A/N: Hello readers! This chapter will feature another VR version of a classic video game that I'm sure all you gamers have played, if not at least heard about. I decided to take some liberties and change the gameplay up a bit, but I'm sure you'll all still love it. Please review. LET'S A GO!

"Hiyah!" Alice yelled as she sent an ice blast towards her enemy. The blast completely froze its target, which was then finished off as Ren attacked with a blast of fire. The couple high fived each other as their opponent shattered into fragments.

"That was too easy, Ren" Alice said with a grin.

"Well when was the last time you heard of a Goomba being powerful?" Ren questioned with a grin of his own.

It was the last day Ren and the others in Tatsumi Port Island. Throughout the past couple of days, they had been playing various types of games for the company Alicia and Emi's uncle worked at. The group was currently testing the last game for the company, Mario Bros GR. Ren and the others found it fun to be playing a new version of a game series that went back to the beginning of video games.

"Stupid Goomba! Stay still!"

… Although some were becoming increasingly annoyed, namely Helios. The ashy haired teen kept jumping into the air and aiming for a Goomba's head, but found it harder than he originally thought.

"Are you done yet, Helios?" Mai asked. "We've already finished off the rest of them"

"Damn it, Mario makes this look easy" Helios grunted as he finally succeeded in stomping the Goomba he was targeting.

Ren and his friends continued walking through the level they were currently in. When they began the game, each of them were allowed to choose a power up for them to use on themselves. Ren had chosen the Fire Flower while Alice went with the Ice Flower, allowing them to use devastating combo attacks. Mai selected the Super Acorn, giving her a raccoon-like power up that allowed her to glide in the air. Himiko also picked an animal transformation power up, the Super Bell, which gave her a cat suit and allowed her to cling to walls. Dagger being true to her money loving personality chose the Gold Flower, a power up that gave her the ability to turn enemies and blocks into coins. The battle lover Helios decided to pick a Rock Mushroom, which increased his defensive powers and allowed him to roll over enemies. He rarely used the rolling feature however, as he preferred to jump on enemies or just punch them.

As they completed yet another level, the group found the scenery change and turn into the inside of a castle with pools of lava scattered all around. Several types of Koopa enemies, mostly Dry Bones, were walking around as the team of six looked at their surroundings.

"Looks like it's the final level" Helios grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "This'll be entertaining"

"Don't go getting cocky, Helios" Ren warned. "We need to keep our guard up for any surprises."

"Oh please, as if anything that shows up here is going to be a match for us" Helios confidently shrugged as he ran on ahead.

Ren and the others sighed as they ran after Helios. Ren had noticed that Alice had been a lot more cheerful compared to the first day they had arrived. He was glad the black haired girl was back to her old self. She hadn't had any nightmares since that first night either.

"Enemies up ahead!" Alice warned, pointing ahead of them. Just as she said, several Dry Bones were seen coming towards them.

The group ran at the zombified Koopas with all the speed they could muster. As they ran however, the enemies fell apart as boomerangs smashed through them.

"Everyone jump!" Ren quickly ordered. The spinning projectiles flew under their feet as they barely reacted in time to leap over them. They also dodged the boomerangs when they returned back to the enemies holding them, a group of five Boomerang Bros.

'Clever trick' Ren thought to himself. 'They lure us in with the close combat Dry Bones then take us by surprise with the Boomerang Bros.'

"Alright, let's get 'em!" Mai yelled. She and Himiko charged at the boomerang wielding enemies, running right over the Dry Bones corpses.

'Oh crap!' Ren realized. "Mai! Himiko! Get out of there!"

It was too late however, as the hands of two of the Dry Bones grabbed the two girls as they ran over them. The undead Koopas regenerated to their original form, this time with the two girls binded.

"You idiots!" Helios yelled out to them. "This is what happens when you do stupid stuff like that!"

"Criticize us later jerk! First get us out of here!" Mai retorted. As she said this, the Boomerang Bros launched their weapons at the two girls, shaving off a fair amount of their health as they hit.

Ren and the others finally arrived as Ren and Alice jumped on top of the Dry Bones, causing them to disassemble once again, and then launching a midair attack of fire and ice at two of the Boomerang Bros. The last three of them were taken care of as Dagger blasted two of them with her attack, turning them into coins, followed up with Helios swatting away the incoming boomerang of the last one and using the abilities of his power up to flatten the Koopa.

"Alright, let's hurry before those Dry Bones come back to life" Ren suggested. With their first obstacle out of the way, the team of six continued running through the level. After a few minutes, they came across a wide pool of lava with patches of ground scattered across it.

"Something's fishy" Helios said aloud. "Crossing this is relatively easy, and there's no enemies here whatsoever."

"You're right" Ren agreed. "Well, we won't know what it is until we do it."

"Then we're winging it like usual, are we?" Mai shrugged with a somewhat excited grin.

"Winging things is our specialty" Alice said. "Let's do it!"

The group jumped on the first ground patch in the lava pool. The second they did so however, their chances of crossing the pool of lava seemed much slimmer. The ground began to sink into the lava and balls of fire leaped out of the burning liquid around each of the remaining patches, which were beginning to sink as well.

"Crap! Everyone split up! Make it across as fast as you can!" Ren ordered. At his command, they all took different routes, jumping from patch to patch as quickly as they could while avoiding the balls of fire leaping out at them. Ren did his best to avoid the fire attacks coming at him, since his own fire attacks would have no effect in this situation. Alice and Dagger were able to use their attacks to take out the fireballs, either cooling them down with ice or turning them into coins. Mai and Himiko used the high balance and acrobatic skills of their power ups to avoid most of the obstacles. Helios was the only one using reckless abandon and charging his way through, not caring about the miniscule damage the fireballs did to him.

Finally the group made it across the pit of lava. They turned around to see the last patch sink into the lava. There was no going back from here. Only one path was laid out before them. The trap hadn't killed any of the six players, but they had lost a decent amount of their HP. After turning a corner in the area, they found a large door, about the size of one for a floor boss room in new Aincrad.

"Looks like it's time for the final boss" Ren grinned. He walked up to it and pressed his hand against it, turning his head back to his friends. "You ready guys?"

Ren's friends all nodded their heads with excited grins on their faces. "Yeah!"

With everyone all prepared for the final fight, Ren pushed the door open. Laid out before them was a long metal bridge that hung over a large pool of lava. Standing on the other side was the infamous boss of the Mario Bros game series, Bowser the Koopa King.

"Congratulations on making it this far" Bowser roared. "But playtime's over now, kiddies."

Ren's group watched as the Koopa King jumped off of his throne and stood before them on the other side of the bride. He held his hand out, taunting the group. "Do your worst"

"Let's go guys!" Ren called out.

"Right!" everyone replied in unison. The team of six sped across the bridge and closer towards he final boss. Bowser got ready to fight as he inhaled for a breath attack. Ren wasted no time giving out orders.

"Alice, Dagger, Helios, and I will distract him! Mai and Himiko, get past him and hit the button on the other side! Do that and we win!"

Everyone nodded and put the plan into motion. Mai and Himiko jumped onto the side railings of the bridge and began running across them at full speed. Dagger, Alice, and Ren sent their blast attacks towards Bowser to get his agro on them. It worked as Bowser blasted a barrage of fireballs at them. They didn't connect however, as Helios got in front and took the brunt of the attack. His health fell down into the red from taking the hits for his team.

"Don't overdo it Helios" Ren warned. "You can't take another hit"

"Just focus on doing your part of the plan!" Helios yelled back. As they continued to run, Ren and the others noticed Bowser launch a huge fireball at them. The blast covered the entire width of the bridge. There was no way to avoid it.

"Get back!" Helios told them, as he ran even faster and went ahead of the group. "Ren, get on my back! Hurry!"

Ren knew what his friend had in mind. He ran faster as well as Helios stopped moving. Ren pressed his foot on Helios's back and jumped up over the fire ball. Behind the gigantic blast was the final boss, completely exposed. Ren launched a series of fire attacks at him, knocking the Koopa King off balance by a small amount. While Ren was airborne, Helios charged at the fireball head on. The ashy haired teen swung his fist at it, almost challenging it. The blast exploded on impact. As the smoke cleared, Helios was nowhere to be found.

"Helios!" Dagger screamed. She clenched her fists in anger as she shed a tear. Even though they wouldn't die from their HP hitting zero in a regular game, it still hurt to see one of them die virtually. Perhaps it was just a reaction from the many deaths they saw in their two years in Sword Art Online.

Mai and Himiko stood on the bridge with the others as they looked at Bowser, laughing maniacally. The red haired merchant glared murderously at him. "Mai, Himiko, get moving"

"Dagger…"

"Just go!" Dagger yelled. "We're not losing now! Not after Helios sacrificed himself for us to go on!"

Mai put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Of course we won't. No way am I going back and having that jerk bite my head off, saying I messed up after he saved us" Ren and Alice smiled and nodded in agreement as well.

Ren, Dagger, and Alice charged at Bowser, while Mai and Himiko went back to running on the side railings. Dagger took the lead for the charge with Alice and Ren closely behind her.

"Hey you oversized turtle! This is for Helios!" Dagger yelled as she blasted golden colored blasts at the boss. She eventually stopped running and just stood at one point, fire blasts even faster than before. Ren and Alice ran across the bridge as Bowser launched another series of fireballs at them. Ren and Alice nimbly dodged them, running to the side of them or jumping over them. They watched as the fireballs flew towards Dagger. The red haired girl held determination in her eyes as she sent a last couple of blasts at Bowser before the fireballs collided with her, bringing her health down to zero as well. The remaining four players in the group didn't stop. They continued to run to their goal, knowing it was what their two fallen friends would have wanted. The attacks from the boss were getting less and less accurate, due to all the damage it had taken from the attacks Ren, Dagger, and Alice had sent its way.

Finally done with fireballs, Bowser stomped on the ground, sending a sudden shockwave across the bridge. Ren and the others stumbled a bit, losing their balance a little. Then, a stream of fire came from Bowser's mouth. Ren's eyes widened as the attack came for him.

"Ren!" Alice yelled as she pushed him out of the way. The black haired girl wasn't spared however as she took the stream of fire full force, blasting her back and taking out her HP.

"Alice!" Ren screamed. He glared back at the boss. There were only three of them left now. He wasn't losing now. Not after they had come this far and sacrificed this much. Mai and Himiko felt the same way. It was easy to see with the fire burning in their eyes.

"Himiko, jump off of me!" Ren ordered. His sister gave a nod as she jumped from the railing and onto her brother. She kicked off from his back and soared towards Bowser with the flight capabilities of her power-up. Mai didn't even need to be told her part of the plan. She jumped off of the railing and then off of Himiko's back. The height she had given her allowed her to leap over the boss and onto the other side of him. Himiko hit the ground and slid past Bowser, going under his legs. A giant red button was sticking out next to the two young girls.

"Now!" Ren yelled. "Hit it!"

Mai and Himiko nodded and smashed the button with their fists. As they did so, the bridge began to collapse. Bowser fell down towards the lava pit, almost thirty meters below them. Ren wasn't safe either as he fell down as the bridge collapsed too.

"Ren!" Mai yelled.

The tactician had no plans of going down like this. He kicked off of one piece of the bridge and onto another one. He continued jumping off from piece to piece, finally within reach of the other side. His hand gripped the ledge and he hung on with nothing but death to greet him if he fell. Mai and Himiko grabbed their leader's arm and helped pull him up. The three of them caught their breath as a sign reading 'Congratulations' hovered in front of them.

"We *huff* did it" Mai said with an exhausted smile.

"Yeah" Himiko nodded. "Man that was tough"

Ren, Mai, and Himiko felt their vision turn white and they were logged out. They woke up on the beds they logged in from, along with Alicia, Hyde, and Lilina.

"Way to go guys!" Alicia smiled.

"Next time I'm not being cannon fodder though, got that!" Hyde said to them.

"Why? A meathead like you is perfect for the job" Emi teased.

"What was that squirt?!"

Suddenly the door opened and Alicia and Emi's uncle entered the room. "You kids really are something, you know that? Is there ANYTHING you can't beat?"

The teens grinned from being praised for their skills. It had been a long, but fun few days they had spent here. With this last game done however, it was time to go home. Kaito drove them over to the train station and purchased their tickets for going back to Tokyo. As the train began to leave the station, Dan and the others waved goodbye to the man through the window.

Once the station was out of eyesight, they took their seats and relaxed. Hyde and Lilina sat together and read some books they had brought along, though Hyde's book was just a manga. Emi and Clair talked together about the fun things they had done on the trip. Alicia simply rested her head on Dan's shoulder and drifted off to sleep. Dan smiled as he watched the black haired girl sleep peacefully. She must have been trying to catch up on all the sleep she had lost from her nightmares. Suddenly, a click was heard and he saw Lilina take a picture of them with her phone. Dan glared a little at the girl, who simply let out a quiet laugh and whispered "Sorry, but it was too perfect to not take a picture of. Wait till everyone else back home sees this"

"Don't you dare" Dan whispered back.

"Come on. Just think of how adorable everyone will think you two look."

Dan wanted to take the red haired merchant's phone from her, but couldn't move without waking Alicia. He merely grumbled and watched as Lilina chuckled to herself, looking at the picture.

XXXXXXXXX

Night darkened the sky and shrouded the city. The streets were illuminated by the electrical light of street lamps, but the darkness of the night still inhibited the alleyway. A teenage girl entered the dark alleyway. She had long black hair and violet eyes that shined in the night. She entered the dark back streets from the alleyway where multiple other shadowy figures were waiting for her.

"I don't recognize you" one of the figures, a guy with a scar on the right side of his face, said as the black haired girl walked up to them. "You're not a SAO survivor, are you?"

"No I'm not, but I have just as much reason to be here as you do" she replied with a hint of malice in her voice to show she meant business.

"Wait a second... you're that Succubus girl that MMO Stream talked about a few months ago, aren't you?" another one of the figures, this one wearing a hood realized. "You caused a huge uproar in ALO by seducing a bunch of guys. What was your name again? Morrigan?"

"I see you're familiar with my work" the girl smirked. "And I know you too. You're that Death Gun idiot that committed those murders in Gun Gale Online."

"What did you call me?" the hooded male said as he walked over to the girl and grabbed her by the throat.

"Awww, is the wannabe serial killer angry that he lost to that Kirito guy?"

"Is the girl who can't get a guy without seducing him with magic asking for a death wish?"

In response to this, the girl swung her right leg and kicked the hooded male in his manhood. He let her go and kneeled over in pain. "Shady bitch"

"Hahahahahahaha, that's what you get for letting down your guard!" another one of the guys said as he rolled across the floor laughing.

"Shut up Black" he grunted as he picked himself up off the ground.

"Ah, ah, ah, that's Johnny Black remember?" the laughing male told his fellow Laughing Coffin member.

"So this is the remains of Laughing Coffin?" a new voice questioned, walking into the back streets. He was wearing a black suit that showed he was an important figure.

"I take it you're the one who called us all here?" the guy with the scar on his face asked.

"Correct. I'm responsible for helping your Death Gun friend get out of the juvenile detention center, as well as calling out that girl over there. We are in need of a bit of help here in Japan."

"And what's in it for us?" Morrigan asked.

"How about revenge on a certain group of SAO survivors, for starters."

"... Interesting. I'm up for it" the scarred face man smirked. "I've wanted to stab a knife into that Kirito for quite a while."

"It's rare to see you so bloodthirsty boss" Johnny said with an entertained grin. "Usually you just go and kill whoever you want nonchalantly, but you seem to have a bit of an attachment to killing the black swordsman of SAO."

"All I want are those girls dead at my feet." Morrigan growled. "If you guys can give me that chance, I'm up for whatever you want me to do."

"I don't care what I have to do. As long as I get payback on Ren, it doesn't make a difference" one of the others, this one a blonde male teen, told the man.

"Give it a rest Shino. You lost. Get over it. Hell, you weren't even a main member of Laughing Coffin. Just a lowly spy" Shouichi smirked.

"Shut up you piece of-"

"Enough!" the scarred face man said in a commanding voice that even made Morrigan fall silent. He turned back to the man that had called them all here. "Please continue"

"Very well. Now that you're all done acting like a bunch of brats, let's get down to business" the suit wearing man said. "Your job is to be... mercenaries, for lack of a better word."

"Mercenaries?"

"A large scale change is coming" the man explained. "Those that are against us plan on using skilled VR players to stop us. We need VR players that can match them in skill and aren't afraid to kill to counter them. That's where you come in. Are you up for it... PoH?"

The scar faced man, aka PoH, grinned at the offer. He took out a knife from his pocket and twirled it around in his hand. He turned to his friends around him. "Laughing Coffin, we have our next assignment."

A/N: (Evil music playing in the background) Mwahahaha, what will happen next? The three higher ups of Laughing Coffin, the traitor of the tacticians Shino, and everyone's favorite Succubus Morrigan. Look forward to next week's chapter. Please review.