/*Author's notes

If you want to skip my unnecessary babble, scroll down to where it says K-ON! Then there is half a page of set up before the actual fight scene.

This may or may not necessarily occur in my other fan fic, 'MMO Illusia.' Reading that fic is not a prerequisite for this one shot- all you need to know is that the characters are in a game (that I made up) using virtual reality.

Since this is a one-shot, I will refer to each character with their real names, rather than their in-game names. Considering they don't actually exist yet though…

At this point, the characters are on floor 50 of the game (out of 100) and are at a level just over 100, making them definitely not amateurs.

*/

Notes about the characters: Ichigo and Himeko are partners in game and have played together pretty much since they both started playing, meaning that their skill set ups support each other.

Ichigo Wakaoji- A high ranking Paladin that specialises in her Auras that also supports her party with healing skills from the Cleric class. When not supporting or tanking for her friends, she deals out Divine Strikes with skills from her Holy class and her sword skills, providing the magic damage of the pair. She wears medium armour rather than heavy, though is still quite bulky behind her Flare Vanguard shield.

Himeko Tachibana- As a Swords(wo)man class, she is a front line fighter and is the main offence of the two. However, she has the Knight class and wields a one-handed sword and shield to buff up her defences for when things go wrong, often able to buy time for Ichigo to support with healing. She also wears medium armour but depends on her passive skills for defences than the strength of her armour. She makes up for the large weight of her armour with the Swordsman's speedy 'Dash' and 'Spring' skills.

When reading, assume all characters are wearing casual clothing unless battling of course.

/*

Note: PVP stands for Player VS Player. I'm pretty sure that if you're reading this you already knew that though.

Disclaimer: I do not own K-On, or Sword art Online. (Woo, season two is in the making!) I do not own any of the Final Fantasy franchise either.

*/

K-ON!

Late afternoon in the real world meant late afternoon in virtual reality. On the fiftieth floor of MMO Illusia were the Wild Plains. There was only dirt and grass to walk on and few monsters populated the area. With perfectly flat land and lack of trees or shrubs meant it was the perfect duelling spot. No distractions. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. It was the best place for those who play PVP to hone their skills, metal against metal, blade to blade.

And floor fifty is home to Vopal, a weapon manufacturer specialising in swords and teleporting technology. It was here that Ichigo and Himeko were updating their equipment. It wasn't often that they went shopping for armour and weapons but revisiting manufacturer floors was common for most gamers.

"I like this sword," called out Ichigo. Her partner looked over, seeing her friend hold a slightly see-through blade that was tinted a slight aqua colour.

"It's very pretty," Himeko replied, taking a closer look. The blade was quite wide and double-edged. Towards the hilt, the metal of the blade spiked out like wings yet the weapon remained perfectly thin to the hilt. "What's it called?"

"Blue Transparent. It also has Flying Sickle skill with it." As Ichigo kept on appreciating the weapon, the Swordswoman turned away to find her own. However, her eyes kept lingering on the weapon in the centre of the room, even though it was not a sword. Sealed inside a glass case and put on display, Vopal's signature legendary shone in colourless brilliance.

"Are you going to get anything?" Ichigo interrupted, causing her partner to jump.

"Yeah, just looking around."

"Take your time. I'm going to take a look at the armour section." The Paladin wandered off deeper into the shop now wearing a new blue sword across her back.

Himeko's attention flickered back to the legendary, this time free to approach it. A glass spear stood tall, the head pointing upwards. It was hard to make out through the case it was in but all weapon manufacturers had their signature legendary on display. Though, there were rumours of more than one legendary.

"Hydra." That was what the name plaque said. And that was all.

"Himeko-chan!" a voice shouted from behind. "Hime-chan!"

"Oh, hi Yui. What are you doing here?" She smiled at the smaller girl that bubbled with happiness.

"Eh? Did I surprise you?"

"Not really. We see each other often." Yui pouted in response.

"Yo!" the drummer announced as she entered the room too. "I thought you'd be further ahead by now?"

"Hello Ritsu. It's just a quick stop. I guess you're all here today."

"Yup. Just checking if there is any new stock since last time."

"Nothing much has changed really."

"What's this, Hime-chan?" Yui's face was pressed on the glass giving her a pig style nose to viewers on the other side of the glass.

"That's Hydra, Vopal's Legendary."

Ritsu took a closer look. "What's so special about it?"

"No idea." There was no information about the weapon at all apart from its name and what it looked like. A leak showed its weapon card on the Internet once showing its stats and a skill simply called 'Hydra'. "Cryptic, isn't it?"

"Why don't we buy it and find out?" asked Yui but Himeko shook her head.

"If you have several billion gold lying about I'd happily agree with you." Only one manufacturer's legendary had been bought before, supposedly. One day, in Django's weapon shop, the legendary had mysteriously disappeared and replaced with a sign saying sold out.

"I wonder how good they actually are?"

"They won't be called legendary for no reason, right?"

"Himeko," cut in another voice. It was Ichigo's as she had come back. "Have you finished yet?"

"Oh, sorry!" The Swordswoman quickly hurried back to the weapons, hurriedly sifting through the blades on display.

"Good afternoon, Yui, Ritsu."

"Hi Ichigo, how're you doing?"

"Good, thank you. Are you working hard at University?" Both of the two flushed and turned away.

"U-um, yeah, really hard." Ritsu smiled half-heartedly. "I got three assignments the other day."

"And how are they going?"

"Um… I like your sword?"

Obviously not well, thought Ichigo. Or probably not even started them.

"There are so many weapons…" thought Himeko to herself. Obviously, she skimmed over the lower rank weapons and looked at the blue or purple class, rare and ultra rare respectively. Though numerous, not many matched her level of one hundred and ten. She saw the purple ranked 'Blue Transparent' in the list but decided against choosing the same weapon. The extra magic bonuses would be wasted on her anyway. However, a sword just below it caught her eye.

"Excuse me," she called out to one of the shop clerks. "I'd like to buy a weapon please."

The unfortunate thing about buying weapons from Vopal in the Wild Plains is the lack of monsters to test new equipment out on, as the girls soon found out. The grasslands stretched into the horizon until it touched the sky; the greens and browns of the dry earth against the blue background felt dull yet calm.

A certain raven haired girl shielded her eyes from the sun, straining them for any monsters.

"Nothing…" Mio announced. With her Eagle Eye skill, she could see far into the distance, even to the edge of the floor they were on. They stood just in front of Vopal's town but they suspected they would get the same view from regardless of where they were.

Ritsu frowned at her. "Really? Not even a tree? Or a shrub?"

"I think I see a chasm in the distance," Mio replied and in the background Yui's hoped rose a little, "but that would take an hour to walk there." The guitarist frowned.

"Aw…" she began but Himeko simply smiled at her.

"Don't worry, it won't take long," she reassured as Ichigo motioned to move away from the group.

Ichigo scoffed. "I'm not going to be that easy."

"Let's have some tea, Yui-chan." Mugi had a cloth laid on the ground for their group. Already, several teacups were laid out beside a tray of cup cakes. Afterschool Tea Time began to sit down, Yui placing herself behind her kohai.

"Azu-nyan!" as she glomped onto the girl. She sighed in response, regretting taking off the armour that was normally a deterrent for random hugging. There was a reason she had spiked armour than the conventional kind.

"Yui-sempai, please." As a distraction, she pushed a pink cup cake towards the hugger's mouth.

"Should be interesting though," cut in Ritsu on Azusa's other side. "I'm betting on Himeko to win."

In the background, Yui started mumbling something through a stuffed mouth and was ignored. After a big gulp, she managed to get the words out. "That's not very nice, they shouldn't be fighting at all."

"It's just a friendly fight, Yui-sempai," Azusa retorted but she was cut off.

"Would you fight me, Azu-nyan?" The question threw her off as doe eyes stared into her soul.

"Um…" Her cheeks began to redden as Yui leaned in closer quite suddenly.

"It seems like they're having fun, aren't they?" commented Himeko, watching Azusa avoiding the question with cup cakes. She flicked her hair back over her shoulder and looked at her partner in the eye.

"Should we wait for them?" In the corner of her peripheral vision, Mugi was saving Yui from choking on too much cake.

"If we wait, we'll be waiting forever."

"Good point." Ichigo pulled out her shield and sword, the Flare Vanguard and Blue Transparent. Both pieces of equipment were disproportionately large; the weapon reached over a metre long and stretched twenty centimetres wide closer to the hilt. Matching, the elegant escutcheon-shaped shield covered her entire torso when held in front of her and reached just above her knees. It was tinted a slight red in contrast to the blue blade. Her armour showed this, slightly reflecting their colours. Red on her left, blue on the right. Finally, Ichigo placed a silver half helmet over her head- a simple crest was imprinted into the metal showing she was a high ranking Paladin. Her two ponytails settled over her shoulders and out of the way.

Himeko replied in turn, equipping her battle set up. Her armour was thinner than her opponents but also lighter. Her shield was less impressive, being a simple Vopal-made round shield. Being clad in full silver, she glimmered in the afternoon sunlight. But her blade was something else.

She drew out a jet-black katana from its sheath. Whilst not as long as the Blue Transparent, the sleek look felt dangerous and the edge was sharp as though it could cleave through any armour. It had a small hilt guard that appeared to be more ornate than useful.

"I thought katanas were two handed weapons?" commented Ichigo, setting up her skills. Three differently coloured auras emitted from her.

"This is a hand-and-half sword. It does feel a bit heavy though." She practised a few swings, enjoying the swish sounds as the blade cut through the air. "It's called 'Kuniyasu', after one of the thirteen sword smiths."

"From Kiku-ichinonji?"

Himeko nodded in reply. "Well, ready to get started?" With two fingers, she pulled up a menu to send a duel request. "Battle to half health."

A message appeared in front of Ichigo and she pressed the tick symbol.

"Accept duel request."

"They're starting!" shouted Mio, cutting into the tussle Azusa and Yui were into. A barrier was forming around the two fighters for their arena. A short countdown from ten appeared high above them.

"Why are they standing so far apart?" asked Ritsu. "Aren't they both close range fighters?"

"I'm not sure…" The number kept dropping.

"Guess we'll find out soon."

Zero.

Himeko immediately dashed forwards, keeping her guard up as she closed the distance in a flash. "Swift Cut!" Her blade came from above with a gust of wind behind it. But metal met metal as Ichigo easily hid behind her shield. In return, the Blue Transparent swung horizontally.

"They're evenly matched," commented Azusa when the shield blocked the attack. Neither had taken any damage as they both continued their assaults. Both relied heavily on their shields, waiting for someone to slip.

"Hey Mugi," began Yui, "why doesn't Ichigo wear heavy armour like you do?"

The blonde didn't look away from the fight as she answered. "Probably because it's easier to move around in lighted armour."

Himeko stepped back, narrowly dodging a downward slash. Then, with a quick Dash, she was behind her opponent.

"Double Strike!"

"Side Step!"

As the Swordswoman lunged, the Paladin shifted to the side, her skill gliding her across the ground. During the Double Strike's lag, Ichigo took advantage. "Judgement." With her magical blade glowing with a holy aura and cackling with electricity, she drove the blade into her opponent.

"Himeko!" shouted Yui as she recoiled. Both fighters stepped away from each other.

"Twenty five per cent damage." The health bar above her head still glowed green but an unmistakable chunk of it was missing. "I'm not as fast as I thought I was."

"It's because you're not receiving my Aura skills," the Paladin explained. "And you're using a heavier weapon."

"Ah, I see." Himeko thought for a moment. "It needs getting used to but I do quite like it. What's your weapon like?"

"I hope you're not stalling for time so you can heal." The Swordswoman idly whistled and looked the other way. Right on the money, she thought. "Anyway, this weapon is nice. It's surprisingly light, though it is a magic weapon. Doesn't do as much damage as I thought it would."

"I see." However, another Judgement would set her below half health, meaning her loss. "Shall we continue then?"

Ichigo made the first move that time. "Shackle," she called out. From the ground, silver chains sprang up around her target's feet, attempting to bind the girl down. Himeko was faster though, dancing over them then dashing to close the distance once again. However, she paused earlier than expected when Ichigo raised her shield.

"Sweeping Slash!" A dark aura flowed around the black katana as she swiped it in a perfectly horizontal arc. The blade extended, reaching out. Even as the Paladin defended her self, the darkness cut through all the same, dealing five per cent damage.

"What just happened?" called out Azusa. "That was perfectly blocked."

Mugi shook her head. "Sweeping slash can't be fully blocked. It will always pierce and deal at least some damage." Again, Himeko swung the other way to deal damage once again. Ichigo shifted her stance, her Aura skills shifting so she took reduced damage.

"You'll run out of mana before you beat me with that," she commented. Her health regeneration spiked, healing the damage off. The Swordswoman sighed in response.

"Your defences are just too good. I can't get around it." From that though, an idea formed in her head. She stepped forward, hiding behind her shield.

"Launch!" Her blade swung upwards but the Paladin caught it with her shield. There was a slight knock back effect though, causing her to stumble slightly. Her guard held firmly in front of her body.

Himeko saw her advantage. "Spring!" In a single bound, she leapt over the Paladin landing by her unguarded back.

"Cross Slash!" Immediately, her sword cut the target twice in quick succession in the classic x-shape. Twenty per cent damage. She couldn't follow up her assault any more though as the Paladin managed to spin around, flicking her sword out at the same time.

Himeko stepped back to dodge. However-

"Divine Strike." A burst of light appeared beside Himeko and darted at her, giving her no time to block of parry. Ichigo swung her blade again, summoning another Divine Strike. This time, the attack was from above, forcing Himeko to hide beneath her shield and obscuring her view.

The Paladin moved her sword behind her back so she could throw her sword, allowing the game system to take control of her for a few seconds as she announced the next skill. "Flying Sickle." Swinging her arm forwards and flicking her wrist to apply a spin, the blade flew like a boomerang.

Himeko saw the angled blade heading towards her though. She parried in time, sending the flying weapon harmlessly to the side. Seeing her target vulnerable, she decided to go on the offensive.

With a quick Dash, she charged shield first. "Barge!" The skill had a large knock back, almost causing the Paladin to fall to the floor. She found some grip and managed to stay on her feet though.

Himeko threw her shield, similar to the flying sickle skill, like a spinning plate of death. Ichigo, off balance, had to use her sword arm to stop the attack hitting her head. Ten per cent damage.

"I'm not done yet," Himeko cried, following up the attack. As Ichigo readied her shield, the Swordswoman gripped her katana with two hands and swung it up and round in full arc, the blade cutting through the floor. "Uppercut!"

Another launching style move, the Paladin would normally be able to take the hit. However, Uppercut moved the earth as well, punching it up as a spear and knocking her high into the air. Himeko cast Spring, jumping after her target and ready to follow up a combo.

"Take my blood and flesh, I grant this offering," Ichigo started chanting, the incantation for a holy spell. From her chest, a white light started to glow, growing more pronounced as she continued the incantation.

"Not fast enough," thought Himeko. With two flicks of her blade, she swung early. "Sword Beam!" Waves of light and wind slashed upwards. Both fighters being in the air, neither could avoid each other's attacks. However, the Paladin merely blocked the attack with her shield and continued her casting.

"Dip into the river of Lethe, I coat for you."

The Shortened incantation, Himeko noted in her head. She was getting close enough, hoping her next attack would knock her of course. "Double Strike!"

The skill fell short. And the incantation neared its end.

"Liquid and solid no more, I cast this spell." The Paladin was completely white now.

"Soul Burst."

Afterschool Tea Time had been watching the battle closely, no longer adding commentary (not that the fighters could hear). As it neared its finale, Yui had covered her eyes.

"Is it over yet?"

When they heard the Paladin utter "Soul Burst," they saw her glowing body suddenly shoot out beams of light, blindingly bright to onlookers. A high pitched squeal could be heard, gradually growing piercingly higher and higher until it paused for a single moment.

Then there was an explosion. The light disappeared and replaced by a cloud. They felt the shockwave as gusts of air blew dust in their eyes. Both fighters fell out from the smoke; the first flying to the side and crashing to the ground, the other simply dropped straight down and landed on her feet, uncertainly.

In large bold letters above it read, "Ichigo is the winner."

K-ON!

/*Author's notes

I can't be bothered with the after fight talking so I'm going to leave it there. I was going to have some extra explanations of the skills (like Ichigo reducing her max health so she has a higher percentage health), a joke about the Vopal testing ground they should have just went to instead and a casual insult to Ritsu sparking another duel. Note, Ritsu would get trounced due to her skill set up (she's a pure fire mage… May still try it though.)

P.S. The Final Fantasy disclaimer was for Himeko's katana weapon. Not really needed though.

P.S.2. They were standing far apart at the start to test distances. Range is important in this game.

P.S.3. Vopal weapons have a skill called 'Return' that immediately summons the respective item back to the wielder. Vopal weapons are meant to be thrown at the weapon, returned and then thrown again.

Finally, keeping track of health is quite hard. Especially when one of them has constant regen, varying Aura skills that she changes to suit the situation and passive skills that haven't been mentioned but activate under varying circumstances.

Yet again, about 550 words are NOT in the story and are in author's notes… Sorry.

Thank you for reading! Please tell me whether the fight was clear or not in particular when reviewing. (Basically, please review :)

*/