Sword Art Online 2: Back To ALO

Sleeping Knights

*Night Time, Town, ALO*

"Asuna! I'll introduce you. This is my guild, the Sleeping Knights!" Yuuki introducing her guild to Asuna

"I'm Jun! Nice to meet you, Asuna!" Jun introducing himself

"I-I'm, uh... My name is Talken. N-Nice to meet- Ow." Talken getting hit in the back

"Stop being so nervous all the time, Tal. Whenever you talk to a girl, this happens. I'm Nori. Glad to meet you, Asuna." Nori introducing herself

"Nice to meet you. I'm Siune. Thanks for coming." Siune introducing herself as well

"My name's Tecchi. Nice to meet you." Tecchi introducing himself

"And I'm Yuuki, the guild leader! Asuna, listen... We want to defeat this floor's boss monster. With just these members!" Yuuki said

"What?!" Asuna shock

Yuuki smile's.

*Later*

"A boss fight is normally done with forty-nine people: seven parties of seven, right? No matter how good you are, I don't know if it's possible with only seven people..." Asuna said

"Actually, it is. In fact, we challenged the bosses on the twenty-fifth and twent-sixth floor." Yuuki said

"Th-The six of you?" Asuna said

"Yeah. We thought we were doing pretty well, but as we tried to optimize our attack, one of the big guilds beat them before us." Yuuki said

"Why do something something so crazy?" Asuna said

"We met in a certain game's net community, and we all became fast friends. But unfortunately, we'll probably only be able to adventure together until spring. Everyone will be busy with their own lives. So, before that happens, we all decided to make a memory we'd never be able to forget." Siune said

"And it's a boss fight?" Asuna said

"Yeah. If we defeat a boss, your name appears on the Swordsman's Memorial on the first floor, in the Black Iron Palace in the Town of Beginnings, right? I know it's silly, but we really want to have our names on that memorial. But there's one problem... If only a single party defeats a boss, everyone's name appears on it. But if there are multiple parties, only the party leaders' names appear. In other worda, to get all the Sleeping Knights' names on the memorial, we have to defeat the boss with a single party. And so, we all agreed. A party is a maximum of seven people. So we thought we'd find someone as strong as our strongest member, Yuuki... Or even stronger! And ask them to join our party..." Siune said

"That's why you were fighting those duels?" Asuna said

"Well? Will you help us? You may not be able to do much to thank you, but..." Siune said

Siune invite's Asuna to the guild. A menu apper's in front of her.

"No, no. Fighting a boss takes a ton of money, so you should save your cash. If I can get something from the boss, that'll be enough." Asuna said

All of them were happy she joined the guild.

"Then you'll do it?" Siune all happy

Asuna look's at all of them happy. She take's breath and look's at the glass cup to her SAO self.

"This isn't the old Aincrad. But i'm still thinking about odds of victory and safety margins. A safe fight. A certain victory. There's more fum to a game than that. I'm sure Yuuki and the others know that. Much more than I do." Asuna thought

"I'll give it a try. We can forget about the odds-" Asuna said

"Thank you, Asuna!" Yuuki all happy

"Y-You can call me "Asuna." Asuna said

"You can call me "Yuuki"!" Yuuki said

"Come to think of it, Yuuki... During your duels, you were looking for someone strong, right?" Asuna said

"Yep, that's right." Yuuki said

"But I think there must have been many strong people before me... Especially that Spriggan with black clothes and the one-handed long sword. Do you remember him?" Asuna said

"Oh... Yeah, I remember. He was really strong." Yuuki said

"Then why didn't you ask him for help?" Asuna said

"I don't think he'd work. Especially that blue hedgehog that same clothes and sword as him." Yuuki said

"Why?" Asuna said

"He figured out my secret." Yuuki said

*A Little Bit Later*

"Okay, can we meet here, tomorrow at 1:00?" Asuna said

"Okay!"

"Roger!"

"Let's do our best!" Asuna said

"Yeah!"

*Somewhere Else*

Asuna was texting Lizbeth as she was going back. "I'll tell you when I get back." Asuna texted. She send's the mesaage. Asuna continue's walking until a DISCONNECTION POWERDOWN showed. It was getting white as she logged out.

*At The Real World, Asuna'a House*

Asuna quickly wake's up and look's to see her mother with the cable.

"Wh-What are you doing, Mom?" Asuna said

"When you were late for dinner last month, do you remember what I said? If you were late for dinner again, using it, I would cut the power." Her mother said

"I'm sorry! I lost track of time... But you didn't have to yank the cord! You can shake me or shout in my ear, and i'll see a message-" Asuna said

"The last time I tried that, it took you five minutes to wake up." Her mother said

"Well... I have to move around and say goodbye..." Asuna said

"What do you mean, "say goodbye"? What takes place in that weird game is more important to you than your real commitments?" Her mother said

Asuna's down.

"I'm sorry. I'll be careful next time." Asuna apologize's

"This had better not happen again. If you break a rule again due to this, I'll take your machine away. I just don't understand... You lost two years of your life to it. I'd think you wouldn't want to even see it anymore." Her mother said

"This isn't like the NerveGear." Asuna said

A moment of silence.

"It's time for dinner. Change and come down." Her mother said

"I don't want any today." Asuna said

"Do what you like." Her mother said leaving her room

Asuna put's the glasses on the desk and walk's up to the closet. The closet open's and she get's mad.

*Away From The House*

Asuna was walking wround the town while it was dark. It was freezing cold outside. She sit's down and look's at her phone. She scroll's down the contacts.

*Mom, Shinozaki Rika, Kirigaya Kazuto, Mom*

Snow started falling down slowly. A tear roll's down her face.

*The Next Day, Inside ALO*

"Will that work, Asuna?" Yuuki said

No respond.

"Asuna?"

"Um... Yuuki, Jun, and Tecchi will be the fowards. Talken and Nori are mid-range. And Siune is the backup, right? Which means I should stay back, too, right?" Asuna said

"Sorry, I know you're really good with a sword..." Yuuki said

"It's no problem. I can't tank. In exchange, I'm going to watch Jum and Tecchi get beaten silly." Asuna said

"U-Uh, Leave it to us." Jun said

They giggle.

"Okay, let's go take a peek at the boss room." Asuna said

"Yeah!"

*At The Dungeon*

Yuuki was fighting off a Lizardman Lord. Yuuki stab's her sword inside the Lizardman. It disapper's in thin-air. They all celebrated.

"Did they really need me?" Asuna said

Asuna continue's walking with them.

"I can't believe you're getting through the labyrinth so easily. You're all really strong." Asuna said

Yuuki giggle's. She then see's the boss room. Yuuki start's running toward's it.

"That's the boss room!" Yuuki running at the boss door

"Yuuki, wait!" Asuna said

They all started following her. After walking for a couple minutes, they finally made it. Yuuki was about to walk until Asuna stop's her.

"Ecc Karra Fim Fiscul. Buryota Ryuga Galdol!" Asuna doing her magic spell

After her magic spell. Fishes appeared on her hand. Asuna blows them as they were flying towards the door. But, they soon and disappered. Then, three 'players' appeared.

"S-Stop! Stop! We aren't here to fight!" The player said

"Then put down your weapons! If they look like they're about to draw their swords again, cast Aqia Bind right away." Asuna said

"On it. I've never done PvP in ALO... It's exciting!" Siune said

"If you aren't PKers, why were you hiding?" Asuna said

"We're waiting for someone. We didn't want to be fighting mobs while watching for our friends, so we were hiding." The person said

"Fine. We'e here to fight the boss. If you're waiting, you won't mind if we go ahead of you, right?" Asuna said

"N-No, of course not." The person said

They started walking pass the other players.

"We'll wait for our friends here, Good Luck. Bye. Oth Shal Opis Glon Ropt." The player doing the magic spell

"Let's ignore them and get going." Jun said

"We'll follow out original plan, and have a look inside." Asuna said

"Yeah." Yuuki said

"Let's not merely peek. Let's try and beat it!" Jun said

"Well, that would be ideal... But you don't need to use your expensive healing items. We'll just get as far as we can with Siune's and my healing, okay?" Asuna said

"Right, Queen!" Jun said

"Hey!" Asuna flicking Jun's face

"Even if you die, don't go back to town immediately. Watch the boss's attack patterns carefully, and if we all get wiped out, we return to Lonbal save point." Asuna said

"Roger!"

Jun and Tecchi started pushing the door. The door started opening slowly. They started walking inside the boss room. The torches fired up. The door behind them closes. All of them got their weapons ready. Then, the boss started appearing from the fire. The monster then appear's and it haded two heads and two hammers. It roar at them.

"Let's go!" Asuna yelled

"Right!"

*Somewhere else*

All of them appeared from a portal back to town.

"We totally lost! What was that attack? It's not fair!" Nori said

"Its defense was really good, too... Was that guard move he does random?" Tecchi said

"We worked really hard, too." Yuuki said

Asuna garb's Yuuki and run's somewhere so they can talk alone.

"Asuna! Everyone, get over here quickly? There's no time to waste." Asuna said

They all walk up to her.

"You remember the three guys in front of the boss room, don't you?" Asuna said

"Yeah, sure."

"Those were scouts for a guild that only fights bosses. They're watching to see if other players, outside their guild, fight the boss. They propbably saw you all enter the boss rooms on the last floor and the one before it." Asuna said

"I didn't notice at all." Siune said

"I'd guess their goal isn't to interfere with us. It's to gather information. They use small guilds, like the Sleeping Knights, to gather information on the boss's attack patterns and weaknesses." Asuna said

"B-Bit right after we entered the boss room, the door closed. They couldn't watch the fight itself and learn anything." Talken said

"That was my mistake. Near the end of the fight, I saw a small, gray lizard on the floor by Jun. That's the darkness spell "peeping." You make a familiar follow another player, and you cam see what it sees." Asuna said

"Does that mean that, after we got wiped out on the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth floors, it wasn't a coincidence that the bosses were beaten so quickly?" Yuuki said

"I'm sure of it. You guys worked so hard, you were able to reveal all the boss's tricks, and that's why they were willing tomtake the chance of fighting." Asuna said

"Which meams that we've fallem for the same trick again, this time?" Siune said

"Oh, man... Damn it!" Yuuki getting mad

"No... Not necessarily!" Asuna said

"What do you mean, Asuna?" Yuuki said

"In real time, it's 2:30 in the afternoon. Even a large guild will have difficulty getting a big group together with this notice. I think it'd take an hour, minimum. We'll use that time. We'll finish our meeting in five minutes, and be back at the boss room in thirty. Okay?" Asuna said

"Yeah!"

*Later, Back At The Dungeon*

All of them were back at the dungeon and running towards the boss door.

"Okay! We're almost there!" Jun running faster

"Hey, wait!" Yuuki catching up to him

"No way!"

They soon notice a lot of players at the boss door as well.

"Wh-What is this?" Yuuki said

"It's okay. They only have twenty or so here. We'll have time to try." Asuna said

"Really?" Yuuki said

Asuna walk's up to the other players.

"Excuse me." Asuna said

They look to see Asuna.

"We want to challenge the boss. Can you let us through?" Asuna said

"Sorry. This place is off-limits right now." The player said

"What do you mean by "off-limits"? Asuna said

"Our guild is about to fight the boss. We're getting ready. Just wait there a while." The player said

"A while? How long?" Asuna said

"Well... An hour or so?" The player said

"We don't have time for that. If you're going in now, that's one thing... But if you can't, then let us go first!" Asuna said

"There's nothing I can so about it. It's am order from the top. If you have a problem with it, go to guild HQ and talk to them." The player said

"To get there, it would take an hour!" Asuna getting mad

Yuuki walk's up to her.

"Hey, you... In other words, you won't move no matter what we say, right?" Yuuki said

"Well, basically, yeah." The player said

"All right. Fine, then. Let's fight." Yuuki said

The player get's shock including Asuna.

"Y-Yuuki, that's..." Asuna said

"Asuna, there are things you can only share with someone by fighting. For instance, how serious you are." Yuuki said

"Yeah, that's about right!" Jun said

The others walk closer as well.

"Everyone..." Asuna said

"I'm sure they agree with me. These guys are willing to protect this place, down to the last man. Isn't that right?" Yuuki said

"We're..."

Yuuki take's out her sword.

"Now, draw your sword." Yuuki said

The player take's out his sword but Yuuki slashes his armor. She knock's him back and run's up to him. The player was about to attack but Yuuki attack's him again. The player run's up to Yuuki and attack's but she block's it. She pushes him back. Yuuki charges up her weapon and slashes him three times. The player hit's down very hard.

"Th-That isn't fair... Thay was a surprise attack!" The player getting back up

The rest of the players took their weapons out. Asuna had a flashback.

*FlashBack*

"There are things you can only share with someone by fighting." Yuuki said

*End Of FlashBack*

"Oh... She'a right." Asuna thought

Asuna put's her magic staff away and summon's her sword. She walk's next to Yuuki. They both looked at eachother and smile. All of them were ready to fight. Two players giggle. Nori look's behind.

"Oh, no!" Nori said

They turn around to see even more players running towards them.

"If I hadn't hesitated..." Asuna thought

"Soory for getting you caught up in this because of my short fuse, Asuna. But I don't regret it. That's the brightest smile I've seen on you since we met!" Yuuki said

"Likewise. I'm sorry I couldn't help. We might not get this boss, but let's defeat the next boss together!" Asuna said

All of them were ready to fight.

"You don't know when to give up."

Behind the players. Their was Kirito and Sonic. They both jumped on the run and started running on it. They both jump off and landed on ground while sliding back. They both got up. The players stopped running.

"Sorry." Kirito said

"Did we bother you?" Sonic said

Asuna turn's around to see Kirito and Sonic.

"This place is off-limits." Kirito and Sonic both said as the same time

To...Be...Continue...

"Next Time: Swordsmen's Memorial." Kirito and Sonic as narrators