"Yup, that's definitely him." Ezra said to himself. He sat on one end of the stone amphitheater amongst some other players. His Halberd was still in his hand since apparently he couldn't unequip it. The people around him chatted half heartedly as they waited for the meeting to begin. Ezra counted forty four people including himself. Only forty four people willing to fight the first boss.

A man dressed in blue took the stage and called everyone's attention. After a brief introduction and some laughing at his self proclaimed role as a knight he started the meeting. He had just announced that his party had found the boss chamber and was going to proceed onto some kind of motivational speech when a familiar gruff voice interrupted him.

"Hang on a sec, Sir Knight." Kibaou called out. He came onto the stage with Diavel the knight. "Gotta get this offa my chest before we can play pretend-friends." Ezra's eyebrow twitched, finding Kibaou's attitude to be a tad bit on the unsavory side. He let it slide however because Diavel seemed to allow it and he didn't want to get involved. The knight bade the cactus haired hot head to continue. Kibaou grunted and introduced himself before continuing. There gotta be five or ten folks in this midst that owe us an apology first."

"Apology? To whom?" Diavel asked, gesturing with his hands grandly.

Kibaou spat angrily on the ground. "Hah! Ain't it obvious? To the two thousand people who already died. Two thousand people died because they hogged everythin' to them selves! Ain't that right?!"

Anyone who was still talking fell silent. Ezra spared a glance at Kazuto, worried what he was thinking. Kazuto was keeping his cool rather well, keeping to a discrete teeth grinding. Already foreseeing the inevitable fight/ riot that would happen, he excused himself and left. Kazuto watched him go and he averted his gaze.

"Leaving already, Ezio?"

Ezra paused. "What do you want, squeak?" He asked without turning around. "My wallet is kind of empty from your low price simple walkthrough last time."

Argo chuckled. "My information was just what you asked for, wasn't it?" She cackled when he didn't answer. "Maybe you want to talk somewhere we can't be heard."

"How do you know I want to talk? Scratch that. Just come with me." Argo's grin reminded him to much of a mouse, especially with those whiskers. When he had first met her earlier in the day he had mistaken her for a helpful little girl. He knew better now.

"What's it yah want to know to now, Ezio my boy."

Ezra raised an eyebrow. "Assassins creed reference? So you're a gamer too." Argo gave him the shit eating grin that she had given him after her first meeting with him and gestured to the town around them. "Okay, a point to you. We're all gamers here."

Argo started to strut backwards in front of him, expertly maneuvering through the street without hitting a thing. Ezra half expected to see a message that said rear view mirrors engaged hovering in front of her. "What's the score now?"

Ezra opened his notes. "By my count it's 15:2, in your favor." He closed them with a smile of his own. "You have the speech skill. I'd pay a lot of money to get my hands on that." They both laughed, the joke still as effective as when it was first made.

"I wish." Argo said. "I'd sell you my info, but I think you're a little low on col." She noticed Ezra's grimace. "Still sore over that huh?"

"A little. My dinner money is gone and I don't know any good quests." An idea popped into his head. "Hey, how about a deal. You tell me a quest that will help me with my food problem and I'll take you with me. I'll do the fighting and you get the spoils of the final reward."

"And how would that solve your problem?" Argo asked, confused. "I'd end up getting the loot and you would be stuck with nothing."

"Ah, but there's where you're wrong." Ezra held up a finger as if he were a teacher lecturing a student. "We won't party together. So I'll get all all the col and experience while you get whatever high value loot you want." What he didn't tell her was that he would get the knowledge of a quest with good loot that he could redo later at his convenience. Free information from the self proclaimed best info dealer around. Bragging rights anyone?

"Well, I guess I know of a quest." Argo said slowly. "It takes a long time to complete, but I've heard that it has a really Sweet reward."

"Okay. Where is it?" He halted in his tracks as Argo opened her mouth. "Scratch that. Just lead the way. And make it fast."

"Oh, he's learned to speak!" She cackled. "Okay then. Keep up if you can." She seemingly vanished into thin air only to reappear farther down the street to taunt him.

"You know, if it weren't so expensive," Ezra said to himself as he raced after the rat. "I'd ask this girl to party up." He'd actually grown a liking to Argo, but didn't trust her with anything personal. "She's worse than the Internet."

"Note to self. Never ask the rat to join you." Ezra grumbled to himself. It was almost ten at night by the time he managed to get back to town. Thanks to his quality weapon, he had flown through enemies and barely slowed down when picking up the quest item. All the time Argo watched him, occasionally throwing in a pun free of charge. Ezra would always respond in kind, the friendly banter of one ups following often lasting quite a while before one of them faltered, usually Ezra.

"Hey, I only said that the reward was sweet." Argo said, biting into her bread. She had covered to top in a thick layer of cream which they had gained from the quest. "Never actually said that it would be valuable."

Ezra watched longingly as the info dealer devoured her tasty treat. The simple sandwich that he had bought paled in comparison. He sighed and continued to eat, feeling no less than a little cheated.

"Your the real fool in the end." Argo said as she wiped her mouth. "I knew you were trying to get valuable information for free. This way you earn your info."

Ezra sighed. "Figures." He cast another longing look at Argo's food before he resigned himself to his loss. "Might as well get down to business."

"How so?" Argo asked. "I already received my letter. Or do you want my help again?"

"I want you to add me to your friends list." Ezra said. "That way if anyone asks about me you can send them my way. Make some money off the side too, by my reckoning."

"You know me well enough already." Argo said, pleased with him. "I sense a good partnership in our future." They shook hands to seal the deal. "So, I'm pretty sure you didn't take me on a date just for money. What did you want to ask?"

"It wasn't a date. Don't you dare go spreading false information."

Argo cackled at his aggressive response. "Relax, Ezio. Your not my type."

"And stop calling me Ezio. My name is Ezra." Ezra collected himself, calming down before her relentless puns wore him down. "Kirito. Tell me how he's been doing in here."

"Ah, so it's Ki-boy that you want to know about. 500 col." Ezra paid up and Argo continued. "Yeah, he's been a loner since the start. Doesn't really interact much with people. In fact, he kind of stopped trusting them all together. I think he's shouldered the burden of the game since he feels responsible as a beta tester."

"Hmm. So you knew." Ezra grunted. "I remember a certain player in the beta with whiskers."

"You were in the beta to?" Argo asked. Ezra shook his head.

"Naw. Me and Kirito know each other in the real world. Near the end of the beta he let me on. I've been in his debt ever since." Ezra grinned, remembering Kazuto's enjoyment when he had come out from an hour session. After that all they had talked about was Sao, even with Suguha. "I should probably meet with him soon. His sis would kill me if I didn't do as she said." Sugu had given him the task of beating the shit out of her brother. Well, she had used a more profound way of saying it, but he shuddered at the idea of concrete blocks and nail mats. "She was angry with grief when she found out I'd carry her message."

"Oh, so he has that kind of sister." Argo said, her face that of one trying to evaluate the price of an item.

"No, he doesn't." Ezra told her, saving his friends reputation. "She was just grieving. People change when their in that state."

"Hmm?" Argo's grin grew into that of a teasing level. "You sure jumped to defend her. You like her then?"

"Not a chance." Era shot her down like an anti-aircraft gun. "We've been friends since we were kids. Besides, I like her more as a sister I never had than as a girlfriend. Same for Ka-, I mean Kirito."

Argo was about to respond when she was suddenly distracted by something James couldn't see. She opened up her menu and read a quick PM before closing it. "Meeting results are in. They're taking the boss tomorrow."

"You going?" Ezra asked her. She shook her head.

"No. You?"

"Wasn't planning on it." He pointed a finger at his weapon. "I was going to level some before the second floor is opened. I can't use anything else until then."

Argo's eyes lit up. "Ooh, is that The Red Claw? I'll sell you the quest info. It won't be cheep though."

"How did you know that was my weapons name?" Ezra asked. Argo held up three fingers and he sighed, pulling out 300 col and tossing it too her.

Argo caught the coin and slipped it into her pocket. "Thank ye. I'm keeping it cheep because nobody really knows to much about it. It's an extremely rare item that only appears once in the game. There are too things that don't make it a piece of junk. Usually people replace weapons and armor later because the game is to strong for them, just like an average game." She stopped and held out her hand. "Another thousand for the rest."

Ezra paid. "However, this weapon's abilities got it patched out in the beta." Argo explained. "Once you beat the quest it gets a major stat boost. Like, 200% stronger. That itself is great and all, but it would still become obsolete later on. The real magic is its second ability. Infinite upgrade potential."

"Wait a minute." Ezra said, halting her before she could continue. "This thing has no upgrade potential."

"That's before the quest completion." Argo told him. "If you let me come along I'll tell you more."

"Fine." Ezra said. "Spill it."

"Okay. The quest supposedly takes you to an instance dungeon where you kill a dragon. The guy who got it in the beta never finished it because the dragon was on level of a floor five monster."

"Then how do you know about the weapon stats after the quest?"

"When the GM removed it they posted the stats. Apparently it was a part of seven legendary weapons throughout the game, each one stronger than the next." Argo was completely geeking out, thankfully unaware she was giving out information for free. "I'm surprised they put it back in the game."

"So where is this instance dungeon?" Ezra asked, seeing if he could worm some more out of her before she could come back to herself.

Argo was about to respond before she stopped herself. "Pay up first." She said, extending her hand.

"Damb it." Ezra once again lost all his money to the rat.