April. Local tavern.

Kirito and Ruby sat idly at their table, with the red girl examining her sword and making modifications to her sword skills. It'd been some months since the two'd been sticking together... 'Sticking together' meaning Ruby was stuck to him like glue trying to make sure he didn't get himself killed. Even though this guy was a beta tester, she didn't want to see his crazy asshole self die. This local tavern they were in was usually a nice gathering place for people at this floor. She couldn't remember which it was, but it didn't much matter.

She saw a shadow(A pair of, actually) come over her as she was wearing her hood, then closed her menu and said "Whoever you are, if you're not at least a foot and a half away from me within the next five seconds, leaving my personal space alone, you'll lose your manliness or your uteru-" She turned her head around and saw two familiar faces, then gasped and smiled "Holy... Sachi, Keita!"

The two smiled, then Sachi intervened "I knew it was you the moment I saw your red hood, Ruby." Making Ruby stand up. "I haven't even had a chance to talk to you too. How've you been doing since, well... Y'know." Ruby rolled her eyes. Sachi nodded, then said "We've been fine. We actually formed a guild." TO which the Huntress smiled, then looked to Keita and nudged his arm "A guild~, Huuuuh~? Ufufu~, don't tell me you two did anything crazy."

Sachi and Keita, the latter who didn't get to say a word, became Flustered. Ruby was forced to dodge a slap coming from Sachi. "I was kidding!" The girl defended herself, making Kirito chuckle. She glared back at him, then said "What's so funny, Jackass?" And he waved it off, adding "Oh, nothing. Just what you were about to say was really interesting. Castration's funny for some reason."

"Before I realized I knew the people behind both sets." The girl sighed, sitting down and examining her blade. She looked to them, then stopped and glanced at three more people at the table with them. The Redheaded Keita smiled and said "Our other guild members..." Making Ruby somewhat uneasy. There was a blonde guy with an orange undercoat and light armor, alongside a beanie, a guy in purple with brown hair and a guy in green, with a green hat which Ruby had no name for, brown hair and medium armor. Keita looked to Ruby, then asked "Who's the guy in black?" pointing to Kirito.

"That?" Ruby asked mockingly, pointing to Kirito, who was glaring at her "That's just my incessantly annoying frienemy Partner, Kirito. His bark is bigger than his bite, so don't worry. I bite pretty hard nowadays, though."

"Yeah, the dust." Kirito said, his voice muffled by his glass. Ruby glared at him, then said "Shut uuup~." And sighed, grabbing her sword, sheathing it and taking her glass. Keita smirked, then looked to the waitress and yelled "Waitress, four drinks here, please!" To which the woman nodded, then moved to the counter. Immediately after, she brought the four drinks to the table. The four picked them up, then Sachi whispered to her "We wanna bring both of you into our guild... Long story short, we've got a plan." To which Ruby grinned. She stood up, raised her hand, then said "To Kirito!"

"To Kirito!" The rest of the group chanted, glasses clanking against each-other. Ruby sat down and took a sip, then looked to Kirito, who asked immediately "Who the hell are you four and why are you at my table?" And Keita chuckled, then said "Ah, Kirito, can I call you Kirito?"

"No..." Kirito said, an annoyance in her voice...

"Here's the thing, Kirito, I couldn't help but notice while I was rifling through your and Ruby's Character Page-" Keita started.

"I thought I had that set to private..." The two said in unison, Ruby with her eyes wide. Eitherway, keita continued "That you are not associated with any guilds! So the crew and I" He made a paranthesis "(I call them the Crew by the way) were thinking you should join our guild!" To which Kirito sighed, then said "Yeah, I'm not gonna do that." And Keita continued, to which Ruby glanced to Sachi, who sighed as the man went on "Now I know what you're thinking. 'Am I really worthy to be around these awesome dudes?"

"I literally never said that about anybody." Kirito deadpanned.

"But let me assure you, we could certainly use someone with your..." The boy stole a glance at Kirito's level, 40. "Assets..." And he moaned, for some reason. Kirito jumped in "Hey, hey, my eyes are down here!" And Ruby looked to him, then said "That is why I don't reveal my level."

"Right, right. So whaddaya say, Ki, Rubes? Can I call you two that?"

"GOD NO!" The two chanted in unison, looking toward Keita. They exchanged glances and yet again said "We need to stop doing that." To which Keita smirked, then said "Mhmm, I see... Well what if I put on this hat!" And a strange-looking ugly hat with goggles appeared on top of Keita's head. Kirito sighed, ran his hand down his face and said "Oh, don't be ridicu-" He paused, looked down at his hand "What the hell am I signing?"

Suddenly, both Ruby and Kirito saw brackets appear below their names, showing the guild they were part of. The Moonlit Black Cats. Ruby chuckled, then looked to Kirito and said "Well, tough luck now, buddy." And she downed her remaining drink, then looked to the waitress and yelled "Another one, please!" Before she looked to Keita and asked nonchalantly "So, why not introduce Kirito to the 'Crew'?"

"Right." Keita nodded, then he placed a hand on top of Sachi's head and said "This here's Sachi..." He cast a sideways glance at everyone else "While the others... They're NPCs."

"Wait, WHAT?" Both Kirito and Ruby barked, then looked to each-other and said "WE NEED TO STOP THAT, NOW!", the redhead shaking her head and rubbing her forehead. "God, I've been hanging around you too much..." And she sighed "Go on, explain to us what you meant by NPCs, Keita."

"Ah, right. Well, they're companions from other quests." He said, pointing to the trio.

"WE MUST SAVE MY FAMILY!" Yelled one of them, the one in orange.

"The Bandits are Coming!" The green one called.

"Should... We be worried?" Ruby asked, pointing at the two and already sharing the feeling of worry. Keita waved it off, then said "Eh. No. They say that like every two seconds." with calm. The last one yelled "Always remember to Jump! JUMP!" Quite jovially. "And... He's from the tutorial. It was a bad tutorial." Keita clarified. So he didn't even finish the tutorial, a thing which made Ruby sigh and groan.

"Remember:Winners don't use drugs! Unless it's steroids, in which case, USE LOTS OF DRUGS!" The Tutorial boy said, making Ruby twitch. The girl was about to burst, before she shook her head clear of the thought and looked toward Sachi. "Well... uhh..."

"T-Thank you for joining our guild, you gu-u-u-u-" Sachi's avatar flashed white and pixelated and her voice stuttered, to which Ruby's eyes widened, just as Kirito's did, before she burst out and asked at around the same time with Kirito again "SWEET MERCIFUL BUDDHA, WHAT THE FUCK?!" But Ruby said 'Heck' instead of swearingAnd Keita placed a hand on Sachi's head, then said "Ah, don't worry. Sachi lives out in the boonies so her internet is kinda shi-i-i-i-" The two depixelated at the same time. Ruby staggered back and saw people start yelling as panick instilled. "OH GOD, IT'S SPREADING!" "FLEE! GRAB THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN!" and "GOOD IDEA, WE CAN USE THEM AS SHIELDS!" And a window exploded...

Haha, the shenanigans... Four people died in that fire...

But from the ashes, a powerful friendship emerged. The few weeks the crew started spending together were amazing. Kirito came to be friends with everyone, including Ruby, got him closer to everyone. He got to tolerate them in time. Something ever unexpected with the bastard in the room. The first of their adventures would barely be beginning soon, so Kirito wanted to make sure this'd work.

At the training ground of the guild, just outside at the Teleport gate of... Whatever this town was named, Ruby parried one of Kirito's sword strikes with a grin. This wasn't a 'to-the-death' duel, but it was a duel to test their skills. She watched Kirito's blade come down, but decided to move out of the way, instead of opting to parry it, before she sent the blade flying inches from his throat and slashing through the air. She watched Kirito's blade while working with hers, then dodged again and attacked. She sliced twice, once across and once in an uppercut, sending Kirito into the defensive.

She watched as Kirito charged toward her and, utilizing one of her defensive sword skills, Violet Bloom, she parried all strikes sent forward by Kirito's offensive sword skill, Horizontal, before switching to Rosebud for a continuous strike pattern. Multiple slices later, one of her attacks managed to pierce Kirito's defense, causing a small scratch on his face, but not knocking him out of the match. She smirked, before bringing up a new skill she'd learnt with helping to defeat lil' Ol' Illfang. She smirked, before her blade became covered in a golden light and she yelled "THE XIAO-LONG PARALLEL!" As she cut once below Kirito's arc of defense, for his right leg and once above, right at the chest, dropping his health into the yellow. She made parallel cuts. The duel was decided... As a draw... Ruby looked at her stomach, then noticed her health dropped to yellow as well.

"Wow!" Sachi said, smiling as she clapped. "You two were amazing!" And she dropped into the ring, running toward both of them. She yanked them both into a hug, before Kirito chuckled weakly and said "Okay... A lot of love now, Sachi... Please, stahp." And the blue-haired girl backed off with a smile. She looked to Ruby, then nodded to her and said "How did you do that skill?"

"The Xiao-Long Parallel? Something I kind a made up... But it's a skill you can quickly learn if you wield swords..." Ruby smiled, sheathing her sword. She looked to Kirito, then asked "Care for it, buddy-boy?"

"I think I'm good, Red." Smirked Kirito, sheathing his Anneal Blade onto his back. Ruby smirked, then said "Alright then, Smarty-pants." walking away. "C'mon, Sachi. Got some stuff to deal with back in our room."

"Sure thing!" Sachi said. Kirito nodded, then waved to them and said "Alright, alright I guess I'll go... Meet up with Kei-ohgod no." And he started walking away. Ruby looked to Kirito, then yelled "HEY!" making the boy turn around. He shrugged, to which Ruby asked "WHAT THE HECK DOES 'FUCK' MEAN?" nonchalantly, making Sachi cringe and blush, flailing her hands around like crazy and Kirito sigh deeply. He waved it off and said "YOU'RE TOO YOUNG FOR IT!"

Freaking cinnamon roll of a kid...

"D'aww! YOU'RE NO FUN!" She yelled, smiling, then waved goodbye. Kirito rolled his eyes, then said "What is wrong with this girl...?" And he shrugged, walking toward one of the local feeding fields. Sachi glanced toward Ruby as they walked away toward their Inn, then asked "Xiao-Long?" With high curiosity. Ruby sighed, nodded and said "Yeah... My stepsister's family name."

"Wow... She in this game too?" Sachi asked, hitting the emotional Jackpot. Ruby shrugged. She knew she wasn't on remnant anymore, considering she was speaking to people from some planet named 'Earth' and from one of its hundreds of nations, 'Japan'. She sighed, shrugged, then said "I don't exactly know... I'm looking for her while working with you guys, so..."

"Oh..."

...

Kirito saw him, then stopped with a grin on his face. The four of this guild trained and took out bosses quite easily and quickly, making him grin. He waved to a redheaded guy with a bandana, then said "HEY, BALLSY!"

Klein cringed "Oh, god... Not again..." and he got knocked over by a mob, right into the nuts...