At least this chapter was quicker than the last?
I took advantage of the Holidays to write :D As always, eternally sorry for delay on updates.
I think I'll stop disclaiming soon because I'm running out of witty(?) things to write, but Kuroko no Basuke does not belong to me.
Chapter 26: Party Quests & Discoveries
For Kuroko, trying to explain why Haizaki left the guild, how they somehow acquired a Siberian husky puppy as a new member, and why Akashi was now on furlough was a painstaking process, especially because Kise was busy fawning over Nigou with Momoi, and Aomine, being about as clueless as a desert cactus, didn't help at all.
The Cleric was especially distressed about the guild's now-beloved pet. Luckily for him and his nerves, his anxieties were, for the most part, dispelled during the next three days following the pup's arrival.
To his relief, Nigou would be logged in at a random time of the day between late in the morning and lunch, and then logged out for an hour or two before returning to play another two or three. He was never online earlier than eleven in the morning or later than eight at night. Luckily, because it was a game, the pup didn't do normal things dogs did, so the non-animal members of the guild didn't have to worry about ruining the upholstery. It helped that Nigou was a very tame dog, and would spend most of his time running around in the courtyard, sleeping on a soft pillow they'd placed on the floor near the window, or playing with miscellaneous items he was left. It didn't help that Kuroko had a hard time parting with the adorable creature every time he left the guildhall.
Sometimes, Nigou would be taken out for walks, though never outside the towns because no one wanted him to get hurt. Because status indicators appear when contact is made between two players, they had to avoid crowded walkways, but it had gone smoothly so far so they continued whenever they had the time. Granted they may have looked strange because familiars in the game didn't need to be walked, but Nigou's charming little barks and tail-wagging made up for it.
On Wednesday, Kuroko had been approached by Midorima, who seemed to have a better grasp of the situation but was still somewhat bewildered by what was happening. The Archer had not said much beyond telling Kuroko that he knew that Kuroko knew about Akashi to some extent, and that he would appreciate if Kuroko kept what he'd found out a secret from the rest of the guild's members. Murasakibara was informed as well–Kuroko had expected that–and had appeared later that day complaining about how it was 'lonely without Aka-chin.' Kuroko couldn't help but agree. With Haizaki and Akashi gone, the guild felt that much smaller.
That week brought Kiseki World Online radical changes for the Generation of Miracles, and Kuroko was certain it had something to do with their redheaded leader's sudden absence.
Besides some of the game's features being changed, like how Guild buildings became neutral zones and a new Rogue Arch-type called the "Trickster" class was added, there was a widely-projected announcement about the tournament that was to take place later that year.
Instead of the anticipated Winter Cup being an eight v. eight like it was originally stated, the number was now down to a team of five per guild. Additionally, there was now a standard for guilds who wanted to participate. It was no longer an open sign-up kind of thing; only the factions ranked above a certain currently-undisclosed number or with a certain amount of Guild Points would have the right to decide whether they wanted to join or not. According to the system administrators, other features about the event were to be announced in the future once they were finalized.
Saturday: May 17, 2038. 2:21 P.M.
Pale fingers tapped quickly against the laptop's keyboard, spelling out, "Essence iof Tganatos."
Admittedly, Kuroko wasn't very great at typing.
He amended his transcription by backspacing until the search bar was blank, then slowly entering, "Essence of Thanatos"–this time with no spelling errors. He hit search and watched the results show up, and while none of them seemed relevant to his situation, he still opened the first three links in new tabs. All of them basically told him the same thing: that "Thanatos" is basically the Greek personification or God of Death. Most of what was written about him was mythology which Kuroko was sure had nothing to do with KWO.
He also searched up "Gaea" and was met with similar results of the personification or patron Goddess of Earth. According to what he found, she's basically the mother of the whole universe.
None of this yielded information useful to the man, so he closed the tabs and went more specific with, "Kiseki World Online Thanatos." What popped up were more informative pages on the God of Death and separate pages about the game, but none of the results corresponded with what Kuroko was looking for. With nothing more to do, Kuroko pressed the power button and shut the laptop.
It had already been a week since Kuroko had lost his weapon. Well, he technically hadn't lost it but it couldn't be used the way that it was now. The replacement weapon he had boosted his healing capabilities, but his attack power was nearly halved compared to before.
Shoving the thoughts from his mind, the blue-haired man grabbed his VR helmet and initiated the log-in process, then waited for the void to become scenery.
For the first time in about two weeks, the GoM would be having a guild to guild PVP. Their opponents would be an association that was ranked #41, though Kuroko was fairly certain they would be beaten easily, taking the data Momoi had compiled into account. So far, few guilds had actually given them trouble, and, because of that, they were quickly gaining a reputation as undefeatable, rising pros. Kise handled the publicity a lot better than the rest of them.
Because Akashi had been away, Midorima seemed to be logging in a lot more often to check up on things and balance the guild's training schedules and budget. Or perhaps he had always logged in this much and had just been on offline mode. It would explain how he always kept up with leveling when Kuroko rarely saw him online.
An hour later after Kuroko's initial log-in, the guild finished their battle and, as he expected, they had come out victorious in the end. Aomine spread some high-fives around, though he purposely held his hand high above Momoi's head and made her jump a few times. She ended up just stomping on his foot with her heavy platforms and slapping his palm once he was doubled over in pain.
While they were leaving the PVP arena, at her suggestion, the present six members of the guild decided to do undertake an infamous GPQ.
The one they were going for was called, "The Forbidden Tower." Yes, yes, very imaginative; I know.
The GoM had never attempted this particular quest before, but the loot was rumored to be of quality and to give a relatively generous amount of exp. TFT, while named less than creatively,was one of the most difficult party quests made–according to players who had attempted it and even Kiseki World Online's official website. It had only been completed by ten different guilds in the Japanese server, which was surprising considering just how many high-ranking guilds existed.
All members of the guild had to be above level 35 to be able to even enter the tower, and each party had to have at least one of each of the four classes. The minimum amount of members entering was four and the max was ten, and the quest's objectives and difficulty would change according to the classes and number of members present.
Specific details about what actually went on in the tower were omitted by the official site and all who had completed the quest, so Momoi had very little data to go by.
The "Forbidden Tower" rested on an island to the west of Kuadoryvm that could only be reached by ship from one of its main cities, Nothos. On the outside, it looked as if it could collapse any minute, attributed to the many cracks running along its sides and some of its bricks hanging out, unevenly laid down. The ride to Nothos took about ten minutes and was actually quite crowded, so Kuroko and company disguised themselves by hiding under heavy cloaks. Thanks to their rise in fame, they would be constantly challenged (or hit on) by other players, and none of them, even Kise, would be able to stand it on a boat where they had no escape routes save for taking a dive into the monster-infested sea.
When they finally arrived on the island, they found a long queue waiting for a turn in the tower.
To avoid server lag or any glitches from occurring, only five guilds were allowed to partake in the quest at a time. Or so the system admins said, though Kuroko wondered if it was just an excuse to make everyone on the island suffer of boredom.
It didn't take long for Aomine to get fidgety. Not long at all. In fact, it only took about two minutes before he burst out with, "This blows. I didn't know there would be a line."
"The line here moves quickly," Momoi established, "If you just give it like, less than twenty minutes, we'll be at the front."
The guild's males looked to the tower's entrance; or they tried, but a throng of bustling adventurers were in front of them in line and completely obstructed their view. There were at least a good hundred-something people waiting. All these other people also thought they would be able to complete the quest, many of them with good reason as they were high-level players (You could tell by their equipment) that were probably close to the top of the ranking. Seeing so many people, they skeptically glanced back at Momoi's grinning face.
A guild exited and another entered the tower about once every minute. Whatever could have been going on inside was probably not good if people were being ejected that quickly–on average, they lasted about five minutes. Aomine and Kise began to anticipate what was happening while Murasakibara let out a large cough, haphazardly blowing chunks of the umaibou he'd been eating onto Midorima's face.
All over his glasses.
Said Archer reprimanded him firmly while hurriedly trying to wipe his glasses free of crumbs and saliva. In his panic, he rubbed too hard and popped one of the lenses out. He froze like that for a while, just staring silently at the piece resting on his palm. Then he materialized a brand new pair that looked exactly like the last and put it on as if nothing had happened.
Even Momoi and Kuroko couldn't help but smile.
Both Kise and Aomine were convulsing so hard that Kuroko thought they would fall over at some point, and the only reason didn't might have been because they clutched onto his shoulders, hunched over, for support. God, they were heavy. Kuroko contemplated whether he should duck away and just let them fall, but he didn't.
Within the next fifteen minutes, the Generation of Miracles neared the tower's entryway. Being fourth or fifth, they would probably be in by the time another five minutes passed.
The guild in the foremost front advanced toward the tower and the warpgate that would lead them inside. Unfortunately, before any of its members could set a foot inside, a disgusting sound that could only be described as a pig set on fire and falling from a cliff rang out.
When Kuroko looked, he found he wasn't actually that far off as a huge, flaming boar was making its way toward their direction. From a few paces behind them, a group violently pushed to the front, going out of their way to jostle people who had already cleared out of their path. They made their way to the front and the presumed leader jumped off the boar he was riding. The creature disappeared with the snap of his finger.
This player was a few inches taller than Kuroko and wore his hair as a crew cut. From his gear, he was most likely a Rogue-type player–a high-leveled one at that. He grabbed the shoulder of one of the players in the front, and in his scratchy, accented voice said, "Hows'bout 'cha guys make some room fa'us?"
The other slapped his hand off, scowling, and replied, "There's a line, you know?"
"Lines don't mean notin' here. 'Sides, not like you lot could actually clear the to'er anyway," the man stated as if it were a hilarious joke. His goonies snickered along like something you'd find in one of those old drama series' from the 00's. While it was true that there was technically no rule denoting that there had to be a line here, it was something that players from almost every game had established in this kind of event. A few people would break the unofficial rules now and then, and most of the time they were assholes; these guys definitely fell into that category.
When one of the members of the guild that had waited for their turn dismissed them and tried to step into the portal, Mr. High school drama gang-leader grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his head. The victim of the attack tried to retaliate by stabbing the guy with his other hand, but the other kicked him at the bottom of his spine onto the dirt. "Weak," the Rogue cackled, stomping on the fallen man's back and grinding his heel into it, which drew out a pained groan.
"These guys are seriously pissing me off," Aomine snarled to his guild, cracking the knuckles of each of his hands loudly. "Hey Tetsu, Satsuki, we sho-"
A notably large ball of shadow plummeted straight into the obnoxious man's stomach, and he flew back a few meters before one of his guildmates caught him.
"Kuro-chin is already way ahead of you," Murasakibara informed the Paladin boredly. Shoving the end of his umaibou (the seventh one that day) into his mouth, he materialized his shield and broadsword and slowly walked forward.
"KUROKOCCHI!?" Kise yelled, pulling out his dagger before rushing to the bluenette's side.
Aomine laughed before activating his sword and going on standby as well. "I should have known."
The other guild outnumbered them by three members, but most of them looked to be lower leveled than their leader.
Their leader, the guy with the crew cut, steadied himself and indignantly spat, "You're goin'ta pay for that, ya bastard!" He looked as if he didn't know who he was yelling at, so he just kind of yelled at everybody.
His guild was ordered to attack the party in front as he assumed that it was one of their members who attacked him. The player he had knocked to the ground was being healed by his guild's Cleric, and he readied himself for a second confrontation.
He didn't really get the chance as the members of the Generation of Miracles had thrown off their cloaks and were already taking care of the problem.
Three of ten of the opposing guild, Exhume, had already been annihilated and sent to the island's only town. Another two ran away, abandoning their guild by fleeing into the woods.
By the time the actual fighting was over, Exhume was down to two members, one of which was their leader. Out of pity, they let the member who wasn't the jerk with the crew cut go.
Minimal damages had been done to any of the GoM, excluding Murasakibara who'd been too lazy to dodge some attacks, but whatever was inflicted, Kuroko healed with a mid-level AOE.
Crew cut, whose username was really Porotaa, had his arms pinned behind his back by the GoM's resident Berserker. Kuroko wasn't sure who gave him the black eyes, or how a person's face could possibly become that swollen. He was sure even the guy's own mother wouldn't be able to recognize him.
"Have you learned your lesson yet?" Kise and Momoi asked in near-tandem, both smiling. Porotaa spit weakly at Kise's feet, though the blonde shifted hit foot away before the glob could actually touch his shoes.
Porotaa fired off some sounds that resembled profanities before finally admitting some kind of defeat.
Midorima's next words, "we're wasting time," implied that Murasakibara should lax his hold on the other man's arms and let him go. He complied, and replaced his empty hands with a bag of something that looked suspiciously like rice crackers. Even though his life was spared, Porotaa wasn't grateful, and instead flipped them off with both hands as he shuffled into the distance.
"Dis means war!" he shouted through puffy lips, "You'll re'gret this! You've just made en'mies wit'ha affli'tion of the strongest undaground guild in tha game. Once I report dis to tha boss, you're dead!" He was already difficult to understand before, but now it was just overkill. Aomine really couldn't take his threats seriously, so he just clutched his stomach and tried not to laugh too loudly. Even on the edge of the map, Porotaa was still howling unintelligibly. Before he could make it to the next map, however–and this is what put the Generation of Miracles on full alert–he was suddenly silenced after shouting, "no one is stronger than Shinji! Nobod–"
A figure new to the scene locked their arm around Porotaa's chin and used a pre-charged skill to cut deeply into his exposed neck, followed by several high-speed slashes to the area under his chest. Thanks to the heavy damage he had sustained from his previous fight, he died before he could even make a sound.
The stranger's retreat was just as quick as his appearance, because by the next moment, he was already gone.
But before he could completely disappear from sight, Aomine, who had reacted the fastest out of any of their group, had gotten close enough to catch a glimpse of the mystery assailant. It was a man if his build was anything to go by–few women were six feet tall and had such defined muscles–and a Rogue archtype by his clothes. His face was difficult to make out as Aomine was still a sizeable distance away, but the tan-skinned man did manage to observe black hair and a trench knife.
Realizing the other man was long gone and he couldn't catch up, the Paladin halted his chase and trudged back to his guildmates, nudging Kise who'd only been a few paces behind him as a signal to return as well. The blonde understood that if Aomine thought couldn't catch him, he most likely would fare no better, so he begrudgingly gave up as well.
To Momoi and Kuroko's short-lived surprise, the description of the man Aomine provided matched up with one of the men who had attacked them back on the Aforia. I say short-lived because once the information set in, they realized it wasn't such a shocking revelation as they'd known they had been targeted for quite some time.
Based on what Porotaa had been saying earlier, this whole deal was a lot larger than any of their guild had initially speculated. Before he died, most of them recalled him blabbering about "the strongest underground guild" in the game.
Why the Generation of Miracles were being pursued so meticulously and by who was the biggest mystery. As of today, they realized whoever was after them, "Shinji" or whatever, was going to great lengths to remain incognito.
"Maybe one of us made enemies from them or something…Aominecchi?"
"Why is it automatically me!?"
Someone scoffed loudly.
If they had really somehow offended a powerful underground guild, that meant they would have a difficult time trying to find them on the official ranking. In KWO, the term "underground guild" referred to guilds who purposely omitted themselves from the ranking whose activities often consisted of theft and PKing. The system allowed them to opt out of being shown on the public rankings: the flipside was that no matter what they did, they would not be able to gain GP, participate in tournaments or GPQs, or move up the ranking unless they revealed themselves.
If they couldn't be found, they couldn't be confronted or defeated, so the conclusion was that there was no courses of action the GoM could take other than defensive measures unless they got more leads. A suggestion was thrown out to try and lure their assailants into an ambush, but it was swiftly shot down upon the remembrance that they were most likely all had trackers placed on them, the enemy was not stupid, and that there was a possibility their conversation was recorded.
Our adventurers made their way back to the tower; the crowd let them cut to the front, where they would have been anyways if they hadn't challenged Exhume and moved out of line in the first place.
"Get your weapons ready," came Midorima's command as he carried out his customary action of pushing up the bridge of his glasses with his middle finger; their two idiots laughed, remembering what happened earlier. No one needed to take out their weapons as they already had them bared from the previous event, so they just mentally preparing themselves before confidently sauntering into the portal.
No one could predict what would unfold in the tower.
Yo guys, despite my previous qualms about doing so, I made a Tumblr account. I don't really do much on it, though I was thinking of staring to post this fic there some time. My url is ameagare. All I've done is post lame puns and reblog a few posts.
AND NOW FOR AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
I am going to be going back to the beginning of this fic and fixing things up. I realized how bad the first couple of chapters are, especially grammar-wise and want to amend them. I'm not going to change the story plot-wise, and if anything significant does change then I'll be sure to inform you guys.
Suggestions, comments, and criticism are all appreciated people. Peace out.