Kirito's group reached the town of Urbus and as Yuuki and Aiko activated the teleport gate Kirito turned to the group that had decided to follow him.
"You all did good today and our victory today is as much yours as mine." He said earning cheers and whistles from the crowd.
"I want you all to meet up at noon tomorrow in town square to start training. Till then your time is yours to use how you want."
With that the group started to fragment with a large portion following Klein and co. towards the nearest tavern for a party. As Kirito started to head to the Inn with the Konno sisters heard the Teleport gate fire up and out shoot Argo being chased by two unknown figures.
"It look's like she could use some help." said Yuuki
"Your right. Let's go guys." replied Kirito while sprinting after the retreating figures activating his tracking skill on the go reveling green footprints.
Kirito decided to jump onto one of the houses and go roof to roof in an effort to catch up faster. Eventually it seemed that they cornered Argo in an alleyway and were trying to extract information out of her.
"..won't sell the information!" said Argo her voice sounding a little strained
"We will pay any price. Don't you want the money?" said a gruff slightly muffled voice
"It's not about the money!" Argo snapped, "I don't want to be blamed for the consequences."
"No matter what we will be grateful now give us the information." said a second less gruff but equally muffled voice.
Kirito seeing things getting out of hand he jumped and landed between Argo and her two assailants followed shortly by the Konno sisters.
"I would advise you leave before we make you." he said in a calm voice readying his weapon.
Kirito got a better look as the enemies readied their knives. The two figures were dressed head to toe in dark grey cloths with a bandanas covering their face so only their eyes were shown. They had chainmail on over their cloths and were armed with several knives and throwing picks. The realization hit Kirito.
"You guys were that clan of assassins during the beta! What were you called again? Fogi?"
"NO! We are the Fuma clan and were ninjas!" said the first Fuma clan member
Kirito remembered them because as they were great scouts and could usually sneak in scout a boss and retreat they had a tendency to come zipping by followed by a hoard of monsters drop them off on whatever party was unfortunate to be in the area and leave them to their fate. They did however help kill a few bosses with their info and sneak attacks, but still if they couldn't kill a group of monster dropping it off on another group so they could escape just annoyed Kirito.
"Leave now." said Yuuki
"Or we'll make you." followed up Aiko as they both readied their swords.
"We are masters at close combat! You don't stand a chance." said the second figure.
Kirito just sighed. They were in a town so the magic effects of the safe zone would stop any injuries but they could still knock each other around and it would definitely hurt.
"If I may ask what is happening here." said a giant man from behind the two Ninjas
"Agil" shouted Yuuki "and Asuna" noticing a small figure next to the giant man both with weapons in hand.
The Two Ninjas clearly intimated by the big axe wielder. Took a step back and closer to Kirito.
"We will get you for this. The Fuma clan will have its revenge!" shouted one of the Fuma clansmen before they leaped up and climbed onto the roof of the nearby buildings before taking off back toward the teleport gate.
"Kii-bou you were so cool!" shouted Argo while tackling Kirito who by now knew it was coming so was at least able to keep his footing as the small girl dug her face into his back.
"It might break my first rule but I will give you one piece of info for free Kii-bou"
Kirito had to think for a second. This was great chance! Anything! There had always been one question he wanted answered but the cost was always too high.
'What is the reason behind the whiskers?"
Everyone turned to the information dealer at this. I guess I wasn't the only one who wondered that thought Kirito as the group stared at Argo.
Argo just smiled, "Follow me on an adventure Kii-bou."
After an hour of walking the group reached a cave at the bottom of a mountain.
"Here it is." said Argo
"No what?" asked Kirito sporting a confused expression as he reached the cave mouth.
"We take a trip to wonderland." replied Argo which just helped to further confuse Kirito before she gave him a gentle push and he fell into the cave which turned out to be a slope heading down into the deep inky darkness below. The group heard Kirito let out a terrified scream as he disappeared followed shortly by a laughing Argo as she jumped in after him. The Konno sisters shared a look before both smiling and following their friend and mentor. Asuna looked unsure but Agil helped her decide with a laugh he pushed her in just like Argo did to Kirito before he too followed the group down the slide.
After a couple of minutes of sliding Kirito finally reached the bottom and took a look around at a field full of giant rocks. Before he could move though out of the tube came a laughing Argo who fell down on him knocking him to the ground. They both picked themselves up and started to dust himself off before the konno sisters landed on top of them and suddenly they were in a pile again with Argo and Kirito at the bottom. The entire group broke out in laughter as Asuna landed on top still screaming in terror with her eyes screwed shut. Suddenly a realization hit Argo and she stop laughing.
"If Asuna just landed then isn't Agil last in line?" The group suddenly stopped laughing and tried to get off before the big man reached the bottom and inevitably fall on top of them. Only Asuna got away using her speed to its fullest before Agil was added to the pile still laughing from the ride.
The group eventually collect themselves and followed Argo to an old man napping on top of one of the rocks in the middle of the field.
"So you're here to learn from an old man?" asked the old man as they neared him.
Kirito just looked at Argo who gave him a reassuring nod. "Yes"
"Good. It's been awhile since anyone has come to my field." said the old man. A screen labeled Martial Arts training appeared in front of everyone and all but Argo hit the accept button. What happen next surprised everyone except of course Argo who just wore an impish grin. The old man dashed forward at speeds no one thought he had and drew whiskers on each person's face with a small brush.
"Now my disciplines you must destroy a rock without your weapons. Hands, feet, even your head can all be used, but until you complete this you can remove those marks." said the old man laying back down on his rock started drinking a cup of tea that seemed to appear out of nowhere chuckling softly to himself.
Kirito sighed and rubbed his head as if he had a headache. He turned to the laughing Argo "So this was the reason you had those marks and why you didn;t want to be blamed." earning a nod from Argo he walked over to one of the rocks and jumped up on it and with a mighty grunt hit the rock with his fist shattering it in a single hit. The Old man didn't seem fazed at all.
"As I expected from a child of fire. You meet my expectations but don't surpass them. I will teach you what I know."
The group look shocked. "I know your level carried over but still wow. And what's this Child of Fire business." said Argo
Oh no. I didn't expect the old man to know. Thought Kirito. Before he could come up with a convincing excuse the old man spoke up.
"I will now teach you follow me over this way" He said while walking away "the rest of you can join us once you have destroyed a rock just like this young one."
Once they had distanced themselves from the group the old man turned to him.
"Why do you keep it secret child of fire? They are clearly friends of yours, why not tell them?"
Kirito looked down at the ground before replying "I don't know what they might do. I want to earn their trust before revealing it to them. If I do it know they still might try and kill me like the others I met in my original form."
The old man kneeled down in front of Kirito and like talking to a small child he said in a soothing voice "I believe they already trust you. You must find it in yourself to trust them, but I leave it up to you. Just know that one day you will have to tell them and the longer you wait the harder it will hit them. Be open my student and your trust will be reflect back on you. No let's start training."
"Ya. and thanks for everything master." said Kirito with a smile.
After about an hour Agil joined them as his impressive strength allowed him to smash the rock after about an hour. That night Kirito, Argo, and Agil decided to head back so they could help train the new recruits in the morning. Yuuk, Aiko, and Asuna decided to stay behind and complete the training. Argo having seemed to forget about what the old man said earlier in the excitement of the whole thing and spent most her time teasing the others about their new whiskers or being chased around by a clearly pissed off Asuna who wasn't to happy with the little prank.
Around noon the next day Kirito, Diavel, Agil, Argo, Klein and Klein's group stood in front of a crowd of about fifty or so people. Some who probably weren't even in the boss raid but decided to join anyways.
"We will be training today so we can fight the next boss. Klein and me will be wandering around giving advice and showing how to perfect your sword skills and sword style. Axe wielders will be getting help from Agil and those who use spears and other pole arms will be getting help from Dale. Those who are using maces Dynamm and I will be around to help you. If you are wondering what you should be doing take orders from your appointed leader of if they aren't around Diavel or me. If you wish to be a scout Argo has volunteered to help train you in the skills you need like tracking, searching, and hiding. Now group up with people of the same weapon."
Over the next couple of days the groups leveled at a fast rate learning how to use their weapons and eventually how to have work as a team then a larger raid group. Having finished their training and losing the whiskers the Konno sisters and Asuna rejoined. Diavel seemed to learn from his mistakes and played more cautiously when commanding while both him and Asuna, who possessed a surprisingly analytical mind, became very competent commanders. This suited Kirito just fine as he wasn't really good at leading large groups in combat and wasn't a big fan of the attention. He preferred to be in the fight as much as possible. Diavel could maneuver whole groups and rotate them when need expertly. This was best demonstrated when the group fought a field boss named Bulbous Bow and under Diavels leadership took zero casualties. Asuna could command a small team like a scalpel. Her team would usually be left with just basic directions and then complete tasks in a shorter time than most other group could. Kirito had a tendency to join her as she was one of the few that could keep up with him in combat this caused her group to be referred to by the other other members of Kirito's army(as people started to call it)as the honor guard because it was made up of some of the best fighters they had. Agil mastered the art of of the axe and his combat style focus mostly on pure strength. Kirito watched armored enemies cleave in half from head to toe or one swing of Agil's massive axe take down several enemies at once. To add to his impressive axe skills Agil had an amazing business sense so Kirito's forces were able to acquire very good equipment while also simultaneously building strong relations with the leading traders. The Konno sister could speed in and destroy entire groups by themselves most of the fighters linked their style to that of dancers. Their grace and speed a sight to behold and would cause most onlookers to gap open mouth as they dodged attacks and stroke weak points just like Kirito had taught them. Many tried to copy the no shield one-handed sword style, but had to eventually switch to using a shield as they couldn't keep up with Kirito, Yuuki, and Aiko and realized it was more of a hindrance than just using a shield. Argo's scouts were some of the best around having be taught by the person widely considered the best at sneaking and finding that which is hidden. Being the best info broker meant the groups all had access to the best grind spots on the floor. Klein and friends after having taught what they could started to work on their own teamwork. Everyone of them was considered some of the best fighters Kirito's army could offer and their teamwork was by far the best. Overall Kirito was proud of the group and with Klein's group helping everyone was taught to the best he thought they could achieve and now most of his men were overleveled for this floor. The day before the scout returned saying they had found the Boss room. Two weeks had past since the first floor boss and now it was time to defeat the next one and knock off another floor as they continued to climb to the top of Aincrad.
I hope you enjoyed the story. I might have spent a little too long explaining how Kirito's force was doing, but I wanted all the characters to get some time so it wasn't just Kirito getting all the love. He's good but he has very good help and I always kind of thought Agil, Klein, and the others didn't get enough attention in canon.
I should really find a name for Kirito's group so when they make a guild it's not Kirito's army because that sounds a little silly to me. Either way I started to lay the seeds for the group to learn what Kirito is and more will be coming soon. I kind of wanted to make the next boss fight it's own chapter because of how big it is and how much time I spent just on the who martial arts training so I will probably write that and post it within the next couple of day unless something comes up. I also plan on making this a AsunaxKirito ff so sorry for anyone who thought differently its just slow going on that because I am not exactly sure who to approach that without making it seemed force(this being my second try at a fanfic).
As always hope you enjoyed the story and reviews are great and if you have any questions I will try and answer what I can.