Come Together
"Alright, Kirito. Breathe in, then breathe out and-" he sighed. "Aw, who I'm trying to fool, I'm freaking out!"
After figuring out his new situation, Kirito decided to take Yui somewhere safe. So, before the rest of the players started to freak out, he ran away with his adopted daughter to one of the many abandoned buildings around Akiba to think.
And maybe freak out a little bit.
"Three times. Three goddamn times I was trapped inside a video game," ranted the swordsman, walking around from one place to another. "And of course that I can't understand how the third time happened, with no VR involved in this."
That had been the first idea that Kirito had once he got time to think. After all, just a few months ago, he had been put out of commission and woke up inside a virtual environment. However, so much time inside video games gave him sort of a sixth sense for that sort of thing. And many of the feelings he was receiving were far too realistic to come from a VR environment. The Underworld came close, but Kirito was sure he wasn't there.
"Goddamn, the last thing I need is to know that magic is a thing."
Honestly, Kirito didn't know what freaked him out more at the moment: the fact that he was trapped in a videogame by means that (until said otherwise) he could only describe as magic or the fact that he was trapped in a video game again.
"Bloody hell, if I had a coin for each time that I got in trouble in a game reality..."
A sound behind him. He turned around to see Yui slowly getting up from the rushed bed he made for her -a mattress held by four interlocked metal bars.
"Ugh. My head hurts..."
The little childlike figure, dressed in a white dress, looked around, trying to figure out where she was as her dad got closer.
"Yui!" said the swordsman, hugging the child. "Thank god you're fine. I was already starting to get afraid."
"Daddy?" asked the AI, confused. "Where are we? I only remember feeling something in the computer, and then..."
The boy sat down.
"Well, I hoped that you could tell me more, Yui. After all, you seemed able to see the game stats when we were near the time to enter the game."
The AI shook her head.
"It was pretty superficial, Daddy. I could only see the stats of players and monsters, like in Alfheim. And now, not even this. I'm trying to see the stats of your avatar, but..."
POOF!
The swordsman coughed, inhaling the smoke that Yui exhaled. When he got to look at his daughter again, she was in a familiar form.
"How did you transform into your pixie form?"
The girl looked at herself, as surprised as her father.
"I don't know...I just focused on glancing at your stats, and then I transformed. I can see your sheet now, though: player Kirito, level 73, main class Swashbuckler, the subclass is Master Swordsman. Daddy, what does this last one mean?"
"You can't see it?"
The AI shook her head.
"I tried, but it's so blurry. I can see information about the Swashbuckler class, though. If this is right, you have a high amount of Innate Evasion, HP, and Defense as it is natural of your class."
"Hm...you're right. These stats are among some of my highest."
As for fit from one of the classical MMOs from the old times, Elder Tale had a stat distribution that focused on many attributes. If Kirito had to say which were the main parameters of the game, he would say that they would be Health, Mana, Attack, Defense, Stamina, and Intelligence. Health increased the health bar, Mana increased the mana bar, Attack increased the base damage, Defense increased the base defense, Stamina indicated how many times one could use physical attacks, Intelligence increased the power of magic attacks and buffs. Pretty standard RPG stuff. The game had other stats like Luck, which increased the odds of getting rare loot, or, as Yui said, Innate Evasion, which indicated the odds of one successfully dodging attacks. However, these either weren't worth the time to increase or couldn't be raised at all, like, again, Innate Evasion. Besides modifying the game plan of each player, the classes also had set values of increase in each stat by level up. A Druid, for instance, would receive more Mana for leveling up than, say, a Guardian, which focused on the physical side of the things and would have more Stamina to keep in the offense.
"Yui, can you figure out anything about yourself? Like, what are you now?"
The pixie focused.
"Hmm...I can feel some things about myself. If this is right, whatever happened to me in the transition turned me into a Traveler, whatever that means."
At that moment, the girl turned back to her human form, thankfully with no smoke this time.
"Ugh. It seems that I have a time limit to my form now, Daddy," said the girl, voice with a small amount of guilt. "Sorry. I'm trying to turn again, and-"
The boy hugged his child. It was weird, considering that she was now flesh and meat.
"Don't be. At least we know a little more about our situation, more than what we had five minutes ago. Better go one step forward than not move at all. Understand?"
Slowly, the girl nodded.
"Yes. Thanks, Daddy."
The Swashbuckler smirked, messing his child's hair with the hand.
"Well, with you now awake, we can finally get to our newest problem: find our friends."
Finding Klein was easy enough.
Not too big of a surprise, considering that they were on each other's friend lists.
Two other familiar figures were also there who gave great joy to Kirito.
"Kirito! Come here!" said Leafa.
Kirito gave an inspecting eye to his sister's equipment. As in Alfheim, she had long, blonde hair tied into a ponytail (we are creatures of habit, aren't we?) and green eyes. He recognized the armor she was wearing: a plain kabuto helmet, a breastplate, and protections to the lower members. Without a doubt, a Samurai. And, judging by the pointy ears, her race was Elf, an odd choice, though not one he hadn't seen before.
The figure at her side was a little harder to recognize with the tattoos on his cheeks, but he soon understood that he was Shinichi Nagata, Leafa's best friend and (maybe) love interest. His expressions were a little different from the Sylph he saw once in a while on Alfheim, the hair in a lighter tone of green, the nose sharper. He carried a Sorcerer's staff.
"Man, I'm convinced that you bring bad luck to whatever game you play."
Klein's avatar wasn't much different from his real-life self -yeah, one is fine, two is a coincidence, three is a pattern. There was the red hair, the stubble, the somewhat sympathetic face. And, of course, the Samurai armor, with a kodachi and a katana on the waist.
"You know, I'm inclined to agree with you, Klein," replied Kirito. "How are you three doing?"
Recon was the one to answer.
"Oh, you know, trying not to freak out!" said the Ritian Sorcerer.
"Oh. Right. Not everybody in our group was involved with the Death Game. It makes sense that Recon would be taking the news worse."
He glanced at Leafa, trying to figure out what she was thinking. The girl had a determined expression on her face, not much to figure out. Kirito could only guess that her focus was on figuring out what happened with them. Good. Panic wouldn't lead them to any place. "Says the guy who was walking around like a headless cockroach half an hour ago."
"Yui?!" said Leafa, after taking notice of her niece. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm not certain myself, Auntie," said the AI. "I'm as lost as you. The only thing that I can say is that I'm different from the rest of the people transported here."
"Damn kid," said Klein. "Seeing you brought my hopes up that this was some weird VR thing. So, what happened to us was magic."
"Don't you think we're jumping to conclusions too fast?" said Recon. "There must be a logical explanation of why we're here. Like, I don't know, maybe this is someone's dream? One of us fell asleep, ate a lot of cheese, and now is having a nightmare! When we close our eyes, we're going to be at our beds or with the head on a keyboard, drooling a little bit. Like this!"
The boy closed his eyes with strength.
"Recon, I don't think that's how dreams work," remarked Kirito. "This is no Wonderland, and you're no Alice."
"What do I have to do with Wonderland?"
Kirito didn't jump a little bit after hearing the voice that came from behind.
"When we get out of here, we should show you what inspired the Alicization project name."
"Alice! Sinon! And..." he blinked. "Excuse me, but who are you?"
He recognized the two first figures, thanks to their similarities with their other avatars.
Considering how well Kirito knew Sinon, the build that she was using was predictable in his eyes. The blue hair was a little darker, and the ears were like Leafa's, but other than that, her face was a replica of her Gun Gale Avatar. She carried a hunter's bow with a quiver full of wooden arrows. Her armor was of leather colored in brown and green, serving as a type of camouflage.
Alice's avatar was a near-perfect replication of how she looked as an Integrity Knight, bearing a sword in her waist and heavy armor. The differences were in the lack of her signature bow in the head and the heavy shield she carried with the sword.
Oh, and the animal ears and tail that she had.
"A Guardian Wolf Fang?" asked Klein, raising an eyebrow. "Honestly, I saw you as a Swashbuckler, like Kirito."
Sinon raised an eyebrow.
"What am I? Chopped liver?"
"Well, to us, it seemed clear which build you would pick. Assassins have the best DPS using the bow and arrow,and you know what they say about archery and elves..."
The sniper glared.
"Screw you, Kirito."
Alice ignored the little exchange.
"I didn't think that it was something that was my plate," replied the lupine girl. "And I don't regret my choice, not even a little bit, considering what just happened. Are you alright?"
"Well, we aren't seven inches on the ground, so I would say that we are alright," said Klein. "Kirito and Yui arrived here just a little ago, and, bar Silica, Agil, his wife, and the rest of Fuurinkazan, I think we reunited everyone we can for now."
"Hold on, we're still lacking Lisbeth and..." started Kirito, noticing that Asuna wasn't between them. However, he looked a little closer to the companion of Sinon and Alice and realized a tad bit late who he was. "Oh."
He shouldn't be so surprised. People tended to do that for many reasons, maybe roleplay, trying something new, or something else. He probably wouldn't be so surprised if he saw that from the computer. But, in first-person, he felt his brain do a little flip.
Why? Because Asuna's avatar was a guy.
He could see some of the characteristics of her real-life self, like the chestnut-colored hair, the thin silhouette, the brown eyes. However, where once the hair was long, it was now short. Her physical form had more muscles, not much, but they were there. Her face was a masculine visage, with a long beard coming out of her chin. She was carrying the beginner's staff of the Cleric class, which was a minor oddity, considering both her past as a fearsome burst DPSer and her time as an Undine in Alfheim. But the weirdest part wasn't even that. No, it was her voice.
"Hey," said Asuna, a little embarrassed. It was her normal voice, not something deeper as one would expect of a man.
"Mommy?" asked Yui, confused.
"Yes, yes, Asuna decided to go for a man avatar. Deal with that later!" interrupted Sinon. "You're already making her blush beyond count."
"Uhm..." gagged Kirito. "Hold on. I think that I have something here in my inventory that can help you, Asuna."
Tumbling a little bit, Kirito messed around in his Magic Bag, temporally forgetting that he could use the inventory to retrieve the item with ease. He felt surprised that it was so deep, but then again, the bag was supposed to carry many objects in a small space, so it shouldn't be so surprising.
It also felt a little dusty, though he couldn't understand why.
Finally, he managed to feel the item he needed and retrieve the potion bobble.
"Here, drink this!"
"Holy crap, I knew that you're a veteran, but what the hell, man?" said Klein. "I thought this item was supposed to be hyper rare!"
"What is it?" asked Alice.
"An Appearance Reset Potion. As Klein said, pretty rare. It only came up in a promotion event many years ago. The name says it all."
"Really?" said Asuna, giving a suspicious look at the potion before uncorking the bottle. Then, she drank all in one go.
She held her chest as her body started to shine.
"Ugh! Ahhh! It stings, it stings!" said the girl. "Don't look at me!"
The men recognized the meaning of her words and did as asked.
"Kirito, I think potions work differently here," said Klein.
"No shit, Sherlock," mumbled the Swashbuckler.
"Is she going to blow up?" asked Recon, a little cowardly.
These small talks were stuffy at Asuna's screams.
It took at least one minute before they finally stopped.
"Can we turn around?" asked Recon.
"No," said Alice. "She's naked."
"I'm not!" protested Asuna, weakly. "Just sore in so many places. I never thought that I would be so happy having boobs."
Kirito assumed that was a sign that it was safe to turn around, and when he did, he left a relieved sigh. There it was, the girl that he loved so much. The long hairs in a braid, at the opposite side of the forehead, the thin figure exhaling agility and covered by large red robes, and a face devoid of facial hair.
"Asuna, let me get straight. You don't look good at all as a dude," said the swordsman, the words letting his mouth before he could stop them.
BONK!
"Ow! I'm sorry, I-"
"I'm not beating you for that!" protested Asuna. "I did that because you didn't say that the process would hurt so much!"
"Well, how would I know? There wasn't anything saying that it was supposed to hurt! At least the avatars that I have seen using the potion never looked to be in pain."
Alice picked the tip of the Cleric's staff before it could fall against Kirito's head.
"Please, we know you're in pain, but be a little reasonable. And we have a kid in here."
The blonde pointed at Yui, who had a scared expression on her face.
Slowly, the mom put her staff away.
"Sorry, but I felt worse than the time I lost an eye in the Underworld. Like, 'being stabbed a thousand times in one second' kind of pain."
Kirito's answer was a kiss on her lips.
"It's alright. Nobody could see what would happen. Today is a weird, stressful day, and we're all confused."
"How are you so calm, then?" asked Recon.
"Because I already expressed my stress in another place. Any other questions?"
The Sorcerer shook his hands.
Klein scratched his head.
"Yeah. Saying that today is weird is the understatement of the day. I'm hoping that you guys could tell what took us here."
Kirito glanced at his friends, seeing their expressions. All but one expressed confusion at their actual circumstances.
"Judging from your faces...I think no one did see what I see," said Alice.
Sinon raised an eyebrow.
"You saw something different? All I can remember is going unconscious and awakening as Legolas here."
Most of the group nodded their heads, recognizing the description of the sniper.
"What did you see, after all?" asked Klein.
Alice scratched her chin.
"It was a split-second moment, but before I went unconscious, I saw hands coming out of the computer."
"Hands? As in, human hands?"
The Fluctlight shook her head.
"As in ghost hands."
Kirito glanced at Asuna with the corner of his eye approaching him. The girl was brave most of the time, but if there was something that she had fear, it was ghosts.
"Ghosts?" asked Sinon.
"I'm not saying that it was ghost hands," explained Alice. "But they were transparent, and I felt them grabbing me, pulling me. Then, I fell unconscious and awoke close to Asuna. We found Sinon, and the rest is history."
Kirito scratched his chin.
"Goddammit...I thought this would answer all. But that was too optimistic, no?"
"Hm...my head is already hurting from thinking about the subject," said Leafa. "Magic is real? Why were we brought here? And how?"
"The 'How' I can answer, Auntie," said Yui. "My internal clock says that whatever happened to us occurred at the exact moment that Pioneers of Novasphere was made available in Japan."
"So the mass transportation happened because of the expansion?" asked Recon. "Sounds like the title of a light novel. 'I was Sent to Another World by the Expansion of an MMORPG.'"
"Sometimes, I have the feeling that my whole life ever since SAO would make a light novel," mumbled Kirito. "After the release of that book about me, I will not be surprised if someone tries to romanticize what happened there."
"Or try to make you an edgelord," said Klein. "You have enough black to pass by one."
"Yeah," admitted the teenager.
"Uhm, guys?" said Asuna. "Back to the whole expansion thing. Yui, are you sure that was what took us here?"
The AI nodded.
"It's the only major thing that I can think of. Other minor things happened in the update, but if we are looking for something big, there's no bigger deal than the expansion."
Sinon put a hand on her forehead.
"So, let me get this straight. The expansion of an old MMORPG, not even remotely connected to virtual reality, was magical, and we were isekaied for unknown reasons to the game. Either I'm having a stroke, or this is the most absurd thing I have ever seen! And one of the people we hang out with has an artificial soul!"
"Remember that these are only theories," said Kirito. "We only know that the expansion is related to what happened to us and that something pulled us here."
"I know, but that's just giving me a big headache..."
Klein lifted from the ground.
"So we should rest," said the Samurai. "Look. It's almost night. As Kirito put it, we're having a long day. We are exhausted and a few members short. Tomorrow's focus should be on finding where Lisbeth is and then figuring out how to reach out to Silica and the others."
"We can't just use that Gate thing you were talking about yesterday?" said Alice.
"We...ran with some issues on it," said the Samurai. "It'll be easier to explain in the morning."
"Not even a bit ominous..." mumbled Recon.
Kirito didn't like the sound of that at all too. But that was a problem for the Kirito of tomorrow. He was feeling sleepy. Opening his inventory, he materialized a tent.
"Good call," said Klein, pulling a tent himself from his Magic Bag. However, his proportions were way bigger than Kirito's tent. "Come on, girls. I'll put some divides here to let me and Recon give peace to whoever decides to sleep here."
"Why do you have a tent so big?"
"It was on promotion. And it has some neat buffs if a guild sleeps beneath it. But there's only space for six people. Two people will have to sleep in Kirito's tent."
The eyes of everyone went to Asuna and Yui.
"Well, the first easy answer ever since we got here," joked the Cleric.
Klein clapped his hands.
"Well, with that out of the way, all I can say is have a good night, and try to sleep tight. Heaven knows that we need it after today."
Unfortunately, Heaven didn't want to let Asuna Yuuki sleep tight. But then, who could after that day?
She moved around a little bit under Kirito's arms. The tent only had one pillow, but that was fine for her and Yui, who just used the boy's body as an improvised rest. The blanket was also pretty warm and big enough to cover the three. However, that wasn't enough to put the Lightning Flash to sleep.
Her mind was in a state of remembering things of the past. The first days in Aincrad, before meeting Kirito. And then others that happened forward in the timeline. The similarities of her situation now and before were glaring in her eyes. A new experience that went wrong was a given. She was, yet again, a newbie, although one that had better previous experience. And she, once more, had her face revealed to the world -although that last was for option. Her face went red. "Seriously, how can guys walk with that thing between their legs? I nearly ripped that thing out of my body! I'm never making a man avatar again if we get out of here."
If. Ever since Aincrad, Asuna hasn't liked 'ifs'. Too much leeway for the unknown. When. Yeah, when they got out of there. It also sounded way more optimistic. They got out of a Death Game once. They could do it again, right?
Right?
She tried to go to sleep again but was unsuccessful, for her annoyance. "Air. I need some fresh air to refresh my head."
Cautiously, the Cleric left the Swashbuckler's arms. Thankfully, Yui was on the other side, so it was easy to exit the tent.
To her surprise, she wasn't the only figure that was outside.
"Couldn't sleep?" asked Alice.
The fencer nodded.
"Old memories from Aincrad," said Asuna. "My head is still spinning with the events of today...no, yesterday. It's already past midnight."
The Guardian nodded.
"I understand what you meant. In my case, it's not only my new appendages -though they contributed to my sleepless night."
The tail on the girl's back moved a little upwards.
"I thought you could hide them," said Asuna. "At least, that's what one of the guides I saw on the internet said."
"And I can. But I still feel it, and that's what matters. And speaking of feeling..."
The elder girl raised her eyebrows, understanding the issue.
"You're now technically flesh and bone."
Alice didn't look at her romantic rival.
"It's...unreal. That short time living in a robotic body wasn't awful, but I didn't realize how much I missed feeling the heat of my body, flesh touching flesh, until I returned to this form. Even when we entered the Underworld that time, I didn't realize this fact because of how quick the trip was."
She glanced at her hand.
"Makes you realize what Kikuoka meant by creating soldiers from Fluctlights."
Asuna closed her eyes. Before Alice's release, the purpose for Project Alicization was the creation of free-willed AI to substitute humans in wars. While the fencer could understand some of the reasoning behind the man's actions, she couldn't withstand the fact that the Fluctlights, basically living beings in all but body and, in most cases, free will, were created only to serve as fodder in wars.
"Now that you put it that way..." said the fencer. "This brings to my mind that Yui also has a body here. Nothing mechanical as Kirito had planned for so long in his prototype skeleton."
One of Kirito's most notable projects was the mechanical body he planned to build for Yui to walk at their side. He had sent some of the schematics of his project to the Ocean Turtle, which, then, served as the basis for Alice's mechanical chassis.
"Hm. Another mystery to the list, as Kirito would say," remarked the Integrity Knight. "Still, I can't say that's a development either of you would be too upsetting, right?"
"Of course not," said Asuna. "It's something that Kirito and I longed for the greatest time. If only it could happen in other, better circumstances..."
"Another if," thought the fencer.
Alice nodded in understanding.
"Unfortunately, things can't always be like we want. Otherwise, I would probably be with my sister when she..."
The Wolf Fang didn't manage to finish her thought. After many years away as the knight Alice Synthesis Thirty and the definitive loss of her memories as the young Alice Zuberg, the girl had become disconnected from her family. The only exception was her little sister, Selka, who was practically the one person that didn't treat her as scorn when the knight had to refuge herself in the village of Rulid with Kirito. However, upon the acceleration of the Underworld caused by Gabriel Miller and his band of mercenaries, Selka hadn't taken any task that would make her immortal, like being an Integrity Knight. She had died old, but one of the few memories that Asuna had from her time as Queen of the Underworld was her husband staying at the girl's side, now an old woman, in her death's bed. The fencer's mind thought about a certain Imp swordswoman.
"I'm sorry," said Asuna. "I know well how it's to lose someone you love."
"It's fine," said Alice. "Again, nothing is perfect in someone's life. I'm just in a reflective mood today."
She glanced at the moon.
"It's better we don't lose the time to rest. I feel that today's going to be as crazy as yesterday. It was nice to talk to you, Asuna."
Saying so, the Wolf Fang went back silently to the tent.
Asuna stayed still for a few minutes, glancing at the moon, lost in thoughts. Finally, after being sure that nobody would hear her, she muttered:
"Why do you make it so hard for me to hate you?"
The dropping moon didn't answer the question.
Morning
"Ugh...my stomach is rumbling..." said Kirito, gripping his stomach.
"Me too," said Lein. "I could eat a cow right now."
"I'll try to make something in the fire," said Asuna. She had dark circles around her eyes, only having got a few hours of sleep. "Good food would certainly cheer us up. But I need ingredients. Klein, Kirito, have any of you...?"
The two boys shook their heads. The fencer sighed.
"Besides," added the Samurai. "You need the Chef subclass to make food with the Creation menu, so..."
Another sigh.
"Well, I'll at least buy some food for us. But I need money."
Klein threw a bag of coins to the teenager.
"Knock yourself out.."
The girl nodded.
"Yui, can you help me find good prices with your skill?"
The AI nodded.
"Aye! Daddy and I appeared in the commercial area of Akiba, so I know the way there. Come on!"
The little girl held her mother's hand, guiding her to which path to take. The men watched the duo disappear at a curve.
"Huh. Good to see that someone is excited today," said Klein, letting out a yawn.
"Yeah. At least the food will bring some joy to our day."
"Good thing, too. After all the shit we went through, a good meal is going to do wonders."
The Samurai glanced at the other members of the group. Leafa was trying to calm Recon down after a bad dream that the Ritian had. Sinon was testing her bow's pulling strength, frowning as she went through more tests. And Alice was looking at the horizon, lost in her thoughts, sometimes her ears and tail moving involuntarily.
"It still seems kind of empty, right?" said the guild leader.
"Yes. Not only Silica, Lisbeth, and Agil, but the Fuurinkazan too. Have they sent you any message?"
"Short ones, yes," said Klein. "Isshin sent me a message saying they managed to find refuge in our guildhall in Minami. It's chaotic there as well. People are going nuts over all of this. They tried to come to Akiba, but the Transport Gate there is like the one here in Akiba. I tried to teleport to Susukino to find Silica, but it didn't do jack shit. I didn't try the Fairy Rings because they're unreliable, but they seem to be in a similar state. At least I found Leafa and Recon, so a plus?"
Kirito crossed his arms.
"This is bad. With the gates closed, getting to Susukino will be hard. Not only the risk of death but also the time."
"The latter doesn't seem so problematic," said Klein. "After all, it only takes a few hours to get there on foot, no? I remember seeing one of those math guys saying that it takes fourteen hours to go from here to there."
"Sure. Until you consider that this was there," said Kirito. "Klein, you're forgetting that we aren't anymore doing that from our computers. The way that time works here is different, Klein. If my memories are not mistaken, one day here is roughly two hours in the real world. So, a few hours in the Real World will be days here," the boy scratched his head. "I'm not 100% sure on this, but either way, it's a bad idea to go out now. Most of us don't know the strings of the world, my knowledge is outdated, and yours, while more accurate, don't count for surprises that the expansion may have brought to Theldesia. No, for now, our focus must be on finding Lisbeth and teaching the others how to fight."
"Hmm. Point taken," said the redhead. "I guess that it won't make bad news about the world. However, I warn you that I'm not a lore maniac. That's Harry One's thing."
The swordsman nodded.
"Well, how to begin?"
"From the start?"
"Very funny. Well, let's see..."
By the next half-hour, Klein told Kirito and the occasional party member that passed by about Fuurinkazan's adventures in Theldesia. There were tales of adventures, raids that took day and night to complete, and also of mishaps that nearly made the listeners burst out laughing.
"So, let me get this straight. Dynamm once tried to use a Kannagi avatar to get a date?"
"Yeah! He confirmed that she was a girl in real life and had something for Kannagi players. So he created one and spent half a week grinding over its Guardian main account. However, he didn't notice that her interest was in female Kannagi."
"Oof," said the younger man. "That must have been a slap in the face."
"Nah, he figured out that he kinda liked playing as a Kannagi, so he kept that as his secondary account. Thankfully, he didn't enter the game with that account. That one still had a low level for Westelande."
"Yeah, man. I nearly considered using my Enchanter account to get away from swords a little bit. However, the damn thing was on the other side of Yamato, in the Enchanting School of the Ninetails Dominion. And that's a place I'm pretty uncomfortable walking. I got into a beef with one of the major players in the area, and ever since that day, my life there has been hellish."
"Oof. That sounds rough, man."
"Yeah. Hopefully, I won't need to go to that place ever again. Anyway, you said that your guild has its base in Minami, right? Did you go to Akihabara many times?"
"How not?" said Klein. "Biggest city on the server. There's always something happening here. We always come here to bargain and sell some of our unneeded loot or trade for other items," he clapped his sword. "I got my Ten'notsurugi from trading with the Black Sword Knights. A low-level item from a high-level dungeon that's helping me kick royal ass."
"Hm. So Isaac kept the damn thing rolling."
The Samurai raised his eyebrows.
"Wait a sec. Do you know the guild master?"
"If I know? Klein, I was the original vice commander."
Klein was flatter gasped.
"So you helped to found one of the biggest battle guilds of Yamato?"
"Yes, do I need to repeat myself?" said the Swashbuckler. "It began as a bet between Isaac and William Massachusetts, and then he realized that this guild thing was a pretty good deal. Before that, Isaac was a solo player like me. I left the guild when I became a beta tester for SAO, though. I suppose he's still quite a figure in the community?"
"Oh, you have no idea. Before the expansion, the guy allowed only people of level 85 to enter his group. Some argue which is stronger: the Black Knights or the DDD, the largest battle guild."
"Hmph. That's a new one. Who's the leader?"
"A man that's known as 'Berserker' Krusty. I think you will like the way he fights."
"...I feel conflicted. Berserker is a good epithet, but then comes the name of an animated clown."
Kirito took a canteen of water from his bag. All that talk was giving him a dry throat.
"Believe me: he does not play around. There's also a bunch of other guilds. Silver Sword, you seem to recognize, so I'll not talk too much. We have the big three of production in the Roderick Firm, the Shopping District 8, and the Marine Organization. I met some members of Honesty in a raid. And there's that one guild led by one of the former members of the Debauchery Tea Party."
PFFFFT!
Klein felt a spurt of water wetting his hair.
"The Debauchery Tea Party dissolved?!"
"Who are those fellows?" asked Leafa, approaching the fray. "Judging by your reaction, that seems to be a big deal. Are they a guild?"
"You could say that," said Kirito. "The Debauchery Tea Party is not a proper guild, but it could as well be one. At my time, they were a group of players famous for being the best of the best in Elder Tale. Although they were a small group -I remember that they had around twenty, maybe thirty members by the time I left the game -they were good. They were the vanguard, finishing many raids before anyone else. Honestly, they were the last group that I ever thought would break apart."
"Do you know what happened?" asked Recon. Sheesh, how he looked pale!
"Hey, I only came a long time after that happened!" protested the male Samurai. "I'm not an info broker to get that kind of stuff. Do I look like Argo the Rat for you?"
"We wouldn't know what to say because we never saw that figure," pointed out the Elf. "Who's that person?"
"As Klein said, Argo was an info broker in Aincrad," explained Kirito. "She was a pretty eccentric figure in the front line, but damn she gave some of the best information you would ever see...for a price, of course," Upon seeing the raised eyebrows of the two Alfheim players, the SAO player shrugged. "Don't look so shocked. Business is business, and most of Argo's money either went to her upgrading the service to better distribute/obtain information or help other people in Aincrad."
"Yeah. I wonder what that damn broker does now," said Klein. "She seemed to be around your age, and yet we didn't see her anywhere in the Survivor School."
"She probably is in another school," said Leafa. "Remember that Asuna's mom wanted her to transfer to another school?"
Klein nodded, recognizing the point of Kirito's little sister.
"Makes sense to me. Or maybe we saw Argo but didn't recognize her because of the lack of marks on her face?"
"Marks?" asked Recon, confused.
"Remember that quest that I talked about one day? The one on the second floor of New Aincrad, about Martial Arts? That quest was also in the original Aincrad. During its duration, you get your face marked by a special face paint that only disappears after you complete it. Argo never got to finish that mission, so she kept those marks until the end of the beta. And, in Aincrad, she used normal face paint to mimic those marks, and that became one of her trademark features. Those so-called whiskers."
"And so that's why she's called Argo the Rat," concluded Leafa.
"Yep. That's the gist of it," said Kirito. "Asuna and I used to hang out with her a lot during the earlier stages of the game, but later on, I only got to talk with her rarely."
"Huh. That's a shame," said Klein. "I spoke with her once -you know well when..."
Kirito nodded. He appreciated that Klein didn't talk about his suicidal phase in Aincrad, even more in front of his sister and Recon.
"...and she seemed to be pretty fond of you. Kii-bou is a weird nickname, though. So is Aa-chan. And Kle-bou, to me."
"Huh, so she liked you too. Argo only gives nicknames to persons that she likes."
"And I can imagine why," thought the boy. After all, it was reasonable that Argo would like the guy who wanted to stop one of her best friends from committing suicide.
"She likes me, huh? The Fuurinkazan funds certainly didn't like her," moaned Klein. "Sometimes, I felt that she was ripping me off."
"You get used to it," assured Kirito.
"I really want to hear more about your adventures, Kirito," said Leafa. "The kind of people you go out with seems pretty exciting. Although I think you're a little bit of a chick magnet."
"Leafa," said Recon. "When you first met Kirito, weren't you-"
Before the Ritian could say the words that would mean the end of his life, the sound of rushed steps called the group's attention.
"It's Asuna and Yui!" said Sinon, seeing with precision thanks to her elvish perks. "The two are with a red face!"
Indeed, mother and daughter were gasping for air when they reached the building. Asuna was also carrying a basket full of ingredients for sandwiches. Upon closer inspection, there were also some tears on her face.
"What's the problem?" asked Alice, holding her shield with strength. "Are we under attack?"
"It's...not permanent..."
"What?" asked the Integrity Knight, looking at Yui.
"Death. It's not permanent!" repeated the older AI.
The eyes of everyone widened.
"What? How do you know?" asked Kirito.
"We saw," explained Asuna. "We were buying ingredients, talking about some things with cooking here...that was when we saw someone coming out of the Church. People started to freak out because that place was a respawn spot. And she confirmed that she got killed before waking up there."
The group of friends went silent, processing the meaning of that fact.
"Pfhahahahahaha!"
The first to react is Kirito, laughing as if he had lost his mind.
"What's so funny?" asked Sinon.
The swordsman still laughed for a good thirty seconds before answering the question.
"I...honestly not sure. I think I was more worried than I thought about the fact that we could die here. I'm happy because we won't have to deal with that kind of bullshit again."
Klein nodded. He knew how much the game had scarred Kirito, and recent bad experiences only worsened some of those wounds.
"Wait, but Asuna still seems nervous. Why does she still look anxious? Please, tell me there's no catch."
The Cleric noticed Klein's expression and deduced what he was thinking.
"Don't worry, Klein. Whatever you are worried about, I can assure you that the issue is not related to the resurrection. For now, at least. It's more about something that will make Kirito lose his sleep."
Her husband chuckled.
"Make me lose my sleep? Why, knowing that we're not going to die, I feel like if I'm in dreamland! What can make me lose my sleep?"
The girl took something out of her inventory. Kirito recognized that it was a sandwich. The boy grinned, hungry. Without hesitating, he took the food, took a bite, and-
"BLERGH!"
The Swashbuckler coughed crazily, trying to clear the taste of mush out of his mouth.
"What the hell! It's this a sandwich?"
The Cleric nodded, grim.
"All the food tasted like this. Every. Single. One. Even player-made foods. It tastes as if someone is eating the most generic thing you can conceive."
"Wait. Player-made foods?" asked Kirito, a cold feeling overcoming his body. "Oi, oi, doesn't that mean...?"
The fencer nodded.
It was enough for Kirito.
Far away, a Bard was walking through the forest searching for something to do when she heard something. Her hearing seemed to have improved ever since she woke up in Elder Tales.
It was a big, grave no. It reminded the Bard of one old movie she saw. One with photon swords. Or was it lightsabers? So much time in GGO messed up some of her pop references.
"I got the feeling that it will be better not to go in that direction," mumbled Ishizu, going back to the center of Akiba. It was dangerous for someone as weak as her to be outside. Worse, a low-level support class. Maybe she needed to join a guild. She had heard of one Hamelin letting other people enter their group. It didn't seem to be a bad deal. A roof under her head and all that. What's the worst that could happen?