I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters.
Celebration
Michael sat at the table and listened as Asuna explained Yuuki's condition to him. Michael waited silently, nodding once in a while as she talked. When she finished, he remained silent, thinking.
"There's no known cure for AIDS," Michael stated. "And there's no way to cure the disease she has...I didn't realize she was that bad. I figured out already that she was using a Medicuboid, but still...She's strong, to be so cheerful with that kind of a situation."
Asuna nodded, looking out the window at the others. They were having a barbecue to celebrate the SLeeping Knights victory over the twenty seventh floor boss and there were a lot of people there. In addition to Yuuki's guild and Kirito's usual group of friends, Eugene, Sakuya, Alicia Rue, and Recon were all also present. Sakuya and Eugene were on much better terms than before, but were still avoiding each other, for the sake of not starting a fight, and ensuing war. Recon was staying a safe distance from Leafa so he could essentially but harmlessly spy on her and was getting even more furious as Leafa spent time with Tecchi, the Sleeping Knights' Gnome tank. It was obvious they were just friends, but Recon wasn't very good at judging character. Michael would have to give him a hand with that. Klein was flirting with Alicia Rue, who was clearly just flirting for fun, though Michael doubted Klein knew that. Nori, the Sleeping Knights' female Spriggan damage dealer, was making fun of Talken, the Sleeping Knights' Sylph damage dealer for avoiding the females. Michael chuckled and looked back to Leafa, seeing she had noticed Recon, probably not for the first time, and was trying to get him to come over and talk to her and Tecchi. He was having none of it.
"They're quite a crew," Michael grinned. "So are we, of course."
Michael turned to Asuna and grinned.
"Think they'd let our team tag along for the next boss?" Michael asked.
"Probably," Asuna grinned.
"I'm gonna go find Lisbeth," Michael grinned. "Somebody has to save Klein from Alicia before he makes a fool of himself."
Asuna laughed and nodded.
"I'm going to find Kirito," Asuna said. "See you."
"Yeah," Michael nodded as Asuna left. "Strea."
"Yes Master?" Strea asked, climbing out of his pocket and sitting on his shoulder.
"Can you do me a favor and start looking into Kayaba's death?" Michael asked. "Specifically what he was trying to do and why he failed?"
"Of course Master," Strea nodded. "Though, that might take me a while."
"It's alright," Michael smiled. "Just, try and hurry as much as you can without making any mistakes. It has to be perfect or it will fail."
Strea nodded and disappeared in a flash of light. Then, Michael pushed off the wall, walking out to the party and finding Lisbeth already saving Klein.
"Hey Lisbeth," Michael smiled walking over and she looked over at him in curiosity. "I was wondering if you could do me a favor and compare a few weapons for me."
Lisbeth nodded and they found Kirito and Eugene, taking them all to the blacksmith workshop in the house where Lisbeth worked on their gear before a dungeon raid.
"Alright," Lisbeth said. "Throw them on."
Michael set his Elucidator on the anvil as Kirito set Excalibur on and Eugene set Gram down. Lisbeth tapped each with a hammer then raised an eyebrow.
"Well, as far as power goes, as expected Excalibur takes it," Lisbeth stated. "However, it would seem that, after I upgraded your Elucidator with that ultra rare ore the other day, the Elucidator and Gram are actually tied. However, given Gram's ability to pass through weapons and shields, I'd give Gram the advantage and even go so far as to say that it's about tied with Excalibur for effectiveness."
"I dunno," Michael grinned. "It was chopping through swords pretty easily when we fought that guild."
Kirito smirked and nodded and Lisbeth shrugged.
"As it stands, your sword is third," Lisbeth said. "But it shouldn't break ever so."
Michael nodded and they all picked their swords back up as Klein set his down. Lisbeth checked it then smirked.
"Fourth," Lisbeth said. "It has less power than Michael's."
Klein nodded, happy enough having the fourth strongest sword in the game. He put his away too and Michael, Kirito, and Eugene left as Klein, drunk out of his mind, began to try to flirt. Michael looked back to catch a blush on Lisbeth's cheeks before she slapped Klein.
"Oh yeah," Michael grinned. "They're gonna get together."
Kirito nodded, grinning just as they got outside, finding the Sleeping Knights waiting with their weapons.
"What's going on?" Michael asked.
"We're heading to the twenty eighth floor dungeon," Yuuki said. "You coming?"
"You know it," Michael grinned.
Michael went back inside, telling Klein and Lisbeth where they were going and the two hurried out, equipping their gear before they all flew off, leaving the others behind. As they flew, Michael looked back and grinned. Leafa was talking to Recon, who looked to be about to pass out his face was so red, and Silica was talking with Alicia Rue.
"How come Leafa and Silica aren't coming?" Michael asked.
"Only seven max for a team to be put on the monument," Kirito stated. "So they chose to hang back."
"Well now I feel bad," Michael stated.
They reached the teleporter and teleported to floor twenty eight and Yui led them to the dungeon. Once there, they landed and sprinted inside. They sprinted down the passages and killed anything they met for roughly ten minutes before stopping, staring up at the door.
"Well that was easy," Michael blinked. "These guys are weak."
"Or we're just awesome," Klein said.
"Are you still drunk?" Lisbeth asked.
"Yes," Klein said hanging his head.
"What's this boss?" Asuna asked, looking to Michael.
"I don't know," Michael admitted. "I didn't do this one."
He walked forward, pushing the door open and the others walked in before Michael sealed the door. Just as he did, an enormous crab crashed down in the center of the room, three health bars filling.
"A crab?" Michael blinked. "I let them handle a floor and that's the best they can come up with?"
The crab shrieked, opening its mouth and webbing sprayed out, hitting Michael and sticking him to the door.
"What the..." Michael blinked, trying to move but unable to. "Hah hah. Spider crab. I get it. Freaking hilarious guys."
Asuna hurried over, cutting him free just before the crab fired more at them. They both dodged it and sprinted back to the others. They fanned out around the crab and it swiped at them with one claw. Tecchi blocked it with his shield and was sent flying.
"It's not fast," Michael stated. "Hit it!"
He and Yuuki leapt at it, both using their OSS on its back but neither made a dent. They leapt back, avoiding sprays of webbing as Agil slammed his axe into the crab's leg, the axe bouncing off. Sinon fired an explosive arrow, hitting it in the underside and the explosion flipped the crab as well as taking a good chunk of its health.
"Hit its stomach!" Michael shouted.
Klein acted first, slashing the ground as his spectral arm did the same, a wall of flames shooting out and hitting the crab, dropping its health considerably.
"Let's go!" Kirito shouted, as he, Asuna, and Nori all leapt onto its back, hitting it with a flame spell.
The crab shrieked, flipping itself back over and spinning, sending webbing spraying around the room.
"Look out!" Michael shouted.
Klein again acted first, blocking the webbing headed for them with his spectral arm then grinned as all of the girls cheered. Then, Jun, Talken, and Tecchi sprinted forward, slashing the crab underneath, an explosion shooting out its back. Michael sprinted forward, jumping and stabbing the crab in the eye and it dropped to its last health bar.
"This boss was easy," Michael sighed as he landed. "All you Yuuki."
Yuuki leapt over him, landing under the crab and hitting its stomach with her OSS. Then, she leapt back, landing with her guild as the crab shrieked one last time and shattered.
"That just wasn't even fun," Michael sighed. "Well, at least we cleared a floor."
"True," Kirito nodded.
They all sorted through their winnings and walked to the door, opening it and stepping out ino the next floor.
"Well...that was not satisfying at all," Michael stated. "Yuuki, rematch."
Yuuki laughed, as did the others but she nodded and they both raised their swords. They charged forward, but instead of fighting as they usually did, Both started out with their OSS. And this time, just as Michael was hit with Yuuki's last strike, his doppelganger appeared behind her. She turned to look and blocked its sword as Michael charged. Then, he skidded to a stop as she grinned and a massive purple giant with two heads, four arms, chains around its waist and held in its lower set of hands, and two enormous spiked wooden hammers in its upper set and a jewel between the necks appeared in front of him.
"Tell me this isn't-"
"It's the twenty seventh floor boss," Yuuki grinned.
"Great," Michael groaned before leaping back from a chain that blasted along the ground in front of him.
He raised his sword as Yuuki easily dispatched his doppelganger. Then, she leaned on her sword as Michael usually did when letting his doppelganger fight. The giant swung its hammer at Michael and he rolled aside, standing and slashing its hand but it simply wrenched its hammer free of the ground and swung its chain at him again. He jumped over the chain and a hammer hit him in the back, smashing him into the ground. The giant roared, lifting its hammer and Michael stood, staggering before grinning.
"Now this is more like it," he grinned, extending his wings. "This is fun!"
He flew at the giant, slipping past a chain and hammer before blasting into the giant's abdomen with his OSS. The last strike made it stagger back and Michael's sword began to glow orange as he flew forward. He split the giant diagonally across the abdomen, an explosion blasting out of its back, forcing it back again before Michael blasted into the giant with his horizontal square. It staggered back again, yanking one of the chains up between its heads and grinning. Michael spun just as the chain wrapped around him and the giant swung him around, smashing him into the ground. He groaned, wiggling his left arm out of the chain and slamming his fist into the ground. His shadow spread out from his arm and formed a massive circle before the shadow grew into the massive reptilian silhouette thing. The giant turned toward it, chain releasing Michael and Michael stood as the silhouette punched the giant in the right head. The giant staggered back a step then stepped forward, taking the shadow's head off with its hammer. It turned back to Michael as Michael summoned his doppelganger again. The two of them sprinted forward, flying at the giant and slashing it across the chest. it roared, backing away and swiping at them with both chains, its arms crossing over the gem.
"There it is," Michael grinned. "The gem."
He avoided the chains but his doppelganger was caught and ripped in half by the chains. The giant uncrossed his arms and Michael flew at it, sword glowing green. He avoided the chains and a hammer and blasted into the gem, sword first. Nine attacks hit the gem one after another. Then, just as he moved to stab the giant's weak point and kill it, the giant's left hammer slammed into his head, blasting him into the ground and killing him.
"Oh come on!" Michael shouted as the giant faded and everyone laughed, Yuuki walking over and reviving him. "I was so close."
"Yep," Yuuki grinned. "But you lost."
Michael rolled his eyes then smirked.
"Just wait til I kill the next floor boss," Michael grinned.
Everyone laughed before flying to the nearest city and teleporting back. Within about three minutes, Klein was proclaiming Yuuki's greatness to any who would listen, and two minutes later, Eugene was laughing at Michael for losing to a summon. After a while longer, people began to leave. Just as Michael was about to log out, he overheard Leafa talking about a race. It was between herself, Nori, and Yuuki to see who could fly fastest. So, naturally, when they left, Michael went with them.
"This can be our tie breaker," Michael said, flying up next to Yuuki.
"When were we ever tied?" Yuuki laughed.
Leafa grinned back at him.
"Yeah Michael," Leafa grinned. "You've lost to a girl every time you've fought one recently."
"Not true," Michael said. "I beat Strea."
"Technically Strea's not really a girl," Leafa laughed, having met Strea once. "Besides, she wanted out so she let you win. She could have deleted your avatar."
Michael grumbled about not having been talking to Leafa in the first place and the other three laughed, finally stopping at the starting point.
"First one around that floating island and back wins," Leafa said as Talken waited off to the side to decide the winner if it was close. "Ready, set, go!"
All four rocketed off, shooting through the air in blurs. Yuuki began to slowly fall behind as they flew but Nori proved to be quite quick, keeping neck and neck with Leafa for the most part, even passing her a couple of times only to fall back again. As they rounded the island, Michael grinned and went full speed, catching up to Leafa slowly. He breezed past Yuuki, coming up level with Leafa's feet and slowly creeping past her. However, just as he was about to pass her, a massive dragonfly flew out from behind a floating island they were passing into Michael's path, causing him to crash headlong into it, killing both himself and the dragonfly. The other three all slowed nearly to a stop as they laughed, crossing the line in the order they had been in, Leafa, Nori, and Yuuki, before Yuuki flew over, reviving Michael who crossed his arms and scowled at a group of the dragonflies as they flew away.
"What was that about not losing to a girl every time?" Leafa laughed.
"Shut up!" Michael huffed, making them laugh harder.
"Better luck next time," Sinon laughed, landing on the island beside him. "You logging out?"
"Yeah," Michael sighed. "I got work tomorrow."
Sinon nodded, and they flew to the nearest city and saved before logging out.
Read and review.