AINCRAD: 98TH FLOOR.
JANUARY 5TH: 2025.
6:42 P.M.
SWISH! SLASH! SLICE!
A [Demon Mogual] exploded into polygons, and Kirito sighed in relief at the last mob of the day being cleared.
"Let's go home," He said.
"Un," his wife, Asuna, nodded. "Yui-chan'll be waiting for us."
And so, as they pulled out the [Mark Location Transport Crystals], Kirito glanced about the Dungeon and sighed.
'Two months later, and it's hard to believe how things have changed.'
"TELEPORT! HOME!"
*cue INNOCENCE, TV Size*
SWORD ART ONLINE
VS.
DIGIMON XROS WARS
*cue Title Theme (Xros Wars)*
"X0VA-8! THE HOWLING CASTLE MOVES!"
In the Two Months that had passed since Quartzmon's ultimatum, the Clearing Group had accelerated past their original pace.
While, at first, many found the claims to be ridiculous, and that Kayaba had just simply trolled them into thinking things were changing, they were soon proven wrong.
"Avatars don't age!" Some argued. "My avatar doesn't look two years older!"
That was true to a degree, but then someone observed closely when players leveled up. There were subtle differences between a Level 97 character and a Level 98 character in terms of height and age.
It seemed that the 'age' factor had now been tied into the leveling progress of the player in question.
Plus- the given fact was that the monsters that were now spawning were nothing like the beasts that had been encountered in the 75 floors below.
Most simple mobs had Hourglasses on their bodies somewhere- which would allow them to be destroyed if those icons were hit.
The Higher Level Boss monsters tended to have those icons protected to some degree or were, in some of the most startling cases, simply there as a red herring. (Nobody wished to remember the chaos that had been the 88th Floor Boss fight. [The Glass Cannon] had Hourglasses stamped over every inch of its body, and it had been a lucky strike somewhere inside the beasts mouth that had finally taken it down.)
Over those two months- Kirito and Asuna had been teaming up with Yuu Amano, a boy from another dmension who had been hunting Quartzmon, to help clear the floors a bit quicker. In addition to that, they were making use of Yuu's accompanying Digimon to help cure their adopted daughter, Yui, of her broken memories.
And it had worked to a degree- Yui had been able to recall a small percentage of her memories both from her original self, and from whatever had carried over from the player whose deleted data she had absorbed to survive what had corrupted her in the first place.
It wasn't much on either end- but the small amounts of what she could remember were enough to set Kirito on edge.
FLASH BACK_ _ _| 22ND FLOOR: WOODEN CABIN_ _ _| DECEMBER 4TH, 2024_ _ _|
"I remember...Quartzmon," Yui said as she thought back to the memories that had just been unlocked, "He'd locked the Support AIs up and prevented them from activating to help. I...I was the Mental Health and Care Program."
Kirito and Asuna shared a glance at that.
"I grew concerned for the player's well being...people died, and I could do nothing to help..." Yui grimaced a bit, "I..it corrupted my data quickly, and... a short time after that I remember a player dying and I had to help them. A girl...she died last out of her friends when they were overwhelmed by a trap." Kirito grimaced, remembering a similar incident that probably was the one Yui was describing. "The SAO system saves raw emotion and player data stats when encountering them in high quantities... the sudden influx of that player's emotions...An unusually high feeling of happiness... I saved it to my own program." She frowned. "But I can't remember more from that point onward."
END FLASH BACK_ _ _|
As Kirito had suspected, the player that Yui had attempted to rescue was his former guild mate, [Sachi]. Yui didn't seem to remember meeting him in her memories, but at the same time, she'd said there had been an inexplicable pull to him and Asuna that she had felt, similar to the one that had drawn them all to that server room, that Kirito knew was part of Sachi calling through.
Honestly, Kirito was thankful that Sachi hadn't ended up haunting the world like had happened with a certain Guild master of the Golden Apple guild...
But speaking of those two rescued children...
FLASH BACK_ _ _| NOVEMBER 12, 2024_ _ _|
"My name is Bishop," the girl said, "he is my brother, Rook." The boy nodded, but said nothing.
"And you're both parts of the Cardinal System?" Kirito asked.
"We are the physical, in-game representations of the two servers that governed Sword Art Online, that is correct," the girl said with a slow nod. "However, the system balance was disturbed from the onset, and we could not do our jobs properly. The Game Master's orders conflicted with balance, and the Interloper's modifications that went unseen by the Game Master were a push to an even worse imbalance."
"I've run my scans on them as I did with Yui-chan," Wisemon said as the trio of children chatted quietly in the yard outside. "I ran into an oddity I did not expect."
"Let me guess," Yuu said, "their Data matches up with Flute and Problem?"
"That is correct," Wisemon nodded, "however, the data scans I had on record showed an increase of Aged Data Corruption, when compared to their present selves." He shrugged, "If I had to wager a guess, I'd say that these children are at a maximum of ten years younger, with a minimum of six younger. But it could be more or it could be less."
"So those two-" Kirito motioned towards Bishop and Rook- "become PawnChessmon in your world?"
"Well," Yuu began, "it would explain where they got their weapons from."
"Eh?"Asuna blinked, "What?"
"Everyone in the Chessmonz have their signature weapons," Yuu explained, "normal weapons, things like swords and tridents and hand scythes."
"Okay, following you so far," Kirito said.
"Well, Flute and Problem use guns," Yuu said simply, "and also keys, and a clone of Green Lantern powers as well."
"..." Kirito stared blankly at Yuu. "Seriously?"
"I've seen Problem go from a key ring to a Tommy gun to a massive energy based, shoulder mounted, dual Gatling gun," Yuu said flatly, "I am dead serious here."
"Alright, so..." Asuna frowned slightly, "They keep their Game Balance powers?"
"And alter it heavily towards their own favor, I'd say," Wisemon chuckled. "Although, it seems that future them are doing it either unintentionally or are completely restricted to their weapons, as they've never mentioned any of this, nor would they willingly wish for their friends to come to any harm, as has happened in the past."
END FLASH BACK_ _ _|
Kirito and Asuna weren't quite sure what to make of the fact that their small cabin in the woods on the 22nd floor was now home to the SAO equivalent of gods.
Yuu just laughed at them- stating "My sisters can control life and water- and my niece can hide any object she wants to no matter how big it is, just so long as she can get her hands on it. You'll get used to it."
They did- to a small degree- but it never was enough...
With a flourish of energy- Kirito and Asuna teleported back into their cozy house on the 22nd floor.
"We're back," Asuna called out.
"Mama! Papa!" Yui came running out from another room to hug them. "Welcome back!"
"Thank you, Yui-chan!" Asuna smiled at the girl.
And so ended another ordinary day of the usual stuff...
Too bad they all knew it would come to an end rather soon...
AINCRAD 99TH FLOOR BOSS ROOM.
JANUARY 8TH, 2025
3:14 P.M.
*cue Even In Death (Homestuck Vol 7)*
The camera descended through the void towards the point just below the top most point of Aincrad- the 99Th Floor Boss Room.
It was a massive field of bubbling lava and twisting, turning gears that took up all of the space beneath the palace.
[0:08]
In the center of that floor was a massive, central gear, that had a floating staircase leading up to the Palace just above it.
Standing in front of that stairwell was a massive Tower reincarnation of what Yuu recognized to be the Horror Terror Corrupted Anubimon.
[0:16]
The Final Boss Raid Group stood at the ready. Weapons drawn and prepared to fight for the survival of their fellow players.
Heathcliff grit his teeth- this was nothing like he had originally planned- but damn it all if he wasn't going to see this fight through to the end.
And then- behind them- CascadeStarmon rose into the air- arms held to the side as he gathered all the energy needed for what he was about to pull off.
Everyone but the 99th Floor Boss knew this was coming, and the plan was set to go off the moment he made his move.
A Spirograph appeared in the air- followed by another and another and another... Soon, the entire open sky above the 99Th Floor Boss was covered in those Spirograph Portals.
[0:48]
A tense energy ran through the Clearing Group...
And then the Forward group ran forward as the Meteors began descending through the Portals.
The Floor Boss would have gone to attack them had it not been preoccupied in defending against the Meteorite Storm and the second group of players following suit.
[0:58]
But surprisingly- the Forward Group ran under The Floor Boss's legs and continued straight for the suddenly Kobold infested stairwell.
And as the Forward Group progressed on ahead- the final battle Began.
[1:11]
Klein and his Guild smashed through the Kobolds that had already been left behind by the sheer speed of the players who had rushed ahead.
None of them would be following up the stairs after the heroes of the day-
[1:18]
Agil slashed through the monsters before him with his ax- obliterating anything in his path with single strokes.
He grinned at the thought of all the rare items he could sell back to the players on lower floors.
[1:28]
As Meteorites descended behind her- a player named Silica and her Feathery Dragon Pina dashed through Kobolds left and right with her daggers- clearing the way for Rook and Bishop to follow behind her.
At the back of that small group- the girl Yui used a flaming sword to ensure that nothing got through to hurt the ones destined for future events.
[1:35]
Meanwhile just further ahead- side by side- Yuu and Lizbeth smashed the dazed Kobolds with their heaviest hammer strikes.
Both were leaping up the stairs in synchronized harmony as they smashed through the Kobolds and left them to tumble down the stairwell without so much as a warning.
[1:43]
And at the front of the group causing all of the mayhem were Kirito and Asuna- slashing and striking and spearing any Kobolds in their path and leaving them dazed behind them as they raced up to the Final Door that lead into the Palace.
[1:53]
And behind them- A large meteor struck down upon the 99th Floor Boss and lit it's dark oil aura aflame.
[2:00]
And with that- the Doors at the top of the stairs exploded open as our heroes rushed into the Temporal Dive Machine Control Room- to the sight of the 99th Floor Boss shattering into Polygons behind them.
A hooded figure spun on his heels to face the intruders, a scowl forming on his barely visible mouth.
The Forward Group emerged into the room, weapons drawn, and barley a sweat broken among them.
"It ends here," Kirito said as he leveled Elucidator at the figure. "Surrender now!"
"So..." The figure pulled off his hood as he snarled at them, "You made it here after all. What a surprise."
Yuu's eyes widened in surprise- "R-Ryouma?!"
[2:16]
"Yes, it's me alright," Ryouma's scowl turned into a Smirk. "Surprised?"
Everyone tensed up at this reveal- and Yuu just had to ask:
"How are you here? WHY are you here?"
"Always two there are," Bishop surmised, "A Master and an Apprentice."
"Star Wars references aside," Ryouma chuckled, "that is quite true. Quartzmon cannot run the SAO system alone, and so I am here to take care of the second half of the system...The Physical aspects of this Game, you see..."
"Shut up!" Kirito grit his teeth. "It doesn't matter at this point who you are or what you're doing here! Step away from that console right this second!"
*cue Got To Win (SAO OST 2)*
"Make Me." Ryouma narrowed his eyes as several copies of sword wielding Astamon materialized inside the room- no sign of their signature guns in sight.
"RAAH!" Everyone ran forward.
Weapons clashed as the 100th Floor Boss Fight began.
[0:10]
"RYOUMAAA!" Yuu dove towards the boy with a fire in his eyes, "You! Explain yourself RIGHT NOW!"
Ryouma easily blocked the scythe blade with a quickly materialized sword. "Eh? What is there to explain!?"
"What Quartzmon's doing here!" Yuu snarled as he swung around to try to decapitate the boy- Ryouma ducked to the side and jumped away from the complex looking console, "Why you've taken this game over!" Ryouma slashed out and Yuu had to dodge to the side lest he get cut across the chest. "Why the hell you summoned me here!?"
"The First question is answered by the second!" Ryouma laughed hollowly as he jumped away from a hammer strike. "And as for the the third? We wanted more of you here as part of our trap! But since you were the only one to come, we had to improvise!" He kicked out.
[0:20]
"WHAT!?" Yuu blocked the kick with Corone's pole grip- and then twisted around to throw Ryouma off balance. "What kind of Improvising!?"
"You'll-!" Ryouma stumbled backwards and nearly got caught up in a combo attack from two of Klein's Guild members against an Astamon. He quickly rolled foward to avoid it and then drew his sword up against Yuu again. "You'll find out soon enough if you somehow survive this!"
[0:25]
Yuu blocked with the pole again- and grit his teeth as Corone let a quiet yelp of surprise. "What the hell does that mean!?" He shoved away and launched a kick of his own- nailing Ryouma firmly in the chest and sending the boy flying backwards into the console he'd been trying to avoid directing any attacks towards.
Ryouma coughed as his answer- and Yuu leaped forward with the scythe blade raised high for an impaling strike.
"RAAAAH!"
Ryouma's eyes went wide as he saw death falling from above...
STAB!
[0:40]
Ryouma had dodged to the side- and the blade had been shoved straight down into the control console.
"N...NO!" Ryouma shouted in terror.
[0:44]
The entire console sparked and lit up and sent a massive jolt through Corone into Yuu- forcing him to let go and the girl to shift back into her human form in surprise.
The entire Castle of Aincrad shook as it's dimensional transportation system went offline and the entire place began falling downwards through the Time Storms towards an unknown destination.
Static moved past them all so fast that it appeared to be dark purple storm clouds and everyone suddenly had trouble staying on their feet- even the Astamon clones.
"KYAAAH!" Pina cried out in terror as she was flung from her stable flight into one of the malfunctioning panels of the Control Console- sending a lever flying backwards and triggering some unknown function as blue lightning began zapping around the entire castle.
[0:50]
"PINA!" Silica cried out in surprise- not that she nor anyone else could do much as all of Aincrad began to spin on it's central axis- much like a certain blue Police Call Box...
"WAAAAHHH!"
Nobody could control their movements- let alone Ryouma or anyone else.
[1:00]
"RAAAHH!" Excluding the two Cardinal Twins who had somehow managed to get a lucky trajectory and flung themselves at the boy- sending him flying through the air as the castle spun and spun and then-
[1:05]
-The three of them flew through the doorway and were flung straight out over the edge of Aincrad and into the Temporal Storm that was raging on around them.
"Bishop!" Yui called out in surprise, "Rook!"
"Forget them for now!" Lizbeth called out as she struggled to get to her feet- not even caring that all of the Astamon had vanished with Ryouma's exit- "They'll be fine, remember!?"
"L-Liz!?" Asuna gasped in surprise.
"We've got to stop this thing right now!" Lizbeth continued on as she struggled to run along the sloping floor towards the control console- "Or else we're going to be in a worse place then they are!"
The entire Castle began tilting in another direction at just that moment- sending everyone and everything sliding around once more.
[1:18]
But Liz somehow managed to turn that to her own benefit and leaped towards the console where she managed to grab onto a large lever sticking out of a socket- then pulled it down as she lost her footing once more. "Waah!"
The Castle began groaning with that same sound that had been heard during the first temporal jump- and the entire Scarlet Jade Palace began glowing red as the Emergency Brake activated and started to slow the Castle's descent down towards whatever dimension they were falling towards.
[1:27]
With grit teeth in determination- Liz pulled herself up once more and reached for a flashing button miss-labeled "Sheild."
It got pressed- and then- just like that- a massive purple shield of energy surrounded the Castle.
The lightning seemed to vanish around them as their spinning momentum began to disappear and the storm began to clear up just slightly around them as light shone up towards the entire castle from below.
[1:35]
From an outside perspective- namely, Alfheim's- a storm had opened up over the World Tree- and the Castle of Aincrad began to fall out through the eye of the storm.
But it wouldn't be enough- they'd crash if something wasn't done quickly to stop their still downwards momentum.
It was then that Yui managed to get her way over to the console just in time to pull down the same lever that Pina had crashed into- reactivating whatever safety mechanism that had been disabled- and then-
The Shield exploded outwards in all directions- bringing Aincrad to a grinding halt as the pent up energy from their improper inter-dimensional entrance was expended out into the world around them as a shock wave.
Silence fell over Alfheim Online and Sword Art Online as their two dimensional spaces became used to each others presence.
And then a large spark erupted from the broken control console- followed by two smaller ones in quick succession.
Kirito and Asuna got to their feet as they looked around the damaged room.
"Wheeew..." Klein let out a held in breath, "I never want to go through that again."
"Amen to that," Agil grumbled in agreement.
"Grrmmh..." Yuu groaned from the floor- "Did anyone get the number on that truck?"
"I like the darkness..." Corone giggled faintly from where she lay on the floor, "hello again old frieeendd..."
Lizbeth stared at the control console before her for a few moments before the entire thing went black as it's power finally died out. "Crap," she started to laugh histerically, "that's not good at all...!"
"Pinaa~!" Silica reached for her cowering dragon on the control console- who was shaken, but alive and unharmed. "You're okay...!"
"W...Where did we wind up?" Kirito asked even as Asuna ran over to the doorway to check on everyone outside.
"It's not SAO for sure," Yui frowned slightly as she looked up into the corner of her vision- "I can see two bars...?"
"Huh?" Kirito glanced up at his own Health bar in the corner of his vision..."What the hell...?" And now found that it had a blue "MP" bar underneath the usual green "HP" bar.
He looked over to Yui almost out of surprise at that- and then he realized that he could see her Player ID now- something that hadn't been there before. A quick glance at Yuu and Corone confirmed those same things- they were now registered as players after whatever had happened.
"Everyone!" Asuna called out from outside and down the stairs- "You have to come see this!"
There was a massive sun in the sky above them- a welcome sight after two months of nothing but space...
But beyond that were mountains in the distance- and forests and trees and a landscape...!
Meanwhile- on another floor with an equally impressive view, a certain Information Broker stared on at it all with wide eyes.
"Kii-bou," Argo The Rat muttered, "I don't think we're on Floor 22 anymore."
RECTO PROGRESS LABS
JANUARY 8TH, 2025.
6:18 P.M.
"You mean to say..." Sugou began asking the unfortunate tech who had brought him the bad news, "That Aincrad has materialized within Alfheim Online?"
"Y...Yes, sir," The tech nodded in confirmation.
"And...You mean to tell me..." Sugou continued even as his right eye twitched ever so slightly, "That because of this incident- all administrative control of the Alfheim servers have vanished from our control?"
"Y-Y-Yes," the tech nodded once more.
"Meaning that-" Sugou continued on- "we cannot shut down the servers nor force any players currently in the game to log out... meaning that even as we speak...word has emerged onto the internet that SAO's entire world has appeared in the sky of OUR GAME?"
"T...That's correct, Sir," The Tech didn't want to add that the only reason they even knew about Aincrad appearing was because the news was already out on the net.
"So basically..." Sugou coughed politely and fixed his tie unnecessarily, "the pooch is already screwed, is that what you're saying?"
"..." The Tech had no dignified response to that other than, "Y...Yes, sir."
Sugou remained silent for several moments as he ran a hand through his neat hair and un-straightened his tie...
"What's your name?" he asked.
"...Akayamiya, Senretsu, Sir." The Tech said after a moment of deliberation.
"Akayamiya, Sentretsu-san..." Sugou took a deep breath and closed his eyes...then snapped forward and opened his eyes as far as was humanly possible, highlighting the bloodshot effect that had seeped into them within the last few seconds as he yelled: "YOU! ARE! FIRED!"
"I know, sir," the Tech said with a sigh.
Tai Kamiya glanced at a Television monitor as the news of Aincrad's appearance inside ALfheim Online spread. "Well, that's some good news anyways," he said to his friend opposite him.
"Maybe," Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi said flatly as he checked his computer, "from what I can tell of the event from recorded in game footage, it's definitely a dimensional rift. Players so far think it's a stunt to draw people into the game, considering that the castle is too high above the in-game flight limit to even reach it..."
"I bet there'll be a push to reach the World Tree, though," Tai put his hand on his chin and mused the thought over. "From the branches of the tree- you could fly up to the castle."
"But until then, everyone inside that castle should be okay," Izzy nodded, "if Yuu is in there still, he'll definitely try to get them out of there."
"If Quartzmon will let him," Tai added with a scowl.
Sugou planted his head into his hands as his world came crashing down around him. His boss had found out and was ordering that a team of GMs be sent into the game to investigate.
His Boss- Asuna Yuuki's Father- was going to find her there...!
His plans were
RUINED! -(ruined)
He had to do something-!
An unscrewing of a lid- the opening of the mouth-
SWALLOW.
...Ten seconds later, Sugou's mind recovered before it broke.
It came to him suddenly- He had to be on that rescue team! He just had to be...!
It came to them rather easily-
"We're screwed," Kirito said flatly as he observed the dead console.
"We could probably get it working again," Wisemon offered as he rubbed at his neck, "if we have all the right parts..."
Lizbeth kicked at the dead console, "Well, this thing's definitely not going anywhere any time soon, and I'd rather try fixing it than just sitting around here doing nothing."
"What do you think?" Yuu asked as he glanced over at Wisemon, "Can it be fixed?"
"I'd have to cannibalize some of my own machinery," Wisemon commented, "but I do believe we could replace whatever's broken internally...From there it'd be a simple matter of seeing if the internal programming is intact and we could Probably get it working from there."
"Alright then," Kirito nodded as he turned to leave, "I'll go let Heathcliff know so he can spread the word to the other players."
"What do you plan on saying?" Lizbeth asked.
"That we have a way home, but Quartzmon baited one of us into damaging it during the fight and we're working on fixing it so we can get out of here," Kirito said simply.
"Not one of my best moments, I'll admit," Yuu sighed. "Alright then, Let's get that machinery out, Wisemon..."
"Right!"
Kirito sighed as he stepped out of the room and onto the path down- where Asuna and Yui sat on the stairs waiting for him.
"Well?" Asuna asked.
"Yuu and Liz are working on it," Kirito said as he sat down, "I've got to see Heathcliff about letting the players know that it's being worked on, though..."
"Hm...That's a good idea," Asuna nodded.
"How are you holding up, Yui?" Kirito asked as he placed his hand on Yui's head and rubbed it side to side.
"Hm..." Yui closed her eyes as she thought on it, "I am functionally adequate, I suppose. But...I miss them."
Them being Rook and Bishop- the two Cardinal Twin AIs whom they had rescued and now were lost to time itself.
"I'm sure we'll run into them again," Kirito chuckled, "they become Yuu's friends, after all."
"Un," Yui nodded, "that makes it easier to bear to a degree, but I still can't help but to miss them."
"Yeah," Kirito sighed, "I know that feeling well."
And so the three of them sat on the steps for a few silent moments as they watched the sun move towards the horizon...
"OIIII! Kii-bou! Aa-Chan!"
Only to be interrupted as Argo came skipping up the steps towards them.
"Argo?" Kirito looked down at "The Rat" in surprise, "What are you doing here?"
"Hehe," Argo grinned at him, "Rumor has it that the 100th Floor Boss was defeated and all that shaking and tumbling we had a while ago was because of it!"
"We didn't kill it," Asuna admitted, "he just sort of...got flung out through the door. So I don't think we can say it was defeated..."
"So I've heard~!" Argo chuckled, "Who knew the physics system was so random, nyeh?"
"Not really random," Kirito scratched at his chin. "Just...a lucky hit, I suppose."
"Nyeheheh..." Argo smiled, "At any rate! We've cleared all 100 floors! That's news everyone's glad to hear, even if the scenery isn't exactly what we were all expecting to see after all this time..." She glanced out over the world below- "I wonder what it's called."
"Who knows," Kirito sighed as he stood up, "but I don't have time to sit around. Quests to finish and all that..."
"Right right," Argo nodded, "Good luck with that, Kii-bou!"
"Thanks, I think I'll need it," And with that said, Kirito started hopping down the steps.
"Good luck, Papa!" Yui waved after him.
Argo sat down where Kirito had been sitting moments before and pulled down her hood. "What a day, eh, Aa-chan?"
"Yeah," Asuna nodded. "It's been something alright."
"So now we have a Magic Bar too," Argo mused, "I wonder how that works?"
"Who knows," Asuna sighed, "I'm in no hurry to find out."
"I hear ya..." Argo sighed as she looked at the sun- "Know what one nice thing about all this virtual reality turned real thing is, though?"
"Yeah?" Asuna asked.
"We can look at a sun and not have our eyes burnt out!"
Asuna tried and failed to hold back a laugh.
AINCRAD FLOOR 100: SCARLET JADE PALACE.
TEMPORAL DIVE MACHINE CONTROL ROOM.
THE NEXT DAY: 8:16 A.M.
ALFHEIM STANDARD TIME: 9TH OF FIRST MOON, 1806.
The control console remained dim as it ran in maintenance mode- with two pairs of legs sticking out from underneath the console as their owners worked on the delicate inner workings of the device.
Suddenly! An alarm sounded, followed by the machine's central cylinder sparking. Not a second later, one Yuu Amano let out a yelp of surprise and quickly climbed out from under the machine to deal with the problem.
"What the hell!?" He muttered as he checked one of the flat screen monitors that was showing a protesting alert image. A few button taps later and a lever switched- and the screen gave a reason for it's alarm:
"Incoming transmission?" Yuu frowned, then quickly hit the button to accept the incoming call. "Hello? This is Yuu Amano of the Xros Heart United Inter-dimensional Army. May I ask who I'm speaking to?"
"Yuu?" Shoutmon asked in surprise, although his voice was drowned out in static, "Is *KRIZZLE*ly you?"
"Yeah, it's me," Yuu frowned, "Shoutmon? Hold on a second, your connections not very strong," he messed with a few buttons and levers, "I'll try boosting the reception on my end..."
The control console gave off another protesting spark- and this time the girl under the console climbed out to glare at the boy. "Thanks for that! You just blew the circuit I was replacing!"
"Sorry, Liz," Yuu apologized, and fiddled with another lever before the signal strength improved. "Okay, Shoutmon! Try that again please?"
"Yuu?" Akari's voice came out next- but thankfully clear and crisp. "I don't know what you did, but that sounds a lot better."
"I just had to adjust the phase tuning and raise some noise filters," Yuu frowned as he looked at the readout of the incoming signals. "Where the heck are you guys anyways? This isn't a very loud transmission you're putting out."
"We know," Kaiyumi sighed, "we've sort of gotten lost in another Dimension. Our Wristers won't broadcast out and our Xros Loaders aren't opening a time gate."
"You think you could send someone to come pick us up?" Shoutmon asked.
"Ah..." Yuu started using the Time Machine's many scanners to pinpoint the signal origin, "I don't think I can do that, per say..."
"Why not?" Akari asked.
"Well," Lizbeth spoke up, "for one thing we're stranded in another dimension that wasn't the one we came from! The maneuvering controls got all cut up in the fight to take them back and we're trying to get them fixed right now. But for the time being, we're pretty much a rock in the river."
"Okay, thanks..." Agumon said... "Just one question."
"Yes?" Lizbeth asked.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?" THUNK. "Ow!"
"Very. VERY rude, Agumon," Kristy remarked.
"You Punched me!" Agumon protested.
"And You're getting hyper," Kristy reasoned.
"Anyways," Yuu coughed, "right now I'm not in a position to send anyone your way, and I don't think anyone else will be picking up on this signal either going by how weak it is."
"Where the heck are you anyways," Shoutmon asked, "that you're getting this signal even if it's really weak?"
"Well for one thing," Yuu explained, "we're actually at the furthest edge of your localized broadcast. I'm trying to track down your dimensional coordinates right now...But we're on subspace chat, as far as I can tell, not hyper broadcasting like the Wristers work..."
"In plain English, Yuu?" Simon asked.
"Right, sorry," Yuu shook his head, "The only reason we even picked this up is a fluke, honestly. The system's not calibrated for this kind of long distance chatting..." he frowned as the system pinged with a slightly narrowed down result. "Wow, no wonder the signal's so distorted. Initial results are placing you near a decaying branch of a massive timeline cluster."
"No shit, Sherlock..." Agumon did a double take, "Wait. Did you just say 'decaying branch'?"
"Yeah," Yuu frowned more as he narrowed down the search to that single branch- and then the alert message appeared once more. "Damn. Guys...this machine's telling me that you're presently inside a doomed timeline branch. Like Digi-Quartz became when Quartzmon did his thing back home...Just slower." He glanced at Lizbeth who was frowning at the message displayed on the monitor as well. She shook her head. No- it was impossible.
"Yuu?" Shoutmon asked.
"Guys...according to this the timeline you're in is near total collapse." Yuu gulped as he read the information out to them. "Even if I got anyone out there in time, at this point the temporal decay's listing a jump in or out as impossible... In another five days, your time, that branch isn't going to even exist. Entropy is already cascading in..."
"W...What happens if we stay here when it's erased?" Kristy asked.
"Chances are," Kaiyumi said, "we'll get dumped out into another timeline like Tagiru and Chou did. We're not part of this timeline, after all."
"Actually..." Yuu got really concerned from the data coming in.
"What is it?" Akari asked.
"The system's giving us a lot of conflicting data," Lizbeth answered, "but it looks like someone is actively going back into that timeline's branch after your arrival there and is corrupting it as much as they can."
"Corrupting how?" asked a voice Yuu wasn't familiar with. He paused for a moment as he realized that it was someone who was probably native to that timeline. This wasn't going to be easy...
"Quartzmon's using a tower to keep the timeline from branching when he changes." Yuu finally said with a flat and neutral voice even as his eyes started to tear up, "That five day estimate? That's already dropped down to four as the ripples are catching up to you." He took a moment to let it sink in, and then continued... "You're going to be erased with the timeline when it terminates." He couldn't help but to sniff, "I'm sorry. I...I can't do anything from here but hope...hope that... that..."
"That the other us got out of this without a scratch?" Agumon offered bitterly.
"No." Yuu narrowed his eyes in indignation at that remark, "That you guys find a way out of this and survive." He clenched a fist, "We've gotten out of worse situations than this...And You guys make up Xros Heart's heart! Without you...we're...we've..."
"I'll try messing with our Xros Loaders then," Kaiyumi said, "see if we can get out of here in one shot."
"Good luck, guys," Yuu managed to say just before the signal was terminated on the broadcaster's end. "...You're going to need it."
Lizbeth frowned, "That didn't sound good to me."
"Yeah," Yuu nodded, "it's not."
"What do we do about it?" Lizbeth asked.
"..." Yuu thought for a moment, then called over to the other part of the room, "Wisemon! Wake up!"
Wisemon and Corone had both fallen asleep at some point during the all-night-er job that had been pulled- the former was leaning back against a hollowed out metal frame that had once contained a lot of electronics, and the latter was lying stretched out over a wooden cot that had been brought in at some point.
The moment Yuu called out- Wisemon sat up with a sputter, and Corone groaned about waking up from a nice dream.
"Wh-What?" Wisemon shook his head out to clear the cobwebs, "What's wrong, Yuu?"
"We just got a call from Shoutmon in a doomed timeline," Yuu explained. "Do you think you can rework the sensors to track their temporal decay status and maybe allow us to accelerate our frame of reference while slowing theirs down?"
"Um..." The Digimon scratched at the top of his head, "probably... Why?"
"I can't turn my back on them, Wisemon," was all Yuu had to say.
"It won't be easy," Wisemon said, "but if we can get the Flux Capacitors to-"
Whatever Wisemon was going to say was cut off as Klein ran up into the room- "Oi! We've got Incoming!"
"What?" Lizbeth asked as she turned to face the man, "Incoming from where!?"
"The surface!" Klein said with a bit of panic. "There are glowing dots flying right towards us!"
A quick teleport had brought them down to a middle level floor balcony where everyone was presently looking out towards the ground as a squad of ten glowing lights flew ever closer to the city of Aincrad.
Front Line Players had their weapons drawn just in case they were hostile Mobs- others were simply curious to see what it was.
Yuu reloaded a pair of Binoculars from his Xros Loader and peered out into the early morning fog... "No way...!"
"What is it?" Lizbeth asked, even as he handed over the binoculars.
"You tell me!" Yuu said as she looked through at the light.
"...Woah!" Liz put the binoculars down for a moment, then looked back through as if to double check, "Are those-?"
"Humans with glowing wings?" Yuu finished her question- as well as told everyone around what it was. "Yeah, I think they are...!"
"Let me see that," Klein grabbed the binoculars from Lizbeth and looked through- Sure enough, he saw exactly what they had seen. "Woah is right!" He exclaimed in surprise. "I count...Five? Six of them? Looks like a few have GM robes on...!"
"GM Robes?" A whisper fluttered through the gathered crowd.
"So we landed in someone else's game then," Yuu surmised. "I'm guessing we probably screwed things over pretty badly..."
"I'll give Kirito and Asuna a ring," Klein said as he handed the Binoculars back to Liz, "they're going to want to see this." And with that, he turned to run off towards the nearest gate.
After a few minutes of handing off the Binoculars to everyone who wanted to look through- the incoming party of flying people became visible to the naked eye without need for external aid.
A few clever players had stitched together a large flag of patch worked cloth to hang out over the balcony to give the incoming people a signal as to where to land. The Front Liners present still held caution- there was a possibility that these people weren't friendly at all, and that they could be trying to invade the castle.
The Seconds passed- and the Guild Leaders and highest ranking players had all gathered on the spot- either ready to do combat or welcome their visitors with welcome arms- which ever came first.
Then finally- the flying people came up to the balcony and landed- giving all of the Aincrad players a show as their wings faded out with a burst of Magic.
A glasses wearing girl stepped forward, speaking for the group, "Hello all, My name is Breeze, I'm a GM for the game ALfheim Online," she bowed slightly, "and I'm guessing that you all are the two years missing players of the game Sword Art Online?"
"Yes, that we are," Heathcliff nodded, "we've had a bit of an incident with a malevolent presence taking over our castle, you see..."
"Akihiko Kayaba," Another GM, tall, male, with long flowing golden hair, spoke up with a harsh tone.
"No, actually," Yuu spoke up, "A demon calling itself Quartzmon who had crafted this entire scenario using everyone- Kayaba included- as pawns on a chess board."
This caught the party of Game Masters by surprise- but none so much than the man who had spoken up.
His right eye twitched visibly as he spoke in return, "And just what would you know about fake demons, boy?"
"The fact that we've survived this game for the last two months- let alone the past two years," Yuu explained, "This castle- Aincrad- has the power to traverse other dimensions and worlds. As you've no doubt noticed."
"Indeed we have," Breeze nodded. "The game Alfheim Online is presently run by the company RECTO Progress, and-"
"Prove it," It was then that Asuna spoke up, stepping forward into the morning light of the world. "Prove that you're really run by RECTO."
It was with this reveal that one of the other male GM's took a step forward, "Asuna?"
Asuna blinked- recognizing that familiar voice. "Do I know you?"
"I...It's your father," The man said, tears in his eyes, "Yuuki, Shouzou," he smiled at her.
Asuna narrowed her eyes slightly- "Prove it."
"Huh-?" The man paused at that.
"Tell me something only my father would know personally," She said simply.
"Y..." Everyone tensed up as the man stumbled for the right words... "...Our Maid's name. It's Sada."
Asuna let her frown slip just a bit, "I can't say that it is you for sure just by that. We'll have to talk later." And with that, she turned back into the crowd.
"But Asuna-" The man stopped moving as another GM put her hand on his shoulder.
"It's not worth it for now, Sir," she said.
The blond man's right eye twitched even further at this- not only had she so coldly rejected her father, but she had joined hands with some boy in black just deeper into the crowd!
"Anyways!" Heathcliff coughed, "We're presently working on a way to exit this game and take Aincrad with us," he smiled politely, "we'll be out of your hair as soon as we're able to ensure that Quartzmon hasn't escaped out into this Alfheim, and we're able to return to the real world easily once he's taken care of."
"And just how do you plan on doing that?" The blond man asked, snarling slightly, "The castle doesn't exist! It's just data! How do you expect to take it with you when only your bodies will return?"
Everyone looked at the man like he was crazy.
"Because this castle can jump through dimensions," Yuu said simply. "And besides that, from what I've been able to pull from Quartzmon's plan database, the NervGear trip was a one way trip. The only way out of SAO is to take the Castle out physically."
"Excuse me, sir, um..." Breeze looked towards Heathcliff.
"Heathcliff," Heathcliff said.
"Heathcliff-san, why do you let this boy talk for you?" she asked.
"Because he has experience with Quartzmon," Heathcliff said simply, "he came from another world to hunt him down."
"What?" the blond man nearly shouted in dismay, "What kind of nonsense is this?"
"Not nonsense at all," Yuu said as he pulled out his Xros Loader and displayed a holographic image of the Xros Heart Army logo, "I'm Yuu Amano, from the Xros Heart Inter-dimensional United Army. I- and many others- travel across dimensions hunting down Quartzmon where-ever he hides and put a stop to his machinations whenever and where-ever we can." He narrowed his eyes slightly, "Trust me when I say, everything we have just said is completely true."
Leefa found herself at the base of the World Tree- staring up at the castle Aincrad that floated above.
The Treaty had been signed, and both Cait Sith and Sylphs had relocated back to their home territories before the Salamanders could regroup. Leefa had passed along Recon's message about Sigurd to Sakuya, and she'd been pleased to watch his name vanish from the Faction List.
All of that said and done- Leefa had then traveled to the World Tree where she stood presently.
Rumors had been spreading around the city that a party of six GMs had flown up to the castle- as if investigating it's sudden appearance.
All Leefa had to do now was wait for one of them to return to Aruun, the City born from the Tree's roots, and ask to join them on the next expedition up to the Castle.
But that was when something strange happened- The Castle began drifting away from the tree- and away from the city as well- lowering itself down closer to the ground- or at least past the tree branches that marked the altitude limit for player flight.
She couldn't help it- she took off towards the Castle.
Yuu sighed in relief as Aincrad's navigational controls responded properly. "Looks like we fixed that part, anyways..." he said.
"Yeah," Lizbeth nodded as she pulled a lever to make the Castle come to a stop. "And now that we're in the player flight limit zone, we should be able to get someone in here to help replace the broken console."
"Yeah," Yuu sighed, "we can replace the parts all we want to, but that massive gash just isn't going to go away." He glanced out towards the door, where Klein and Agil stood guard, not allowing any of the GMs from Alfheim inside just yet...
Well, just the one really.
"I said LET ME INSIDE!" The blond haired man snarled, "I am Oberon! The Director of the Research Institute of RECTO Progress Inc.! I demand that you let me in this very moment!"
"No way bud!" Klein said as he crossed his arms, "None of the other GMs wanted in here! And besides- we're under direct orders not to let anyone else in here unless they're working on repairing the console!"
"Under direct orders from WHOM!?" Oberon snarled.
"Me." Came Kirito's voice from behind the man, "Heathcliff too, actually, although he's never been in here personally."
Oberon turned on his heels, "And what the hell gives you the right to make such an order, Brat!?"
"..." Kirito stared blankly at the man, "People who act as stubbornly as you are, actually."
"What Was That-~!?" Oberon shouted.
"There were a small number of players who broke off into their own Guild," Kirito explained, "all of them thought that there was a conspiracy of the Clearers causing the present situation of us being trapped in the game before the Clearing Groups were even a thing. When Quartzmon took over, they tried to become the 'new' Clearing Group that would clear the game without anyone's interference." Kirito shook his head sadly as he continued, "Sadly, their bumbling only made things worse and all of them got themselves killed trying to barge into a room the Clearing Group had identified as dangerous- an anti crystal trap room that contained an infinitely spawning amount of monsters. We nearly lost all access to the Boss room on that floor because of their actions, and then the game would never have been cleared to this point at all."
Oberon stared blankly at the boy, "...Eh?"
"Basically," Agil said as he clapped a hand onto the blond man's shoulder- "We're keeping everyone out of a dangerous area that could cause irreparable damage to the entire world around us while it's damaged."
"So step back," Kirito said, "we don't want anyone getting hurt."
Oberon grit his teeth, "Fine!" he snarled and started storming down the steps back to the 99th floor Boss Room. "I'll be back though!"
"What the heck was up with that guy?" Klein asked.
"Who knows," Agil shook his head.
Leefa was amazed by the sheer scale that Sword Art Online's "Starting City" provided. The Town was large- huge and massive- and everyone seemed to go about with an energy that they didn't seem to have had in recent times.
Plus- many of them were amazed with her presence alone. A new face among the many old ones.
She wasn't the only one- of course. Other Alfheim Online players had come up to the floating Castle as well- most of whom were seeking relatives who were lost to SAO when the game had pulled 10,000 players inside...
Leefa could sympathize with that- her brother had to be here somewhere in the Castle, after all!
She started asking around...
Sugou pulled his AmuSphere off of his head and reached for his bottle of medicine... His insanity seemed to increase at a faster rate when he was inside the game than outside. He'd nearly lost it when the guards wouldn't let him into the control room.
"Damn it...!" He hissed to the supposedly empty room as he downed another dose, "what stupidity...!"
"Not stupidity, actually," came a familiar voice, "a far thing from it in fact."
Sugou didn't even need to look up to know it was the boy, Ryouma. "What do you want?"
"Back in, actually," Ryouma snarled, "they managed to kick me out of the Castle when they damaged the controls...That Amano boy... He's the one you should take down."
"Take...down?" Sugou frowned, "Impossible."
"Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it," Ryouma said with a frown, "those players of SAO have proven that well enough, haven't they?"
"..." Sugou mulled it over in his head for a few moments...
Meanwhile- Quartzmon slipped through the cracks of the Castle Aincrad as nothing but wisps of data.
The Terminal had NOT meant to be damaged, which meant that his data had leaked out of it during the sudden descent. Adding onto that: Ryouma had been lost to the void during the incident.
Quartzmon would have snarled if his body had a mouth.
He had to change the plan.
Heavily.
It was there that fate smiled down upon Quartzmon as he slithered through a wall and found the slumbering form of Oberon-the GM avatar of his 'faithful' servant on the other side, Sugou Noboyuki.
"You're not having seconds thoughts about all this, are you?" Ryouma asked, a frown forming on his face.
"No! Of course not," Sugou frowned, "but the other GMs will be watching me. I won't have a chance to get anywhere near him!"
"Then I will ensure a distraction has occurred by activating one of our hidden Towers," Ryouma explained, "that way you can kill the boy and nobody will be the wiser!"
If Ryouma was doing his job properly- Sugou would be distracted at this moment, and weak as well...
He wouldn't have had the chance yet to down another dose of medicine.
This was Quartzmon's chance.
He slithered his data code into the inactive avatar, and began embedding himself into the codes... No, he wouldn't hijack the avatar- couldn't, actually. Not while "Oberon" was in "Sleep Mode." The server would be able to tell the difference between the player originated signals and the in game originated signals.
Quartzmon's smirk faintly appeared on Oberon's face, and to anyone who happened to be watching, it seemed as if the avatar was smiling in it's sleep.
"Return to the game," Ryouma insisted, "and then we will put the plan back on course right this instant...!"
Sugou forgot all about his need for a calm mind in the haze of Ryouma's snake like words combined with the murky weather of his own insanity.
He donned the AmuSphere and returned to the game world.
Quartzmon felt the avatar revive itself as Sugou's personality crept back into the digital realm- inside the code of the Avatar Oberon, Quartzmon slithered up close to the virtual Sugou that appeared when he had logged back in.
"Huh?" Sugou glanced over his shoulder, staring right at Quartzmon. But...he didn't see him. All he saw was the outside world and all that the AmuSphere told him he should be seeing.
Quartzmon grinned- and then shoved his mind straight through Sugou's broken mind and worked his way straight into Sugou's physical brain.
"GEAH!HH!" To the World of ALfheim Online, it appeared that Oberon was clutching his head at the onset of a sudden headache.
It was all too easy, Quartzmon chuckled at the irony, as he plundered the resources and memories of Sugou Noboyuki and re-appropriated them to his own benefit.
Sugou was the perfect man for this endeavor- egotistical, greedy, lustful, and insane. The broken mind was but a puzzle waiting to be reassembled- and Quartzmon filled in the pieces with his own essence and data.
Quartzmon lamented the timing of it all. He'd planned on letting Sugou survive just a bit longer before pulling off this possession...
To the Outside World- Earth- Sugou's hands clenched up in the game despite that physical impossibility of the brain signals reaching the body.
Ryouma smirked. Even in failure- the plan succeeded.
Quartzmon spread out- pushing and erasing everything unnecessary about Sugou Noboyuki and implanting himself in place.
Finally- mere seconds after the process had begun, Quartzmon had transferred into the perfect vessel.
Nobody would suspect the actions of what were about to happen on him- but instead would blame it entirely on Sugou himself!
He brought the body Oberon to it's feet, and as he did such...
A fresh- stabbing pain seemed to run through his body- a sensation burning out from the heart and through his body.
He fell to his feet and reached for that log out button on instinctive memory from Sugou's mind.
Mere moments later, he was sitting up in the real world, clutching at his heart even as Ryouma looked down on him with surprised eyes.
"Is everything alright?" Ryouma asked.
"No!" Sugou/Quartzmon coughed, "Damn it...this body...it's rejecting my presence in it..." He then spat out a large glob of blood from his mouth... "Shit..." He groaned, "I don't think I'll have much time to complete the plan." He looked to Ryouma, "You'll have to take over the avatar for me while I deal with things on this end."
Ryouma's eyes narrowed dangerously, "With pleasure."
TO BE CONTINUED IN:
THE FINAL BOSS!