Disclaimers: I do not own and neither am I affiliated with in any way Sword Art Online or its author or publishers, nor do I own any non original characters within this story.
Honoka and all other OCs are owned by me! You cannot take them without proper permission! So think of your own OCs!
Alright folks, we're back with Chapter 6! I'm glad we're up to here, I did not think I'd make it that far, but we have, and I wanna thank you guys because without your support I would not be doing this at all.
Now then, as usual I have a question for you guys(not that I tend to get many responses but one or two are enough for me to think things over with). Would you prefer that I continue with the single 1500 word(on avg, but that's taking into account the entirety of the chapter, including Author's Notes I include at the end and beginning of each story) chapter per day, or would you rather I post twice a week a longer, 4000-5000 word chapter? I've been mulling that over ever since I started making this story, and I was hoping for a few opinions on the matter.
The advantages to option one, posting 1500 word chapters daily, is that you guys get a chapter a day, and are never really in any long waiting periods. The disadvantage is that the story telling does not get to be quite as well thought through, as I tend to write the chapters only one or two days in advance, so I don't always get to see things in a different light, and make the little changes that can help a story out a lot.
The advantages to option two, two 4000-5000 word chapters a weekly, are that you get a longer chapter to read when it's posted. I can also think things through a little more with more time between chapters to make the subtle changes that I can't always do with option one. The disadvantages however, are that you don't get daily chapter, and I don't know about you guys but I like my fanfiction stories to update regularly. I remember a couple years ago when I was keeping up with different stories that I hated even a two or three day wait for new chapters. You also don't get quite as much content per week as compared to the 1500 word daily chapters, as daily chapters would average around 10500 words a week vs the two longer 4000-5000 word weekly chapters that would average 9000 total words of content per week.
Anyway, please tell me what you all think. I'm fine with either posting strategy, so please give me your honest feedback on this.
Moving on, who else just finished watching the SAO Anime yesterday? I did and I have to say that overall, I was pretty satisfied with the anime. The ALO Arc is a bit of a letdown though. I felt they animated the SAO Arc better, though in my personal opinion the ALO Arc is honestly the weakest Arc of all four Arcs(SAO, ALO, GGO and Alicization). But I'm still very satisfied with it overall, and I really hope that it goes onwards and animates the GGO Arc. Even if they don't though, I'd still give the SAO Anime a solid 7.68 out of 10.
How did I arrive at that seemingly random number? I give the SAO Arc of the anime a 9, the ALO Arc a 6. SAO Arc had 14 episodes, the ALO Arc had 11. 14 X 9 = 126, 11 X 6 = 66, 126 + 66 =192, 192/25=7.68. That's how I arrived at the seemingly very random of 7.68. I'd recommend it highly to my friends or anyone who likes anime.
That's all I can think of to say, so I guess it's story time guys. Enjoy Chapter 6!
Sword Art Online: Floor 2(Part 6)
Kirito and Honoka continued down the cave that Honoka had chosen using her "girl's intuition." She had finally let go of his hand, as she had noticed after a couple minutes of running he was unable to regain his footing, being dragged by her as he was. She felt a bit guilty having done that to him, but had made no attempt to console the somewhat ill looking Kirito as of yet.
"Hey, Kirito, if we're gonna be travelling together like we are, how about forming a party? We haven't done that yet after all, and it'll be easier for me to see your HP bar and judge any dangerous situations we might come across," Honoka said out loud as the two continued walking.
"Yeah, that's a good idea. I guess it must have slipped my mind. Thanks for reminding me about that," Kirito replied, opening up his player menu.
Messing with his menu, he went into the Party Tab and clicked the "Form New Party" button. Selecting Honoka as the target to join the Party, a white screen popped up in front of the female player. Honoka pressed the "OK" button, and right after she did another HP bar popped up under both players own HP bars depicting the name of the other Party member just under it. The Party of Kirito and Honoka was now official.
"I'm surprised that there haven't been any monsters popping up yet. Normally we would have encountered at least two or three Hobgoblins," Honoka noted as the two continued walking down the sparsely lit cave.
"Hmmm. You're right. Why aren't there any monsters spawning around here? Even walking down that other cave we fought two groups of two Hobgoblins. This is weird," Kirito said, scratching his head.
He was unsure of whether or not to reveal his guess as to why this was, as it might tip her off that he was a former Beta Tester, but figured what he was about to say was rather common information. So, hoping for the best, he continued talking.
"My best guess is that this must be a trap somewhere in this part of the Dungeon, and the game is waiting for us to trigger it. Unfortunately for us, it must be a pretty deadly trap if there aren't any monsters spawning at all though" he said, a small sweat drop forming on his head.
No sooner had Kirito said it than the trap was activated. He felt his foot give way a couple inches underneath him, and a small part of the cave floor under his foot glowed a bright white color as he pulled his foot back.. A rumbling sound soon followed, and a second later, a huge boulder came barreling down right at the two of them(1).
"Aaahhhh!" the two players screamed, running in the opposite direction that they initially were coming from.
Running at full speed, the two players did their best to remain in front of the boulder that would surely kill them if it hit.
"Darn it Kirito! You had to jinx it didn't you!? I'd heard of people activating a trap like this, but I've never actually seen it! This must be why we weren't encountering any monsters!" Honoka cried, running a little bit faster.
"Less talking more running!" Kirito shouted back, also picking up his own pace a little.
Kirito's mind raced as he tried to figure out a way to escape the speeding boulder. For the moment, it was still about twenty feet away from them, but it was going faster than they were, and he knew it would catch up to them sooner rather than later.
Using his Searching Skill to check around the cave, he tried to find some sort of escape route. Having played the Beta, he knew this game was more or less fair to all players, so a trap without a way out was just too unfair even for that man to have added into the game.
Soon enough, as he had determined, he spotted a way out of his and Honoka's current predicament. There was a small gap in the cave wall to their right not too far ahead of them they could duck into. It seemed just large enough to him for two players to fit into, and with the cave's entrance at least several more minutes away, and that boulder gaining fast, Kirito knew it was their best chance of surviving.
"Honoka, listen to me! There's a gap in the cave wall we can probably fit into up ahead. There's no way we can outrun this thing! It's our only chance! So when I say so, turn right as fast as you can!" Kirito yelled, keeping his eyes glued to the gap in the wall.
"But what if you mis-time it!? Or what if it isn't large enough to hold both of us!?" Honoka cried worriedly.
"Would you rather be flattened to death!? There's no way we're gonna outrun this thing, we still have way too long to go before we reach the cave exit. Just trust me on this!" Kirito yelled.
"Alright!" Honoka responded, nodding her head, and adding in under her breath, 'Don't have much of a choice right now."
"What was that? I didn't hear you!" Kirito yelled.
"N-Nothing!" she responded sheepishly, giving him a nervous smile.
Kirito continued to watch as the gap came closer to them. Twenty feet away. Fifteen. Ten. But the boulder was gaining fast as well, now just a mere fifteen away as well. He wasn't sure if they'd make it in time.
Finally, the time to turn came, with the boulder now just five feet behind them.
"Turn now!" Kirito yelled, breaking right as sharply as he could.
Honoka was right behind him, turning quickly as well. The two just barely fit in the gap, and the boulder zipped right on past them, missing Honoka's back by mere inches. They felt the wind rush by as it went past their little shelter.
Seconds later, the boulder was out of sight, and the two breathed a collective sigh of relief as they slumped to the ground, breathing heavily(2). Resting a bit as they let themselves recollect their minds and their bodies, Kirito made a stupid comment.
"A girl's intuition, huh?" he said, still trying to catch his breath, his head resting on his knees.
"Hey! You had every opportunity to stop me if you wanted too. And besides, I wasn't technically wrong, we're still alive aren't we?" Honoka yelled defensively, in a bit of a pouty voice. She was messing with her hair as well as brushing off the dirt that had gotten on her clothes.
"Okay, okay. We are, that's true, but now we have to find a way out of here," Kirito grumbled, getting up and dusting off his pants.
Extending a hand towards Honoka, who took it gratefully, the two tried to decide on what to do next.
"If we continue down the way we were originally going, we'll likely face more dangerous booby traps," Kirito said, placing a hand on his chin, leaning against the cave wall.
"But there's no point in going back the way we came from. Even when the boulder reached the end of the cave, it remains for 48 hours, or at least it has with every other boulder trap that's been activated so far. And those things are damn near indestructible at our levels, believe me, I've seen players try. So trying to break apart the boulder with our weapons wouldn't work either," Honoka observed.
"Well, I guess we know where we're heading then," Kirito said, removing himself from the side of the cave.
"I guess so," Honoka replied, sighing.
The two swordsmen walked quietly as they walked back the way that the boulder had come from.
"Oh, Kirito, do me a favor though," Honoka said, as they were walking.
"What's that?" he asked, looking at her.
"Don't set off anymore booby traps," she said giggling, and skipping, went a few yards ahead of a caught off guard Kirito.
"H-Hey! That boulder trap was not my fault! How was I supposed to know it was there!?" Kirito cried, chasing after the skipping girl.
1- Did you guys really think I wasn't going to use this trap after talking about the Indiana Jones movies in Chapter 3 when I was describing the traps of the 2nd Floor Dungeon?
2- While the players can never run out breath in SAO, or at least according to the novel translations I've read, in the anime it was shown that they do still breathe hard after a wild run like that.
Well that was a pretty fun chapter to write, and hopefully it was just as fun for you guys to read. I love that trap, but I doubt it'll ever be showing up again. So sadface…
But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed Chapter 6 of Sword Art Online: A Re-Telling. See you all in Chapter 7!
Remember to continue to ReadxReview! And let's all hope A-1 Pictures decides to pick up SAO again and animate the GGO Arc! And the Alicization Arc when it's done!