Wrong Floating Castle (A YGO/SAO Crossover)
Wooo so I had no idea what to do with this chapter! I sort of screwed over some of my own plans when I made Kirito absolutely useless in the battle with the big five. Woops?
Not only that, but I STILL can't decide what to do with the future of this fic. There's so many options! I could just write them all and have a convoluted web of stories, but that's a little overwhelming to think about. And I'm no good at endings unless they're a Bad End™, so the idea that I'd have to think of endings to every story is just horrifying.
Chapter 3: Divergence
As he looked back at the group the attack finished charging. He saw Mai's dragon flying intercept it and ran, determined to make it there first. At the last second he made it between the beam of deadly light and the red dragon. He watched his health tic down by five thousand points; A relatively small percentage of his overall health, and well worth the sacrifice if it saved Mai's life.
But alas, the attack went straight through him, as his own attacks had gone through the dragon.
The Harpy Ladies' Pet Dragon was obliterated, sending Mai's life points to zero.
Kirito fell to his knees, unable to watch as Mai faded away. Was he just here for appearances' sake alone? He couldn't even interact with the boss!
For someone new to death games, Yugi dealt with Mai's death rather quickly. "Now, Kaiba, this may be our one chance. We have to work as a team!"
"No way!" Kaiba disagreed. "You don't even know what you're doing!"
"You just have to trust me, Kaiba!" Yugi insisted.
"I don't have to do anything, Yugi. I can win this battle my own way." Kaiba stubbornly declared.
Kirito was about to intervene, because arguing during a boss fight was a one-way ticket to death, but the menacing voice beat him to the punch. "You'll win nothing! You've already lost two. Now we'll make it three!" The Mythic Dragon charged another attack.
"Call out your ultimate dragon!" Yugi commanded the stubborn Kaiba.
"Seto!" Mokuba cried before Kaiba could argue, "It's not your dragon they're attacking; it's you!" He leapt towards his brother, intent on taking his place.
Kirito saw what was about to happen. He saw it, and he couldn't do anything about it. That wasn't about to stop him from trying, however.
Using his superior speed, the swordsman kicked off the ground and practically flew to Mokuba, knocking him and Kaiba both out of the line of fire. He took five thousand damage, but he paid it no mind. He was still in the green.
Of course, the attack continued through him, hitting Kaiba's Blue-Eyes. It didn't stand a chance.
"Kaiba!"
"Big Brother!"
Kirito wanted to punch the ground. (So he did.) Of course it didn't work. He couldn't just have one good thing without something going wrong, could he?
"You better not Screw this up, Yugi," Kaiba said as he faded away. "Keep Mokuba safe! You hear me?"
Mokuba tried to hug him, but he was gone. "Seto…"
Yugi's face was one of pure shock before it dawned on him: he had failed utterly and totally. He came here to this virtual world to save Kaiba, and now not only was he dead, but he took their only hope for victory with him. Without him, they were all going to die. No monster they could come up with would be able to beat the Mythic Dragon, and Kirito couldn't take damage for them forever.
Mokuba passed the first stage of grief quickly, as the evidence was too clear to deny: Seto was gone. That led to the next step: anger.
The younger Kaiba whirled on Kirito. "I could've saved him! If it weren't for you it would've been me!"
Kirito spoke softly. "I think Kaiba would rather it be him than you, Mokuba. Trust—"
"You don't know what my brother wanted!" Mokuba interrupted. "You don't know him, he doesn't know you. I certainly don't! It's not like you've been useful anyway." The last part was muttered.
Kirito did his best to ignore the jab. "I know that much, trust me. It's a big brother thing."
Mokuba didn't reply.
Kirito turned his attention to Yugi, whom he hadn't heard a word from since Kaiba died. "You said you had a plan, right?"
Yugi snapped back to awareness. "Not anymore. My plan needed Kaiba to succeed."
"With his Ultimate Dragon?" What was that, anyway, and why hadn't Kaiba summoned it in the first place?
Yugi nodded. "I was going to use polymerization to combine my Black Luster Soldier with his Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to create an unstoppable monster, more powerful than even the mythic dragon. But with Kaiba gone…" He couldn't finish.
"Aww," The voice of the Big Five mocked. "Finally realizing that you have no chance of winning?"
"You underestimate us!" Kirito responded. The others may have given up, but there had to be some way to win this. He wasn't going to die in a game he shouldn't even be in to an enemy he didn't know.
"And who are you, hm? A wayward NPC? An AI monster? A hack? For all your showmanship you haven't been able to do much, have you?"
They were baiting him, he just knew it. They were trying to make him use a sword skill and get electrocuted again, thus taking taking him out of the picture so he couldn't try to save anyone else…which meant they were about to attack.
"I'll show you what I can do." Kirito murmured. Louder, he directed his next question to Yugi. "Yugi! Do you think that polymerization card would work on me?" It was time to take some risks if they wanted to make it out of this alive.
Yugi caught on to what Kirito was thinking, his hope rekindling. "I don't know, you're not part of the system. But I have to believe it will work."
"That's enough out of you two. Let's end this, shall we?" The Big Five put an end to the boys' planning, the Mythic Dragon charging yet another breath attack.
No time to lose. "Go, Polymerization!" Yugi held up the card and Kirito and the Curse of Dragon started to glow. Kirito felt his avatar changing, flickering in some places. His avatar and the dragon fused together in one bright light before fading, leaving him standing on the dragon's snout.
So…nothing really changed? Except his location. That was weird. He could only hope that since he had technically fused with the dragon that he would both be classified as a dragon monster and be able to interact with the mythic dragon.
Only one way to find out.
Kirito held his breath (not that breathing really mattered in the virtual world, but it was reflex) and activated a sword skill. As his swords began to glow, the Mythic Dragon released its attack. Kirito and the green dragon crouched as one before leaping to meet the beam of energy, powering through it and getting within striking distance of the five-headed dragon.
Not knowing if it was really necessary since only half the new monster was his, Yugi commanded, "Attack, Curse of Swordsman!"
As if permission was all he needed, Kirito released his signature sword skill, "Starburst Stream!" The system assist kicked in, (despite not being in the right system) controlling his movements to always land on-target.
Mokuba and Yugi watched in awe. So this was Kirito's true power?
The sixteen-hit combo executed almost flawlessly, save for one problem: Kirito and the Curse of Dragon were glitching. His movements were jerky, the sound effects weren't synced with his hits, and sometimes parts of him would disappear entirely, flickering in and out of existence. It was with no small amount of relief that Kirito finished the combo, stepping back as smoothly as his glitching movements would allow.
The Mythic Dragon froze, before exploding into shards of light.
"What?!" The voice sounded panicked. "That's not possible! Curse of Dragon could never fuse to be powerful enough to take down the Mythic Dragon!"
Kirito smirked, opening his menu with a flickering hand. He pulled up his stats and toggled the view mode to "all." "I'm sure you'll find my attack stat to be more than sufficient to take down your dragon."
"What?! How can that be? What are you?!" Was the last thing they heard before the very world shattered, sending swordsman, duelist, dragon and child falling into an abyss of black.
Kirito awoke to the sounds of cheering. That was strange; No one had cheered for him since the first floor. He opened his eyes, finding himself on a raised stone platform with Yugi and Mokuba in front of a massive crowd. He wasn't glitching anymore, so that was good.
"What is this?" Yugi murmured.
"You saved us!" A voice shouted above the rest of the crowd. "You slew the dragon!"
"Our heroes!" A new voice sounded from behind them. Kirito turned around to find a female Mokuba-lookalike. Who was this now? Couldn't he just be done meeting new people and go home?
He decided to ignore the fact that he called Aincrad home.
"What you have done will keep us and our land safe forever more." The girl continued.
"We're not the ones you should be cheering," Yugi said seriously.
"Seto!" Was all Mokuba managed to choke out.
"Fear not." The girl comforted. "The losses you've suffered are too great for any hero to bear, no matter how strong they are." What kind of consolation was that?
With a happy-sounding laugh, the girl stepped back and began to glow. Her shape changed, and when the light died a much taller figure stood in her place. The now blue-skinned girl began to chant an otherworldly song.
"Remarkable!" Yugi exclaimed. "The princess is actually the Mystical Elf! She's casting a spell to bring our friends back!"
What the what? That was a thing? Kirito once again had to remind himself that this wasn't SAO anymore. Magic was a thing here.
Right before their eyes, all those that were lost since Kirito joined Yugi and his friends appeared on the ground, even the little fairy, Earu. None of the destroyed monsters returned, however. Kirito wondered what was different about the fairy than the other monsters. Was it because she had a proper name?
"Seto!" Mokuba ran to his brother in tears, tacking him in a hug. The crowd's cheering intensified at the cute scene.
Yugi ran over to Joey and Mai, celebrating, leaving Kirito standing with the Mystical Elf.
She looked at him, her eyes kinder than he expected out of an NPC. "You wish to ask me something?" It was more a statement than a question.
How did she know? "Does your power extend to Aincrad? My friends…" he didn't know how to continue. He had lost so many friends. Not that he ever had that many, but the point still stood.
"You speak of the other world in the sky? I'm afraid my power cannot breach the rift above the monster field. I have no more power over that world than I do the real one. I'm sorry." The Mystical Elf had a gentle way about her, but the words still hurt. Kirito nodded, knowing that it was too much to hope for.
A rift appeared behind the elf.
"The exit portal. Let's go Mokuba." Kaiba and his little brother walked towards the portal.
"Hey!" Joey stepped forward. "Don't you think the very least you could do is say thank you or something?"
Kaiba ignored him. A second longer, and they were gone.
"He's a pretty cheery guy, huh?" Mai remarked. Joey just growled.
"Thank you, our heroes." The Mystical Elf bid them farewell. "Your brave deeds will always be remembered here."
"And we will always remember all of you." Yugi replied. The three made for the portal, with a, "Good-bye!" And, "See ya!" Thrown over their shoulders.
Yugi stopped them though as something occurred to him. "Are you coming Kirito?"
Kirito hesitated. "I need to get back to Aincrad. I can't just leave everyone there to die."
"Hold up." Mai tilted her head in a thinking sort of fashion. "Are you the reason they're trapped?"
Why would somebody ask that? "No."
"Are you their only hope of getting out?"
"Of course not!"
Mai shrugged. "Then it sounds to me like it isn't your problem."
"Yeah!" Joey added. "Didn't you call that place a prison earlier? Why would you want to go back?"
"Kirito," Yugi got his attention. "You said before that you've been trapped in SAO for a year. What would you do now that you couldn't do in a year? Maybe you'll be of more use on the outside."
It was that argument that got Kirito thinking. They were already halfway to the top of Aincrad, so they'd made good progress in that year, but the floors were only getting harder. Besides, if Yugi and his friends left, Kirito would have no way back to Aincrad because he didn't know how to summon those card monsters. What use was he so far below the castle?
But at the same time, what if leaving the virtual world triggered his nervegear? There was really no telling what was going to happen if he stepped through that portal. Maybe he would wake up in the hospital of his own real world (for surely there were two versions of the "real world": Yugi's and his. Both games claimed to be the first virtual reality, and neither one had heard of the other.) and be able to see his family again. Or maybe he'd end up in Yugi's real world, out of place and far, far from home. Or maybe he would cease to exist altogether, his mind unable to travel through a portal in the wrong world and his body still comatose in his own.
Or maybe nothing would happen at all, and he would be stuck here, in this unfamiliar game, forever.
Kirito made his decision.
He stepped through the portal.
A/N: I can't believe I wrote "Believe in the heart of the cards" with my own two thumbs. I am so much trash. (The phrase was removed during editing, but the fact is that it was there at one time, and that's all that matters.)
So killing off Kaiba instead of Mokuba got rid of some of his character development, but it was the only way I could make Kirito useful at all, and I really wanted him to be the one to defeat the Mythic Dragon for some reason. Probably to make up for how useless he was for the rest of the battle.
Also, I have exactly four ideas for where this story will go. I'm reeeally debating to which ones to write, because I'm not really sure how any of them end for sure and they would all be their own adventures. PM me if you want to help me out! Or maybe adopt an idea?
