A/N: Hello guys! So, I've finally got my schedule sorted out, so hopefully I can return to updating more regularly! I'm sorry that these past few weeks have been so busy, but eh, that's life. In any case, I'm sure you're excited for what the title of this chapter indicates, so I'll leave you to it! Please be sure to leave a review with requests and other questions when you're done!
P.S. With the release of the SAO abridged episode, be on the lookout for some new quotes ;)
Mataras vs. The Sleeping Knights
By the time the course was finished, only Yuuki and Nori had made it through, and they weren't in great shape. "I think… this is going to be harder… than the boss fight!" Nori gasped as they staggered into town.
"Yeah…" Yuuki agreed. "None of 'em went easy on us! Not even Sachi!"
"Tell me about it," Nori muttered as she plopped down on a stone bench. Yuuki joined her as they both recalled how the normally timid girl had struck down Talken with surprising force. He had been trying to make his way through a short detour that shielded them from Mataras' fire and Sinon's ice when Sachi had confronted him alone.
He was already nervous about being around girls, so when Sachi had started to shoot him with her harpoon mercilessly, he had fallen into a state of shock. Yuuki and Nori had shown up just in time to see her finish him off with a lightning-laced water blast to the chest. They had immediately backtracked and decided to take their chances out in the open rather than face a fully trained Toa in the confines of the canyon walls.
Even as the memory finished playing out, a portal opened in front of the two weary friends, and out stepped the Moonlit Black Cats, led by the Black and Red Swordsmen, both with bright grins on their faces. "Not bad," Mataras said. "Honestly, I expected you to do much worse than you did."
"Nice to know that you have so much confidence in us," Nori said dryly. "How bad were you expecting us to do?"
"Well, to be honest, I half-expected that none of you would survive the race," Mataras shrugged. "So well done. It's not often that my expectations are surpassed."
"Why you gotta mock us like that?" Yuuki pouted.
"Well, how would you prefer to be mocked?" Sinon grinned as she placed a hand on her fiancé's shoulder. "He takes requests."
"Do you prefer dry tone or bored, for example?" Kirito added. "Those are his favorites."
"Oh yeah, laugh it up," Nori said. "Ya know, if I recall, you don't have much room to talk, Kirito. You did lose to Yuuki. Matter of fact, I don't see why we're taking orders from you when none of you can even beat our best player!"
The Cats were silent for a moment before Mataras said, "For two reasons, one of which you are well familiar with. One, we survived and defeated Sword Art Online. The second reason is that none of you have seen what Kirito and I are really capable of."
"Well, maybe if you showed us, we'd put a little more stock in what you've been telling us," Nori replied hotly.
"Come on now, Nori," Yuuki said wearily. "We all agreed to do what he said- can't we just drop it already? We'll try again tomorrow, okay?"
Nori scowled heavily while Mataras simply smirked. "That's better," he said. "Now, how about we find meet up where we told the others to head after they respawned. And Nori?"
"What?" she snapped irritably.
"For a Toa of Ice, you really don't know how to chill."
"Really, man, a pun?!" Kirito mock complained.
"What?!" Mataras said, pretending to be affronted. "I mock people! That's how I do things; you should know this by now!"
The meeting with the Sleeping Knights was filled with a lot of frustration for the party being tested. They met up on the outskirts of the Koro, with four of the players already grumbling among themselves. Several of them felt that Mataras had been too rough with them. He held his tongue for some time, thanks in no small part to Sinon being there to keep him calm. However, after an hour of bickering, his patience broke.
"Look, Yuuki, all we're saying is that instead of spending time getting our butts handed to us, we should be hitting the next boss, figuring out its attack patterns," Jun said. "All we're doing so far with these guys is argue and get beat up. Besides, what kind of credibility do they have? How can they even prove that they really were survivors of SAO?"
Before Yuuki could answer, a flame blade almost seemed to sprout out of nowhere between Jun's legs. The two guilds looked over at Mataras in surprise to see that he had indeed thrown his sword to stick in front of Jun with blinding speed. He was shaking with fury, his jaw clenched and eyes flaming.
"You want proof?" he spat. "The proof is here, but only for you to see when you look for it!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jun said as he plucked the sword out of the ground and tossed it back at Mataras, anger starting to color his normally cheerful voice.
"Precisely what I said, you microsiphilic adopate," the Red Swordsman snarled, dangerously close to using his reclaimed sword to unleash the fire at his disposal. "But perhaps I set my expectations too high. I thought that perhaps you could see what it is we share in common, but maybe I was wrong."
"What do we share in common?" Siune said before any of her comrades could speak. Her voice was gentler than Jun's but it was clear that she too was offended by his words. "Try to understand from our standpoint, Mataras. So far it seems that our relationship has consisted of you mocking and belittling us, and nothing else."
"Our relationship has lasted but all of two days now!" Mataras replied hotly, ignoring his fiancée's attempts to calm him down. "That is hardly an ample amount of time to draw conclusions about my character!"
"Your 'character' seems to consist of anger and resentment," Yuuki said simply. The tone was not harsh, nor was it kind. "What it seems like to me is that you want to see if we can survive the same kind of frustration that you guys did."
Mataras threw his head back and laughed so hard that a couple of virtual tears rolled down his unmasked face. Even his teammates looked at him askance, nearly with fear. The Sleeping Knights may not have realized how close he was to snapping, but he certainly looked unstable. When he had finished, he wiped his eyes out of habit and said, "A simple obstacle course is so difficult that you cannot overcome it? Then you don't deserve to clear that floor boss. You don't deserve to have your names echoed throughout the ages of this game, like those that gave their lives to secure our freedom."
"Oh, so now we're not good enough to beat your game, is that it?" Nori challenged. "You're so full of it. Yuuki beat Sachi and your best guy, so I don't even get why we listened to you in the first place. You're just hot air, fire-spitter."
"Am I?" Mataras said quietly with a wicked smile. The others leaped away just before he spun, pointed with his sword, and blasted Nori back with a short burst of fire in less the time that it takes to blink. Even that small burst of elemental power was enough to send Nori sprawling.
"Oei!" Yuuki gasped as Sachi moved to stand beside her brother. "What was that for?"
"You want to see what we're really made of?" Sachi said quietly. "We'll take you on. If you think that we're so incompetent, then beat us here and now. Then go take on that boss and put your names up for everyone to see."
"Y-You're gonna s-side with th-that psycho?!" Talken stammered.
"Mataras has been through more than any of you can imagine for every one of us standing here," Asuna said as she drew her rapier.
"He's suffered through isolation and rejection with me so that I wouldn't have to do it alone," Kirito added.
"Mataras saved the lives of thousands, including my brother," Leafa said as she readied her blade for combat.
"He braved the fires of his past to pave a bright future," Litrosh affirmed.
"Uncle Mataras brought my parents together," Yui said as she readied her own blades. By now the Knights were looking less confident.
"My brother found me broken and helped me make myself into someone I could be confident in," Sachi said. "And I wouldn't be here, in every sense of the word, if it wasn't for him."
"He saved my life and took on the burden that I carried alone for years just to bring me peace of mind," Sinon finished as she lifted her crossbow into position. "We're a family because of him, and we'll stand by him, no matter how crazy things are. No matter how crazy he is."
Mataras took his ready stance as he equipped his armor and said, "For my family… I would- and I have- defied death on their behalf. After all that we have been through together, all that we have seen… No one has the right to mock them. No one."
Yuuki drew her own sword and said, "We may not have been through the same thing as you guys, but I'll tell you this- each of us have gone through our own hells, and I'll be damned before I let you belittle my friends."
Mataras smirked as the Knights took up arms and stood in a ready position to attack him and his guild mates. "Guys?" he said in a low voice. "This one is mine."
"Oh no, you don't," Sinon hissed. "You are not soloing this one. We're all with you."
"I know you are, and that is all I need," Mataras winked at her. "Now fall back."
"Oh, come on," Jun chuckled. "You don't really expect to beat all of us by yourself, do you? You couldn't even beat Yuuki on your own!"
"Then prove it," Mataras said, his eyes flashing dangerously. "You said that you wouldn't take abuse from me. Now put action behind your words. My family simply did as I asked them, so they take no part in any- however unlikely- punishment that I am to receive."
"You're serious, aren't you?" Tecchi said, surprised. "You're gonna fight a team of six Toa by yourself?"
"As far as I'm concerned, you're all just Matoran in Toa armor," Mataras chuckled as he waved the others back. Much as they didn't want to, they did as he told them. After all, their words would be in vain now if they didn't show that their trust in him was absolute.
"If your health goes into the red, we're coming for you," Sinon said warningly.
"I can abide by that," Mataras said with a grin as the other guild gather around him in a semi-circle. "Now let me show these newcomers how we do it Toa style." Before any of the Knights could move in to attack or say something biting, the Red Swordsman was already moving.
He leaped straight at Talken, who balked from the sudden movement. Mataras knew that he was the most easily startled, so he would be the easiest target. He stabbed him through the chest and grabbed his back before lifting him off of his feet and throwing him right at the bolt of ice that Nori had planned to hit him with. Talken cried out in surprise from the sudden impact and watched as his health drained more than halfway. Nori's jaw dropped as she realized that she had shot her friend by accident.
Mataras ignored that and used his jets to dodge a stone pillar caused by Tecchi. Once he was high enough, he opened fire on Jun with his cordak revolver, blasting the other Toa of Fire into the ground before he could use his elemental powers. He heard the sound of earth moving below him, so he looked down to his left to see Yuuki using an earth pillar to launch herself at him with her sword drawn.
Mataras' mask glowed brightly, and a portal opened in front of him, which she passed through. When it reopened, Yuuki found herself crashing straight into Siune, who was about to launch a whirpool at Mataras. With her concentration broken, the elemental attack failed to launch, and the two friends were doused with water.
Mataras smirked at them all from above and said, "Hey, why don't you all just go back into town before this gets any worse? This is clearly a one-sided duel."
"Are we just gonna take this, you guys?" Yuuki called to her friends, who all shook their heads and readied themselves for another round.
"All right," Mataras shrugged as he aimed his sword at Talken, who froze in place from fear. "But remember; I gave you an out." His mask glowed brightly, then he was gone. Yuuki looked around in several directions, trying to figure out where he had gone when she suddenly realized that her friends were all gone.
"Looking for these?" Mataras said from above her, on top of one of Po-Koro's massive walls. In his fire gauntlet he held five glowing stones- the heart stones of the Sleeping Knights.
"How did you-?" Yuuki began, but Mataras leaped down to face her with a sardonic grin.
"I wear the Kanohi Vahi," he replied. "The mask of time. I can move in a different time frame than anyone else in the game if I choose. Problem is, it requires a great deal of my mask's points to use it. You're lucky- If I'd developed the mask any more by this time, I'd have beaten you as well."
"So what happens now?" Yuuki said as she readied her blade. "Are we still fighting?"
"Only if you want," Mataras shrugged as he tossed aside the stones he had been holding. "Personally, I think that the only reason you were fighting me was to help your friends. Now that they are out of the way for a little while, perhaps you and I can talk."
"I don't have anything to say to people that beat up my friends for fun," Yuuki said as she launched herself at Mataras. He parried her thrust and exchanged a flurry of sword blows that were too fast for most people to follow, although the Cats that were watching seemed to have little trouble keeping up.
"Tell me," Mataras grunted as he shoved Yuuki back mightily. "If you all only have so long together, why not meet up to do something in the real world together?" The question seemed to distract Yuuki for a second, so Mataras kicked her in the stomach and sent her staggering back several steps, though she remained upright.
Off to the side, Sinon frowned. She knew Mataras' power better than most, and she knew that his kicks normally left people sprawling in the dirt. He was holding back at this point- but why? She could only wonder as she watched the duel unfold.
"We… We're don't know each other in real life," Yuuki finally said.
"You're lying," Mataras shot back. "No one that meets in the virtual world and forms bonds like the ones I've seen between you and your friends doesn't make an effort to get to know the others in real life." Yuuki cringed, realizing that he was right. Still…
"Why should I tell you anything?" she challenged as she struck at his shoulder with great swiftness, scoring a solid hit before receiving three blows in return.
"Because I would still be willing to help you and your friends if I knew the whole truth," Mataras replied flatly. "Living in Sword Art Online taught me many things, including learning how to tell when someone is hiding something. And I refuse to help people that don't tell me everything."
"Seems like a high price to pay," Yuuki said breathlessly.
"Perhaps," Mataras agreed, somewhat surprising her. "But then, how am I supposed to know if I did what I set out to do in the end if I didn't have all the pieces to the puzzle in the first place? I feel as though I would be leaving the job unfinished. And I hate leaving my work even a bit unfinished."
Yuuki lashed out with a swipe at his neck, which the Red Swordsman halted with his gauntlet. "Well, maybe your price is too high a price to ask," she grunted.
"Why?" Mataras said with a slight grin. "Are you on the run from the law on the other side or something? Is that why you spend nearly every waking moment in this world?"
"Wha-?! No!" Yuuki sputtered. "Nothing like that! Man, how paranoid are you?!"
"Very," was the response, followed by a stab at her midsection. As she went rolling back, he advanced and said, "But it's rather obvious to me that your reflexes are born from being in this world full-time. Only front-liners from Sword Art Online had the skills that you do, and neither my brother nor I ever saw you in Old Aincrad. So the question I ask is: what are you hiding from?"
Yuuki locked her red eyes on his dark ones through their masks and said, "Pain."
Mataras stopped advancing on her and lowered his sword. Then he nodded once and said, "Is it the same for the others, then?"
"Yes," Yuuki nodded.
"Very well," Mataras said as he sheathed his blade. "I understand." Turning to the others, he said, "We have an understanding. When the others meet up with us, we're heading to the twenty-seventh floor boss."
"We are?" Leafa said, dumbfounded. "Wait, I don't get it."
"We both made our points," Mataras said as the others gathered around him and Yuuki. "I understand her drive now, and she understands why I did what I did."
"Just like that?" Asuna said skeptically.
"Just like that," Yuuki said with a grin. "Sometimes, all it takes to get your point across is a good fight."
Asuna's eyes widened, then she put her chin in between her thumb and forefinger. "A good fight, huh…?" she repeated.
"Are you okay, Mommy?" Yui asked the Toa of Ice.
"Huh?" Asuna said. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, Yui. Just thinking about some IRL stuff." Kirito said nothing, but he put an encouraging arm around his wife's shoulder.
"So, will the others try to fight Mataras again, do you think?" Sachi asked Yuuki.
"Nah, not once they hear it was basically the final test," Yuuki grinned easily. "And if they try to fight him, I won't get in his way. You were right, Sachi. Your brother is on a whole different level!"
"This fight was somewhat unfair," Mataras admitted. "I have two of the rarest masks in the game, so your guild was already at a disadvantage. If you wish to fight me someday in New Aincrad, I would be happy to oblige you to a more evenly matched duel."
"I'll hold you to it," Yuuki said as she clanked fists with the tall, red-armored Toa. "But first, can we get my guild's name up on the Wall of History?"
"Done deal," Kirito nodded. "We'll make sure you guys take your place on the wall."
Klein: Aw, man!
Mataras: What?
Klein: I was hoping that you and Yuuki would finish the fight!
Mataras: Well, I still beat the living daylights out of the rest of her guild, so I think there was an appropriate amount of action in this chapter. Besides, if it makes you feel any better, I did do two things for my readers.
Klein: What's that?
Mataras: One, this chapter didn't leave off with a cliffhanger. Two, I promised to fight Yuuki in New Aincrad. So there, something to be relieved about, and something to look forward to. Not a bad ending to the chapter, if I do say so myself.
Klein: But what about Asuna's mom?
Mataras: Oh please. We all know how that's going to end.
Klein: We do?
Mataras: Isn't it obvious? Okay, I'll tell you what's going to happen. See-