LEVEL UP!

GASHAT UNLOCKED: MIGHTY BROTHERS XX LEVEL X

"Ya know Parad, for a game that's supposed to make you fear for your life, this is pretty easy."

Emu and Parad hopped through the teleport gate to the 27th floor where they bought a room at an inn to sleep for the night.

"Are you sure that you want to stop now? We've gotten so far already." Parad questioned.

"Yeah… despite this being a game, we still need to get rest or we won't be able to fight." Emu said as he hopped on to the bed. "I'll see you in the morning, Parad."

He closed his eyes as Parad disappeared once more, but he didn't stay asleep long.

"Save us."

Emu woke up in a cold sweat, having definitely heard those words in his sleep. It didn't take long for him to figure out what he needed to do. He grabbed his lab coat and rushed out the door to find whoever was in trouble.

He got to the floors dungeon when he heard a shriek in the distance. He bolted towards the sound, finding it behind a locked door.

"Shit! Someone must have gotten trapped in there!"

Parad appeared next to him as Emu equipped his Gamer Driver and the Mighty Brothers XX Gashat.

"Henshin!"

DOUBLE GASHAT!

GACHAN! LEVEL UP!

MIGHTY! BROTHERS! FUTARI DE HITORI! MIGHTY! BROTHERS! FUTARI DE VICTORY, X!

Using his brute strength, Emu blasted through the door, seeing a group of people getting attacked by monsters that swarmed the room. He leapt into action, destroying monsters one after another, trying desperately to save the guild in the room.

But he wasn't quick enough.

Two of the members were attacked from behind, dying on the spot.

"NO!" Emu screamed. The Gashat in the Driver glowed brightly, and Emu's eyes glowed underneath the mask.

LEVEL UP!

GASHAT UNLOCKED: MIGHTY BROTHERS XX LEVEL XX

Realizing what had just happened, Emu called out to his partner.

"Parad! I can't fight them all off by myself! You know what to do!"

Emu closed the Driver up again, prepping to transform once more. Once Parad had disappeared he pulled the lever once more, activating the transformation to level 20.

GACHAN! DOUBLE UP!

ORE GA OMAE DE! OMAE GA ORE DE! (WE ARE!) MIGHTY! MIGHTY! BROTHERS (HEY!) DOUBLE X!

Emu split with Parad, becoming the two Mighty Brothers. They quickly took care of the remaining enemy forces, flying around the room at lightning speeds.

GASHUN

Emu closed up his Gamer Driver, forcing Parad to disappear back into him for the time being.

"Ah that was close!" Emu said, turning to the group he had just saved. "Sorry for intr- Kirito?!"

No sooner than he turned around did he notice the man he had met back in the 2nd floor with the group.

"What are you doing here?" he asked his former comrade.

"I could ask you the same, Emu..." Kirito looked down at the ground. Emu realized what was wrong pretty quickly from the look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry about your friends… There truly was nothing I could have done."

"Nothing you could have… don't give me that bullshit!" Kirito barked. "I saw it. You had the stats of a level 200 player! Don't tell me there was nothing you could have done when you were that strong! Because of you, Tetsuo and Ducker… You have no idea what it's like to lose a comra-"

"You don't think I know what it's like to lose comrades?!" Emu snapped back. "7 years ago. 7 years ago I lost one of my closest comrades. He died, entrusting his mission to me. 6 years ago, I was thrown into a death game not too different from this. I watched millions of people that were trying to achieve the same goal as I get turned into mere strings of data, who still to this day we can't figure out how to bring back to life. So do not tell me what it's like to lose a comrade."

"Kirito, that's enough." One of the other guild members grabbed his shoulder, obviously trying to tell him to stand down.

"Sachi…"

Emu turned away and walked out towards the exit of the dungeon and back to his room to get a good night's rest.

A/N: Alright so I did something with this chapter and I want honest feedback on it. I decided to delve a little into the mental repercussions of Emu's time as a Rider, something I don't think they really spent enough time on in the series. What do you guys think? Is it something I should continue doing throughout the series?

Other than that, just keep giving general feedback/suggestions on what I could do better/different and I'll see ya next chapter!