.hack//sign- Epitaph-- Episode #9

Bear is talking with B.T. Ever since she heard about the Key of the Twilight, she's been itching to find leads on it. Bear thinks it might not exsist, but he's not sure. B.T. thinks that they should go and try to find the Key, whatever it takes. When we next see Tsukasa, he is back at his usual floating girl. The episodes have never shown who this is, and Tsukasa is wondering why she hasn't woken up.
We next join Crim and B.T, discussing the Key. Crim goes on to tell her that he does know quite a lot. The Key was quite a hot topic around the message boards. There would be one group that would say the key has to exsist, but the other group would be firm with their belief, that the Key doesn't. Crim never entered the argument; he was still part of the Crimson Knights at the time. The Crimson Knights decided that if this did exsist, they would search all of The World. They took a wide search all over, but didn't find it. Therefore, they had to conclude that they Key of the Twilight did not exsist. However, B.T. still wants to know where the story came from, even if it doesn't exsist. As Tsukasa is wandering, a girl player asks if he could take care of her little baby Gruntee. Tsukasa didn't know if he should, but he does anyway. He was asked by the girl to watch the Gruntee for only three days, as she had to go on vacation with her family.
Mimiru is talking with Bear. They are also discussing the Key, and they have mixed feelings. Mimiru thinks that it doesn't exsist, because an item like that would only cause trouble for the system. But Bear has an interesting theory- he explained that when you're born, your hands look like kitchen spatulas, with nothing in between. But as cells in between selectively die, fingers are created. Bear's theory is that the Key of the Twilight may actually create something, just like his example.
B.T. wants to find out anything she can, so she goes to Subaru. Subaru has a lead that B.T. may take. Subaru explains that there was a post she could date back as far as she could. It was a difficult message to read, and it was in German to begin with. It's very mysterious , but that may just be the lead B.T. is looking for.
Tsukasa returns the the stable where he's watching the Gruntee, and finds the Gruntee shivering and sick-looking. When Tsukasa shows the stable owner, the owner tells him that the Gruntee has a bad disease called Gruntee Distemperment. Tsukasa needs to find Purple Cherries to cure it. And so Tsukasa goes to a blistering cold server to find those cherries. He stumbles along, doing his best.
Sitting around a fire, Bear, B.T. and Mimiru are devising a plan to find the person who knows any information. Bear and B.T. make Mimiru go and ask Sora. Mimiru reluctantly accepts. She find Sora really quickly and asks if he has any info. He says he does, but he'll only give it if he joins in the plan. Mimiru has to say yes. Reporting back to Bear and Mimiru, she tells them that Sora will be contacting Helba, an amazingly skilled hacker who plays the game. She may know something.
B.T. goes and sees Sora herself. As they get into talk about the Key, Sora tells B.T. that he doesn't want to use the Key, just get it before anyone else does. He also tells her that if B.T. finds it first, she should keep it away from Crim, because he will probably take it from her.
After returning, Tsukasa has the purple cherries. He gives it to the Gruntee, and it looks happy for a minute, but it doesn't eat it yet. It tries to get up, but collapses. It dies and fades away. As soon as that happens, the player runs in and gets angry. Tsukasa gets really upset, apologizes, and leaves. Mimiru catches up with Tsukasa and they sit. Tsukasa is really upset that he couldn't help the Gruntee. He is sad that he tried but couldn't help. He wonders why he is the only one like this, always feeling pain. He tried...