Hey guys so sorry for the long wait to update I want to thank you all for your support through all of this and hope that you enjoy the newest chapter. It is shorter than the others and I am sorry for that I have been going through some hard times with gaming and other things, so I was in a dark place for a while with no inspiration at all.
A/N 07/10/2021 here is the next chapter folks
Anyway, enough of that without further ado here is your newest chapter.
A/N Disclaimer I do not own sword art on online Reki Kawahara does please support the official release.
: December 6th, 2031, 7:00 A.M. Tokyo Hospital:
It had been one month since Rika and Ryutaro's wedding and the birth of their son and the assault on Kazuto.
This morning like almost every morning before her classes at university started Shino would come and visit her comatose fiancé.
"So, Kazuto was this how it was for you when I still did not come out after you beat SAO?" She said as she sadly sat by his bed with the IVs attached.
She held his hand as she talked to him like she did every time she visited.
"I honestly don't know how you handled it when we were still trapped Sugu told me about the nightmares the days you seemed so depressed you would not even get out of bed, and how you felt like you failed me." She said as tears fell down her cheeks.
"I miss you so much Kazuto, the nightmares and the panic attacks have come back I am trying so hard to hold myself together, if it were not for all our friends, I don't think I could keep it together." She said as she started crying full force.
She then felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Asuna and Suguha standing there behind her.
Shino did not even think she just stood up and hugged Asuna and the tears just came full force as they tried to comfort her.
"It's ok Sinonon we will always be here for you, no matter what." Asuna said.
"Arigatō Asuna I just want him back with us I finally thought after the whole Death Gun incident we finally earned our peace even after we lost Aeki and Yukki." She started to ramble on.
Asuna looked over at Sugu and nodded that was when Sugu walked over to them.
"Shino, I think you should stay home today and get some rest you have not been getting a lot of sleep with the nightmares and you need to rest for the baby." Sugu said and Shino did not even fight her.
They all said their goodbyes to Kazuto as they headed out to get Shino back home.
After they got her settled, they called everyone up to meet up at Sugu and Kazuto's home.
: 3 hours later Kirigaya house:
Everyone had arrived and was seated in the living room Kana was the first one to speak up.
"How is Sin-Chan holding up?" She asked.
Sugu and Asuna looked down at the ground. "Not well we are all worried and today was even worse the Dr said today that if Kazuto remains in the coma for much longer his chances of recovery lower, this had a huge impact on her she is upstairs sleeping at the moment." Sugu stated.
"This is not fair I mean there has to be something that can be done to help Kazuto I mean anything." Ryou said holding baby Kazuto in his arms.
They all shook their heads. "Ryou this is not like when we were trapped in ALO the chemical stopped his heart long enough to damage his brain." Keiko stated.
A fist slammed down on the nearby table where Andrew and his wife Kathy were sitting.
"After everything he has done for us, there is nothing we can do, I hate feeling so powerless." Andrew stated with a scowl on his face.
That was when Kouichirou spoke up. "There is one thing that might help but I'm not sure if it will work with the damage to his mind, but what about hooking him up to the medicuboid?" He suggested.
Rika shook her head. "We have looked into that in our department in Rect I'm sorry, but it would not get a good read on his mind to dive him in all simulations we preformed came out with the same thing the brain just shuts down completely causing death in 2 minutes." She explained as her department has been doing research into using the medicuboid to help people with lost limbs get used to using them again.
After an hour or so of them all talking, they heard someone coming down the stairs to see Shino now awake and calmed down.
She looked around and smiled slightly at everyone there to help her and Kazuto that was when the door opened and in walked Midori.
She looked at the large group and smiled.
"Hello everyone, I take it there has been no change in Kazuto." She sated with a sad look on her face.
"No Midori –San none and now they are saying that if he stays in too much longer, he might never wake up." Rika explained.
She looked down at the floor then back at everyone. "You all look hungry I was planning on a big dinner tonight would you all like to stay?" She asked and they all nodded that they would and Asuna offered to help her and Sugu prepare the meal.
After about an hour and half they had all finished eating when the telephone rang, and Midori answered it.
"Hello, oh hi yes this is his mother Kirigaya, Midori, wait what when how did this happen what do you mean you have no idea, yes thank you goodbye." She said as she hung up the phone and had tears coming down her eyes and looked over at everyone.
"That was the hospital a nurse went into Kazuto's room to change his IV bag and he was missing they have no idea where he went or when." Midori said as she almost collapsed on the floor only to be caught by Ryutaro.
"I got you Midori-San." Ryo said as Shino and fell to her knees crying.
Asuna and Sugu rushed to her side, Andrew and Kouichirou looked at each other and nodded as they both grabbed their cell phones and started to make calls.
After a few minutes they both hung up getting nowhere.
"I called that officer that helped us during the ALO incident and the Gun Gale incident he is nowhere to be found at all, Andrew-San you have any luck at all?" he asked him.
"My first call was to my manager at the café to tell him me and Kathy would be busy for the next couple of days and for him and our night manager to handle the café, the second call was to some contacts I have from when my dad what in the U.S. military when he was stationed here." Andrew stated.
Everyone looked at him. "He said there is something the JSDF is working on and that they may have Kazuto he will keep his eyes and ears out for us." Andrew stated.
"But why Andrew why would they take Oni-Chan I don't understand." Sugu sated still holding on to Shino.
"The JDSF is trying to develop bottom-up AI using a new form of full dive called a soul translator and he believes that they took Kazuto due to his experience in VR and his knowledge on AI." Andrew stated.
"Wait does that mean Ki-Bou is in a VR game then we can dive in and find him right?" Kana asked.
He shook his head.
"No this is a closed server if it is even up and running within the JDSF." He stated.
They all sat there trying to figure out what to do Kouichirou had agreed to use Rect to investigate this.
Sugu had Yui dive back into the net and see what she could find and to be careful while in there.
: In a forest by a large tree:
There sat two boys both looking exhausted like they have been working all day are there waiting for their lunch to come to them.
"Eugeo how long have we been hacking at this tree?" The dark-haired boy asked his friend.
"At least three years now Kirito but we will finish it, it is our sacred art to cut this tree and we do not want to break the Taboo Index." Eugeo said.
"You two would be the first ones to ever cut down the Giga tree it has stood here for 500 years." The new arrival said as she sat down.
The blond girl was serving them their lunch and talking about the fact they should eat fast so it does not disappear on them.
"Arigatō Alice you always make the greatest lunches." Kirito stated as he ate.
They were all unaware of the two figures high up in the tree watching down on them.
"Nechan what has happened to him he seems different?" The one with the short purple hair asked.
"I'm not sure Yuuki but there is a reason the other one sent us in here, I believe he wants us to help Kirito and how we have a second lease on life." The one with the longer purple hair stated.
"Ran have you noticed time passes faster here than anywhere else, I think we should try and transfer ourselves to a seed server to see if we can contact anyone else." Yuuki stated.
Ran agreed and they opened their menus and disappeared.
: Inside a pacific base of a company called Rath.
"Sir tests are showing that the brain damage is being repaired and he might finally teach the other Fluctlights to break the rules, however we discovered two random algorithms in the system that were there then gone." One man stated.
"Did you get a read on what they were and where they went?" The one standing up asked.
"No sir but it was the wavelength they had it resembled the one from the read outs you gave us of the Nobuyuki and Kirigaya fight in the ALO server." The subordinate stated.
"Very well keep monitoring it and once Kirigaya's brain damage is repaired I want everything prepped to get him out and block any memories he had of being in there and get him back to the hospital he is not to be harmed at all I am doing this as a favor to him for helping us in the past. The commander stated.
"Yes, Commander Kikuoka of course." The man stated.
In the shadows was another man not in a military uniform but a business suit walks away and picks up a phone and makes a call.
"Hello, yes, it is almost time for you to strike and take control, yes the black swordsman is in there, of course in a few days Underworld will be ours and the AI's can be put under your control Vassago-San." The figure stated as he left the area and hung up the phone.
: Conference room Rect Progress:
Kouichirou, Asuna, Rika, Ryu, Ryutaro, and Shino are in the room while Yui is on a large screen with what looks like encrypted data behind her.
"Mama I have been searching the net for any sign of anything on this STL or Papa and nothing however there is a company called Rath that is researching full dive tech." Yui stated.
"Yui are you able to get into Rath's servers at all?" Asuna asked.
"No, I am sorry Aunt Asuna their servers have very strong firewalls." Yui replied.
Shino started to break down again they had hope that with Yui and Rect looking into this they would find him.
Yui seeing her Mama breaking down shifted and activated her holoprojectors so she could comfort her mama.
She wrapped her arms around Shino and hugged her.
"It will be ok Mama I will not stop till I find Papa I promise please don't cry Mama." Yui stated.
Everyone was looking a little down when suddenly, they heard what sounded like two people falling and cursing from the screen Yui was just on.
They all looked up and their eyes widened with shock at what they saw.
"Ran watch were you're going now we ended up at some business meeting wait hold on is that Yui?" Yuuki stated as everyone was looking and not believing what they were seeing.
Shino was the first to speak. "Yuuki? Aeki? Is that really you two?" Shino asked.
Yuuki giving her trademark smile. "Yep, well kind of not really just before we died our medicuboid took heavy scans of our brains and that allowed us to be revived on the internet, we are Yuuki and Aeki, but we are a lot more like Yui now." Yuuki stated.
Asuna who was smiling. "It is so good to see you with all the bad news that has been happening lately to get some good news is a relief." Asuna stated.
Ran stepped up on the screen. "Does this bad news have anything to do with Kirito being in a virtual forest trying to cut down a giant tree?" Ran asked.
At that moment everyone shot up and looked at the screen.
"Wait you guys know where Kazuto is?" Ryu asked as the others were still surprised at all this happening.
They both nodded and then explained everything, and they were able to give Yui the ability to access the servers of Rath.
At this point Yui made sure her mama was ok and shifted back into the virtual world to find her Papa.
: In the forest with the Giga Tree:
Kirito and Eugeo are once again cutting at the tree as Yui watches them, she decides to see if she can get her Papa's attention.
She flies down and in front of Kirito. "Papa is that you are you ok?" She asks.
Kirito looks up and see is the little sprite. "Who are you and how can you talk?" Kirito asks.
Yui is taken by surprise. "Papa it is me Yui do you not know me?" She asks.
He shakes his head no.
She starts to scan his avatar to see if there is anything wrong then flies off disappearing.
"Well, that was strange Kirito not every day you see a fairy call you Papa huh." Eugeo says.
Kirito went to answer when suddenly two Integrity Knights appeared.
"Eugeo you are hereby charged with breaking a cardinal law and are to come with us." The integrity Knight stated.
Kirito stepped between them. "No, he will not he did what he did because those men were abusing Alice." Kirito said as he stood between them.
The integrity knights said nothing and just grabbed Eugeo and vanished.
: Kirito and Sinon's house in ALO:
The group were all sitting around in the living of the small house on the 22nd floor of the recreated Aincrad.
"So, I am confused are you guys able to leave the net like Yui can when she uses her holoprojectors?" Leefa asked them.
Ran shook her head. "No, it is hard to explain we are kind of AI but also kind of not we can move from server to server and interact in the gaming world but when we tried to use Yui's holoprojectors that one time we could do nothing, not really sure why." She explained.
Just as Ran finished speaking Yui reappeared. "Yui-Chan please tell me you found Kirito." Sinon said as Yui nodded her head that she did.
"I found Papa, Mama but when I spoke to him, he acted like he did not know me when I scanned him it was strange, he was more connected to that system than any of you were in SAO, I had to leave though because a foreign program was coming, and I was afraid they might have noticed me." Yui explained.
Klein and Agil looked at her. "Wait Kirito did not know who you were?" They asked her.
Yui shook her head. "No, it was strange, but I did find out who was running the server it was using a form of the cardinal program which allowed me to integrate with it somewhat and I was able to get information." Yui explained as everyone listened.
" It appears that the machine they are using to full dive Papa in with is repairing his brain damage, but that they are also running an experiment to create a AI that is capable of acting more human by having Kirito interact with them, also time moves almost 6 times faster there than here I was only there for 10 minutes but when I got back to a seed sever I had noticed only 2 minutes had passed." Yui further explained.
"Yui is there a way to dive us in or at least contact who is running this experiment to get information?" Sinon asked.
"I do not know about diving in, but I do know who is in charge of the project and that is Kikuoka-San." Yui said which angered Agil.
"That bastard why did he not tell us!" Agil stated as he slammed his fist on the table.
They all looked at him when his wife put her hand on his. "Andrew please calm down I'm sure he had a good reason and Yui says this is repairing his brain damage so that is a plus right there." Kathy says.
Agil just sighs and looks up. "I know your right still why could he not say anything instead of us thinking that Kirito was kidnapped." Agil stated as everyone just shook their head.
: The control room of the Rath company:
A man monitoring a control starts panicking. "Commander you must come quick we have an emergency with the Fluctlight program!" The man yells.
Kikuoka comes running into the room. "What is it?" he asks panicking.
"Commander we lost control of the servers someone has hijacked them and increased the time differential to 20 times that of normal time in the last half hour a year has passed, also it seems like he has gained control of the integrity Knights and is using them to change the AIs into something else also Kirito seems to be a target of his, what should we do." The man states.
"This is bad do we have any idea as to who this is at all?" Kikuoka asks.
"Yes, sir and that is a bigger problem he has merged the servers to his own called Dark-world, I am afraid sir if Kirito dies in there, we have no idea what the STL will do to him at all." The control man states.
"Can we still jack someone in there at all even using Amusphere's or nerve gears?" Kikuoka asks.
He shakes his head. "Sir the Amusphere is too weak to do so, and the nerve gear is dangerous I would recommend a medicuboid or even an unlocked Augma, why do you plan to go in there?" The man explains then asks.
Kikuoka shakes his head. "No, I'm going to ask people that are better suited for fighting in VR than me." He says as he picks up his phone.
"I just hope they can forgive me on how I went about this." He states as the phone begins ringing.
"Hello Yuuki-San I have a request of your sister and her friends if you guys don't mind." He says into the phone.
: Underworld by a large castle:
Kirito stands off in the distance with Alice. "Listen Alice we are going to need to get in there if we ever have a chance to Eugeo back." Kirito stated.
Alice a little nervous after almost getting taken by Integrity Knights herself had helped Kirito train to fight so they could rescue him and hopefully put a stop to the programs in there targeting people and hurting them for no reason.
"Kirito are you sure we can do this or that he is even alive Eugeo has been gone for a little over a year now and most that have been taken by the Knights have not returned." Alice sated.
Kirito just shook his head. "I don't know Alice all I know is we don't try then he will most certainly die." Kirito said as Alice nodded.
They go to move when they are grabbed on the shoulder by someone and spun around as Kirito does, he starts getting a flood of memories, he looks up and sees his attacked and draws his sword.
"Why hello Black Swordsman welcome to my world is you prepared to pay for all the trouble you have ever caused me." The figure says as he smiles.
Kirito growls and tightens his grip on his sword.
"POH." Was all he said before charging to attack him.
Nice little twist there I do think I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter once again sorry for the long delay I should be back on schedule now.
As always please review let me know what you think.
Till next chapter catch ya on the flip side.