I don't own Sword Art Online or Mataras the Red Swordsman. Sword Art Online is owned by Reki Kawahara. Mataras the Red Swordsman is owned by Mataras the Author. I only own my OCs.
Chpater 4: Silica, and the Siblings-In-Arms
Akira was scratching his head, for recently, The Moonlit Black Cats received a tip-off about an orange guild that was operating in these areas, on floor 35. They were currently in a field dungeon called, The Forest of Wanderings.
The group of five decided to split up into three groups, Akira with Diabel, Mataras with Sachi, and Kirito would go solo.
The three teams were careful in this location, it wasn't called the Forest of Wanderings for nothing, a lot of players without a map, players literally got lost in this place until a rescue party came. The monsters, however, were really annoying the most of them being, Drunken Apes, a large ape that always carried a bottle of booze that helped to restore its own health.
It was getting dark when Akira, and Diabel heard shrieks. Without any hesitation the two raced off towards the location of the noise.
"Pina!" a voice cried out, this caused Akira to speed up in ways he never had before just to reach the scene. When he arrived, he analyzed the scene.
A young girl was on her knees, with her dagger laying in the dirt off to her left, and she was surrounded by three drunken apes, something that got really Akira annoyed. Soon, his partner showed up, and the group defeated all three monsters.
Kirito barreled through the trees and joined up with Akira, and Diabel from the north. Mataras, and Sachi emerged from the west, and the later went to get the girl's dagger.
The young girl looked up from the ground to see her rescuers, and she was surprised to see what she saw.
The first of them was a young girl with dark hair, not much older than herself. She wielded a single silver blade, she wore for equipment, dark blue armor with some silver themes here and there. Her eyes were blue, and filled with sadness.
The second was a boy, with blue eyes, and light blue hair, wielding a calvary sword and shield, he also wore blue and silver themed armor, but his was a lighter shade than the girl. His face showed radiance and kindness.
The third was a boy with grey eyes, and black hair, dressed in a black trench coat over a yellow shirt, and blue shoulder pads. His sword was silver, with a blue cross guard and had the symbol of the moon across the middle of it. His face was blank, devoid of any emotion.
The fourth boy of the group was different from the other two. His stance, in fact, his every movement seemed to be fueled by some kind of… anger. His eyes were dark brown, but in the night they almost seemed to be completely black, and filled with rage. His shirt, pants, and hair were jet black, like the third boy, but his fell past his ears, and partially covered his left eye a little bit, and he wore a red and black coat. His sword was similar to the third boy, except his guard on his blade was red, and in the middle was a symbol of the sun. He didn't scream hero material to the young girl.
The fifth boy, seemed to be the kindest of the group, his blonde hair was like the other two boys in red and black, but his was more well treated and brushed. His eyes were blue, and showed as the clear night sky, he was wearing an azure blue colored version of the second boy's coat, with a black shirt, and ocean blue shoulder pads. His sword was styled like a katana but straight out as a long sword.
The player with the katana sheathed his sword, doing so like he was returning his blade from being sharpened, and walked over to her and crouched down to her eye level. "Are you ok?" he asked
She nodded, mutely, she was still, however, shocked about all that happened. "Here drink this." said the girl as she handed the girl's dagger, and a red vial to her.
She drank the potion, and the aches started washing away, as she began to feel better, health. The girl then started to cry once more, as for the reason she was in that problem came right back up in front. Her gaze went to to the feather, it was all that remained of her best friend.
The boy in the red coat walked over and knelt down too, noticing the object, "That feather… are you a beast tamer?" he asked.
The girl nodded, "It's Pina, she was my best friend, a healing dragon," she said, but she was shaky from the experience, as she wiped away her tears, "I'm sorry, I'm being a bit rude. My name is Silica. Who are you guys?" she asked.
"My name's Kirito." said the boy in black
"Call me Diabel." said the boy in mild blue
"I'm Sachi." the girl said
"I am Mataras." the boy in red said in his casual salute
"And my name is Akira… I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner, I've could've saved your familiar." The boy in Azure said, bowing his head in sadness.
Mataras then picked up the feather, and gave it to Silica. "That feather is your familiar's heart. You'll need to keep it if you plan to revive her."
This statement left Silica confused, "Revive her, what do you mean?" As she thought of what Mataras said, she could've sworn she heard a screech, but it was deeper.
Looking up, she saw a red scaled dragon, a little bit larger than Pina perching on Mataras's shoulder. Akira saw this and patted his affectionately, this caused the dragon to warble happily. "This is my fire dragon familiar. His name is Litrosh." Akira said introducing the dragon to Silica.
Silica was in awe as she saw the creature. They were rare in Aincrad, and Mataras managed not to meet one, but to tame creature as well. But, then her mind went back to the topic at hand. "How do I revive Pina?"
"Allow me to explain." replied Akira, "On the south side of floor 47, there is a field dungeon called, The Hill of Memories, their is a flower which has the power to revive familiar's only downside is that you have 3 days to revive her."
Kirito nodded in agreement, "All you need to do is pay for us to go get it, but the flower will only spawn if the familiar's master is their."
Silica had soon, had a spark of hope, but it was dwindling with the info. "Floor 47, huh?" she said sadly.
Akira smiled and put his hand her shoulder, "Don't worry, you have three days. You'll get their, because we're going to help you out." Kirito, Mataras, and Akira then accessed their menu's and started sending items to her for trade. "Here. These items should help increase your level by four to five stats, if we work together, it'll be done in no time." he said with a smile.
Silica eyes were widened when she saw what they were trading her, the stats on each one would push her to s are stage for her to stay alive for ten whole ten floors! She looked at them and interacted in the trade menu, "Um, I know this isn't enough col to pay you back but…" she was soon stopped by Akira who had his hand up.
"No it's alright, we don't need any col. We actually have some business up on the floor anyway." he told her
Silica looked up at their faces, "But… why would you do this for me?" the younger girl asked
Akira saw the look on her face, it literally read in his mind, 'Is he gonna rob me?', he chuckled and replied, "Well, Mataras here really, really likes dragons, same for me, but I guess I'm helping you is because it feels like out my own family back home IRL."
Kirito sighed as he responded, "And as for me, it's because you look like my little sister."
Silica paused for a moment, wondering if she heard that right, and then she giggled, "I'm sorry…" she smiled, and retrieved her dagger from Sachi, and stood back up. Together, they got out of the Forest of Wanderings, and returned back to the safe zone.
The group of six returned to the main town of floor 35, and headed towards a nearby inn. During the trip, Silica asked Mataras how he managed to tame a rare dragon like Litrosh. The dragon really seemed to take a liking to Silica. This made her more determined than ever to revive Pina.
"Well, if it isn't Silica!" rang out a voice, drawing the attention of the Moonlit Black Cats, "You mad it out of the Forest of Wanderings in one piece, but what happened to your little friend? The blue lizard?" a woman spoke out, she had fiery red hair and wore an outfit that was left for the imagination to wonder for a bit, she was also carrying a long spear with a black handle.
"Pina died trying to save me," Silica replied, sadly, "but… I'm gonna get her back." she added, with a look of confidence
Akira then stepped up and asked, "Pardon me for asking, but, do you two know each other?"
"Actually, Silica and I were in a party with a few others, that is up until this morning, we had an argument for items, and she ran off into the forest," the woman said, Akira had to admit, her acting was really good, it would almost fool an amateur, fortunately for the MBC, they weren't amateurs. "I was so worried about her."
"Well if that's the case, why were we the ones to find and not her? All alone, and in danger?" Mataras asked, "Are you more afraid of the forest more than you are a little girl?" he asked her
"I don't know about that. In fact, I say she's a lot more afraid of the dark, if anything." Akira smirked, and he got a high five in response from Mataras.
The woman seemed to notice the insults, and was getting angry, "Listen her you little punks…" she was then tapped on her shoulder by one if her lackeys.
"Come on Rosalia, we have to go." he said, as he noticed, Diabel and Kirito reaching for their swords.
The woman gave up, and walked of in humph, Akira chuckled as the group headed off to their original course.
Akira stood at his window, and stared up to the virtual night sky, "Mom, Silica really looks like she was someone that could be like a part of our family, I feel like I can help her while I'm trapped her, since I can't help you right now." he said, "I hope your doing alright, life must be difficult for you right now. I miss you so much." he sighed
He stepped out of his room, and went over to talk to Silica, he spoke after knocking the door, "Silica? I was wondering if you wanted to know something about floor 47 before we head up tomorrow. Interested?" he said
"Oh sure, hold on a moment, and I'll get the door." he heard her replay, hearing her accessing he menu, then light footsteps coming to the door.
Kirito then walked up, "Can you keep watch out here?" Akira asked, he nodded silently, and headed down stairs, trying to act conspicuous.
He then heard the door open to reveal, Silica in a light green dress as she welcomed him.
Silica was on the bed as Akira moved the table and a chair over, then placing something on the table. This peaked her curiosity.
"What's that item, Akira? It's so pretty." Asked Silica, she was mesmerized with the glow it produced.
Akira chuckled as he replied, "It's a mirage sphere, really handy for mapping out routes during training regimes every now and again." Soon, the hologram showed the area, the group was planning on going tomorrow. "This is the town area of floor 47, and this is the hill of memories." He pointed out the two areas, and explained the planned route to get to the drop area.
He was about to say more when they heard a scuffling outside, he rushed to the door to see what it was, "WHO'S THERE?!" he demanded, barging out of the door to stick his head out, sword drawn. Mataras, and Diabel, however, have already cut off a shady looking player from escaping, Akira turned to the boy in red.
"We caught this moron, snooping around with his ear at the door, eavesdropping." he explained, this made Akira a bit upset.
"What were doing up here?" he asked
"I was told to eavesdrop on you guys from my boss, and they wanted me to report back to them on anything they find interesting." the Lackey said
"Well, it looks like it'll stay the way it is, but, your 'Boss' is getting a message." Akira said even though it felt like he was growling
The next morning, Akira told his guild mates to go on ahead onto floor 47, while he went and got Silica. "Silica! We need to get going, everyone has already heading out for floor 47!" he cried out at Silica's door.
He then heard a sudden yelp, with a thud, this made him wonder what was going on in their, when all of a sudden, the door flew open, with Silica in the doorway, and in the new gear she got from Akira, Kirito, and Mataras. She was wearing a black sleeveless shirt and skirt, with a bright red overcoat and breastplate armor.
Akira noticed, and glanced in the room behind her, "What was that crash I heard before in there?" he asked
Silica replied, but a bit nervously with a bright light blush on her cheeks, "Oh! You just made me jump thanks all."
Akira simply chucked as he put his hand on her shoulder. "Their is no need to be so nervous you know, just be yourself." he said
The two players soon reached the gate, as they headed to there location, "Teleport! Floria!" Akira called out
As soon as the duo appeared on floor 47, Silica looked around like she was in paradise, "Wow!" she called out in awe.
"I know right? This area is all covered in flowers, even the monsters are plant based, so everyone here calls this place, the flower garden." Akira explained. Silica ran over to kneel down and smell the flowers even see a ladybug fly off one of the flowers.
Akira soon saw Silica gazing at the rest of the plaza, spotting couples in the area, and he didn't blame them, in fact, Akira thought if he were to find someone special, he definitely bring them here or to floor 22 for a date. He walked over and tapped Silica on her shoulder.
"Silica?" he asked her, which snapped her out of her gaze.
"Oh! Nothing!" she yelped, standing up, and dusting herself off.
The two met up with the rest of the guild, and together made a plan of action. Akira and Kirito, would escort Silica to the drop point and acquire the rare item, while the others stayed behind as the reserve.
Kirito then gave the girl a teleport crystal as the trio began to cross the stone bridge out of town, "If things get hairy in there, take this this crystal and get out." he ordered, and with no room for any arguments. Silica nodded, and put the crystal in her pouch.
The three walked on the pre-planned path that Akira showed them before, and stunned enemies along with Kirito, Silica finished them off, and got the majority of the EXP.
"Hey guys?" Silica started to ask until vines snuck up from behind her and grabbed ahold of her legs and lifted her into the air. She quickly grabbed her skirt, and held it tightly, and flinched at the sight of what was holding her in its grip.
She waved her dagger around, crying and shouting in a state of panic, "Help! Akira, Kirito save me! Don't look but save me!" She cried out. Akira and Kirito were trying to watch without getting her upset.
"That'll be… difficult," muttered Kirito. Akira only rolled his eyes, and shouted up to her, "You got this Silica! Just cut the tentacles, and then strike the head!" he called out.
Silica heard this, and did as he instructed, slicing of the tentacles, and then struck at the head of the monstrous plant. Striking down like a comet into the creatures weak point, as it bursted into fragments of polygons.
She landed safely on the ground, "Did you see anything?" she asked, extremely timidly.
Akira shook his head, "No, I didn't see anything." he replied.
"Not really." Kirito mumbled as he closed his point with his two index fingers.
Silica then tried to ask her question again, "Hey, I was wondering? What's your sister like, Kirito? How am I considered family to you, Akira?" she asked.
Kirito went first revealing that they were actually cousins, and that she took kendo for the both of them. Silica assured him, that she tried extra because she cared for him.
Silica then turned Akira, "What about you?" she asked.
Akira sighed knowing he would have to explain himself. "My dad works over seas in my home country in America. So, I don't get to see him a lot. My mom, helps out quite a bit. Now that I'm trapped in this game, I wonder, if I'll ever see them again." He continued his story revealing he's helping out his grandparents, while talking to them as much as possible. He felt a bit down after he finished.
Kirito, and Silica really felt sorry, for Akira, as they comforted him. "Must be really hard to bring up for you, huh? Don't worry, all of us are here to help out if you ever get stress with any thoughts about your family." Kirito said reassuring him.
Akira smiled at the two, knowing he had gotten some really great friends. "Thanks, I needed to hear that. Now, come on, we got an item to get." he said
His friends nodded in agreement, and continued to their location, "Their it is, The Hill of Memories." he said looking over the hill.
The trio headed straight over, while Silica quickly ran over to the pedestal, and saw what she was looking for, a flower bloomed out of the slab and glowed in a kind, warming light. "Go ahead, pick it up." smiled Kirito, as Silica eagerly plucked the flower, and added the item to her inventory.
"Why don't we wait and revive Pina in the safe zone. There's a lot of strong monsters here." Kirito advised
"Good idea, we wouldn't want her to die on us again." replied Akira
The three players were all laughing together as they headed back to town, and began crossing the bridge. Kirito then made a sudden motion for the group to stop. Akira opened his menu and worked up a message. "Whoever's hiding, come on out, right now." Kirito demanded.
A second passed, and dangerous red hair flowed out revealing no one other, than Rosalia. "If you saw through my hiding skill, your detection skill must be really high, swordsman." she said with a smile.
Akira pushed a button and then closed his menu, "Well, if it isn't the pretty woman from yesterday, please step out of the way, before someone gets hurt." he said , not in a very good mood.
"I could say the same thing about you guys, hand over the pneuma flower before you get hurt." she said, as she licked her lips, hungry for more money, and snapped her fingers once.
At that moment, at least eight people appeared from behind the trees, and the shrubs, all with an orange cursor, "Rosalia, the leader of the orange guild known as, 'Titan's Hand'." Akira spoke up, "Do you remember a few days ago, you attacked a guild called the 'Silver Flags', The leader survived, but four members died that day." he went on
"He went from the starting town, all the way to the front lines, desperately begging for someone, anyone, to avenge the death of his guild, which lead us to where we are now." Kirito finished
"Oh, the losers with no money, well, you should be worried about your welfare. Now hand over the Pneuma Flower!" snapped Rosalia
Silica looked really scared, "There are too many of them! We have to get out of here!" she said backing up, Akira put his hand on her shoulder
"Don't worry, we got this." He said smiling
Kirito agreed. The two swordsmen stepped forward, both of them reaching for their swords strapped to their backs. "Akira! Kirito!" Silica cried out.
"It's all right. We got this, right everyone?" Akira spoke up, in an answer to his question, three figures walked out of the safety of the town.
"Took you guys long enough. What, you were gonna steal the glory, again?" Mataras grinned as he came out, sword drawn in hand. Sachi, and Diabel both had their swords drawn as well.
"Hold on," Akira smirked at the group, and one lackey seemed to put the pieces together, "Four men, one girl, all one handed, one with a shield, one with a fire dragon. Holy crap!" one cried out.
"Rosalia! It's The Moonlit Black Cats! The Black Swordsman, The Silver Swordsman, The Red Swordsman, The Blue Swordsmaiden, and The Azure Swordsman!" Sounds like their nicknames caught on really quick.
"I guess we don't need to introduce ourselves at all." Akira said
"Don't just stand their! Kill them already! Take everything they own!" Rosalia shouted, she believed in her beauty, rather than using her head. The eight men rushed to only into the four men, and not the girls.
Silica cried out in horror as the men struck, but Akira and Kirito stood their grounds, Rosalia's men continued to slash at them with swords, daggers, axes, spears, and maces, Akira was paying attention to his HP gauge while all this was happening, as well as Rosalia.
The team dealt them a total of 403 points in damage, when instantly they went back to full health with +600 HP. Akira grinned, and explained to the whole group, friend and foe alike. Al of you were able to hit us with around 400 points of damage in ten seconds, that's basically the amount of all of you guys can hit us." Akira smirked
"The four of us are Level 78, while Sachi is Level 75, each almost equal at 14,500 HP each." Kirito added
"We also happen to have a battle healing skill that regenerates 600 HP every ten seconds. We'd be standing here all day, and you guys couldn't get anywhere." Mataras said as he bursted into laughter.
"Is that even possible?" asked one of the lackeys
"Yes It is." answered all four of the male MBC members.
"MMO's that use leveling systems like SAO make things unfair that way. Don't you forget that." said Kirito
"Our client spent nearly his entire fortune on this Corridor crystal. It's been set to Black Iron Castles Prison, which is where you guys are going!" said Mataras
"He's going to get his moneys worth." added Diabel
"Well I'm green, and if you hurt me, you'll go orange!" Rosalia said, as she raised her spear for battle, however, three blurs identified the sudden presence of three blades in a vice around her, realizing if she made a wrong move, she's dead.
"I'm called 'The Red Swordsman' for a reason, got it," Mataras said
"We would only stay out of sight until the orange curser wore off," Akira added
"So just try us." Kirito concluded
Rosalia, and her men dropped their weapons as Kirito used the crystal to open a portal. "Alright, hop on through." Diabel said
"And don't try anything funny on your way their." Sachi added.
The goons then headed into the portal, and Mataras grabbed Rosalia, and tossed her into the portal after them.
The guild of five, and Silica went to a room, back on floor 35, "I guess we should apologize for leading you around like that." said Sachi
Silica shook her head as she replied, "I wasn't worried, because I had Akira, and Kirito there to help support me, and the way you guys stood up to Rosalia, I wish I was as strong as you guys." she said
"There you go, cheering us up again. You'd probably do great providing support for morale you know, your optimism knows no bounds." Akira smiled at her.
"Hey, how about we meet in the real world when this is all over." Silica asked
"That sounds awesome, thanks Silica." Kirito nodded
"How about we revive Pina now?" Mataras asked, Silica agreed and accessed her menu to get the two items, Pina's Heart, and the Pneuma Flower. Holding the flower over the feather, they waited until a single drop fell onto the feather. A warm glow began to follow.
Silica gave a genuine grin for the first time after losing Pina, When you get back Pina, I have a wonderful story to tell you, about the day,.. I got to have my very own big brothers and a sister! she smiled
And sure enough, when the light died down, a small blue feathered dragon, with two long tail feathers at the end appeared, waking up to see her friend, shrieking with and landing on her shoulder to rub her cheek, happily seeing her again.
Then an idea popped into Akira's head, "Hey Silica,.. I was wondering." Akira said
Silica and Pina turned to see him, "Yeah? what is it?" she asked
"Would you like to join us?" he asked, and their was silence in the air.
"Hey, that's a great idea! Why didn't I think of that before?" Kirito grinned
"Join you?" she asked, as Pina squeaked in confusion. Then it clicked as to what he meant, "As in… join The Moonlit Black Cats?" she asked completely surprised
Akira nodded, Silica paused, and with an approving squeak from her dragon, she smiled, leaping to give the boy in azure a hug, "Yes! I'll join the Moonlit Black Cats!" she laughed out loud in joy.
Lauren: That's so sweet of you to do that for her.
Akira: Thanks! It's nice to help out a lot of people when you get the chance.
Mataras: Hard to argue with that.
Kirito: Now we have members, and two of them are dragon users. One can heal us up to boot.
Silica: Oh stop it! It's embarrassing!
Asuna: So when do I come back?
Akira: Pretty soon actually.
Author: Next time on The Azure Swordsman: The Lost Fragment Chapter 5: Yolko, and the Safe Zone Murderer.
All: LINK START!