.
A Rise to Fame
(ME1 "Progressors")
"…and then it started glowing blue and turned into an egg that hatched into Pina, who made friends with Pikachu and Fletchinder, and then we made a guild and we've been training super-hard so now I can fight monsters on Floor 49 by myself!" Silica gushed excitedly, having taken Kirito's 'tell me all about it next time we meet' quite literally. If it had been a normal day, Kirito would have been listening attentively, ready to offer congratulations and encouragement – but as it was, he had other things on his mind.
"That's great." he offered half-heartedly, watching Pina clean herself with a shower of Bubbles.
Serena (who had sensed his mood when he arrived but didn't want to interrupt Silica mid-story) chose that moment to intercede. "What is it? What's wrong? And don't try and say it's nothing…"
Kirito sighed. "If I didn't want to talk about it, I wouldn't have come here. I wanted to ask if the two of you could come talk some sense into Asuna."
"Why, what's she doing?"
"You heard about the failed attempts to beat the Field Boss on Floor 56, right?" At the trio's nods, he continued. "After the most recent one, distracting it with food, turned out to be a bust, Asuna suggested letting it into the city so it'd be too busy killing NPCs to fight us."
"But that's stupid!" Ash interjected hotly. "NPCs deserve to live just as much as we do – why would Kayaba put in a way to bring back familiars, which most players would say are less important progress-wise than NPCs, but still consider the NPCs expendable?"
The corners of Kirito's mouth rose slightly. "I don't think I would have thought about it from that angle, and I bet Asuna didn't either. It'd probably be more convincing if you told her in person, though. You up for a visit to the front lines, Silica? I think it's about time the assault team heard about the Beast Brigade…"
The dragon tamer looked at Ash and Serena, who nodded in confirmation. "Don't worry. As long as you stay with our group, you should be a high enough level to stay safe." Serena told her, eliciting a squeal of excitement.
"Pina, did you hear? We're going to get to see the front lines!"
When the dragon heard Silica's words, she jumped onto the girl's head and fixed Kirito with a calculating stare. "If Silica-kiir comes to harm through any fault of yours, rest assured that my nahkriin shall pursue you forever." she warned, just as she had warned the two trainers when they first formed the guild.
Though he did not understand the words, Pina's meaning stood out clearly. "I promise I'll do my best to help keep Silica safe. I've already made that mistake once – and I never will again."
Satisfied by the sincerity in his eyes, Pina nodded and returned to her debate with Pikachu about whether peanut butter or ketchup was the superior condiment.
Once again, Ash had to hand it to Kayaba – the man knew how to design landscape. The town of Fennas Imlad, which the players were using as a base, stood at one end of a long mountain valley, a set of massive iron gates barring passage between the two. There was an ominous air about the entire place, every aspect of it screaming fortress. If one stood above the gates and strained their eyes to observe the other end of the valley, they would see why it had to be so.
At the other end of the valley, it opened up into a massive field, which held the entrance to the floor's dungeon. That was not what made it dangerous, though; said honor belonged to the massive creature currently resting in the field. The Field Boss, which vaguely resembled a massive Scolipede with the armor of a Steelix, was approximately the height of a one-story house and the length of a small city block. It kept its head low to the ground, so as not to expose its softer underbelly to assailants, and it refused to let any players past into the field. If they had been able to make it into the open area, they likely would have beaten it already, but the narrow valley walls made flanking maneuvers of that sort impossible.
As Kirito had mentioned, the most recent attempt to beat it (which he and Klein had oh-so-perfectly dubbed the "Grand Meaty Meat" plan) involved trying to keep it occupied in the field with an A-class food ingredient while the players made their way into the field. Unfortunately, the Geocrawler seemed to be more partial to the taste of humans than their food. The "GMM episode," as the other frontliners were now derisively calling it (with an accompanying suggestion that the two guys would be more productive as talk show hosts than strategists), only lasted between 10 and 15 minutes before it took a U-turn down the tubes, and tensions were now running high.
Asuna herself was not a part of the name-calling; instead, she spent the time trying to convince the others of the merits of letting the Boss into the city to fight it. "…For one thing," she was telling another player as Ash and Serena approached, "it won't be able to maneuver so easily in the tight streets, giving us a chance to attack from the alleyways. Plus, the more NPCs it targets, the fewer of us will get hurt."
The player in question felt quite nervous. After all, this was the "Lightning Flash" Asuna of the KoB speaking, and her argument was very strategically sound. On the other hand, the "Black Beater" Kirito (who was rumored to have taken down a mid-level orange guild single-handedly) was firmly against the slaughter of the NPCs – so no matter which side he chose, he would be potentially alienating one of the two opposing "Kiri/Suna" factions. To top it off, he had narrowly avoided being killed by the monster himself the previous afternoon. He glanced around frantically, looking for an escape, and his gaze rested on the approaching trio and the creatures accompanying them.
Having not heard the rumors of the players with Tamed Monsters, he felt his brain go into overdrive as his eyes widened in surprise. "WHAT ARE THOSE?!" he yelled, shakily pointing at Pikachu, Pina, and Fletchinder before his stress finally overwhelmed him. The last thing he saw as he fainted was, oddly enough, Asuna's shoes.
Just before he collapsed, Asuna turned skeptically to look – and was pleasantly surprised to see Ash and Serena approaching. The other player now forgotten, she jogged over to meet them. "Ash, Serena, how are you guys? I haven't seen you on the front lines for a few weeks… If I didn't know better, I'd say you joined a guild or something!"
"As a matter of fact, yes we did." Serena informed her. "After meeting Pikachu and Fletchinder, who you can see sitting on our shoulders, we came across Silica here and helped her revive her own partner. We decided to train together, and formed a guild to make it official. Asuna, meet Silica, the youngest member of the Beast Brigade. Silica, this is Asuna, the second-in-command of the Knights of the Blood Oath."
"Nice to meet you!" Silica chimed in, wondering how someone as nice as Asuna seemed could be promoting the sacrifice of NPCs. "This is my partner, Pina." Pina made a noncommittal chirping noise, deciding to withhold judgment until she had a chance to further evaluate the character of this kinbok.
"Nice to meet you, too. So, what are you guys doing here? No offence, but I don't think her equipment is quite level-appropriate for this floor – and you're not the kind of people who would leave a guild member behind, so I doubt you're here to fight."
"No, Kirito asked us to talk to you about your NPC plan." Ash answered.
Asuna held up a hand to forestall him, her demeanor suddenly heavy. "I already know what you're going to say, and I've heard it from Kirito already," she sighed, sounding very much like a businesswoman. "I get where you're coming from, but one of the lessons my father taught me in the real world was about knowing when to make sacrifices for the good of the organization. If you have to shut down one branch, you should make it the one that causes the least damage, which in this case is the NPCs. They're just computer programs that can be recreated, but people's minds can't."
"But if you think that way about NPCs, what about players' Familiars like Pina?" Serena asked. "Like Ash told Kirito earlier, why would Kayaba put in a way to bring back familiars if he didn't think they were important? And if they're important enough to keep alive, why wouldn't NPCs be too?"
"I don't know, okay?" Asuna snapped, the stress in her mind finally making its way to the surface. "How about you try handling the anxiety that comes with directing a guild full of dozens of teenage and adult guys who all think they know better than you while trying to keep them safe and seem like a strong leader even though your first real friend refuses to go along with the only plan you can think of that minimizes collateral damage and you can't just abruptly change your mind without losing face? I bet you wouldn't do so well if you were in my position…"
Thankfully, Serena had noticed the stress beforehand and made sure not to take anything personally. In fact, she had deliberately been exuding an aura of just say what you feel, I'll still be your friend no matter what you say in order to encourage Asuna to get it out of her system. She was still extremely thankful, however, for the wordless support Ash offered by placing his hand on her shoulder.
Pina had seen the stress building as well, and began to Sing a calming melody that she had devised in the weeks since her reawakening. Her song took on a physical form, a series of multi-colored musical notes floating from her mouth over to the agitated Clearer. Each one induced a feeling of relaxation, and had she not cut off after a few measures it would have afflicted Asuna with the Sleeping status.
As it was, Asuna was merely brought down from her cortisol-induced state of agitation to a normal operational state. "Thanks, I needed that." she admitted. "I hope I didn't upset you with any of that. I just had a lot on my mind and felt like I had to say it to someone."
"What do you think having other girl-friends is for?" Serena reassured her. "It'll take more than that to make me upset at you. And you're right – I don't think I'd do nearly as well as you if I were in your place."
Suddenly, a metaphorical lightbulb lit up above Ash's head. He had been thinking about what Asuna had said in order to give his own brand of encouragement, and her use of can't had caught his attention. Is there a way for her to give in without seeming weak? …wait a minute, that's it! "Hey, Asuna!" he called, attracting everyone's attention. "I have an idea. You know how Kirito is known for his incredible fighting skills? Well, why not challenge him to a battle? You're definitely strong enough to not go down without a fight, and losing against him won't make you look weak. And if you win, you can still say something about his conviction impressing you…"
Serena saw the idea take root in Asuna's mind and decided to give it a slightly unorthodox push. "You better take his advice." she said, a teasing tone making its way into her voice. "It's the best idea he's had all month, and who knows when he'll think that hard again?"
"Hey, I've been thinking hard all month!" Ash protested, only to feel uncharacteristically nervous when he remembered exactly what (or rather who) he had been trying to organize his thoughts about. Not in the mood to deal with those feelings while trying to help a friend, he closed the door to his mental Serena Thoughts room and made his way back to the Friend I'm Helping Right Now parlor (the different 'rooms' in his mind being a meditation technique Korrina's Lucario had suggested last time they talked with Clemont). "And while you do that, I'll try and think up a new strategy for you guys – I've been told I have a knack for thinking outside the box."
"You sure do…" Serena chuckled, remembering his Draco Meteor Climb technique from Cyllage City, and of which he had attempted a horizontal variation using Nicholas the Renegade's exploding presents. "But don't worry, Asuna. I'll make sure his plan isn't too crazy."
"Thanks, guys." Asuna said, bowing in gratitude. "Your help means a lot to me – and I mean that." She immediately ran off, presumably to locate Kirito.
That presumption was proven correct not five minutes later, when Ash received a confused PM from Kirito. [I thought you said you would talk to Asuna and convince her not to do the NPC plan! So why did she just publicly challenge me to a duel at 9:00 AM tomorrow to see whose plan would win?]
[We convinced her to stall while we try to think of a better plan, and that was the best way we knew of.] Ash replied. [Don't worry, we'll definitely be there to cheer you on!]
At exactly 9:15 the next morning, Ash's eyes shot open. Shoot, I overslept again! He hurriedly changed out of his pajamas, thankful that the game did not simulate the need to use the bathroom as part of one's wake-up actions. Why didn't you wake me up earlier? he asked Serena, noticing that she was already over near the town square.
We forgot to give me or Silica permission to unlock your room yesterday, she responded. I tried waking you up this way and almost fell back asleep myself, so the two of us decided to go on ahead without you. If you hurry, you can still make it in time for the end, though.
And hurry he did. He didn't even bother taking the stairs, instead jumping out the window at the end of the hallway down into the vacant street, softening his landing with a brief burst of Aura, and immediately dashing off again. As he ran, he almost regretted having gone on that late walk the night before while Serena and Silica had their "girl time," since it had not managed to provide a boost to his planning abilities. He had tried asking NPCs for hints but had heard nothing more than part of an odd lullaby, causing him to stay up for hours wondering how it could possibly help.
"Over here, Ash!" Serena called him as he came into view, waving him over. The swordsman and the fencer in the makeshift duel arena were still going at it hammer and tongs, neither of them having managed to land a firm strike on the other. While being able to read one another's movements almost flawlessly was a great boon when fighting side-by-side, it also made it very hard to prevent each other from countering their moves.
"How much did I miss?" Ash asked, breathing slightly heavier than usual as he made his way to the seat she had saved for him.
"Not much – it's basically been like this the entire time." She shifted slightly to turn and face him. "Did something happen last night while you were out walking? I was going to ask you this morning, but you were so asleep that I doubted you would have woken up even if Pikachu attacked you with Thunderbolt…"
"You have no idea how accurate that was. He's lucky this is a Safe Zone, or his HP would be red right now." Pikachu grumbled, but Ash wasn't listening.
The last piece of the puzzle clicked into place, and he impulsively reached forward and gave Serena a massive hug. "Serena, you're a genius!" Almost immediately, cheers broke out from the crowd watching the duel, and Serena eagerly grabbed the opportunity to avert her burning face in favor of seeing what had happened.
Apparently, Kirito had managed to disarm Asuna using some kind of Outside-System Skill – but he had executed it so quickly that nobody nearby could tell Ash and Serena how he had done it. After he did so, Asuna forfeited, claiming that she would not have been able to rearm herself in time. Those who had supported her plan were disappointed but accepted the verdict without excessive complaining, especially when Kirito informed them that an alternative strategy was in the works and would be announced once the strategy was finalized.
As the spectators left, Kirito and Asuna walked over to the little group. "Thanks for the duel suggestion." Kirito said, re-sheathing his Elucidator. "Any luck on the new strategy you said you were working on?"
"Actually, I came up with a great one – and all thanks to Serena! C'mon, this way!" He ran off towards the edge of the city, not noticing in his excitement that he had grabbed hold of Serena's hand to help guide her as they ran. The other three did notice, though, and simultaneously wondered out loud how he could be so oblivious as they began following.
The group soon came to a stop outside an NPC house, which indicated that whatever the plan was, it had to do with the particular NPC (or NPCs) that lived there. Kirito breathed a sigh of relief that Asuna's strategy hadn't been carried out, as it would likely have made this new plan impossible. His fears were then confirmed when he saw exactly which NPC it was: Lulu, the young girl who had seemed oddly interested in their attempts to defeat the Geocrawler. As both a child and an NPC, her stats were likely on the level of a beginning player, which meant that she would have probably been one of the first to die.
As Lulu came out of the house to meet them, Ash turned his attention to Asuna. "Hey, Asuna – remember how Pina managed to help calm you down yesterday by Singing?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"
He responded with a secretive smile. "You'll see. Hey Lulu, do you mind singing that lullaby from last night for my friends?"
"Sure!" the girl chirped happily, before she began to sing.
"A musician from the southern lands
With singing instrument in his hand
As the notes flow east and west
All who hear are called by rest
"From chiefs with beards that grace their faces
To greedy men who sell swords and maces
From children running in the square
To rooftop cats with pitch-black hair
"A bird that sings its own sweet song
A serpent in its armor strong
None shall their awakeness keep
Hush now, all, and go to sleep."
"You all heard that line about the armored serpent, right?" Ash pointed out. "Doesn't it seem like an odd line for a lullaby?"
Kirito's eyes widened. "You're right!" he exclaimed quietly. "Does that mean we can put the Boss to sleep using that song in order to get past it into the field?"
"It's worth a try, isn't it?" Ash answered. "Pikachu and Fletchinder can move a lot faster than players thanks to their special attacks, so if we send them in ahead they can distract it long enough for a musician to get into place and start playing that song."
"Finally – I was wondering when I would be able to take a major role in a fight again!" Pikachu celebrated from Ash's shoulder. "Ain't nobody gonna steal my thunder this time! And yes, that pun was intentional."
Fletchinder performed the closest approximation of a facepalm that it could as Pina flew over to Lulu's shoulder. "If my fellow sunvaar are partaking in this venture, I wish to play a part as well. Might it be reasonable for me to add this song to my repertoire, that I may be the one to calm the vahlok?"
Silica chuckled. "It sounds like Pina wants to help too! I don't know how, though, since I'm too low of a level to fight the Floor Boss."
"Maybe you don't need to be." Asuna reassured her. "Whenever there's been a puzzle boss in the past, the Cardinal System gave XP to the people who solved the puzzle even if they weren't part of the attack squadron – so if Pina wants to sing the song for us, you can stay back at the edge where you won't get hurt. That way, Ash and Serena can help with the fighting without having to leave you behind."
Kirito finally found his voice again. "Well, it looks like we've found our musician then… Now all that's left is to see how well this plan works."
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the plan was initially met with protests – but those abruptly vanished when Pina put the naysayers to sleep, proving her abilities. For those who were still skeptical, the line about the "serpent in its armor strong" was enough to convince them to give the plan a try. Klein was especially vocal in his support, reminding the others that Ash and Serena had the unique perspective of both frontliners and Beast Tamers and so would have the best idea of anyone whether or not there was a chance of success.
As a result, the vast majority of the front-line players were assembled in the valley at 6:00 that evening just beyond the boundaries of the Geocrawler's range of detection. To avoid alerting it with echoes, the assault team remained as silent as possible – which meant they were all watching Silica when she gave the signal to begin. Five… four… three… two… one…
At Silica's signal, Pikachu charged forward in a Quick Attack, surprising many of the players with his speed. Fletchinder was slightly slower (as Flame Charge provided a more gradual boost than the instant speed of Quick Attack), but its speed was still nothing to sneeze at. In addition, the pocket of lower pressure behind it allowed Pina to accelerate more quickly than she would have otherwise.
The Geocrawler only barely had time to react before it received an Iron Tail to the face, followed by a solid hit from Flame Charge. It vaguely sensed the other players approaching, but that fire attack had hurt! The best thing to do, it decided, was to destroy the flying nuisance before the players became a threat.
Having so resolved, it turned to track Fletchinder, ignoring Pikachu's strikes against its steel-hard carapace. That turned out to be a mistake, though, as a point-blank Thunder Wave forced it to freeze in place for a few seconds – long enough for Pina to land on its head and Sing the lullaby. It made a few half-hearted attempts to lunge at Fletchinder, but soon enough the special song triggered its programming flag and it crashed to the ground asleep.
A cheer rang out from the advancing players, and they charged forward to finish the job. Now that it was not shielding itself or cornering them in the valley, its weak underbelly was exposed quite visibly, and so most of the Clearers focused their strikes on that portion. They briefly pulled back when its last health bar hit the red, but the Geocrawler remained asleep until a lack of existence rendered sleeping impossible.
Asuna's prediction was correct, and Pina's aid in defeating the Boss gained Silica an entire level's worth of XP, along with about 125 Skill Points in Familiar Communication. It also resulted in a flood of attention from the other players, directed not only at her but at the other two members of her guild as well. She fielded the questions as well as she could, but eventually she was overwhelmed.
As if Serena knew what Silica was thinking (which, unknown to the dragon tamer, she actually did), she and Ash made their way through the crowd and escorted Silica back to Fennas Imlad. Strangely enough, nobody seemed to spare them a second glance even though almost everybody seemed to want to talk to them – just like back when we were reviving Pina, she realized. If they hadn't been directly addressing her, even she would have probably overlooked them! I have so much more to learn… she thought, giving Pina an affectionate skritch on the chin as they returned to their hotel room.
By the end of the game, word of their exploit that day had spread far enough (and gained enough embellishments, as stories are wont to do) that even players on the first floor had heard tell of the players who led an army of monsters to utterly decimate a Floor Boss half the size of the entire floor – but that is their story to tell, not mine.
Omake: I'm Sure You All Are Wondering This Too
"Okay, I have to ask. Why do you always talk like that?" Pikachu said idly as Serena instructed Silica in dagger-fighting techniques.
"I do not understand. Which of my speech patterns enflames your curiosity?"
"You just did it again – that's exactly what I'm talking about! Why do you always sound so formal when you talk?"
Pina looked at him oddly. "Dragons are majestic creatures, and it is customary that our speech reflect our proud heritage." She only became further confused when Pikachu started cackling uproariously. "Why do you find my statement so amusing?"
"Remind me to introduce you to Gible sometime." Pikachu finally managed, wiping a speck of moisture away from his eye. "His speech was anything but refined, especially when apologizing for a misfired Draco Meteor. Not in the vulgar sense, though; he just tended to get his words mixed up when he got excited or embarrassed – which was a lot of the time, come to think of it."
As he was speaking, something in his explanation caught Pina's interest. "Pardon the interruption, but what is this 'Draco Meteor' technique you speak of? I assume that your friend Gible lives where you were before you embarked upon this journey with your zeymahzin Satoshi…"
It took Pikachu a moment to formulate an acceptable reply. "Sort of, but things happened and I can't talk to him to get advice about explaining it any more. I do have a friend that can give you advice on how to use a move called Dragon Pulse that I can talk to, though."
Pina nodded respectfully. "Say no more. I too have acquaintances who have passed beyond reach, as I nearly did myself. I will, however, gratefully accept any instruction you manage to procure on the 'Dragon Pulse' technique. As such, I shall detain you from asking Satoshi-deinmaar for permission to visit this friend no longer."
Pikachu left to talk to Ash, but paused to call back, "I still need to ask you what all those odd words you use mean some time!"
"And you shall – just remain content that none so far have held malicious meaning." As Pikachu exited the room, Pina settled down to preen her feathers. After all, diction was not the only thing a dragon was supposed to keep refined; a clean, well-groomed appearance was also indispensable. Messiness was for slimes, not for dragons.