Sword Art Online
After The Incident
Chapter 22 – The Smell of Warfare
The first thing I noticed when I woke up in GGO, was that even the character creation room looked like a battlefield. As soon as I opened my eyes, a vast desert-like wasteland lied spread before me to all sides, building laying in crumble, vehicles of all sorts burning all over the place, and a distinct smell of the mix between oil and gunpowder filled my nose.
Due to the preparations Asuna and me had done before we entered, we knew we only had to enter our usernames for our characters to be created. Outer appearance wise, we could choose to let our Amuspheres scan our outer traits and make a character based on those data, or make a new character from the ground up.
Though I didn´t want to waste time doing my character from the bottom. We didn´t come here to have fun. We came here to stop one of Japan´s most dangerous men, wreaking havoc. I didn´t have time for pleasantries when that psychopath could be out there, hurting more people than he already had.
But then again, masking my identity from the parasite would be a tactical advantage. If I had a new body and appearance, he wouldn´t know who I was when we confronted him. He would be defenseless, unknowing.
I shook my head at the idea though. I simply didn´t have time.
I put in my name and waited for the system to spawn me into the game. As the blinding light that followed slowly disappeared I blinked my eyes open, revealed to the world of Gun Gale Online.
My clothes had a strong resemblance to the once I had worn in SAO. They mostly considered of a long black coat, with metal plates placed on my shoulders and chest. I was also wearing a set of simple dark jeans with metal strapped along my kneecaps, and heavy military boots with metal strapped on top.
When I turned to look around in the new gaming world, I caught something out of the corner of my eye. It was a long dark lock of hair, laying on my shoulder. I looked at it perplexed, before grabbing at it and pulling hard.
"Aow!" I yelled as I felt a stinging pain in the back of my head.
I clasped my hands onto my head, confused. I grabbed some of my hair and ran my fingers along with it. It just went on, and on, and on. When I reached the end of it, I realized my hair had grown, so much in fact that it was reaching even past my shoulders, ending around my mid-back.
"What!? What the hell!?" I yelled loudly in surprise and confusion.
About 5 meters from me, I could hear soft giggling. I turned my head and saw a young girl, a little shorter than me. Long blond hair that reached to her lower back, sparkling brown eyes and a couple of freckles on She was wearing a dark green shirt and protection vest, long black jeans and heavy military boots like mine.
Her clothes was accompanied with metal plates all around on her arms, her chest and her legs, though they seemed smaller and a little lighter than mine.
"Hey! What´s so funny!?" I asked with a growl as I walked up to her.
"judging by your voice, I guess it´s you Kazuto" the girl said with a laugh "And to answer your question, the fact that you look like a girl is funny!"
"Huh!? Asuna!?" I yelled, blushing dark red as I realized it was her "I-I swear I didn´t pick this hairstyle! Something went horribly wrong!"
"A-Actually…" Asuna mumbled while she desperately tried to stop laughing "I-It´s not that uncommon to get a male character with long hair in this game"
"W-Who the hell came up with this design idea!?" I yelled as I pulled angrily at my long hair.
I realized my hair was almost as long as Asuna´s, making it all the more girly. I blushed dark red and pouted a bit as I glared at Asuna, sweatdropping a bit as I sighed.
"I damn hope there´s a way to change your haircut" I mumbled softly as I stepped over to Asuna with another sigh.
It seems she had taken her time with customizing her character, seeing how I didn´t even recognize her until she spoke, letting me hear the voice I had become so used to over the years.
"I´m not sure exactly" Asuna said with a giggle "But at least no one we know is playing this game"
"Whenever I´m getting a copy myself" I said with a pout "I´m making my own character"
"But," Asuna said as she finally stopped giggling "I have to say, your character looks a lot like you Kazuto. Or should I call you Kirito now?"
"Either is fine, miss Lightning Flash" I said with a smile as I kissed her cheek "Well, how do we find the parasite? After all, we don´t really have any leads right now"
"Yeah, you´re right" Asuna mumbled as she put a hand on her cheek, deep in thought "And we don´t know if Sugou chanced his appearance when he entered GGO"
"Hmm, maybe we should start by asking around" I mumbled with a sigh "That´s the best lead I can offer right now"
"Yeah, good idea" Asuna said with an approving nod.
"Oh, and one more thing" I said with a teasing smirk as I leaned over and whispered in her ear "You look sexy with blond hair"
I smirked a bit and turned on my heel to walk over and talk to a group of people standing by a nearby building. I could tell that Asuna was deeply embarrassed though as I heard her silently murmuring to herself.
After a while of talking, and about no valuable information, I sat down on the sidewalk, wondering what I should do as the next step. I sighed a bit as I put my head in my hands, the gears in my head turning at top speed to find out how to find Sugou.
"No luck huh?"
I looked up from my crouched down position, and found Asuna standing over me, with a half disappointed smile.
"No, I have nothing" I said with a sigh as I stood up beside her "Judging from your expression, I guess you´re the same?"
"Yeah, exactly" Asuna mumbled with a sigh "I have nothing. This might be tougher than we thought"
"Right now, we have no choice but to keep trying" I said with a frown "We can´t let that parasite get away with what he´s done"
"Yeah, I know" Asuna said, a sense of anger rising over her "I still owe him a butt kicking for what he did to you"
"You shouldn´t fight with revenge on your mind" I said with a soft smile as I took her hand "It will only fall back on you eventually"
"I know, I know" She said with a smile as she squeezed my own hand, lacing her fingers with mine "If I think too much about it, it might distract me when we finally confront that snake"
"Exactly" I said with an approving nod "We have to be prepared. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe we need some weapons for when we confront him"
"Yeah, you´re right" Asuna said with a smile as she looked over at me "But, we don´t know this place. How are we supposed to find our way?"
"I think I saw an electric bulletin board down the street earlier" I said with a smile "Sometimes it´s showing an electric map over this safe zone. We should be able to use that"
"Sounds good" Asuna said with a smile "Let´s find some way of getting some money first though. You have any ideas?"
"Actually, I might be able to help you with that"
I widened my eyes and we both spun around on our heels as we suddenly heard a voice somewhere near us.
It was a girl, looking like she was about our age, maybe 16, or 17. She was having short light blue hair that only reached to a little under her ears, and shining crystal blue eyes. She was also holding some kind of rifle in the strap over her shoulder. She was wearing a very light kind of soldier uniform. It was, to say it in the simplest sense, revealing.
The suit revealed about up to mid-waist, and only consisted of a short shirt and short shorts-like pants, with what seemed to be pant leggings that could be strapped on to the shorts or removed at any time the owner wished. The outfit had a lot of open space everywhere, revealing a lot of the girl´s skin all over her body.
'That outfit can´t possibly protect her, can it?' I asked myself as I stared at her for a moment.
I blushed a little as I noticed her outfit, but quickly averted my eyes to not give Asuna any wrong ideas.
She of course immediately picked up and sent a glare my way, and an elbow in my rips.
"Kaaazzuuuutoooo…" Asuna whispered warningly as she gripped my hand tightly, a little too tight in fact.
"I-I´m sorry…" I whimpered, desperately trying to free my hand from her tight grip. "I-I´m really, really sorry!"
The girl was having a self-satisfied smirk on her face as she stepped up towards us, tugging softly at the strap hanging onto her sniper confidently.
"Well it´s easy to see who´s got the command in that relationship" She said with a warm chuckle and a smirk.
"If you want money," She said as she beamed a smile at us "I know a quick way to get it"
"Huh? Really?" I asked, her offer piquing my interest "Is it some kind of casino or something?"
"You could say that" The girl said with a smile "If you want I could take you there"
Suddenly Asuna pulled me away from the girl and covered my mouth before I could answer, smiling innocently at the girl.
"If you would please excuse us for two minutes" She said as she dragged me away by the collar.
"H-Hey! What the hell!?" I yelled as I was dragged a bit down the street.
When Asuna finally stopped and pulled me back on my feet, I dusted myself off and looked at her in confusion.
"What the hell was that about!?" I said in a mix of confusion and anger.
"Don´t just go ahead and trust that girl" Asuna said as she pointed a finger at me in accusation "We don´t know who she is! She might just be working with the parasite!"
That was true. I didn´t know who that girl was. Heck, I didn´t even know her name. Her chance of working with that bastard was just as good as the chances of her being just a normal stranger.
But, even so, I didn´t think she was an enemy. I didn´t know how I knew, or why I felt like I did, but this girl somehow made me feel like she was a trustworthy person.
Even so, we still had to be extra careful. Something might happen out of nowhere, and catch us off guard. We had to be aware of our surroundings at all times, and not trust anyone random like that.
It saddened me a bit that we had to meet everyone with a glint of suspicion though. What have the world become?
"I know you´re scared Asuna," I said with a caring voice and a gentle smile "but, I still feel like we can trust that girl"
"How do you know?" Asuna asked with a concerned expression.
I knew she simply wanted to protect the people she held dear, just like me. And my heart always melted when I thought about how much concern she had for the ones she held dear.
But even though she was protective, caring and loving, she often hid in her own shell, only revealing herself and taking chances when she had to. She was often insecure of herself, and her ability to fight, and I could often see that in the way of her behavior, also sometimes affecting her combat abilities in ALO.
I knew that if we wanted to have even the slightest chance of finding and imprisoning our target, we had to take chances every now and again. And this seemed like a chance that was too good to pass up upon.
"I don´t know" I mumbled as an answer to Asuna´s question "Call it a gut feeling. And we can always try and run if something goes wrong"
"Yeah, that´s true" Asuna mumbled with a defeated sigh "let´s at least ask her a couple of questions before we go with her"
"Fair enough" I mumbled as I brushed away the last bits of dust on my clothes.
Only now I noticed that Asuna was still holding an iron grip onto my shirt collar. I tugged a bit at my shirt and chuckled softly as I looked at Asuna with a rise of an eyebrow, wanting to point out the issue of her still hanging onto my neck with a claw-like grip.
"Uh Asuna?" I asked as I pointed up at my neck "Would you mind?"
Asuna looked at her hand for a while, before realizing what she was doing. She widened her eyes and blushed a little as she immediately let go of my collar, letting me free of her iron grip.
"Oh sorry!" She yelped as she hid her face away in embarrassment "L-let´s just get back to her already"
"Fine, take it easy" I said with a chuckle as we began walking back to the girl that had approached us.
I smiled softly as we stepped up to the girl, and she beamed a smile back.
"No offense, but," I said as a start as I cleared my throat "we want to ask you a few questions about yourself first before we just follow you. Might be a trap for all we know right?"
"No, no it´s fine" The girl said with a nod, blowing some of her hair out of her eyes "What do you want to know?"
"First of all, who are you?" Asuna asked as she took a step forward, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, online I´m known as Sinon" The girl said with a smile "My goal is to compete in, and win, the Bullet of the Bullets tournament"
"Huh? Bullet of Bullets tournament?" I asked, finding an interest in the tournament "What´s that?"
"You don´t know what it is?" Sinon asked in surprise as she looked at us in astonishment "You guys must be really new to this game"
"We literally just spawned in 20 minutes ago" Asuna said with a chuckle "but we can talk about the tournament some other time. Please tell us more about yourself"
"Well, There´s not much I can tell you" Sinon said with a smile "If I said too much about my real self I might just get in danger myself. But I can tell you as much as I´m 16 years old, and yes, I´m actually a girl"
The last bit was accompanied by a snicker and a small laugh from Sinon as she continued.
"I´ve played this game ever since it was first released a while back" She said proudly "though I have never won the Bullet of the Bullet tournament, that is the whole point of my playing. To get stronger and win the tournament"
"Well, I guess that´s as good a start as any" Asuna said with a smile and a nod "Ok, we trust you for now. Let´s hope we become good friends Sinon"
"Yeah, lets" Sinon said with an approving nod "Who are you guys then? It would seem fair if I get to know a bit about you guys"
"Fair enough I guess" I said with a smile as I put a hand out for her to take "I´m Kirito, and this is-"
I was about to say Asuna´s real name but I caught myself in the act before I put it through.
'I need to be careful. Let Asuna handle it' I said to myself internally as I looked over at Asuna pleadingly, wanting her to help me.
"I-I´m Yuuki" Asuna said with a gentle smile as she put out her hand as well.
Sinon smiled a bit and nodded softly as she shook both our hands, opening her menu and sending us both friend requests.
"Good to meet you both" Sinon said with a smile as she tapped on her menu "I´m sending you both friend requests now"
"Great, our first friend in GGO" I said enthusiastically "Do you trust her now Asuna?"
"I already told you, yes, for now" She said with a roll of her eyes "Sinon, could you please take us to that place you mentioned?"
"Yeah sure, follow me" She said as she began walking down the street, her white scarf swaying slightly in the slight wind running over us.
I smiled softly over at Asuna and she smiled back at me.
"Finding our way in here will be a lot easier now" I said to her as we followed Sinon down the street.
"Yeah, and she can probably tell us a lot about how the game works too" Asuna said with a warm smile "Let´s just hope we can trust her"
"I think we can though" I said with a smile "I don´t believe we have to be so suspicious like this"
"Maybe" Asuna said wonderingly as she put a finger to her chin, deep in thought.
"Hey, you two, pick up the pace" Sinon suddenly yelled from a bit in front of us.
As we realized Sinon had pulled away from us, we quickly picked up the pace, and hurried after her down the street.
A/N
Hey guys! Hope you liked this chapter!
This is the first chapter in the Phantom Bullet Arc, and I am so excited to post more of these bad boys!
Sorry if the quality isn´t as high as it usually is guys. The never ending curse of Writers Block has revisited me once again. Damn you writers block!
Again, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and see you next week guys!