"Little rat!" Wack!
September 12th, 2028, 4:32pm real world time. Out the back of a school located in the Tokyo prefecture of Japan, a scrawny red headed boy was thrown against the concrete wall of the school building by an upperclassman. His friends laughed as the boy slumped over against the wall . He'd taken a heavy hit to the face and blood began to drip from his nose, the lenses on his glasses crack from the impact of the blow. He slowly rose to his feet.
"Aw, look. He's still standing!" One of the bullies said in a condescending tone. The redheaded boy gritted his teeth.
"What... do you want...?" He stammered.
"What do I want? I want you to apologize to my girlfriend." He gestured to the girl standing behind him, she had a disgusted look on her face.
"Apologize? for wha-?" Thwack!
"Don't play dumb with me rat! I know you were staring at her through all of school today! Apologise!" the boy hit the wall hard but slowly rose to his feet again.
"I... didn't... do anything like tha-" Crack! The boy takes another hit to the face and falls back onto the wall.
"Tell the truth! Don't lie to us rat!" The boy tried to talk, but all he could do was tremble from the pain and the fear.
"Careful, if you brake him too much this'll get boring. Look at him, he can't even talk anymore! Calling him a rat is an insult to rats, he's even lower than that!" The bully's all stood around the boy taunting him. The boy eventually found the courage to speak.
"Fine... You want the truth? Truth is you're the 5th guy she's been with... All she ever does is one and done deals..." The main bully seemed taken aback by the boys sudden resilience. "It's only a matter of time before she get's tired of you and-" Wack!
5:30pm the same day, the boy arrived home. He entered the door and his mother was there to greet him with a bright smile.
"Hi honey, how was school?" she said brightly.
"mmm... it was fine..." the boy replied, not showing his face to his mother. The mother quickly became concerned .
"Honey, show me your face." She started to walk over to him.
"Mum, you don't have to-" Before he can finish his sentence his mother rushed in front of him and saw the blood stains on his collar and his left eye, which was now a dark shade of purple. The mother gasped.
"H-How did this happen!?" she asked frantically.
"Mum, don't worry about it..." The boy mumbled.
"Was it those bullies at your school!?"
"Mum... please, just leave it."
"I'm contacting the school right now!"
"Mum!" the boy yelled. The mother turned around and looked at the boy who was now shaking.
"Just... leave it... you don't have to worry about me..." He stuttered while his body continued to shake.
"But... sweety... this can't continue... wait!" It was too late, the boy had gone upstairs and locked himself in his room. He sat down on his bed and looked into his bedroom mirror. As he gazed into his reflexion the harsh words of the bullies ran through his head. "Calling him a rat is an insult to rats, he's even lower than that!"
"I want to stand up to them... I want to deal with them by myself... but I can't, not like this." the boy moved over to his desk and picked up the Fulldive device sitting on it. as he did he looked over to the poster on his wall, it was of his favourite VRMMORPG Alfheim online.
"The real world is fixed, you get what you get and you don't get upset. That's the harsh reality. But in this world... there are ways to escape reality." The boy put on the Fulldive device and began to enter the VR world. "A sanctuary from reality... A place were nothing is fixed and I can be what I want." The Alfheim online logo appeared in front of him and he pressed the button to run the simulation. The world began to warp around him and he was transported into a mythical world of infinite adventure. He now possessed the avatar of a large muscular man with slick black hair and a confident smile. "This is my utopia! This is who I am!" A notification appeared on the bottom left side of his screen, it read:
Welcome back, Commander Taijou.
March 4th, 2029, Floor 20, 7:30am game time.
"Dude, Jyenka. Get up." Taijou was shaking Jyenka who was still asleep in his bed. The party were now staying in a inn on the 20th floor.
"Do I gotta?" he grumbled.
"Yes, or otherwise Silvia won't be happy. You and I both know that when she isn't happy, nobody's happy." Taijou said while standing over him.
"Yeah... you're right about that..." Jyenka slowly climbed out of bed.
"The rest of the gang are still getting ready so you've got some time, but don't push it."
"When do I ever push it?" Jyenka asked in a sarcastic tone. Taijou smiled.
"Just don't be late, or you're gonna get your ass kicked." Taijou left his room and Jyenka took his double-edged sword out of his inventory. He examined the weapon in his hand, running his fingers down the smooth iron blades. As he did, flashbacks of his fight with Acheron filled his mind. Jyenka didn't let these thoughts consume him, he had to keep a strong head so he could be there for his party. "Jyenka! hurry up!" Taijou shouted from the hallway.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." Jyenka sheathed his blades and hoisted them over his back, then went to meet the others outside of the inn.
"The strategy meeting starts in 10 minutes, let's move it." Silvia lead the group from the inn and they began walking through the bustling streets of the city on floor 20. Floor 20 was structured like your typical fantasy world kingdom with markets, open stone roads and people of all different kinds of species roaming about. It was a nice floor, lot's of players had taken rest there for the time being while the assault team navigated further up Aincrad. The floor had calm weather settings and a nice Ost (original soundtrack) that played in the background. The calm breeze felt good against your skin, although it was only artificial.
"So many players live around here like this is normal." Shoko said while looking around.
"A lot of players have tried to make peace with the situation we're in and set up normal lives that they can enjoy." ThirtySix commented.
"Fair enough, this floor isn't a bad place to be stuck forever in." Shoko commented.
"I wouldn't think like that." Silvia stated. The rest of the group looked a head to her. "You remember where they kept all the players the last time this happened? They filled up all the hospitals in Japan with thousands of people in a comatose state. Not only are we taking up valuable space, we won't last there forever." Silvia said with a stern tone.
"Are you saying we're on a time limit?" Asked Taijou nervously.
"Yeah, I am." Silvia replied. The group seemed slightly shaken by this, but Jyenka put on a smile trying to lighten the mood.
"All the more reason to beat this game as soon as possible right?" he said looking around at the group. They smiled and nodded there heads.
"Yeah, you're right..." Taijou said.
"Thanks Taijou!" Jyenka enthusiastically replied. Taijou tried to hold back a laugh.
"...Mr hero." He snickered. Jyenka sighed.
"You're never letting me live that down are you?" he asked.
"Nope!" Taijou replied enthusiastically.
"You two, focus up. We're here." Silvia said. Taijou and Jyenka both turned around and saw the meeting place. It was a grand theatre built like a colosseum with red banners hanging down it's fine stone walls.
"Woah..." Taijou and Jyenka both said in unison as they gazed up the side of the theatre. The party entered the theatre and found an open row they could sit in. The theatre was filled with players of high levels. A lot of parties who'd picked up levels of fame for defeating certain bosses gathered there.
"Can I have everyone's attention please!" Kirito and his party walked up onto the stage and all the players in the grandstands quietened down. "Thank you all for coming here, the strategy meeting will now begin." Kirito's voice echoed throw the theatre. As I'm sure many of you have heard, multiple parties were intercepted by Laughing coffin over the last few floors. In that time we've lost 4 players." The crowd began to murmur but Jyenka sat there completely frozen as he thought back to what Acheron had said to him the day they fought each other. "That news is harsh but it's the truth. I'd rather be honest with all of you then hide the bad news. As members of the assault team you all deserve to know. With that in mind, we have been able to drive off most of there attacks. That and we had a select group of party members storm there base on floor 5." murmurs echoed through the crowd again.
"They had a base on floor 5?" Taijou whispered to Jyenka.
"I guess so, that must be where they began." Jyenka whispered back. Kirito raised his hand and all the players returned there attention to him.
"After the events of that raid, the members scattered to different floors. We don't know where they are but there organised attacks should be less frequent for the time being. That being said, still remember to stay on your guard." Kirito paused and looked around at all the other players. "Thank you, everyone handled that information well. Now, we have new batches of quests to be completed so everyone check your inbox's, those should be sent out momentarily." Every player in the stadium opened there menus to check for messages. Jyenka's screen lit up and a notification appeared. The message outlined the quest that there party had been given. it read:
'City patrol, stop the thieves from raiding the jewellery store.'
"Wow... how original..." Jyenka thought to himself as he read the quest name.
"Guess we're going to be this city's police for a while." Silvia said with a sigh. "This is like, the 5th lame quest in a row..." She grumbled.
"Maybe if we beat the quest, the shop keeper will let us pick something expensive to have from the store to keep?" Shoko asked. Silvia's face lit up and stars seemed to appear in her eyes.
"This quest is going to be awesome! Go team!" She pumped her fist in the air while everyone else did the same, only less enthusiastically. Kirito signalled for everyone to quieten down and the theatre fell silent.
"This concludes today's strategy meeting, dismissed!" As he said this everyone began to file out of the stadium and out onto the streets. Jyenka and his friends gathered around outside the stadium and read over the quest description.
"According to this it says that the thieves will be raiding the store at midnight, that means we have all day to prepare." Silvia instructed the group. "The thieves appear to be a gang of lizard men, all of them different colours. They'll be fast so we'll need to do some preparation before hand." She continued.
"First we should warn the shop owner." ThirtySix commented. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Ok, we should get to preparing as soon as we can." Silvia suddenly got a very serious look on her face. "If they brake any of the pretty jewellery, I'll brake there spines." The rest of the party shuddered.
"Scary..." they all thought in unison. The party made there way back to the inn.
"Hey Jyenka, me and ThirtySix are gonna go hunt some of the rabbits in the forest nearby. Apparently there's a chance that a super rare one will spawn which drops super tasty meat! You wanna join us?" Taijou asked as they arrived at the inn.
"No thanks, I'm gonna be at the training fields." Jyenka replied. Taijou looked a little disappointed.
"Ok, don't work yourself too hard." The two friends parted ways.
Sweat dripped down Jyenka's forehead as he swung his blade at the air. Each slash made a satisfying swoosh sound as the blade soared through the air. He finished his combo and found himself out of breath, checking his HP he saw that he was now in the yellow zone.
"Tch... I'm still not getting it..." Jyenka glanced into the moonlit sky, shooting stars could be seen in the distance. "Maybe... This world isn't so bad..." Jyenka then remembered his promise on day 1 and sighed. "It's almost midnight, I should catch up with the others." Jyenka cracked a healing crystal and met the others outside of the jewellery shop, everyone seemed to be waiting for him.
"The thieves should be here soon, we've informed the shop owner and he's taking shelter nearby." Silvia instructed the group. "Remember, our number one priority is making sure that nothing expensive gets damaged or stolen, ok?" Everyone nodded in agreement. Taijou looked over at Jyenka and noticed that his HP wasn't at full.
"Hey Jyenka, you-" He was cut off by a shadowy figure suddenly leaping out from behind them.
"Taijou! Watch out!" Jyenka exclaimed. Taijou turned around and blocked the attack, he was sent sliding back. Before the group now stood a large red lizard man wearing a cloak and holding a large metal sickle.
"Looksss like the old man hired some gaurdsss." The lizard man hissed. The group gets startled by a window behind them smashing.
"I'll investigate that! all of you stay alert!" Silvia ordered as she ran over to where the crash came from. Suddenly, another lizard man emerged behind Jyenka. He went to strike at him but ThirtySix swiftly blocked the attack.
"Thanks ThirtySix, I'll take this one." Jyenka said turning around and brandishing he double-edged sword. ThirtySix nodded and ran over to where Silvia had gone. "What do you say Taijou, up for a little team work?" Jyenka asked while looking behind him. Taijou smiled.
"Sounds good to me, Switch!" As he yelled this him and Jyenka swapped places and unleashed powerful strikes. the lizard men blocked both of them but were knocked back. Jyenka and Taijou lunged at there opponents and began to trade blows with them. Inside the jewellery shop, Silvia cautiously walked around looking for the person who broke the glass.
"If it's ok with you, I'd prefer if we did this outside. My weapon isn't exactly ideal in this scenario." Silvia said confidently as she continued to move around. A glint of metal caught her eye and a dagger went flying at her from behind. She quickly turned around and drew her Axe, it began to glow blue and a sword skill appeared above her name: Titan Defence. The dagger bounced off her axe and fell to the ground with a small clang. "Got you." Silvia mumbled to herself. The lizard man lunged at her from the shadows and she blocked the attack once again. The lizard man looked at her with a crazed smile.
"You're out of luck little lady! Ussssing an Axe in here is closssse to imposssssible!" He hissed. Silvia smiled.
"You're right, but I'm not the one you should worry about." She replied. The lizard man gave her a confused look before the suddenly he felt the dagger that he'd thrown at Silvia go through his stomach. Standing behind him was Shoko with a sword skill name above her head reading: Shadow Strike Mk1. The lizard man slowly turned around before glowing blue and exploding into blue polygons. "Well done Shoko." Silvia nodded in approval. Suddenly, a loud crash could be heard from within the jewellery shop. Silvia and Shoko turned around in shock just to find ThirtySix standing behind them with blue polygons floating around him.
"You missed one." ThirtySix said calmly. Shoko and Silvia just stared at him blankly.
Back outside the shop, Jyenka and Taijou were still fighting the lizard men. Jyenka jumped back and gave Taijou the signal to switch again. Taijou nodded.
"Right! Swi-!" He suddenly noticed that the lizard man Jyenka was fighting had disappeared. "Jyenka, he's gone!" Jyenka turned around in confusion when suddenly the lizard man reappeared behind him, the lizards seemed to have some kind of camouflage skill that they weren't aware of. "Watch out!" Taijou cried out, but it was too late. The lizard man clipped Jyenka with his sickle and Jyenka was sent flying backwards into a wall. "Jyenka!" Taijou yelled, but suddenly the lizard man he was fighting struck him with his sickle. Taijou blocked it but then the lizard man Jyenka was fighting jumped in and struck at Taijou as well. Taijou was sent flying backwards, losing his balance and falling over. Jyenka tried to get up but he had been poisoned by the sickle.
"Y-You gotta be kidding me!" He tried to stand up but couldn't find the strength to. meanwhile the two lizard men surrounded Taijou. Taijou looked up at them nervously.
"Aw look brother, he'ssss sssscared." The first lizard man said in a condescending tone.
"He ssshudderssss like a losssst animal. Like a rat." Taijou's eye's widened when he heard that word, Rat. visions of his past came flooding into his mind. "Calling him a rat is an insult to rats, he's even lower than that!" Taijou tried to speak but couldn't, all he could do was tremble. One of the lizard men smiled maliciously and raised his weapon. "Ssssay goodbye rat!" He went to deliver the finishing blow when he was cut off by Jyenka.
"Stand up Taijou!" Jyenka yelled. Taijou looked over at him. "You can't let him push you around like this, where's the Taijou who finished off the boss on floor one?" Jyenka continued to shout. "Taijou, you're strong. So dig deep, and get up!" Taijou suddenly felt something click inside him, the memories of his past began to fade and a new ray of light opened up.
"Your friend issss quite annoying isssn't he?" The lizard man hissed. Taijou smiled and gripped his sword.
"Trust me, he's the least of your worries." Suddenly, Taijou's sword began to emit a bright white light. Taijou rose to his feat and pointed his blade at the 2 lizard men. "Listen well, I am a warrior who never gives up, a fighter who doesn't know surrender, and a member of the party with the craziest players in Aincrad, Taijou!" A notification appeared above his head reading:
"New Impulse skill Unlocked: Shining counter."
"Haaaaagh!" Taijou swung his sword and a white beam attack burst out of it slicing through both the lizard men. They both let out cries of pain before exploding into blue polygons. Taijou caught his breath and raised his sword triumphantly into the air as a fanfare of trumpets played and the words 'Quest complete!' appeared above his head. The poison affect wore off and Jyenka stood up and walked over to Taijou.
"Way to go man, I knew you had it in you." Jyenka said with an honest smile. Taijou looked back at him, panting from the adrenaline coursing through his veins. "So promise me that you won't cower anymore. It's only natural to feel fear, but you have the strength to stand up nonetheless ok?" Taijou smiled at Jyenka with tears in his eyes.
"Yeah! I won't let you down!" He said enthusiastically. The others walked outside.
"I take it things are all rapped up out here?" Silvia asked while looking at Jyenka and Taijou. The two friends nodded confidently.
"Then, this is a job well done!" Silvia exclaimed. Behind them, the shop owner appeared. He had a relieved look on his face.
"Y-You stopped them? Thank goodness. Thank you adventurous!" He gave us all a big smile. Silvia walked up to the shop owner and extended her hand out to him.
"Glad to have earned your trust." She said. The shop owner shook her hand. "So, mind giving me a discount on some of your stuff?" She asked while still shaking the shop owners hand. Everyone else in the group sighed and dragged Silvia back to the inn.
Jyenka's vision was shrouded in darkness. A distant bell chimed and a dark hallway appeared before him, however, it would soon vanish as soon as it appeared. The bell would chime once again and more obscure halls and rooms would appear before him, each one would end in darkness. The only real light was a red mist that seemed to linger around each room. The staircase appeared before him again, once again compelling him to reach the top. Jyenka took a step forward when a intense pain shot through the right side of his body and into his head, then he sat bolt up right in his bed. His head ached and his eye twitched, he held his face in pain.
"Argh! Again, really!?" The headache went away and he calmed himself down. "No wonder I always sleep in..." Jyenka went to go back to sleep when he noticed some strange red particles floating over his menu icon. He slowly swiped down with two fingers to open up the menu. When he did it flicked straight open to his sword skill list. Everything seemed normal until something strange appeared, something Jyenka had never seen before, something that looked like it wasn't supposed to be there...
...It was a Unique Skill.
To be continued in the finale of SAO DLC arc 1...
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