Welcome to the second arc of the story. This one will cover the Elf War Campaign, that lasts from Floor 3 to Floor 9, so will likely be a fair bit longer than the Floor 1 arc, despite only being about the same time frame. Far more detail to cover.

Without further ado...

~December 2nd, 2022 - Floor 2, Teleport Gate~

''Blimey...'' - Jet summed up what both he and his partner were thinking. The second floor was a strange mix of savannah and mountainous terrain, and if Argo's stories to the pair were true, populated by a load of cow monsters. It had been at that point the girls had lost Jet, as his mind wandered to craving a beef burger... maybe he should've paid more attention after all.

''You ever get the feeling that you've seen somewhere before? I'm half expecting to find elephants and giraffes, like on some TV documentary narrated by a posh British guy...''

''Sir David Attenborough is a national treasure, I'll have you know...'' - Jet putting on the most over the top tone of outrage he could manage, eliciting a slight giggle from Koharu.

''Still, we'll probably be running into monsters more than animals... you think they graze out here too?''

''Probably, but I suspect we don't want to see it if they do. Either way... time for a safari, don't ya think?''

~ November 23rd, 2022 - Brislington, Bristol, England~

How Michael put up with some of his sisters, Sam would never know. Whilst Ell and Beth had generally been quite cheerful towards him, and shown signs that, despite their fear, they believed in their brother to actually pull through someday, Gabby had been... less than positive, and the sheer velocity of the insults she'd hurled towards her brother seemed unfair, considering it wasn't exactly his fault.

Speak of the devil herself - ''Ay up.''

''You're awake?'' - He seemed almost annoyed at that one... it was the middle of the afternoon. Yes, he was a bit idle at times, but still being asleep at 3:30? Even he wasn't that bad...

''It's 3:30 in the afternoon... yup, I'm awake.''

''It's... oh right, time difference.''

''Yes, why are you calling me at this ungodly hour?'' - Sam uttered sarcastically.

''I, being the amazing clever woman that I am, have come up with a plan to save my idiot of a brother, and get him back for Christmas.'' - If Sam had been drinking, a spit take would've occurred. As he wasn't however, he settled for choking on air.

''huf, huf... So humble too. Go on, enlighten me with your master plan, and why exactly I'm hearing it first, not your actual family...'' - Any time Gabby had a plan, he instantly thought of Baldrick from Blackadder. Not the only reason that was the image of Gabby in his mind, but still. The words 'I have a plan' were those rare words that sent opposing armies screaming, made babies cry, and terrified the reasonable, in her lexicon.

''Well, I don't think they'd be too happy about it for one...'' - Uh oh.

''You're not planning to go in yourself...'' - Sam meant that as a statement of fact, but Gabby had a nasty tendency to read the truth as a mere question.

''Well, I wasn't. I was gonna send you in, instead. But now you've said it...''

''Firstly, no chance. Secondly, how? It's not like you have a spare NerveGear lying around, and you can't exactly pop round the shops for one...''

''Contacts, dear boy, contacts.'' - He was beginning to regret asking already...

~December 5th, 2022 - Floor 2 Boss Room~

''Which of you eejits waved a red flag in front of this guy?!'' - Jet yelled, as he leapt away from Baran the Taurus General's lightning attack. Thankfully, he'd taken the initiative to fall back from the action for a few days to adapt to his new fighting style. Gone was the clunky twin handed sword, in it's place was a single handed sword, that he'd taken to naming Caliburn, and a larger shield than the one he'd started with, this new one being more akin to the type used by the Romans. Far less agile, admittedly, but it meant Jet could now take a far bigger hit than before... a fact he was grateful of, as Baran's hammer smashed into his shield, and sent him skidding back towards the rear of the arena.

''We've got him on the ropes!'' - Kibaou called out to his men, as the Taurus General disappeared into the ether... only to be replaced by Asterios the Taurus King. - ''Or not.'' - Considering that the new Taurus was now generating an ominous black mist around it, Jet was cursing the hairdon't's ability to seriously misjudge a situation.

''Urgh, Koharu, you doing okay?''

''Yeah, you?''

''Been better, must admit. The new shield's tanking most the blows though. Health's still at 80%. You?''

''75.''

''Holler if you need help!'' - Jet raced back into action, shield held in front to try to tank the King's blows, his partner following closely behind...

One more defeated Taurus later...

''If I have to see so more as one minotaur king...'' - Jet grumbled under his breath, before stretching. In terms of sentences no one had ever said before today, that was probably up there, Jet thought.

''Asterios the Taurus King... really was a King named after the stars, wasn't it?''

''We handled it, in the end.'' - Jet looked at the gigantic dent in his shield, and mumbled something.

''So, what exactly happened to sticking with the support group, ay? Whoever said you could jump in for the last attack bonus!?''

''I think you are kind of forgetting one tiny detail here...''

''And what's that?''

''We aren't beholden to you. In other words... 'frankly, I don't give a damn.'.'' - Jet could hear murmurs from the gathered clearing teams, mostly about them allying with the 'Beater', and how they knew how the battle would play out. Jet rolled his eyes at the sheer idiocy of some of the members of the group, before the crowd got fed up of yelling at him, and decided to start questioning him instead...

''What have you been scheming with that Beater over there!?''

''Scheming... really?'' - Jet looked mildly amused at the accusation. Koharu, on the other hand, looked absolutely livid, and Jet kept an eye on her, to ensure she didn't pull her rapier on the idiots... not that he'd blame her, if she did. - ''We haven't done anything wrong, and neither has Kirito!''

''Like we believe you! You wanna prove your innocence? Hand over the bonus...'' - the crowd looked as if they were about to advance on the duo.

''Yeah, if you want to prove your allegiance...''

''Allegiance?! Firstly, we aren't associated with you. Secondly, our 'allegiance' is definitely not to you and your goons. Thirdly, and possibly most importantly... I shall refer you to the correspondence between Arkell and Private Eye in 1994.'' - Turning on his feet, Jet walked away, and threw the most sarcastic wave he could at the crowd. As he walked off, he held a smirk at finally getting to use that insult.

''What actually did you call them then?'' - Koharu could read the smirk on his face like it was a book.

''I'm offended you think I'd call them anything like that...'' - Jet feigned offence - ''Nah, I just told them to eff off.''

''I do wonder what goes on in your head sometimes to come up with these...''

''Well, you ever heard of the Hamlet theory?''

''Umm, no?''

''Stick an infinite number of monkeys in a room with an infinite number of typewriters, and eventually you'll get Hamlet. Which is exactly what goes on up here sometimes.''

''That does sound like you, you know...'' - A familiar, and to Jet, unwelcome, voice became audible behind them. One of a chestnut haired rapier user.

''This day keeps getting better...'' - ''I'm choosing not to be offended by that.'' - Jet started to walk ahead towards the ''beater'' , as the two girls chatted.

''How you put up with her, I will never understand...'' - Either Kirito had the patience of a saint, or was as dense as a brick wall. Which of those two it was, he really wasn't sure.

''It's only you that has a problem with her, I don't think she has one with you, anyway.'' - Jet looked back to his partner, and the she-devil nearby. To give Kirito his credit, he was probably right, as Asuna seemed perfectly affable towards him, possibly more so than towards her actual partner at times... didn't mean he had to like her though, just tolerate her presence.

''I... (sighs) call it bad memories. Probably being unreasonable, but yeah, I don't trust her on a social level.'' - After that, an uncomfortable silence fell between the two boys, until a few seconds later - ''Why does secret talk between girls always make me uncomfortable...''

''Summat tells me you may be a touch paranoid... but yes. Six sisters has taught me that much too.'' - If Kirito had been a more confrontational person, he'd have made a comment about pots, kettles and staining...

''Six!? That's- not important right now. From here on out is where SAO gets real. There's humanoid enemies from here on in, and they can use Sword Skills too.''

''Yay.'' - Jet said in possibly the most sarcastic tone imaginable.

''Kayaba said as much in a magazine interview - 'Sword Art is born from the flashes and sounds woven between sword skills into a concerto of life and death...'.''

Jet looked thoroughly unimpressed - ''That is quite possibly the most pretentious bull crap I've heard in a while.''

''It is a little bit, yes, but from here is where we really start Sword Art Online...'' - It didn't escape Jet's attention that even Kirito looked uneasy at that prospect. Still, it was onwards and upwards... only 98 floors to go.

~ December 5th, 2022 - somewhere in Tokyo. ~

''Gabby, this is possibly the single most absurd, and downright stupid idea that anyone has had... and I include your brother's attempts at blacksmithing in that list too.'' - The fact that the ''sword'' he'd made had three blades, two handles, and was somehow unusable by anything resembling a humanoid, did push the definition of sword to it's extreme...

''Sam... did I ask for your opinion?''

''No. You just asked me to hack a death console, trigger a microwave pulse, disable the actual death part of said death console, find a way to make it at least somewhat safer, and to come up with a method of two way communication... oh, and to do it as soon as possible.''

''Has anyone ever told you that you are, in fact, a complete smart arse?''

''Your brother, and regularly. But in this case, I think I actually am the voice of reason here.''

''Look, you know as well as I do, that the longer we leave Michael unsupervised, the more likely to go off his rocker he is, and the more likely to decide he needs to be the hero. Besides, I thought that keeping him alive was the reason you accepted my proposal...''

''No, the reason I accepted that was, and I'm paraphrasing here, because I quite like not having my knackers force fed to me in a nice sauce... which was the alternative option you gave me.''

''Just... do it!'' - Gabby gave a huff at the techy nerd on the other end of the call, before placing the helmet on her head...

''Know that I vehemently protest this, and that your sisters, your brothers and your parents will, in fact, kill you when they find out how this happened.''

''Protest duly noted, and thoroughly ignored. LINK... START!'' - The world around her exploded into streams of light, and sound...

~December 5th, 2022 - Town of Beginnings, Aincrad~

Having recovered from the disorientation that arose from suddenly being plucked from the real world, and inserted into a virtual world, Gabby checked herself over. She still had hands, that was a good start... ''How pale am I?!'' - In fairness, she was fairly pale IRL, but this really was taking her brother. She wasn't pale, she looked like she'd been made out of porcelain! Continuing her checks, she pulled her hair forward... her blonde hair replaced with lavender. Eh, maybe that was an improvement though, she had been thinking of dyeing it for ages now anyway. She looked down at her now plentiful... assets, before looking down at her feet. - ''Sam, did you have to make me into the video game equivalent of Dolly Parton!?'' - She muttered to herself, hoping he could hear her. Unfortunately for her, the two way communication wasn't a thing, and she was now on her own in this new world. ''Maybe this was a bad idea'' - she uttered to no one in particular, desperately fighting off the panic attack she knew was imminent. ''Calm down, Gabby, you're alive. You'll survive. You both will.'' - The lavender haired girl returned to a somewhat calm state, as she continued looking at herself.

Much to her annoyance, she'd shrunk down to 5 ft 6, making her a fair bit shorter than IRL...though the heeled boots did something to regain that height. Having felt herself over, she opened a menu to check her own statistics - her new name was now Strea, weapon of choice was a twin handed great sword, skills included stealth, agility... and sewing. ''Eh, can't all be winners'', she thought to herself, as she checked her character level... Level 25 already! Maybe some of the beta tester's data had ported over? Or maybe it was a glitch... regardless, she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and with that... 'Strea' left the Town of Beginnings, searching for her wayward brother...

{Author's Comments}

Sorry for the wait on this one, just getting a feel for this part took longer than I thought it would, and even then, I'm not sure I like it. I realise that the introduction of certain characters is going to, well, people may not like it, especially given I am completely changing some of them. For everyone still reading this, thanks greatly!

Anyway, favourite, follow, review etc, any constructive comments help massively!

Midland 2541