Kamen Rider Gain/Sword Art Online --- Chapter 3

I do not own Kamen Rider Gaim or Sword Art Online. They belong to their respective creators and not me. I am only writing this for fun and not for any kind of profit. If you enjoy the story then please continue on with your support. If you don’t like it...well, I can’t please everyone. No flames please. They don’t contribute to to my writing like solid constructive criticism would.

Kamen Rider Gaim: Cyber World

By Ten-Faced Paladin

Chapter 3: Level Up

Aincrad - Forest of Beginnings Nov 28th, 12:18 PM

In the two weeks since the induction of the Inves, the tactics of the Clearers changed significantly.

Argo had done her job well. She went straight to Starting City and began demonstrations on how to use the Lockseeds and the tactics the Inves would allow them to use. Many times she ended up summoning a Deer Inves to prove her point, shocking her audience. She hyped them up by outlining what the Inves could do, how to use one, and how they could be used to protect the people who were out in the fields. Once she proved it by being able to order the Inves around like it was some kind of drone. Once people saw that Argo wasn’t screwing with them, they began to scramble for the Lockseeds, everyone wanting their own personal protector for out in the field and in the dungeons. They didn’t care at all if there was still some things they didn’t know about the Lockseeds. They wanted them!

Argo had ranked the Lockseeds depending on the numbers printed on the fronts since the lower numbers and the seed-based Lockseeds usually summoned Inves Warriors of various sizes while the higher-number fruit-based ones summoned evolved Inves like the Deer Inves. As expected, she charged more for the higher ranked Lockseeds. That still didn’t stop some adventuring groups from pooling their cash together to get them. Soon Argo was sold out, but she pointed everyone in the direction of Agil’s shop who had significantly more in his stock thanks to his recent raid.

In only two weeks, Lockseeds were becoming the newest craze for the players of SAO, both serious and meek alike. Then the players started to brag about how useful or strong their Inves were. This resulted in arguments amongst players. Then, to prove who had the strongest Inves, they started to have their Inves fight each other.

Thus an event called the ‘Inves Games’ was born. It was a game everyone could take part in, unlike the sword duels which could be called between players. The Inves Games came down to what Lockseed the players had, not how much experience a person had which made them much more fair for the players who were too afraid to leave the city.

Not only that, but the Lockseeds used in Inves Games were also put on wager. The winner would then claim the loser’s Lockseeds at the end of the match. The best players in the games soon had big collections of Lockseeds while more people began trying to get more for themselves. Argo even had the information recorded in the constantly updated Player Guidebook.

The Clearers, the players who were struggling to clear the floor and reach the Dungeon Boss, also praised the use of Inves. In field dungeons or the actual dungeons, the players could send an Inves ahead to test for traps and explore areas while their wielders waited outside of the room and watched their progress. Since the Inves weren’t part of SAO’s systems, they would be able to trigger traps or collect items from chests just like players could. Even if mobs got out of control, the players could summon Invase to help them even the odds, making them responsible for saving even more players from harm. The Clearers couldn’t have enough Lockseeds for their operations.

However, the supply of Lockseeds were quickly running out with so many people wanting more. Fortunately, it was possible to get more from the source. According to Argo, they would need to enter the Helheim Forest and Agil seemed like the guy to go to as he had been there before. Argo didn’t tell anyone where Helheim Forest was, wanting to at least keep that a secret for the goal of profit.

So in the nameless village near <<The Forest of Beginnings>> Agil had brought in a small party of players after he posted an announcement that he was going on a raid to resupply his Lockseed Stores. He waited at the edge of the town as the group, little more than high school to college with respectable levels, collected together. They all seemed a little intimidated by him, but his reputation as a fair man seemed to calm them down a little.

“Okay,” the tall man nodded, looking over a pad of paper. “Is this everyone? Ten-Faced Paladin, KR Chrome, Olefumi Temple, Fenikkusumaru, Archangel Igneel, Shadow Element 13, and Bushido?”

“Yes.” “Present!” “Here!” “Hai!” “Can we go yet?” “I’m here.” “Do we get Lockseeds as pay?”

“Okay, okay,” Agil nodded. “Now for anyone who’s still unclear, this is a raid to Helheim Forest where the Lockseed Flowers grow. We go in, get as many as we can carry, and get out. The wild Inves are tough and only take a fraction of damage from Sword Skills that other monsters take. If anything higher than an Inves Warrior attacks us we get the hell out, got it?”

Agreements showed that the group of young men got the message.

“Good,” Agil nodded. “Okay then, once we get back you seven have first pick of ONE Lockseed for free. If you’d prefer Col I can provide that. The reward is your choice. So the more Lockseeds we get, the more variety you can pick from so let’s get a lot.” Excited grins were his reply. Seeing that he had their enthusiasm on his side, he hefted his pack and prepared to leave, “Okay, let’s go!”

Agil lead the group into the <<Forest of Beginnings>> and soon strayed from the path which caused the party to raise some eyebrows. Straying from the path was a surefire way of getting mobbed by some bad monsters. Not that they couldn’t handle themselves, but it would be harder than the monsters that would stray onto the paths. Agil didn’t seem all that concerned as he kept going on his way. Pushing through several bushes, he led the group of seven into a clearing which in most cases would have a mob in it. The expected mob wasn’t in there, but instead a portal which looked like an open zipper in the air.

“Huh?” Bushido blinked. “This is it?”

“This is it,” Agil nodded. “Stay sharp. Summoned Inves may be tame, but the wild ones are something different altogether.”

Leading the way once again, Agil brought his raid group through the portal into Helheim Forest proper. The group of seven couldn’t help but stare at the multitude of strange plants growing everywhere and the strange sensation in the air. Knowing that Helheim was something of a hack, it made the group feel like they were in the middle of something illegal.

“Okay, see the purple flowers?” asked Agil, gesturing to the trees around them which were practically bursting with the violet blooms. “These are premature Lockseeds. Once a player picks them, they mature into Lockseeds. Pick as many as you can carry. If an Inves attacks, throw a flower to distract it. They love these things. Just don’t let them eat a mature one. It will make things worse for us, especially if its an unlocked one.”

“Sure thing boss!” KR Chrome nodded as he and the others began picking up the flowers. Agil was also hard at work, but after his experiences he was keeping an eye out for any Ines attack. The Tiger Inves during his last trip had been enough of a reality check.

The time passed peacefully, the group chatting a little while they plucked every flower they could, some shock being explained when they held a flower too long and it transformed into a Lockseed. No Inves approached and soon the group’s inventories were filled to the brim with Mature Lockseeds. Even Agil was filled to the brim even with the backpack he brought which was an item that expanded the size of the user’s inventory. Hopefully the haul would be enough to keep his customers happy for a while.

“Okay, is everyone filled up?” asked Agil. Seeing his raid group nod, he continued. “Okay then. Let’s get out of here before an Inves decides we look like a good snack.”

With their spoils, the raid group made tracks for the exit portal. One by one, they popped through and made their way back for the no-name village and safety. They left Helheim Forest behind, leaving only footsteps to show that they had even been there in the first place. All in all, it was a successful run through the illegal area.

Through the silence of the forest, a figure landed on the ground near the portal. It was covered mainly in black armor with red armor running along its sides. The chest armor looked a little like bat jaws and a snout while it had a cloak over its shoulders that looked like bat wings. The face was likewise a bat-like face with bat wings extending from the sides of its head and feather-like attachments rose from his forehead. Its gauntlets were blood red and had a blood red blade extending from the left arm while its kneecaps had silver spiked armor. Were a player nearby, it would have had an indicator above its head calling it the Bat Inves.

The Bat Inves stared at the portal for a few moments before daring to step closer, looking curiously at it.

When Tobei Tachibana first created the Inves for his Kamen Rider Online game, he had specifically programmed the Inves to wander about and eventually find their way out of Helheim Forest and cause havoc in the main playing area of the game which was a Tokyo-like city. When he decided to add them to SAO as weapons for the players, he tried to reprogram their habits to try and keep them from causing problems and risking the lives of players. He couldn’t remove their battle instinct or else they would be useless as summons for the players. So he tried to program habits into the Inves which would have them ignore the portals. In basic terms, if the Inves saw a portal they weren’t being summoned through they would be diverted into one of their other behavioral patterns. Sadly, searching for Lockseed Flowers to eat was one of those patterns and witnessing a group of players with a large number of Mature Lockseeds just slipped around that particular safeguard Tachibana tried to create.

The Bat Inves grunted and hopped through the portal, landing in the <<Forest of Beginnings>>. It landed in a crouch, looking around in curiosity. A slight growl followed it, making the Inves turn around to see one of the monsters the forest hosted, a <<Dire Wolf>>. The beast, programmed to attack anything that wasn’t an NPC or a fellow monster, regarded the Inves as a potential target since even though it wasn’t a player, it wasn’t programmed into its habits either.

The Inves snarled back, adopting a battle stance with its blade raised. The Wolf accepted the challenge and made a lunge at the Inves. The Bat Inves snarled and leaped back with a wide slash. The blade easily cut through the wolf’s hide while its claws, like Sword Skills, did barely anything. The Bat Inves landed on the ground again while the wolf exploded into blue pixels, showing its defeat.

The pest dealt with, the Bat Inves began sniffing the air once again. Quickly catching the scent of Lockseeds, it began trekking through the brush towards the destination of the feast it eagerly anticipated. Coming to another clearing, it spread its arms and allowed its cloak to open before taking to the sky.

After all, what was a bat that could not fly?

(LINE BREAK)

Aincrad - Nameless Village Nov 28th 2:45 PM

Agil was at the moment taking stock of the haul that he and his group managed to claim after their successful raid in his room at a local inn. The seven all claimed fruit-based Lockseeds before heading out to try and find a way to have fun with them. That left Agil to take stock of the different classes of Lockseeds he had, using Argo’s guide. He’d managed to pick up some good Lockseeds, plenty of the higher level ones, but he had twice as many were of the more common variety. Still, it was plenty of Lockseeds for plenty of the customers who needed them. People were actually leaving orders for him to get specific Lockseeds. At least the raid would allow him to get them all filled.

“Okay, sunflower, sunflower, acorn, pinecone, durian, watermelon, melon, melon, banana…” Agil listed off the haul. Were he a more materialistic person, he’d be excited about all of the money he would be potentially making. As he was, he was more upbeat about the number of lives he’d potentially be saving by spreading the Lockseeds.

“Okay, that’s all of them,” he nodded, making the final note. Flipping over the papers, he went to his other notices, “Now how many orders are-?”

*BOOM!*

Agil heard some kind of explosion which rocked the inn and took him off his feet. He landed on the floor with a thud and a groan, having hit his chin. Fortunately, such little slip-ups like that didn’t take away HP. Shaking his head, he stood up to try and see out the window and figure out just what had happened. As far as he could tell, there was a pillar of smoke rising up from a few buildings into the distance.

“The heck?” Agil frowned. Was some kind of crime going on inside the village? It was supposed to be impossible to do such a thing with AREA in effect. Even if some players got out of control they wouldn’t have been able to make an explosion or anything. The only thing that may have been able to do that was an Inves and they wouldn’t go berserk…Agil began to pale, “Unless someone dropped their Lockseeds”

Argo found out by accident that if a player dropped a Lockseed by accident while it was in use, the Inves it summoned would go berserk. Only by shutting down the Lockseed used to summon it would it leave back for Helheim Forest. Fortunately, she hadn’t been in town at the time and her Deer Inves got distracted by a mob Argo had been using it to fight. Fortunately when she shut the Lockseed the Inves left and she got back into control. With how an Inves could enter AREA if they were summoned, one getting out of control inside a town could be catastrophic.

Gritting his teeth, Agil brought his Heavy Axe out of his inventory and stuffed some Lockseeds into inventory pocket before heading out of the door and straight out of the inn. Dashing down the cobblestone paths, he quickly found the source of the disturbance. In the middle of the street was an Inves which was identified as <<Bat Inves>>. Around it were familiar faces, the raid group which Agil had hired to help him on his raid into Helheim Forest. They all had their weapons drawn, but as expected their attacks weren’t doing much to the monster, the Inves’ annoying ability to water down Sword Skills. At the very least, AREA’s anti-damage effect wasn’t working for Inves likely since Inves didn’t count as players and instead as enemy targets. What worried Agil was the fact that when the Inves struck back, it was able to deal them damage in return.

Agil wasn’t a computer expert, but he knew enough to figure out what was going on in the mechanics. He had heard of some quests happening inside of cities or villages, like underground areas and such where players could get damaged despite being underneath an AREA effect. If he had to hazard a guess, the Inves wasn’t a player so the game was qualifying them as a monster and if a monster was inside of a town then some kind of quest must be in effect. So the game placed the quest rules within cities when the Inves entered the AREA.

Which meant people were unprepared and would likely die if the Inves was allowed to continue.

Hefting his axe, Agil made a charge straight for the Inves, charging his strongest Sword Skill as he went. While it probably wouldn’t do a whole lot of damage, the force of the blow would still make the Inves back off and give the group some breathing room. His blow struck true and the laws of physics enforced themselves again as the Bat Inves stumbled back with a red pixel line across its torso.

“Where’s this thing’s Lockseed?” Agil demanded. “Somewhat shut it so we can send it back!”

“None of us summoned it!” Shadow Element 13 shouted back. “None of us had a chance to use our Lockseeds before this thing flew in and attacked us!”

“I think it followed us back or something!” Ten-Faced Paladin gasped, panting from a fading wound on his right side.

Agil blinked in confusion. Could an Inves actually follow players back to their towns? Since they weren’t really a part of SAO’s creature schemes and such, it was possible they could go outside of the usual parameters of monsters and actually follow targets all over the level.

Suddenly the Inves seemed a whole lot scarier than before.

“How do we send it back if it didn’t come through a Lockseed portal?”.asked Olefumi.

Agil grit his teeth and tried to think of something to deal with the situation. There were eight of them against one Inves. If they blitzed the monster they might be able to wear it down if they held out long enough. If they had enough potions and they kept from getting hit too hard then there was a good chance they could beat the Inves themselves. Those odds would increase more if they summoned their own Inves. It was a shame that Kirito was off looking for more portals and clearing more of the floor.

“Looks like I’m gonna have to do this without Kirito,” Agil muttered to himself. Looking to his raid group, he began making orders, “Okay, everyone start calling out an Inves! It’s our only chance to get rid of this thing!”

The young men all agreed and began pulling out Lockseeds, not one of them being the rare ones they scored from the raid but Himawari, Kurumi, or Matsubokkuri. They all clicked them open, allowing several zipper-covered portals to open in the air, each of them spitting out Inves Warriors who weren’t incredibly big, being the size of children at best. Hardly the best help since the seven had claimed high-level Lockseeds after working for him. The follies of being afraid of losing the good stuff could really be annoying.

“Go!” Agil barked, prompting the seven players and their Inves to charge at the Bat Inves.

The attackers made their charge, aiming at the Inves. The Warrior Inves reached it first, leaping at their superior with vigor. The Bat Inves struck one down with a slash of its blade, but the remaining six leaped onto the bigger Inves and began biting and clawing at it with ferocity. The raid group was close behind, unleashing several strikes against the Inves.

The kaijin was hardly amused and screeched loudly, causing the group to flinch and cover their ears in pain. The Inves Warriors were forced to do the same, dropping to the ground. One unfortunate warrior got stabbed, shattering into blue pixels. Five Inves Warriors remained, but they were determined to continue.

“That had to have done something, right?” asked Fenikkusumaru.

The Bat Inves snarled and when there was a moment, the HP bar for it opened up once again. It showed progress, a little bit more with the help of the little Inves Warriors, but still it wasn’t an inspiring amount. The Inves Warriors were just too weak and Sword Skills were as ineffective as ever.

“This isn’t going to be easy,” Agil frowned.

The Bat Inves began attacking again, launching a sonic scream which took all of the players and their Inves off of their feet, knocking some HP out of them. It followed up the attack by soaring at the group and slashing wide. Three more Inves Warriors were destroyed before the Bat Inves continued onward.

“Look out!” one of the players screamed.

*SLASH!*

“GAAAHH!”

Screams echoed from the area as the Bat Inves flew past, slashing several of the players as it went past, leaving several glowing red gashes in its wake before it landed once again. Agil grunted, looking at the red pixels floating up from between his fingers as he felt his side. His HP took a bad blow as well, making him grimace further, The Bat Inves was way faster than the Tiger Inves he saw Kirito fight. Although it apparently didn’t have the same striking power, which was fortunate but it still could do a lot of damage to the players. With its speed and ability to fly, it could pluck them all off at its leisure.

Screeching again, the Bat Inves made another charge at the group. This time, the players managed to duck out of the way, but one of the Inves Warriors got destroyed, leaving only one left and its courage seemed to be failing.

Agil got up, a crazy idea coming through his head. Opening up his inventory, he swapped out his Heavy Axe for a Halbred, a weapon which had a special ability of hooking into an opponent for bleeding damage and if used right, could manipulate the movement of the opponent when it was dug into their hides. It was a semi-difficult weapon to get, but a player sold it to Agil since he couldn’t use it after winning it in a duel with someone else.

‘My wife is going to kill me if she finds out about this,’ Agil thought darkly to himself. Positioning himself, he charged up a Sword Skill, a simple Thrust but with his choice of weapon it would be something more. He unleashed the skill, fortunately his aim was true as he pierced the shoulder of the Bat Inves clean through. The special effect of the Helbred then came into effect, becoming stuck in the monster’s body, producing a bleeding effect.

More importantly, it allowed Agil to have a better leverage against it. Mustering up all the strength his stats would allow, he pushed the Bat Inves back down the street towards the last remaining portal into Helheim Forest, waiting to be used by the remaining Inves Warrior that was running ahead over them, apparently scared out of its wits.

“HYOOOOOOOO!” Agil bellowed as the Inves swiped at him, going for one last push which caused the little Inves to be pressed against its superior before both and the lone player crashed through the portal, landing heavily onto the grassy forest floor. Agil dropped his weapon in the exchange, feeling dizzy from the tumble. Behind him, he heard the noise of a zipper being down up, indicating that the portal to Helheim had closed.

“Great,” Agil groaned, looking up to see that the portal and his escape route had indeed vanished. He was on his own.

A snarl alerted him to the Bat Inves who was getting up again. It pulled the halberd from its shoulder, eliciting some more bleeding damage before it snapped the weapon in two and tossing the pieces away before they pixelized. Agil brought out his Heavy Axe again, preparing to fight for his life and if necessary, run for it if he had to.

The Bat Inves didn’t give him a chance before it sent out another screech. The sonic waves impacted his chest, knocking him several feet back into a tree where several Lockseed Flowers dropped onto him as he hit the ground. Groaning, Agil grasped one of the flowers looking for his axe which soon transformed into a Donguri Lockseed.

Shaking the stars from his head, Agil stood up and gripped his axe again. The Bat Inves had stopped its approach staring past the merchant. At first Agil thought that the Inves was staring at the Lockseed in his hands, but something else was capturing its attention. If it could take an Inves’ attention away from food he had to see what it was.

Approaching the battle was a young woman in white. She was Japanese, but had blonde hair and heterochromatic eyes. In the real world, Agil would have considered that just as exotic as his own looks were and couldn’t help but notice. Because he was in a game world and no indicator was above the girl’s head, he simply noted her and regarded her as an NPC he could deal with when the Inves was dealt with.

“You have come to the crossroads. It is time to make a decision,” the girl spoke, but Agil didn’t take his eyes off the Bat Inves who seemed to be for the moment to be docile. The girl didn’t seem to be concerned as she walked past before turning to him. Agil frinally began to pay attention to her, ready to bark at her to get out of the way but she held up something in her hands which made him pause.

“A...A SengokuDriver?” Agil gasped, looking at the rare item.

"You must grasp your fate with your hands," the mysterious woman said to Agil as she pressed the SengokuDriver into his hands. "The choice is yours."

The woman then walked away and when Agil tried to turn and see her again, she was gone. The Bat Inves seemed to drop out of its funk and begin snarling again. Looking up Agil, didn’t need much of an invitation to his next action. He strapped the Driver to his waist, allowing a yellow belt to strap the Driver to his waist. The blank panel was then marked with a brown helmet styled like a medieval helmet with a metal plating coming down between the eyes. The visor was rainbow-coloured and the background was a faded misty gray.

Agil held up the Lockseed in his hand before hitting the switch on the side.

“DONGURI!”

A flash of light ignited in the tree canopy above him as a metal acorn came down, hovering above him. He then placed the Lockseed into the SengokuDriver and locked it in.

“LOCK ON!”

“Henshin!” Agil called before pushing the sword-shaped lever down to slice open his Lockseed. The metal acorn dropped on Agil’s shoulders, concealing his head as his body was covered in the light brown bodysuit. Silver greaves adorned his legs and white quilt armor protected his torso. Inside, his head was covered by a brown helmet like the one marked on his belt, the back being adorned with a acorn-like decoration, the visor filled with yellow protective plastic.

“COME ON! DONGURI ARMS! NEVER GIVE UP!”

The metal acorn, the Donguri Arms, then unfolded as it opened up to reveal Agil in his full armor. The sides split and covered his shoulders, making the acorn cap into strong shoulder armor. The front and back unfolded onto his chest and back, the chest portion holding a round section of armor like a medieval warrior. The Heavy Axe he had been holding onto vanished, arming him with a hammer, the head styled like an acorn.

<<You have received Kamen Rider Gridon Armor!>>

<<You have received Donguri Arms armor!>>

<<You have received Donkachi>>

“Show the strength of your conviction Kamen Rider Gridon!” the voice of the Mysterious Girl called through the forest.

Grdion ran his hand down the front of his helmet, feeling even stronger than before. Tapping on the notice screens, he saw that his new equips were boosting his strength and other physical abilities to levels which wouldn’t have been out of place on the third or fourth floors. Closing it, he hefted the Donkachi hammer in his hand, feeling it to be a comfortable weight and appearing to be a good solid weapon.

"Alright, time to give this a field test!" Gridon called, taking a stance. The Bat Inves screeched and prepared for another charge…

“HAI! BUDOU SQUASH!”

Gridon’s future battle was suddenly cut short when multiple purple blasts of energy cut through the air and drilled through the Bat Inves from behind. Unable to withstand the sudden onslaught, the Bat Inves exploded leaving nothing behind.

“Huh? Where did that come from?” Gridon wondered as he scanned the forest. He then spotted a figure in the distance, almost perfectly camouflaged with the background.They wore an almost entirely green outfit with gold accents and black arms and thighs. They looked almost like Chinese robes a soldier would wear. The armor from their Arms were purple with round purple discs with silver rings connected together on the chest and purple layered segments on the shoulders. The helmet was green and gold with large purple eyes. The rest of the helmet was purple with round studs and a tassel on top, looking like it was a Chinese armor helmet. Clenched in their hand was what looked like a handheld gatling gun with purple gems decorating the sides and a green handle on the back. Around their waist was the SengokuDriver with a purple Lockseed loaded inside of it.

Gridon know what the other person was: a Kamen Rider like himself.

Twirling the gun in his hand before holstering it, the green and purple Rider turned and walked away.

“Wait!” Gridon cried, chasing after the green Rider. His mind was going into a whirl to try and get the identity of the green Rider. The fact alone that they were able to use a gun in battle gave them a huge advantage since even archery wasn’t used outside of special events in SAO. A long-range attacker would give the clearers a huge advantage, even if the Rider just told him which Lockseeds gave weapons like that!

Dashing several feet, he lost the figure in the woods when they blended so perfectly in the deep forest with colorful exotic flowers coloring everything inbetween. Gridon looked left and right for any sight of him. However, he did spot something else that he was looking for. He had just found another portal, an exit. As he couldn’t see the other Rider and since he didn’t want to remain trapped in a place full of Inves, Gridon decided to just go for the portal.

Once Gridon stepped out, he closed up his Donguri Lockseed. In a flash his Donguri Arms and the Gridon Armor dissolved before Agil removed the SengokuDriver from his waist.

“Guess I owe that guy my thanks, if I ever see him again,” Agil mused. He looked around to see where he was before bringing up the map. “I’m a long way from home.”

He was at <<Origin Lake>>, an area on the opposite side of the floor from <<The Forest of Beginnings!>>

(LINE BREAK)

Aincrad - Origin Lake Nov 28th 2: 59 PM

Meanwhile, the gunslinging Rider had spied Agil leaving before breathing out a sigh of relief. He closed his Lockseed, allowing the armor and Arms to dissolved.

The gunslinger was a girl.

She was definitely effeminate and slender, standing at only 161cms. She wore green leggings with black shoes with a green top which hung on her shoulders with a black sports top and a white breastplate which covered the left side of her chest, like an archer would need. Her arms were covered by disconnected sleeves, red on her right and black on her left which hung past her wrists. Her face was cute with short black hair with strands of hair tied with white string framing her face down past her chin and half-moon glasses on her eyes.

“Guess I’m not the only one who got this,” she said as she studied the SengokuDriver. She couldn’t believe that this device had saved her life just one week ago.

Then again, Asada Shino who went by Sinon in SAO wouldn’t have expected to be putting her hands on a gun again either.

(FLASHBACK)

Aincrad - Origin Lake 1 Week Ago (Nov 21st) 10: 30 AM

Sinon heaved a sigh as she watched the waters of Origin Lake sparkle in the sunlight. She was by herself, but she honestly felt more comfortable that way. Since she and the others got trapped in SAO, everyone went nuts for a while. Sinon herself had a panic attack and ran out of the city and ended up in one of the smaller villages before she finally calmed down and get her senses back.

Unlike many, Sinon did not entertain thoughts of suicide or giving up and waiting for someone else to help them. Sinon was a survivor and she wasn’t going to just roll back and die without doing anything. She didn’t do it when the car accident killed her father, she didn’t do it when that robber threatened her mother, and she wasn’t going to do with with Akihiko’s death game looming over her head.

Sinon had actually joined Sword Art Online not because it was a big game or some kind of thrill, but she saw it as a chance to get over one of her insecurities or at least get on the road to getting over it.

When she was two, she and her parents were in a car accident which claimed her father’s life. It had actually been six hours before anyone even knew there had been an accident because of the area they were driving through. Her father bled to death and her mother became timid, frail, and easy to harm. Sinon became overprotective of her mother after that, wanting to protect her from harm. Then one day when they were at the post office, a robber attacked. He was likely high on something if he thought he could get a substantial amount from a post office, but that made him more dangerous. Things got chaotic as he became more deranged and dropped his gun while threatening Sinon’s mother. The girl then picked up the gun and shot the robber to death with it. She was never charged, but the event left her with an intense fear of guns and a small fear of men. She hoped that by playing SAO she’d get over her fear of men a little, but now it seemed she’d have all the time in the world to work at it at her own pace.

The bespectacled girl shook her head and stood up. There was no time for memories. She was working on getting through to her next level. She had already made something of a name for herself by completing a quest for a seamstress which got her a special outfit, but she was pretty sure it was just because it exposed so much of her skin for perverted boys. After the <<Mirrors>> revealed the true faces of all the players, it was discovered that a huge portion of the population were boys. Although her outfit was unique and offered her some high protection for level one in a quest which was only available once every two weeks, people were more interested in how it outlined her figure rather the mob she had to kill to get the materials for it.

Dusting off her pants, Sinon began walking down the hill while she drew one of her weapons in her inventory. She chose Throwing Daggers as her weapon of choice, seeing as how she had prepared her stats for higher accuracy than normal when she built her avatar.

A recent discovery revealed that a programmer had managed to add things to SAO called Lockseeds and Inves which could make clearing a lot safer and dealing with traps a lot easier. The hard part was finding Helheim Forest where they were supposed to come from. Sinon had been hearing rumors that there was some kind of weird portal near <<Origin Lake>> but so far no one had been getting the courage to try and explore it. Rumors about how dangerous wild Inves were kept all players away. Sinon wasn’t one of those players and she intended to go into Helheim Forest and get Lockseeds for herself as well as one of the rare items that Argo the Rat called Drivers. Inves were partially immune to Sword Skills, but players who had Drivers could negate that immunity although there was supposedly a drawback to that.

She had explored the beach around the lake, fighting off a few Flying Fish while she was at it but so far hadn’t seen any kind of portal that could take her to an illegal hack area.

“Those twerps had better be right about this,” Sinon sighed, rubbing her head. She didn’t want to have come all the way to <<Origin Lake>> only to have made the trip for nothing.

Deciding to circle the lake once again, Sinon set out on the paths looking for any signs of the illegal area or the items that came out of it. She kept an eye out for the normal landmarks, one in particular being a pile of large boulders. Other than the nearby forests and possibly an underground dungeon if some of the clearers were telling the truth. With no other recourse, she headed for the stack of boulders to see what she could find.

Dispatching a Giant Wasp which thought she looked like a good target, Sinon’s small trek was uneventful which was how she liked it. Scrambling up some of the boulders, she peered at them and knocked on a few to see if there was any openings she could use. After a few minutes of searching she found an opening between two large boulders which had enough room for someone lithe like her to slip through, unlike the tanks who were getting popular in the adventure groups.

With a bit of flexing, she managed to pull through the rocks and into an underground cavern. It was dark, but light from the opening managed to help her see what was around. A tunnel yawned ahead of her, making it a test of courage. Still, Sinon wasn’t one to balk at the dark so making sure she had plenty of throwing knives stocked up, she began travelling into the tunnel towards her goal.

After a few twists and turns, plus almost running into a wall in the darkness Sinon managed to find an open room at the other end of the tunnel. She didn’t have to worry about being unable to see since in the middle of the room was an open zipper in the air, revealing a  forest area with strange flowers.

“Well I’ll be,” Sinon smirked. Those players were telling the truth after all. Walking up to the portal she didn’t see anything moving that would indicate a monster waiting to attack her. Still, she kept her Throwing Daggers on hand as she approached the portal. As she drew closer, she stuck her hand through and nothing happened to her. Satisfied, she stepped through, transversing from her dark underground surroundings to a bright forested one.

“So this is Helheim Forest,” Sinon admired. She had to admit that it had a kind of bizzare beauty to it compared to some of the other areas of Aincrad’s first floor. Sure, the immediate area around Starting City was amazing but after that it just evened out. In comparison, Helheim Forests was almost like stepping into another land like Wonderland or Narnia. A new place filled with all sorts of oddities and weirdness.

Speaking of, Sinon approached one of the trees which had purple flowers growing on it. Argo’s field guide mentioned how Lockseeds first gre as purple flowers before something from outside its habitat plucked them. They’d then mature into real Lockseeds for the ones who picked them. However, Mature Lockseeds drew in Inves more than the flowers did, making it risky to have a lot of them on hand.

“Let’s harvest a little,” Sinon smiled as she plucked a Lockseed Flower. After a minute or two, the flower flashed before transforming into a Mature Lockseed. It was mostly gray with a black top, but the fruit emblazoned on the front was the familiar purple of grapes.

“Grapes?” Sinon wondered as she studied the Lockseed she had picked. Her inspection was cut short when she heard movement and spotted a pair of Inves. The gray shells told her that they were the lowest-ranked of the creatures, but always eager for a fight. Fortunately, They hadn’t noticed her and were just minding their own business. However, she then spotted one in the air flapping its bug-like wings and it seemed to have noticed her presence.

“SKEEEE!” the monster screeched, bringing the attention of the pair up from their meal to her. Sinon could practically feel their eyes boring into her as she held the Lockseed in her hand. Sinon once again used her cool mind and began using her throwing daggers, aiming at each of the Inves as they tried to draw in closer to her. The daggers didn’t do any significant damage, but Sinon had been aiming to use the physics to get the three to back off. Fortunately, the Inves were programmed to react just like other monsters were and they flinched or stumbled in pain when the daggers struck some of their sensitive areas. They were quick to recover, but it gave Sinon more space between them as she tried to back towards the portal out of Helheim.

“Will you run? Will you run from your path?”

Sinon stopped, looking around for the source. Someone being so calm in the face of three advancing Inves? Was she on the verge of a Helheim quest which could get her one of the mysterious sought-after Drivers?

Something dropped to the ground, prompting Sinon to look down at the ground. A black buckle-like device with a sword attachment rested at her feet. Looking up, she saw a girl in white with blonde hair sitting in a tree.

“Face your fate or forever flee from it,” the girl spoke, sounding quite grave.

Sinon and looked up at the girl. Since this death game had started it had become a fight for survival since day one. Each and every day could be her last.

“I’m not going to die here,” Sinon swore. “I’m not going to run.”

She grabbed the Driver and after a help window appeared, she followed the instructions and attached it to her waist. On the blank panel, a green helmet face with a green background appeared with rainbow-coloured eyes. She then raised her Lockseed and hit the switch on the side.

“BUDOU!”

“Henshin!” she declared, inserting the Lockseed into her new Driver. She didn’t know why she said it. However, it just seemed right to announce her upcoming transformation.

“LOCK ON!

A purple flash from above created a metal bunch of grapes, a triangular bunch which even had a metal circle set on several of the grapes and the image was even complete with a stem on top. From the belt, Chinese-style Erhu music played, stunning the three Inves from their approach. Seeing her chance, she pressed the sword handle which ‘sliced’ the grapes open, the top half being the inside of grapes and the bottom half holding the image of a handheld gun.

“HAI! BUDOU ARMS! RYU HOU! HA, HA, HA!”

The metal grapes then dropped, covering Sinon’s head as her body was covered in green and black protective cloth like ancient warriors would wear. It was styled like Chinese cloth armor, complete with the decorative cloth at her waist. The metal grapes then unlocked and began to unfold. The top and back folded onto her back, creating a pack-like armor. The sides folded outwards before resting on her shoulders like a samurai’s armor. Finally the front folded in half with the top half covering her chest, looking quite ornate. In her hand, the weapon depicted on her Lockseed appeared, a purple jeweled handheld gatling gun which looked partially like a bunch of grapes.

<<You have received Kamen Rider Ryugen Armor!>>

<<You have received Budou Arms armor!>>

<<You have received Budou Ryuhou!>>

Sinon looked herself over and saw the armor that now covered her body. However, it was what she now held in her right hand that was causing her heart rate to accelerate.

It was a gun! In her shock, she dropped the weapon on the ground and jumped back in fright. Taking a deep breath, she recovered enough to pick up the weapon. She carefully inspected it. It seemed pretty ornate and seemed right at home in a game. However, the fact that she was now armed with a gun must violate the rules. This was Sword Art Online. That would imply that they would be only using medieval weapons not modern ones like the firearm she now held in her hands. This should be a violation of the rules.

Then again, Helheim Forest and everything in it was a violation of the rules set by Kayaba.

She had wanted a way to conquer her fears and now she had the chance. She heard the wild cries of the Inves around her and decided that she didn’t want to die because of her fear. Taking a firmer hold of her weapon, the Budou Ryuhou. Besides, the gun wasn’t a real gun. None of this was actually real. However, Kayaba had made this a death game. It was do or die and Sinon was not interested in meeting an early end.

The Inves Warriors screeched and began another charge at her. Ryugen screamed back and pointed her weapon, firing several rounds of purple energy at the creatures, putting holes through them with red pixels flying through the air from the impacts.

“AHHHHHHH! AHHH! AHHHH! AHHHH! AHHHH!” Ryugen continued to scream, pulling the trigger again and again. The bullets didn’t stop, the shots didn’t stop, the pixel blood didn’t stop flying as again and again she struck the hides of the Inves Warriors. Why she was screaming, she wasn’t able to say. She just kept shooting, and shooting, and shooting. Her hand drifted to her belt as she did so, a flash of memory coming from one of the screens that still hovered around her. Gripping the blade portion, she sliced through her Lockseed again.

“HAI! BUDOU SQUASH!”

The grape-like patterns on the Budou Ryuhou glowed as mini-spheres flew off to gathered in front of her weapon’s barrel. She then took hold of the handle in the back and tugged on it. It was like the gun’s hammer.

Taking aim, she pulled the trigger and fired. The sound of a dragon’s roar was heard as she unleashed a concentrated barrage of energy shots at the Inves.

Once the Inves were gone, Ryugen fell to her knees and dropped her gun. Her body trembled fiercely, staring at the Budou Ryuhou as her eyes watered. Her mind replayed the image of the Inves being torn apart by the purple bullets just like that robber she killed so long ago. She knew the monsters weren’t real and that the gun hadn’t really killed anyone, but it just felt so real!

Slowly she closed up the Grape Lockseed, causing the armor to dissolve before removing the Driver. It didn’t put up any resistance. A simple tug caused the belt strap to retract. Sinon stared at both the SengokuDriver and the Lockseed. Just what had she accepted?

(PRESENT)

Aincrad - Origin Lake (Present Time)

Since then, Sinon had come to terms with the power she now possessed. As long as she didn’t aim her gun at another living player, she should be good. All that she would be killing were monsters and mobs. It didn’t come easy at first but overtime she got used to the power of her Budou Ryuhou. As long as she kept repeating mentally that none of this was actually real. Consequences, however, still were.

Alone, she tested out the power of her Driver, Lockseed, Arms and weapon and became an expert in no time. Unfortunately, she didn’t come to rely on it all the time. She still needed EXP to level up and the armor cost her EXP whenever she defeated enemy mobs. She would only receive a fraction of the EXP she normally would have if she had beaten the mobs without it. So, the Driver would only be used for emergencies and not for grinding. The boost it gave was substantial but in the long run she was going to need the EXP and levels to survive the rest of SAO. She would have to save the armor for big fights. The first floor Boss was sure to qualify.

An icon suddenly lit up in her vision, indicating that she had received a message from another player. Opening her menu, she entered the message system and found indeed she had a new message. Tapping the screen, the message opened up. It came from one of the ‘news’ players who reported new finds to the players as a whole. It was a group of players who spread messages on behalf of Argo half the time. Still, it was a quick way to get important messages out to all of the players, or at least the majority of them. Sinon had seen the sense of keeping up with the times so had signed on with them for any new news. It was how she learned about the Lockseed presentation when Argo got her hands on some.

“Let’s see,” Sinon frowned as she read over the message, but then gasped in shock.

To: Sinon

From: Aincrad News Network

Subject: First Floor Dungeon

Attention all Clearers! The First Floor Boss Room has been discovered! Any and all available Clearers please meet in Tolbana in twenty-four hours! We are holding a strategy meeting on how best to defeat the boss! Anyone who can and/or has the courage to help is welcome!

XXX