Jaymes
Despite my apprentices' call for help, I can't afford to retreat and leave Sinon alone with Subtilizer. It pains me to not go to Asuna and Koharu's aid, yet… I'll apologize later to them, but if I know Asuna, she'd surrender before letting the Fluctlights die. I'll have to trust in them longer.
Right now, Sinon and I are losing. She just lost a leg, and though I have the advantage in mobility, I cannot leave Sinon alone in a space where a sniper has the disadvantage. If I try to flank him while Sinon shoots, Sinon is exposed. He's aiming for her, so the best I can do is try to keep him distracted as she reloads. Plus a sniper round from up close hurts like hell, so even if I do get close, he can hit me good. And I know his melee combat is beyond me, so getting close to him physically is no good. At best, I need Subtilizer to draw his sword.
I switch out my Night Sky pistols for the Ameno Murakumo sword. The blue laser sword deflects a shot as Sinon flies above and the two fire at each other twice, both rounds ending with the bullets deflecting each other. Having been counting Sinon's shots, the Hecate II holds seven rounds, and this is her seventh. Subtilizer's sniper of choice is the Barrett XM500, which can hold ten rounds. He has two shots left and fires once. Despite moving as fast as I can to read the bullet's trajectory, it is barely out of my blade's reach and strikes Sinon. "Shino!" I fly down and grab her, taking the last shot in my shoulder. We fall on the ground, me taking the actual pain by landing on my back. As I groan, Sinon whimpers on my chest. "You okay?"
Raising a bit, Sinon takes a look at my flickering bracelet. "...You dummy… Go help Asuna and Koharu, they need you. I'll hold him off."
"I'm not leaving you alone."
Angry, Sinon begins to beat my chest and snaps. "Dummy! Dummy! Dummy! Dummy! Why now must you look at me?" She looks me in the face as tears run down hers. "Why now, Josh? After Koharu, after Liz, after Kureha, why now?"
I'm confused by what she means, but after the list of girls she mentions, it becomes quite clear. "Sinon…" I take my hand and run it through her hair while the other tends to her wound. I know, back when Sinon and I started hanging out more often in ALO and SA:O, there were times I thought to myself in the same way she's implying. But I was dating Lisbeth, and then when that was over there was the Battle of Bullets as my focus. Yet this girl, who's been my closest confidant outside of my household (and the 'trinity' of me, Asuna, and Kirito), the only girl I truly call by their real name in both worlds besides Asuna and Momiji, my great rival in GGO, and my only solitary partner. I don't know if I've ignored Shino's feelings or didn't realize them at all. Maybe she's put up the front so well I could have never known them. If anything, I assumed she had the hots for Kirito. "Shino, I'm sorry, but… I can't. Not when…"
"You said you'd make a choice while you were gone. You promised me you'd make a choice, so what is it?"
"I… I rather Liz hears it first."
"You haven't."
"I haven't made it yet. Busy saving the world and doing it again now."
She sighs and her anger dissipates. "Idiot... I shouldn't have said anything, it just came out and stuff. And now that it is out there... Then...if it is favorable, I'm invoking what I'm owed for surviving the BoB longer. I'm serious this time." I stay silent and rise, staring up at a descending Subtilizer. He's out of bullets, the only reason we've been able to hold this conversation. I still have a few shots, but I decide not to take them in favor of the Ameno Murakumo.
"I don't know what you mean by me never looking at you, my eyes have been on you since we met. You're my partner, my true rival, the only person outside of that couple that can relate to me… And no matter how things are, you are my Sinon." I look down at Shino, smiling softly as I heal my shoulder. "Let's handle this fucker...together, as GGO's best duo."
Leafa
"Verdurous Anima!" Leafa cries out and swings her green-glowing sword, allowing several wind blades to cut down the multitude of enemies in front of her. The reds don't give her must time to breathe as they come upon her. She kicks one away, cuts one down, but is too slow to defend herself as a third severs her left arm. Enraged, she cuts both that soldier and the one who buddies up with it down in one swing. Picking up her limb, she reattaches it with her power as Terraria, using the earth to regenerate her wounds. A curse, but she cannot fall here. no matter how much she's wounded or in pain.
As she kneels, friendly footsteps back her up. Leafa looks up to the impressive warrior known as Medina Orthinanos. But even Jaymes' friend cannot hold out and summon soldiers forever. Using her power, Leafa extends her regenerative ability to Medina. "Thank you, Leafa. The enemies are endless."
Leafa grits her teeth and grabs her sword to hoist herself up. "If this was my big brother, he would never fall from wounds like these. So… I won't fall either."
"Kirito's stubbornness does run in the family...as does the stubbornness of my ancestor and the Lord of Knights runs in mine. I remember seeing Jaymes wounded like this when he faced the Pontifex as only a weapon like hers could inflict damage, but despite it all, despite the futility of the situation, he kept getting up. So we must continue getting up, Leafa."
"It won't be a problem to cut down all these enemies ourselves. Because I'm… Big Brother's… Kirito the Black Swordsman's...little sister!" Leafa conjures a sword skill and thrusts her sword forward, producing a large beam that breaks the earth and kills anyone in its path. Leafa stumbles for a moment, coughing up blood. As she picks herself up, she doesn't hear Medina's warning in time to dodge the spear that penetrates the left orbital. Crying out, Leafa removes the spear and takes the time to regenerate the organ.
"We're not done...and we don't fight alone! Eight generations of Orthinanos blood run in me, and that is my power!" Medina holds her sword up, the green jewel inside flashing brightly. "From Matthew, the first, to my father, the eighth… Ancestors, from my memories, I call upon thee! Release Recollection: Scarlet!" Leafa's jaw drops as eight figures, male and female, appear around her, prepared to fight. Inspired, Leafa completes her head and takes a position beside Medina. Medina turns her head to Leafa, and Leafa to Medina. A silent message comes between them as they nod to each other and run back to battle.
Do not fall.
Sinon
Jaymes is right, they're not done. She looks to the Hecate II rifle and thinks of something. Her imagination turned Solus' bow into her beloved sniper, but the system features should still be intact. This means...she still has a shot. "Jaymes... Maneuver 2, Alley-Oop!"
"Huh? Now?"
"Yes. Throw me up first."
"Hmm… Sounds good!" Jaymes scoops Sinon and the girl takes flight towards Subtilizer. She looks through the scope, keeping her eye trained on the enemy. She cannot give up, not after Kirito saved her, after Jaymes took a bullet for her, and after all she just said… She will never give up. She has to believe in herself, in Hecate, and her friends.
Solus' bow works similar to Jaymes' Falchion, in that it automatically absorbs resources from its surroundings to recharge its attack power, the power of the Annihilate Ray. As the Hecate II glows and fully charges up, Sinon confirms her target. "Fire!"
Alley-Oop is one of several joint plans by Sinon and Jaymes that works in many ways. It is a plan for when an enemy knows where Sinon is located or can read her Bullet Lines faster than she can shoot. In this case, Sinon doesn't aim directly at her target, just off enough to make it seems she missed. The shot is fired out of the Hecate II and just barely misses Subtilizer, possibly enough to make him think she's losing her edge. But he was never her target.
The truth is that Jaymes becomes her target, usually undetected by the enemy, but even if he was, it wouldn't matter. The strength of the move is not whether either person is noticed or not, but the fact Bullet Lines only works on aiming guns. Since swords do not have Bullet Lines when they attack, the enemy cannot detect the trajectory of the deflected bullet, and it's usually too late before they realize what has happened.
And Subtilizer is no different. Caught up in Sinon's "missed" attack, it's not until Jaymes is almost upon him that he takes notice of Sinon's partner, and by then, it is too late. "Gotcha!" Jaymes swings the Ameno Murakumo and the energy it caught from Sinon and hits Subtilizer, the explosive force knocking both Jaymes and Sinon back to the ground. She looks up as the explosion clears, hoping to see something come out of her attack.
"Did we get him?"
"I rather know how much we got of him… Ah." Subtilizer stands on his bat creature, with only burns on the right side of her face and his right arm gone. However, Sinon smirks and looks at Jaymes.
"Yeah, you suck. Maybe I should have shot him."
"Maybe I should have gone for the head… Ready for another round?"
"Yeah… We'll face you as many times as it takes!" Subtilizer says nothing and flies towards the south. Sinon nods to Jaymes, "He's going after Alice. You… You go on ahead...I'll catch up." Sinon lies, she's totally spent on stamina, but Jaymes, whether he believes her or not, says nothing as he nods and walks away. "Joshua."
"Yeah?"
She holds her fist out along with a tired smirk. "High thrill, high risk, heartless game. Give him hell."
Jaymes nods. "Always, Shino. Leave it to me." As her captain flies off, Sinon converts her bow back to normal and touches her necklace.
Medina
Exhausted beyond the reserves of her reserves, and with all except her father, the first head, and the fifth head defeated, Medina collapses on her knees, only being held up by the Mirage Sword. Leafa falls beside her, exhausted as well. "We put up a good fight, didn't we, Big Brother?"
Medina grits her teeth and looks to the south, where Jaymes and the raid party should be. She doesn't know how they're doing, but...if there's trouble here, there's trouble there. And he just sits there, letting his best friend, his sister, his lover, and the Underworld fight and bleed for him. "Damn you, Kirito… Just wake up! Jaymes has fought too much for you, Alice has fought too much for you. Asuna, Koharu, Leafa, the Knights, myself… They're fighting too hard for you to be still as you are! So, for once in your meddlesome life, wake up!"
Ocean Turtle
What a sudden turn of events. A wrench dropped from above, frightening Yanai and causing him to lose footing and drop to the depths of the shaft. That was Rinko's voice, so she must be responsible.
"Higa, are you all right? Answer me! Hey!"
Higa looks up, faintly seeing his rescuer. "Uh, well, you did startle me. I didn't know you could scream like that."
"H-How can you be so calm? Are you hurt? Were you shot?"
Higa looks at his shoulder wound. "Uh, well… No, I'm totally fine! It's just a scratch! I'll continue the operation. So please continue to monitor Kirito!"
"You're sure you're okay? I'll take your word on it! If you're lying, I'll never forgive you!"
"Yes, of course, you can trust me!"
"Then I'll head back to Subcon, but I'll be back as soon as there's a change on the graph! I'm counting on you, Higa!"
"Ah, um, R-Rinko!"
"Huh?"
"Uh, well… Um...when all of this is over, do you want to go out for dinner sometime?"
"Fine. Hamburgers, beef bowls, I'll treat you to whatever you want! So good luck with this!"
Higa sighs as Rinko disappears and gets to work. "What a cheap date. Actually that line had 'death flag' written all over it… Connecting STL One to STL Four. Five, Six, Seven, and Eight connected." Higa's vision wavers for a moment, but he shakes it off. "All right, Kirito. Time to wake up." Higa presses enter, and by now, the Fluctlights of Asuna, Jaymes, Leafa, Koharu, and Sinon should begin to resonate with Kirito's.
"Please, Kirito. I'll give you my heart, my life, everything… So open your eyes! Kirito!"
"Asuna, Jaymes, you, and I, we once did things together. And now that I'm back, you have to come back as well, Kirito!"
"You're supposed to be the hero, not me. So wake up, Kirito!"
"Big Brother."
"Kirito!"
"Now, Kirito…"