Jaymes, December 24th

It's three pm on a not-so-miserable-not-too-wonderful Saturday, December 24, around 37 hours after the events of the Fallen Elf hideout, and eight gondolas line a crystalline lake north of the fourth floor's center. It was so large that it took the attention of Jaymes' partner from the task at hand, but he allowed it. He had no interest in disturbing her amazement nor engaging in deep conversation with Agil, whose brown gondola lines up with the Tilnel. He and his three companions decided on the name Pequod for their boat after the ship of the same name that Moby Dick sank.

This place was a low-lying volcano in the beta with magma pooling around it. As if for hundreds of years, nature had taken over the place, it now is the location of a battle against the field boss, which requires the gondolas to sail into battle. That gets Jaymes' blood excited, but there's something to dampen his excitement.

The Dragon Knight Brigade and the Aincrad Liberation Squad, of course. He just knows trouble is brewing.

Both guilds have three gondolas, the ALS with three six-seaters and the DKB with a ten-seater and two four-seaters like the Tilnel and Pequod. Since the gondolier position counted as an open spot, each guild could have twenty-one people between them, and it seemed each seat was filled. On the prior floor, the guilds had eighteen (known) members, so they've done some recruiting.

However, Jaymes doesn't see anyone fitting the description of the two-timing Morte in the blues or the greens.

A gong clangs from the largest of the DKB's ships, and there stands Lind, the Diavel wannabe holding a hand up as he addresses the ensemble. "It's time! We are about to begin our battle against the Biceps Archelon, field boss of the fourth floor! None of us have experience with a major water battle aboard ships, but there's nothing to fear! As you've seen in fighting ordinary monsters, our ships almost entirely absorbed their attacks!"

"Must be nice to have a large ship," Jaymes murmurs from the prow of the Tilnel, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, and speaking so only that Mito can hear him. She responds with an agreeing snort.

"As I explained in our pre-battle meeting, the Archelon's attacks are quite simple! As long as we watch out for the direction its two heads are facing, we can avoid taking any charges! We will use this gong to signal the evasion timing, so please keep an ear out for it!"

"He hasn't thanked us for that info, has he?" Mito asks.

"I've heard more thanks and humbleness from Kibaou than from Lind, which is ironic given Kibaou knows Kirito, Koharu, and I are beta players."

"Let's move! Take formation when the boss appears! Dragon Knights fleet, forward!" With a wave of his arm, Lind's Levithian and its escorts head out, followed by Kibaou's Unleash and the other ALS boats. Agil raises the motivation of us unassociated players (his group and Jaymes') with a cheer of his own, which the crew of the Tilnel partakes in.

While Kirito mans the oar and rows them out to the caldera, Jaymes continues to lean against the front interior of the Tilnel, facing his crewmates. "Okay, let's review our part of this fight. We're on flanking duty with Agil's group while the blues and greenies get the direct charge. As we know, our boat will absorb damage, but let's be careful."

"Archelon will bite and attack with its fins, but the charge attack is dangerous. Remember that if our boat capsizes, it will recover after thirty seconds. We'll be vulnerable in that timeframe, if not the worst possible case while in the water."

"Implying the worst possible case is just as bad as saying it, Kirito."

"Sorry, Asuna. Continue, Captain Jaymes."

"Thank you, First Mate Kirito. When its two heads look in the same direction, it will charge in that direction. We'll follow along with Lind's evasion tactic and overall plan, but we'll see about the L.A. Anyway, ladies, we're the attacking force...as much good it'll do against the Archelon's shell."

"That turtle sure can move." Jaymes shivers as the Biceps Archelon charges between the eight boats, all evading thanks to Lind's signal. In the beginning, Jaymes thought the gong would be a nuisance, but he's happy that he was proven wrong. If anything, it is the reason the battle has progressed well.

It has been around twenty minutes since the battle began, and the Archelon's health gauge has been reduced to nearly half. At the rate they're going, they should be done in another twenty, lest something comes up unexpectedly. Jaymes should also complement Kirito's reflexes. He's why the Tilnel hasn't capsized during any of the charges. Right now, he sends the gondola towards the current location of the Archelon.

"Hey, what kind of boss was here in the beta?" Asuna asks.

Mito taps her chin. "Hmm... It was a turtle, right, Kirito?"

"More of a giant tortoise. Very tough but slow, and I don't remember us having much trouble."

"Hmm... It must have gotten an update along with everything else when they decided to soak this level with water."

"Well, of course. I mean, it's to be expected-all the doors to the buildings in town were on the second floor to start with-Whoa!"

"Hey!" One of the ALS's boats slips past the Tilnel recklessly, throwing the slightly smaller boat off-balance. One of them says that the beater (Kirito) will not get the Last Attack bonus today. Jaymes is pissed about the breach in the formation (this was DKB and ALS's idea, of course), but they can at least acknowledge who got the LA last time. The crew of the Tilnel sans Asuna (and arguably Koharu) crew are "beaters."

"What's the big idea? This formation was their idea, to begin with!"

"Now, now. As long as we stay to the side, we don't have to worry about the boat getting damaged," Kirito soothes Asuna, whether it works. He brings the ship towards the Archelon's left flank, which the girls and Jaymes fire off sword skills against the sturdy shell, which does its job well to resist damage compared to the exposed heads and tail the two guilds get to attack, according to the plan.

And that's all fine and well. Jaymes may have his reservations about the DKB and ALS, but he cannot lie and say that the presence and competition between the two guilds is the reason they made it up four floors in less than a month. But the competition itself teeter-tottered on the fine line between healthy and unhealthy. Jaymes only saw the encounter ending outside the Forest Elf camp on the previous floor, more concerned for Koharu's safety than potential inter-guild war. Still, it could have gone bad had not Kizmel's level put the fear of god in the Forest Elf-backed DKB and somewhat the ALS who sided with the Dark Elves.

They agreed not to take on the campaign quest, which is part of why Jaymes and the others decided not to release the quest about the shipping guild aiding the Fallen Elves. For one, it's too dangerous with that N'ltzahh around, and if it were made known, both guilds would rush back to the third to complete the story there.

Kirito brought it up privately with Jaymes a couple of days ago while on the third floor that it may be necessary for a third power to rise. Jaymes believed his group was good enough for now. Still, it is unlikely that Team K.K.J.A.M. would stay as a unit for the rest of the game (and usually, their opinions were secondary), and Agil's group only made appearances for field and floor bosses. Another group has enough presence and influence needed to rise. Kirito still believed Asuna or Jaymes himself had the power to lead such a group, but Jaymes doesn't believe he has the stats to be a guild leader. Asuna, maybe as a commander, not as the head honcho. At the same time, Jaymes believed Kirito could also be a leader.

No, Jaymes does believe he could lead a guild, but his priority lies in the black-haired girl to his right. Her life and her budding strength are more important than anything right now, including what may be the best for the front lines. True, right now, she's stronger stat-wise than he is, but at the hideout, her fear exposed a weakness. Yes, he was afraid for Kirito and Asuna, too-of course he'd be scared for his friends-but he kept his cool and waited. He's sure Mito, with as much experience as him, felt the same way for Asuna, her real-life friend. Koharu was frozen by fear, and that was thankfully outside of battle. It has been a long time since she's done that within a battle, ironically the first time they met Mito. Being in a guild would have him worry about more people than he reasonably can, not when his primary reason hasn't resolved her fears yet.

And there's a selfish reason Jaymes-or more specifically, Joshua-doesn't want to join a guild, whether it be someone else's creation of his own. His party with Kirito, Asuna, and Mito aside, he's enjoying being with Koharu and Koharu only, as it brings about a long-lost feeling of his childhood with a friend he lost years ago.

"The gauge is about to drop into the red!"

Jaymes nods as he eyes the dual health bars of the Archelon, the second one borderline between yellow and red. He eyes Kirito, who is already prepared to row their boat back in anticipation of a changed attack pattern. He hopes the ALS and DKB would have learned the most important lesson learned...yet the four ships of the two guilds simply kept hammering away at the two heads with sword skills, and he's sure the two ships on the tail were still there.

Agil shouts a warning, but it goes completely ignored. Jaymes grits his teeth. He feared the guilds would get greedy, a deadly lapse of judgment done when an enemy is at the ropes, and a player gets overconfident. The result always results in death. A certain rage-inducing game series excels in pointing that out. The attack pattern ready to be fired off, the Archelon twists its heads, flippers, and tail along its shell.

"Oh shit..."

"Watch out, it's going to spin!"

"They're still not retreating."

"They're in big trouble at this rate, Kirito!"

"...Kirito, they're going to hate us, but let's do it."

"Aye. Everyone, get down!" Jaymes and the girls get low as Kirito rows towards the heads. As they come close, weaving through the guilds, Kirito shouts something wild about "'not giving up my position" as the burning red horn of the Magnatherium pierces the flesh of the Archelon right before it can spin. After a few seconds of silence, steam vents from the shell preceding the explosion of the boss.

As the loot window pops up (guess who got the LA bonus), Jaymes rises and glances around at the ALS and DKB ships, who collectively look unhappy about the stolen glory. Sheathing his sword, Jaymes looks at Lind and Kibaou with shrugging shoulders. "Sorry, mates. You should've listened; we wouldn't have to steal it again. So remember this as the second day you almost beat Captain Jaymes of the Tilnel!" Jaymes bows as Kirito rows them out to the exit of the caldera.

xxxxxxxxx

Not a few minutes after the Archelon battle does the crew of the Tilnel gain a sixth member in their boat-who else but Argo the Rat.

They learned then and there that not only could the Tilnel seat at least a sixth person, giving if one sits or stands at the bow like Jaymes remained, but that Argo found a special pair of sandals equipped with flippers that gave one the messiah-like power to move on the surface of the water. It requires high agility and a light amount of weight.

Jaymes shouldn't have been surprised that Argo would find such a ridiculous thing, given her self-named profession, nor that the gondola could hold more occupants than it was built for. After all, they did watch a gondola (granted, a bigger one) move from the town of Rovia to the Fallen hideout. Of course, this phenomenon could be due to Argo's lightness as mentioned earlier. If there was a limit beyond the built capacity, six fully armored people might be that for the Tilnel.

The Tilnel wades in the waters of Usco, a floating village within a crescent-shaped lake. It's different from the run-down village in the beta, but that's not saying much. At least to Jaymes, nothing looks too interesting to warrant a second opinion of Usco compared to Rovia's transformation, but he's sure the new location enthralls Asuna and Koharu.

Seated at an open terrace tropical-themed restaurant, Jaymes watches as Kirito orders drinks and appetizers from the questionably dressed waiter and leans back in the wicker chair he occupies. "Ahhh. Finally, we're halfway done with the fourth floor."

"You say finally as if it hasn't been just three days since we got here. We're on a much faster pace than the second or third floor," Asuna informs.

"What, really? We got up to this floor on December twenty-first, making the twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth... Oh, you're right."

"You're not old enough to be going senile yet, Kii-boy."

"You never know. In real life, I might be an old gentleman spending his retirement enjoying a good MMORPG."

"Then I'll have to start calling you Kii-gramps instead."

Jaymes chimes in. "You look kinda young for an old man, and now that I think about it, you've seen not just Koharu and Asuna in underclothes, you rummaged through Asuna's, inappropriately touched Asuna to the point that the system had to warn her..."

Mito looks at Kirito in intrigue. "Maybe I was wrong about you after all."

"You did two of those things as well..." Kirito mopes while the cocktails and appetizers he ordered arrive. "...Never mind. Please don't. In any case, let's eat and get busy afterward. The DKB and ALS will be here soon, so we should pick up all the quests in the village and start on some of the easier ones."

Jaymes nods. "Yeah. All we got is the 'Shipwright of Yore' quest to finish. I wonder... Why are you girls looking like we said something wrong?"

The four girls glance at each other, then speak one after the other nearly in alphabetical order. "I don't know about Agil's group," Asuna starts, "but the big guilds are returning to the city today."

"So there's no need to rush through all of this village's quest today, Kii-boy."

"You both haven't heard about tonight. I understand Kirito, but not even you, Jaymes?"

"Wow, they don't like either of you that neither got an invitation."

Jaymes turns to Kirito, still processing what the girls are talking about. "Get invited to what?"

"Nothing to be disappointed about, Kii-boy and Jay-man. We'll be here with you."

"What is that supposed-did you say 'Jay-man?' Okay, what's going on?"

"Didn't you just say what's today?"

"What...you mean December twenty-fourth?" Kirito frowns for a moment. "W-wait, you mean...Christma-whatever? And that's why the DKB and ALS went back? Is that why they were in such a rush to beat the field boss?"

Jaymes sighs. "Okay, I get taking a holiday off, being Christmas Eve and all, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Asuna glances at both boys with a sympathetic face. "You see, tonight, the two guilds will hold a united Christmas send-off party."

"...Huh?"

"Wha...u...united...party? You mean...they're...but...wha... What the hell?"

Turns out, the party in Rovia was ALS's idea for an all-you-can-eat festival that spread only through word of mouth in an effort to rid of all the seafood and bear meat accumulated during their quests and as a recruitment setup. Merchants saw an opportunity to set up shop and sell wares, sponsors provided food, and the DKB decided to join in and make it a joint effort (after trying to compete, of course).

"Well, I suppose I should be happy that they managed to put on an event together, but calling it a 'send-off' part is a bit weird. Isn't that usually what you throw before a big competition or when traveling somewhere new? It seems backward for the people who are going off to the labyrinth tower to throw their own send-off party," grumbles Kirito.

Jaymes, however, looks flat-out unhappy. "Sounds like they forgot a few people."

"It wasn't like nobody suggested inviting you to the party," Asuna says softly, whether in comfort to prevent herself from laughing. "You're both front runners. But some folks in the ALS wondered why they should pay for free food and drinks for the guy who always steals the LA bonuses, and they ended up deciding that you didn't need an invitation."

"As for you, Jaymes," Koharu says, definitely trying not to rub salt in the wound, "it's more or less because you've been acting all high and mighty since you took the LA during the last boss fight and the showboating with the Tilnel hasn't helped. And they thought it would be unfair if you were invited, but Kirito wasn't, so..."

Jaymes would have accepted "we'll take the cute girls" as an acceptable excuse. "Is that so? Huh...how you three find out?"

"From Shivata during the field boss strategy meeting. He also asked me to apologize to you from them."

"...Hmm."

"They said we can go if we wanted to."

"I also heard from Lisbeth that she will have a blacksmith stand there too."

"...Hmmmm."

"I think Koharu and I got many instant messages from other people."

"...Hmmmmmm."

"By the way, Agil's team is returning to the city, but only to finish their quests, not to participate. So you don't have to sulk so much."

"...Hmmmmmmmm. So you fancy yourself a solo player, do you?"

"I thought we were partners, Ko. If anything, you shouldn't let a guy like me be alone on Christmas!" While the boys lashed out at their respective partners, Argo and Mito started to giggle, also earning stares from the guys. "What's up with you, you stinking rodent?"

"Oh, nothing. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be getting back to the main town," Argo says post-giggling as she slides out of her chair.

Kirito looks at her, stunned. "Already? If you were going to leave so soon, why did you even come out here to this village?"

"To gather data on quests and shop selections, of course. I'd like to pop in at the send-off party, too. Welp, so long, A-chan, Kii-boy, Ko, Jay-man, and Reaper. Oops, nearly forgot. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Argo. Take care."

"Merry Christmas. See you later."

"Merry Christmas."

"M-Merry Christmas."

"...Merry Christmas."