Floor 4 - Chapter 1 - The Lake in the Arid Sands...

December 18th, 2022 - Floor 4, Teleport Gate

''Well, in the beta, this was a desert...'' - Kirito looked around at the giant lake that now stood in front of them, along with a climate more suitable for the northern hemisphere, and disappeared off into his own little world... he wasn't insane, right? This had definitely been a desert in the beta, hadn't it? Yeah, of course it was, he and Argo had had to take shelter in Bedouin tent to escape a particularly vicious sandstorm. That had been awkward... it wasn't a very large tent, even for the two teenagers... and hang on, was everyone staring towards him?

Some of the group were staring at him in confusion, or mild amusement... but only one was currently giving him a look that could pierce right through him - ''Bloody beta data, now I look a right prat!'' - On Kirito's recommendations, Jet was now wearing what he'd taken to calling his desert gear, which was the gear he'd had since about day two, covered over with a sand coloured poncho, a grey scarf covering a large portion of his face, and bandages over any exposed skin he might have otherwise, in case they encountered a sandstorm. Both Koharu and Asuna had fought valiantly not to outright burst into laughter at Jet's complete lack of fashion sense, with Koharu's effort being the more successful of the two... whilst Asuna faltered literally only a second after starting. Jet, on the other hand, had spent the past hour since rendezvousing with them, sulking after that, and before they reached the floor... where he'd been adamant that he'd be proven right. He couldn't have been more wrong if he'd said that an apple was a Czechoslovakian parking warden... - ''It's not really a desert, is it?'' - Speaking of things that were so far from correct, Koharu pointed out the current state of the fourth floor.

''It's a lake. A pretty one, at that.''

''Yeah, this is as close to a desert as the Lake District is.''

''I loved my trip there...'' - Asuna's response took Jet completely by surprise, as a million questions raced through the wide open spaces in his head, and past the entrance marked 'Useless information only'. His only response though... ''Huh.''

Kirito had finally returned to Aincrad, and had noticed the purple elephant in the room... ''Wait, I've just realised... Jet, why do you look like you've come from Tattooine?''

''Because you told me it was a desert!'' - Kirito stifled a laugh at his friend's expense.

''And now, you know it isn't... and you look absolutely ridiculous'' - Leave it to Asuna to summarise a situation without any care for a person's feelings.

''You know you can change outfits without needing to change, right?'' - Koharu questioned, as a faint purple blur disappeared behind a nearby tree - ''Huh, turns out a person can move faster than the speed of light...'' - Kirito thought to himself...

Jet walked out from behind the tree with all the grace of someone who believed themselves to be on a catwalk... but in reality was still in their bedroom. His gear had changed significantly though, there was no denying that. His old purple starter gear was swapped out for a dark grey shirt, and black trousers, whilst the small armour that covered his upper torso was replaced by a more substantial piece, covering the majority of his torso, a faint silver glimmer coming from it in the light. A purple, sleeveless overcoat covered up the torso armour, whilst additional pieces of armour covered his sword arm and shoulders, providing more defence during strikes. About the only thing that remained of his earlier equipment was a scarf around his neck, and the black boots he'd worn since day one...

''So, how'd I look?'' - Jet was pretty pleased with himself, if he was at all honest, and gave a small pose, twirling his Anneal Blade in his hand, whilst smirking...

Asuna looked like she was fighting off laughter again - ''Like a child playing dress up.'' - Jet ignored her, and not for the first time.

''You look ridiculous.'' - Jet shrugged off his male compatriot's comments... who was he to talk about looking ridiculous! The day he wore an outfit that didn't consist mostly of black, was the day that hell itself froze over...

Koharu looked the most impressed out of any of them, looking it over with the trained eye of someone with a fashion sense - ''It's an improvement!'' - Jet smiled, and took his partner's comment as a sincere compliment, rather than the unintentionally backhanded one it had been. Asuna turned to her friend, and shot her a glance that showed her lack of agreement with the raven haired girl, as if to ask her if she was truly serious. Koharu looked aside under her glare, a slight look of shame evident on her face.

Whilst Jet may not have had the same prowess at glaring people into submission as Asuna did, 17 years of dealing with six sisters, one of whom was Strea, had taught him well in that arena, and the glare he shot towards Asuna was a clear indicator that she'd screwed up in his eyes...

''Well, given how much has changed, I think we should do our own reconnaissance. It's our duty as front liners after all...'' - Neither Jet nor Koharu failed to notice the slight hint of a smile on Kirito's face at that sentence...

''Ark at he! Least one o' ya's enjoyin' the mystery...''

''I... uhh, what?'' - Kirito looked towards Jet in complete confusion, whilst the girls tried to process the sentence that had just been spoken... and failed miserably.

''Look at him, at least one of us is enjoying ourselves.'' - Jet translated for anyone else who didn't happen to be him. Kirito gave him an offended look, but one that didn't hide that glint in his eyes... - ''I'm not! But I'd be lying if I said it didn't peak my interest as a gamer...'' - Asuna looked genuinely exasperated, and turned to Koharu, the one sane person in the group...

''Why couldn't we get... you know, sane people... why these two...'' - Both Jet and Kirito looked equally annoyed at that, but Jet was the one to voice his annoyance most vocally - ''Because the universe hates you... so suffaahhh!'' - Jet gave the most smug grin he could, as the princess walked off...

''I'd better... you know. See you back at the boss fight.'' - Kirito raced after his partner, who was currently giving Usain Bolt a run for his money...

The duo carried on towards the western side of the lake, mostly quiet bar the occasional humming from Jet. Eventually, the tension became thick enough to cut, so Jet decided to do just that - ''Hey, you okay?''

''Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine... Strea didn't end you then?''

''Nah, just told me off a bit. Well, more than a bit, and not just for neglecting my health.'' - Jet ignored the screaming, and the slap that could've pierced a modern tank's armour, and focussed on the meaning behind his sister's words... the ones that couldn't be misconstrued as French, that is.

''Oh.''

''Yeah, I owe you one hell of an apology. Probably shouldn't have sprung that one on you, not exactly a way of cheering someone up, I suppose. I just want to say, I do mean everything I said, even if I said it in a stupid way. You are strong, even if it isn't physically, and even then, I don't think that's really relevant anyway. You're something important, that I won't ever be, I think - you're the heart in this partnership... and the looks, probably.'' - Even when trying to be heartfelt, Jet couldn't resist a crack at himself. Koharu gave him a smile, one that showed that Jet couldn't tell precisely how well hidden her true emotions were at the moment.

''Yeah, I suppose so. Though, you don't give yourself enough credit sometimes. You aren't that bad looking...'' - She smiled towards him.

''Nah, I know... but you'll always be the better looking out of the two of us. You could pass for a model...'' - Koharu blushed - ''I could probably be used as an anti personnel weapon... just show them pictures of me in a shower, and I guarantee you any army will turn around screaming.'' - Jet laughed, knowing that he wasn't quite that bad looking yet... no one had taken to calling him the Elephant Man just yet... Koharu, on the hand, turned red at that joke, trying desperately not to picture her partner in the shower... she was failing, and the blushing, alongside a small smirk showed how badly...

''Who knows... maybe someone does find you attractive?'' - He laughed again, this time at the perceived absurdity of that statement...

''And I thought I needed glasses!'' - The hint wasn't so much dropped, as sailed over his head in a parabolic arc, at high velocity...

Back at the Teleport Gate...

How Lisbeth had gotten this far, she honestly couldn't say. A combination of good luck, and knowing her own limits, she supposed. But here she was, on Floor 4, the frontlines, and a... desert? If this was a desert, it was the strangest desert she'd ever seen... mainly as, whilst her geography was limited to what she'd been taught in school, she was fairly certain that a lake wasn't usually a feature of most deserts! This was a disaster, she thought to herself, realising that her planning had all been for naught... she couldn't outflank enemies like this, it was mostly flat land... or water! Even the rocks and trees were barely large enough to conceal a person behind... she'd have to make do and mend though, as she always had.

After an hour or so, she'd taken out a decent number of those fish enemies, and she'd collected the material from them, but even with her determination... she was still human, and humans make mistakes, as multiple fish began to realise precisely how easy of a target they had in front of them...

The tense atmosphere between the two hadn't fully dissipated, but it was starting to, as Jet had finally figured out how the Music Player that Kayaba had helpfully left in the game worked... if what had been claimed pre-release were true, then it meant that Kayaba had quite a taste for Grime... a thought that Jet found hilarious, picturing the mad scientist dressed like Stormzy, and prancing about claiming 'mandem were too big fer their boots.'. The fleeting image of that scene was disturbed by a scream from about 500 yards away - HELP!- ''You heard that, right?''

''Yup, over there. Let's get a shift on!'' - The duo took off, as fast as they could.

The scene wasn't pretty - one young girl with brown hair, and a red dress, fighting off about six of the fish creatures, armed only with a hammer. Despite the odds, she was actually doing a fairly good job, beating one of the Dorsalfin Tadpoles into oblivion, and forcing another to back off. Jet saw his chance to try out a new trick - quickly opening his menu, and swapping weapon - his single handed sword was sheathed, and a new tool appeared. This weapon was unlike any other that Koharu had seen, and she doubted he'd gotten it from a store, given it's uniqueness. A dagger with one end of a rope tied to it, and hastily wrapped around the knight's arm, on the other end. Koharu had to wonder what the heck Jet was actually planning with this, as he threw the dagger at one of the Tadpoles, impaling it, as he pulled on the rope, forcing the creature out of position, and allowing Koharu to swoop in, and take down the not-quite-a-fish with ease. The new weapon wasn't quite as efficient as Jet would've liked, but it did the trick in a pinch, and it could, at least theoretically, keep him away from more troublesome enemies, and possibly function as an impromptu area denial weapon... though, generally, swinging a blade around your head as fast as you can, does have that effect.

After a short skirmish, the trio had managed to defeat the Tadpoles, with Jet swapping back to his normal sword.

''Are you alright? Not hurt or anything?''

''No, thanks to you two, I'm much better. Far less surrounded by fish now, anyways.''

''I mean, you did well without our help... but why were you out here on your own?''

''I'm a blacksmith, so I was out here looking for materials... oh, where are my manners! I'm Lisbeth!''

''Koharu, and that's Jet.'' - Without speaking, Jet gave a small salute towards Lisbeth.

''Oh, he's the silent type then?'' - The blacksmith asked, looking over at the nodding Jet

''No, sadly. I'm not sure why he's not speaking...'' - Koharu trailed off as she looked towards her partner, noticing the earpiece in his ear. With one swift tug, the earpiece was removed, and Jet was back to moaning... - ''You could damage someone's hearing doing that!'' - Jet looked at his partner, scandalised, who rolled her eyes at him, whilst Lisbeth fought back a giggle.

''You're a blacksmith then? That's... actually pretty cool. Tried it once IRL... let's just say I made the most useless sword in history.''

''Broke instantly?'' - Lisbeth asked, curious.

''Completely unusable by humanoids.'' - Jet admitted.

''Ah. Thanks for helping me though really appreciate it... hang on a minute! You two are frontrunners, right?''

''Uhh, were we running for anything?'' - Koharu asked in confusion.

''Frontrunners? Oh! You mean 'are we on the frontlines?', right?''

''Yeah!''

''Yes, yes we are.''

''Could I be so bold as to ask for your assistance with gathering materials?'' - Lisbeth fluttered her eyelashes towards Jet, who was really wishing he'd learnt to say no to a woman... you'd think after living with seven of them, he would've... but no. Combine that with Koharu's insistence on helping absolutely everyone she ever encountered...

''Sure.'' - Jet resigned himself to his fate, as Lisbeth looked pleased with herself...

''I just need the materials that the Scuttle Crabs drop, if that's possible. I'm going off to get the other materials I need, meet back here?''

''Are you sure you'll be okay on your own, Lisbeth?''

''I'll scrape by! Bye!'' - And with that, the blacksmith took off, leaving the duo in the dust...

''Yeah, we'll see you back here then...''

The duo reached the rendezvous point in decent time, having taken down their share of the Scuttle Crabs, only to find themselves the only people there, Lisbeth being nowhere to be seen.

''Looks like we beat her here.'' - Koharu looked slightly anxious at that.

''Maybe we should've gone with her, she said she'd 'scrape by'...''

''She looked a tough lass, she'll be fine, I think.'' - Jet attempted to reassure his partner, knowing that if he encouraged her to keep up that mindset, she'd develop a saviour complex of some sort.

''There's no guarantees in this game though, Jet. That's why I want to do everything in my power to help... I have to, I know I do, but every time we split up with someone, I just can't help but worry that we won't see them again. I want to believe we will, but...'' - Koharu looked over to Jet, and grabbed his hand, much to his surprise - ''Promise me we'll beat Floor 100. I mean, we're already at Floor 4, so we can definitely handle it, right?'' - Jet had spent a couple of nights working out how long he anticipated they'd be in this world - Assuming Floor 1 was a complete fluke, and they could handle most floors in around two weeks, he'd gotten a rough figure that meant they'd be free sometime around December 2025... almost three years from the present. That hadn't reassured him all that much, but he kept that figure to himself, and decided not to tell his partner. Sometimes, it was better for a person to remain in ignorance, rather than be truly aware of their situation... or at least, that was how he made himself feel less awful about hiding that from his partner.

''Yeah.'' - Jet wasn't even convinced by his own answer, and he seriously doubted that the usually perceptive Koharu would be either. - ''Course we will, we're us, ay we? We've always pulled through...'' - He overcompensated, and now definitely didn't believe his own answer. Koharu seemed to buy it though, which only made the knot in his stomach become tighter... he hated lying to his partner, but right now, she needed to see the idealised Jet, the noble Knight who defended those in need... not the version he felt he was, the Mordred of SAO, nothing more than a waste of space with a sword. Fortunately for him, his moping was interrupted by a deep, and familiar voice...

''Hey, it's been a while.'' - Koharu looked as if she was about to start hopping up and down on the spot. Jet ignored the fact that such an action still wouldn't bring her up to Agil's eyeline, as even he was still somewhat shorter than the axe wielding gentleman... and he was 6ft 1''. - ''I hear you two made quite a splash on the last floor. Me and my party are joining this time around, so keep your eyes open.''

''We'll be glad to have you! Oh, uhh, Agil? You didn't happen to see Lisbeth did you?'' - The axe wielder looked blankly at Koharu - ''Oh, girl in a red dress, with a big hammer.''

''Oh, the smith girl? Yeah, she asked my pals to help her gather materials. She's got quite a way with that hammer of hers. Regardless, we've got someone in our group that dabbles in crafting, and the two of them hit it off, went out and got tons... and made me carry it all.''

''I'm glad she didn't go alone, I was getting worried as she said she wasn't a fighter.''

''Crafters don't usually make it to the frontlines much, yeah. I'm sure some do, but none are the top of the top, for sure.''

A voice interrupted the ongoing conversation - the voice of the person they'd previously been talking about... - ''Sorry for the wait! Boy, oh boy did we get a haul!... Oh, hey again Mr Muscle Man, leader of the Muscle Clan...'' - Jet bit down on his knuckle, trying not to burst out laughing, even as Koharu glared at him.

''Oh, is that how you've been choosing recruits, Agil?'' - Jet decided to speak up, lest he bite into his knuckles... which would do absolutely nothing, but still.

''If we did, you wouldn't be getting in...'' - Agil took it in good stride, and poked fun back at Jet, who shrugged his shoulders, and nodded in agreement, jokingly flexing his non-existent muscles. - ''It's just birds of a feather, you know? Thankfully, means we don't get any weirdos...''

''One look at you lot is enough. You've all got great weapons too! If you ever need more, just ask!''

''You've got spirit, I'll give you that. You and all the crafters, you're the key to all of us on the frontlines surviving.'' - Lisbeth looked as if she was about to become the same colour as her dress... evidently, she wasn't very good at accepting praise. The stuttering acceptance coming from her further proved that.

''Ha! Save your thanks for when we hit you up for your wares. Good luck out there!'' - And with that, Agil left, and returned to his own party.

''Muscle man there is nicer than he looks. Can't say I've had great experiences with some of the frontliners, there's a few that are pretty mean, and a couple that are just arrogant. Makes a nice change to meet someone who respects us blacksmiths...''

''I mean, he's right. We're gonna need decent blacksmiths as we carry on upwards... people tend not to think all that far in advance though.''

''Lisbeth, you take your smithing seriously, right? I hope one day we'll be asking you for our weapons one day!''

''The words a blacksmith lives for! Now then, I don't suppose I can ask for your help in getting another type of material? I kind of need some of the fins from those Dorsalfin Tadpoles... 15 of them should be enough. I'll meet you back here, bye!'' - Jet looked deflated, and sighed. Yet again, they were a glorified collection service... anyone would think that Kayaba had ran out of ideas for quests, and settled on using the same template for what felt like the millionth time...

Some time later...

As the duo continued their walk back, having defeated the required fifteen Tadpoles, the tense atmosphere present earlier, had mostly dissipated, and the duo were chatting away as normal, when a thought struck Koharu...

''Hey, Jet?''

''Hm?''

''You know the Commander said there's a Lyusulan fort on this floor? Do you think that we're near it?'' - Jet pondered momentarily... before walking straight into something solid... - ''(muffled) Found it...'' - the unfortunate knight clutched at his nose, well aware that pain wasn't really an option, without messing about in the menu, but it didn't stop it being any less sudden, and infuriating...

''It is indeed, Koharu... and nice to see you too, Jet! Though you can't see it, I can assure you it's there... as can Jet, I assume!'' - Another familiar voice made fun of the situation, and Koharu leapt forward, tackling the Elf into a hug, whilst Jet, still clutching his nose waved back.

''(still slightly muffled) Nice to see you again, Kizmel!''

''I didn't quite catch that?''

''He said 'Nice to see you again'... he's just being a bit of a drama queen at the moment.'' - He really wished she'd spend less time with Asuna sometimes...

''You try walking into an invisible elf fort... and with that, words I never thought I'd use in a sentence together.''