Alkaid (G.U.)

Alkaid (揺光, Yōkō) is a female Twin Blade and a former member of Icolo.

Appearance
Alkaid is a short red haired Twin Blade. She wears a decorated battle outfit, accented by a large fan on her back. Her favored weapon is the Dorje Hatchet, a set of dual-wield golden knives, which she uses to attack with blinding speed.

Personality
Alkaid has a very fiery personality. She is always ready to defend her pride, and doesn't take any insults from anybody. She especially dislikes PKers like Bordeaux, seeing them as players who are too cowardly to fight players of equal strength. She also has a particular loathing for Endrance, who she believes stole her title as Arena Emperor illegally. However to those who have earned her respect, Alkaid is a very loyal friend. She is willing to defend their honor just as she would her own.

Basic Info
Alkaid's player is a 16-year-old girl named Chika Kuramoto (倉本 智香). She is a high school student in Sapporo, Hokkaido and is classmates with the player behind Nanase. She loves books, and is part of her school's library council. She loves the Chinese classics like The Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but also Western fantasy and thrillers like Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Her favorite food is miso butter ramen, and one day she hopes to go on a restaurant hop around Japan. She is also a big fan of comedians like Salvador Aihara and "Mr. Usagimaru".

.hack//Alcor
Alkaid appears in Alcor as a newly christened Arena Emperor and a friend of Silabus. Disgusted by the amount of attention that Alkaid receives from Silabus, Nanase declares herself as Alkaid's rival, something that annoys Alkaid to no end. However Nanase soon becomes the least of Alkaid's problems when a powerful player named Endrance begins climbing the Arena ladder to try and claim the Emperor title for himself. To add to her problems, Nanase is revealed by Bordeaux to have been a former member of Kestrel. After Silabus is PKed by Bordeaux, Alkaid becomes convinced that Nanase is part of a Kestrel plot to destroy Silabus' guild Canard.

However, Alkaid apologizes to Nanase for ever doubting her after receiving Dual Mystic swords that Nanase got from a quest. She then tells Nanase that they should go stargazing together. This causes Nanase to realize who's the player behind Alkaid.A week after the title match, Alkaid is at the Canard's @HOME talking to Silabus about Nanase transferring schools and how she wanted to go stargazing with her. Silabus realizes that Alkaid knew Nanase in real life and says that she should be able to find out where Nanase transferred to. Alkaid, however, explains that Nanase is moving on her on accord for the first time and she's not going to bother her. Also that she's sure that she'll meet her again.

.hack//G.U. Games
Alkaid is a former member of Icolo, the arena emperors guild. She lost her title of Demon Palace Emperor to Endrance, and was on a quest for revenge, only to be defeated by Haseo with the help of his Avatar. She initially wanted to expose him as a cheater, but a chance meeting during a quest began to change her opinion of him.

She later joined Haseo in an attempt to find a cure for Sirius, who had been infected with AIDA. Along with Atoli she entered the Holy Palace Tournament with him in order to face Sirius. She quickly became good friends with both of her teammates, and began a small rivalry with Atoli for Haseo's affection. After the third round of the tournament Alkaid received a mysterious e-mail about Sirius. When she followed the e-mails directions and traveled to the Coite-Bodher Battlefield she was PKed by an AIDA-infected Bordeaux. Haseo arrived shortly afterwards, only to see her character fading away. With her last breaths she told him to find Endrance and use him to save Sirius. She then became a Lost One, falling into a coma in the real world. The shock was so great that her heart stopped beating, but she was shortly restored to a stable comatose state.

Much later, when Cubia Gommoras are attacking the Lost Grounds, Haseo is slightly overwhelmed by the amount at the Arche Koeln Waterfall, but a familiar face returns and gets rid of some of the Gommoras before turning around and revealing herself as Alkaid. She lectures Haseo and is shocked when Haseo just outright hugs her and scolds her for not contacting him sooner. Sirius and Taihaku then gate into the Lost Ground and, along with Alkaid, buy Haseo time for him to head into the Outer Dungeon so he can take care of the Gommoras there.

.hack//G.U.+
Wanting to regain her lost title, Alkaid challenges Endrance to a fight in the Arena. Endrance accepts, and easily defeats her in one hit using Avatar Macha. Haseo, who was watching from the sidelines with Kuhn is able to see the avatar, which is invisible to non-Epitaph PCs. This causes Haseo to confront Endrance later.

G.U. Novels
Alkaid makes her appearance in an arena battle against Endrance. She vanished following her defeat.

.hack//G.U. Trilogy
Alkaid stops Haseo's winning streak in the Arena. She mocks his strength after killing him.



.hack//G.U. Returner
Alkaid is briefly seen at Δ Hidden Forbidden Festival, together with Sirius and Antares.



.hack//LINK

 * See Alkaid (LINK)

Trivia

 * Alkaid's starting level is 49.
 * Alkaid's starting weapons are the Dorje Hatchets, a rare level 37 set of Dual Swords, which hold a resemblance to their counterparts, the Spin Axe and the more rare Lit Honeysuckle.
 * Alkaid's name in the Japanese version of the game was Yowkow, the traditional Sino-Japanese name for the star Eta Ursae Majoris, also known as Alkaid. The name of the star is usually spelled "Youkou".
 * Alkaid's Japanese voice actress, Masumi Asano, also does the voice of BlackRose. Her English voice actress also voices Sakubo.
 * Alkaid's height is 5'1" (153 cm).
 * The two other PC's in Alkaid's arena team, AKATSUKI, are named Luca, and Mika. They are both Twin Blades as well.
 * The Shopkeeper from .hack//LINK has a picture of Alkaid in his collection.
 * A Poll on CyberConnect2's website show Alkaid as second most popular character in .hack//G.U. and .hack//G.U. TRILOGY.