A/N: Yes! Finished within the week! I really wanted to get this chapter out as soon as possible cause the scene this chapter is based off of was one of my favorites in the game. For anyone that has played the game, you know what's coming when you read the chapter title below. Enjoy everyone.
-Chapter 7: Pizza Party-
The town of floor 80, Kariana, was far different from most of the towns Ren and the others had seen. Normal houses, shops, and other buildings populated the area, just like all the other floors. What was different though was the geography of the place. Rocky hills elevated certain parts of the town. As everyone looked around, it was fairly easy to see that this town was sitting near the base of a mountain.
"Wow, this town is pretty unique" Mai said in awe as she gazed at the area around her.
"It sure is" Asuna agreed. "But that also means the layout of the fields and dungeons here could be irregular as well."
As the group walked towards the teleportation stone in the town's central plaza, a violent quake occurred. Ren and the others tried to keep themselves from falling down as the ground around them shook. After a few seconds, it soon died down.
"What was that?" Ren wondered. "There's never been any earthquakes in Aincrad."
"Who knows? Maybe it's the signal for a new event or something" Kirito guessed.
"In any case, let's activate the teleport stone and head back to Arc Sophia" Alice suggested. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted."
Everyone nodded in agreement and walked to the altar in the plaza. After activating it, they all teleported back to the town of floor 76. As Ren and his guild returned to town, Alice stretched her arms out. "Phew, what a day. I think I'm gonna hit the hay now"
"Me too" Dagger agreed. "That fight was exhausting" The two girls as well as the rest of the guild walked back together to Agil's bar.
As the group entered, they found Kirito and Asuna had already returned and were busy spending some time with Yui. Sitting at a table were Leafa, Sinon, and Liz.
"Hey guys." Leafa greeted. "How was the boss fight?"
"We kicked some serious butt!" Strea said in her usual cheerful tone. "That boss never stood a chance!"
"Don't forget, we lost some players in that fight" Ren reminded her. "It wasn't many but even one death is a huge hit to the front lines, especially now that we can't go back to the lower floors."
"Hey guys" another voice called out. Ren and the others turned to see Silica and Quint enter the bar. "You just get back?"
"Yep" Mai nodded. "Where were you two together?"
"Quint and I were training out in the fields" Silica explained. "It's a bit tough, but we're managing to take down the weaker enemies in the fields of floor 76."
"Good for you" Alice smiled.
"Well, I'm heading home. Thanks for the help today Quint" Silica said as she waved goodbye and walked back to the inn she was staying at with Pina flying by her side.
After the beast tamer left, Alice walked over to Quint and grinned "So, you getting Silica to like you yet?"
"Y-Yes" Quint replied with his cheeks growing red. "We're still friends, but our levels are starting to increase since we're training together."
"Nice" Alice grinned. "Just give it some more time and I know you'll get her to fall for you"
"Huh, time out!" Leafa exclaimed. "Quint's got a crush on Silica?!"
Quint stood there nervously, unable to respond. Alice patted him on the back. "Come on Quint. Show some confidence in yourself."
"Y-Yes ma'am"
"And stop calling me ma'am all the time. Just call me Alice"
"Ok ma'am, I-I mean Alice."
"Oh my god, Quint's in love with Silica." Liz said with a girlish squeal. "That is so adorable!"
"Alright knock it off Liz. You're embarrassing the poor kid" Asuna interrupted.
"Oh let her do it" Helios shrugged. "After all it's not like she has a guy be all romantic with."
"Shut up you jerk!"
"Bite me blacksmith!"
"Here we go again" Ren sighed. As Liz and Helios continued to bicker with each other, the rest of the group sat at the other end of the bar to try and block out the screaming and yelling.
"Well we finally reached floor 80" Asuna said with a relieved sigh. "Twenty more floors to go"
"Yeah and tomorrow we can relax a bit" Mai said. "After a fight like that, we need a day off"
"Hey, I have an idea! Let's have a party!" Leafa suggested.
"A party?"
"Yeah, to celebrate making it to the 80th floor. It's kinda like a milestone for us" the blond girl said.
"That sounds fun" Sinon agreed. "Let's do it"
"I'll cook the food" Asuna offered.
"I'll help with decorations" Alice said.
Within a matter of minutes, everyone in the group was discussing plans for the party. They decided to host it tomorrow at the bar. Agil was in full agreement since it would lead to many new potential customers. After all the plans were set up, Ren and the others went to bed, excited for tomorrow.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
-The next day-
Agil's bar that was usually peaceful and quiet was now packed and filled with noise. Streamers and banners were hanging all over the interior thanks to Alice and the other girls. Food that Asuna and Agil had prepared was laid out on the tables.
"Alright everyone!" Klein called out to the group. "It's now time for Klein's speech of awesomeness!"
"Shut up Klein, no one wants to hear this!" Liz yelled out.
Klein ignored the blacksmith's comment and went on with his speech. "When I first started this game, I aimed to be one of the best players in the game. After many grueling hours of grinding and honing my skills, I rose through the ranks of players and earned my guild a spot on the front lines. Now I know you all must be thinking about how cool I am, but let me just say-"
The bandana wearing player didn't get a chance to finish his speech as Helios took a glass and threw it at Klein. The glass smashed him in the face and he fell over in pain. Helios decided to end Klein's long winded speech with a loud shout "Cheers everybody!"
"Cheers!" everyone yelled in agreement.
The bar was filled with all kinds of things going on. Asuna was having Kirito taste all the food she had made. Liz, Leafa, and Sinon were all sitting together as they stared at Kirito from afar. Helios and Klein were busy deadlocked in an arm-wrestling match to see who was stronger. The younger group of Mai, Yui, Silica, and Quint were busy chatting together. Alice and Ren were sitting together with the black haired girl curled around her boyfriend.
"This is an awesome party" Alice cheered in excitement. "Everyone's having so much fun"
"The fun's just getting started" a voice yelled coming from the kitchen. Everyone looked to see Agil coming out of the kitchen with a pizza in his hands. "Ta-da"
"No way! How did you make a pizza?!" Liz gasped.
"Asuna told me the recipe to make it in Aincrad" Agil explained. "She really does know how to make anything here"
Asuna blushed at being complimented for her cooking skills. "I-It's nothing special. Just something I came up with while doing my research."
"This is incredible!" Mai said as she looked at the pizza in front of her. "I call dibs on a slice"
"You don't have to call dibs. I made plenty" the muscular bartender said as he placed the pizza on the bar counter. "I'll go bring the rest out."
Ren and the others all went over to the counter as Agil brought out the multiple pies. Being able to eat pizza like this, brought back a little taste of the real world to them.
"I haven't had pizza in forever" Dagger said as she took a bite of her slice. "This is delicious"
"It really is." Leafa agreed. "Asuna can you tell me the recipe?"
"Sure, but you need a pretty decent cooking skill" Asuna explained.
"Darn. There's always a catch"
Everyone kept eating their slices of pizza, enjoying the soft cheese melting in their mouths. As they continued to eat, Agil came out with another pizza.
"Sweet! More pizza!" Helios cheered.
"Hold on. This one's special" Agil said.
"Special? What are you talking about?" Ren questioned.
"Yeah. It looks normal to me" Sinon agreed.
"I added extra hot spices to one of these slices" the chef explained. "I made them for a little game to play"
"What kind of game?" Alice asked.
"There's eight slices here, so there's a one in eight chance of getting the super spicy slice. Eight people each pick a slice at random and we see who got the spicy one. The winner can consider themselves lucky for getting the spicy slice."
"That's not lucky!" Kirito argued.
"I have an idea!" Klein suggested. "Whoever gets the spicy slice can give an order to any of the other seven contestants and they have to do it no matter what"
"What perverted scheme are you up to now?" Ren wondered. The rest of the group gave a similarly worried look at what Klein had in mind.
"Hey, hey! Don't corrupt my fun game like that. I meant something like pay for my dinner, or help me find a rare item. Stuff like that." Klein argued.
"Fine then" Agil sighed. "We'll play by Klein's rules. Everyone can draw straws to see who participates."
After going through the selection process of drawing straws the eight pizza testers were chosen. The group of contestants were Ren, Alice, Helios, Liz, Kirito, Klein, Quint, and Silica.
"Better watch out Liz. When I win, I'm gonna make you walk the streets dressed like a stripper" Helios grinned.
"Bring it on jackass" Liz glared, accepting his challenge.
Quint thought nervously to himself as Agil brought the pie over. 'If I get the spicy slice… I'm gonna do it. I'll ask Silica out on a date.'
'I wonder what I could make Ren do if I win?' Alice thought to herself.
'I'm so nervous. What if I get the spicy slice? Would that give me the liberty to ask Kirito out to dinner? No, I can't! He's with Asuna! I couldn't do that!' Silica silently thought.
'Let's see… my options are Alice, Silica, or Liz.' Klein thought as he weighed his options. 'Ren would kill me if I chose Alice. Silica is too young for me. I'd get a mace to the head if I picked Liz. There's no way for me to come out the winner in any of these.'
"Alright everyone. It's time for the Super Ultra Deadly Spicy Pizza Chalenge!" Agil said. The crowd of players gathered around watched with suspense. "Players, take your slice!"
Each of the eight contestants grabbed a slice of pizza. They all looked identical. There was no way to tell which slice it was.
"Chow time!"
Everyone took a bite of the pizza simultaneously. The many players watched looked at the eight of them, curious on who took the bite of death.
"It's not me" Ren said.
"Me neither" Alice sighed.
"Mine's normal too" Klein said in a depressed tone.
"Mine is… HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT!" Liz screamed. "AGIL, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU PUT IN THIS?!"
Everyone watched as Liz struggled for her life, trying to contain the spicy flavor. Ren and the others watched Liz and felt relief that they weren't going through her suffering right now. Helios had fallen out of his chair and was currently on the floor laughing at the blacksmith's misery.
After a minute or so, the burning sensation in Liz's mouth died down. She took a moment to recover. "Geez, if we weren't in a safe zone, that thing was liable to kill me" the blacksmith said.
"Ahahahahahaha!" Helios laughed. "You shoulda seen the look on your face! That was priceless!"
"I'm glad you find it so funny Helios" Liz smirked. "Cause guess who I'm giving my order too."
"… I may have made a horrible mistake."
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
-Later that night-
"Liz, please I'm begging you." Helios pleaded. "Don't make me do this."
"Not a chance" the pink haired blacksmith replied. "You know the rules. I got the extra spicy slice, so you have to do whatever I say."
"I will literally do ANYTHING else" the axe-wielder cried. "I'll fight the next floor boss solo if I have to. Anything but this."
"Hey hurry up!" a player from the audience yelled. "We paid good money to see this!"
"You sold tickets to this?" Helios questioned.
"Technically Dagger sold them. I just got a cut of the profits since this was my idea."
"What?! Dagger wouldn't do something like that!"
"Exactly what about that is out of character for her?" Liz questioned.
"Fair point." Helios sighed, knowing the money-loving mind of his girlfriend.
"Well you heard the audience." Liz grinned. "It's showtime"
The blacksmith walked off stage and the spotlights aimed at the curtains on the tavern's stage as it slowly rose to reveal Helios dressed in a hot pink female swimsuit that looked quite tight on the pitiful player. The crowd broke into laughter and applause, with the addition of a few whistles. Mai was pounding the table, unable to control her laughter. Then the music began.
"Ladies and gentleman!" Liz shouted out to the crowd with her mic "Presenting Helios of Wyvern Inferno dancing to a remake of the song "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". Everyone, I give you "For He's a Jolly Good Crossdresser!""
'You better watch your back blacksmith' Helios thought to himself. He began to dance around on stage as the crowd's laughter continued. Recording crystals taped the beautiful sight of the humiliated axe-wielder. One thing was for sure. This would be a night that no one would forget anytime soon.
A/N: Oh god, I LOVED writing this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. I will also try to get the next chapter up within a week. As always, comments and reviews are welcome.
