Chapter 9: D.D.R
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Eric sighed. "Dang Kirito you are really good with swords." Eric said as he drank some water.
"You ain't so bad yourself." Kirito said. Eric walked to the door.
"I guess I will be going now." Eric said.
"Wait! You doing anything today?" Kirito asked as he got out of his chair.
"Not really." Eric replied.
"Well since we both are free and there is no rush to log into ALO, you wanna go walk around the city a bit?" Kirito asked.
"That sounds fun, I would need to stop by my place to pick up my wallet but sure." Eric said.
"Wanna invite Asuna and Sinon to come with us?" Kirito asked.
"Yeah, Let me text Sinon and ask her if she wants to come." Eric said as he took out his phone. Eric started texting Sinon.
"I'll call Asuna and ask her." Kirito said as he took out his phone. Kirito face timed Asuna and she picked up. "Hey Asuna, me and Eric are gonna go to the city for some fun. Want to tag along?" Kirito asked.
"Sure, sounds fun." Asuna replied giving Kirito a thumbs up.
"Alright, Meet at the mall?" Kirito asked.
"yeah, see you there." Asuna said.
"Right." Kirito said as he hung up.
"Sinon says she will come." Eric said.
"Sweet, can you go get your wallet then pick up Sinon and meet me at the mall?" Kirito asked.
"Sure." Eric said. Eric got into his firebird and drove back to his house, grabbed his wallet, then drove to Sinon's apartment. Eric walked to her door and knocked. Sinon opened the door.
"Eric." Sinon said with a smile.
"You ready?" Eric asked.
"Yup." Sinon answered as she stepped out and locked her door. They got into Eric's firebird. Eric started driving into the city. "What's that on your shirt?" Sinon asked as she pointed to Eric's shirt.
"Oh… It's a character from an anime I watch." Eric said with a smile.
"Looks like a strong character." Sinon said.
"He is really strong, his name is Ichigo." Eric said.
"Cool." Sinon said. Eric looked at Sinon. Sinon noticed him. "Eyes on the road please." Sinon said.
"We are at a red light, besides it's hard to focus on the road when you have a cute girl sitting beside you." Eric said. Sinon just looked at him. '….. quick think of something to say.' Eric thought. "Oh look its green, we should be there soon." Eric said as his face turned a light shade of red. Eric's firebird pulled into the mall parking lot. Eric and Sinon got out and stood in front of the car. Sinon hugged Eric. "You ok?" Eric asked.
"Y-Yeah, thanks for the complement earlier." Sinon said. Eric just smiled.
"Look at you two." Kirito said with a smirk. Eric and Sinon jumped.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Eric asked.
"Oh nothing." Kirito replied.
"Hey guys." Asuna said as she came up and wrapped her arm around Kirito's arm.
"Hey." Kirito said with a smile.
"Hi." Eric said.
"Hello." Sinon said.
"What was ya'll talking about?" Asuna asked.
"Nothing." Eric said.
"If it's nothing then why is your and Asada's faces red?" Kirito asked grinning.
"Shut it!" Eric and Sinon yelled. Asuna laughed.
"Well shall we go look around?" Eric asked.
"Yeah, let's go." Kirito said. They all walked into the mall.
"Oh man, I haven't see one of these in so long." Eric said as he stopped and looked inside an arcade.
"What?" Asuna asked.
"A Dance Dance Revolution machine." Eric answered. They all walked inside of the arcade. Eric and Kirito walked up to the ticket seller. Kirito bought him and Asuna some tickets while Eric bought him and Sinon some tickets.
"Thanks." Sinon said as Eric handed her some tickets.
"No problem." Eric said. Eric walked up to the D.D.R Machine. A kid wearing a white hoodie, dark blue jeans, white shoes, and he was wearing a white hat.
"Wanna go a round or two?" The boy asked Eric.
"Sure." Eric said. Eric and the boy put in some tickets.
"Two rounds, you pick the first song, then I will pick the last." The boy said.
"My name is Eric." Eric introduced himself.
"Darrick." Darrick said.
"Outcasts by Shinedown." Eric said as he selected the song on the screen.
"3, 2, 1, Dance!" The machine said. Eric and Darrick started off slow but midway into the song they were both really moving.
'Eric is hitting the arrows perfectly.' Sinon thought as she watched them.
"Song complete, replaying on insane mode!" The machine said. Instantly the speed was 3x faster. Darrick started missing arrows. At the end of the song on insane mode Eric had only missed 5 arrows while Darrick missed 12.
"I know we were going to play again but man you tired me out." Darrick said as he was sweating.
"I understand, that was the first round I've play in years. It was intense." Eric said huffing and puffing. Darrick and Eric shook hands and Darrick walked off.
"You were amazing." Sinon said.
"Thanks, even though I'm tired I kinda want to go again." Eric said. An employ that worked at the arcade over heard and walked up to Eric.
"Hello, I couldn't help but see your score and over hear what you said, Do you like challenges?" The employ asked.
"Yes I do… Clark." Eric replied while looking at Clark's nametag.
"Well there is this girl who is the master of D.D.R and she is here right now, looking for someone who is brave enough to challenge her." Clark said. Eric smile.
"Don't overdo it Eric." Sinon said.
"I won't." Eric said. "I'm brave enough." Eric said with his over cocky smile. Clark walked off and a minute later a girl walked up to Eric. She was wearing jean shorts, had a green Shirt with a dark grey jacket, she had a pink hat that was tilted to the side.
"I heard you wanna challenge me." The girl said. Eric nodded.
"I'm Kelly." Kelly said.
"I'm Eric, you can pick the song." Eric said.
"Ok" Kelly said as they walked over to the machine. "I choose E.T by Katy Perry." Kelly said as she selected the song. This song started out slightly faster but still Eric kept up just fine. After about 30 minutes the song was on god mode, moving at 15x the normal speed. Neither one of them had missed an arrow.
"Hey Sinon!" Kirito called out as him and Asuna walked over to Sinon.
"You guys done?" Sinon asked.
"Yeah, where's Eric?" Kirito asked. Sinon pointed to the machine.
"Whoa! He is moving." Asuna said.
"Go Eric!" Kirito shouted.
"Seems like we built up a crowd." Eric said.
"yeah." Kelly said. They kept moving.
'Crap, my legs are really hurting.' Eric thought. Sinon noticed that every time Eric's foot hit the ground he would flinch.
'He is over doing it.' Sinon thought.
"Wow folks this is a new record, they beat god mode and now the machine is going to play the song on full loop until one of them slips up, the winner will receive what ever they want from the arcade shop." The Arcade owner said.
"I'm not even close to slowing down, you?" Eric asked.
"Nope." Kelly answered. An arrow appeared on the screen and it was moving fast. 'The right foot!' Kelly thought. Kelly wasn't able to hit it in time but Eric was able to nail it. A split-second later Eric missed a down arrow. They both stopped moving.
"The winner is… Eric!" The machine shouted.
"Good job." Kelly said.
"Thanks, you too." Eric said. Kelly walked off. Sinon walked up and softly hit Eric in the arm. "What was that for?" Eric asked.
"You over did it." Sinon said pointed at Eric's legs.
"They hurt but It's fine, I need some food after all this." Eric said.
"Come get your prize." The owner said.
"Oh right." Eric said as he remembered. Eric, Kirito, Sinon, and Asuna walked to the prize counter.
"Pick anything you want." The owner said. Sinon was looking at a ,3-foot big, dog plushie.
"That." Eric said as he pointed at the dog plushie.
"Ok." The owner said as he gave it to Eric. They all left the arcade.
"Here." Eric said as he handed Sinon the plushie.
"You're giving it to me?" Sinon asked.
"Yeah." Eric said.
"Thanks!" Sinon said as she grabbed the plushie and hugged Eric. Eric smiled.
'I got to make her smile, that's all I want.' Eric thought as Sinon yet go. Sinon and Asuna started looking at it and talking, Kirito walked up next to Eric.
"Nice move." Kirito said. Eric smirked.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Eric said.
"If you don't then why are you smirking?" Kirito asked. Eric just laughed.
"Because I can if I want to." Eric replied. Kirito just smiled and shook his head. Eric's and Kirito's stomachs growled. Eric and Kirito looked at each other.
"How about we head back to Kirito's house and we have dinner there?" Asuna asked.
"That would be fun, we could order pizza." Sinon said.
"And watch a movie." Asuna added.
"Yeah, let's do that." Kirito said.
"Alright man, I'll swing by and pick up some pizza before going to your house, You get a movie ready." Eric said.
"Sounds like a plan." Kirito said. Kirito and Asuna went to Kirito's house. Eric and Sinon started driving to the pizza place.
"I know you gave this to me because you saw me looking at it." Sinon said as she hugged the plushie.
"Do you now?" Eric asked.
"Yes." Sinon said. Eric smiled.
"Indeed." Eric said. Eric pulled into the Pizza place's parking lot. Eric got and ran into the shop to get some pizza. Eric got it and drove to Kirito's house. Everyone sat on the couch and enjoyed some pizza and a movie. After the movie was over Asuna was asleep on Kirito's shoulder and Sinon was sitting next to Eric. "I'll be leaving now, thanks for the fun Kirito." Eric said in a whisper.
"No problem man, drive safe tonight." Kirito whispered back. Eric and Sinon got up and went outside. Eric was moving slowly.
"You ok?" Sinon asked.
"Yeah." Eric answered as they got into his firebird. Eric started driving. Eric kept looking at the truck behind them.
"What?" Sinon asked.
"That truck has been following us for a while now." Eric said.
"You're sure?" Sinon asked.
"Yeah." Eric replied. Eric pulled into an abandoned parking lot. The truck parked next to the firebird. "When I get out lock the doors and stay inside." Eric said.
"Please stay safe." Sinon said. Eric got out and Sinon locked the doors. The truck doors opened and 4 guys in hoods hopped out, they had baseball bats.
"Gentlemen." Eric said.
"We don't want you, we want the girl." One of them said as they pointed at Sinon.
"Yeah well see that's a problem, because she's with me right now." Eric said.
"We will go through you if we must." A different guy said.
"Bring it." Eric said smirking.
"This isn't a fair fight." The guy who first spoke said.
"You're right, You should have brought more guys with bats." Eric said. Eric started leaning left and right. The tallest one stepped up to Eric. Eric struck like a snake, fast and accurate. Eric hit the guy square in the nose, the guy tumbled back and fell to the ground holding his broken nose. Two others ran at Eric. They both swung their bats, Eric dodged both of them and laughed. The shorter of the two guys dropped his bat and took out a knife. He held it out straight in front of him and ran at Eric. Eric side stepped and grabbed the guy's knife hand, then using his other hand grabbed the guy's neck. Eric procced to jump forward, and between Eric's force and the force of the guy's charge, the guy was slammed into the ground, Eric then lifted the guy's knife hand into the air then slammed it into the ground making him drop the knife. Eric started kicking the guy in the ribcage. The other guy ran off. "Coward, wait I broke one nose, one guy on the ground, and the other ran off. Where's the fourth?" Eric asked as he started to look around. He suddenly heard glass being broken, followed by a girl's scream. 'Asada!' Eric thought as he turned around. The fourth guy had snuck around and broken Eric's Firebird window and had grabbed Sinon and pulled her out the car and was trying to drag her into the truck. Eric took off running towards the guy. The guy turned and looked in time to see Eric jump. Eric kicked the guy in the face, causing him to get knocked onto the ground a few feet away. Eric helped Sinon to her feet. Sinon hugged him tightly. "It's ok, I got you." Eric said as he hugged her back. Eric looked around, the broken nose guy and the ribcage guy were gone, and the other dude was knocked out cold on the ground. Eric let go of Sinon and called the police. Eric and Sinon told the cops everything they knew; the cops confiscated the truck and arrested the man that Eric had knocked out. The police offered to drive them home but Eric told them he can still drive. Eric was driving down the street. Eric pulled up at Sinon's apartment. "If you want I have an extra room if you wanna stay with me for the night." Eric said before Sinon got out of the car.
"Yeah." Sinon said.
"Right." Eric said. Eric drove to his house. Eric and Sinon walked in. Eric showed Sinon where the guestroom was.
"Thank you Eric." Sinon said as she laid down on the bed.
"No problem, wake me up if you need anything. I'm right next door." Eric said.
"Goodnight." Sinon said as she closed her eyes.
"Goodnight." Eric said as he closed the door. Eric went into his room and fell onto the bed. 'It could be random that the guys just happened to target Asada, or it could be laughing coffin.' Eric thought. Ding! Eric got a text from Kirito. Eric called Kirito. "Hey…" Eric said.
"Hi, you sound ruff, something wrong?" Kirito asked. Eric filled him in on what happened.
"And you think it's laughing coffin trying to send a message or something?" Kirito asked.
"Yeah." Eric replied.
"Well, I talked to my contact and well… The laughing coffin member that I was going to have you talk to has been murdered. He was supposed to be safe but… they got to him." Kirito said.
"Kirito… Soon… Real soon I'm going to do something really stupid, you in?" Eric asked.
"What are you going to do?" Kirito asked.
"I got back up on the way, I'm gonna track down the leader of laughing coffin… then I might kill him or turn him into the police." Eric answered.
"You're right, that is stupid, but I'm in, I got to go, night Eric." Kirito said.
"Good to hear you're with me, night." Eric said as he hung up. Eric closed his eyes. 'Soon all of us will be safe.' Eric thought. Eric soon passed out.