A/N: Hey guys! New chapter time! Sorry that this one is a bit on the short side. But like I said last week, this chapter will answer a lot of the questions you guys probably have. Enjoy!

There were two paths for trainers to take between Ambrette Town and Cyllage Town. The first was a long beachside. Normally that would sound pleasant, but when you had a target on your back it was dangerous. That meant it was the rocky cliffside for Kirito and the others. Luckily there were several caves for them to choose to duck into for the night.

Kirito, Asuna, and Sinon sat around a fire they had lit. All of the others were fat asleep. It had been almost a full day since the fight in Ambrette Town. They had no way of pinning down Laughing Coffin's location now so they decided to travel for now and see what leads they could dig up.

"How are Misaki and Clair doing?" Sinon asked.

"As good as can be expected I suppose." Asuna said. "Ren was Clair's brother and the person Misaki loved. How would you feel to have him dead?"

Sinon nodded understandingly as she continued to stare at the fire. "I wish there was something we could do."

"I think Miski's slowly starting to come to terms with what happened." Asuna said. "Now I just wish I could do the same with Megumi."

"Who was that girl anyway? You seemed to know her from the real world by the sound of it." Kirito asked.

"I want to hear this too." Misaki said as she walked up and sat with the group.

"Misaki?" Asuna asked in mild surprise. "Did we wake you?"

Misaki shook her head. "Couldn't sleep. Too much happened yesterday."

"Fair enough." Asuna said with a nod.

"So you were about to talk about Izumi from Laughing Coffin, right?" Sinon asked. "How do the two of you know each other."

Asuna stared at the fire as she reminisced about her past. "My family is really wealthy. My dad's the CEO of a large company and my mother's a distinguished scholar. I grew up in a high class lifestyle. I went to private schools for most of my childhood. That was where I met Megumi."

"So she was from a wealthy family too?" Misaki asked.

Asuna nodded her head. "Her dad ran a hospital. We used to be friends back in junior high and hung out a lot."

"So what happened that made her hate your guts so suddenly?" Sinon questioned.

"If I had to guess… it was probably due to something that happened back in our first year of high school."

Asuna sat in the classroom, quietly taking her exam like everyone else. It was midterms, one of the hardest tests of the semester. She had spent the past two weeks studying for it every single night. In the fancy private school she went to, a lot of students were like that. All trying to get perfect marks and be set to go into prestigious colleges and universities.

In the seat next to her, Megumi was quickly writing away. Asuna felt amazed by how fast she was able to handle the questions. Asuna knew Megumi to be a hard worker, though she had felt nervous about the upcoming exam. It looked like the studying had paid off.

Then it happened.

As she wrote with her pencil, Megumi accidentally knocked her eraser off the table with its holder. Asuna reached out to pick it up off the floor for her friend, but her teacher had gotten to it first. As the teacher was about to hand it back to Megumi, her eyes caught something.

"Miss Shiniku, would you like to explain yourself for this?"

Asuna noticed Megumi's body tense up. Curious as to what was happening, Asuna glanced over to see what was going on. She gasped at what she saw. Scribbled on the insides of the eraser holder were hidden notes.

"Cheating is not allowed in this school, young lady." the teacher spoke. "You will report to the principal's office, where we will discuss your punishment after the exam."

"But-"

"Not another word. Go."

Megumi slowly got out of her seat and walked out of the classroom with her head sulking. Asuna heard snickers and whispers of gossip among her classmates as they watched Megumi leave.

"That's enough." the teacher said. "Everyone keep quiet and continue taking your test."

Asuna quickly shook off her surprise at what had happened and continued her test. 'Megumi…'

After the exam had ended, Asuna walked through the halls of her school. The shock of what had happened to Megumi was still going through her head. As she passed by the principal's office, she could hear the sound of yelling.

"Why would you do such a thing Megumi?! Do you realize what this means?!"

"I'm sorry mother." Megumi said. "It's just-"

"I don't want to hear your excuses young lady! Do you have any idea how badly this reflects on me and your father?!"

Suddenly Asuna heard Megumi's voice raise to a scream. "That's all you care about isn't it?! How YOU'RE affected! You keep telling me I have to get into Kyoto University over and over again! I'm doing this so you can be happy with me for once in your-"

Asuna heard Megumi's voice get cut off and the sound of a slap echo through the room.

"We are leaving Megumi."

Asuna heard the doorknob turn and quickly turned the corner to hide herself. She listened as Megumi and her mother walked away.

"You should be ashamed of yourself, Megumi. Your friend Asuna didn't have to cheat to get her grades."

"Of course not. Asuna gets everything she could ever want." Megumi muttered.

Asuna wanted to run after Megumi. To try and do something to comfort her and make her feel better. But she stood there and did nothing.

As Asuna finished her story, her friends looked at her in surprise. Asuna stared into the fire. "After that day, I stopped seeing Megumi. She cut off all contact with me, was expelled from the school, and I never saw her again. Not until yesterday."

"So that's why she hates you? Because of some stupid jealousy?" Misaki asked.

Asuna shook her head. "I think it's a little more than that. Growing up, I was under a lot of the same pressure Megumi was. Because of that, I understand how easy it is to blame someone else for your mistakes. But to be perfectly honest… my life's not as perfect as she would have believed."

"What do you mean?" Sinon asked.

"My mother constantly hounded me to keep up my studies. I didn't have a very normal childhood." Asuna explained. "I didn't play with kids as often as others. It was always study this and do that. All to keep up with her expectations. And she's even gone so far as to try and plan out my future, including who I marry."

"You can't be serious!" Misaki gasped.

"I am." Asuna nodded. She then reached out for Kirito's hand and held it. "But my time here has taught me a lot. It's shown me how to really live life."

"How did you end up in PWO anyway?" Kirito asked. "From the sound of it, your mother wouldn't have approved you playing a game like this."

"The Nerve Gear rig and game belonged to my brother." Asuna explained. "He was interested in the VR industry so he bought them. But he had a business venture on the opening day, so he allowed me to use it first." Asuna showed a sad smile on her face. "He must feel so guilty right now."

The group stayed silent as they watched the fire. Asuna looked outside and thought about her old friend that was now with one of the most dangerous groups in the game.

'Megumi… how did you become like this?'

Izumi yawned as she leaned against the tree she was currently resting against. It was the middle of the night and she was on watch duty. She stared at the endless night sky above her as she thought about seeing Asuna. She had friends, she was one of the top players in the game, hell she was even dating the Unova champion.

'If she wants to go be her little princess self then fine. I'll just do things my way.' Izumi thought to herself. 'I'm gonna make her suffer and watch her go through the same thing I did when I lost everything.'

The bitter memories still remained fresh in her mind. After she was expelled, her parents never looked at her the same way. They always had that look of disappointment in their eyes. They looked at her like she wasn't even a human being anymore. She ended up going to a normal public school and brought home straight A's for the rest of the year, trying to get her parents to acknowledge her again. But it was never enough for them.

Then PWO came out. A world where no one knew who you really were. A place where you could just be yourself and no one would judge you. It was perfect. And then the death game feature was announced.

Izumi never partied with anyone when PWO first started. She stayed solo, relying only on her own skills to stay alive.

And then it happened. The day that her life changed forever.

She remembered it like it was yesterday. She was travelling to the next town when she was suddenly ambushed by a PKer. She instantly could tell he was from Laughing Coffin, the guild that had been infamous throughout Unova. She tried to run and get away. But it didn't work. Eventually she was backed into a corner where her only choice was to fight. She did whatever it took to win that battle, even using a dirty move to trick her opponent and trap him in ice.

Izumi still remembered the look on the PKers face. The fear in his eyes as he begged her to let him live. She hated the weakness in his eyes after he had tried to kill her. He didn't deserve to live. So she did the only thing she could do. Put him out of his misery.

Just when she thought she was safe, Izumi suddenly found herself surrounded by Laughing Coffin trainers. She knew she had no chance of winning this fight and thought it was over for her. Then one of the members suddenly walked up to her. He removed his hood and looked at her. She still remembered the words Kira said to her then.

"I like the look in your eyes. They have the look of a killer, someone who wants freedom from the shackles of reality."

Izumi could see it in his expression. This was someone that was truly free. He did whatever he wanted to, unafraid of how others would judge him for his actions. That freedom. That was what Izumi wanted.

Ever since, she had been Izumi, the merciless ice-type specialist of Laughing Coffin.

She admired Kira more than anything. She was willing to do anything for him. He was her idol. Someone who was free. Someone she could follow and put all of her faith in.

'And you'll see just how much stronger this freedom has made me when we meet again Asuna Yuuki.' Izumi silently thought with a devilish smirk. 'I'm going to enjoy watching the look in your eyes as I take everything away from you.'

Ren slept against the trunk of the tree as he sat in the branches. He had been able to fasten himself to the trunk so there was little risk of him falling. Plus with him so high up, any other players would just pass by him without noticing his presence at all.

He had already made it past Cyllage Town and he figured Kira's group had also made it that far by now. Their battle was in nine days now and Ren had to make it to Shalour City before then. There was a reason he had chosen that place for their battle. It had been his next stop.

The sudden rustling of the trees woke Ren up. He kept quiet and listened, wondering what the sound was.

"Well look who I found."

Ren jerked his head to the side, expecting to see an enemy. But to both his surprise and relief it was Akio, the Hoenn champion and Ren's friend from the real world.

"What the hell was that about, you idiot?" Ren groaned. "I thought you were a PKer for a second there."

"Ha, yeah right. If I was gonna be a PKer, I'd be way more silent and you'd be dead."

"As if a loudmouth like you could ever be silent." Ren quipped back with a grin.

Akio smirked as he leaned against the trunk of the tree Ren was resting against. "So where's Clair and that loudmouth that was with you?"

Ren's face became grim as he lowered his head. "I split up from them."

"Seriously?" Akio asked in mild surprise. "The loudmouth I can get, but Clair's your sister. You really left her all alone like that."

"She's not alone." Ren said with a shake of his head. "And the people she's with now will do a much better job of protecting her and Misaki than I could."

Akio stared at his friend. "And what makes you say that?"

Ren went on to explain everything that had happened. Meeting Kirito, Asuna, and the others. Battling against Laughing Coffin. The death of his partner Infernape. By the end of the story, Akio was able to understand Ren's reasoning a bit better.

"So let me get this straight." Akio said. "You're going to fight a guy whose skills are on the level of that of a champion in a fight to the death in Shalour City?"

Ren nodded his head. "That's right. And I need to get there ahead of time so I can get the power I need to beat Kira."

"What would that be?"

"I have no idea." Ren said with a shake of his head. "It's just a rumor, but I've heard there's a place there where you can undergo training to become a lot stronger. I'm hoping to be able to do that before the deadline for my battle with Kira."

"I see." Akio said. "Well then, I guess I'll tag along for the ride."

Ren turned to face his friend. "I don't need your help for this Akio. I'm facing Kira on my own."

"Don't worry, you can have your fight with him. I just thought I'd join you to Shalour City. It's on the path I'm taking anyway."

Ren could tell from Akio's voice that he was a little worried about him. He didn't like to show it, but Akio really was a loyal friend. "Alright then. I guess I'll let you join me."

Akio chuckled as he leaned against the trunk and closed his eyes. "You haven't changed buddy. We better be careful though. With a PKer group targeting you, there might be some strangers… Amoonguss."

Ren groaned as he heard Akio chuckle to himself. "Really man? You still haven't stopped with your whole Poke pun routine?"

"Hey don't hate me just cause I'm hilarious." Akio grinned.

Kagutsuchi stood in the control room for the server for PWO. He typed away as data for several things came up. He then went to access his GM privileges, only to see them blocked.

"Damnit!" he yelled as he curled up his hand into a fist. "That damn program running around. Keeping me from my full power."

It had been nearly two months now since his admin privileges began to be stripped away. First it was his arsenal of strong pokemon that he had stored away for his account. Then even more of his powers began to get taken away bit by bit. Right now, the max amount of power he had was simply observing data and using the pokemon he had on him, which had roughly the same strength as that of the champion's pokemon. If it wasn't for that, he wouldn't have to rely on that Laughing Coffin trio to get his revenge on Ren.

That one champion. He had beaten him at his own game once but never again. He would pay dearly for stopping his plans with Ryota.

If there was one thing Kagutsuchi hated, it was feeling powerless. Power was everything. That was why he created PWO. To be a god of his own world. He had sacrificed everything for it, even his family. And now even that was abandoning him.

The only bright side currently was the fact that the program could no longer do anything to him due to its memory loss. But he still needed it out of the way to retain control of his full power.

"It's all because of that program." Kagutsuchi muttered. "I thought she'd be powerless in the state I left her. But somehow she's free and ruining my plans."

He brought up the server data for the program that had been interfering with his grand scheme. One simple program that needed to be dealt with before the two months were up.

Mental Health Counseling Program Prototype 1. Codename: Yui.

"She'll get what she deserves." Kagutsuchi told himself. "Cause I still have one ace up my sleeve that she hasn't touched." He looked over at the motionless player asleep in the control room. Luckily for him, he still had full control over this one, unlike Ryota who had been freed already by Ren.

"It's time to wake up my puppet." Kagutsuchi grinned as he pressed a tab on his menu and watched the player open their eyes.

A/N: Oooooo, ominous. Ok so I hope you guys all like seeing Asuna and Izumi/Megumi's backstory. I actually used part of the SAO Progressive manga as part of my inspiration for that. And now we got to see a little bit more of Kagutsuchi.. And let me answer one more question you all are probably asking: Yes, Akio will continue to use Poke puns and they will all be cringe worthy.