ALO: The Rangers
Hello, why do people not review much anymore? I feel useless now, but I'll keep writing because I wrote enough that I am writing for fun.
Hehe, a month ago if someone told me I would be writing for fun in a month I wouldn't believe them for a second, and yet here I am.
This might be the last 'rescue Asuna' chapter, please tell me if I missed something because I feel like I didn't skip anything but there were only like twice less ALO episodes then SAO in canon, not 6 times less. I guess I cut out most of the drama because Leafa would realize Kirito was her brother immediately and Kirito doesn't love Asuna so it doesn't really happen, and I guess that was like half the story...
Chapter 5: Yggdrasil
(1st person, Sinon, January 22nd, 4:03pm)
Damn this stupid tree, of all the dungeons that could have beat us for the first time, it had to be a tree.
"You know the whole thing about this being hard? I'm starting to believe it." I said.
"We nearly made it to the top, if there were a bit fewer of them we would be fine. It's not impossible." Kirito said, pulling an glowing gold arrow out of his arm and having it shatter, thank god for almost complete pain dampening.
"Yeah, maybe if we had back up just to decrease their population. Like that help the lords mentioned." I said.
"Maybe we should wa-" Kirito started saying but was interrupted by Sakuya and Alicia.
"So how were your attempts to get to the top with 3 people?" asked Alicia.
"Maybe 90% up or so. Nearly made it." I said.
Their jaws dropped.
"Even the Salamander full raid group didn't make it close to that high." Alicia said in disbelife.
"They start having bows and throwing swords at you. Makes it tough to get through. Would it be possible for you to kill some of the [Guardians], if there were fewer in general we could get through." Kirito said.
"Why do you think we came here?" asked Sakuya.
"To try to clear the world tree, not help a pair of crazy teenagers clear the world tree." I said.
"You know I'm about your age, at most a couple years older then you!" said Alicia.
"That doesn't change that we are crazy teenagers." I pointed out.
"Whatever, we came to help, we have dragons and mages." Alicia said.
"You have dragons? Like fire breathing ones?" I asked.
"Yeah. You know Cait Sith's main advantage is ability to tame monsters, right?" said Alicia.
"Can you just try to destroy as many [Guardians] as possible?" I asked.
"Sure, it will be fun burn them all!" Alicia said.
Sakuya and Alicia left the tree for a moment and when they came back there were about 30 Cait Sith with dragons and 30 Sylphs following them.
"Attack!" yelled Sakuya and everyone flew into the air.
Instantly hundreds of [Guardians] appeared forming a blockade.
"Fire!" Alicia yelled and all the dragon riders made their dragons breath fire while the Sylphs cast spells.
"Let's go?" I asked Kirito.
He nodded and cast his shadow blade and other spells, then Leafa cast the shield spell and we flew upwards at our top speed.
We reached the point where they started throwing swords and we tried to avoid them, though we hadn't been hit yet it was getting harder.
There were fewer [Guardians] here then last time because beneath us there was fire and wind and tornados of flames and what not destroying them in tens and hundreds.
The quantity of swords increased, at this rate unless I was able to block them they would start hitting us, a lot.
I focused and time seemed to slow a sword came flying straight at Kirito I flew just enough to block it, it seems the key is not to move fast but to move precisely. I had plenty of speed, if only it was that easy.
I moved my dagger as everything moved in slow-motion and the sword slammed into it.
The sword was deflected off my dagger and missed, crashing into another flying sword. Why does chance do it so easily while I need to try so hard?
Sword after sword came flying and I blocked most of them, but by the time we were mere tens of meters from the end we were nearly dead.
'Focus.'
There were 7 swords flying at us right now.
We were close enough to the end that more wouldn't be thrown.
I could probably block most of them, but at my current rate of letting them through, one or both of us would end up dead.
The closest one would hit me at this rate so it should be easy dodge by getting on the same level as Kirito, that would also put me in a position to block the next one, which was headed for Kirito.
The next one I won't be able to block, but it should hit me.
The fourth one is basically coming from right in front of me to it is an easy block.
The fifth one is going to hit Kirito, then the sixth is probably going to hit Kirito's sword.
The final one would require moving very fast to block but I should be able to block it, though I would need to use my bow to block it, which may destroy it.
Everything went according to plan, first I flew up and brought my dagger in front of me.
The next one as expected hit me in the side.
The fourth one was basically from the same place as the second one and was easily blocked.
The fifth one hit Kirito's leg.
The sixth one got flung away at high speed by Kirito's sword.
And the seventh one I swung out with my bow like a sword and redirected it.
Then we cleared the [Guardians] and flipped over, landing on the ceiling.
Instantly they stopped targeting and all turned down towards the raid group below.
Time returned to normal speed and I felt a bit dizzy.
"You alright?" asked Kirito.
"Yeah, you?" I asked.
"Barely." he answered.
We both had the tiniest sliver of HP left.
I pulled the sword impaled into me out and Kirito did the same, after that I checked my bow's durability as it surprisingly hadn't broken.
I saw that had only a few shots worth of durability left.
"My bow has only a few more shots before it breaks." I said.
Right after I said that I heard a loud shattering sound and Kirito's shadow blade dispersed into nothing.
"Right, well let me do any remaining fighting and use you dagger if necessary." he said.
He cast healing spells on both of us and then I realized something, wasn't this door supposed to open?
"Hey isn't this door supposed to open or something?" I asked aloud.
Yui flew out of Kirito's pocket and touched the door "This door isn't looked by a quest flag, but by an administrator." she said.
"This door wasn't meant to be opened by players." she added.
"Well great, what now?" I asked.
"I should be able to open it using the admin card though." Yui said.
I breathed in relief.
Yui took the admin card and held it, then she closed her eyes and orange lines appeared on the card, then they crept up Yui's hands a bit and the door started to open, then they vanished and Yui gave me the card.
Yui transformed into full size and grabbed our hands "We're going to teleport!" she exclaimed and once the door opened there was a flash of white and we appeared in some tunnel.
"There appear to be unknown signatures not resembling players or monsters in some of the rooms here as well as one player along the main corridor outside the tree." Yui said.
"So we should avoid the rooms and hurry up outside?" I asked.
"Yes, that seems to be the case." Yui said before reverting into a pixie.
We ran along the corridor and eventually reached a door, which this time opened and revealed the outside.
We saw branches with paths and one, the one going straight ahead, had a golden birdcage at the end.
We ran along the path until we reached the cage.
What we saw inside the cage, for good or bad, was Asuna, and she seemed to be asleep.
"Hey Asuna!" I called.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes then had a look of disbelief on her face.
"Hey Asuna, that you?" I asked.
"Sinon? Kirito? You have no idea how glad I am to see you, or anyone other then that bastard for that matter." she said.
"Well, now we just need to get you out of here. Yui, can you log her out from here?" I asked.
"No, I would need an administrator console to do that." Yui said, flying off of Kirito's head and surprising Asuna.
"Who is she?" asked Asuna.
""Long story."" Kirito and I said at the same time.
I walked up to the cage and pressed the button on the door, which opened.
"I know where a console is, I almost logged out with it but I got caught, I managed to snag the card I threw down, you got it right?" she said.
"Yeah we got it, and without it we wouldn't have made it to the top. Let's go before we get caught." I said.
But before we could move, of course, we got caught.
The world turned black and beneath the floor which seemed to turn transparent appeared a vortex of swirling colors, mostly dark ones.
Though the most important part is that we all felt about 3 times heavier or so from that and collapsed to the ground.
At this instant Yui vanished.
I was about to call out but I heard a voice who should probably not know about Yui's existence.
"My, my, rats have found their way into my house. How do you like it? Gravity Magic, it is going to be added in the next update. A little to strong maybe?" said a voice, I remember that voice, it is the voice of the scum named Sugou.
"It's a tree." I snarked.
"System command: generate object, id: iron sword, quantity: 2" he said and then I felt myself get impaled by a sword through the back and saw him do the same to Kirito.
"System command: set pain absorber for players: Kirito, Sinon; To level: 8." he said and I instantly felt pain shoot through my back, though not in the quantity to make me even cry out, but it did hurt.
"I'll be slowly lowering that so you two have something to look forward too." he said.
He then handcuffed Asuna and hung her by her arms, which in this extreme gravity, if her pain absorber was set down, would hurt a ton.
Kirito tried to stand but after getting to his knees he collapsed.
"Uh-uh-uh." said Sugou waving his finger and then lowered the pain absorber to 7.
"Once it reaches 3 it will start having real world effect." he said.
He tried to do something to Asuna but she bit him to the point where it lowered his HP.
"Get your hands off me you- you scum!" she screamed.
I tried to get up but the moment I moved pain shot through my body and I'm pretty sure that the sword was impaled into the floor as well.
I let out a small cry and clenched my teeth but kept trying to get up.
Several things made it difficult to stand up.
Being pinned to the floor by a sword, which was impaled through me causing extreme pain and finally the 3 or so times stronger gravity.
Kirito also seemed to be having just as much trouble as me, though he seemed to be taking the pain somewhat better.
I remembered my bow and took it off my back, despite barely being able to move.
I drew it back while Sugou wasn't looking and shot, the arrow stuck through his hand just as he turned around and pinned it to his chest. My bow shattered.
"Set pain absorber to 5." he said and I felt the pain which I was just starting to be able to endure increase again and clenched my teeth harder to keep from screaming.
"Why aren't you screaming in pain? You're supposed to be screaming in pain!" said an annoyed Sugou.
He walked over to Kirito and kicked him in the face.
Why would he bother, then pain of being impaled by a sword was far greater anyway, but I still felt rage flow through me and I tried to stand again, only to collapse once more.
The pain didn't decrease and I lay there nearly unable to move.
Suddenly the surrounding world turned white and I heard Kayaba's voice say "Are you two giving up?"
Apparently Kirito also heard him because he answered "We're not giving up, we're just accepting the facts. It is impossible to fight him, he is practically god in this world."
Kayaba answered "Like you accepted the facts when you fought me? Are you going to surrender to the system you once defied. You beat me, the god of Aincrad." then he said something I didn't quite hear to Kirito and then the world returned to black.
Kirito clenched his teeth and stood up, despite the sword impaled in him.
He reached behind him and drew his katana, using it to destroy the sword impaling him.
He walked over to me—with difficulty—and pulled the sword out of me.
Instantly the pain vanished and I relaxed slightly, though my HP was still going down and there was a phantom pain.
Then Kirito said "System login, ID: Heathcliff, Password:" the last part he muttered that no one could hear, unfortunately that included me.
So that's what Kayaba said to Kirito, the login credentials to the ultimate admin account, the true god of this world.
"System command; set system command level of Oberon to level 1." he then said.
"Impossible! An ID higher then mine? System command generate object ID: Excalibur!" he said.
When nothing happened he screamed "Do as I say! I am the god of this world you stupid system do as I say!"
"You are not the god of this world! You are king of thieves sitting on a stolen throne!" Kirito said.
"So that's who's ID that is? Kayaba why are you always stopping me! Even when dead you get in my way!" he screamed in rage.
"System command generate object ID: Excalibur!" Kirito said.
In a bunch of golden numbers a golden longsword appeared in Kirito's hand.
He tossed the sword to Oberon and said "System command set pain absorber to level 0 for self and Oberon."
"Come at me you piece of trash!" Kirito said loudly to Oberon.
I just noticed that the gravity magic had disappeared at some point so I stood up and walked over to Asuna and cut through the chains with my dagger, catching her before she fell to the ground.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Barely, what about you? I can't even imagine the pain you just experienced." she asked.
"I'm fine, here have my dagger, I'll tell Kirito not to finish him off so you can stab him if you want." I said.
"No thank you, I'd rather just lay here on the floor." she said not very lady-like.
I nodded and walked over to the 'fight' between Kirito and Oberon.
Oberon screamed in pain from just a scratch, at least Kayaba had taken being impaled, even if the pain absorber wasn't 0 but like 4 or so—without a sound, like Kirito.
Oberon charged forward and Kirito sidestepped him and cut him in half.
Okay now that, I would scream at.
He threw him into air and in my direction, I caught him, with my dagger, impaling him through the face, thankfully for him his HP dropped to zero at that point and he vanished.
Then Kirito said "System command logout player Asuna." and Asuna vanished.
The moment she was gone Kayaba appeared again "Congratulations." he said.
"Thank you." I said.
"We are not on the level of thanks for favors, I expect something from you two in return." he said.
I was dreading what could come next, but it turned out not bad at all.
A golden egg like thing materialized "Take this." he said.
"What is it?" Kirito asked.
"If you still have any love for the virtual world, then keep this and let it sprout, then you will see what it is. After that do with it as you please. This is goodbye for now, though I am sure we will meet again." Kayaba said and vanished, leaving just the two of us and a golden egg.
"Well, let's see what it is. No harm in checking." Kirito said and the egg vanished, saved to his NerveGear.
Suddenly Yui appeared "Yui!" I cried out hugging her.
"I'm okay, I hid in papa's NerveGear from whatever check that was to avoid getting deleted." Yui said.
So that's why she disappeared.
"This is goodbye for until we figure out to create another world for you. I'll miss you." I said sadly, no way was ALO surviving this.
"It's okay, I'll wait till then, I can just sleep until then." Yui said.
"Goodbye." Kirito said and hugged us.
Then Kirito and I logged out.
We took the NerveGears off our heads and just lay there.
"Let's go make sure that Asuna is logged out and that this is finally over, then we can truly relax for a while." Kazuto said.
We lay there a few seconds more until I said "That hurt a lot."
"Yeah." said Kazuto wincing.
We got up and went to Sugu's room and saw her still logged in, we decided to leave her a note and left.
After getting on Kazuto's motorcycle we drove to the fancy hospital Asuna was—hopefully—leaving soon.
We parked on the parking lot and were walking when a van door opened and out stepped Sugou, holding a gun, pointed in our direction.
"You stupid children! You ruined me! You ruined everything! I was on the verge of technology to control the human mind and you come along and ruin me! Even if I can't complete it, I will have my revenge!" he said.
The world turned grey and I smelled sulfur and iron in the air.
"Shino, run! Get help!" Kazuto said. I panicked and did as told running towards the hospital.
"Come back here!" he screamed and shot, but he was clearly no better at shooting then at sword fighting as all his shots didn't come close and all he did was make noise.
I ran into the hospital and got help though I don't remember what happened very well.
But when I returned with some of the hospital security who had been in the lobby I saw that Kazuto and Sugou were fighting, with Sugou on top trying to stab Kazuto with a knife.
The knife slammed down but Kazuto rolled to the side and ended up on top of Sugou and slammed his head into the van, stunning him.
At this point I saw that Kazuto had multiple cuts on his shoulder, cheek, and side.
He collapsed on his back on the snow, some of it being stained red by Kazuto's blood, though not very much.
I ran over to him and frantically said "Are you okay?"
"Never better." he said sarcastically. Though it was clear he was hurt he was still not hurt enough to lose his sarcasm.
"No I'm serious, I am pretty much fine all the cuts are very shallow I just need a bandaid or something." he added.
The hospital security had picked up the slightly bloody knife, the empty gun and hand-cuffed Sugou.
We went inside and tried to go visit Asuna but, being a hospital, they didn't let a teenager who was literally bleeding, though slightly now because the wounds had been cooled by the snow.
They had Kazuto get some bandaids and then let us visit Asuna.
When we walked in there was a nurse leaving the room.
We walked past her and upon seeing Kazuto's clothes stained with blood and the bandaids on his face, shoulder, and side she immediately said "Are you okay? What happened?"
"Sugou happened, he attacked us in the parking lot and I'm fine." Kazuto explained.
"You two are the best friends someone could have, you went through so much trouble to rescue someone who did nothing but make sandwiches for you." she said.
"We also did it to finish what we started and get everyone out of SAO." I said.
"We hope to see you at the party." I added.
"Wait what party?" she asked.
"There will be a party in a few weeks to celebrate the REAL clearing of SAO. I just came up with this idea, we haven't done anything to that aim yet by the way." I said.
"Thank you. I'm sorry that you got hurt because you were trying to save me." she said, she probably felt terrible.
"It is fine, getting impaled didn't hurt as much as it did in the fight against Kayaba anyway." Kazuto said jokingly.
That does it for this chapter! There will be quite a bit more ALO: The Rangers, at least the canon parts.
I planned to make the hospital part another chapter but I got impatient.
Please follow, favorite, and review.
Sorry if the ALO part's quality was sort a lower.
Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!