Chapter 3

"So, um, I want to ask you something," began Sinon. They were in a café in the middle of the city. She was busy sipping her soda when she said this. "What was that rifle you were using? I've never seen it before."

10th took a sip of his iced tea before replying, "It's a Type 97 Anti-Tank Rifle, though thinking of it as a rifle would usually kill the user."

Sinon blinked. "Why is that?" she asked.

"Well," began 10th, "Although it's classified as a rifle, it required a team of four to move it around because it is so heavy. The massive recoil of the rifle is able to tear your arm off if you aren't careful. People who don't level up their stats would not be able to use the rifle as a rifle. It's best to use it as a light anti-tank gun, mainly because it fires 20mm armor piercing ammunition. Semi-Automatic too."

Sinon spit out her soda in surprise. "T-Twenty millimeters!?" she exclaimed. "AND it's semi auto!?" 10th casually sipped his iced tea again.

"Yup," he said. "It still won't punch through the front of a Valentine or a Matilda, though. You got to shoot through the roof." It was right about then when a light bulb went on in 10th's head.

"Hey Sinon," said 10th. "There's a store nearby here that sells really good anti-tank weapons for a rather low price. Want me to show you?"

Sinon blinked slightly before finally saying, "Sure." The two got out of their seats. 10th led Sinon to a rather secluded store on the other side of an alleyway. Sinon got slightly worried but she let it slide. 10th then opened the door.

"Hey old man!" 10th called, "You got a customer!" From behind the counter the face of an old man popped up.

"Oh hey 10th," said the man. "What about a customer?

"Sinon here needs some decent light AT weapons," 10th explained. "She's been having trouble getting through hull armor with her .50 cal. Rifle." The man raised his eyebrows.

"Sinon? As in the GGO champion?" he asked. 10th nodded. The man leaned in closer to 10th.

"You snagged a nice one," he said with a mischievous smile.

"Shut up Al, it's not like that…"

Meanwhile, Sinon was busy looking through the various anti-tank weapons on the shelves. Most of them were World War II antiques, but they were quite capable never the less. Her eyes landed on a simple pack of C4. Then they landed on a strange looking grenade-thing.

"Hey," she called, "what exactly is this?" The man, named Al, walked over.

"Ah," he said. "That would be a rifle grenade. It attaches to the muzzle of most combat rifles and you can fire it by simply firing the rifle itself." Sinon looked at the rifle grenade like she found what she was looking for.

"I don't think it would fit on your Hecate though, Missy," Al said. Sinon's smile disappeared. Al then got up and grabbed something off the shelf. He then handed them to Sinon.

"Anti-tank grenades," he explained. "These you just need to pull the cord and throw them at the target. No attachments necessary."

"Thank you," said Sinon. "How much?" Al shook his head.

"Just take it," Al said. "It's just that…"

"… He's a fanboy," 10th butted in. Al suddenly turned around, like he was about to deck 10th. 10th, however, dodged this fist with ease and Al suddenly found an M1911 pointing at his head.

"Damn," Al said. "Beaten again." 10th just put his M1911 back in his holster. He then checked his watch.

"It's almost 6:00 am in real life," he said. "Don't you have a real shop to run Al?" Al blinked in confusion.

"… Oh shit! It's my turn today! Got to go! Bye!"

XXXXX

"Don't you have anything to do right now?" 10th asked Sinon. Sinon looked at the clock.

"Yeah, I have to leave soon," she said. "Are you?" 10th shook his head. The two walked out of the store.

"I think I'll grind a little more," he said. "I almost blew my arm off trying to use a 17pdr gun." Sinon grinned at this.

"Good luck with that." Sinon then logged off. She didn't really get much done in-game that session. At least she made a friend.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, in a secluded building somewhere in the world, a group of people gathered around a table. A man strode forward. The people around the table snapped into attention. The man gave them a salute.

"At ease," he said. "Are the preparations ready?" A man nodded.

"Yes sir," he said. "We are ready to begin." The first man smirked.

"Begin?" the man asked. "We are not here to start anything, my friend. We are here to finish our job." The man then turned around to the others.

"Gentlemen!" he announced. "Let the games begin!"

Author's notes: Hey guys! I'm not dead! Here's chapter three of SAO: the Ghost in the System. Read and review. Reviews make me want to continue.

On another note, this story will be accepting OCs of your creation. Please give me a name, age, username, gender, weapon of choice, other background information, and a method of death. Thank you, and i'll see you in the next chapter.