A/N: Hey guys! Remember that Laughing Coffin scene at the end of last chapter that made you think "Oh my god, I can't wait to see what they do next chapter!". Well guess what? That's NEXT WEEK'S chapter!

Now before you guys go all PKer on me and try to remove my Nerve Gear, I want to say I have a good reason for this. As I'm sure you guys have noticed, these last few chapters have had a lot of tension and action in them. Next week will also start a long series of chapters that will have the same thing. So I wanted to take this as an opportunity to post a chapter that doesn't have to do with the main story. Just a one chapter idea for everyone. I hope you all enjoy it. Please review.

Guest: The story is set in Japan. I know that chapter wasn't really geographically correct, but I just wanted to do a little something for the holiday.

Excitement buzzed throughout the Dicey Cafe as Kazuto and his friends watch with anticipation as the annual BoB was about to begin. The players entered Governor General's office in swarms as they entered their names for the BoB.

"Alright everyone it's time for the MMO Stream to begin!" a spunky voice called out as a girl with cat ears jumped into the camera's view. "The newest BoB is about to begin and boy do we have a star studded line up of players!"

"That's right my fine feline friend!" a male announcer said with a smile. "This BoB is going to be featuring last years champ Sinon along with Yamikaze along with a new upincommer that's been tearing through the online rankings!"

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!"

Dan and the others turned around to see Lilina running through the entrance of the Dicey Cafe. Alicia raised an eyebrow to see the redhead without her second crazy half. "Where's Hyde."

"He got into another argument with his mom so he's not allowed to leave the house." she let out a sigh. "Sucks but what can I do?"

"Guys, there's Sinon!" Rika pointed at the screen as the announcers were talking about the top players.

"As we all know last year there was two champs of the BoB but it seems that only Sinon is here. Kirito is no where to be seen. A shame, he was a fan favorite last year."

Kazuto inwardly cringed at the memories of how he had to pretend to be a girl for a while. When the others heard about it, endless teasing ensued, mostly from Hyde himself.

"But now in addition with her and Yamikaze we have this new player that has shocked people in how fast he's moved up."

"And who is that?" the catgirl inquired.

The male announcer brought up a picture of a male player wearing rather intimidating looking armor. If one had to describe it, it would be a ram horned helmet with three spots for each of the eye sockets that glowed yellow. He wore a tattered scarf with ballistic leather armor and armored gauntlets and boots. In his hands was a large cannon and on his side was a large blaster looking weapon. "This is the new player named Skolas. His brutal offensive tactics and cornering pressure had moved him through the ranks rather quickly and has become a high bet target."

The catgirl gave a glance at Skolas's weapons. "And what weapons does he use? Those look rather strange for a game like this."

"Well if you can make mecha's then these weapons don't seem too far fetched. The weapons he uses are called the Devil Scorcher and the Shrapnel Blaster. The Devil Scorcher is a new type of gun added to the most recent update of GGO called scorch cannons. They have a huge blast radius but players must be wary of its recharge rate and blasting it too close to them. The Shrapnel Blaster is like a longer range shotgun but the farther the shot lasts, the less accurate it becomes."

"So you're saying he has to be in a proximity depending on his kill?"

"Precisely. But he doesn't seem to have any problem with doing that as he is rather quick on his feet. The most interesting item in his arsenal is his helmet. Although it provides great defense, it makes it so he can't really talk. All his words come in some strange garble that normal players can't understand." the announcer smiled as he looked at the screen. "Luckily for you all however, we at the announcers station can understand and translate what he's saying to the audience."

Sugu frowned at the picture of this Skolas person. "This guy looks tough… Does Sinon stand a chance?"

Asuna gave her a reassuring smile. "Relax Sugu, she's just as good as Kazuto in this game. It doesn't matter how good this guy is, one shot from her sniper and that title is as good as hers."

Kazuto laughed as he walked up to his girlfriend. "Yeah, she has this in the bag."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Sinon looked around the waiting room as many players conversed with each other, mostly trash talking each other's equipment while stating the others didn't have a chance at winning. It was a shame Kirito didn't want to enter as she wanted to see who really was the better of the two but she was glad he was giving her a chance to win on her own right.

"Hey Sinon? Where's your boyfriend Kirito?" a grating voice asked from her right.

And her good mode was instantly ruined.

She turned around to see a large behemoth of a man looking down on her with a smug smirk on his face. Not needing anymore coercion on the matter, she decided to turn that smug smile upside down. Instantly the look was replaced by a stare of horror as she pulled out her sidearm handgun and placed it under his chin.

"I'm sorry what was that? I could've sworn you just said something that pissed me off."

"I-I-I m-meant g-g-good luck in the t-tournament!" he said, studdering with fear.

Sinon smiled at him as she tapped her gun under his chin once. "Now be a good boy and run with your tail between your legs like the coward you are."

He did just that.

'It feels good to be the queen.'

As Sinon made her way to an empty seat, she soon found herself blocked off by another player. He was only around half a head taller than her but what really caught her off guard was the strange armor that he wore. She felt his stare at her as it pierced through those yellow eyes of his.

"Sherak sho ta ke na." he said in a heavily distorted voice.

"I'm sorry, what?"

The player brought up his message screen and typed up a quick one to send. Within a moment Sinon saw a new message in her inbox. Its sender, Skolas. Sinon opened the message and it said something simple and to the point.

"Today. You will fall at my hands."

Sinon glared at the player in front of her. "Oh really!? Well get ready to eat those words 'Skolas' when I shoot a bullet through your skull!"

"Hahahahahaha! Cana keto kola eatka."

Sinon stared blankly at the player until he sighed and typed up another message to her.

"Hahahahahaha! I hope you don't burn easy!"

"Talk is cheap you know. Let's see if you can back your big mouth up in the BoB 'Skolas'." Turning around, Sinon stormed off away from the player. As she turned she quickly caught a glimpse of Skolas flipping her off.

'Oh he is so going to die!'

A message soon appeared to all players stating that the BoB was about to begin. Sinon smiled as she put her game face on as the top 30 were teleported into the arena.

"Alright players! It's the for the 4th BoB to begin!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sinon quickly hid behind a small pile of debris as she caught her breath. It seemed that occupying the abandoned building to the far west of the map was the smart move as the middle ground area was like hell on earth. Out of the whole mess only ten players had made it out, one being her. The only other two she saw that she recognized were Yamikaze and Skolas. She had expected many things from this BoB but having Skolas go ahead and draw first blood by blowing off another player's face with his cannon was just overkill.

That was when the floodgates from hell opened up and a sea of bullets and grenades blasted all around her.

"Okay so let's see here… ten players left only two of which I know by name and one I've killed before." she pulled out her signature sniper rifle Hecate and looked through it's scope. She gave an incredulous look as she saw Yamikaze out in the open.

"Alright Skolas!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "I'm calling you out! One on one, mano y mano! Let's see who's the real man in this game!"

'That freaking idiot!' Sinon thought fiercely.

Answering his call, Skolas appeared in his sight with his weapon, the Devil Scorcher, pointed right at him.

Yamikaze pointed his auto rifle at his opponent. "Alright you freak! Bring it on!"

"Ye ka nokai!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Looks like we have a one on one skirmish between two of GGO's top players! Yamikaze vs Skolas!" the catgirl said with excitement. "This oughta be a fight to remember!"

"For those of you wondering what he just said, Skolas taunted with 'Try not to die!' He seems like a real trash talker." the male announcer said as he looked back to the duel.

"Wow this Skolas guy is really giving the competition a run for their money." Dan said as he took a bite of his meal.

Kazuto nodded his head. "That might be true but I wouldn't count out Yamikaze yet. He's one of GGO's best for a reason. I think he might be as fast as you Dan."

Dan rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, I'd like to see that in ALO. I'd wipe the floor with him"

"Wow, someone's modest." Klein said from the other barstool.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yamikaze dodged left and right from the buckshot of Skolas's blaster as he retaliated with a grenade near his feet. Jumping back, the masked player avoided the blast radius of the grenade and retreated to behind a car. He grunted as he threw his own grenade back at him.

The speedy player rolled away from the explosive ball of fire and rushed forward as he drew a knife. He jumped over the car and stuck at Skolas's head. The player ducked under the blade and kicked Yamikaze's shin out from under him. The player grunted as he fell to the ground but managed to roll out of the way as Skolas tried to stomp his head.

'This guy is pretty skilled.' Yamikaze thought as he sent some retaliating fire with his rifle. 'He obviously has some pretty good reaction time to know how to dodge a grenade with such a short fuse.'

Skolas threw a piece of debris out to the open to gather the attention from his opponent. Normally people would ignore such a noob tactic to draw people out, but one player decided to ignore that rule. A player in a cowboy like outfit quickly came out from left field and started shooting his pistol out in the open. He soon stopped when he saw both Yamikaze and Skolas point their guns at him simultaneously.

"Umm… Hi?"

The player was soon blown to bits by a combination of a scorch cannon blast and a headshot from Yamikaze.

The two players stared each other in the eye for a moment before the faster player opened his mouth.

"Good shot."

"Lieka croa!" (Likewise)

And then it was back to firing at each other.

Sinon slapped her head as she watched this happen. Either Skolas was a tactical genius and was whittling away the small fries or he just got lucky and blasted some poor soul into oblivion. She was betting on the latter.

'Alright time to end this!' Yamikaze thought as he chucked another grenade. Gathering Skolas's attention, the masked player rolled out of the way but grit his teeth in pain as a bullet hit him through his shoulder. He tried to shrug off the pain but failed when a bullet struck his helmet rather hard, making him stumble back a bit. Yamikaze then jumped from his position and tackled the other player to the ground and pointed the barrel of his gun at Skolas's head.

"Any last words Skolas?" he asked as he pressed the nozzle to his head.

Unknown to Yamikaze however, he failed to notice the masked player slowly moving his right hand to reach for his sidearm.

He lifted his helmet so he could understand what his last words would be.

"Only three."

WIth a quick motion, the butt of the blaster was knocked into Yamikaze's temple and sent the fast player sprawling to the ground grasping his head in pain. Looking upwards he saw the barrel of Skolas's scorch cannon pointed right in his face.

"Good game bitch!"

Yamikaze's eyes widened in shock before he blew off his head with a fiery burst.

"Yeshena go kino a takala Sinon!" Skolas yelled as he fired a blast from his cannon in the air.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ooh! What a disappointment! Yamikaze has been eliminated from the BoB by Skolas!" the catgirl said with a snap of her fingers. "A shame, I was betting on him. That's 1000 yen down the drain."

"Well as far as notable contestants go, the only two remaining are Skolas and Sinon. There are now only 8 players remaining after the death of Yamikaze and that poor soul who fell for the trap." The male announcer said. "And for those wondering what Skolas just said, he was calling out Sinon. He called her a... well... lets just say it was an insult."

"Oh well lets make that seven players now. Look at the screen." the catgirl called out.

Everyone in the Dicey Cafe looked to see Skolas surrounded by six other players.

"Well he's dead." Rika said as she nibbled on her snack

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sinon watched from the window as she saw Skolas surrounded by six players. Usually teaming up didn't happen in BoB, but they must have seen what a threat he was. Sinon took this opportunity to move back and check her equipment.

'Ok, I've still got three bullets left in Hecate, plus another pack of ammo' Sinon thought to herself. 'I should be able to take out whoever's left after that skirmish.'

With her equipment all in order, Sinon took a peek out her window again to see how the fight was going. She gasped at what she saw.

'Wh-What the hell?!'

Six players lied dead on the ground. Bullets and scorch marks covered the area. Skolas, who Sinon had all but considered dead, was nowhere to be seen.

'Where?' Sinon thought as she scanned the area with her scope. 'Where the hell is he?'

A tap on the shoulder came out of nowhere that made a cold sweat go down Sinon's back. She slowly turned her head to see Skolas with the barrel of his Devil's Scorcher pointed right at her face.

"Yucre hetcsha! Hahahahaha!" Skolas laughed as he pressed the barrel closer to her head.

Sinon growled at the situation she was in. If she tried to reach for her gun or her sidearm, she'd get blasted in the face. But that didn't stop her from voicing her opinion on his irritating garble.

"Can you take off that damn helmet!? I can't understand you! Speak Japanese damnit!" she yelled at him.

"I said..." he started slowly as he removed his helmet to show his face to Sinon. Her eyes widened in shock as they registered the familiar, smug, jackass face of one of her least favorite members of her friend group. "Gotcha bitch!"

"HELIOS!?"

"The one and only."

Sinon pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, the dull pain that came from it insured her that this was really happening. "Alright I have so many questions! Why are you playing GGO? Why is your name Skolas? Why did you compete in the BoB? But the biggest one of all is, how the hell did you manage to kill six players at once when you were surrounded!?"

Helios shrugged smugly as his face lifted in a smile. "Well let's answer them shall we. The six player thing is easy. They all opened fire at the same time so I ducked under the bullets and they all shot each other. I only killed the ones who survived. Why my name is Skolas is that I made a new Seed account under the table and have been playing this game in my spare time. As for the GGO and BoB questions? Well I just wanted to do this to humiliate you in your own game."

Sinon grit her teeth in anger, this was his plan the whole time? "How did you become one of the top players in such a short time!?"

"Oh please, other than a few handful of people, most of them are a bunch of lemmings. But then again if you of all people can be a top GGO player, it can't take too much skill and I was right!"

"I am going to-" She was cut off as the hot barrel of the Devil Scorcher touched her cheek.

"You're go in to do what? Try to move and have me blast your head off? Oh what a fantastic and smart plan! It's so clever that it loops straight back to being retarded." He taunted with a condescending smile. "So! Any last words before I blow your head off?"

"I freaking hate you."

"Well said. Good game!"

In a moments notice, Sinon found herself being blown to bits by the revealed Skolas by his cannon at point blank range.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"What a devastating victory!" The catgirl cheered with delight. "The winner of the 4th annual BoB is Skolas!"

No one in the bar was cheering, mostly because they were still in shock at what just happened at that moment.

Dan was the first to break the silence. "Oh. My. God"

"What the hell just happened? Did I see that correctly?" Rika asked.

"No, we all saw that" Kazuto said. "That was definitely Hyde."

All heads turned to Lilina for an explanation. The red haired girl seemed just as shocked as the others.

"Don't look at me. I had no idea about this" she told them. "Although this does explain why he's been busy lately."

"Why did he go to all that trouble though?" Alicia wondered.

"Simple. Because he's a jackass" Rika muttered.

"I feel bad for Sinon though" Emi sighed. "She was really looking forward to winning this year."

"One thing's for sure" Kazuto said. "Sinon is not going to be in a good mood for awhile"

-The next day-

Dan and everyone chatted together in the Dicey Cafe about their remaining plans for summer. The topic soon changed back to everyone's shock at what happened yesterday. Hyde was sitting proudly in his chair as he ate the food he had ordered.

The sound of the front door to the cafe opening was heard and everyone turned to see Shino walking in. She seemed depressed and that feeling only worsened when she saw that Hyde was there. She could just turn around and leave, but she was not going to give that jackass the satisfaction of that. Instead she walked over to the bar counter, took a seat, and planted her face on the counter while sulking.

"Shino… are you ok?" Alicia asked.

"I don't want to talk about it..." Shino told them.

"Oh but I do!" Hyde said with an excited grin. "Let's talk about how the best sniper in GGO lost to a complete beginner in the biggest tournament in the game."

"Why the hell are you doing this?!" Shino glared. "Haven't I suffered enough?!"

"Not even close!" Hyde responded. "So cover your ears cause it's story time! Now our story begins with-"

"Before you do that Hyde, I have a question for you" Lilina said.

"Yes?"

"Why were you playing a new game without telling me?"

"Well-"

"And why did you find it right to lie to me about why you couldn't hang out with me yesterday?"

"Umm… I…"

"And why were you so obsessed with another girl, instead of your girlfriend?"

"N-Now Lilina, I can explain" Hyde said with a cold sweat going down his back.

"Oh I'm sure you can" Lilina said with a seemingly innocent smile. "Let's go somewhere private to talk about this"

Dan and the others watched as the red haired girl grabbed her boyfriend by the back of his shirt and dragged him out of the cafe. Before they left, Hyde mouthed 'Help me' to his friends. Unfortunately for him, none of them were willing to get in the way of the psycho merchant. He tried to hold on to the frame of the door to delay his punishment, but his girlfriend's yanks were too powerful as he was pried from the doorway.

"... Wouldn't want to be Hyde right now" Emi said as she took a sip of her drink.

XXXXXXXXXX

After receiving his punishment from his girlfriend, Hyde slowly made his way back home. After he entered his house he walked up to his room and laid down on his bed.

'Note to self. Don't lie to Lilina. EVER! Ugh my shoulders hurt… It's gonna bruise later...'

Hyde looked over to see his Amu Sphere lying on the table in his room. Deciding to play ALO for a little, the ashy haired teen fit the device around his head and laid his head on the pillow of his bed in order to forget his girlfriend's punishment.

"Link Start!"

Hyde's vision went white as he logged into the world of ALO. His appearance changed into his avatar Helios and he found himself in Yggdrasil City. His friends were still probably IRL so he decided to do some solo training. He walked over to the teleport stone and stood on the altar, deciding to go to the Salamander capital.

"Teleport! Gattan!"

Helios soon found himself in the desert surrounded city of Gattan. Monsters in the area consisted mostly of lizard type enemies and sand monsters. None of them were any match for the high leveled Helios though.

After about an hour or so, Helios was beginning to grow bored of the weak enemies in the area. He let out a yawn as the last monster in the mob he was fighting shattered into blue polygons.

"Geez, can't I get anything interesting to fight?" Helios said aloud.

His prayer was soon answered as he heard the sound of a player descending right behind him. The Salamander turned around to see a cloaked player. looking at him. Their face and equipment were hidden from the cloak, making it impossible to tell who it was.

"You want something pal?" Helios asked.

In response, the cloaked player opened their menu and sent a duel request to the Salamander. It was a 1v1 duel with the HP to zero rule and no time limit. Helios grinned as he looked at this.

"I don't know what's going on in that head of yours, but if you want to fight me I'll be happy to beat you into the dirt." Helios hit the 'Accept' tab and a timer began counting down as his HP was brought back to full. The Salamander got into his battle stance while his opponent simply stood there.

"Umm hello? Aren't you gonna bring out your weapon?" Helios asked. He got no response from his opponent as the timer whittled down. Was this person mocking him?

"Alright then if you won't attack, I will!" Helios said as the timer finally hit zero. He charged at his opponent and swung his axe full force. The cloaked player easily dodged it though. Helios kept swinging his axe repeatedly while his opponent dodged every strike. Finally the cloaked player back flipped away and ran towards some rocks in the distance.

"Oh no you don't! You're not getting away coward!" Helios roared as he ran after his opponent. He watched as the player turned a corner into the cover of the nearby rocks. Helios turned the corner as well, but when he did he saw someone he wasn't expecting.

"Sinon?!"

The Cait Sith archer turned out to be the cloaked player as the hood was now uncovered. The more troubling matter at hand however was the fact that she had her bow out with an arrow pointed at Helios from point blank range. The slightest movement from Helios would guarantee a head shot.

"Any last words Mr. Big Shot?" Sinon smirked.

"... Damn you to hell"

"Well said. Good game!" Sinon said as she let her arrow fly, piercing through the Salamander's head and taking out his HP instantly. As she looked at the remain light left behind she kneeled down and looked at it with a satisfied grin. "Revenge is a bitch, isn't it Helios?"

-The next day-

Hyde groaned as his face laid on the countertop of the Dicey Cafe. The trauma of last night was still too painful and fresh in his mind.

"Hyde are you okay?" Dan asked as he pointed his shoulder. "You've been depressed all day, it's really freaking us out."

"I don't want to talk about it…" he moaned.

"Oh but I do!" Everyone turned around to see Shino walking up to her friends with the biggest shit eating grin on her face as she made her way towards Hyde. "Let's talk about how the big, bad Hyde lost to a certain Cait Sith archer in ALO, a game that has close combat users at an advantage!"

"You shut your mouth!" Hyde yelled back at her.

Alicia began to smirk at the raging teen. "Hyde you lost to her in ALO? Wow must be karma from two days ago huh?"

Rika laughed and pointed a finger at her worst enemy. "Ha! Serves you right jackass!"

Shino smiled and held her head up high. "That's right, shows what happens when you mess with me!"

"Oh big deal!" Hyde said as he got up in Shino's face. "You only won cause you ran away like a little bitch! And tell me, who's the guy who got the title of GGO's best AND the prize money of 100,000 yen? Oh that's right, ME!"

"You only won cause you used a weapon that took no skill to use!" Shino bit back.

Hyde smirked in response. "Oh what's wrong!? Did I hit a nerve!? Oh of course! The great and mighty Shino taken down by a newbie! WIll your reputation ever recover?"

"Oh will yours when I tell the whole ALO network you lost to me?"

"Yeah well gonna be kinda hard to prove that with no video of it! Meanwhile my victory over you was broadcast worldwide!"

Shino smiled back at him. "Oh, did I forget to mention the recording crystal I activated before the duel started?"

"Damn you stupid girl!"

"Arrogant bastard!"

"Crazy bitch!"

"Flea Brained mook!"

"Gun crazy whore!"

"Oh my god will you two just kiss already!?" Emi shouted, effectively silencing the duo of screaming teens.

"WHAT!?"

"HELL NO!"

"Emi why would you even say that?" Asuna asked. "Look at those two, it's like a stray cat and dog fight."

Emi gestured to the both of them with a knowing look on her face. "Oh come on! All they do is argue and attack each other like an old married couple! The sexual tension between them is so thick you could make houses from it." She then looked back to the two, now pale faced teens. "So seriously, when's the wedding?"

"... I ship it." Suguha said from the side.

"Can you not!?" Lilina yelled back rather violently, making the younger girl flinch back in fear.

"Ugh… forget this. I'm out of here…" Hyde said lowly as he walked past his friends. But not before giving Emi one last look. "You made this weird…" With Lilina in tow, the couple walked away as she whispered words of comfort and solace to help him get through the shock of the rather incredible statement from Emi.

Shino turned around as well, now looking pale as she picked up her bag. "I'm just gonna go back to my house, lie on my bed and rethink my entire life up to this point. Emi… you went too far with that line. I'm gonna carry that mental scar for the rest of my life. All the therapy in the world can't help me with that mental scar." she then walked through the door, leaving the entire place quite as a graveyard.

"Nice going Emi!" Rika said. "I was looking forward to seeing Shino bust Hyde's balls, but you just had to go and ruin it!"

"What!? How am I the bad guy here!?"

Asuna nodded in agreement with her friend. "She's right Emi, you just gave them a scar I don't think they can recover from."

"Asuna!"

Alicia threw in her two cents as well. "I know that Hyde deserved a punishment, but I think that was too cruel Emi."

The younger girl gave an incredulous look to her sister. "You too sis?"

Dan groaned as he sat down in a chair and ordered a beverage from Agil. "Days just keep on getting weirder around here…"

"Story of my life." Kazuto said as he took a bite from his ordered meal. "It's like Hyde and the girls are just a recipe for disaster."

Dan nodded with his friend. It was either Hyde or the girls that started stuff here in their friend group. Sometimes it felt like he and Kazuto were the only sane ones in the group. It was true though. Days just kept getting weirder in their lives.

A/N: I hope you guys all liked the chapter. Please review. I love hearing the great stuff you guys have to say. As promised, next week will be the start of an arc with lots of action and tension. Everything has been leading up to this. Look forward to it guys.

Also, a fan of mine asked me to try and find songs that would work as themes for the members of Wyvern Inferno. After a few weeks of searching and careful selection, I have found them. Here is the list for the themes of all the Wyvern Inferno members, including the artists if you want to look them up.

Ren- Just a Little Faster (There For Tomorrow)

Alice- Unbreakable (FireFlight)

Mai- This Little Girl (Cady Groves)

Helios- Boom (P.O.D.)

Dagger- One For the Money (Escape The Fate)

Riku- Me Against The World (Simple Plan)

Himiko- Red Like Roses II (Casey Lee Williams & Sandy Casey)

I will have this list on my profile if you guys ever want to quickly look it up. Feel free to check the songs out and tell me what you think, either via review or PM.