Title: Misfits of Aincrad.

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: Nothing Specific.

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Asuna or Liz or Silica or Sachi or... I would buy them all but I am broke.

Summary: After the First Floor Boss Fight, Kirito deals with Kibaou in a different way. This leads to him meeting a number of Players who play SAO in their own unique ways. AU which diverges significantly from Canon.

A/N: This will be AU. I have not read SAO Progressive and will not be using any of those story lines or descriptions of floors from Progressive. I have my own ideas about the progression outside the original arc of the Light Novels and the Anime, even then there will be changes to those arcs.


"Why did you let Diavel die?" Kibaou demanded.

Kirito simply stared at the spikey haired idiot.

"You're a Beta Tester, aren't you? Why didn't you warn him about the change?" Kibaou continued.

Kirito was about to take the blame on himself but then remembered the message he had received from Klein just as the Boss Battle was starting saying that the battle was being broadcast in the town of beginnings and almost everyone was watching. He just hoped the System was still broadcasting.

"I see what this is about." Kirito replied. "You think all Beta's should give up their money and items, isn't that what you said at the meeting, and you are pissed off that I got the Last Attack Bonus. I assume your plan was that you get all the money and items from the Betas and then give away what you don't want to keep."

There was mumbling amongst a lot of the Players in the Boss Room, and Kirito felt Asuna tense behind him.

"Yeah, I am a Beta." Kirito declared. "And so was Diavel. He knew exactly what I did about this Boss."

That took a lot of wind out of Kibaou's sails, as he was basing his argument on Kirito withholding information from Diavel getting the charismatic Player killed.

"Remember the Player Guide that was discussed in the pre-fight meeting?" Kirito continued, pulling out the guide and holding it up closed. "I very much doubt you, or many others, read the first page. It says 'This guide is base on the experiences of four hundred and sixteen Beta Testers and is as accurate as we can make it. Like all Games there are major differences between the Beta and Final Release of SAO. Two hundred and fifty-five Beta Testers have died due to these changes, and we have incorporated the changes we are aware of in this Guide. Quests marked with an Asterix (*) have changed from the Beta and those marked with a plus sign (+) are quests where Beta Testers died in order to update this Guide.'. I do not need to look it up as I helped the author of the Guide with changes to the Quests."

The feeling of the Players in the room had now shifted from angry at all Betas to annoyed at Kibaou.

"You think all the Beta's are out to screw over the other Players, but like the Guide said, there were under five hundred of us Beta Testers in the Game, that's about five percent, and over half of us are Dead. We want to survive and clear the Game, like the rest of you." Kirito concluded.

"I think you should either shut up or leave." Agil said to Kibaou and the spiky haired man seemed to have no support, with even his Party Members not vocally supporting him.

Kirito did not care about the loudmouth, so he just turned and walked towards the stairs up to Level Two, and he heard footsteps behind him as he passed out of sight of the Boss Room.

"Did you mean all of that?" Asuna said from behind him.

"Yes." Kirito said. "Look, Asuna, you have the potential to be a great Player, but if you find people you trust you should group up and later guild up with them. There is only so far you can get as a Solo in this game."

"What about you?" Asuna asked, seriously as they both continued up the stairs.

"You don't want to be associated with me right now." Kirito said. "I may have stopped these guys turning on the Betas but I'm still going to be seen as an outsider, if not an outcast, because people don't like it when you smack them in the face with the truth. You stay with me and you will be treated the same by association."

"Fine. But keep in contact with me." Asuna replied. "What is it called? A friends list? Yes, put me on your friends list and if I don't regularly hear from you then you will be in trouble."

Kirito simply nodded and walked off to activate the Floor Two teleport point.


Kirito walked to the edge of a forest on floor three. The forest was the start of a multi-stage quest for a really nice pair of Boots that increase agility. As he approached, he saw another player holding a quarterstaff over his shoulder also approaching.

"You here for the Boots of the Serpent Quest?" The quarterstaff equipped player asked.

"Yeah." Kirito said.

"Then we should do it together." A new voice said.

A figure had raised out of a depression in the ground that Kirito figured would not hide a chipmunk. The new player was dressed in clothes of soft browns and reds with a cloth around his head a black veil over the lower half of his face, which he lowered as he stood. He had a short spear in his hand, a leather buckler in his off hand, a quiver at his waist and a bow-case on his back. Bows were rare in SAO. They had been mildly popular in the Beta thanks to their ability to pull Mobs from a distance, though they did have the downside of making you vulnerable to close combat attacks and if you keep your main weapon in your inventory it takes too long to switch weapons.

This Player kept the Bow equipped, which alongside the spear and buckler, which was rare but not unheard of. Kirito had tried a bow in the Beta but he found he preferred the throwing picks. They did not do the damage of a bow but they were quick and did the job of getting a Mob's attention.

"Room for one more?" a female voice said from above.

She dropped out of a tree and was dressed in grey with a bow in hand, a large quiver at her waist and a short sword at her waist. Kirito had the feeling the bow was her primary weapon, given her how easily she held the bow.

"Perhaps introductions are in order?" the Quarterstaff wielder said. "Except for Kirito here. Everyone knows of him. I'll start. I am Kine'Iende."

"Sovin Nai. Of the White Mountain Sept of the Chareen Aiel." The man with the spear and Bow said.

"I am Atalanta." The female Archer said. "Chareen? Really? You could not even go with Taardad? Aviendha and Amys kick ass."

Sovin Nai simply grinned at that.

"Anyway…." Kirito said. "We doing this or not?"

The four of them grouped up with Kirito being party leader, at everyone else's insistence. The first stage of the Quest was a cumulative kill quest where they had to kill a number of the large serpents in the forest. They used the kill quest to learn how to work together. Kirito was a strong damage dealer who could take some damage. Kine was able to act like a psudo-tank in using his Quarterstaff to bash attacks to the side with sheer speed. Atalanta was good backliner, fast and accurate with her bow and agile enough to avoid attacks. Sovin Nai was a stealthy damage dealer who excelled in flanking enemies. It was an unorthodox group but somehow it worked.

The second quest in the chain was a tracking quest, which Kirito and Sovin Nai took the lead on. The last quest in the chain was a mini-boss, a Serpent three times the size of the others called Naga the Serpent.

Atalanta kept Naga distracted with her arrows and Kine would parry the snake's attacks and do devastating counters while Kirito and Sovin Nai dealt consistent damage. When Naga fell they all got the quest reward boots.

TBC….

A/N2: The name 'Sovin Nai' and the Aiel in General come from the Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan (finished by Brian Sanderson). Those deeply familiar with the Aiel and their Warrior Societies will get the 'Joke' of the player's name. Kine'Iende is then name of an organisation from the Journeyverse Massive Multi Crossover Fic started by Tenhawk, AKA as Evan Currie and is also used by him in his original Novel Series Atlantis Rising, which tells the origin story of one of his OC's from Journeyverse. Atalanta was a Greek Mythical female Archer and runner who participated in the Calydonian Boar Hunt and was the only Female Argonaut in the search for the Golden Fleece (in some versions of the story anyway).