Chapter Nine: A THREAT OF ANARCHY
"No way, Mousse?" Shampoo asked, feeling a mixture of shock and denial at seeing her old coworker and unwanted pursuer after months of separation.
"You can't be Mousse. You look nothing like him." Ranma argued, but he and the others refused to lower their guard whether or not the member of the Army really was the myopic weapon user.
"Too bad you aren't so lucky Saotome. You still have your sorry mug." Mousse remarked smugly.
"Hold on, when did you log in?" Nabiki asked.
"About a month ago. What does it matter?"
"A month ago? You mean you were stupid enough to log in after all those news reports about players dying?" Shampoo asked, aghast.
"Well if that withered crone hadn't insisted on keeping us apart I wouldn't have to log in to get back with you Shampoo."
'Something's not right.' Nabiki thought, observing the way Mousse was looking at them. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
The male Amazon looked annoyed to be asked this. "Three, but it's a trick question because you're holding them sideways rather than pointing them up."
That was indeed the hand gesture the wolfskin girl was making. "Your eyes are normal. It makes sense, with the Nervegear sending signals to your brain there's no reason for your vision to be affected unless the visual part of your brain was damaged too. And since you didn't log in when we did, you didn't get the mirror that forced people to look like their real selves."
"What's your point Tendo?" Mousse asked, his annoyance growing.
"I'm just assessing the situation before you do something stupid."
"More stupid than logging into this game knowing the risks?" Ranma criticized.
"We logged in dude." Klein reminded him.
"Yeah, and at the time we didn't know any better. None of us did. He did know better and still chose to, all because he's obsessed with Shampoo."
"I'm only going to say this once. Shampoo come with me and leave Saotome. For good." Mousse ordered.
There was a small pause, which was soon broken by the sound of the purple-haired Beater breaking out in laughter.
"Tell me Mousse," Shampoo started when the laughter ended. "What are you going to do about it if I refuse?"
The Chinese boy frowned firmly. "Then I'm going to have to do what I've been trying to do since you got trapped in this game. Kill Saotome."
This pissed off each member of the Aincrad Wrecking Crew, including Nabiki and Kasumi. They knew that Mousse wasn't the most honorable person back in Nerima. But hearing him confess to attempting to kill Ranma when he was helpless in a hospital strapped to life support was a new low.
'Whoever has been protecting Ranma's body in real life is someone I'm going to have to thank once we get out of here.' Akane thought.
Ranma himself looked tough but smug. "That supposed to scare me Mousse? You haven't beaten me once since we've met."
"I challenge you to a duel Saotome. Right here and right now." Mousse said, pulling up a screen and sending his rival a duel request.
Now it was clear what Mousse's plan was. He was taking advantage of Ranma's refusal to turn down a challenge and force him into a fight where there was no advantage in numbers.
"Don't do it Ranma." Akane tried to advise, but the pigtailed young man tapped the Accept button anyway and a timer appeared in the air counting down from sixty seconds to give both sides time to get ready.
"I got this Akane. I know what I'm doing." He said, taking out one of his swords.
Mousse smiled in a wicked way and drew out his own sword. "You might be hot stuff when it comes to barehanded martial arts Saotome, but you're no match for me in a fight of weapons."
"Only if your game skills match your real life skills Mousse." Ranma pointed out, well aware that Mousse was counting on such an advantage to help him here. "And even if they do, they never helped you before."
All eyes were on Mousse, except for Nabiki. She was eyeing the Chinese boy's partner who had been unusually silent during all of this. And she saw him doing something with a menu screen, something she couldn't see but knew couldn't be good for them.
'He's probably alerting anyone else out here, looking for support. We gotta finish this before anyone else shows up.'
The timer reached zero and a buzzing sound was made, with a new timer starting to document how long this spar would be. Immediately the two men charged at each other, with Mousse making the louder battle cry. Swords clashed loudly against each other as both players pressed on. Ranma surprised his opponent by taking one hand off the handle and throwing a punch at Mousse's face. This of course weakened the force behind his own sword, but the punch prevented Mousse from taking advantage of that.
Ranma's in-game strength was only a fraction of his real life strength, but it was enough to accomplish what he intended right there. Mousse stumbled back and lowered his sword, giving Ranma an opening to swing at even with reduced force and land a cut on the Chinese boy. There was no blood, only a pixelated wound, and Mousse's health bar dipped by an unusually large amount, but remained in the green.
Wounds still came with pain here, though thankfully there was a Pain Suppression skill one could work on in order to not feel their injuries. Mousse unfortunately was pretty low in that skill, partly due to being so new to the game and partly because the Aincrad Liberation Army believed feeling the pain served as a better motivator to the players. So he had to cover his wound while grimacing before resuming the duel.
"Cheap shot Saotome. I'd expect nothing more from you." He hissed.
"What a shock, Mousse thinks I'm a terrible person." Ranma groaned sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He put his sword in the ground and pumped both fists before charging in, working in some of the in-game moves he had unlocked.
'What the heck?' Mousse thought, surprised, as he tried to evade the attack instinctively. 'There aren't supposed to be martial arts moves in the game. Everyone I've spoken to kept saying this game was about weapon skills, my bread and butter and something Saotome considered beneath himself. In this game I'm was supposed to be the strong one while Saotome is the bumbling joke character. Like I'm Ryu from Street Fighter and he's Dan Hibiki.'
Mousse tried to retaliate with a sword, but of course he was far from the first person to ever attack the young Saotome with a sword. The martial artist pivoted in place and successfully disarmed his opponent with a kick while his guild cheered him on.
"That's it Airen! Show that loser who's the best!" Shampoo shouted, and even though others said similar things that was the cheer that Mousse heard best.
Those words stung him more than usual. He was no stranger to Shampoo's insults and jabs, having heard them for years, and truth be told he never truly took any of them seriously. Rather he chose to see them as her way of motivating him to become stronger so he could be worthy of her. In his eyes, she wanted him to win but was too proud to flat out say it directly, so she had to do it this way all these years. Right now though, he felt more insulted than motivated. It was like she hadn't missed him at all in this time.
But he couldn't get distracted by calling her out on it. No he had to remain focused in order to win this. Ranma may be weakened by being in this game, but he was still a lowlife who not only wasn't above fighting dirty but rather relished the thought. The best way to beat this scoundrel was to fight even dirtier.
He carefully grabbed some dirt in his free hand and held his fist tight before taking out a second sword in his inventory to replace his lost one, then charged back at his enemy. Ranma took the time to regain his own sword and blocked the attack, and Mousse threw the dirt right in Ranma's face, hitting the eyes.
"Hey! That's fighting dirty!" Ukyo called out as Ranma stammered backwards, one hand trying to clear out his eyes.
"It's Mousse, to him the ends always justify the means." Akane remarked, only now recalling that out of all of them Ukyo had the least experience with the male Amazon, if any.
"Let me guess, only as long as he's the one using the means?" Ukyo asked, and Akane as well as Shampoo nodded. Ukyo then sighed. "Like so many of us back in Nerima."
Mousse took the chance to strike, Ranma pivoted but still took a good hit to his ribs that would have risked slicing his lung open in real life. He screamed and fell to his knees, but his health bar didn't drop as much as his opponent anticipated.
"No fair, that attack should have won me the duel!" Mousse protested.
"It might have if you were the same level as me." Ranma replied, getting back up and glaring at his foe. "Face it Mousse, I've been here longer. I've been in more fights and worked up my stats more. You're just not strong enough to beat me."
Incensed by the insult, Mousse moved like he was trying to sever Ranma's head for that. The pigtailed martial artist had no intention of giving the myopic boy what he wanted, so he ducked under and jabbed his sword at his unguarded legs. This attack made Mousse lose his balance in the process and fall on his face, with his health bar dropping to yellow.
'Ranma wins' appeared before them both, since the rules of dueling was that the one who reached yellow health first lost unless it was arranged preemptively as a duel to the death, which players had to be over level 40 to do. At their current level, this would have to suffice for Ranma.
And it did. "You lost Mousse. Now get lost."
But apparently, it wasn't going to suffice for the Chinese boy. Mousse got up and ignoring the pain in his virtual body, went in for another strike, paying no mind to the terms of the duel and instead focusing only on Ranma's many armorless body parts. "Die Saotome!"
The sword was immediately intercepted by numerous weapons, each held by a much faster and very unhappy woman.
"Out of my way!" He demanded.
"Do you honestly expect us to do that?" Nabiki challenged.
"None of you are real fighters. None of you can hurt me." Mousse declared, seeing just the Tendo sisters and Ukyo before him, two of which he knew were non-fighters and the other two barely adequate in his eyes.
As a result, he never saw Shampoo's fist collide with his face and knock him on his ass. Supported by one elbow and rubbing his jaw, Mousse finally noticed what he had overlooked. Shampoo was not standing off to the side like she did every time he and Ranma fought, this time she was right there, and standing next to her romantic rivals in a united front.
"What? But Shampoo, you can't seriously be defending this-"
"SHUT THE HELL UP MOUSSE!" Shampoo roared, looking like she was out for blood. "THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR!"
"Shampoo, my love, please hear me out." Mousse pleaded, getting on his knees.
"Why should I? You never hear me out! You never pay attention to one word I say or else you'd have gotten a clue by now!" Shampoo replied, walking closer and making Mousse scared.
Kenji went forward to defend his partner, but Klein's group held him at bay.
"But-" Mousse started.
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Shampoo screamed. "YOU'RE AN OBSESSIVE STALKER! I WILL NEVER LOVE YOU! NEVER!"
"You'll learn to love me once Saotome is out of the picture!" Mousse countered.
"Then why didn't I love you before he came into my life?" Shampoo argued. "Don't you dare use Airen as an excuse for your shortcomings Mousse! I hated you before I ever met him! What's your excuse for that?"
"You never gave me a chance!"
Shampoo looked ready to hit the back of his head through his nose. "Sixteen years idiot! Sixteen years! If I wanted to give you a chance I had plenty of time to!"
"The old lady wouldn't let you give me a chance! She's the one forcing you to ignore me and pursue Saotome! Without her you'd see what kind of guy I am!" Mousse added, clearly grasping for straws in his crumbling defenses.
"That's what you believe? That I can't think for myself?" Shampoo asked, adding offended to the list of her current emotions. "You claim to love me, yet you believe I'm too dumb to think for myself? I just do whatever I'm told to do? Read my lips Mousse, there's no old lady here to make me say this. I freaking hate you!"
"Then kill me!" The Chinese boy yelled, spreading out his arms to make himself a target. "If you really want me out of your life, then kill me and get it over with!"
The players from Nerima looked to the purple-haired Amazon, wondering what she'd do. Her eyes were firmly on Mousse, gauging him.
'He's not standing like a man who's given up. He's open, but he's ready to defend himself if his bluff is called. And his eyes are full of challenge, not pity. He doesn't want to die, so what does he want? For me to ask him to live? Give him that chance he thinks he never got?' She mentally laughed at that. 'No way. Even if I did give him that chance and date him, just so he couldn't say I didn't, he'd never accept any outcome other than marriage. Even if he ended up hating me, his pride would never allow him to admit all those years pursuing me were a waste.'
Shampoo stepped forward. "The Aincrad Wrecking Crew Guild is not made of PK-ers. Enough blood already has been shed for this game. We will not add to it. Go home Mousse, and just stay out of my guild's way."
Mousse lowered his arms, and looked like he had just been punched by the Chinese Amazon. Then he got mad, maybe even offended. He had finally tracked down the girl he loved in this game, hell he had entered it knowing full well the risks of doing so, all so they could be together. And she was actually happier when they were apart? Not only that, but she preferred the company of Ranma's other fiancees to him?
"You like these people more than you like me?" He asked through clenched teeth.
"Yes." Shampoo said as bluntly as possible, leaving no room for interpretation.
Enraged to the point of seeing red, all thought left the myopic boy. All that remained was the desire to make someone feel worse than himself right then. And naturally he selected Ranma to be his target.
Holding his sword firmly, Mousse charged at his hated rival with a bloodthirsty battle roar.
Rather than retaliate, the group just stepped aside, parting down the middle, leaving Mousse to go straight ahead before he caught on. However, they all had forgotten that they were right next to a cliff, and Mousse managed to stop himself right at the edge, struggling to keep his balance. He dropped his sword which fell down the cliff and tried to turn around. At this point he lost his footing thanks to his injured leg and started to fall backwards.
"I'm out of my mind." Ranma groaned to himself before rushing forward as fast as his game stats would allow, surprising everyone. Luckily he had more time to work on his speed than Mousse had, so he got there and grabbed the male Amazon's hand as he went over the edge. Ranma was pulled to the ground on his stomach while Mousse dangled from his hand off the edge, and it was a long drop down.
"You really should have just stayed home Mousse." Ranma said, trying to get some leverage to support the boy's weight. Around him the others tried to lend support and pull.
"You're absolute scum, you know that Saotome?!" Mousse yelled.
Akane glared at him. "If the roles were reversed would you be trying to save him? Or would you kick him over the edge and laugh about it? Who's the scum then Mousse?"
While this was going on, Mousse's partner Kenji stayed back but kept his eyes on the commotion. 'Okay, I got confirmation that others are coming this way. Eagle Eye's missing the big picture here. Apparently there's a place that can turn red players back to green. Such a place is too easy to take advantage of. The Army must establish control over it before one of the criminal guilds do. And if he can keep these questionable suspects occupied long enough, we'll have people to make an example out of.'
While they were pulling Mousse up, Nabiki was noticing something wrong. 'What's he doing?' She asked herself, seeing his free hand trying to reach into one of his pockets rather than for something to hold onto. Getting a bad feeling, she stealthfully took out one of her daggers while keeping her eyes on the Chinese boy.
Her suspicions turned out to be true as she saw him grip the handle of a dagger as well. He swung his arm upward, clearly intending to stab Ranma now that he was close enough to do some damage, but Nabiki jabbed her arm forward and intercepted his weapon with her own, resulting in a loud clang.
"What the heck?" Ranma asked, caught off guard only to see Mousse's weapon being blocked. Surprised, his grip loosened, and Mousse fell again. The pigtailed boy made another attempt to catch him, but this time he wasn't fast enough, and everyone watched as Mousse plummeted to the trees below, disappearing into the canopy.
"Is he dead?" Klein asked.
"I don't know, maybe he survived." Kasumi claimed with uncertainty.
"From up here it's kind of hard to tell." Ukyo added. "Either way, let's get out of here. Enough's happened tonight."
"No arguments there." Klein said with a nod.
"Hold on, none of you are going anywhere." Kenji stated finally, holding his sword in an attempt to look imposing. "You just helped kill a member of the Liberation Army and this whole area is under question."
"Dude, you're not a cop." Klein told him.
"I am a soldier of the-" Kenji started, but was cut off when Klein shoved him in the chest. He didn't fall back, but stumbled a bit in his footing. "What was that for?"
"Newsflash kid, your guild isn't in charge of this game. We don't have to listen to you. No guild does."
"Klein-sempai, less talking more going." Kasumi called out to him. Everyone in the Aincrad Wrecking Crew guild was ready to leave, but they weren't going to leave the Furinkazan guild behind.
"Right." The bandit-looking leader agreed. "Think about how much authority you really have before you act like you have it all." He added to Kenji just before he and his group turned away and ran off right next to the other guild.
"Shouldn't we be using a crystal?" Issin asked.
"We're all out for teleporting. We have to get home the hard way. If you guys have any feel free to use them." Kasumi answered as they reached a slope to take them back downhill.
"No way. There's bound to be more of these guys who think they're the game's police out here looking for us. You're not facing them alone." Klein protested.
"Then everyone keep quiet and get to the next town." Nabiki added.
With effort, Mousse pulled himself onto his feet to lean against a tree, breathing heavily. His whole body hurt, the worse it had in his entire time in the game. Looking at his HP, he saw he had ten points left.
"How did I survive that fall?" He asked himself, trying to recall anything specific about his fall down the cliff. The only thing he could think of that might possibly explain his lack of death was the brief time he managed to grab a tree branch and stop his fall for a few seconds before his grip slipped and he fell the rest of the way. Maybe the game registered his fall as from a tree instead of from a cliff, and so the impact was lessened.
"I'm still alive, and I'm coming for you Saotome. No matter where you go in this game, I will find you. And I will kill you. And Shampoo, she will learn to love me whether she likes it or not." He paused for a moment and tried to stand without support. "But for now, I need to get back to Headquarters."
Mousse then pulled up his menu, and alerted those in his guild that he was in need of assistance.
The Aincrad Wrecking Crew and Furinkazan guilds managed to make it to a town on Floor One called Inamu that was more of a settlement than an actual town, but it had a teleport gate and that's what they really needed. They were lucky to have avoided any patrols from the Army but were still in a hurry to get away while they could, and both groups teleported to the town of Emon on Floor Three.
"Alright, we're safer now. The Army's going to have to check everywhere if they really want to find us, and frankly I think now that we're not on Floor One we're not worth the effort for them anymore." Nabiki analyzed.
"This sure has been an eventful day hasn't it?" Klein said lightheartedly.
"That it has." Kasumi replied with a yawn. "But I'd like to go to bed now if that's alright."
"No problem. We could all use some rest." Klein agreed, stretching his arms over his head. "Contact us if you guys ever want to do this again."
With a few more goodbyes Klein's group went back on the teleport gate and went off to their own base, or rather as close as it would allow them to go. The Nerimans left Emon and took the road that would lead them to their farmhouse home, as always wary of any field monsters that might spring up. Fortunately the only ones who did were easy to kill, making the journey relatively easy.
When they got home the lights were out, telling them Tofu was asleep. Not wanting to wake him, them all silently went to their own rooms and crashed.
Tofu was the first to wake up the next morning, and proceeded to make the game's version of coffee. It worked as a perk in the morning, though as a doctor he suspected the effect was psychosomatic. There was no actual caffeine in it, though it was possible the NerveGear was triggered to stimulate the nervous system a little more when drinking it. Either way, it was nice to have coffee in the morning still.
He heard footsteps and turned around, expecting to see Kasumi but instead a still exhausted Nabiki. "Give me some of that." She requested, rubbing her eyes with one hand.
He poured her a cup and held it out. "How late were you kids out last night? I never even heard you return."
"Don't remember." The mercenary said before downing the beverage then sitting down at the table. "But it was a hectic night."
"Must be if you're awake before everyone else for once." Tofu commented, having learned over their time in the game that Nabiki wasn't what one would call a morning person.
"I have to be up early. I've got something to do today that really needs to be done."
"Oh, what's that?"
"I'll explain later. No sense in doing it now if it doesn't work." She then got back up and secured her wolf pelt was in place. "Tell everyone I'll be back later and not to worry."
Rather than ask questions, the doctor nodded. Nabiki took an apple for something to munch on, and left the house, pulling up a menu as she strolled down the path back to Emon.
Inside the town she headed for a building that looked like a church. This was known as a place for obtaining rather unique quests. They were all simple, go find a certain location on Floor Three and fight a local monster, ones that the Aincrad Wrecking Crew had no problem doing to kill a day. The unique part was always the prizes at the end. Bottles of holy water, wooden stakes, silver knives, all things that seemed to be designed for fighting undead NPCs. Which hadn't appeared on Floor Three, and made the quests seem rather unnecessary. At least until players went to Floor Five, and did encounter some undead field monsters in certain areas of the vast forested floor. It led to the rumor that Floor Five itself had been inspired by the infamous suicide forest of Aokigahara.
Ignoring the quest board, Nabiki sat on a bench in the shade and waited. After a while someone wearing a hooded cloak came to her.
"I'm surprised to see you by a church Nabs. Aren't you afraid you'll burst into flames?"
"If you're safe then I'm safe." Nabiki replied with a smile. "Thanks for showing up on short notice Argo."
"So what's on your mind? Let me guess, you finally decided to build up your little empire again?" Argo asked, sitting down on the bench beside her and removing her hood.
The mercenary shook her head. "No, it's not worth the effort to obtain blackmail material on thousands of people here who are all armed and willing to fight back. But there is a project I want to give a try, and I need someone who understands how I think to help me make it work."
Argo checked her fingernails. "What kind of project?"
"I need to get some people's attention, in a way that guarantees they cannot ignore me."
Argo slowly looked to her old classmate. "Nabs, have you forgotten that my specialty was staying hidden?"
"I remember Argo. You're half the reason I was able to get so much information back at Furinkan in the first place. You've got a knack for knowing which rumors to listen to and which to ignore. And you were a beta tester. That's why I need you. I need to know a few things about Floor Seven."
Argo raised an eyebrow. "Don't you already have a beta tester in your guild? Why not ask her?"
"She needs plausible deniability for this. Whether my plan works or fails, there's going to be some backlash and the best outcome is my guild can at least claim it wasn't involved in my plans."
"Wow Nabs, I never thought I'd see the day where you'd take a bullet for someone."
"Well, a good portion of my guild is family, so there's that."
Argo shifted in her seat a bit. "You've got my attention. What do you have in mind?"
"What can you tell me about Floor Seven? In particular the boss dungeon." Nabiki asked.
"Floor Seven? Well, back in the beta days I never got past Floor Six. Never even got to the boss tower. From what I've inquired on it from beta testers who did make it that far, the weird thing about it was that there were virtually no quests on that floor."
Nabiki blinked and arched an eyebrow. "No quests? A floor that has virtually nothing for us to do?"
Argo nodded. "Yes. The beta testers speculate that it must have been a bug in the programming at the time. The landscape was rather bland and flat, and there were barely any quest posts to find. It made gaining experience or items there virtually impossible, so those that found the seventh boss were only about as strong as they were when they fought the sixth one unless they backtracked first to build up experience the only way they could."
"Which means the game designers fixed the bug and right now Floor Seven could be virtually anything." Nabiki noted.
Argo nodded. "That's what I'm guessing. As for the boss itself and its dungeon, I'd expect that to be anything as well. My advice is wait to see it yourself. But if I can tell you anything, those that talked about it all agreed it was in the exact center of the floor."
"That's something." Nabiki commented.
"Need anything on Floor Eight?" Argo asked.
Nabiki shook her head. "No not yet. As tough as it's going to be, I need to try what I'm doing as soon as possible to solve the problem. Hell I'd do it on Floor Six if I thought I could get it done in time."
"Just what is it you're planning Nabs? What can you do that will get the attention of roughly 8,000 people?" Argo asked.
Nabiki grinned. "I'm going to put the game on pause."
Argo looked incredibly confused. "Put the game on pause? Nabs, is your NerveGear on too tight?"
"I'm serious. I need something that will get people's attention, and this certainly will."
"But why?"
"There's a big problem here in the game that we need to fix. And it has to be fixed a certain way." Nabiki started. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we have no form of government in this game. No law, no order, no form of civilized structure. We've been living by game rules and standards 24/7 since Login Day, and I'm thinking that's destroying our sense of civilization. Slowly turning us into barbarians."
Argo didn't respond right away. "Go on." She said when she finally did.
"I'm sure you've noticed something Argo. People becoming less civilized, thinking one guild has authority over another, willing to break the law because there technically are no laws anymore and no prisons anywhere even if there were. If we don't do something about it, we'll regress back to before the Warring States Era and live by might making right."
"To be fair I have noticed something like that." Argo stated. "Some of the guilds are acting like roadside bandits, and there's rumors of this unofficial guild of nothing but PK-ers."
"Unofficial guild?" Nabiki repeated.
Argo nodded. "Yeah, from what I've heard, this guild's not on the active roster. It's more a guild in name only, but if the rumors are true, there's supposed to be a cluster of players who go around killing other players for fun. Especially the beta testers."
"Kinda dangerous for a solo player like yourself then." Nabiki commented.
"I can handle myself here Nabs. Remember I'm the better gamer of the two of us. Anyway, what does all this have to do with, how you say, putting the game on pause?"
"We need law and order restored, and we need a way of maintaining it. Right now, the Army guild seems to be assuming that it's the one in charge of the game, able to impose their rules on the rest of us. And they're likely not the only ones. The Holy Dragon Alliance tried to limit how many people could get into Floor Five when it opened. Other guilds are going to challenge these guys eventually, and it's going to lead to more deaths and anarchy. Bigger guilds are going to start bullying smaller guilds over hunting grounds, gaining quests, and making any progress."
"You're not wrong Nabs, but I don't think people are going to accept what you're proposing." The whiskered player replied. "Most players here don't seem to mind living by game rules. It makes them feel powerful, they're not going to give that up. Even more than that, everyone wants to get out of this game as soon as possible. I don't think anyone is interested in making being here more comfortable. No more than having a warm place to sleep and food in our stomachs. I think they're willing to put up with a little anarchy if it means we can get out of here sooner rather than later."
"And that attitude will doom us." Nabiki pointed out. "If we don't make any attempts to keep ourselves civilized then we'll all kill each other before the game gets close to ending. Besides, degenerating social order too much will affect us all when we finally do end the game. How will we readjust to real life again?"
"Look Nabs, I agree with you that what you're suggesting be done is in the long run the best thing. The problem is making it happen. You yourself said part of the problem is each of the big guilds is pretending they're already in charge of us all. You think making that authority official is going to make everyone happy? It's more likely going to lead to war."
"Who said that was my plan?" Nabiki asked.
Argo lightly frowned. "Then what exactly is your plan, if it's not too much fun to toy with me?"
"So Eagle Eye, what can you tell me about last night?" A man who went by the name Thinker asked. He was a brown-haired man who looked to be close to turning 30 if he hadn't already, and he was the founder of the Aincrad Liberation Army guild. He wasn't dressed in the standard armor at the moment, instead sporting a grey trenchcoat over a white shirt and blue pants, sword strapped to his waist like usual.
At the moment he was seated at a desk, with a healed and rested Mousse seated across from him.
"A number of us went out searching last night to catch a spotted red cursor player. I had a good idea who this player was, and was lucky enough to find them. Turns out I was right, it was an old friend of mine named Shampoo. She's also a former beta tester for this game."
"What happened?" Thinker asked.
"My friend Shampoo seems to have been spending this game with a very very bad crowd. It's likely they forced her to kill someone and she was trying to get away, maybe seek us out for help, but the group dragged her away before she could."
Thinker put a hand on his chin. "What about the other witnesses who claim that only one person had a red cursor? And that said player actively refused to come peacefully?"
"Possibly someone mistaken or taking something out of context." Mousse suggested. "The important thing is I found her, and tried to tell her that leaving that group and coming to us was in her best interests. However the asses of the group prevented that and tried to kill me. It's only the fact that I'm a better fighter than them that I managed to survive."
"Yet you weren't able to capture any of them?" Thinker asked.
Mousse shifted a bit. "I wasn't aware we were supposed to capture anyone. We were just searching for a red player and their company."
"So what would you have done if the red player was not this Shampoo person?" Thinker tested. Mousse had no answer, as if he hadn't even considered the possibility. "Let's stick to what's important here. Why did this red player come to Town of Beginnings?"
"I don't know. Maybe they just needed to get to Floor One for something and this was the easiest place to teleport to." Mousse suggested. "I wasn't able to get them to tell me what they were doing that night."
"Is this red player a threat to anyone in town?" Thinker asked.
Mousse shook his head. "No, Shampoo's no threat. It's everyone else in her group that deserves to be executed."
"Why?"
"They're all the worst kind of people you could ever come across. I don't know their in-game names so I can't help you identify them that way, but I know them well. There's a boy in there that's the worst of them all. He leads on multiple girls at a time, including Shampoo, and is physically and emotionally abusive to them all. I suspect he's also been raping them this whole time and making them believe they want it."
'Something tells me this guy is exaggerating, or flat out lying.' Thinker thought, detecting enough hate in his subordinate's tone to tell him the Chinese boy was heavily biased, and not above muckraking for the sheer heck of it. "And the others?"
"Not as bad, but still horrible people. There's a girl who seems to believe being born a male is a punishable offense, yet somehow finds the slimy bastard endearing. Another girl who likes him, and from what I know she likely bribes him with food to make him hurt the others more than herself. There's another girl who's a complete bitch, she'd sell her own mother if she could. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out she already did. The last one... honestly I can't think of anything wrong with her, but she's keeping them as company so she's got to have some kind of terrible secret."
"So you claim this group is made of degenerate, borderline criminal people who are a danger to society, both in-game and real life?" Thinker asked, and Mousse nodded. "So then, why is this Shampoo girl the exception? Especially considering that of the group she's the only one who had a red cursor."
"Sir, she's being forced to be with them. They're all taking advantage of her experience as a beta tester to get better in this game, and once that's all gone she'll be in danger." Mousse argued.
"And you know this how?" Thinker asked.
"Sir?"
"You don't know their in-game names. You don't know what they came to Floor One for or where they've gone. And you don't know what you would have done had it been someone else you found. The only things you have said with any certainty have been insults. Eagle Eye, it's clear to me that you are unprofessionally biased on this subject."
"But sir-"
"No Eagle Eye. My only concern about this player was if they were a threat to the people in this town. I started this guild so that we can protect and provide for those afraid to play the game. To decrease the amount of player deaths and improve quality of life while we're here. If this player isn't a threat, then I see no reason to pursue the matter any further. If they are, they will return and I will have someone far less biased than you handle it."
Mousse was not happy to hear this. "Sir, with all due respect, I need to be involved. It has to be me that saves her from those bastards."
"That is exactly why you cannot be involved. You're taking this too personally and you're insisting on a specific result, ignoring other possibilities. As a result, I cannot take your profiles of these people seriously. My official decision on the matter is it's no longer important, and if this group does reappear near here no harm is to come to them until I personally speak with them. Is that clear?"
Mousse frowned. "I can't make any promises sir. This group is scum and not above attacking me out of spite. I will fight back if provoked."
Thinker looked at the Chinese boy firmly. "Can you promise to not be the one doing the provoking?"
Mousse refused to respond.
"I think we're done here. Go about your day soldier." Thinker dismissed him, and Mousse left. "Now let's see what Kenji has to say."
"Do you have any idea how much money you'd make selling water out here?" Argo asked as she and Nabiki sat in the desert house on Floor Six, drinking some water from the hidden spring.
"Believe me, the thought had crossed my mind. Though given the current progress of the game, Floor Six should be over in a couple of days and most people will avoid it as much as possible." Nabiki replied, trying to get comfortable. It was still warm, but cooler than it was outside.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that." Argo said. "From what I've heard, this floor's giving a lot of players some trouble. The terrain is hard to handle, that's obvious, but the quests all seem to be based on riddles."
"Hmm... we found a riddle in the sand earlier and one thing led to another and my guild ended up with this place." Nabiki added, looking around and wondering not for the first time if it was worth more to make it habitable and a sort of weekend house or simply sell it to someone who wanted it full time. "So more are like that?"
Argo nodded. "From what I've heard, it's all of them. I tried one the other day. Something about finding a needle in a cactus patch."
Nabiki whistled. "Bet that was as fun as it sounded."
Argo shrugged. "I'm not sure the reward was worth it. I got a vial of poison that apparently I can equip to a sword to give it a poison bonus for three minutes. Those that get cut get a decrease in Pain Suppression, slower movement in the affected body part, and continuously draining HP until treated. Though it won't work on a player with a Toxin Immunity skill of 80 or more."
"Seems like a handy tool if you can get it ready in time. Three minutes doesn't allow for much preparation." Nabiki replied.
"Anyway, we didn't come here to talk about quests. You wanted to tell me what your plan was in a place where no one could hear us." Argo reminded her old classmate. Well, technically they didn't actually share any classes, but they were in the same grade so it was a close enough term to use.
Nabiki was about to speak, but her eyes widened a bit then she looked away, her expression showing that she was trying to figure something out. "Say Argo, you wouldn't happen to know the best way to get to the tower from here now would you?"
"What are you planning Nabs?" Argo asked.
"I'm thinking maybe I can set up my scheme earlier, if my hunch is accurate. But I need to get to the tower. And I need to do it fast."
Argo simply gave a firm look. "Tell me your idea Nabs, or I'm outta here."
With a smile, the wolf-skin mercenary told her fellow merchant of information what her intention was, and the goal she hoped to achieve from it. All the while Argo said not a word.
When she was finished, Argo first didn't know how to react, but slowly smiled. "Nabs, you've had a lot of twisted ideas in the time I've know you. But this might be your magnum opus."
"You okay Shampoo?" Ranma asked. All day long the Chinese girl had sat around the farm house, doing some exercises but overall not looking very lively. At the moment she was out in the farm portion of their portion, dealing with some weeds that would sprout up every few days unless tended to.
"I'll be fine Airen. I'm just working through all my thoughts about having killed that guy. Just because I've been redeemed doesn't mean I don't still have some guilt over it." She replied. "That experience in the shack helped me a bit, but I still need to come to terms with it."
"I know how you feel." He said, crouching down next to her. "I felt pretty bad after killing Saffron. I don't regret it, but I hate that I had to do it."
"I'm feeling the same way." Shampoo said.
Akane came out along with Tofu. "Hey guys, thinking it's about time we put this field to work and actually grow something?"
"Yes, but what?"
"Something to eat. No reason to grow flowers or anything like that."
"Some medical herbs or ingredients wouldn't be a bad idea though." Tofu added.
"Good thinking Doc." Ranma said.
Shampoo stood up and dusted off her hands. "Alright, someone write a list of all preferred options, then we can see if we can find any seeds and equipment in town."
"You kids do realize that farming will mean you can't go on quests as much as you did before right?" Tofu asked. "Personally I'm grateful for this. It will give me something to do around here all day. But I can't do it all on my own."
"We'll work something out. Alternating days and shifts, plant that don't require constant attention, that sort of thing. Besides, we still have to hunt for our meat and find new quests for money." Shampoo claimed. "Now get in here and start pulling weeds. It'll help your Gardening skills, which I'm assuming you need to farm anything worth eating."
The others nodded, but a screen appeared in front of Akane. "Huh? It's from Nabiki." Tapping it, a virtual text screen appeared before her.
"Hey sis tell everyone I'm going to be out longer than expected. Maybe even all night. I'll contact regularly to let you all know I'm okay. And yes, I will be using some of the money in the shared treasury. Don't wait up for me."
Satisfied, Akane closed the screen. "Nabiki says she's going to be taking some free time for a bit. I don't know what she's doing, but usually with her I don't want to know."
"I just hope she's not taking pictures of anyone." Ranma mentioned.
Being sure not to travel during the heat of the day, Nabiki and Argo went out into the desert during the night. Before that, they passed the time by going to some towns and purchasing supplies from them, some in one town and some from another. This was mostly a precaution, so no one who was nosy enough to take an interest in them would figure out what they were doing.
One of the more handy purchases was a set of shoes for each of them specifically designed to make trekking through the sand easier. After their little experience with the quicksand Nabiki was more than willing to pay for them despite the price. It almost seemed to boost their speed over sand, though maybe that was simply a side effect rather than a direct benefit.
Up ahead the tower that connected Floor Six to Seven could be seen on the horizon, the color of the Egyptian pyramids. At the base was a swirling cloud of sand that sounded like a dry roar.
"This is where things get tricky." Argo said, taking out a map she bought in one of the towns. "Apparently there's only one route you can actually take to get to the tower from here, and if you go off it a sandstorm will spring up and send up to a random spot anywhere else in the desert. And the only way to find the route, other than lots of trial and error, is buying a map in town."
"Considering they aren't exactly advertised as such, I wonder how long it will take players to catch on."
"Oh, it will take a long time if you catch my drift." Argo replied with a grin.
Nabiki thought it over, then realized what her friend was getting at. "You didn't."
Argo simply nodded. "You're not the only one with smart ideas Nabs."
The path to the tower may have been safe, but it was still treacherous. They had to jump from one rock to another at one point to avoid a swarm of snakes in the sand, and were attacked by some strange creatures that looked like red jackals. Fighting them off wasn't too bad except for the fact they kept hiding in the sand, though the two girls chose to get past that part of the path rather than stay to fight them all.
Wind started to kick up and soon they were at the edge of the sandstorm. Both girls tried to shield their faces from the wind and sand with their hoods as they entered, though it was hard to do it. Each had to keep a hand near their eyes to keep the sand out, but it was still hard to see.
"Here's where it gets tricky!" Argo yelled, having to over the wind. She pointed ahead. "You see that?!"
Nabiki squinted as best she could. "Is that a pole?!"
Argo glanced at her map. "It says we're supposed to follow those through the storm, but there's more than one path to take, and of course the wrong one will send us out of here! But the map doesn't tell us which path! We might be on our own for that!"
'Oh joy.' Nabiki snidely thought.
The wind made it hard for them to walk straight, but they had to fight it lest they go too far off the programmed safe route and be taken away. They got to the pole, which wasn't an actual pole but instead a stone obelisk the height of a street light, and carved on the base was an Egyptian symbol of a man making the stereotypical pose one sees in such symbols, facing to the right. A glance over the obelisk showed no other marks.
"See any others?" Argo asked, looking around trying to see more obelisks in the distance for at least a clue of where to go from here.
Nabiki however kept her eyes on the symbol, glancing to the right of the obelisk briefly, before sighing. "Might as well, what do I have to lose?" She said quietly to herself, then tugged Argo's cloak. "Let's try this way!" She shouted, and the two girls headed right.
The trek continued as it had before, windy and grating with a struggle to get in a straight line, but to their fortune, another obelisk could be seen up ahead. With another Egyptian symbol, this time facing left.
"That's the secret, follow the symbols." Nabiki said, though she had to repeat herself a little louder when Argo didn't hear the first time.
This led to what essentially amounted to a maze in the sandstorm without walls. The obelisks led them along a path full of turns and the occasional straight ahead portion, and it seemed to encircle the entire tower before actually letting them get to the entrance. But with perseverance, the two made it to their destination, the tower entrance.
"Nice to be out of the wind." Argo commented when they went inside, glad to be able to speak at a normal volume again.
"I wonder how long it will take to get the sand out of... well, everywhere." Nabiki added, taking off her wolf skin and dusting it while looking around.
So far the entrance halls to each tower reflected on the maze interior as well as the boss room. The one on Floor One was designed to resemble an extravagant European castle, much like the room Illfang the Kobold Lord was found in. Floor Five's entrance hall and tower looked more like what one would expect out of an old-fashioned Japanese shrine. This hall immediately gave off the impression of having entered a pyramid. It was cavernous with beige stone walls that looked like they were crumbling in spots, yet were likely immortal objects like most walls, and covered in hieroglyphics that most likely were there just for design.
On the far wall was a large statue carved into the wall, resembling a stereotypical Egyptian pharaoh or sarcophagus standing upright. On each side of it was an archway with a staircase going up. A closer look at the statue showed that the stomach was essentially hollowed out into four small but identical portions.
"Almost looks like something's supposed to go there." Nabiki noted.
"Here's a clue." Argo pointed out, while literally pointing to above the hollows. There was a golden plaque on the statue, this one not covered with hieroglyphics but legible writing. It was hard to read from this angle, so Argo had to step back and utilize one of her vision skills for a better view.
"Four taken upon death will guide the way to your ascension."
"So we have to find four things in this tower, bring them here, and like keys they'll take us to the boss room?" Nabiki asked. "Alright, I can work with this."
Morning came and the door to the farm house opened, with a tired Nabiki walking in.
"There you are. Just where were you all night young lady?" Kasumi, up and making breakfast, demanded to know in the firmest tone she could muster.
"I'm not saying anything until after I get a bath." The mercenary replied before heading upstairs, grateful not for the first time that this house had plumbing.
Kasumi watched her sister walk away, then simply shrugged and went back to her work.
A few days passed and things were normal for the guild. There were no signs of Mousse tracking them, or the Liberation Army doing the same for that matter. The desert house was being made livable for part time habitation, and lots of progress was being done to the farm field. It was peaceful and let the players feel like they had a semblance of a normal life, rather than being unwillingly trapped in virtual reality.
"Umm Shampoo?" Ukyo said when everyone was getting ready to go out on a hunt in one of the forests. In her hands was the Aincrad newsletter. "You might want to see this."
Shampoo took it and in no time her eyes widened.
Meeting for All Guild Leaders Requested
We all expected the game to get a little more difficult with each level of progression. Even the most rookie of gamers could tell you that. However, it appears that things might be getting harder than expected much sooner, and it's likely the cause of some maniacal player with an unknown agenda.
Players have been expressing a lot of difficulty in merely getting to the Floor Six tower lately, and some have mentioned that there is a map to aide in that. However, all current maps available for this have gone missing. Shops where known copies were sold all now claim to be sold out, revealing that the map in question was a finite resource and now only a handful of players have in their possessions. Is this the work of sabotage? Or was the resource much smaller in quantity than originally estimated? For now, we can only speculate.
For those that can make it to the tower, the most notable thing is a large banner tied to one of the walls that is said to look very out of place. As if put there by a player or group of players. It says 'Bring all guild leaders together for a meeting. Only then will it be possible to get to Floor Seven'. Needless to say some players ignored this and attempted to explore the tower. Comments from said players implicate that this tower requires a sort of treasure hunt to complete, but progress on said hunt has proven inconclusive.
Is this part of some new event in the game where the guild leaders are required to progress the game? A ploy by some PK-ers to eliminate the most influential players? Some joke by a bored player or guild?
Leader of the Aincrad Liberation Army guild Thinker has offered to host such a meeting at the Black Iron Palace in the Town of Beginnings this Saturday at 9:00 AM. All guild leaders who wish to attend may do so and can bring along their second-in command. No leader will be held accountable by the Aincrad Liberation Army if they decline to show up. It is our hope that whatever the intention of this recent event is will make itself known at this meeting.
"This... makes no sense." Shampoo said to herself when she was done reading. Everyone else looked it over.
"It's got to be a trap." Akane said.
"It's not a trap." Nabiki countered. "Think about it. The Army is the one hosting this meeting right? If they were setting up a trap why do it this way? In fact, why go about it in a way guaranteed to get people's attention?"
"You got a point, but still, something about this feels off." Ukyo commented. "What is this meeting about?"
"The only way to know is to attend." Shampoo said with a sigh.
"Shampoo, isn't Mousse part of the guild in charge of where this meeting will be?" Ranma asked.
"I'm aware of that Airen, but what can he do that he hasn't already done? Besides, any attack on one of us is going to snowball into an all-out brawl among everyone there. If Mousse attacks me, assuming he's still alive, he's only risking his life again like that. I'll go, but not without teleportation crystals or my weapons in case things get too much for my liking. Who wants to go with me?"
"I'll do it." Nabiki offered. "Things might get a little heated there, so you might need a good debater there."
Shampoo had a strange look of both annoyed and pleased. "Oh, you think I can't make a good debate when I have to?"
"Oh I'm sure you can. I'm just saying I can do it better, and yes I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is."
"Bet that's the one thing you've never done with money before, but alright, you can come along." Shampoo replied, earning a few chuckles from the others.
Player stats
Akane = Lvl 23
Kasumi = Lvl 24
Nabiki = Lvl 23
Ranma = Lvl 25
Shampoo = Lvl 24
Ukyo = Lvl 23
Tofu = Lvl 16
Mousse/Eagle Eye = Lvl 11
Klein = Lvl 23
Argo = Lvl 22