Welcome to Chapter Seventeen! The best SAO beta testers organize the game's first scouting party while Ian and Suguha share some experiences during practice.

After looking at my stories, I noticed that out of the three stories I'm currently working on, Red vs Blue: Reach has the most follows (30,) Red vs Blue: Redemption has the most favorites (23,) and Origin Story is the longest story (17 chapters with 47k words.)

Anyways, I thank you all for reading and enjoying my works, and I hope you'll be there when Origin Story gets completed and its sequel, The Wolf of Blades, gets released.

Kirigaya Residence, Kawagoe

Japan, Real World

August 6, 2022

Ian Becker

The familiar sound of shinais colliding resounded through the dojo as Ian and Suguha dueled in earnest. As always, they wore armor, although it didn't hamper the two that much. Every strike was fluid, without any unnecessary movements in them, and the duelists' footwork kept them on their feet and actively evading attacks they didn't block.

Two months ago, Ian had only hoped to learn how to fight with a sword, but thanks to a stroke of good fortune, he made friends with a skilled kendoist and was now learning everything he hoped to learn in the past, along with something greater.

However, despite his newfound capabilities, he was still swept off of his feet by his sensei, who triumphantly smirked under her helmet/faceguard thingy he still didn't know the name of.

"Damn it." he muttered, letting Suguha think he gave up, only to sweep her off of the ground He then immobilized her by placing his shinai horizontally across her neck and straddling her to keep her legs in place, ensuring his victory like the badass he felt he was.

"Checkmate." he said with a maddening smirk, not noticing his teacher blush until a moment later, when she spoke.

"U-um, Ian-san?"

"What?"

"I'm starting to think that you're enjoying doing this to me." the girl replied, and Ian's own cheeks went pink in embarrassment, with numerous thoughts circling in his head concerning their position.

Oh, no. What would Nikki say if she saw this?

Eager to avoid the possibility of an embarrassing photo getting taken and to avoid a retaliatory attack, he jumped backwards off of her and landed on his feet.

"Nah, that's just chance." Ian casually said in an attempt to hide his embarrassment.

Nodding in understanding, Suguha got up to her feet with relative ease, holding her weapon out in front of her in preparation for the upcoming fight.

"Alrighty, then." she said before the kendoists went at it again, a loud clank of wood impacting wood echoing through the dojo with every hit.

"So, what do you think your brother's doing?" Ian asked as he locked blades with Suguha once more.

"Playing that game again. He said something about a boss in his game, but I wasn't paying too much attention to him."

"Oh. He's going to see what the first boss in his game is capable of." Ian quickly disengaged and swung at Suguha's side, hoping for a good hit.

The kendo practitioner easily blocked the strike, soon taking a page from Ian's book and sweeping him off of his feet. However, the boy rolled away from her and got to his feet, swinging upward to try and uppercut her. Swiftly dodging this attack, she got her revenge by swinging her shinai into a very dangerous place.

"Gah, what the fuck?!"

Ian immediately dropped his shinai as he toppled over, holding his damaged crotch in pain. Seeing as he couldn't mount a proper counterattack in this state, Suguha dropped her weapon and ran to the boy, tripping over her feet and falling onto him in the process. As she pushed herself up, she found herself in the same position that Ian was in a mere minute ago. But instead of being a blushing mess like she was, Ian put his pain aside and he gave her a lopsided smile.

"Didn't know you liked being on top, Suguha." he said with a chuckle. Before he could say anything else, she got off of him and slapped him on the bicep, a very noticeable pink tinge on her face.

A minute later, the two teens sat on the porch, stripped of their armor, but still in their robes. After the accidental racking of Ian's crotch and the suggestive crack he made at her in response to her falling onto him, they had decided to lay off and just talk about stuff.

"So, yeah. I like to climb sometimes." Ian was saying, smiling as he fondly remembered climbing a large, imposing tree in the backyard of a previous home.

"Yeah. Turns out, I'm afraid of water." Suguha said, catching her student off guard.

"Wait, seriously? The hardheaded, brave Suguha Kirigaya has hydrophobia?"

"Yup. I almost drowned in the koi pond that's in the front yard three years ago, and now, I can't even imagine taking a swim." Suguha replied.

A momentary pause...

"I'm sorry for being so insensitive."

"It's fine-"

"No, it's not. I was an inconsiderate jerk, and there's no denying it." Ian cut her off. "I should've known better. I almost drowned when I was ten or eleven, too. I fell into the deep end of a swimming pool and Al had to go save my stupid ass."

"Oh. Well, Onii-san saved me when I fell in, so here I am."

"And he 'saved' you during our first match." the boy said dryly, rubbing the old impact site of Kazuto's shinai on his exceptionally hard head.

"Yep."

The two sat in silence, simply basking in each other's company as the sun was hidden under some clouds. Ian absently began to hum a tune as he messed with some grass, a small smile on his face as he enjoyed his teacher's company. After a minute, though, Ian's phone buzzed, and the boy pulled it out to see a message from Jaymes.

JaymesTheFirst: We did the scouting run, and the boss is huge. We're gonna follow up with the big raid tomorrow.

Ian typed a response back in, then he pocketed his phone and leaned backwards on the porch. The weather was gloriously perfect outside and all he wanted to do was bask in it. Of course, the cute kendoist beside him helped, but the American made it a point to not include her in his thoughts lest he thought of something embarrassing again.

"Hey, Ian-san?"

Ian jolted up, bolt-straight as he looked into Suguha's blueish grey eyes.

"Um, yeah? Did I zone out or something?"

"You just looked a bit tired, that's all." Suguha said. "I wouldn't blame you, although I would prefer that my student be in peak physical condition."

Ian simply nodded.

"What was that message you got?" she asked.

"Kazuto did that scouting run in his game." Ian replied casually.

"Oh, okay. Um, do you like me, Ian-san?" Suguha asked out of the blue.

"Huh? Of course I do, Suguha."

"No, do you like me, like me?"

Okay, what?

"Um, well, I like you as a friend. Maybe even like a sister. But romantically? I can't imagine that." Ian answered, trying to dispel the strange feeling in his gut as the question registered in his head.

[A/N: #Sisterzoned Suguha.]

"Ahh. Well, I kinda feel the same, I guess..." Suguha said honestly.

"Huh. Thank you for being my friend."

"You, too. And you're welcome."

Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya

First Floor Boss Room, Sword Art Online

Kirito stood outside of a pair of elaborate doors with a large party of players, Jaymes checking his healing item supply beside him.

"Alright, everyone!" Diavel yelled from the front of the party. "There's no need to be a hero here! We're only here to see what the boss can do so we and the main raid parties have an easier time beating him! Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" the scouts yelled back.

"Good! Onward!"

Diavel pushed the doors open and the players rushed into an expansive room. As soon as one of them reached a certain point in the room, the walls lit up to reveal a mosaic-like chamber with a tall, red-skinned kobold lord standing at the end, accompanied by a legion of armored Iron Kobold Sentinels.

The creature had glaring red eyes with tribal markings on its round stomach and a loincloth around its waist. It held a battle axe in its right hand and a buckler sat on its left forearm with a talwar in a sheath on a belt. It had three healthbars with the nametag "Illfang, the Kobold Lord."

"Well, that's our first boss." Jaymes said, drawing his sword.

"Yep." Kirito drew his Anneal Blade and assumed a pose with his sword sitting diagonally behind him and his open hand extended in front of him, his feet spread apart as if he was coiling up.

"Remember, we're not here to kill the boss, we're just here to see what he's capable of."

"I know that."

Illfang sent his minions forward as Diavel gave the order to attack. Blades and poleaxes clashed as the beta testers charged.

Sure, this was a scouting run, but they still had to hurt the boss so he would start using new attacks, so yeah. Still, this was gonna be a long day.

I'm splitting this chapter into two parts because I'm having trouble putting it all in one chapter. Besides, we all love multi-part chapters, right?

Anyways, I'm writing a new story called Destiny: Lymidia's Journey, which based on my Titan's playthrough in Destiny and Destiny 2. It'll be released very soon, I promise.

Until next time, then!