Chapter 1
The night air was cool in Vale, a light spring breeze passed through the forest of buildings and houses that made up the kingdom's inner city. The streets were bustling with people and vehicles of all types, despite the hour; among them was a motorcycle carrying two people in the direction of a large park where a crowd was gathering. As the motorcycle rolled to a halt in the nearby parking lot, the person on the back pulled off their helmet, revealing a young woman with long auburn hair and eyes.
"Looks like we made it just in time," Asuna Yuuki said, glancing to the driver.
Kazuto Kirigaya, aka Kirito, pulled off his helmet and shook out his messy black hair, "I told you we would," he replied.
"You also told me we'd beat the others," she smiled, pointing toward the group; in it was their friends, most prominently Klein who was waving at them and calling their names. Kirito just grumbled in reply causing Asuna to giggle.
They put on their Augma headsets and made their way toward their friends, who were sitting on a set of stairs with Agil and Sinon leaning against the railing.
"'Bout time you two showed up," Klein said with a goofy grin.
"Yeah sorry," Asuna replied; she glanced at Kirito, "somebody took a wrong turn on the way here."
"Hey, I still got us here, didn't I?" Kirito protested, causing the group to laugh. He sighed and turned to look at the crowd, "Lot of people here today," he commented.
"Well it is a big event," Lisbeth replied, also looking, "plus they held it on a holiday so a lot of people are free for this."
"Yeah, but if they hadn't then there'd be no way for all of us to come today, right?" Silica replied, glancing at Suguha.
"Yep," she nodded, "it's been awhile since we all hung out like this, at least outside of ALO."
Their conversation was cut short as a virtual clock sitting above the park let out a warning tone, signaling to everyone with an Augma device that it was 2 minutes till the start of the event.
"Ah finally," Klein said, stretching, "I was starting to get bored."
"You've only been here for like 10 minutes," Agil commented, pushing off the railing.
"Yeah, so?"
Agil merely sighed in response.
"Come on, let's go," Asuna said, leading the group toward the main area. She reached into her bag and pulled out what would serve as her weapon for the upcoming battle; the rest of the group did the same.
"Everybody ready?" She asked, turning to the group.
"You know it," Klein grinned; the others nodded. Asuna nodded as well, and turned back.
"Ordinal Scale Activate."
A white ring appeared and expanded, encompassing the park and nearby buildings. The trees were replaced with blackened masses and street lamps suddenly became bent and rusted, some still flickering occasionally. The ground itself appeared cracked, scorch marks covering some areas. The buildings within eyesight became dilapidated; windows shattered and holes dotted many of them.
Looks like its a post apocalyptic map, Asuna thought.
Suddenly a large pillar of fire erupted from the ground, from it came a massive beast with green skin and a stocky build. It let out a powerful roar as multiple health bars appeared and filled with green. Immediately the other players went into action; those with ranged weapons moved back to whittle away at the boss' health from a distance while those with close range weapons charged the beast with tanks in the lead.
Klein ran toward them shouting back at the others, "Come on, let's go or we'll miss all the fun!"
Asuna turned to the others, "Shall we?" There was a mixture of nods and 'yeah's and then they set off.
Asuna and Kirito ran ahead of the others, moving to either side of the boss.
Asuna could see the boss was tearing through some of the rookie players, bringing their HP to zero with a single swipe of it's massive claws. The more experienced were keeping their distance, working through the classic strategy of having tanks draw it's agro while the others whittled away at its health. Classic, but not perfect as the players soon realized, the moment the beast's tail whipped around and passed through them, cutting down their HP and quickly eliminating a number of players.
Asuna ground to a halt as she saw this happen.
"Looks like their not messing around with this one."
She glanced behind her to find Kirito who had seen what happened and decided to follow Asuna's lead in stopping. "Yeah," Asuna nodded, looking back at the boss, "we're gonna have to be careful with this one."
"So, go for our classic?"
"Duh."
The couple took off, Asuna in the lead. She ducked under a powerful swipe then stabbed the beast multiple times, causing it to roar in agony.
"Switch!"
Kirito charged in and delivered a powerful diagonal stroke to it's chest, followed by a quick backhand slash. He jumped back to narrowly avoid a wild swipe from the boss but upon landing, the back of his foot caught on a bit of concrete jutting out slightly and he fell backwards.
He tensed up in anticipation for the impact but it never came. "Huh?" He glanced back and found that he wasn't falling anymore, in fact he seemed to be held up by some invisible force.
"Better keep an eye out," a voice called.
Suddenly Kirito felt himself being lifted upward until he was back on his feet.
Immediately after, someone blew past him and delivered two slashes to the boss before performing a back handspring to avoid yet another wild swipe.
The person, appearing to be a boy in his teens, grinned at Kirito, "Wouldn't want you getting yourself hurt."
"Huh?"
Before Kirito could get out another word, the boy rushed off toward the boss.
Asuna jogged over to him, "Kirito, are you alright?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah," Kirito replied.
"Hey, you two," they turned to see the boy dodging attacks from the boss, "better hurry or you'll miss all the fun!"
Who is- Asuna shook her head, "Right!" she called, running in his direction.
The boy jumped another swipe then cartwheeled behind the beast and slashed down it's back, then spun around and caught his sword back-handed in his other hand and slashed horizontally.
Suddenly the beast whipped it's tail at it's assailant but the boy saw and flipped over it, his back mere inches above the tail. He landed on his feet and, in a flash, dashed forward and sliced off the boss' tail. The boss roared in agony but was quickly silenced as Asuna came in and stabbed it twice in the chest.
Seizing the new opportunity, the boy jumped over the boss and somersaulted in the air and slashed vertically up the beast's face. He jumped back as the boss let out it's most powerful roar yet, so powerful in fact that it did some damage to the nearby players' health.
Asuna, the boy and Kirito all stood at the ready as the boss reared it's head back and red light emanated from it's open mouth.
Asuna's eyes widened, "Oh no," she muttered to herself; she turned to the two boys beside her, "It's going to use a breath attack!"
"What?!" Kirito cried in disbelief.
The strange boy on the other side of him rolled his shoulders and smirked, "Then I guess we'll just have to take him out fast then, won't we." With that he charged the boss.
Is this guy crazy or what? Asuna thought, dumbfounded, as she watched the boy throw his sword at the boss. She was awestruck when she saw the sword hit the boss then bounce off as though it were actually there.
Tha-that's impossible! Isn't it?
The boy then jumped and caught the sword backhanded before sliding between the bosses legs and cutting deep into it's right leg, causing it to fall to one knee. He glanced up at Asuna, "Come on," he called with a laugh, "now's your chance, are you really gonna pass it up?"
Asuna snapped out of her stupor and nodded. She charged at the boss and, with a cry, delivered 3 consecutive, powerful stabs to the boss' chest, knocking it onto it's back.
She glanced over at the boy who made a sweeping gesture with his sword, "He's all yours."
She smiled at him and nodded gratefully before stabbing the boss through it's head, causing it to let out one last roar before shattering into a bunch of shards of data.
Victory music played and a large holographic 'Congratulations!' appeared above the park. All the players cheered at the sight of it, giving out high-fives and hugs and a few handshakes.
Asuna deactivated her sword and put it away as the boy walked over to her, "That was so awesome," he praised with a grin, "I'm so glad I came out here tonight!"
She smiled, "Yeah, that was a lot of fun," she replied, extending her hand toward him, "thanks for giving me the last attack."
He shook her hand, "No problem, I only came out to have some fun anyways," he said, "besides I'm happy to help a cute girl like you."
Asuna laughed nervously at that.
A 'ahem' got both their attention and they turned to find Kirito watching them with a disdainful look.
"Oh uh Kirito," Asuna said; she looked down and upon realizing she was still holding onto the boy's hand, quickly let go.
The boy looked from Asuna to Kirito then nodded in realization, "Ah~ I see," he turned to Kirito and gave him an apologetic smile, "Hey man, my bad."
Kirito sighed and shrugged, "It's cool."
"Kinda obvious now that I think about it," the boy chuckled; he held out his hand, "Name's James by the way."
"Kirito," he replied, shaking James' hand; he nodded toward his girlfriend, "And this is Asuna."
"Hey, it's nice meeting you," Asuna waved with a light chuckle.
James gave her a nod, "Likewise," he beamed.
Before they could continue a voice came from nearby, "Hey Asuna! Kirito!"
The trio turned to find Klein walking toward them waving at them whilst cupping the side of his mouth with his other hand. He was followed by the rest of the gang.
"Friends of yours I take it?" James asked, scanning the group.
The couple nodded in unison.
Klein stopped in front of them and looked over at James, seeming to have just noticed him, "Uh hey, you're that guy that was doing all those crazy flips and stuff, right?"
"Guilty," James smiled, raising a hand.
Klein suddenly grabbed his hand, "Dude, you gotta teach me your moves!" He exclaimed, his eyes shining with admiration.
"Uhhhh~," James sweat dropped, and glanced at Kirito and Asuna whom were shaking their head with a sigh and giggling respectively.
"You'd bust your ass in a second," Agil said from his spot behind Klein, crossing his arms. Everyone else nodded in agreement.
"Eh what do you know, ya swindler!" Klein cried, raising a fist toward the bartender whom stared him down with a scowl.
James laughed at the exchange, "Sorry man but I'm not much for teaching," he said, putting a hand on his hip, "besides, you'd need to be able to use Aura first."
"Aura?" Klein asked, confusedly.
"Wow James," Asuna said, clapping her hands together, "I didn't know you were an Aura user."
James grinned, "Yup," he said, puffing his chest out proudly, "I know, I know; I'm awesome right?" Silica and Suguha giggled at that.
"Doesn't using Aura take a long time to learn?" Kirito asked, "Where'd you train?"
"At Signal Academy," James replied, jerking a thumb at his chest, "You're looking at a future Huntsman and all around badass." He clenched his fist for that last bit.
He straightened up and put his hands on his hips, "So you guys got any plans after this?"
The group all looked at one another, "I don't," Silica piped up.
"Me either," Lisbeth said. The others all shook their heads.
"Well I was planning on grabbing a bite then doing some sightseeing before heading back to Beacon," James said, jerking his thumb behind him, "I wouldn't mind some company." He finished with a wink at Silica causing the youngest member of the group to blush profusely.
"Sure," Asuna replied excitedly, "That is if you don't mind."
"Nah, not even a little." With that James spun around and was about to start walking then stopped and lightly tapped his head with his fist, "Jeez how rude of me," he turned back to the group, "my name's James, it's a pleasure to meet you all."
A/N: And there's the super long first chapter of my new story. I've had this idea for awhile and decided to write it all down, then I put it off and picked it up again yesterday haha. I can't promise consistent uploads since it's the last few weeks of the semester and literally every class has some kind of major final project due over that period of time. I think it's legit one a week. Anyways let me know what you think so far, oh and props to anyone who gets the ship reference. Kay bye.