Trap of the Steaming Hot Water

"Shugo, this is not a special event. It's a very serious incident."

- Balmung

Trap of the Steaming Hot Water (湯けむりの罠) is the sixth episode of .hack//Legend of the Twilight.

Story
Shugo and his party comb the dungeon at Δ Cursed Woodland Murderhouse for any sign of Rena. When a full search finds no trace of her Mireille declares that it must be part of a special event. She says that with all the recent activity involving Shugo and his Twilight Bracelet that it's very likely he and Rena unlocked some sort of character specific event when they won their characters. Shugo agrees with her answer, but is still concerned that Rena hasn't been picking up her cell phone in real life. He ponders whether Aura could have taken her away. Regardless, it's clear that Rena is no longer in the area, so everybody decides to look elsewhere.

Returning to Mac Anu Shugo's party decides to ask people in the city if they've seen Rena. Since she has a rare character model, they reason that it will be easy to find her. Unfortunately nobody they ask has seen her. Hotaru attempts to use her Grunty to track Rena by scent, but that plan fails as well. They even try using Ouka's Werewolf form to track her, but that's no use either.

Meanwhile, Sanjuro meets with Balmung and Reki in a field. He informs him of Rena's disappearance, and tells him that when she was killed she failed to leave a ghost. Reki says that such a thing is impossible, it goes against the very programming of The World. But Sanjuro is insistent that it actually happened. Balmung grows concerned, and begins to plan his next move.

After failing to find Rena in the town, Shugo, Ouka, and Hotaru do a systematic search across Delta and Theta Server, looking through all the fields they'd visited recently. Their search proves fruitless, and Shugo begins to worry that his sister could really be in trouble. He remembers that she used to get lost in real life, but that he was always able to find her.

In the real world, the four hackers locate Shugo. Michi, still mistaking him for Kite says that without BlackRose he'll be an easy target. Hayato says he'll take care of it, and begins to devise a plan.

Back at Mireille's hideout Shugo and his party are more confused than ever. Mireille says that no known events in The World match up with what happened to Rena. Suddenly Shugo receives an e-mail from an unknown sender. The mail contains the area word Δ Enraged Dragon Queen. Convinced that it's part of the event, and that Rena will be waiting, Shugo and his party head towards that field. Upon arriving they find themselves in a frozen wasteland, while exploring they field they discover a Hot Spring. Unable to pass up such a unique area, Mireille convinces everybody to take a quick bath.

Entering the Hot Spring, the girls tease Shugo about his shyness, and send Little Grunty over to keep him company in his side of the spring. A sudden splash announces a new person entering the water, turning around Shugo sees Rena walking towards him. Hugging him, she tells him that she'd been waiting a long time for him to find her. Shugo realizes that the person in front of him isn't Rena, but a copy. He demands to know who she really is. His words cause Rena to transform into a monster, the entire Hot Spring disappears as well.

Mireille hits the monster with a spell, and realizes it's a Data Bug when it recovers from the attack. The Data Bug summons a water dragon which begins chasing Shugo's party around the field. Angry at being fooled Shugo hits both the dragon and the Data Bug with a Data Drain, destroying them both.

Recovering from the fight, Shugo begins to wonder if this is a special event after all. Suddenly Balmung and Reki teleport into the field. Revealing themselves as System Administrators they say reveal that the .hackers Character Contest that gave Shugo and Rena their characters was not designed by CC Corp, but by some other entity. Balmung also says that Rena's disappearance was not part of an event, but a serious incident within The World.

In the real world, Shugo gets a phone call from his mother. He is informed that Rena has fallen into a coma and been hospitalized.

Trivia

 * Shugo loses a tooth in this episode, after he trips over a rock while running from the Data Bug's summon attack.
 * Hotaru humorously mistranslates the area words "Enraged Dragon Queen" as "Enraged Drag Queen".