 35 - Chapter 36 - Chapter 37 - Chapter 38 - Chapter 39 - Chapter 40 - Chapter 41 - Final Chapter
Challenge Stages
Challenge 1 - Challenge 2 - Challenge 3 - Chapter 4 - Challenge 5 - Challenge 6 - Challenge 7 - Challenge 8 - Challenge 9 - Challenge 10