CHAPTER 4 BEYOND THE BEGINNER LEVEL
It didn't take long for the group from Nerima to return to Floor Two, this time accompanied by their final member Tofu. When they got to Urbus, they saw more players in the town, checking out what was now available and looking for fresh new quests.
"Be careful, some of these people might be on the look-out for us." Nabiki whispered, certain that there was a good chance Kibao and PoH had spoken out in an effort to begin a sort of beta tester witch hunt.
"Let's just not draw attention to ourselves." Kasumi suggested as they started walking in the plaza.
Urbus looked different from Tolbana and Town of Beginnings once they stopped to notice it. Here the buildings were made of grey stone as opposed to the more common white on Floor One, and the streets weren't paved. Overall, it had a more rustic feel to it then anything else.
"Urbus feels more like a classic fantasy village then the Town of Beginnings." Akane mentioned, and Shampoo had to agree.
"Yeah, but it is the primary place on the second floor, and now we can buy something new: Crystals."
That got the groups attention. "And Crystals are?" Ranma asked.
"You don't remember when I told you?" Shampoo asked, her eyebrow raised. Ranma shook his head, and several of the others did too. "Well, I mentioned them really early on, so I guess it's understandable you forgot. Anyway, Crystals are the closest things to magic that exists in Aincrad, and each one is different. Some are used for healing, others to restore weapons, and some are good for teleporting without being near a gate like this. There aren't any Crystals for combat, at least none within the floors I've been to, but the good news is that Crystals work as soon as you use them. So a healing one can recover your health automatically."
"That's good to know, at least we won't be as pressured for health." Akane said, but had her bubble burst when she said that.
"No, we can't think like that. Even if a Healing Crystal's power can restore our HP quickly, that just means we have to be more on guard when fighting monsters. The ease would lure us into a false sense of security." It was Kasumi that did the talking, getting a few stares from the group.
"What do you mean?" Nabiki asked.
"Actually Kasumi has the right idea." Tofu added. "Take it from me, these Crystals clearly have their advantages and we'd be stupid to not get any while we can. But having them doesn't mean it's suddenly okay to take more risks. People who suddenly think they can get away with taking more risks have a tendency of pushing their limits, and this game is no place to do that."
Kasumi nodded. "Right, so I'm all in favor of getting these, but we should still fight as if we don't have them."
"Sounds good to me. So let's go get some before the others find out about them." Ukyo suggested.
"How expensive are they?" Nabiki asked.
"Most are cheap but work only once. Bigger ones can do more or be used more than once, but those are expensive as hell. Best to stock up on the cheap ones instead." Shampoo answered, leading them to a market street.
On display on one of the kiosks were shiny blocks, cut like small bricks and lined with silver on the bottom. When Shampoo referred to them as crystals, the others had expected something more along the lines of the standard diamond shape or even rupees from the Legend of Zelda games. Something like this was rather different, though the texture of the blocks themselves looked like genuine gems. Some were blue like sapphires, yellow like gold or amber, pink like quartz, and green like peridots rather than emeralds.
Shampoo bought six of the green ones and six of the pink ones, which depleted her Col to nearly zero. Fortunately the group's shared treasury would compensate for her expense. "These are ones we'll start with to get you used to." She said as she held up one of each to show the others. "The green ones are called Antidote Crystals. Use them if your status is changed to something like Paralyzed or Poisoned. You can use them by saying 'Heal'. This works for both yourself or others, but be sure to hold them close to the affected players bodies for right results. They can also recover lost HP, but they're best used if your status is changed. The pink ones are Healing Crystals, use them the same way but if status is unaffected."
Shampoo passed one of each to the members of her group, but strangely Tofu declined. "I don't really see myself doing much fighting. I'd probably waste them."
Nonetheless, Shampoo forced them into his hands. "Then use them to either heal us if we run out or if you do get hurt."
"C'mon Doc, you're good, stop putting yourself down." Ranma told the only other male around.
"Alright, I'm out of Col, so that means I can't pay up for anything else." Shampoo said. "I suggest we try to find some monsters outside of town to practice on and get more money and items. Here they're going to be tougher than before."
"That's to be expected. Wouldn't be much of a game if it didn't get harder as you advanced." Ukyo said, with her hand on the ax she had.
"Yeah, let's scout out what kind of monsters are around, and see how tough they are." Ranma said, punching a fist into his hand in a confident manner. He was glad the boss fight was over, and hated the fact that someone died, but he was also ready to find a new challenge. That had been most of his life, when one challenge is done go find another.
"Don't you guys think maybe you should rest up a bit after such a big fight?" Tofu questioned.
"I feel fine." Ranma said.
"Me too." Akane added.
"Same here." Shampoo replied.
"Ditto." Kasumi finished. "I probably should feel tired, but strangely I don't. Must be an adrenalin rush or something."
Ranma came up to Tofu and patted his back in an encouraging way. "C'mon, live a little. It's not like we have much else to do in this game."
"Yeah, not much else." Tofu said grimly.
"Why don't you guys go on ahead? I'll stay here and have a little talk with Tofu." Kasumi suggested.
"You sure?" Akane asked. 'While Tofu's shown a remarkable, for him anyway, ability to restrain himself around Kasumi this past month, he's never been alone with her either. I wonder if he can still keep his cool then.'
Kasumi nodded. "Yes I'm sure. Go on without us. We'll find you on the map later."
"Umm... actually you can't." Shampoo claimed.
"Why not?" Kasumi asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Once we reach Floor Two, maps are no longer automatically provided. You have to either make them as you go, or buy them from someone who's already been in the area. If you tried finding us, you'd be told the basic compass point, but no way to actually get to us."
"Then we'll be here waiting for you." Kasumi replied.
"Alright. We won't be long. Try not to get too restless with that adrenalin rush and everything sis" Nabiki joked.
The younger members of the group went off into the mountains around town, Shampoo directing them north, leaving the two oldest members behind. Kasumi went to a bench and gestured for Tofu to sit beside her.
"Tofu, as long as I've known you, I thought of you as a dependable if somewhat awkward man." Kasumi started, failing to see his briefly hurt look. "I never really understood why sometimes your composure would just leave you like that, but I never saw you be unprofessional, and every time Akane got hurt you always knew what to do. I don't even want to think about what my family might have been like without you in our lives."
That made the doctor look more cheerful.
Kasumi briefly closed her eyes. "But since this game started, somehow that hasn't been the case." That made Tofu confused. "You haven't been prone to your little flights of fancy this past month and personally I'm grateful for that. Sure they were amusing at first, but over and over again just becomes... well, silly. What you seem to be missing here isn't composure, it's courage."
"Well sorry for not being as brave as Ranma is." Tofu replied, surprising himself that he actually could be sarcastic to Kasumi.
"You don't have to be." Kasumi told him. "I'm sympathizing with you. Once this game became a death game, my courage disappeared too. I was terrified of dying, and I wanted to just go back to the Town of Beginnings and find a place to stay until the game ended."
"We can do that Kasumi." Tofu said, feeling hopeful. "You and I, we're not combatants. We're not in our element on the battlefield. We don't belong here. We belong where we can help others in the ways we do best."
He had been hoping for her familiar smile and maybe an agreement. What he got was an expression of disagreement. "And what exactly would we be doing Tofu? What can we do there that we can't do on the battlefield? In case you haven't noticed, none of our real life skills are useful here."
"Players still need healers." Tofu defended.
"And what would you do? Open a clinic here in Aincrad?"
"Why not? I mean really, why couldn't I?" Tofu asked.
Kasumi took a deep breath before responding. "Let's say you can. First, you need to find a vacant building for sale. You can't get the money for that here in the first place except from fights or quests. And I highly doubt that there are a lot of well-paying safe quests in this game. Then, you need to get the proper supplies to run such a clinic. As Shampoo just pointed out, people can buy Crystals easily on their own. Why would they need to go to a clinic if they can heal their own ailments with just a gem? Can you make your own?"
"No, but I'm sure there's a medical skill in the inventory list I can learn." Tofu claimed.
"Then let's say you do learn such a skill. How can you use it if you're in a clinic? If you're in a safe zone, people won't be hurt to begin with, and if by chance someone is hurt, they would probably recover their lost HP before getting to you. Health and injuries work differently in this world Tofu, I thought if anyone had seen that by now it would have been you. People could die here literally seconds after being hit. They'd need immediate attention. How can you provide that if you're tucked away somewhere safe while the ones needing help are on the battlefield?"
Kasumi leaned in closer to Tofu to look in his eyes, which made his heart beat more rapidly. "And what about me? What I did best before this game was take care of a house. How can I do that when we don't have a house? I'm sure not devoting my time to cleaning up an inn room or camp site. Tofu, right now there's nothing for me to do but learn how to fight. Yes it's scary being in battle and I don't want to die, but I've decided I'm not going to keep myself alive at the expense of having a life."
Her phrasing only confused the doctor. "Huh?"
"Let me put it another way. The other day I talked to someone and they helped me understand something. I realized that this game is dangerous, but it's also an opportunity. I had no life before, I had no identity. I was just going through the motions of life but never truly living. Here I'm in a situation where my comfort zone no longer exists, but maybe that's not a bad thing. A comfort zone can become a prison if you refuse to leave it. I intend to play this game, I intend to become something here, something other than a mere housekeeper. Even if that means I someday die, at least I'll die on my terms."
"Kasumi don't say that." Tofu requested. "The whole point here is to get out alive."
"I intend to get out alive. We all do. But while we're here, I might as well play the game. It's not like we really have a whole lot of options." Kasumi said.
'Is this really Kasumi?' Tofu asked himself, finding it hard to believe the quiet homemaker of the Tendo family was actually braver than him.
Kasumi then stood up and stretched her body a bit. "Just think about it Tofu, think about what you'd rather be. Safe but bored, or living on the edge. Right now, we have no other choice, and like the others, I choose living. What about you?"
Before Tofu could answer, someone else spoke up.
"No way! Is that you Kasumi?"
Said girl turned and saw a small group of men a little older than her. The one that looked excited to see her had spiked red hair with a headband around it. She'd recognize that look anywhere. "I can't believe it. Ryotaro-sempai?"
'She knows this guy?' Tofu asked.
"Yeah it's me, but in the game my name is Klein. So call me that here."
"Klein? As in the American underwear maker?" Kasumi asked.
The other boys had a good laugh at Klein's expense for that remark, and even Kasumi chuckled with them. Klein just shrugged it off. "No, but now that you mention it I wish I had given the name more thought before. Oh well, just call me Klein. And what do I call you?"
"I went with my real name here, so just Kasumi."
"Not a lot of gamers use their real names." One of Klein's buddies mentioned.
"I know, but I'm not a professional gamer and this way it was easier for my own group to spot me back when my face was different."
"Your own group heh? Where are they?" Klein asked.
"Out in the mountains checking out the area. I gotta say I'm surprised I haven't seen you here before. What have you been doing all this time?"
"My buddies and I have been working around the west side of Floor One, getting stronger."
"Really? My group and I were doing the same on the east side. We were even in the boss fight earlier."
"No way, you were in a boss fight?" Klein asked.
"Oh course. Why wouldn't I be?" Kasumi asked.
"Well, I can remember how squeamish you were when I tried showing you how to fight in our club's games."
Kasumi huffed, in a way not unlike Akane but with less irritation. "You were showing me a gory game that was about shooting the heads off of zombies. Maybe if you had shown me something like this instead I would have considering joining."
"Wait, Kasumi how well do you know this guy?" Tofu asked.
"Oh, sorry, where are my manners?" Kasumi berated herself. "Tofu, this is Ryo-I mean, Klein-sempai, a friend of mine from high school. One of the most enthusiastic game lovers I've ever known. If fact, in my first year he tried to get me to join the Furinkan video game club."
"I still said you should have." Klein insisted.
"Maybe, but I didn't have time for club attendance in a school where it wasn't mandatory, and you didn't exactly have the kind of games I wanted at the time." She countered, then giggled. "But I still laugh every time I remember how nervous you were that first day."
"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" Klein asked, his tone showing he wasn't truly bothered by her reference.
"It was funny, you were so nervous and acted like you couldn't decide to ask me to join a club or date you. And you even got the school's name wrong." Kasumi said, still chuckling.
One of Klein's friends elbowed him. "Yeah I remember that now. What was it you said again?"
Klein rolled his eyes but smiled. "I said 'hello, welcome to Furinkazan High' before telling her what kind of girl I was looking for."
The men laughed loud and Kasumi joined in. Tofu watched her, surprised again at how she was interacting with this group of strangers. 'Though this does at least explain why she thought my antics were amusing if his made her laugh too. but I never would have thought Kasumi would have had an interest in games before this one. I thought this was just an impulse decision for her, not something she had an actual interest in.'
As disturbing as it was for him, Tofu was realizing the same thing Ranma had realized a month ago. He didn't know the girl as well as he thought he did.
"You know what? You should call your group the Furinkazan Guild then." Kasumi added when the laughter died.
"You kept calling me Furinkazan-sempai back in school, why call me that here too?" Klein asked.
"Actually Klein, I kind of like the idea of naming our group that." One of his friends said.
"Me too. It's got a good ring to it."
Klein sighed. "Alright then, I guess we're all Furinkazan, so Kasumi can't call just me that anymore."
"Oh I can't can I?" She teased, making them laugh again.
"You want to join our group?" Klein invited.
"Thanks for the offer, but I don't want to make that decision without the others. Let's wait until they get back." Kasumi requested.
"Works for me, not like we've got any schedules to keep anymore." Klein said.
Two hours later the others came back to Urbus with a lot more money and other acquired items. Akane was checking the map to see where her sister and the doctor were. They were still in town, and in one of the market streets, neither of them in any sort of danger.
"Good job clobbering that weird bull back there Akane." Ukyo told the short-haired girl.
"Thanks, and good job slowing it down for me. You're getting good with that ax."
"Heh, not that different from a spatula, just different balance."
Akane smiled, glad that she was getting along with the others, her panic attack on the first night all but forgotten. And luckily a talk with her two main rivals helped her feel better about their time in the game too.
(Flashback)
The night after she and Ranma had their own private talk, which was the third night they had been in the game, Akane had requested some alone time with Shampoo and Ukyo. Naturally everyone was unsure what she had in mind, mostly because she had never attempted such a thing before. But just like how Akane wanted to prove to the group that she wasn't going to attack them again, they wanted to prove they didn't believe they couldn't trust her.
"So what's on your mind Sugar?" Ukyo asked when all three girls had their inn room to themselves.
"I'm going to be blunt, last night when we were trying to sleep, I couldn't, so I went outside."
"We know, and Airen followed." Shampoo said, surprising the Tendo. "We weren't exactly sound asleep ourselves you know."
"Just tell us that you didn't break the agreement the same day we made it." Ukyo said, but it could almost be taken as threatening.
"No, I didn't. But something came up that I think you two need to hear, and I think it might sound better coming from me. Mostly because I'm more articulate than Ranma is." Akane defended. "Girls, over the past year we've all tried various ways to get Ranma to like us. Some of us being more determined than others in that aspect. But there's one key element in having a relationship that all three of us overlooked. Ranma doesn't know anything about us."
"What do you mean?" Ukyo asked.
"I mean have either of you ever given Ranma a chance to truly get to know you as people? Without bringing up any engagement or fights or some kind of ulterior motive? Has any of us ever actually tried to fall in love with him? Or were we all just trying to skip to the happily ever after part of the romance?"
Shampoo and Ukyo shared a look. While they weren't willing to admit how true that was, they also weren't going to pretend it was a baseless accusation.
"I admit I've done some things I'm not proud of." Shampoo confessed.
"And I admit I was more interested in getting to the happily ever after part than dating Ranchan." Ukyo added. "But how can he say he doesn't know me? I'm his best friend."
"Yeah, when you two were kids. There was ten years where you never saw or heard from him again. You don't honestly still think Ranma is the same person he was back then do you?" Akane tested.
Ukyo frowned. "Of course not, but I am his best friend even now."
Akane didn't look convinced. "Then Ukyo, if you really are Ranma's best friend, tell me something about Ranma I don't know without mentioning something that happened before you came to Nerima."
"How will that prove anything?"
"If you're really his best friend, you should know him pretty well. So prove it, prove you know something about him that me and Shampoo here don't already know."
Ukyo thought it over, wanting to think of something that was ironclad. But after thinking about it, she was coming up short. It wasn't so much that she didn't know anything about Ranma, but more she had no way of being certain what she knew was something only she knew. After a moment she sighed. "For the sake of argument let's pretend you're right. What exactly are you trying to get at here?"
"What I'm getting at is Ranma doesn't believe he knows us that well. Any of us. That's why he's never bothered answering the unasked question of which one does he love? Even when I did ask him at the failed wedding. Ranma isn't able to answer. It's not he doesn't know, he can't know. The way he sees it, we haven't given him a chance to know the real us."
"Why would he think that?" Shampoo and Ukyo asked.
"I don't know, but the fact is that is how he sees it. But there is hope." Akane replied. "Here, there is no one to try and force him to do anything about it except the three of us, and we've already agreed to not force the issue. This gives us an opportunity, to show Ranma the real us, show us as friends and supporters rather than merely brides-to-be. That's what he wants to see, why he should like us without someone or something telling him to like us."
"Yeah, but how is this any different than what we already expected?" Ukyo asked.
"The difference is Ranma wants to get to know us. All three of us." The short-haired girl admitted, finding this hard to admit but knowing it was vital. "So in a nutshell, he says that if he dates any one of us here, he won't do it unless he can date all three of us."
She paused for a moment, letting it sink in for them.
"That's not so bad." Ukyo stated.
Akane's eyes widened. "Seriously?"
The okonomiyaki chef nodded. "Yeah, I mean, why would it be bad? It's like you said, no one here can force him to pick just one of us except for us, and we all agreed not to try and hog him for ourselves. As long as we keep to that agreement, then if Ranchan wants to get to know us better here, then the only way he can do it is to give us all attention. If he honestly didn't know who he wanted to be with, he wouldn't have a reason to pick one over the rest."
Shampoo slowly nodded in understanding. "Yes, it's the only fair way to him to know what he wants."
Akane nodded. "That's what he kept saying, that it wasn't the best method but the only fair one. To be honest, I thought you two would put up more of a fight here. I mean, this is practically giving him permission to two-time. Or three-time."
"If you have a better idea Akane feel free to say it." Shampoo claimed.
Akane closed her eyes. "I don't, and that bothers me. I feel like there should be a better idea, but for the life of me I can't think of one."
"Maybe there is no better idea Akane." Ukyo suggested. "My father used to tell me there's no such thing as a perfect solution, just like how there's no perfect okonomiyaki. Sometimes you just can't make what the customer wants, so instead try to make the best with what you can and hope it's good enough to satisfy them."
"How does that apply to here?" Akane asked.
"What I'm trying to say is rather than do nothing and hold out for some perfect solution to present itself, take the best solution currently available and go with it until it no longer works. I mean, is that really a bad idea here?" Ukyo stated.
Shampoo shrugged. "I admit I'm not fond of the idea of dividing Airen, and back in the real world this never would have worked even if we did like the idea."
"Same here. Akane's right, I don't like the idea of dividing Ranchan like this either. But the only alternatives are do nothing or break the agreement and fight over him again, and personally I like those ideas even less. Sometimes your favorite food just isn't on the menu so you either go somewhere else or go with the best choice available. And giving Ranchan a chance to know all three of us is just that in my opinion." Ukyo declared.
"So how exactly do we make this work?" Akane asked.
"I think that's something we should talk to Airen about. It concerns him too after all."
"Maybe not right now. He's confused enough as it is, and if we bring up a new way to have some kind of relationship, he'll think we've all got one-track minds." Akane suggested.
"You're probably right." Shampoo said with a nod. "So give him some time to stop thinking about engagements so much, then address the idea?"
"Sounds good to me."
(End Flashback)
It had been a month since that night, and so far it was going well. No one mentioned anything about engagements or family honor or laws, and in turn the girls stopped fighting each other over Ranma's attention. Not to say there hadn't been the occasional argument, but they refrained from making it physical since the threat of death was real.
Without the element of competition between themselves, the three girls were starting to learn that they didn't really have much to fight about in the first place. While they might never be best friends, they didn't have to be at each others throats either. They even had some things in common that they never bothered to pay much attention to before. Shampoo and Ukyo were both skilled cooks and could relate being in the restaurant business, Akane and Shampoo enjoyed martial arts and could relate being brought up in environments where it was a standard of their overall life. And all three knew what it was like being pursued by a boy who would not take the hint that they were not interested, Kuno for Akane, Mousse for Shampoo, and Tsubasa for Ukyo.
If there was one thing to complain about now from their set-up, it was that they were running out of patience regarding when to mention it to Ranma. It had been a month, enough time to let Ranma stop thinking of them as over-dominating. The problem was the way they saw it, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Tofu had no business getting involved in it so it was something to discuss when those three weren't around. And so far there hadn't been a good opportunity for that, nor a good enough reason to justify asking them to leave the other four alone for a bit. The three girls were still holding out, but they really wanted to get this part done and over with now.
"Kasumi and Tofu should be around this corner." Akane said, referencing the map screen. They turned right and went to a different section of the market, where they saw Kasumi and Tofu seated on some benches getting along with complete strangers.
"We're back! Who're they?" Ranma asked as he was a bit on guard. Right now their group was practically public enemy number one because of what happened after the boss fight.
"This is Ryo-I mean Klein-sempai, a graduate of Furinkan High and an old friend of mine. Klein-sempai, this is my group." Kasumi said as Klein suddenly started getting nervous since the group was full of beautiful girls.
"M-m-my name is Klein, I'm twenty-two and-" Kasumi stopped him from going any further, even though she was giggling from the antics.
"Sorry, but he gets nervous around girls. While he was in Furinkan he was part of the kendo club and the video game club. But I think he liked the second one more."
Everyone nodded and felt relieved that there might at least be one sane person to come from Nerima. At least they hoped he was sane, it was hard to tell what exactly counted as sane and insane sometimes in Nerima.
"I'm Nabiki, Kasumi's younger sister, and any other information comes at a price." Nabiki started off, with a gleam in her eyes that could've been yen symbols.
"I'm Akane, Kasumi's and Nabiki's younger sister. Please tell me you have nothing to do with Kuno."
"Who?" Klein asked, unfamiliar with the name.
"That's good enough for me." Akane stated.
"I'm Ukyo, I'm more a chef than a fighter but I can take on anyone who tries to kick my ass and serve their own to them covered in okonomiyaki sauce."
"I'm Shampoo. Don't believe anything you hear about me unless it comes from us."
"I'm Ranma. Please tell me my old man didn't do something with your family too."
Klein arched an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
"Oh I'm sure your father's never made any deals or stolen anything from Klein-sempai's family Ranma." Kasumi told him, then looked at Klein. "Though just to be safe, does the name Saotome mean anything to you?"
"Can't say it does." Klein answered. The members of his group then introduced themselves to the others.
"Klein has invited us to be a part of his group. Since this is a group decision, what do you all think?" Kasumi asked the others.
The others looked at each, not sure what to say. None of them had a reason to say no, but at the same time they had no reason to say yes.
"Hmm..." Shampoo hummed, hand on her chin. "The way I see it, it's not so much a matter of familiarity or trust, or even numbers. What concerns me is coordinating the two groups together. We've both spent this past month developing our own skills, styles, and methods. Combining the two, or even getting them in sync, can't be simple. It's more than just a mere switch tactic."
"So what you're saying is rather than just say yes or no, we should see how well our two groups function together?" Nabiki asked.
"Actually that makes sense." Ukyo stated. "It reminds me of a story I heard as a child, where a lion and a dolphin were friends and agreed to be wartime allies so if one ever got into a fight the other would support them. But when the lion did have a fight the dolphin couldn't do anything because he couldn't leave the water, and later the two got into a big fight themselves over it. The message was that you should consider what your friends are capable of doing before asking them to help you with your problems. Had the lion stopped to consider exactly how a dolphin would help him, the problem never would have come up."
"Why not settle this by taking a quest together and seeing how it turns out for ourselves?" One of Klein's friend offered.
"Sounds good to me." Kasumi said. "Anyone know where to find one?"
Shampoo found herself hesitant to answer, even though her group expected her to. 'I've already been outed as a beta, I mean, Beater, so it's not like I need to hide it anymore. But that doesn't mean I need to announce it to the whole world. I think I'll keep it on a need-to-know basis now. Besides, I can only really remember one quest on this floor right now, and I'd rather save that one for later.'
Ranma cleared his throat. "In the mountains I saw this valley west of here with some creatures roaming around it. Maybe we can find something there."
Klein smiled. "Works for me."
In the valley to the west, which looked an awful lot like an African savannah, Ranma and the others were resting after trying to get the tempo and skills right. So far the skills were good with unison, but it was still lacking something.
"Damn, I think our teamwork would be better off in boss raids." Klein said as some of his teammates agreed. Some of them couldn't keep up with the pace of Ranma and the others. For the past month, Klein's group had been focusing primarily on getting the hang of sword skills and living off the land. They were good at what they do, but they were more of an assault team.
Ranma's group on the other hand seemed better suited for an exploration-and-ambush team. They had also been focusing on their skills and living off the land, but they had also worked on getting their speed up, primarily because Kasumi and Nabiki weren't used to doing a lot of running and needed to get used to being as physical as the others if they didn't want to hold them back in a dangerous situation.
"Yeah, but you weren't half-bad out there." Ranma said as he was recovering his lost HP.
"I suppose so, but it was still a good experiment." Kasumi said, still happy that an old friend was here and they were able to catch up with each other. Games were strange that way sometimes. "Maybe we're better off playing as allied groups rather than a conjoined group."
"If you say so Kasumi." Klein said, then sent her a friend request which she eagerly accepted. "So what are you going to call your guild then?"
"Actually we haven't thought about it yet."
There was a reason for that. Guilds were a standard in MMOs, a term for groups of players fighting together as a unit with their own leader, and SAO offered them. According to Shampoo, the beta testers were told in the instructions that when the game became multi-player there was going to be a quest offered on the third floor that allowed players to form their own guilds. Since the beta test was a solo format, none of them had any way to verify what this quest was or why it was even necessary.
To Shampoo, the idea of a quest to create a guild was pointless. Guilds were naturally formed on their own, by the players. The game couldn't create guilds by that standard, not unless it was creating NPCs. Players were already forming their own parties and calling them guilds since the term was perfectly fitting, so why need a quest to make it official? That was something Shampoo wanted to find out, and once she brought it up to the others, so did they.
"I have." Nabiki piped up. "I think I know a name that's perfect for our group."
"Let me guess, the Wolves?" Ranma commented.
Akane shook her head. "No that would only work if we all had pelts. She's probably thinking of something involving money instead."
"Nice to know how creative you two think I am." The mercenary remarked sarcastically. "My real idea came from a name I heard several times in reference back before the game. People used it to describe pretty much everyone connected to Ranma who stirred up things back home. The Nerima Wrecking Crew."
"I never heard this before." Ranma stated.
"I doubt anyone would have said it to you guys directly."
"Wait, you think we should call ourselves that?" Ukyo asked.
Nabiki shrugged. "Why not? It's fitting, it implies power, and even though we don't have the entire crew here the four of you suffice. I think it's a good name to use here."
"Wait, four of us? Are you saying people put me in that same group too before?" Akane asked, certain that Nabiki, Kasumi, and Tofu had never been referred to this way.
"To be fair Akane, the phrase 'wrecking crew' implies a lot of property damage. Even though you were a lot more mild in terms of that, to the average outsider it wouldn't really matter. Heck Ukyo's considered an honorary member too mainly by default of joining in the fights on occasion. The name mostly referred to anyone who got in fights either against or involving Ranma on a regular basis, so you got lumped in by association more than anything."
"Oh, that makes sense." Akane said, seeing no reason to take this personally. "Hmm... Nerima Wrecking Crew, I actually kind of like it."
"What's your symbol going to be? A sledgehammer?" One of Klein's companions asked.
Akane smirked. "Not a bad idea. I am fond of hammers."
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me." The girls all laughed at his remark.
"Well, we'll start clearing out the threats on this side of the floor. Message us if you need us, okay Kasumi?" Klein offered.
Kasumi smiled and nodded. "Okay, and do the same if you need us Klein-sempai. It was great to see you again."
"You too, and before I forget, I gotta ask something." He added.
"What's that?"
"You see, when I first started this game I met a guy. He taught me how to fight in this game, and without him I don't think my buds and I could have gotten as far as we have. But he went out on his own on the first day, choosing to be a solo player. If you ever find him, let me know how he's doing."
Kasumi smiled and nodded. "Okay, not a problem at all. What's his name?"
"Kirito, and he's actually a former beta tester."
Everyone in the group except Tofu widened their eyes. "Kirito?"
"Wait, you already know him?" Klein asked.
"Yeah, I even conversed with him the night before the boss fight. Short boy with black hair, kind of uncomfortable around people but in his element in a fight." Kasumi answered.
"That's him."
"He's probably not too far from here." Akane told him.
"He might have headed for the next town then. Kirito told me the most advantageous place to be in away from the main groups of people so you can collect the most Col and resources before others can get to them." Klein noted.
"Where's the next town?" One of Klein's friends asked.
"We haven't seen any yet, except some off in the distance to the north. But you got to pass some mountains to get to them." Akane told him.
"That sounds like a good place to start."
"We'll try looking to the south then in case he went somewhere else." Kasumi offered.
"Thanks Kasumi, I appreciate it, and stay in touch."
"You too."
With nothing more to say the two groups went their separate ways, with the newly named (or originally named) Nerima Wrecking Crew heading back into the mountains.
Evening came and the troupe were forced to stop. They had been walking down a path in the southern mountains put there for easier travel, but up ahead there was a large boulder wedged between two cliffs blocking off the path. Up ahead was a man dressed in hiking clothes standing beside some broken tools on the ground. The lack of cursor showed he was an NPC instead of a player.
On reflex everyone looked to Shampoo, silently asking her what she knew about this. She shrugged. "This one is new to me."
They came up to the NPC and he turned to them, giving a programmed look of exasperation. "This boulder needs to go, but no tool or weapon seems to be enough to break it. Think any of you are strong enough?" Suddenly everyone had a screen pop up in front of them, saying 'Quest: Break the boulder without using a weapon'. Then it offered a button to accept and a button to decline. This happened every time a player was offered a quest.
"How are we supposed to do that?" Ukyo asked. "This would have been very easy back in Nerima, but here?"
"It can't be too hard to break." Nabiki stated. "I mean, yes it's a big stone, but given how this is Floor Two and the programmers can't realistically expect our strength levels to be Herculean, or Ranma-like if you will, this boulder has to be weaker than a real life one would be and just programmed to automatically damage any weapon used against it."
"So just hit it until it breaks?" Ranma asked, then cracked his knuckles. "I think I can do that."
"Remember Ranma, you're not as strong as you used to be. Just don't take it too hard if it doesn't break the first time." Akane cautioned.
"Yeah I know." He said, clicking the Accept button and stepping up to the boulder which was as big as he was tall but still too big and wide to actually climb over. Rather than just punch and see what happened, which was his initial plan, Ranma decided he needed to think this one through first. 'Like Nabiki said, the people who made this game couldn't have put this quest here so near the beginning and expect people to be super-strong this soon. So maybe it's not about strength but the way you hit it.'
He tried looking over the boulder for a type of visible defect or weak spot in it, one where the quest taker was supposed to strike. He looked that stone up and down, but he didn't find or sense where the weakness was.
"This might have been easier if I knew the Bakusai Tenketsu, but I don't think there is a breaking point on this. Virtual rocks differ, especially since there are immortal objects." Ranma said, and everyone just sighed in a bit of defeat. Immortal objects were the things in the game that couldn't take any damage, like inn walls or teleport pads. Any attempt to damage them resulted in a purple tile saying 'Immortal Object' appearing, as if to remind the player such an effort was futile.
"This can't be an immortal object. That would defeat the entire point of the quest." Kasumi noted.
"Very true." Shampoo added. "It would be like dueling someone whose HP can't go down."
Ranma then nodded. "Might as well try to break it the direct way. Get something ready if I take too much damage." He then tried to send a powerful punch to it. His fist collided with the stone, and unfortunately no purple warning sign saying 'Immortal Object' came up, and the stone cracked in a web pattern.
"Alright, not bad." Ranma said, feeling proud of himself even though it was only a crack. But as soon as he pulled his fist away the boulder began repairing itself. "What the heck?" He asked, seeing the boulder looking as good as new.
"It must not have been enough." Tofu suggested. "On the plus side you only took a couple points damage, nothing you can't recover from on your own."
"Wait a minute..." Nabiki noted, hand on her chin as she thought for a moment. "Ranma try again, but this time don't remove your fist."
He did as told, hitting it again and this time harder. The web-patterned crack reappeared and Ranma kept his fist in place, forcing it against the stone to keep it from slipping. But the rock began to repair itself again, this time at a slower pace.
"What was that about?" He asked, taking his hand back when the damage was undone.
"It repaired again, but slower this time. Maybe you're not supposed to break it with one solid hit, but rather a quick succession of hits. Hit it again, but this time try using the Amaguriken method as best you can here. If I'm right, then this boulder repairs itself if you stop hitting it, so hit it so fast and so hard that it doesn't have time to repair itself and crumbles."
Ranma perked and smiled. "Great idea Nabiki."
Ranma tried to use the Amaguriken, but as he kept trying, it was repairing to some degree as fast as he was punching it. 'This is tough, but if I keep it up, then I might still be able to break it.'
The problem was that because the Amaguriken wasn't an in-game move the system only recognized it as a series of rapid punches in left-and-right coordination. It wouldn't boost Ranma's speed or strength when he used it because as far as the game was concerned Ranma was just moving around, not attacking. The game only got involved in movements that were recognized by the system, such as sword skills, which made them stronger and more accurate than they would have been in real life.
After a while though Ranma's arms gave out and he had to stop. It may not have been his real body he was using, but it was just as exhausting to use. The boulder was covered with cracks and looked like it was just barely holding together, but it repaired itself quickly and became whole again.
"This is too much. In my real body I could handle it, but here, I'm just not fast enough." He lamented, rubbing his aching arms.
"Airen, I have an idea." Shampoo said, tapping the 'Accept' button then getting up next to him. "I think you can beat this with your current speed, but it will require some very careful timing. I'll start it off for you, then after a bit we do a switch and you finish it off before it can repair."
"You think that will work?" Tofu asked.
"It wouldn't hurt to try." The Chinese girl said before facing the boulder herself with Ranma beside her. She pumped her fists and repeated the Amaguriken herself on the boulder. The reaction was the same, a crack appeared with each hit but tried to repair itself seconds after she stopped, with only an added attack delaying the repair process, and another added attack delaying it more.
The boulder was taking on a lot of collective damage, but it was beginning to wear Shampoo's arms out. "Switch!" she insisted without stopping or pulling back. Ranma jumped in and attacked from a separate again, allowing Shampoo to rest her arms.
The timing and switch process had turned out to be perfect, for the boulder apparently wasn't programmed to repair itself in the event of a successful switch. Ranma's attacks added onto the damage Shampoo had already given it, and after a dozen good solid hits, it finally crumbled into rubble that dispersed in digital dust, making it look like the boulder had never been there in the first place.
They blinked at the good timing and use of skills. Then Ranma and Shampoo smiled at each other and high-fived each other.
"Good job Airen."
"You too Shampoo."
"Thank you for clearing the path. I'll be on my way." The NPC said before walking away. No one bothered to pay any attention to it or the fact that their quest screens had disappeared automatically.
Suddenly a new screen appeared before them both. 'Congratulations, quest completed.' It then told them how much Col and XP they gained, but at the bottom it mentioned something else, a special bonus. Curious, the two tapped it and the screens changed. 'You have acquired new skill: Martial Arts Karate. Equip to self for proper use. Click here for further details.'
"I can use the Art again?" Ranma asked, almost unable to believe it. It was something that felt great, like he was getting back something precious he had lost.
"That's wonderful Ranma." Akane praised.
"I heard something about unarmed skills before, but I never got to see any of them in the beta test." Shampoo said, then tapped on the button for further details. "Martial Arts, the collection of weaponless attacks available in SAO. Available in many forms throughout Aincrad, but can only be obtained by completing certain quests." She read. "Hmm... must be some sort of unique skill that comes in a variety of forms."
"Unique skill? You mean it's not something just anyone can learn?" Akane asked, already hoping she could acquire a form of martial arts of her own while in the game.
"Not quite, I probably used the wrong way to say what I meant right there." Shampoo clarified. "Most of the skills in the game are public domain, meaning any player can have them. Some are more more specialized, but that's more because some players work to enhance them then others do so they get more advanced versions, but there's nothing to stop other players from getting them too. But there are some skills that are limited in quantity. A unique skill by standard definition is a skill that only one player in general has at all, for one reason or another, and other players cannot acquire it."
"Is that what you two now have?" Ukyo asked.
"I would think that, but then why would both of us have it?" Shampoo asked. "No, I'm thinking this is more of a limited or prized skill, meaning more than one person can have it, but they have to earn it first or it's only available to acquire for a short time. We'll know for sure if this quest ever becomes available again in the future."
Some quests were repeatedly available. They were easy to finish but gave small rewards, but if a player waited long enough they're become available again so other players could take them or the first player could get more rewards. Of course the harder a quest was, the longer it would take to return, and some quests were either limited themselves in how often they could be accepted or one-time only and that was it. A quest that offered a skill was bound to be one of the latter two.
Shampoo went back to the menu description. "Martial Arts Karate is the most basic form of weaponless skills in SAO, but also the most adaptable and comes with the most moves to learn or incorporate. Equip skill to perform, then select available moves in options to have available for use."
"Huh? What does that mean?" Akane asked.
"I didn't explain it sooner because it's never been much of an issue, but the fact is you need to equip some skills to yourself in order to perform them." Shampoo said, then pulled up her personal menu. "Everyone check their menu, this will help you understand better."
Everyone did as told and she continued. "When you look at yourself in the menu, it tells you what you have equipped to yourself. See it?" Everyone nodded. On a screen showed a human silhouette with a dozen circles around it, some of them with writing beside it and some of it blank. One of the circles said clothes, and this was on each of them, while the others listed various weapons and equipment. Ranma and Shampoo now had a formerly blank circle have the words 'Martial Arts' next to it.
"Like I told you, this tells you all the things you actually have out for ready use rather than in your storage. What I didn't tell you, because there was no point to it yet, was that your fighting styles are equipped the same way. When you equip a sword, you equip appropriate sword skills to go along with it, but you can only have so many skills equipped at a time. Eventually you guys will acquire more skills, too many to have equipped all at once, then you will have to select which ones you want to keep ready. Try to have your best ones out first, since switching skills can take up to ten seconds, not something you should be doing during a fight. All the ones you don't have equipped will be in your storage."
"Oh I see. There's no limit to the amount of skills we can have, but there is a limit on how many we can actually use at a time." Tofu clarified.
"Yes, that's exactly what I was saying. Also, as you level up you can equip more, and not all skills require things to be worn by you. Like the cooking skill for example. That would fill up one of these circles."
All of the girls of the group except for Nabiki had a cooking skill, acquired when each had purchased a set of cooking equipment. Repeated use of the skill helped it get stronger, and at the moment Kasumi and Ukyo were the ones with the highest skill. Nabiki was offered but she had declined, saying five cooks in the group was unnecessary.
"I'm just glad I have some martial arts skills that can be useful in this game." Ranma said with a smile. "I wonder how many different kinds there are in the game?"
"Why? Do you think you can have more than one?" Nabiki asked.
"Why not? We can have more than one weapon equipped right? Why not more than one martial art style?"
Akane rolled her eyes but she smiled at the same time. "That's just like you Ranma, always looking for more fighting styles."
"What can I say? That's part of who I am. Just the idea of looking for more styles is getting me excited again. More excited than I have been for a while." The pigtailed boy told her.
His three fiancees smiled, glad to hear this. This was like seeing Ranma be his old self again, the Ranma they had all gotten attached to. He felt most in his element when he was using his body, and having his skills he worked so hard for taken away from him had left him with a void he tried to hide. He practiced the katas still, all the martial artists in the group did, but the game made him mostly go through the motions more than anything. He could do the moves but they lacked the proper power and speed whenever he did. Never before had he realized how much he had taken his ki for granted.
Without his best moves, and with his speed and strength reduced to beginner, it was like experiencing the Moxibustion of Weakness all over again. And he had no idea how to undo it. The game didn't allow ki or magic, so the only thing he could do was build it back up, and he wasn't sure he had the patience for that. Ranma had tried to work past it, enjoy fighting the only way he could here, but it still felt like he was missing something vital. Almost like he was missing an arm.
But now it seemed like that was no longer an issue. There were martial arts made specifically for the game now, which meant he could do moves with power and speed he was used to, at least quicker than he would have been able to do without the skill. And if he could get more than one style, he'd feel even more complete. After all, he was a fighter that couldn't be limited to only one method of combat, that's what Anything Goes was all about.
"Just be sure not to neglect your weapon skills Ranma. There's a reason this game is called Sword Art Online, not Martial Art Online." Kasumi spoke up.
"Yeah you're right, but still, I'm going to see if I can get more martial arts while I'm here."
"Save some for the rest of us Ranma." Akane told him, making Shampoo and Ukyo laugh.
"Now that the path is clear, let's keep going. If I remember correctly, there's a quest this way I'd like to get to before someone else does." Shampoo said, walking ahead and encouraged the others to follow her.
"I thought we were looking for Kirito." Kasumi said.
"We are, but I see no reason to not do this too."
"So what's this quest you have in mind?" Ukyo asked.
"You'll see when we get there."
"Maybe we should set up camp for the night." Kasumi offered, noting that the sun was going down and the artificial moons that provided light at night were glowing back from the direction of Urbus. They couldn't yet see one for a village ahead of them.
"Probably a good idea. And we can do a cook-out. I got some good meat from a bull earlier we can cook up, I hope." Akane said.
"Let's give it a try." Kasumi said, taking some cooking equipment out of her inventory.
Some wood gathered and a fire started, and the group sat down to an open barbeque, enjoying the smell of beef cooking. Ukyo was out looking for any plants they could use to season the meat with, and Ranma was already practicing some of his new moves on some trees, which is where they got the wood for the fire from.
It seemed a lot had changed since their first night in Aincrad and yet at the same time like nothing had changed at all.
AN: Few things I want to say here to avoid any confusion. In Sword Art Online canon there was indeed a unique skill called Martial Arts, but like Dual Wielding only one player could have it. I'm thinking that since this story means the Ranma-verse and SAO-verse are combined that martial arts has a bigger impact than it did originally in SAO and therefore is not a unique skill but instead a limited skill. Kayaba would likely have known that martial arts was a big deal in parts of Japan and made an effort to incorporate it into the game on a bigger scale.
For anyone wondering why I gave Ranma Martial Arts instead of Dual Wielding, the answer is simple, Ranma is better suited for Martial Arts and Kirito is better with Dual Wielding. And while I admit Ranma had faster reaction time than Kirito could and therefore should get Dual Wielding regardless, think of this first. Dual wielding is the art of using two swords together, which requires a person to have fast reaction time when using one-handed swords like a prerequisite. And longswords would be strategically better for such a fighting style. Kirito only said that he didn't know what any prerequisite for the skill was, not that there were none to begin with. So the way I see it, Dual Wielding wouldn't go to merely the player with the fastest reaction time overall, but the player with the fastest reaction time in terms of one-handed longsword skills. Which fits Kirito to a tee. If I'm wrong, well this is my story and I say that's how it is here.