Chapter 12: Level 3 Pt. 2
Kirito sat on a tree. Leafa, Sinon, Klein, Lisbeth, and Silica are currently killing monster right now, and he currently has Asuna and Yui by his side.
"Kirito?" Asuna asked. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Kirito replied. "It's just… that meeting's been making me think lately."
Asuna knew what he meant. It has only been a few days since the meeting with GENM's CEO, but the information dump was quite something for them to handle.
"If there really is a virus spreading across VR…" Kirito thought aloud. "We have to be careful."
"Don't worry." Asuna reminded. "We all know the of the risks now."
Asuna then nuzzled her head onto Kirito's shoulder, and Kirito then wrapped his arm around her.
"Hey, love-birds!" Lisbeth shouted from below. "If you're done, we should be heading back now!"
Kirito and Asuna, sighing, had to comply. They knew if they had done this any longer, they would've been left behind.
A few minutes later, they were back in an area where NPCs are a common find. They all found a nice café to relax in. Each had a coffee in hand.
"Ah…" Leafa sighed. "This is the life."
"A tea after some monster hunting? Count me in." Sinon added.
But their tea break didn't last long, as the NPCs nearby began to scream and run away from something.
"Hey, what's going on?" Klein asked.
"We should see!" Silica suggested.
"Come on!" Kirito shouted, leaping over the railing.
"I was just getting into my coffee!" Lisbeth whined.
They ran for a good 2 miles before they found the source of what the people were running from. An actual online player was just hacking away at NPCs like there was no tomorrow.
"Is that… natural?" Klein asked uncomfortably.
"Depends." Sinon replied. "If that guy is planning to be an orange player for a good stretch of time."
"I'll talk some sense into him." Kirito said.
He walked in, his sword in one hand. The player was on his next victim, sword in the air. The NPC begged for its live, but the player didn't respond. He struck down his sword, but Kirito was able to block it before it landed on the NPC. And with a clanging of blades, Kirito managed to separate the NPC from the player.
"What's your deal?" He asked.
Yui then popped out and check the player's ID.
"His name is Serado." She said. "Lv. 43."
"Alright, Serado…" Kirito asked again. "What's going on?"
Serado didn't respond. He charged at Kirito again. He went for a stab, but Kirito spun around and nailed him right on the head. Serado stumbled and fell on his face.
"Was that supposed to be an attack?" Kirito asked.
Serado grabbed his sword, but, a huge surge of electricity coursed through him. He dropped the sword on the ground, and began to hold his head. Then, he yelled out of pure agony.
"What-, what is going on?!" Yui panicked. "His data is getting corrupted by something!"
"Corrupted?!" Leafa shouted.
Serado smashed his head on the ground, but by then, it was too late. He was engulfed by an orange substance. The goop stayed on it for a few seconds. Afterwards, they seeped back into him. Serado stood back up, but completely different this time. What used to be his clean, Undine body and hair, complete with snow white garments, was now a black metal gears and boxes, with a red armor on his torso. He also had a massive punching gauntlet on his right arm. Furthermore, there appeared to be something sticking out of his head.
Kirito tried to process what happened, but he was knocked back by punch to the face.
"Where did this come from?!" He shouted.
Serado didn't reply. His eyes were completely blank. Just white.
"I can't sense his movements!" Yui said. "It's like… he's completely shut down!"
"Figured as much." Replied a voice.
Everyone turned around and saw two familiar figures walking towards them. It was Ex-Aid and Brave. They had their Gamer Drivers on, and had their Gashats in hand.
"So Bugsters now infect players…" Ex-Aid stated.
"The stakes are a lot higher now." Brave agreed.
Everyone froze when Ex-Aid said his line. Bugsters can now infect players?
"So… how do we fight it?" Asuna asked.
"Simple." Brave replied, pressing his Gashat. "We beat it."
TADDLE QUEST!
"Rightly so!" Ex-Aid replied, pressing his Gashat as well.
MIGHTY ACTION X!
Each games respective areas spread out across the area, blocks and chests arranging themselves. Then both posed before inserting their Gashats.
"Henshin!" Ex-Aid shouted.
"Henshin." Brave said coldly.
GASHATTO!
LET'S GAME! MECCHA GAME! MUCCHA GAME! WHATCHA NAME?!
I'M A KAMEN RIDER!
Both figures were replaced by chibi figures of their Rider forms. But they didn't stay in this form long.
"Dai Henshin!" Ex-Aid called.
"Proceeding to Level 2." Brave said.
GACHANN! LEVEL UP!
MIGHTY JUMP! MIGHTY KICK! MIGHTY MIGHTY ACTION X!
TADORU MEGURU! TADORU MEGURU! TADDLE QUEST!
The chibi figures disappeared, replaced by slimmer bodies of Lv. 2. Each summoned their respective weapons, and got ready to brawl.
"Let's clear this no continues!" Ex-Aid cheered.
"Proceeding with Bugster extermination." Brave said robotically.
Then, both began to attack. They slashed and struck the Bugster. While they did some damage, the Bugster relatively seemed to be unharmed. Ex-Aid even threw a couple of kicks, but the Bugster's armor is too thick. It just knocked him out of his way. Brave then stepped in and slashed. He did a straight slash and a spinning turn-slash, but that didn't do anything either. The Bugster did the same thing to him. And since they were within shooting distance, the Bugster launched its punching gauntlet straight at him.
"What was that?!" Ex-Aid yelled.
"Ah! Gekitotsu Robots!" Leafa shouted.
"Geki-what?" Lisbeth asked.
Poppy then flew in from behind and explained.
"It is a 1-on-1 punching game!" She said "You fight and fight with robots until your opponent is defeated!"
"My friend is waiting for the release of this game!" Leafa explained.
Brave and Ex-Aid heard this.
"If that's the case, we can't take him from a distance…" Brave said.
"But we can't get close to him either!" Ex-Aid threw in.
Kirito couldn't take it anymore. He tightened the grip on his swords and just charged.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Brave yelled.
Kirito didn't respond. He went for the Bugster, but was quickly intercepted by someone else. Kirito flipped over, and saw the black Ex-Aid again. He had just protected the Bugster.
"You again!" Kirito said.
The black Ex-Aid then pulled out his other Gashat. He pressed it.
SHAKARIKI SPORTS!
The bike from before appeared around him. The black Ex-Aid closed his Gamer Driver back up, then he inserted the Gashat in.
GACHANN! GASHATTO!
Then, he opened it back up.
GACHANN! LEVEL UP!
MIGHTY JUMP! MIGHTY KICK! MIGH~TY ACTIO~N! X!
A GACCHA!
SHAKARIKI, SHAKARIKI, BAD! BAD! SHAKATTO, RIKITTO, SHAKARIKI SPORTS!
The bike rode around the black Ex-Aid, before hopping. The front wheel and the handle twisted, and landed on top of the black Ex-Aid. He popped out the front wheel, and he threw at Kirito.
Kirito predicted this, so he was able to jump. But the wheel kept going, and hit Asuna. Then, acting like a boomerang, it twirled and swerved around the gang, hitting his friends all over the place. For example, it got Leafa and Sinon by their legs and abdomen, Klein was hit straight in the face, and Lisbeth and Silica were sliced by their arms and legs.
"EVERYONE!" Kirito yelled.
He quickly made his way over. But the Black Ex-Aid didn't want any of it. However, he was intercepted by Brave and Ex-Aid. The actual Ex-Aid.
"What stunt are you trying to pull here?" Ex-Aid asked.
Brave looked at the Bugster, who is now walking away. He went after it, but the black Ex-Aid was able to throw Ex-Aid into him. They both stumbled before getting back up. But they only found the SAO gang. The black Ex-Aid and the Bugster was gone.
Later, they were back in Liz's shop.
"So, what was that black Ex-Aid about?" Klein asked.
"We have no information on him still." Brave replied.
"Heh, and you say I don't think…" Klein teased.
"Anyways." Leafa interrupted. "What was that about?"
"What was what?" Ex-Aid interrupted.
"That Bugster." Kirito barged in, slamming his hands on the table. "You said that they effect players now, right?"
"Uh… yeah?" Ex-Aid replied hesitantly.
"It's just like you saw." Brave replied bluntly. "Bugsters have evolved to effect players. If we don't eradicate it, they'll eventually take over their hosts' bodies."
Everybody froze once again.
"Why didn't you tell us this at the meeting?" Asuna demanded.
"That's because this was a development from yesterday." Brave answered sharply. "We would've notified you, but the CEO insisted that you'll figure out on your own."
There was now silence. The situation just got a lot dire.
"Say…" Lisbeth started. "What happens when a Bugster takes over?"
"They'll become complete." Ex-Aid replied. "The host's IR mind then becomes nothing but data for the Bugster to feed off of."
"What about the body…?" Silica asked.
"We'd… rather not say." Brave said.
Another silence ensued. This time, a lot more tense. Just then, Poppy popped out of Ex-Aid's pocket, making her way to the table.
"And to make matters worse!" She pouted. "The Gashats we saw before have been stolen!"
Everyone now moved again.
"Stolen?" Kirito asked.
"Someone was able to access GENM's computers and hack into the mainframe." Brave explained. "We have reason to believe that the black Ex-Aid has stolen them."
"That Bugster from before was using one of those Gashats." Ex-Aid added.
"How is that possible?" Sinon asked.
"The Gashats are created from the Bugsters." Kirito responded. "Once a Bugster is defeated, they collect the data residue left behind. That is the source of the Gashats."
Everyone stayed quiet after that. Looks like the CEO were still hiding something from them.
"What about that Gashat the black Ex-Aid was using?" Silica asked, referring to Shakariki Sports. "Why is he so powerful with it?"
"That's because with it, he can access Level 3." Ex-Aid replied. "By your game's standards, our Lv. 1 forms are equivalent to around your Lv. 20's."
"So…" Leafa wondered, doing some math in her head. "Would that mean that the Level 3's would equal our Level 60's?"
"In a nutshell." Ex-Aid said.
Another moment of silence ensued. Poppy popped out of Ex-Aid's pocket, and looked around.
"Why is everyone so quiet?" She asked, before yelling suddenly.
"Bugster found!" She yelled.
But as soon as she was done, Brave and Ex-Aid bolted out of the shop, papers flying. The SAO gang went after them, but by the time they arrived, the fight was already fierce.
The Bugster is slowly making its way to a female player by the looks of it. She used all of her techniques and everything, but all of them were ineffective.
"HELP!" She shouted.
That's when Brave and Ex-Aid both kicked the Bugster. It rolled out of the way. The player still cowered in fear, as Ex-Aid and Brave put on their Gamer Drivers.
"You better run." Brave said, pressing his Gashat.
TADDLE QUEST!
"This might get a bit hairy." Ex-Aid added, pressing his Gashat.
MIGHTY ACTION X!
Both games spawned their respective items, placing themselves around. Then, two other games begin to spread their items as well.
BANG BANG SHOOTING!
BAKUSOU BIKE!
Both Brave and Ex-Aid turned and saw Snipe and Lazer, their Gashats and Gamer Drivers in hand.
"Don't forget about us, okay?" Lazer smiled.
"I'm not missing out on this." Snipe said.
Brave scoffed, but was happy for the help. All of them then inserted their Gashats into their Gamer Drivers.
"Henshin!" Ex-Aid called.
"Henshin." Brave said robotically.
"Henshin…" Snipe said smoothly.
"Henshin." Lazer announced coolly.
GASHATTO!
LET'S GAME! MECCHA GAME! MUCCHA GAME! WHATCHA NAME?!
I'M A KAMEN RIDER!
All figures were now replaced by their chibi forms. Just then, the black Ex-Aid from before appeared before them.
"I got this one!" Lazer assured. "You take on the Bugster!"
"You sure?" Snipe asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine!" Lazer assured.
With that, Lazer darted towards the black Ex-Aid, while the other three Riders proceeded to Level 2.
"Dai Henshin!" Ex-Aid called.
"Proceeding to Level 2." Brave said.
"Phase 2." Snipe uttered.
GACHANN! LEVEL UP!
MIGHTY JUMP! MIGHTY KICK! MIGHTY MIGHTY ACTION X!
TADORU MEGURU! TADORU MEGURU! TADDLE QUEST!
BABABANG! BANGBABANG! YOW! BANG BANG SHOOTING!
"I'll clear this game with no continues!" Ex-Aid called.
"Proceeding with Bugster extermination." Brave said.
Then with that, both charged, while Snipe gave them covering fire. The Bugster was able to block Snipe's bullets, but was then overtaken by Brave and Ex-Aid's counter attack. Snipe also went in to assist.
The SAO gang now arrived. They saw what was going on. Lazer was fighting the Black Ex-Aid, while Ex-Aid, Brave, and Snipe were fighting the Bugster.
"Uh… Who do we help?!" Klein asked.
Kirito was about to speak up, but Brave was able to stop him.
"You kids shouldn't be here!" He shouted "Run!"
But just as he said that, he was knocked in the face, by the Bugster. Snipe caught him, but then the Bugster launched its fist at them. Snipe was able to dodge it, but Brave took the punch straight to his chest, cancelling him out of his transformation automatically.
GASHUNN!
Meanwhile, Lazer was trying to fight the black Ex-Aid, but he was too powerful for him. Despite this, he still taunted him.
"I know who you are~!" He teased.
This triggered the black Ex-Aid. He then wasted no time of absolutely owning Lazer. The hurt he brought him consisted of kneeing him in the chest, kicking him straight across his face, and finally, ramming him straight into a flight of convenient stairs. That was enough for him to cancel out of his transformation automatically.
GASHUNN!
The black Ex-Aid then made it towards the SAO gang. Everybody but Kirito actually stepped back in fear. Kirito only drew his sword as an act of defiance.
"Such bravery." The black Ex-Aid said. "Now, fight me."
"Sure." Kirito replied. "I wanted to fight you anyway, thief."
The black Ex-Aid scoffed.
"I believe you're mistaking with someone else." He replied.
Then, he looked back. There, walked in a man. He was in a brown cloak that cover his left arm and torso, while his right arm sleeve was green. He also had brown pants that stopped just short of his ankles, as they were covered by his black shoes.
"Who are you?" Kirito asked.
The man summoned an item. It was the weapon that the black Ex-Aid used to pummel them during their first encounter.
"Why does he have that?" Asuna asked.
The man ignored her question. He pressed the A Button. A standby sound began to resonate from the item. Then, pulling out his right arm, he attached the item on it.
"Baiou." He stated.
INFECTION!
LET'S GAME! BAD GAME! DEAD GAME! WHATCHA NAME?!
THE BUGSTER!
The man that used to stand there was now replaced by monster. Well, sort of. The monster had a humanoid look to it. He was green, and had a dragon-esque face to it. His left arm had scales for armor and his right arm was covered by that item from before. He also had a brown sash tied around his waist, which were held by a belt.
Snipe disengaged from the Bugster and saw what just happened.
"Graphite…" He snarled. "It was YOU?!"
That's when he just began shooting like a madman. Sinon took notice. The monster, now known as Graphite, just summoned a blade to counter the bullets. Snipe then began to dash forward, still shooting. Graphite continued blocking the bullets until they were close enough. Graphite then slashed him across his waist. Then, he slashed across his back. Snipe tumbled onto the ground. Graphite raised his blade into the air, which the blade glowed in response.
"Raging Dragon's Fang!" He shouted.
Snipe thought fast, as he quickly closed his Driver.
GACHANN!
Graphite slash to the left, then to the right, creating an X-Shaped energy slash. However, Snipe had reverted back to Lv. 1, which thankfully was able to shield him enough to squeeze in one final attack. That attack was several shots to the head, but Graphite dodged them, and just slugged him right in his chest. Snipe was knocked into a tree, his transformation cancelling out automatically.
GASHUNN!
The SAO gang looked in horror. Ex-Aid was still busy fighting the Bugster. The other three Riders were taken out of commission. Graphite then looked at them.
"We have to fight!" Asuna said, pulling out her rapier.
And one by one, Asuna and the others began to attack Graphite. Graphite chuckled, but he also attacked as if he had felt pity almost.
Kirito was still standing with the black Ex-Aid. This was a very interesting conversation.
"You are an interesting one, Kirito." The black Ex-Aid told him. "You somehow are able to withstand anything this game throws at you."
"Well, I guess it's SAO immunity?" Kirito joked.
But that did something. The black Ex-Aid darted forward and grabbed Kirito by his neck. Slowly, he began to lift him. Kirito was now wiggling in pain, trying to free himself. He threw his swords to his side, and grabbed the Black Ex-Aid's arm, trying to break free.
"That immunity is cancerous to my game." He said. "You and your friends are parasites that have done nothing but piss away my world."
With that said, he then threw Kirito to the ground. Kirito looked up, but he couldn't gather the strength to pick himself up and fight.
"Let this be a warning to you." The black Ex-Aid said. "If you want to fight me, by all means."
The black Ex-Aid tossed both of his swords to him. Kirito struggled to pick himself up, then the swords. He then charged. He used all of his remaining strength to focus on his attack. He roared as he charged the attack. Then, he darted forward. He slammed both of his swords onto him, but the black Ex-Aid had no scratch on him.
"How pitiful." He remarked.
Kirito quickly glanced at Asuna, who was getting decimated by Graphite with the others. Taking notice, he thrusted his palm into Kirito's abdomen, sending him right into Asuna.
"Kirito!" Asuna called, checking Kirito over. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah… I'll live." Kirito smiled.
"We have wasted enough time." The black Ex-Aid said. "Graphite. Eliminate them."
Graphite smiled evilly.
"With pleasure." He said.
Graphite then pushed the rest of the SAO gang off of him. He punched Leafa and Klein right next to Asuna and Kirito, whilst doing the same to Lisbeth, Silica, and Sinon, albeit to their left. He raised his blade high into the sky, which caused the blade to crackle with lightning and glow.
"Dragon Fury!" He shouted.
But when he was about to unleash his strike, the Bugster knocked into him. That caused him to drop his blade and tumble down.
"What in the-?" He shouted before hearing something.
MIGHTY CRITICAL FINISH!
Ex-Aid popped in from out of nowhere, hammer raised over his head. Putting all of his strength, he smashed the hammer straight into the Bugster, causing an explosion. From the smoke, Serado, the player that the Bugster infected, flew out. Klein was able to run over and catch him while Ex-Aid stood from the smoke, triumphantly holding a Gashat.
"Don't you go forgetting about me!" He smiled.
Graphite knew this wasn't going to end well, so he decided to leave, vowing vengeance.
"You didn't think I'd clear it, did ya?" Ex-Aid taunted.
The black Ex-Aid chuckled.
"I was hoping you would clear it anyway." The black Ex-Aid said. "Ex-Aid, how about a one-on-one?"
"Sounds good!" Ex-Aid said cheerfully. "After I beat you, I'm finding out who you are!"
With that said, he pressed the Gashat.
GEKITOTSU ROBOTS!
From a project screen behind, a floating miniature robot appeared next to him. It made beeping sounds before floating towards the black Ex-Aid. It hit him a couple times before Ex-Aid ordered it back.
He then closed his driver back up and inserted the Gashat.
GACHANN! GASHATTO!
"Dai Dai Dai Henshin!" He announced, opening the Driver back up.
GACHANN! LEVEL UP!
MIGHTY JUMP! MIGHTY KICK! MIGHTY MIGHTY ACTION X!
A GACCHA!
BUTTOBASE TOTSUGEKI! GEKITOTSU PUNCH! GEKITOTSU ROBOTS!
The robot disassembled itself. Its parts flew onto Ex-Aid. The main body threw itself onto Ex-Aid, giving body armor. Its arms attached together and inserted itself into Ex-Aid's left arm. And finally, the armor flipped out something. A headpiece. It attached itself to Ex-Aid's forehead, giving him a V-shaped head ornament.
"Ex-Aid: Level Up!" Poppy shouted in excitement.
"So that's Level 3…" The other Riders groaned.
The black Ex-Aid prepared himself. Ex-Aid lifted his gauntlet, impressed. But he quickly turned his attention to the black Ex-Aid.
"Let's rumble!" He said.
With that, he began to walk up to the black Ex-Aid slowly. The latter first launched a punch, but that proved fruitless, as the armor was too thick to go through. Ex-Aid just punched him off of himself. The black Ex-Aid retaliated with another swift round-kick, but that yielded the same result as the punch. Ex-Aid responded with another punch. This time though, that punch sent him back a few feet. Ex-Aid smirked, inserting the Gekitotsu Robots Gashat into the slot on the side, as well as pressing the button.
GASHUNN! GASHATTO! KIMEWAZA!
Ex-Aid then cocked his arm back. And as the fist glowed with energy, he pressed the button once more.
GEKITOTSU CRITICAL STRIKE!
Ex-Aid launched the fist. It flew straight into the black Ex-Aid's open torso. The impact, with the fist still digging into his torso, sent him into a tree. Ex-Aid ran towards them and slammed his hand into the gauntlet. That triggered an explosion right before him. The several trees behind the tree itself were gone, but the black Ex-Aid was gone as well. The smoke cleared to reveal just that. Ex-Aid looked around, but couldn't find him.
"Hey! Where did ya go?!" He shouted.
He sighed, and cancelled out of his transformation.
GACHANN! GASHUNN!
Ex-Aid reverted back into his Salamander body, and quickly made his way to the SAO gang.
"Are you all okay?" He asked.
"Yeah… we'll live." Lisbeth answered.
The other Riders hobbled over and helped everyone up.
"Aren't you a bunch of tough cookies?" Lazer teased.
"Shaddup." Klein remarked.
Snipe only helped them up, and left right after. Brave left shortly after, followed by Lazer. Ex-Aid stayed with them a bit longer, before leaving as well.
"Well, today was really something." Klein commented.
"Yeah…" Leafa responded.
Kirito stayed quiet. He was thinking about something.
"Kirito?" Asuna asked.
Kirito stayed silent. A few moments later, he spoke up.
"Guys." He said. "I need to talk to you about something."
The SAO gang turned and listened in as Kirito explained what he was thinking.
As nightfall fell on the horizons of ALO, a city was thriving. In the midst of it all, the black Ex-Aid was limping his way to a nearby alley. Note, his Rider Gauge is at the last 10%. After he made it, bumping more than a few players out of his way, he cancelled out his transformation, breathing heavily.
GACHANN! GASHUNN!
An Undine now took the place where the black Ex-Aid stood. He was breathing heavily. He held his head, out of both joy and disbelief. He cackled quietly.
"They're both truly something to behold…" He thought aloud.
"Come on, you knew that from the start!" chimed in a voice.
Pallad stood up from a crate nearby. Graphite was leaning on a wall, but didn't say anything.
"You sure they won't be a problem?" Pallad asked.
"You can be certain of that." The Undine said. "They may think they're game masters; in truth, I'm the game master. I will rule over them all!"
Pallad chuckled. "This game just keeps getting interesting!"
"Kamen Rider… Genmu." He added cheekily.
The Undine smiled evilly. It was a smile that would even make the Joker proud.