Title: Misfits of Aincrad.
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Asuna or Liz or Silica or Sachi or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: After the First Floor Boss Fight, Kirito deals with Kibaou in a different way. This leads to him meeting a number of Players who play SAO in their own unique ways. AU which diverges significantly from Canon.
Sovin Nai watched as the group of four Players below passed along the road below without noticing the six Aiel that were arrayed along the hill above them. He was close enough to recognise a few of them and they really were as blind as Wetlanders. Aethan Dor was close enough to touch one of the Players and they never even saw him
He looked across at the others. Off to his left Spear Maiden, which they usually just called Maiden, was hand talking with Rhu, though Sovin Nai could not understand what they were saying. Every Aiel Warrior knew the basic hand talk for when silent communication was needed but the Far Dereis Mai, Maidens of the Spear, had developed hand talk into an entire language and never stopped using it. Rhu was a bit of a victim of circumstances and could have been the subject of many jokes amongst the Aiel. Her Screen Name was actually Rhuarc, named after the famous Taardad Aiel Clan Chief and her original Avitar had been male, so when the Mirrors had turned her back to her real gender she had been stuck with a male name. Maiden had re-christened her Rhu and declared that, in the absence of Wise Ones, they were practically First Sisters and the others would just have to deal with it.
Gaul was off to Sovin Nai's right with his bow in hand while Thunder Walker, also holding his bow, was a bit further up the hill watching the rear. Sovin Nai was the highest level of the group which meant he was unofficial Battle Leader, though he insisted he would never be a Clan Chief. Maiden and Aethan Dor were next in level with the rest close behind, all of them now ready to be involved in the Floor Boss fight for Floor Four, if they could ever find the Boss.
As soon as the other group of Players had passed out of sight Aethan Dor turned back to the rest of the Aiel and signed back to the others.
~Talk Lots. Return Hold. No Progress. ~
Sovin Nai returned an acknowledgement signal and then gestured for the group to move. The six of them moved forward down the slope, across the path the other group had been moving along and into the widely spaced forest on the other side of the road.
Despite clearing a field boss two days ago, which many of the Beta's said usually led to the Floor Boss Labyrinth, there had been no evidence of the Labyrinth for Floor Four and most of the top tier Players had decided to group up to search for the entrance as it allowed them to check more areas safely and search longer than going around as solos.
Due to the nature of the way they played, the Aiel Players had naturally increased their stealth and observation skills, so they were able to move through the forest quietly and noticed indications of both animals and humanoids moving through the forest but they did not encounter anything except the small birds that were singing in the trees. The six of them had spread out in a line as they searched, though they stayed in sight of each other. Sovin Nai was in the middle, with his bow out, with Aethan Dor to his left holding his Siswai. Beyond Aethan Dor were Thunder Walker with his Bow and Gaul with his Siswai. To Sovin Nai's right was Maiden and Rhu, both with the Siswai out as there was a slight ridge to their right that would protect that flank, and there was also one of the Floor Pillars to the right and a few hundred meters ahead.
Floor Pillars were massive circular pillars that went from the ground of a Floor all the way to the ceiling of the Floor, or the base of the Floor above depending on how you look at it. One of these Floor Pillars contains the Floor Boss Labyrinth, the Floor Boss Room itself and the entrance to the floor above. The problem is there were eight Floor Pillars scattered around the Floor. The Floor Pillar that they were approaching had been searched before but most of the Players used the roads to get around so the searching had been done on the far side of the Pillar to where the Aiel were approaching.
After fifteen minutes of movement, the six Aiel stopped dead, raised their veils, and readied their weapons at exactly the same time as the birds in the trees stopped singing and silence descended. Aethan Dor, Gaul, Maiden and Rhu started moving slowly forward with their Siswai and bucklers readied while Sovin Nai and Thunder Walker followed after a moment to give their bows a bit of range.
A Giant Bear roared and came charging out of a thick clump of bushes ahead to the right, near the base of the Floor Pillar. Sovin Nai and Thunder Walker released their arrows, hitting the Giant Bear in the shoulder and the eye, which caused it to roar in pain and took out a large chunk of its health bar. Aethan Dor, Gaul, Maiden and Rhu made quick darting attacks, with the broad head of their Siswai opening large rents in the flank and neck of the Giant Bear, before nimbly stepping back out of range of its claws and teeth. The six of them quickly wore down the Giant Bear while taking little damage in return, and Rhu got the final blow in with a strike to its neck causing the Giant Bear to shatter.
Maiden moved to the clump of bushes where the Giant Bear emerged and carefully stepped through. A few seconds later she re-emerged and turned to the rest of the group.
"It's the Labyrinth entrance." Maiden informed. "Scout it?"
Sovin Nai check the sky, and the clock in his heads up display.
"One Hour." He said, getting nods from the rest.
The Floor Boss shattered and the Congratulations sign appeared but no one cheered, instead they all groaned in exhaustion. Everyone, even the backline Archers, were in the red, and three Players had died in the fight.
"The Beta's information failed us again!" Kibaou shouted.
"No, you fucking moron." Reaper said from her place on the ground, idly flexing her left hand which had the chain of her Kusarigama wrapped around it. "It was your damn insistence to charge ahead and take on the Floor Bosses so quickly."
"We were so under-levelled for this fight." Agil mused.
It was not surprising really. It was four days since the Aiel had found the Fourth Floor Labyrinth and this was not the Fourth Floor Boss, or even the Fifth Floor Boss, but the Seventh Floor Boss. The fight had been a brutal one, where all semblance of parties and organised rotations broke down and it was more a case of those with the highest health left desperately attacking the Boss while those almost out of HP were urgently trying to rest and regain health. Many players were charging back into the fight when they were still solidly in Yellow and backing out deep into the Red. Many times it was the most Agile of the Players, like Asuna and the Aiel, who were keeping the Boss' attention and avoiding its attack as the Tanks were in the Red.
In the Hour that Sovin Nai had given the Aiel to scout the Fourth Floor Labyrinth, the six of them had mapped over half of the Labyrinth. When the Aiel had released the maps data, thirty other Front Line Players had gone exploring and it had taken them six hours to map the rest. The Fourth Floor Boss fight went reasonably well with no major surprises. On the Fifth Floor the Aiel were tasked with finding and exploring the Labyrinth, but the Ninja players, who felt they had been upstaged, pulled their fingers out and got to exploring as well. By mid-morning of the day following the Fourth Floor Boss's defeat, the Fifth Floor Boss had been found and defeated, though in a tougher fight.
Despite warnings from many of the Players, both Beta and not, a faction of the Front Line Players, led by Kibaou, wanted to push on as fast as possible to each new Floor's Boss saying it was their duty to defeat the Bosses as soon a they could. Any exploration of the Floors, apart from finding the Boss Room, was put aside in the drive to defeat the Bosses. The Sixth Floor Boss had been much tougher, and many of the Players had gone into Yellow during the fight but they had won without any casualties. The Seventh Floor Boss had nearly wiped them out.
"They're right, Kibaou." Samas, one of Kibaou's closest friends, said. "We need to make sure we are ready for these fights and not just charge ahead."
"But what about all the other Players being trapped in here?" Kibaou said, trying to make it look like he was concerned about others instead of just himself.
"And what happens to them if we all die?" Kiki shot back. "Which, let's face it, almost happened today."
Kibaou, in a sulk, and a few of his friends went up to unlock the teleport plaza on the Eighth Floor while the rest sat and tried to recover their health, and their composure, after the almost devastating battle.
TBC….