I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters.
Welcome
Michael stepped out of the crowd, smiling as he spotted Sinon waiting for him at the bar. He sat down and she smiled at him.
"You're early," Michael grinned. "Excited for BoB?"
"Mhm," she smiled. "Ready to go sign up?"
Michael nodded and they stepped outside just as a scream rang out. Michael looked to Sinon and she shrugged.
"Mugging is possible," Sinon said. "And once in a while someone just gets scared."
Michael shrugged and they started walking. They soon left the more populated areas in favor of a short cut. After a bit, they neared the same gun shop that Sinon had taken Michael to when he arrived.
"Excuse me!" a female voice behind them called. "Could you...Michael?"
Michael turned around, seeing a girl with long, straight black hair, a white jacket with black stripes down the outside of the sleeves and down the zipper, black pants, ane black shoes. They looked familiar, though Michael couldn't quite place them. He cocked his head and immagined the person holding a sword, thinking maybe he knew them from a different game. And it clicked.
"K...Kirito?" Michael gaped before bursting out laughing, clutching his sides, then falling over when he saw Kirito blushing profusely. "You're using...the M9000!"
Michael continued to laugh for several seconds before managing to control himself and pushing himself up.
"At least now we know what the scream was," Michael laughed. "Sinon, allow me to introduce Kirito, the best sword fighter alive. Kirito, this is Sinon. She taught me how to play this game and got me into a group as well. Oh, and she knows we're SAO survivors."
Kirito nodded then grinned wickedly.
"Don't you dare," Michael snarled.
"You're sinon huh?" Kirito asked. "Michael never stops talking about you."
"You bastard," Michael snarled.
"Oh really?" Sinon asked, sharing Kirito's grin. "And what's he say?"
"He's full of shit," Michael stated.
"How pretty you are, and how much he enjoys being around you, and how he can't wait to get back here to hang out with you," Kirito listed, grinning at Michael.
Sinon blinked in surprise, face turning red, almost matching Michael's.
"That's it, you're dead," Michael growled lunging at Kirito who easily got out of the way.
Before Michael could lunge again, a speaker system announced that BoB sign-up was nearing an end. He groaned and looked to Kirito.
"Let me guess," Michael sighed. "You're here about Death Gun?"
Kirito nodded and Michael sighed.
"Alright, let's go get you some guns and armor," Michael sighed.
Kirito nodded and they went over to the market, where they began to look around for anything Michael thought Kirito would excel at.
"You have no money do you?" Michael asked, suddenly remembering he was broke when he started.
"Um, one thousand credits," Kirito said.
"Thought so," Michael nodded looking around and seeing a game involving you trying to charge a mechanical cowboy armed with a revolver.
No one could react fast enough to reach them though. Michael grinned and pushed Kirito toward it.
"You got this," Michael grinned.
Kirito saw what it was and nodded. Before he could go, another player did. The player sprinted forward then froze in an odd position as the robot raised its pistol. Michael stifled a laugh at the position and Sinon grinned.
"What's he doing?" Kirito asked.
"Bullet prediction lines," Michael said. "Red lines that show where a bullet with go. Only the player can see them though, so some people look really stupid. There's really not enough room to manuever or you could just go around the lines."
Finally the player was blasted, lying on the ground for a minute before standing and walking away from the game. Kirito walked over and basically everyone in the room laughed. The gate opened and Kirito sprinted forward. The robot raised its gun and Kirito dropped to the ground, sliding under the bullets. He slid to his feet and continued to run. The robot reloaded and fired again. Kirito jumped to the side, narrowpy avoiding the bullets. He continued and slid under a third spray of bullets. Just as he stood, the robot's gun glowed blue. Michael doubted anyone had gotten far enough to know what was about to happen. Kirito leapt into the air and the robot sprayed the ground in front of himself with bullets. Kirito landed next to the robot, resting a hand on his shoulder. Then, he leapt back and the robot acted upset before massive piles of money flooded out of the building. Kirito accepted it and it disappeared.
"That was...amazing!" Sinon gaped.
"Kirito has the best reaction time out of anyone in the virtual world," Michael stated.
"How did you do that though?" Sinon asked. "At that range, you couldn't have seen the prediction lines."
"Well...I...kind of...predicted them," Kirito sheugged.
"Predicted...the prediction lines?" Sinon asked in confusion.
"Kirito has excellent battle instincts, probably where he gets his reflexes," Michael explained. "He didn't really predict anything, he just instinctively knew to jump."
Sinon nodded and they began to shop for Kirito's main weapon again. As they passed a rack of short metal cylinder-like objects, Michael and Kirito both stopped.
"What are these?" Kirito asked.
"Oh, those are Photon Swords," Sinon stated.
"Why didn't you tell me there were swords?" Michael asked.
"You said bladed," Sinon shrugged.
Michael groaned as Kirito selected one and bought it. A robot sped over and the object appeared over it. Kirito picked it up and extended the blade, a long purple laser blade.
"I'm so jealous I'm not even going to point out that the pretty purple blade matches your avatar," Michael grinned.
"Shut up!" Kirito snapped.
Then, Kirito turned and began to dart around, slashing four times and sending a square of slash trails outward.
"Show off," Michael grumbled.
Kirito shrugged and retracted the blade, clipping it to his belt.
"That might work as your main weapon, but I think you should still get at least a pistol as a backup," Sinon said. "And armor, of course."
"I think I'll let you pick the pistol," Kirito said.
"Good call," Michael snorted. "She knows her shit."
Sinon smiled slightly and walked over to the pistol section, talking herself through several options until she decided on an FN 5.7. Kirito bought it and then followed her to the shooting range in back to test it. While she explained how, Michael took the oportunity to charge his rifle and practice. Unlike last time, he was able to hit the tagret with every shot. He recharged his rifle and Sinon gave him a knowing look.
"What?" Michael asked. "No one said I couldn't."
Sinon laughed and returned to teaching Kirito. He fired once and missed, unsurprisingly.
"I missed," Kirito said.
"Of course," Michael snorted. "First shot using a gun, of course you did. Not to mention she had the target out to the absolute max of it's effective range."
Sinon shrugged and Kirito groaned.
"You'll get used to it," Michael promised. "Now, it's time for you to go shop for woman's clothes."
"What?" Kirito gaped.
"He's right," Sinon grinned. "The M9000 has to wear women's clothes."
Kirito groaned but followed Sinon to the armor section while Michael continued to practice with his weapons. Then, he went out to the market and bought a Photon Sword of his own in case he happened to run into Death Gun up close again. He made sure he bought the version with the red blade, though. He met Kirito and Sinon outside and saw Sinon panicking.
"What's up?" Michael asked.
"We only have ten minutes to get there and sign up," Sinon stated.
Michael looked around and saw a store with vehicles outside, all either a really big silver three-wheeler or a mechanical skeletal horse.
"Hey Kirito," Michael grinned. "Wanna race?"
Kirito saw the rides and nodded, grinning. Kirito jumped on one and Michael helped Sinon climb onto another since they were as tall as ther shoulders. Then, he scrambled up behind her, paying for it while Kirito did the same. Then, they both gunned it, speeding down the road, Sinon safely seated in front of Michael. Michael shifted to a lower gear, speeding past Kirito then shifting to a higher gear again and shooting along the road. Kirito caught up a moment later and waved. After eight minutes, they skidded to a stop outside the Administrative Building, all jumping off and running inside. Sinon briefly explained how to sign up then went to do it herself.
Kirito and Michael both logged onto a terminal and signed up. Michael turned down the chance to recieve rewards via mail based on his ranking. Then, he stepped away from the terminal as Sinon walked over. After a moment, Kirito joined them and they looked around.
"Alright," Sinon sighed. "The changing rooms are over there, and there's a waiting area on the other side. I'll meet you there."
Michael nodded and Sinon walked into the female changing room. Michael and Kirito walked into the male changing room and Kirito kut on his armor, which took literally four presses of a button. Then, they headed into the waiting area. They found Sinon sitting in a corner booth and sat across from her.
"Alright, so, how's this work?" Michael asked.
"The preliminaries are a random one on one match up," Sinon explained. "You get teleported to a random environment where you fight against your opponent. The loser is teleported away, and the victor comes back here. The competitors fight matches until there are thirty players left. The semi finals competitors go to the finals regardless of who wins or loses. The finals are a battle Royale, with all thirty players competing. They fight until only one is left."
Michael nodded and looked up at the screen where a news reported was discussing the different players in the tournament.
"You think he's here?" Kirito asked.
"He's not," Michael said.
"How do you know?" Kirito asked.
"I fought him, or, I tried at least," Michael stated. "He's skilled. Very skilled. I couldn't touch him. He wears a black cloak, a skull mask, and has glowing red eyes. Plus he has both arms bandaged."
"I see," Kirito nodded. "Well, what do you think about him? Can he really kill?"
"In-game, yes," Michael nodded. "In reality from the game...I don't know. He shot a screen showing that player and the player acted like his heart stalled. I think there's more too this."
"Good," Kirito sighed. "Then maybe we're safe."
"I doubt that," Michael sighed. "If anything that puts us in more danger. We may die even without being shot. Though, given his theatrics, I don't think he would allow that."
Kirito nodded and they glanced at Sinon, who looked terrified at the thought of dying.
"Sorry," Michael sighed. "Me and Kirito aren't new to being threatened with death. You are. Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you."
"Same," Kirito promised.
Just then, Michael's vision flared white.
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