Chapter 12 The Girl of Morning Dew
Sora told Heathcliff about what happened with Godfree dying and Kuradeel being a secret member of Laughing Coffin in disguise. Then the next day Kirito and Asuna came in asking Heathcliff for a temporary leave of absence from the guild and he accepted. Kirito and Asuna told Sora that they'll be taking a break from the frontlines for a while, but Kirito promises Sora that if there's ever a problem, he'll be there to help Sora. Sora was excited to hear that Kirito and Asuna was getting married in the game and their vacation home is going to be southwest of Floor 22. Sora asked if he could be their best man since their getting married. But Kirito and Asuna laughed at his joke explaining that marriage in game doesn't work the same in real life. But Kirito promised if he and Asuna married in real life Sora could be his best man.
So, Kirito and Asuna left for their vacation home and Sora continued to work as a member of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Since Sora knew the man in black was giving red players like Laughing Coffin power to control the heartless or bugs that can affect entire floors, Heathcliff put Sora in charge of clearing out any heartless or bugs in their headquarters. Sora would come to visit Kirito and Asuna in their vacation home from time to time when he'd have time off. But one day Sora was home on Floor 50 when he heard a ringtone of his Gummiphone phone and saw an icon of it appear in front of him, so Sora clicked on it to talk to the people in the castle.
"Hey guys." Sora said sounding a little tired.
"Hey Sora, are you alright?" Ienzo asked.
"(Sigh) Yeah, it's just that it's been quiet ever since Kirito moved in with Asuna." Sora said.
"I know, you boys really have gotten far since you first left Floor 1." Ienzo said.
"Yeah… So, what's happening on you're end?" Sora asked.
"Well, there seems to be a very powerful bug that's growing on Floor 1." Even said.
"On Floor 1? That's odd, we normally find bugs on the higher Floors." Sora said.
"Exactly, I searched the lower floors after the first ones but there weren't any bugs on those floors. The only way this could happen is if they were brought by the man in the black." Ansem said.
"What if the man in black was communicating with other red players to plant bugs on that floor?" Sora asked.
"That's impossible, this Floor has been infected with more bugs than any other floor. Every time the red players get in contact with bugs it's not enough to infect an entire floor." Ienzo said.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it." Sora said as he hung up and left to a teleport waypoint and teleported to Floor 1, Town of Beginnings.
When Sora enters Floor 1the Town of Beginnings, he looks around but didn't see anything wrong with the Floor.
"It's been a while since I've been here… Anyway, everything looks normal maybe I can find something wrong if I go deeper into town." Sora said as he walked deeper into Floor 1 Town of Beginnings.
Sora went through the town, but there was barely anyone around. Then Sora encountered one of the members of the Aincrad Liberation Army.
"Hey! Remember me, we met on Floor 74!" Sora said excited to see him.
"You there, you need to pay you're taxes if you want to walk on Floor 1!" The army guy exclaimed.
"Huh? Since when do you have to pay to walk here?" Sora asked.
"I'm not gonna tell you again!" The army guy shouted.
"Okay, what is going on here?" Sora asked.
"That's it! You're about to be detained on site!" The army guy said as he pulled out his sword.
Sora was able to pull out his Favorite Deputy keyblade and easily take down the army guy, but then he ran off before he could get up. Sora was wandering around the town trying to hide from the Aincrad Liberation Army.
"What's going on? Since when do people need to pay takes just for walking on this floor? Maybe that guy is infected by a bug?" Sora asked himself.
But then 3 giant bug blocks from the system sector appeared in front of Sora and they sprouted spider legs, and the heartless symbol appeared on their backs.
"Sense when can bugs do that?!" Sora exclaimed as he summoned his Favorite Deputy keyblade to take them out.
"Okay I'm starting to realize there's wrong with this Floor, first the Army guy saying I need to pay to be here, now bug blocks turning into heartless are on this Floor." Sora said.
Sora walked around everywhere in the Town of Beginnings to see what happened, but he didn't find anything yet. Then he saw one of members of the Aincrad Liberation Army and hid behind a wall. But when he peeked through, he spotted one of the heartless bugs walking towards the man from the Aincrad Liberation Army. He was about to take it out until he saw something very surprising.
"Yes sir, this entire Floor is ours to control." The army guy said.
"Excellent! Pretty soon our rule is gonna stretch, all across Aincrad!" The heartless bug exclaimed.
"Looks like someone is communicating through that heartless, wait rule? Now I really need to find the back door to the System Sector." Sora said quietly.
Then when the heartless bug started walking away Sora secretly followed it believing it would lead him to the back door to the System Sector. Sora followed the bug outside of town and it just vanished in thin air.
"Huh?! Where did it go?!" Sora exclaimed as he looked around.
But then Sora remembered that backdoors to the System Sector are always in strange places no one would ever suspect. So, Sora held his keyblade where the bug disappeared, and bright light shot from the top of the blade and hit the spot where the bug disappeared revealing the backdoor to the System Sector. So, Sora runs into the backdoor to enter the System Sector. Meanwhile in the Town of Beginnings Kirito and Asuna came into town with a little girl named Yui with long, dark hair and bright black eyes. She wore a long-sleeved pink sweater and a purple skirt, as well as red shoes. Kirito and Asuna found her all by herself alone in the forest and passed out, so they took her home with them. But she was a mystery to them, she didn't have a curser above her head, but she isn't a npc or a quest giver, she's an actual player. She didn't have any memory of how she ended up in the forest, but she remembered her name, Yui. Kirito and Asuna introduced themselves to her, but since she couldn't say their names, she called them mommy and daddy. Kirito and Asuna accepted her as their daughter but new deep down she probably has a family, so they went to the Town of Beginnings to see if she had a family.
"It's been forever since I've been back here." Kirito said.
"Me too." Asuna said.
They both remember that place quite well, the place where it all began for them.
"What do you think Yui, do any of these buildings look familiar?" Asuna asked.
"I don't know" Yui said.
"Don't get down about it, the Town of Beginnings is a really big place. So how about it? Should we start at the Central Market?" Kirito asked.
So, the three players walked around to see if there's anything that Yui could remember.
"Hey Kirito." Asuna said.
"Yeah?" Kirito responded.
"Do you know how many players are here, right now in the town?" Asuna asked.
"Hmm, good question. Last I checked there were 6000 players still alive in S.A.O, about 30% of those people including the army, live in the Town of Beginnings. So, maybe's little less than 2000." Kirito said.
"Doesn't it seem a little dead around here?" Asuna asked.
"Yeah, there's no one around at all." Kirito said.
But then a group of heartless charged at them, Kirito and Asuna went infront of Yui to protect her from the heartless. But then a group of heartless appeared behind them and tried to attack Yui, but Asuna swiftly destroyed them using her sword skills.
'The heartless seem to be attracted to Yui but why? Why is no one here, is it a bug? Sora where are you?' Kirito asked himself.
Meanwhile in the System Sector it was complete chaos, Sora was running around like crazy trying to take out the bugs.
"(Huff, huff, huff) Since when did these bugs get so tough? It's like they have a mind of their own." Sora said.
But then something strange happened, the bugs all merged together and formed a human like bug. But what was surprising was it looked like someone he knew, but what was really surprising was when the bug started to talk to Sora.
"Well, well, well looks like the Hacker has come back to Floor 1." the bug said.
'Back? Wait does he know me!? Wait a second, he does look familiar and that voice. Wait a second...' Sora thought to himself before he came to a realization at who was talking to him.
"KIBAOU!? IS THAT YOU!?" Sora exclaimed.
"Yes Hacker, it's been a long time since the big battle on Floor One huh?" Kibaou asked.
"Seriously you're still calling me that? Especially knowing you're the reason this entire Floor is having problems? How did you even find out how to get into the System Sector anyway?" Sora asked.
"(Evil Chuckle) Well after you and you're Beater friend left Floor 1 I was devastated and angry. We lost Diabel and several other players because of you two!" Kibaou exclaimed.
"Hey! I'm upset we lost Diabel to, but don't take it out on me and Kirito! We are working hard to clear the game for everyone! But you're only making the people on this Floor suffer for your own selfishness!" Sora exclaimed.
"I have been trying to clear this game! After Floor 1 I worked to become stronger than ever to get out of this game! That's when I encountered a few members of the Aincrad Liberation Army, and we teamed up to clear the game. But of course, it wasn't easy to clear the quests or beat the bosses on lower Floors. But of course, I wasn't surprised you and you're Beater friend would beat us to most of them and won easily." Kibaou said.
"Look, we didn't go to those quests and bosses to become stronger we did it because of the problems that would cause among the players when they heard about it. If players knew about the items that would drop from them, they'd do whatever it takes to get them, even if it means harming fellow players. Plus, the heartless would be attracted to their greed and overrun the lower floors. That's why me and Kirito would go to the bosses and get the rewards so we can distribute them among players that need it." Sora said.
"Oh please, you just did it for the money and purposely left us with the harder quests to deal with!" Kibaou exclaimed.
"Hey! You could've just as easily found those quests like everyone else! The game is fair for everyone in the game!" Sora exclaimed.
"Then how is it you and you're Beater friend have abilities no one else in the game knows of! Yeah, I heard about you two taking out the Floor 74 boss on your own with those abilities, how come no one else has those skills?" Kibaou asked.
"It just appeared out of nowhere we don't know why they appeared to us." Sora said.
"Yeah right… Just like you're holding information on those heartless, or those strange weapons you have." Kibaou said.
"Hey, I already told you! I made the yellow books that had information on the heartless and asked the beta testers to give them so they can pass them out because I knew everyone would have questions I just couldn't answer. As for my keyblade, look I'm sorry but that secret stays of me." Sora said.
"Why am I not surprised, you and you're Beater friend was the only one. In this game getting stronger." Kibaou said.
"Everyone in this game has gotten stronger! Not just me and Kirito! And I'm sorry if you don't like me keeping any secrets from you, I don't like it either! But I know that there are secrets that are important to keep." Sora said.
"Yeah right, all you and you're Beater friend do is hog all the good stuff that the rest of us need to grow stronger!" Kibaou exclaimed.
"Why do you care! I haven't seen you on the higher floors fighting on the frontlines at all so what's you're excuse!" Sora exclaimed.
"Hey, I have my reasons! But unlike you and you're Beater friend I actually found a player in a black coat willing to share items and information." Kibaou said.
"Is he the reason you were able to infect this Floor with bugs and even enter the System Sector?" Sora asked.
"Why yes, after the Liberation Army was almost slaughtered on Floor 25, I was forced to take a break on the frontlines. But I couldn't be on the sidelines for to long so everyone could think I wasn't fighting for clearing the game anymore, so I ordered Kobatz to lead a team to take on the boss on Floor 74. But of course, you and you're Beater friend got in the way again..." Kibaou said in anger.
"So... you're the reason the Aincrad Liberation Army was on Floor 74... You're the reason why Kobatz and two of his are gone! A And you only care that me and Kirito beating the boss and not the Aincrad Liberation Army?! We had to take out the boss to prevent the Liberation Army becoming annihilated!" Sora exclaimed, furious at the fact Kibaou purposefully sent the Aincrad Liberation Army to face that boss when they've barely been leveling up since Floor 25 and all he cares is his own image.
"Yeah, well I took on a lot of heat after what happened on Floor 74 but suddenly, the player in black appeared in front of me. He told me the secrets of this game inside and out, and thanks to him I can force this entire Floor to obey my authority!" Kibaou exclaimed.
"By extorting taxes on innocent players?! And what's this I hear about you planning to take over all of Aincrad?!" Sora exclaimed.
"It's to make sure my authority remains all across Aincrad!" Kibaou exclaimed as the red patterns on his body glowed brighter showing he's becoming more corrupted.
"Not on my watch!" Sora said as he pulled out his keyblade and they began to fight
But as they fought, the red coding on Kibaou turned into blue as he and Sora fought. At first Sora was able to deal with him easily, able to block his sword skills and attacks. But when the blue coding on him turned into yellow Kibaou was moving so fast, Sora was having a hard time keeping up with his attacks. Sora decided to pull out his Happy gear keyblade to keep up with Kibaou's quick attacks, but he was still taking damage from Kibaou's sword. So, to go even faster Sora turned his Happy Gear keyblade into flash-slashing claws and turned into his Strike form. (His coat, gloves, and shoes turn red, with an urban camouflage pattern on his pants.) With them he was able to keep up with Kibaou's attacks and even land strong hits. After Kibaou got hit a few times from Sora's attacks the yellow code on him turns red. Sora then turned the flash-slashing claws into twin yoyos. So, Sora charged into attack him, using one of his yoyos to pull himself towards the enemy and started attacking him. But no matter how many times he attacked him his health wouldn't go down. Sora then switched his Happy Gear keyblade for his Nano Gear keyblade, he was able to land harder hits on Kibaou. But then the red coding on Kibaou turns green and he grows into a giant and with one swing of his mace he sent Sora flying. Sora then transformed his Nano gear into a larger, broadsword-type weapon with the "blade" composed ofmicrobot-like nano mechanics and turned into his Blitz Form. (His clothes become green with indigo flame patterns.) Sora charges at Kibaou and this time when Kibaou swings his mace at him he's able to block it. The two players were evenly matched but not one of them could land the finishing blow on the other. But then as they clashed swords again Sora used the nano mechanics in his keyblade to use his rocket fist to send him flying. And before Kibaou could completely get up, Sora charged in and landed the finishing blow, and the entire System Sector returned to it's original color. Then the terminal appeared so Sora went through it and returned to Floor 1.
Meanwhile on Floor 1 Kirito and Asuna were still fighting off the heartless to protect Yui. They were getting tired and the heartless weren't letting up.
"This is getting us nowhere; we have to find a place to hide!" Asuna exclaimed.
"We're surrounded! There's no where else to run!" Kirito exclaimed.
But then one of the heartless flew above them and snatched Yui and took her away. Kirito and Asuna tried to reach her, but she was out of their reach.
"YUI!" Kirito and Asuna shouted.
"MOMMY! DADDY! HELP!" Yui shouted as the heartless carried her away.
But just as all hope seemed lost on the outskirts of the Town of Beginnings a bright light shot from the ground, yellow coding from the System Sector in Sword Art Online flew everywhere on Floor 1. But when Yui was looking at the yellow coding something inside her sparked in realization.
"Look at all the coding…" Yui said in amazement as she reached out her hands trying to grab them.
Then one by one the heartless started to disappear, including the heartless carrying Yui away. She started falling from the sky screaming for her parents.
"MOMMY! DADDY! HELP!" Yui screamed as she continued to fall.
But as she was about to fall flat on the ground Sora rushed in and caught her and placed her safely in the ground.
"(Sigh) That was close, are you okay?" Sora asked.
"Yes, thanks for saving me." Yui said as she gave Sora a hug for saving her.
"You're welcome, what's your name?" Sora asked.
"It's Yui." Yui introduced.
"Well nice to meet you Yui, I'm Sora." Sora introduced.
"So..da?" Yui asked.
"No, it's Sora. So..ra." Sora said.
"So..da?" Yui asked.
"Uhh never mind, you can just call me what you think is easier." Sora said.
"Hmmm uncle." Yui said.
"Uncle… well if it helps you remember. So do your parents know where you are?" Sora asked, still a little surprised she called him uncle.
"Mm hmm they're over there." Yui said pointing at Kirito and Asuna running their way.
'Wait is that?' Sora thought to himself as Kirito and Asuna ran their way.
"Yui!" Asuna shouted as she ran to Yui.
"Mommy!" Yui shouted and ran to Asuna and hugged her.
"I'm so glad you're safe Yui." Kirito said as he hugged Asuna and Yui.
Sora watched them all and smiled, he knew Kirito and Asuna got married but they even started a family.
"I didn't know you'd be such an affectionate father Kirito." Sora said teasingly.
"Well, I didn't plan to become a parent, but I guess could get used to it." Kirito said.
"Wait… did you guys have interco…" Sora said before Kirito interrupted him.
"We found her in the woods! We took her in and now we're trying to find her parents. So, what about you? I saw heartless appear on this floor so I'm guessing the bugs infected this Floor?" Kirito asked.
"Yeah, in fact it was even worse than the higher floors. Do you remember the player Kibaou?" Sora asked.
"Yeah why?" Kirito asked.
"He was in the System Sector causing the bugs to rise on this floor. He was trying to takeover all of Aincrad." Sora answered.
"Seriously?! Has he lost his mind?! And how did he even end up there?!" Kirito exclaimed.
"The mysterious player in black told him." Sora said.
"This is getting crazy… Oh! And by the way when me Asuna and Yui encountered the heartless on this floor, they were attracted to Yui for some reason." Kirito said.
"Really why her?" Sora asked.
"I don't know but I have a feeling there's something about her that we don't know about." Kirito said.
"Sora! It's good to see you again and thank you for saving Yui." Asuna said.
"You're welcome and great seeing you two Asuna. So why did Yui call you mommy and daddy?" Sora asked.
"She couldn't say our names I told her to call us whatever she wanted, and she called us mommy and daddy." Kirito said.
"Huh, that's funny she couldn't say my name either, so I said she can call me what she wanted, and she said uncle." Sora said.
"Uncle huh? Well, I guess that means you and Kirito are like brothers after all." Asuna said.
"Huh, I guess we do." Kirito said.
"Yeah, we do get along like brothers." Sora said.
But then as everyone was getting along, they heard voices in the edge of town.
"Leave those children alone!" The female voice said.
"Well look it's the woman who works at the Daycare Center we've been waiting for you." The male voice said.
Sora and his friends rushed to the edge of town where they heard the voices. In the edge of town, there was a young woman named Sasha with brown hair and green eyes. She wore a rimless, oval glasses and wore a long navy-blue dress with a white collar. She was trying to protect a group of kids being harassed by members of the Aincrad Liberation Army.
"Leave them alone and let them go!" Sasha exclaimed.
"You make it sound like we're doing something illegal baby cakes. We're just teaching them how things work around here, making sure they pay their way. It's all part of the army's job ma'am." The army guy said.
"That's right everyone's gotta pay taxes around here." The other army guy said, and all 6 army guys started laughing.
"Gin, Kain, Mina are you okay?" Sasha asked.
"Help us, Sasha! Please! Save us!" Mina exclaimed.
"They just want you're money so give it to them, and it'll be okay!" Sasha said.
"We tried teach, but they said it's not good enough!" Kain said.
"You know you dead beats owe us a lot in back taxes. You need to drop all the equipment you got right there including you're armor. Come on honey, don't be shy." The army guy said.
"No way! Let me through or else! Stand aside!" Sasha angrily exclaimed.
But just as things were about to get rough Sora, Kirito Asuna and Yui jumped in between the members of the Aincrad Liberation Army and the children.
"You guys are gonna be okay now, pick up you're stuff." Asuna said to the kids.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa hey who are you guys? This is army business so stay out of our way!" The army guy said.
"Does army business include extorting taxes off of innocent people?" Sora asked.
"Look kid I don't know who you are but we're with the Aincrad Liberation Army and you do not mess with us!" The other army guy exclaimed as he raised up his sword.
"We'll see about that." Sora said as he pulled out his Favorite Deputy keyblade and walked towards the army guy with a deadly glare on his face.
"Kirito, take care of Yui." Asuna said.
"Uh huh." Kirito said.
Asuna walked up to Sora's side as she pulled out her sword. She charged up her sword and unleashed a sword skill at him violently attacking him.
"Oh, don't worry it's a safe zone and you're HP won't deplete no matter what I do. There's just a feeling of getting knocked off you're feet, even so a fight with me will scare the heck out of you." Asuna said and she she unleashed another sword skill on the soldier sending him to the ground.
"Don't just stand there do something!" The army guy exclaimed in fear.
"Sure, come this way I dare ya!" Sora taunted as he transformed his Favorite Deputy keyblade into his Hyper Hammer.
Then the rest of the Aincrad Liberation Army charged at Sora with their sword out, but Sora unleashed a hammer skill on his Hyper Hammer and with one swing he sent the army guys to the other side of Floor 1 except one of them.
"My… my soldiers… what did you do?!" The army guy exclaimed in fear.
"The same thing I'm about to do to you…" Sora said with a sinister grin as he sent the last army guy flying.
"Awesome! That was so awesome!" Gin said as he and the other kids and Sasha walked up to Sora and Asuna.
"Yeah, I've never seen anything like that before!" Kain said.
"You guys were so cool." Mina said.
"Yeah thanks." Gin said.
"Thank you so much for helping us out." Sasha said.
"Sure, happy to help." Sora said.
"Of course, I'm just glad you're all alright." Asuna said.
Kirito and Yui were watching all of this with Yui sitting on Kirito's back.
"You see that? You're mom and uncle are crazy strong huh?" Kirito asked but Yui didn't respond. Instead, she turned around looking up reaching her hand in the air.
"Their hearts… everyone's hearts are…" Yui said.
"Yui?" Kirito asked.
"What's wrong Yui?" Asuna asked.
""
Yui… are you okay?" Sora asked.
"Did you remember something Yui?" Asuna asked.
"I… I… I was never here, in this place. I was always all alone… in the dark." Yui said sounding very scared.
'She was never in this place? What's that supposed to mean? Where did she come from?' Sora thought to himself.
But then a huge glitch – like phenomena happened, Yui's eyes turned orange, and she screamed in pain and fell off Kirito's back. But Asuna caught her before she fell on the ground.
"Mommy! I'm scarred! Mommy!" Yui exclaimed in fear then she passed out.
"This is insane…" Kirito quietly said.
"What was that?" Asuna asked.
Back at the Radiant Garden castle Ansem and his apprentices saw what happened and we're completely shocked.
"What happened?" Ienzo asked.
"A strange glitch just occurred, but it only effected that little girl and no one else." Even said.
"Yes, in fact I looked up on the names on people in S.A.O and she's not on the list." Ansem said.
"Then where did she come from?" Ienzo asked.
"I don't know… but I have a feeling she's deeply connected to the world of Sword Art Online…" Ansem said.
There you have it a new chapter, let's see what happens next. Sorry I haven't posted in a while I've been pretty busy with my schoolwork