Yeah, I updated again! For those who reviewed last chapter, I didn't reply to you guys because I focused on getting this done. Aha, and I'm supposed to do my research paper... -

Again, some of the dialogue was taken from the anime with a few changes.

DISCLAIMER: Who the heck do you think I am? I do I own such a thing like that? I would love, too, though.

Chapter 4

It was the second day of December in the year of 2022 when the sun began to reach overhead as Kirito wedged a chair under the door handle of his door. He backed away and bit the back of his lip. He wasn't sure if this would hold Klein back but he had to give it a try. One whole month with Klein has driven him crazy. He's been mothered several times and it already began to bother him.

He sighed as walked over to his only window and opened it. A slight breeze ruffled his black hair as he looked up and down the street. Many NPC and players were walking around, giving Kirito a good diversion.

"Dang it, I really hope this works…" Kirito muttered under his breath. He hurriedly opened his menu. He quickly tapped through and stopped at Klein's name in his party. Ever since he woke up, Klein made sure that Kirito was in his party at all times. Kirito wasn't too happy about that since Klein can never seem to leave him alone. Klein kept him on a freakishly short leash that Kirito couldn't help but feel completely restrained, but he could understand Klein's worry. After all, who wouldn't be worried over someone who suddenly collapses in front of them?

His hand froze over the box notifying his request to leave the party. Kirito thought long and hard about this earlier. Once he leaves the party, he was planning to go and search for the meeting place that someone organized. He heard from one of Klein's friends that the other players found the first boss and that they're setting up a meeting to beat the boss. Kirito suggested that they go, but Klein was completely against the idea; and thus, making Kirito leave the party.

He shook his head and confirmed that he was leaving the party. Immediately after doing so, Klein's HP bar disappeared from under his own as he dismissed his menu and jumped out the window with slight ease. He landed clumsily, but he quickly recovered and took off on a full sprint. By now, he was sure Klein received the notification.

"Please don't catch me, please don't catch me," he muttered under his breath as he ran. He stammered short apologies to others as he quickly dodged the people who were in his way, player or not. With the general idea where the meeting is, he somehow managed to find his way to a small arena. Other players were already there, whispering amongst each other. Kirito took a seat at a random place to catch his breath. But the moment he sat down, he heard a notification bell ring out.

"Dang it!" he half whispered as he threw his head back in annoyance. He opened his menu again to find that Klein had sent him a message. Holding back a frustrated groan, Kirito opened the message.

Klein:

WHERE ARE YOU? Kirito, how many times do I have to tell you NOT TO GO OFF ON YOUR OWN? Don't make me hunt you down, or I will, Kirito.

Kirito rolled his eyes and sent a reply.

Kirito:

Don't worry, Klein! I'm completely fine and there's absolutely nothing for you to worry about. Once I'm done, I'll join you later, okay? You're not my mom.

He was about to dismiss his menu when another message popped up from Klein.

Klein:

Don't worry?! I have every right to worry! What if you suddenly collapse in the middle of a battle?! Who's going to help you out?! Look, I know I'm not your mom but there has to be something extremely wrong with your body in the real world if you slept that long.

Kirito bit the back of his lip since Klein was right. He wasn't sure if his little episode a month ago was caused by his body in the real world, but he was sure on one thing. Klein is the most overprotective person ever! Kirito reluctantly typed his reply to Klein.

Kirito:

I will say this again and will keep doing so until you get it. You have NOTHING to worry about. I'm not going to die in this death game.

Not until I find out why he is doing this. He thought to himself. He finally dismissed his menu and promptly ignored another of Klein's messages. Someone clapped twice and called everyone's attention to the bottom of the arena.

"Alright, let's get started, everyone!"

All the talking quickly ceased as the meeting began. A player with blue-green hair and eyes stood at the center with a smile on his face. He looked the age of a young adult with the brownish armor he wore. Kirito found it odd that someone can actually smile at this time of crisis. He shrugged it off and listened to the man spoke.

"Thanks for coming today. My name is Diabel. I like to consider my "job" as a Knight." the man introduced as he gestured to himself. Several others laughed at him.

"There are no jobs in this game!" one called out. Kirito rolled his eyes as everyone yelling their thoughts.

"Are you taking this seriously?" another called out. Diabel only smiled and waved his hands to calm everyone down.

"Alright, alright!" he said as his face suddenly became serious. "Today, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower."

Gasps of disbelief and surprise filled the air as everyone took in the information. Kirito kept silent.

"Are you serious?" said a player not too far from Kirito. Diabel nodded.

"We did. To get to the second floor, we need to beat the boss and tell everyone in the Town of Beginnings that there is still hope; hope that we can beat this game! And everyone here is going to help out!" he said as he clutched his right fist in front of him. "Do you guys agree?!"

The others nervously looked at each other and hesitantly agreed. Kirito grabbed his left arm as he felt a smile reach his mouth. Slowly but surely, everyone came to an agreement and cheered.

"Good! Now that all of us are on the same page, let's begin our plan to beat the boss." Diabel said. "First, let's divide into parties of six. After all, how can we beat the boss with a normal party? We'll need to attack the boss with several parties."

"Eh?" Kirito said dumbly as he blinked. "Crap…" He looked around to see everyone already in their party. All except one. A person with a red-ish brown cloak sat several feet away from him. Without much of a choice, Kirito stood up and walked over to her.

"Um…would you like to form a party with me?" he asked as he took a seat next to her. "I got left out, too."

"I wasn't left out." she said as she didn't turn her head toward him. "I stayed out of it since everyone already knew each other."

"A solo player?" Kirito asked as he tilted his head to the side a little. "Then, want to party with me?"

She turned her head in his direction. Kirito blinked as he continued talking. "Diabel said tha we can't beat the boss by ourselves. It'll be better to fight as a group. So, just this once?"

She didn't answer as she nodded once. Kirito opened up his menu and sent and invite to her. She accepted the invite and her HP bar appeared right under Kirito's. He blinked when he read the English characters of his new acquaintance.

Asuna

"Okay, have you guys formed your parties?" Diabel's voice rang out. "Then—"

"Wait a minute!" interrupted a voice. Kirito looked up to see a shadowed figure standing at the top of the steps of the arena. The figure jumped down the steps with two long jumps and landed not too far from Diabel, who stood with a confused look on his face. Kirito watched with slight interest when the figure revealed himself to be another young adult with spiky red-orange hair.

"My name's Kibaou. I wanna say something before we fight the boss." he said as his gaze swept the whole crowd, accusingly. "Some of you guys need to apologize to all of those two thousand players that died so far!" He pointed his pointer finger at the others.

Kirito resisted the urge to grab his right arm. He knew exactly where this was going. He heard it several times before when he was stuck with Klein.

"Kibaou-san," Diabel intervened, "—are you talking about the beta testers?"

"Of course I am!" Kibaou yelled at him. He turned to the crowd with his fists clenched. "On the first day this stupid death game started, the beta testers completely ditched us beginners, and cared more for their own survival! They took all the good places to hunt and the easy quests for themselves! All because they wanted to get stronger. And what about us? The rest of us? They completely forgot about us!" His expression became full of anger as he lifted a fist at the crowd. "I know one of you was a beta! They should get on their knees and apologize! They should give us all their items and money they took!"

He crossed his arms with a look of dissatisfaction on his face. "Or else, we can't trust them to protect us when we fight as a group!"

Kirito took in a deep breath to hide a flinch. True, he was a beta player and he intended to leave the moment the "tutorial" was over, but he never got the chance. He was stuck with Klein for the whole month! He shook his head and forced himself to calm down. He didn't want Asuna to notice how nervous he was getting.

At the corner of his sight, Kirito saw a ridiculously tall person walk up to Kibaou. His skin was the color of chocolate as his structure was muscular. A large axe was strapped to his back. Kirito could see that the player's chest plate armor was torn slightly. Kibaou stared up at him in shock.

"My name is Egil." the player said in a deep voice. "Tell me, Kibaou-san, if I have this correct. You're trying to say that because the beta testers didn't take care of them, many beginners died. That they should take on the responsibility of their deaths, apologize, and give us everything they earned. Right?"

Kibaou raised his shoulders a little and had a frustrated expression on his face. "Of course!"

Egil pulled out a dark brown book that was tiny in his large hand. "Didn't you get this guide-book? It's free in the item store."

"Yeah, I did! Why? What's a book gotta do with this?" Kibaou asked.

"This book contains information about the game that the beta testers had given."

"Whoa, what?" said a player two rows down. Everyone who didn't know showed their surprise.

"Everyone has access to the information the beta players know." Egil said as he turned to face the crowd. "But even so, many players died. I thought that the reason we were here was to learn from their deaths so that we wouldn't make the same mistake twice; and how to defeat the boss."

Kirito let out a sigh of relief and relaxed slightly. Egil turned away from the crowd and looked down at Kibaou since he was so tall. Kibaou scowled and took a seat in the front with a humph. Egil took a seat not too far from him. Diabel nodded in satisfaction when the moment of unease passed.

"Alright," he said to gain everyone's attention. "Let's continue. Just recently, a new edition to that guide-book was issued, and it has exactly what we need: information about the boss." He opened the book and scanned through it. "According to the book, the boss's name is Illfang, the Kobold Lord. Also, he's guarded by Ruin Kobold Sentinels. He's armed with an axe and a buckler. He has four health bars, and on the last bar goes red, he switches to a carved sword-type called Talwar. His attack patterns will change also."

Kirito listened as everyone marveled at the information. Since he was a beta tester, he inwardly checked if the information was true. The last detail seemed a bit off to him but he ignored it. Generally, the guide-book was right, anyway. Diabel closed the book and looked up at everyone with a smile.

"And that's it! That's the end of the briefing. And before I forget, the items will be distributed automatically. The EXP will go to the party that beats the boss and whoever gets an item gets to keep it. Any questions?"

No one spoke up as they all agreed on the terms.

"Good, we'll leave tomorrow morning at ten." Diabel announced. He threw his right arm to the side. "I'll see you then!"

Everyone around Kirito either gathered around their party or left the arena. Kirito heard his partner get up and leave. He stared after her in quiet shock. Surely she wanted to at least know who she's partying with…right? Kirito thought to himself. Once she disappeared from his sight, he turned to the center of the arena and watched Kibaou apologize to Diabel. He frowned when he suddenly remembered Klein.

Now, how is he going to avoid getting seen by—

"Hey, excuse me but have you seen a short teenager with black hair and eyes?" asked a familiar voice not too far away. Kirito snapped his head toward the voice to see Klein's back facing him. His eyes widened and he took off in a fast, but silent dash.

Kirito was oblivious to the look of sadness that crossed Diabel's features as he ran.

I was originally going to write all the way until after the first boss battle but that was just waaaaaaaaaay too long. So the night before and the battle is in the next chappy! Not only that, true h*ll starts for Kirito then! Aw, man, now I feel guilty... Anyway, thanks to Kanrei, Guest, and Are all names used for reviewing last chapter! Oh and since I can't respond to Guest since this person is...well, a Guest, I will respond to you here.

Guest: Yeah, see, I knew I should've added more details but I couldn't really think straight at the time. Now about Rinko jumping straight to Kayaba, it's because she was previously Kayaba's love interest. Since she's known Kayaba for a while, she couldn't help but think a lot of the things she does somehow traces back to him. I took Koujiro Rinko from the light novel. Everything will make sense much later. ^^

Well, tell me what you guys think! The next update may take a while because of my Junior project and the Fine Arts Academy Exhibition happening on the most lovey-dovey day of the year. Later!

-CloudyLightning

P.S: Is it Agil or Egil? I can't really seem to find the correct one...