Original chapter got lost due to a crash, seriously, computer just died. This isn't as good but I hope you enjoy it.
Edit-Right, props to SAO abridged for a couple of the jokes.
Leaning back in his rather luxurious executive chair Sugou Nobuyuki stared at the monitors before him and frowned. This was a poor substitute for what could be, but the AmuSphere was still two months off from production and no one was willing to test out any of the leftover NerveGears to fully embrace this feed.
Nobuyuki was a self admitted opportunist for sure but not even he was willing to dick around with one of those death traps, even if it meant being closer to his precious prize.
Asuna, so brave, so succulent, so foolish. When RECT Progress had been given custodial duty over the ten thousand victims of SAO he had been put in charge of the servers containing the minds of his company's wards. Thus, he had access to all the player names and their accounts so of course he knew what her avatar had been named, and wasn't he in for a treat when the 'Hero' of this little farce saved his wife to be from her own ignorance.
The hero, heh, he liked Kirito, no, Keiko, quite a bit. The young woman reminded Nobuyuki of himself really; brilliant, ambitious, manipulative, and never lost track of her goals. She had all the idiots following her lead and they hadn't even realized she had done it all on purpose, that she wasn't some sort of saint sent to lead them to victory.
She was selfish, wishing only to leave SAO and return home, luckily for her fellow prisoners she needed them to live to achieve her goals.
If she somehow made it out of SAO alive with Asuna at her side, he'd probably offer her a job and apprenticeship, she certainly had the potential.
Glancing back at the monitor as the meeting began he diverted his focus between the various monitors in an attempt to take it all in at once.
"Thank you everyone for accepting my invitation today! My name is Diavel, and the class I chose is a Knight!"
Sugou frowned at that and cocked his head to the side but his confused thoughts were cut off by laughter from the crowd. Asuna looked about in confusion when Keiko leaned down and whispered in her ear. Damn he was beginning to love that girl and her 'take control' personality.
"He's aware there are no classes in this game like that, he's breaking the ice, making everyone laugh at his antics. Classic, very well done."
Asuna pursed her lips and nodded slowly as the blue haired man continued his speech.
"Well then," he began with a laugh, "You front liners, or rather those of you actively attempting to grind your levels to something that can surpass this game must have realized there was a reason for this meeting."
Smiling he spread his arms wide and let out a brief chuckle, "My party has found the boss room of this floor! Together we'll have the power necessary to take on this boss, and open the door to the second floor! Our first step to freedom!"
Kirito nodded slowly while muttering, "Well done."
Sugou couldn't help but agree, the man had a talent for stiring the rable, said man curled his splayed out hand into a fist before pulling it close to his chest as he smiled up at the gathered masses.
"Even though it has taken a month to reach this point we must let the message spread that this game of death is in fact beatable! That there is truly a hope to escape!"
Kirito muttered quietly to Asuna at this, "He's right on that point, there is no morale left, most have lost hope, the people need this."
Asuna nodded quickly at that, "You're right. A population cannot take defeat after defeat and keep marching onward, we need a victory to instigate the populace."
Sugou's thoughts were cut off by a scrawny man with a ridicilous pineapple haircut jumping onto the ground before Diavel, glaring up at the surrounding crowd he snorted out his disgust while pointing to the sky.
"Wait a second Mister Knight! I have something to say!" Oh who the fuck was this? Sugou could see from the get go this man was trying to hijack the route this meeting was taking and if the feed from Kirito was an indicator, so could she.
"Before I team up with any of you, there's something I have to say!" Crossing his arms he continued to glare while Diavel looked like someone had just walked up to him and smacked him in the face with a trout, sighing he nodded once while gesturing towards the intruder.
"Opinions...are welcome, but first what is your name?"
The man puffed up his chest as he set his shoulders nodding fiercely as he bellowed out, "My name is Kibaou. AND YOU COWERING BETA TESTERS BETTER SHOW YOURSELVES!"
Sugou lifted a brow while Keiko grimaced and Klein growled, Asuna just looked confused, silly little bird she was.
"There should be quite a few of you in this group! Be honest and show yourselves! In the past month all of you bastards hogged all the resources! It's your fault that nearly eighteen-hundred people have died, so to apologize to the dead, you all better take the money and items you've gathered and hand them the fuck over!"
There was dead silence as Keiko's eyes opened wide enough that it must have hurt, she then broke out into a quiet, rather dark chuckle.
"Hehehe...What?!"
Diavel rather intelligently stuttered out an, "Uhh..." before a deep, bellowing bass voice cracked across the silence.
"Excuse me, may I speak?"
Diavel actually let out a relieved sigh as he nodded quickly, "Thank you for asking, of course you can speak, mister...?"
He was huge, at the very least seven feet tall, African descent but likely American by his accent. While he was, really, a giant, he gave off an aura of calm, as if he could just snap Kibaou's neck like a rotting reed, he just wouldn't because it would be a rather crass thing to do.
"My name is Agil, and if what I'm getting from your rather...inane rant is correct, you wish for the beta testers to hand over their gear because they hadn't helped the new players that have died, is that right?"
Kibaou nodded once as he jutted his chin out, "Tha-that's right! Since the game began they abandoned us beginners! All the players that could help us already leveled up and left us all in the starting town!"
Sugou raised an appraising brow as Klein stood shaking a seething Keiko off his arm, coughing loudly as he spoke out a scathing response to the man.
"Yeah, ok, fuck you asshole." No points for tact but Sugou really couldn't disagree, who the hell did this fool think he was?
"WHA-WHAT?! You're one of them, AREN'T YOU!?" He screamed out, Keiko was practically vibrating with suppressed rage, and it was only Sugou's precious Asuna wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulders that kept her in place.
Klein snorted, "No, I met a beta tester my first day in the game, before I even knew it was a death game, and they trained me, helped me, made me a better warrior. When it all went down, when we found out we were trapped in here? They dragged me out to one of the best quest hubs to gear up so I could help raise my friends up as guardians for the newbies, reciprocating returns and all that."
Before Kibaou could respond Agil jumped back into the conversation, "Besides which, the beta testers have supplied the most important resource available to us, information. Isn't the saying 'Knowledge is power, hide it well'? They've given all the knowledge they have for free to try and help us new players survive, without asking for anything in return. Everyone has gotten a players guide, free of charge thanks to the beta testers. So I have to ask, what have you given your fellow players Kibaou? Other than a lot of yelling, of course."
Before he could say anything, one of the players stood up and shouted out an angry cry, "Yeah! Seriously you asshole what have you done that Kirito hasn't already done for us?! The Black Princess has been training any newbie who has wanted help for free for weeks! What have you done!?"
Sugou snickered as Keiko muttered, "Black...Princess?!" while her eye twitched, Asuna rather cutely shot her companion a smirk before turning back to the crowd.
Kibaou sputtered a bit before spitting out,"I...but..they..it's their fault we're stuck in this game!"
Keiko finally lost it, screaming in frustration she jumped up from her seat and bolted down the staggered benches in an instant stopping directly before Kibaou who let out a girlish shriek when the enraged teenager grabbed him by his throat. Pulling his head down to her level she gritted her teeth as she ground out her rejoinder.
"Listen closely you...microcephalic adipate."
The man managed to sputter out "Wha-what?!" before Asuna, who had followed Kirito down apparently, helpfully threw out an answer to his query.
"She said you have a small brain case, essentially you're a moron."
He sputtered in rage as Keiko turned to Asuna nodding once, "Thank you Asuna."
Her companion nodded in turn smiling slightly, "Quite welcome Kirito."
Sugou snickered to himself nodding slowly as well, oh my they were a pair weren't they?
"Now," Keiko began quietly enough were only Kibaou and Asuna could hear her, "I don't know what your endgame is, but a preface? I'm the flavor of the month, the pretty beta tester who helpfully trains anyone who asks for help without asking for anything in return.
"You, are an obnoxious man who, while not entirely repulsive, isn't much of a looker."
"He has a stupid haircut as well," Asuna helpfully threw out causing Keiko to chuckle in agreement.
"My companion here has a valid addition to my argument. That being said, I am publicly adored while you are not. I am directly responsible for the survival of dozens, if not hundreds of players, have the ear of every major information broker, as well as having power over, much to my annoyance, a rabid fan club. So, if you decide to actually pursue these accusations to their end point I can effectively ensure your destruction.
"So, unless you decide to keep silent I'll begin spreading rumors like...you can't get an erection without killing a dog, that sounds repulsive enough doesn't it?"
Asuna, much to Sugou's surprise smirked as she cocked her hip to the side throwing a contemplative look at Kibaou before muttering, "Also, he can't reach an orgasm unless he is having intercourse with a farm animal."
Keiko grimaced and laughed at once at this, "Ick, disgusting and a classic, well done! Oh, and he couldn't afford the game through his regular job so he had to perform fellatio on random men in back alleys! Nothing like a bit of prostitution to drop the populaces opinion yeah?"
Asuna made a face at that while nodding, "So gross Kibaou-kun, you're quite depraved aren't you?"
"Wha-wha-what?" He managed to gasp out in horrified shock, Asuna sighed as she rolled her eyes to the sky in exasperation.
"He still doesn't get it Kirito-chan, we're using too many syllables."
Kirito nodded once grinning like the Cheshire cat, "The simple, crudely made proposition? Keep your whore mouth shut or I'll have this entire game thinking you're a dog snuffing, horse fucking, man batter guzzling sexual deviant."
Kibaou sputtered a few moments before managing to creak out, "The fuck is wrong with you bitch? You're both insane!"
Asuna pouted rather cutely at that while crossing her arms, "How is my sanity in question here? Kirito I'm offended, what about you?"
The girl in question snorted while shrugging, "I'm more shocked he's calling me a bitch like it's a bad thing, are we in agreement Kibaou? You embrace the sound of silence, otherwise I destroy all of your hopes and dreams?"
Huffing he walked away from the pair muttering curses under his breath, in response Keiko threw up a waving arm as she cheerfully called out, "Don't forget to use protection!" With that they turned back to Diavel who just sighed as he looked about the fidgeting players surrounding them.
"Can we get back to it now?" Both girls grinned and nodded as they chirped out 'Yup!' in unison.
Making their way back to their seats while thanking Agil and fist bumping Klein the pair of swords-women sat next to each other a moment before locking their gazes together.
Asuna extended her hand while asking, "Partners?"
Keiko grinned as she accepted the hand shaking it heartily in turn, "Partners."
Sugou leaned back in his chair and contemplated his next move. Yes, Asuna was his, regardless, but...Keiko was interesting, extremely interesting in fact. The girl didn't bow to authority, she fought it, snipped at it, and disrespected it at will, a true free spirit in all reality.
It would be fun breaking it along with Asuna's.
Sighing he stood from his chair stretching, it was a thought for tomorrow, but regardless, the young girl had certainly caught his attention, and two ladies were always better then one.
The end result of a woman who doesn't care what people think of her and her apprentice preparing for war, please review.