A/N: Sword Art Online? Oh, you bet!

This is another anime that I've wanted to do this kind of story for, but I couldn't come up with a valid reason why Asuna (or any of the other female characters) would want to go to the Hadaka Beach Resort.

At least, until now (wink wink).

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Stolen Victory

"Man, this bus ride is taking forever," complained Rika, as she slumped her seat.

"Will you stop?" replied Shino. "She did warn us that the resort was a long way away from the city."

"I know," replied Rika, "I just wanna be there already so I work on my tan!"

"We should be there soon!" called the bus driver.

"I still can't believe we got ourselves a free trip to the beach!" chirped Keiko, excitedly.

"After all the times she stole loot from us, it's the least she could do," said Suguha, pouting.

"Hey, come on, she already said she was sorry," replied Asuna. "Quite frankly, this is much more than she ever had to do."

Asuna and her friends were onboard a bus, on their way to a special beach resort for a free vacation.

You might be wondering how they all managed to earn themselves a free trip to a beach resort?

Believe it or not, it all goes back to about four months ago…

FOUR MONTHS AGO

07 JANUARY 2027

A special winter event was taking place in the world of Alfheim Online. Special boss raid battles were scattered all throughout the world, granting players rare and valuable rewards if they manage to work together and defeat these high-level monsters.

And by high-level, that means level 99.

And higher.

Sinon, Asuna, and Leafa were involved in one of these Boss Raid Battles, taking on the ultra-powerful Celestial Serpent, whose shimmering scales were sought after for their ability to drastically upgrade weapons of all kinds.

But the serpent wasn't going to give up its scales without a fight. It was proving to be a much tougher challenge than they had anticipated.

Try as they might, the girls could barely land a hit on the creature. And even when they did, the monster's high defenses made it so they hardly made a dent in its health.

Sinon kept her distance, striking the Serpent with her arrows. Meanwhile, Asuna and Leafa stuck to close-combat, attacking when the opportunity presented itself.

The Celestial Serpent swung its mighty tail at the group.

"Look out!" shouted Leafa.

Asuna and Leafa quickly took to the skies to avoid being walloped by the beast.

The Celestial Serpent roared at them before it was blindsided by a barrage of arrows courtesy of Sinon, with one of them even grazing its eyes.

"Nice one, Sinon!" cheered Asuna.

"You're up!" shouted Sinon.

With the monster momentarily blinded, Asuna and Leafa quickly charged at its head and slashed it with their swords! Its health bar drastically went down to almost half its health.

"Alright! We're making some progress!" Leafa said, happily.

"Don't let up now!" replied Asuna.

The Celestial Serpent then reared its head back and unleashed a ear-splittingly loud roar! Everyone dropped their weapons and covered their ears. The Serpent's scales began to crystallize and glow red, giving it even more immense power.

"Oh crap! It has a second form!" cried Sinon.

The creature began thrashing around, swinging its tail every which way. Asuna and Leafa yelped as they tried to avoid its attack.

But with one mighty swing of its tail, the Celestial Serpent managed to clip both Asuna and Leafa and sent them flying to the ground.

"Asuna! Leafa!" shouted Sinon worriedly.

With Asuna and Leafa battered and beaten, the Celestial Serpent turned its attention to Sinon. Sinon quickly ran for safety as the Celestial Serpent charged at her with all its might.

Asuna and Leafa lay on the ground, struggling to get back on their feet. Their health bars frantically flashed red as they had but a sliver of health left.

Using every last bit of her strength, Leafa was the first to get up. She tried to perform a healing spell, but she had no feeling left in her arm.

"That thing is just…too strong," she wheezed.

"We just…need…one last push!" panted Asuna.

Asuna clenched her teeth and got back on her feet, determination burning in her eyes. "We've come too far to back down now!" she said, defiantly. "We're so close!"

The air crackled with tension as, despite their battered avatars, Asuna rose to their feet. She reached her hand out to Leafa to help her get on her feet. They looked out and saw Sinon running for her life. She was nearly devoured by the Serpent.

Adrenaline coursing through her veins, Leafa raised her arms up and quickly cast her Vacuum blade spell, sending several wind blades towards the Celestial Serpent.

The Celestial Serpent suddenly forgot about Sinon and turned to face Asuna and Leafa. It let out a growl as it charged back towards them, leaving Sinon alone.

Leafa then quickly cast another spell, this time buffing her and Asuna's Strength. "That was the last of my mana," she mentioned.

"That's just enough," Asuna said, as she confidently brandished her sword.

"One last push?" asked Leafa.

"One last push."

The two then sprang into the battlefield, determined to finish off the Celestial Serpent.

The Celestial Serpent, sensing the renewed vigor of its adversaries, unleashed a devastating barrage of attacks, from breaths of fire to flinging razor-sharp scales.

As the health bar of the Celestial Serpent dwindled, the girls continued to fight through the pain and exhaustion. Their efforts paid off as they managed to get the Boss' health down to a sliver.

In the distance, Sinon had her bow and arrow drawn, ready to finish off the Serpent once and for all.

"Let's go, you ugly bastard!" shouted a voice.

Before she could fire her arrow, another player suddenly leaped over her head and ran towards the Serpent. Sinon didn't know who this player was as they were wearing a hood covering their heads.

"Huh? Hey!" she shouted.

"Take this!" this mysterious player shouted as she ran barefoot up the Celestial Serpent while its back was turned and struck it upside its head.

The serpent cried out in agony as this mystery character continued pummeling it with their sword.

"What in the…?" gasped Leafa.

"Who is that?" Asuna asked, confused. "A friend of yours?"

"I don't know them."

Everyone watched as the player suddenly took to the skies and widdled the Serpents' health down to 1 HP.

Asuna noticed the player's name and health bar hovering over their head. It read "Aggrodite."

"Aggrodite…" she read.

"Take this!" Aggrodite shouted, as she unleashed a barrage of fire balls at the Celestial Serpent.

It was a weak spell, but it was just enough to send the Serpent crashing to the ground. The ground shook as its head slammed into the ground. It then disappeared into tiny little particles.

Whoever Aggrodite was, they had won the battle and its rewards, including a high amount of experience points!

"Nice!" they cheered, as they gained several levels.

Finally, Aggrodite took their hood off, revealing themselves to be a female Spriggan with long, flowing magenta hair. She was barefoot and dressed in what looked like a pink bikini with a black hood draped over her shoulders.

"Ooh, these look cool!" she swooned as she collected the Celestial Serpent's glimmering scales.

"Hey! That's our loot!" protested Leafa.

"Huh?" Aggrodite said, finally noticing the girls staring at her. "Oooh…did I steal your guys' win?"

"Yes!" snapped Leafa.

Aggrodite laughed nervously. "Hehe, whoops. Sorry about that," she said.

She looked around and saw Asuna, Leafa, and Sinon glaring at her. She gulped, realizing that she screwed up big time.

Just then, she swiped the serpent scales and opened the game commands. "I'll pay you back! I promise!" she shouted.

She then teleported away. "Oh no you don't!" shouted Leafa.

Leafa charged at her, but Aggrodite disappeared before she could get her hands on her. "Come back here, you grifting thief!" she shouted, angrily.

"Did that girl really just steal our winnings?" asked Sinon, dumbfounded at what just happened.

"We really did all that work for nothing!" complained Asuna.

They watched as Leafa angrily pounded the ground where Aggrodite stood, crying and cursing her name. "When I get my hands on her, I'm gonna…I'm gonna…"

Leafa's voice trailed off as the adrenaline began to wear off, leaving her exhausted.

"Lisbeth is not going to be happy about this," worried Sinon.

Little did they know that Aggrodite would pay them back in a very big way.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: Hopefully, I got the game mechanics of Alfheim Online down. I'll be honest, I'm not much of an MMO player and I never paid attention to the game battles in the anime.

Then again, Reki isn't an MMO gamer either, so I guess it all works out!