Chapter 10: A hunt for answers

Rika was scrolling through the latest update notes for ALO. Of course they'd been screwing with the crafting system again. "Why can't they just leave it alone!" she grumbled. Just before she closed the page, she noticed something. It was the time and date that the update had been applied to the ALO servers. It was the same night that she had logged in and got captured by Desirae. "What the heck?" she muttered. "That can't be right."

She decided to do some research. She opened her search engine and tried typing in Getting on ALO during update. She opened a few tabs but found nothing useful. There were some clickbait videos of people showing that they couldn't get online during updates, some fake hacks, and update reviews. Next she tried Alfheim Online sex monsters. That brought up even less relevant pages, most of which were porn. She bookmarked a few of those for later. Rika ignored the videos and focused on webpages. She found several forums where people discussed sex monsters for ALO.

Rika tried a few more searches before giving up. It was clear that this was new and no one else had logged into ALO during updates. Or if they had, they were keeping it a secret. But that just caused her to wonder who the people from the town were. If they were real people, then why weren't there any online discussions about it? Logging into ALO during updates was huge! The existence of a dryad that rapes unwary travellers should have been enough for the ALO community to explode in discussions for future monsters. But there was nothing apart from concepts made by fans who were desperate for ALO to get an 'M' rating.

Keiko was still a little confused as to what her relationship with Rika was. They had been hanging out more at school and texting more often too, but they hadn't kissed since Sunday. Rika hadn't even tried to kiss her since then. "Did I do something wrong?" thought Keiko. "Maybe I should kiss her?" She tried pushing those thoughts out of her mind. "No. That can't be it. If I'd done something to upset her, she wouldn't be hanging out with me so much."

She lay on her bed, trying to free her mind of these thoughts while she absentmindedly stroked Pina. Her phone buzzed and she answered.

"Hey, Sili- I mean Keiko," said Rika. She had decided to give Keiko a call after finding out that the ALO servers were supposed to have been closed for maintenance last weekend.

"Liz! I mean Rika!" Keiko squeaked. Her face burned red. She hadn't intended to squeak like that. "Hey, is everything okay?" she said quietly.

"I just found something really weird," said Rika. "It has to do with what happened at the weekend."

Keiko's mind went straight to the end of the night where they had slept together and her face went warm. "What is it?"

"Well, I was just looking at the next update for ALO and I found that when we went online last weekend, the servers were supposed to be closed for maintenance," Rika explained. "Therefore, we shouldn't have even been able to go online."

"Are you serious?" said Keiko. "But how does that explain what happened with Desirae?"

"It doesn't," admitted Rika. "But it's possible that during the time the servers were supposed to be closed, the admins run a separate version of ALO using the same servers."

"But why?"

Rika sighed. "I don't know. Maybe we could ask Kirito? Nah, we should try to figure this out ourselves. I'm sick and tired of him getting all the glory."

"I don't know," said Keiko. "You were nearly trapped forever by Desirae. It might be dangerous."

"We'll be fine," said Rika. "Next time, we'll just stick to easier areas and get ourselves some decent gear. I bet I could easily make us some once I get my blacksmithing back up."

"If you're sure," said Keiko. "But couldn't we just ask an admin about it?"

"We don't need to contact an admin," said Rika. "We can just ask one of the players next time we go on."

"But the players we met last time weren't very nice," Keiko pointed out. "They all just watched as you were…" She shuddered and couldn't bring herself to finish.

"Surely not everyone will be like that," said Rika. "Remember in SAO you got the good guys like the Knights of the Blood Oath and then there were murderers like Laughing Coffin."

"I guess you're right," said Keiko.

"Anyway, I'm not even sure if they're players. I did some digging online and I couldn't find any mention of people getting online during updates. I bet they're developers screwing around with the server during offline hours and they forgot to actually stop anyone from getting online."

"I guess that kind of makes sense," Keiko wasn't sure. But she trusted Rika. Her real worry was the monsters. "But I still think we should ask Kirito."

Rika groaned. This was supposed to be their adventure, not another one of Kirito's. "Fine. But I'm not telling him that this has actually happened. As far as he knows, it's all hypothetical."

"Then what are you going to ask him?"

Rika thought for a moment. "I'll ask if it is actually possible to log into a game when there's supposed to be an update or server maintenance under the pretence of me being involved in an online debate. He's such a dork that he'll probably give me more information than I ask for."

Keiko relaxed slightly. "Okay, call me back afterwards.

Rika hung up and quickly called Kirito. His phone buzzed for a minute. "Pick up," she muttered impatiently.

"Hey," Kazuto answered. "Sorry about that, I was cooking dinner. I missed my turn at the weekend and Sugu's still pissed about it even after I paid for her takeout."

"It's alright," said Rika. "Anyway, I called because I need to ask you something."

"What about?"

"It's to do with ALO. You see, I found an argument online about whether you could log into the game during server updates and maintenance. It looks like a pile of crap, but it actually got me wondering," she lied, hoping to sound convincing.

Kazuto went silent for a moment. "It's unlikely but still possible, I guess. Under what circumstances?"

"I guess you just log on and play as normal, except I guess you'd be the only one online," she couldn't come up with anything better.

Kazuto paused to think again. "The only situation I can think of is if the admins apply the update to the server, turn it on to make sure it works, but accidentally allow non-admins online," he explained. "But it's incredibly unlikely."

But has already happened, Rika thought. "Just one more question. Would the admins have their own version of Alfheim Online? You know, one where they throw in updates or concepts for the future?"

"Definitely," said Kazuto, much to Rika's surprise. "Haven't you ever heard of developer builds?" She couldn't believe that she'd forgotten something so simple. She'd been so wrapped up in the mystery of it all that she hadn't thought of a developer build. "And the likelihood of someone getting on that."

"It wouldn't happen. That will be stored on separate servers that only devs can go on. It'll require passwords and identity confirmation to get on."

So how am I getting in? "So the devs have time to test everything they think about adding to the game?"

"Hmm," Kazuto went silent. "I'm not sure. ALO's a pretty popular game so it has a lot of staff, but they'll only give trusted members access to a developer build so stuff doesn't get leaked. But it would take a lot of time to test everything in-depth. I don't mean just glitches either, but balancing too. Sure, games before full-dive technology were checked for balance too, but that was a lot of guesswork for much smaller games. Games for the Amusphere are way bigger and harder to code."

"Enemy AI are pretty good these days, could they use those?" That was a genuine question. If something as complex as Yui existed, why couldn't enough of them to test a game?

"If they did that they would spend more time creating something to test the game than actually working on the game," Kirito explained. "It probably took Kayaba years to develop the cardinal system and Yui."

"Thank, Kirito. You've been a big help."

"No problem. If I think of anything else I'll let let- OW!" Kirito suddenly yelped.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I just burned myself," said Kazuto. "I'll see you later."

"See you," Rika hung up. She had all the information she needed. Now it was time to tell Silica what she had learned.

"So you think that we've managed to get inside the developer build?" Keiko summed up once Rika had recited her conversation with Kazuto.

"Pretty much," Rika confirmed. "When he mentioned how long it would take to test everything, I wondered if they used AI, but he shot that down. Something about it being too hard."

"But why would there be something like Desirae in a developer's build?" Something still didn't sit right with Keiko.

"I bet someone put that in as a joke," Rika wasn't worried. "But not a very funny one," she added.

"So you think it's safe?" Keiko asked, still unconvinced.

"A developer's build isn't dangerous," Rika insisted.

There were too many problems. For one, there hadn't been a logout button. Surely a developer's build would have a logout button at least. There was also the fact that they had been using avatars that resemble their real bodies, and had armour based on the clothes they'd been wearing when they logged in. But Keiko knew there would be no convincing Rika. She had this idea in her head and no amount of pointing out flaws would help.

"The ALO servers are supposed to be closed again," said Rika. "You wanna try going online?"

"Okay," Keiko spoke without thinking. She was still worried, but she'd be careful if they went out hunting. She'd also make sure to get Rika some armour and a weapon before going out.

"Okay, I'll see you in a minute then," said Rika.

"See you soon," said Keiko a she hung up.

Keiko put on her Amusphere, lay down, and said "Link start!"

She woke up in the bed that she and Rika had slept together in. She was still naked. Rika was stood with her back to the bed. There was a blue shimmer and the Spriggan armour that Keiko had acquired appeared.

Keiko sat up and wrapped the bedsheet around herself.

Rika noticed the movement behind her and turned to face Keiko. "Hey there," she grinned. "I hope you don't mind me keeping this for. It's just that I don't have anything else to wear."

"Yeah, it's fine." Keiko opened her own menu and put on her pyjamas.

"Looks like we only get our real life clothes the first time," Rika noted. "It's a shame that mine were destroyed by the stupid dryad."

"So what are we doing first?" Keiko stood up.

"I would like to see if I could buy my shop," said Rika.

"We won't have enough gold for that," said Keiko.

"I know, I'd just like to see if it's available. If it is, we can do some grinding to get the gold we need."

"If it isn't available?"

"Then we'll find somewhere else."

"Okay, but I think we should get you a weapon first," Keiko suggested. "I got some gold from that guy I killed. If we're lucky, I can get some proper armour instead of my pyjamas."

"That would be a good start," she agreed. "But didn't you have that sword?"

Keiko had forgotten about that. "But don't you normally use a mace?"

"Don't waste your money on getting me a weapon. I'll be fine with the sword."

Keiko checked her menu. "I don't think money is much of an issue right now," she realised. "I have over 50,000 gold."

"What!?" Rika looked over at Keiko's menu. The Spriggan had clearly been saving up for something. Keiko felt bad for taking his stuff until she remembered what he had tried to do to her.

"If I sell the sword, there might be enough for us both to get some armour," Keiko offered.

Rika shook her head. "I already owe you big time for saving me. I'll be fine with just a mace. When you get your armour, just give me the boots. I can save up for my own armour. But thanks for the offer."

Keiko lead Rika to the shop she'd bought her knife from at the weekend. The shopkeeper was surprised to see her again. "Hello there," he greeted them. "It looks like you managed to help your friend."

"I did, no thanks to you," Keiko muttered.

"What can I help you with?" he ignored Keiko's muttering.

"We're looking for a simple mace," Rika explained. Keiko didn't seem to be in the best mood with this guy, so she figured she should do the talking for now.

"Sure, the maces are over there," he gestured to the wall on his left where there was a selection of maces and hammers. Rika picked one up from the wall mount and swung it a few times.

"Is that the one you want?" Keiko asked.

"Yeah. It's 9000 gold, so I can afford it." Rika transferred the leprechaun the 9000 gold.

"Is that everything?" he asked.

"I have a sword to sell." Keiko opened her menu and got out the shortsword she had received upon killing the spriggan.

The leprechaun took one look at the sword and offered 10,000 gold. "It's a good sword, and getting one usually takes about an hour of searching in Spriggan territory for the right monster," he added.

"15,000," said Rika. "It sounds like this sword is a pain to get. I know someone who was nearby recently who may just want this sword back."

"You stole it?"

Keiko could see that he was ready to back out of the deal, so explained what happened. He calmed down. "Okay, 12,000," he offered.

Keiko pulled out her knife and placed it next to the sword on the counter. "Their combined worth should be 23,000," she said before going over to the now replenished selection of knives. She looked over them and found one worth the same amount as the sword and her old knife. "I'll swap them both for this knife."

The leprechaun mulled over the offer for a moment. "Sure," he accepted. Keiko gave him the weapons and added her new knife to her inventory.

Their next job was to get Keiko some proper armour. Keiko had offered to buy Rika some but she declined every time. "When we go hunting, I'll be able to get the gold for myself."

When they entered a nearby armour shop they were in for a surprise. All of the armour available was incredibly skimpy. Keiko couldn't believe that they actually classed it as armour. One set was little more than a bikini with chainmail hanging off it.

"Let's try somewhere else," Keiko suggested.

They tried all the other shops in town but nowhere had anything better. It was all skimpy armour designed to show as much skin as possible. "I guess it's these or nothing," Keiko sighed.

"We could try another town," Rika suggested.

"I doubt we'll find anything better elsewhere. If this is a developer build like you think, then it will probably be the same everywhere." She began to search for armour that was less revealing and also in a her price range.

"Then how about these?" Rika pointed to a set that consisted of a chestplate that showed off cleavage but still left some to the imagination, a short red skirt that was only went about 5 centimetres below the bum, and a pair of gladiator sandals. Keiko took a look at the set. It was well within her price range. "Out of everything we've seen, it's probably the least…"

"Slutty?" Keiko took the word right out of her mouth. Somehow it didn't seem right to hear Keiko use a word like that.

"Yeah, let's go with that," Rika pretended to have another word in mind.

Keiko bought the armour and equipped it. She gave her Spriggan boots to Rika who was glad to finally have some footwear.

"So, how do I look?" Keiko asked. The skimpy armour was embarrassing to wear. She couldn't believe that someone had actually gone to the effort of making it.

"It looks cute," said Rika, giving Keiko a peck on the cheek which caused her to blush.

The moment they stepped outside Keiko realised something. Her armour hadn't included underwear. A breeze sent a chill through her crotch. Her face flushed a deep red and she stopped dead in her tracks.

"What's wrong?" Rika asked.

I can't tell Rika I'm not wearing any underwear! She thought. "I'm fine," she said quickly. "How about we go check if your shop's available?"

"Yeah, then we'll have a goal to reach!"

They used a the town's teleport gate to go to where Lisbeth's shop should have been located. Just next to the gate there was something new. It was a quest board. "I didn't know they were adding these to ALO," said Rika. "Let's accept a few before checking out my shop."

They started with simple quests, most of which were to kill so many of a certain monster or to get an item or find a chest. They stuck to simple quests designed for beginners.

"Do you wanna check out the shop now or do some quests first?" Rika asked.

"Let's do some quests first."

They headed out to where they could find the monsters they needed to kill for the quests. Starting off was easy. Most of the monsters for the quests were simple ones designed for players who were just getting the hang of the game, so even with their basic gear, completing the quest assignments was a simple task. Rika managed to collect a decent amount of gold. Her plan was to get some better gear so that if her shop hadn't already been bought, saving up would be easier. But if it had been sold, she'd probably find somewhere else.

Once they had exhausted their meagre supplies, Keiko suggested turning back. "Let's go see if your shop is available."

"Yeah. While we're at it, we can get some better gear and collect some more quests," agreed Rika.

The pair turned around, with Keiko taking the lead. She walked slightly ahead, confident in her new gear and its ability to help her protect Rika who was wearing weaker armour.

They walked along for a while, not encountering any monsters. While Keiko thought that the extra gold and experience would have been nice, she was glad to be able to take in her surroundings. She could see fields of grass for miles on either side of the dirt track. There were also some hills in the distance. She wasn't sure what time it was supposed to be. It could have been midday or late afternoon for all she knew. But she didn't care about that. All she cared about was that she was finally getting to spend some time alone with Rika.

Her thoughts drifted from just spending time with Rika, to kissing her. Keiko wanted to have sex with Rika again. However, she was too embarrassed to bring up when they had done it last week. There was no way she could ask Rika if they could do it again.

Keiko sighed. She stopped for a moment so Rika could catch up. A circle below her glowed a purple light. The next thing Keiko knew, she was standing on a squishy purple surface instead of the dirt path that had been there a minute ago. Her heart skipped a beat. She knew which monster this was. She'd fought plenty of them alongside Kirito on the hill of memories. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't have bothered her. But after Desirae last week, she had a strange feeling that this wouldn't be a normal land Anemone.

She tried to run, but two pink tentacles slithered out of slits in the purple surface of the anemone and wrapped themselves around Keiko's bare legs. She cringed at their slimy touch and tried to pull herself free.

"Keiko!" Rika shouted. She raised her mace and ran at the anemone. As she reached it, several more tentacles appeared. They swatted Rika away. But she wasn't deterred. Rika raised her mace again and struck one of the tentacles. A health bar appeared for the land anemone. Her strike had only chipped off a small portion of its health. Rika gritted her teeth and swung again, only to be blocked by one tentacle, giving another the opportunity to hit her in the chest and knocking her to the ground.

Keiko tried to draw her knife, but the anemone unleashed yet another tentacle to restrain her hand. The tentacles holding her legs were slowly curling their way up towards her skirt. Keiko tried again to pull away. But as the tentacles reached her skirt, Keiko remembered something important: she wasn't wearing any knickers. Her armour hadn't come with any, and she hadn't been given any to start off with. Her heart stopped for a moment as the tentacles winding up her legs reached up her skirt. "Stop!" she cried as one of the tentacles reached for her pussy. It was covered in some sort of slime so it slipped inside easily despite its girth. Keiko cried out as the tentacle began to thrust.

Rika stood and charged again. Her mace smacked into one of the tentacles blocking her way, dealing a large amount of damage. The tentacle attempted to retaliate, but Rika jumped backwards and dodged its strike. As it rose to try again, Rika hit it again, destroying the pink appendage in a sea of blue polygons. For a moment she could see Keiko. Her pussy and arse were being raped by two more large tentacles. Tears were streaming down Keiko's face as she was filled with mixed feelings of pain and pleasure. "Rika, help!" she screamed as another tentacles appeared and shoved itself down her throat.

Rika tried to run through the gap she had made, but the two tentacles on either side of it blocked her. They pushed her back, sending her health into the red zone. She stepped back and grabbed a potion to heal herself. The anemone appeared to have raised its guard after Rika had been able to take out one its tentacles.

Keiko gagged as the tentacle in her mouth sprayed cum down her throat. Her pussy and arse had already been filled with cum and were leaking each time the tentacles thrusted. A purple bar that had appeared underneath her health and mana had been filling up since the tentacles had stated raping her. She had no clue what it was. Once it was full, Keiko screwed up her face as she came. The orgasm was so intense it was almost painful. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that the bar was slowly dropping. Suddenly the tentacles sped up and the bar began to fill in again. I wish Pina was here to help me, she thought. Rika was doing her best, but Pina's ranged attacks would have been a huge help. Keiko suddenly realised that she didn't need Pina. She could summon Desirae! She inched her free hand towards the pouch strapped to her skirt where the green crystal that summoned Desirae was stored. However, the closer her hand got to the pouch, the more the tentacles tried to restrict her movement. Out of the corner of her eye, Keiko noticed another tentacle shootout at her. She quickly moved her hand away from the pouch and it didn't make another attempt to restrain her. Keiko decided to bide her time and wait for a chance to get the crystal.

Rika was starting to get worried. Keiko hadn't made anymore noises in the last minute or so. Maybe the anemone had killed her already? No, she thought. If it had, it would have turned to me already. A thinner tentacle tried to strike her chest but she blocked it using her mace. The tentacle wrapped itself around the handle and tried to pull Rika's weapon from her hands. She pulled back, refusing to let it go. Another tentacle shot out and grabbed Rika by the ankle, Lifting her into the air and causing her to drop her mace. The thin tentacle threw it aside and wriggled through a gap in Rika's black armour. It found her boobs and began to rub one of her nipples. "Get outta there!" Rika shouted. The tentacle ignored her and continued to rub her.

Keiko was still waiting for her chance. She was hoping it would come soon as her orgasm was drawing nearer. She'd realised what the purple bar was. She had realised that the closer her orgasm came, the more it was filled in. Her knees were beginning to feel weak and her vision was blurring slightly. Another orgasm and she'd be helpless. The tentacle were thrusting in unison now. All of them were shaking slightly, so Keiko guessed that they were about to cum too. She steadied her hand and prepared herself to grab the crystal. She nearly gagged when the tentacle in her mouth pushed down her throat further than before. A few more tears rolled down her face as both she and the tentacles came. So much cum was pumped into her that her stomach felt bloated. She coughed, spewing the salty liquid from her mouth. However, the tentacle was still cumming. Keiko took her chance and grabbed the crystal. Because the anemone was still cumming, it took a moment longer for its other tentacles to respond and try to restrain her. She pulled the green crystal from her pouch and willed Desirae to come to her. Normally a crystal needed a voice command, but Keiko's mouth was full so she hoped that wanting Desirae to be there would be enough. A tentacle grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand out of the pouch. It was far too late. Keiko had the crystal and managed to keep a tight grip on it. For a moment, nothing happened. Then suddenly the crystal glowed a vibrant green and Desirae appeared in a green flash that quickly faded.

"Hello, mistress," she said seductively. "It looks like you need some help. I'd be more than happy to oblige."

"Mmmph!" Keiko tried to order Desirae to kill the anemone, but couldn't thanks to the tentacle in her mouth.

Desirae rubbed the tentacle in Keiko's mouth. "Aren't you something!" she exclaimed. Keiko could smell something sweet. All of a sudden, her arse and pussy no longer hurt. She could only feel the pleasure the tentacles were giving her. and not the pain. The tentacles released Keiko. She fell to her knees coughing. She spat out a large puddle of cum, which landed with the cum pouring from her arse and pussy. Luckily the lack of knickers meant that the tentacles hadn't bothered removing Keiko's armour. She was glad that she wouldn't have to buy more. "Thanks-" she was about to thank Desirae, but stopped when she saw the Dryad being fucked by the tentacles. "YES!" she moaned. "Mmmm… I don't see why mistress was so desperate to get you out of her. You are incredible!"

Rika continued to struggle against the tentacle in her armour while hanging by her ankle. "Let me go!" she demanded. What she didn't expect was for the tentacle to drop her and return to the anemone. The other one slid out of her armour and did the same. Rika knew something was happening inside the anemone, so she retrieved her mace and went back to attacking the tentacles. This time the attacks were sluggish and easy to dodge. Rika started to defeat them with ease. Soon she was able to get rid of enough of them to see Keiko and Desirae. Keiko was fighting off tentacles with her knife while Desirae was having sex with the others.

"Rika!" Keiko called, stabbing a tentacle and running over to her. "Desirae is keeping the land anemone distracted so we can kill it!"

Rika listened to Desirae's moans. "Yeah, our well being is definitely the first thing on her mind," she said sarcastically.

The ground beneath them began to shake. They looked over the side and saw that the anemone was rising. The centre began to sink and Desirae disappeared. Rika grabbed Keiko's hand and jumped off the anemone.

They had jumped just in time. If they had been any later they would have taken a lot of fall damage. The land anemone rose to its full height. All Keiko and Rika could see was the purple membrane and a few pink tentacles at the top. For a moment Keiko worried about Desirae. It surprised her, but the Dryad had saved their lives after all. She stopped worrying when she saw that Desirae's name and bars were still visible to her.

Inside the land anemone, Desirae slid down in near darkness. She was covered in slime and filled with cum. More tentacles appeared and continued with the others had left off. She found this first task set to her by mistress to be very satisfying. She moaned as all of her holes were fucked. Her orgasm bar filled steadily, and when it did, she came. Just after Desirae came, the tentacles did the same. She enjoyed the salty cum sliding down her throat and filling her arse and pussy. Just as the land anemone was ready to kill her, Desirae released her tentacles and plunged them into its membrane. The anemone's health quickly began to drop.

Outside, Keiko and Rika saw the anemone's health drop. They both knew it was Desirae causing it, so they both used their weapons to help her. Before long, the land anemone's health dropped to zero and shattered into blue polygons. Desirae landed nimbly and walked to Keiko. "Thank you, mistress. That was very enjoyable," she said. "Now shall I accompany you, or are you going to give me a goodbye kiss?"

"You can go for now," said Keiko.

"So it's a goodbye kiss then." Desirae leaned her body into Keiko's. She was about to pull away when she realised something. Pina needed peanuts to stay tame, but Desirae didn't use food to stay tame. She used physical acts instead. Keiko gave Desirae a quick peck on the lips. "Is that all I'm getting?" Desirae complained sulkily.

Keiko didn't want to do anything more than she had to in order to keep Desirae tame. Or in this case, she figured the more accurate term would be submissive. But she knew in the future it would take a little more than a peck. "That's all for now. You can have more later," she said firmly.

Desirae gave Keiko's bare arse a squeeze. "Oh, mistress. You're such a tease. That Leprechaun in very lucky. Rika blushed and was about to shout at Desirae when she disappeared in a soft green glow.

Keiko sighed. "I'm done for today."

"Same," Rika agreed. "Let's just find an inn and call it a day."

Rika and Keiko were able to make it back to town without incident. They both breathed sighs of relief when they were back in the safe zone. Despite having finished questing for the day, they both picked up a few more for the next time they were online.

"Do you still want to go check out your shop?" Keiko asked as they made their way to the inn.

"Nah, I bet you're tired. We can always check later," Rika replied.

"Are you sure? It's not far out of our way. I'm happy to go check if you can buy it."

"You sure?"

"I'll be fine. It's not like we can log out so we might as well," Keiko pointed out.

They stood outside Rika's shop. She was disappointed to find it had already been bought. They went inside to see what the new owner was selling. They had both earned a lot of gold from the day's hunting. Rika needed a better weapon. Her armour on the other hand was fine. She'd have prefered something less dark, but she'd save up for something better. It would take a while, but she was lucky that Keiko had found such good armour, even if it was more Kirito's style than hers.

As they entered the shop, a bell above the door rang. The main room was almost exactly how it looked under Rika's ownership. The only difference was the items on sale. There was a large assortment of weapons. Rika recognised a few. There was also some armor stands. Clearly the owner was more focused on weapons, like Rika.

"I'm in the back. Come on through!" a voice shouted. It sounded very familiar. They walked through the door, to the back of the shop where the blacksmith was.

Stood at the grinding wheel sharpening a rapier was a leprechaun with short pink hair. As Keiko and Rika entered the room, she looked up from the wheel and dropped the sword in surprise.

"Rika!?" she yelped. "Crap!" she muttered, picking up the sword and placing it on a nearby table.

"Who the hell are you!?" Rika shouted. "How are you using my account?"

Before Lisbeth could explain, the door behind Keiko and Rika opened. Rika turned around, and for a moment, she thought she was seeing double. There were two Asunas entering the room!

I hope you enjoyed that!

This chapter has been a tricky one to write, but also enjoyable. I hope you like that little twist at the end. The next chapter will focus on Asunas. Now for a quick vote! Do you want the sex scene where Kirito and Asuna have sex IRL for the first time? You have three weeks to tell me.

Now for some sad news. I won't be continuing the yuri oneshots. They take up too much time, and are starting to get a bit boring to write. I had fun at first but it means Avatar Madness would take too long to write. It already took me over a month to write this chapter. If I was writing oneshots too, I wouldn't be done. There will be three more oneshots while you send in your votes for the Kirito and Asuna sex scene and then I'm done. I'm sorry to any of you who didn't get their request written. I still have a large list of pairings to choose from, so please don't send in anymore requests.

Next time: Asuna meets herself!