Chapter 9- Unlimited Burst
October 22nd, 2056
Frank and Kuroba had gotten ready for school and were getting ready to leave. Surprisingly, Frank didn't have any nightmares last night. After saying goodbye to Yuniko, who had also gotten dressed, the duo headed for the elevator.
"Well that was fun," Kuroba said. "Maybe I should stay over more often."
"Yeah, but I don't know if my parents would approve," Frank replied slowly.
Kuroba simply giggled and wrapped her arm around her protégé's, much to his embarrassment. "Then I guess I'll just have to meet them," she said casually. "I'm sure we'd get along swimmingly."
"Seriously, do you just accelerate to come up with these things?!"
"Maybe you're just too slow," Kuroba teased as she released Frank's arm. "Anyway, it's supposed to be cloudy all day. I hope it doesn't rain."
"Storms don't really bother me," Frank answered. "I can make my own lightning, remember?"
"Oh, yeah, you did mention that. Do you think you could show me that sometime?"
"Sure," Frank said as they entered the elevator before he chose the ground floor option.
Kuroba then noticed that Frank's tie was crooked. "Hold still." Without waiting for a reply, she immediately began fixing her protégé's tie.
"Uh, thanks," Frank said nervously.
The Black Lotus player smiled. "It's nothing." As soon as she finished, the elevator doors had opened, revealing none other than Kazuto and Asuna, who looked surprised to see their Legion Master.
"Kuroba, what are you doing here?" Asuna questioned. "You don't live here."
The Black King paused before answering with, "I was concerned that Yuniko might try to pull something on Frank since she was staying with him, so I decided to stay over as well to keep an eye on her."
It took all of Frank's willpower not to facepalm. "Yeah, like that's the reason why you stayed over!"
Kazuto raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Really, but I thought we had a temporary truce with the Red King."
"You can never be too cautious," Kuroba answered. "However, it seems that it wasn't needed for this."
Both Kazuto and Asuna didn't look convinced but didn't question it further.
Later
Frank, Kuroba, Kazuto, Asuna and Shino met up at the school roof for a private meeting.
"Can we really stop this Chrome Disaster?" Shino questioned nervously. "I mean, it took the Seven Kings of Pure Color to stop it last time."
"We'll be fine," Kuroba assured. "This time we've got the Darkness Duo, the Lightning Flash and the Sniper with us. Chrome Disaster won't know what hits him."
Frank let out an annoyed groan. "I thought I told you not to call me and Kazuto that. We hate that title, and the other ones."
"Sorry, Dark Swordsman," Kuroba said with a mischievous smirk, causing Frank to just shake his head and the others to laugh at his reaction.
Later- Virtual World
Marth was cutting down the monsters in the arena and made it to level 70. As he continued to fight, the Spriggan found his thoughts turning to his time back in SAO.
"Why am I thinking about that now of all times?" Marth questioned. "With all the people I failed to save, I don't deserve to be called a hero."
Suddenly he remembered what his duplicate said in his dream. "You can't keep denying your past. Sooner or later, you have to accept who you are."
"I already know what I am," Marth said quietly, remorse filling his voice. "And I'm no hero."
"I thought I'd find you here."
Marth turned around and saw Kirito right behind him. (Kirito's avatar is his ALO avatar.)
"Hey," Marth greeted as he sheathed his swords.
"Hey. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I've just been thinking a little."
"Let me guess, Sword Art Online."
Marth let out a sigh in defeat. "You always manage to see right through me, Kirito."
Kirito chuckled in amusement. "Well, we do go way back." He then folded his arms. "Still hate your 'Dark Swordsman' title?"
The blue-eyed Spriggan lowered his head in shame. "Yeah. The Dark Swordsman's supposed to be a hero, and I'm not one."
"That's how I feel with my 'Black Swordsman' title," Kirito admitted. "It's funny how similar we are. Maybe that's why we always got along so well."
"Maybe," Marth replied simply. "Or maybe something drew us together the first time."
"I never thought of that, but regardless, I'm glad we became friends. It made things easier by having a partner to rely on. Kuroba may be your Driver, but we'll always be partners."
Marth gave his fellow Spriggan a warm smile. "Yeah."
Later
Frank went back to his apartment after school let out where he and Yuniko would wait for the others.
"I'm home," Frank said as he entered the apartment and closed the door behind him.
"Welcome back," Yuniko said casually as she scrolled through her messages. "Chrome Disaster hasn't made his move yet, but I've got eyes everywhere. By the way, your parents called. They said they'll be back in the next three days, if all goes well, I'll be out of here before then."
"Okay," Frank replied emotionlessly, catching the Red King's attention.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, I was just wondering, do you hate Kuroba at all?"
"What do you mean?" Yuniko asked in confusion.
"For what she did. She's the one who killed the previous Red King," Frank explained. "Because of that, she has a huge bounty on her head."
"Oh, yeah, that stuff," the Scarlet Rain player said. "No, I don't really hate her. I'm actually kind of grateful to her."
"Grateful?"
"Yeah, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be the Red King, besides I hardly even knew the previous Red King, so his death didn't really affect that much, if at all. Plus…"
Frank raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Plus…?"
Yuniko threw the Black Wolf player a death glare. "Listen up, don't you dare tell Kuroba I said this or you're gonna face my fortress!"
Frank couldn't help but chuckle in amusement. "Relax, nothing leaves this room."
The Red King then slouched on the couch. "The truth is, I think she's pretty awesome," she confessed. "I respect her bravery. While me and the other Kings are half-heartedly fighting each other, obeying this stupid non-aggression treaty, she's the only one to declare her true goal, reaching level 10. Although, I think the others are probably plotting the same thing, they're just not willing to act on it."
"What about you?" Frank asked curiously. "Are you trying to reach level 10 too?"
"I don't know yet," Yuniko replied. "Between all us Kings, there's a theory that if someone became a level 10 Burst Linker, the result might turn out to be the end of the entire game, and then Brain Burst will automatically uninstall itself, meaning everyone would lost the program at once."
"Really?" Frank said, getting flashbacks of his time in SAO.
"No one really knows if it's true or not, but to be honest, I don't like to think about it," Yuniko continued. "That's how addicted I am to the Accelerated World. But you know, the fact that so many people are into the game shows you how warped this world has become. Chrome Disaster is a perfect example of that. The reason why Cherry Rook got a hold of the armor in the first place was so he could get to a higher level in a world that's gone dormant because of that stupid treaty." Yuniko hugged her knees close to her chest. "If I were to really come clean about it, it's my fault it happened. I made him do this."
Yuniko gasped when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders, revealing the source to be none other than Frank.
"I know the feeling," the Aegis confessed. "Not wanting the game to end is perfectly natural. And I understand why you want to stay in the game world forever. The thing is, that can never happen."
"What do you mean?" Yuniko questioned, not daring to pull away from the teen.
Frank had a flashback where he, Kirito, Asuna and Yuuki watched Aincrad's destruction after they cleared Sword Art Online.
"Everything has to come to an end eventually, even Brain Burst," Frank explained. "If the ending for Brain Burst causes us to lose our acceleration powers forever, then that's it. Sometimes the final fate of a game isn't what we think it is, I know this from experience. It's just something we can't completely control."
Yuniko was curious what Frank meant by experience. As far as she knew, he didn't play any other VRMMOs. "Come to think of it, his avatar looks really familiar," she thought. "I know I've seen it somewhere, but where?"
Later
Kuroba, Kazuto, Asuna and Shino had arrived. The group tried to find ways to pass the time until Yuniko got an alert.
"He's on the move," the Red King spoke up, catching everyone's attention. "Cherry Rook just boarded the Saitama Trainline. If he's following his usual route, he'll hunting in Ikebukerou (I don't know if that's how you spell it so feel free to correct me)."
"Understood," Kuroba said. "So how should we get there? Do we go through the virtual world or real?"
"I say virtual," Yuniko replied. "With the six of us, we should be able to avoid running into an enemy, and even if we do, I'm sure we can handle them."
"She makes a good point," Kazuto agreed. "Besides, it would take us too long for us to reach Cherry Rook in the real world. Finding him in the virtual world is the best way to stop him."
"Very well," the Black King said before eyeing her protégé. "Marth, do you remember the voice command I taught you when you reached level 4?"
"What voice command?" Frank said. "Just kidding. Of course I remember it. So that's where we'll fight this guy?"
Kuroba nodded in acknowledgement. "Yes, in the true battlefield for Burst Linkers like us. It'll cost us all ten points though."
"Kirito and I just clobbered a few players the other day, so I should have plenty of Burst Points."
"We're wasting time just talking here," Asuna spoke up. "It's time we destroy the fifth Chrome Disaster and end this curse once and for all."
"Yeah," the others agreed.
"Unlimited Burst!" everyone said in sync.
The Nega Nebulus members and the Red King found themselves in a black building in the Accelerated World. They all looked out and saw a futuristic city before them.
"Whoa," Black Wolf said in awe. "So this is the Unlimited Neutral Field."
"Indeed," Black Lotus replied. "This is where we hunted down the previous Chrome Disasters. By the way, have you noticed anything different?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, there's no timer. I guess they can't call it 'Unlimited' if had a time limit."
"That's right," Scarlet Rain said. "Once you're here, it's possible to stay forever, but you have to be level 4 or higher to enter. One day in the real world would be three years here in the Accelerated World. Pretty tempting right?"
"Pass," Black Wolf said nonchalantly, catching both his guardian and the Red King by surprise. "I've more than had my fill of spending entire years in a virtual world. I've got no interest in spending more time than necessary here."
Only the Nega Nebulus members realized that he was referring to his time being trapped in Sword Art Online.
"I hear you, Marth," Graphite Edge agreed. "I feel the exact same way."
"Just out of curiosity," Aqua Sniper spoke up, "what happens if you stay here for long periods of time."
"It depends on how much real time passes," Black Lotus explained. "If it's a few days, then you'll just miss a few appointments. However, if you spend half a year or even a month here, you'll come back a completely different person. Your body may not age, but your soul will."
"No way," the sniper replied in disbelief.
"Let's stay focused," Scarlet Rain said. "We should get moving. At the moment we accelerated, we had two minutes in real time before Cherry's train was due to arrive at its stop in Ikebukerou. We still have plenty of time to get there, but…"
"But how are we going to get there?" Black Wolf questioned.
The Red King turned towards the Aegis. "Do I have to spell it out for you?"
"Huh?"
Scarlet Rain tackled Black Wolf, though not enough to throw him off-balance, and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You'll hold me tight and carry me won't you?" she said sweetly.
"What?!" Black Wolf shouted in disbelief.
Suddenly Black Lotus's eyes flashed under her visor, making her protégé nervous.
"You have got to be joking," the Black King said venomously. "If he's holding anyone, it'll be me! I mean after all, look what I have for limbs! You, Rain, can catch a ride by holding his legs or you can fly with Kirito."
"Forget that!" Scarlet Rain argued. "It's your fault your avatar's like that. Besides, I know you have hands so you can just grab his legs instead or you can catch up by train."
"Oh very funny! I almost forgot to laugh!"
"Uh girls," Graphite Edge said slowly, noticing his best friend's unease. "Maybe we should…"
"No one asked you, Edge!" Scarlet Rain exclaimed.
"Yeah, butt out, Kirito!" Black Lotus added.
Graphite Edge just sulked in the corner with Argent Flash trying to comfort him. "Sorry Marth, I tried."
"Now, now," Argent Flash said. "Yuniko reminds me a lot of Lisbeth. I wonder if she's around somewhere."
"Who knows?" Aqua Sniper replied as she watched the two Kings continue their argument. "Marth looks like he'd rather be anywhere but here."
"I don't blame him," Argent Flash said.
"So what's it gonna be, Black Wolf?" Scarlet Rain questioned.
"Yeah, tell us, Marth," Black Lotus said fiercely.
"Gah!" the dual-wielder exclaimed as he held his head in frustration. "Will you girls give me a moment to just think?!"
Later
It was "decided" that Black Wolf would carry both Black Lotus and Scarlet Rain while Graphite Edge carried Argent Flash and Aqua Sniper. Unfortunately, the two Kings refused to stop their petty argument, which was getting on Black Wolf's last nerves.
"If you guys don't stop your bickering right now, you'll both get a one-way ticket to the ground!" Black Wolf threatened.
"You wouldn't!" the duo argued. They immediately paled when Black Wolf's grip on them loosened just slightly.
"No, don't!" Scarlet Rain exclaimed in fear as she and Lotus desperately clung to the flying avatar so they wouldn't plummet. "I'll be good, just please don't drop me!"
"I'm your partner, Marth!" Black Lotus added. "Is this how you treat your partners?!"
"Not really," Graphite Edge said. "That just shows how ticked off he is."
"Piece of advice," Argent Flash voiced in amusement, "Marth may not get angry that much, but when he does, you better run and hide. His rage isn't something you want to mess with."
"You got that right," Aqua Sniper agreed, not even trying to hide her smirk, which made the Kings flinch as they pictured a very angry Marth cutting down his foes with no mercy.
Scarlet Rain chuckled nervously before saying, "Uh, n-nice view we have, right, Kuroba?"
"Y-yes," Black Lotus replied slowly, trying not to provoke her Blade even further. "It r-really shows that this world goes on as far as the eye can see." She could sense Black Wolf's rage slowly dissipate as he restored his grip on her and Scarlet Rain, much to their relief.
"So this is what the Accelerated World really looks like?" Black Wolf questioned. "And it exists right next to the real world. A permanent one, not some temporary stage."
"Yes," Black Lotus said, regaining her composure as her fear of falling faded away. "This is the true Burst Linker battlefield. If you're aiming to reach level 9, you too will have to fight on this battlefield someday and win. However, that time is not yet here."
Suddenly a feral roar filled the air.
"What was that?" Black Wolf exclaimed.
The group looked down and saw a few Burst Linkers fighting a weird squid-like monster.
"Looks like the hunt's about to start," Graphite Edge said. "Just like in other MMOs, the Unlimited Neutral Field has monsters that you can battle inside it. Aside from duels, killing monsters are the only way for you to get any Burst Points here. But even if you take down a huge monster, the most you'll get are ten Burst Points."
"Are you serious?" Aqua Sniper said in shock.
"That's because the hunt is just a small part of Brain Burst," Scarlet Rain answered. "Keep in mind, Brain Burst is still primarily a fighting game. However, because of the treaty, the hunt is the only way for players to reach the highest levels."
"But there are still other ways to level up," Argent Flash intervened. "You can still hunt other Burst Linkers here and get tons of Burst Points."
"Yes, but because of the Non-Aggression Treaty, high-level Burst Linkers rarely leave their own territories," Black Lotus explained. "But when they do leave and come here to hunt, they can fight one another for as long as they want."
"I see," Black Wolf replied.
"That's exactly what Cherry Rook, I mean Chrome Disaster, is doing," Scarlet Rain added. "We almost at Ikebukerou, but it's a very big place so finding him won't be easy."
Suddenly both Black Wolf and Graphite Edge felt a cold sensation run down their spines, their Hypersense. They immediately moved to dodge several projectiles while the girls clung desperately to them as they tried not to get thrown off.
"Is that Chrome Disaster?" Argent Flash exclaimed.
"It can't be," Scarlet Rain replied. "I timed it so we'd get here before him! And plus he doesn't have any long range attacks."
The flying avatars locked eyes and silently agreed that they had to land since it was too risky to remain in the sky. They began descending towards a large crater before Scarlet Rain noticed several missiles zoom past them before circling around. She and Aqua Sniper materialized a handgun (which matched their color scheme) and fired a few rounds at the missiles, taking out most of them, however they missed two of them.
"Damn it!" Aqua Sniper cursed as the two missiles sailed towards the boys.
Black Lotus and Argent Flash promptly destroyed the remaining weapons with their bladed limbs/rapier respectively, unfortunately the explosion that followed suit caused the boys to lose their momentum and promptly begin plummeting to the ground.
"Pull up! Pull up!" Scarlet Rain shouted desperately.
"We're trying!" Graphite Edge exclaimed as he and his partner tried to regain control of their descent, but they failed badly as they all crashed into the crater, which had multiple metal pillars in it.
"Is everyone okay?" Black Lotus asked as she stood up.
"Yeah," Black Wolf replied as he and Graphite Edge's wings disappeared. "Somehow."
"That was too close for comfort," Graphite Edge said. "Where the hell did that attack come from?"
As if on que, the group noticed multiple Burst Linkers surround the edge of the crater, effectively trapping them within it.
"Who are these guys?" Argent Flash questioned as she and the others got up and drew their weapons.
"I don't know, but I doubt they're friendly," Aqua Sniper replied as she readied her Hecate rifle.
Suddenly they noticed a yellow Duel Avatar that resembled a clown appear. He wore a yellow clown suit with two horns, along with a white mask with a pink mark on the left eye.
"A clown?" Black Wolf said.
"It's Yellow Radio," Scarlet Rain said in disbelief. "Why's the Yellow King here?"
"Yellow King? Wait, he's a level 9 Burst Linker?!"
"But the Yellow Legion's territory isn't anywhere near here," Graphite Edge voiced. "So what's he doing in Ikebukerou? Unless…"
"You bastard!" Scarlet Rain shouted in outrage. "You set this up, Yellow Radio! This was all you!"
The Yellow King simply chuckled smugly as his legion surrounded the crater.
To be continued
Sorry for the long wait, I had real world issues to deal with so I didn't have a lot of opportunities to write. Anyway, Marth and the others have gotten ambushed by the Yellow Legion. How are they gonna get out of this mess and will they be able to stop Chrome Disaster? You'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out!
