Kamen Rider Gaim/Sword Art Online --- Chapter 7

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 7: Defender

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department - December 5th 10: 00 AM

Tobei sighed, rubbing his eyes as he sat across from a detective. He was working on the SAO crimes, specifically trying to track down Kayaba Akihiko who had vanished since SAO had gone online and so far wasn’t meeting with much luck. He was also being pushed to other crimes concerning SAO in the meantime. Naturally, with Tobei obviously going into the game’s systems and making recordings and additions the police found that suspicious and decided to ask him a few questions about what he was doing.

“Alright Tachibana-san, I know you’ve been here before but I wasn’t assigned to this case yet when you were last in so I’m going to have to ask you to repeat some information during this questioning,” the detective explained.

“I understand,” Tobei nodded.

“Good,” the man nodded. “Now, you were one of the original programmers for Sword Art Online, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And did you have any idea what your superior Kayaba Akihiko had planned for his game?”

Tobei shook his head, “Not until the night before the release. I stumbled onto the programming while looking through files for materials and resources for a game I was making on the side.”

“And what did you do?” asked the detective.

“Tried every programming and hacking trick I knew to either erase that programming or shut down the game altogether,” Tobei replied. “Unfortunately, Akihiko programmed a defensive AI among other things into the game so that if something was removed, the programming would for lack of a better term ‘remember’ what was removed and simply reconstruct it. For every piece of that blasted Death Game I deleted, that AI just replaced them as good as new.”

“I see,” the detective nodded, sounding neutral. Still, Tobei knew his actions in trying to delete portions of SAO were recorded on Argus’ systems. The last interrogating officer told him that much after the questioning ended. “So you found out what was happening hours before the game was to be launched and you couldn’t stop it yourself. Why not go to somebody like your other superiors or the police?”

“Let me ask you something to answer that,” Tobei sighed, rubbing his head. “Before this whole mess started, SAO was just a ridiculously advanced online game. Would you honestly have believed that an online game could kill someone? At least before this whole incident started?”

The detective sighed, but shook his head, “Honestly, if I hadn’t seen the medical reports and pictures I never would have believed it.”

“Thus you see my problem,” Tobei nodded. “The police would never have believed my story no matter how well I would have explained it. I’d be laughed right out of the station. My superiors wouldn’t want to listen either. SAO was potentially the biggest profit-earner in the history of the company and with that much money on the line, my superiors may have gone to extreme lengths to prevent me from saying anything. Even if I went public, I’d be lucky if a small portion of the population believed me instead of branding me as a technophobic wacko or something.”

“I see,” the detective nodded. “So you tried removing it yourself with no luck, and there was no one around who would believe you. What did you do then?”

“Well, that game I was making? I managed to download aspects of it into Sword Art Online as a kind of modification which didn’t fit into the usual parameters,” Tobei explained. “My Kamen Rider designs helped enhance players so that they could take on the more powerful creatures and the Inves I put in allows for new tactics which wouldn’t put the players at risk in quests and fights. Surprisingly many players have adopted the smaller ones as pets so its helped psychologically too.”

“I suppose it has helped,” the detective agreed. He had been given reports that the additions Tobei had made went a long way towards preserving the inexperienced players’ lives. Sending in AI-controlled creatures into the dangerous areas saved a lot of lives according to the cyber division. “So that brings us to your recent activities. You’ve been accessing SAO’s mainframes and from we’ve been able to tell, you’ve been not only adding data but recording some of it. We’d like to know why.”

“Of course,” Tobei nodded. “You see, last month one of the relatives of the players managed to track me down. Her brother was trapped in the game and because of the media endorsing me she figured I was the only programmer she could ask for help.”

“So what did you do?” asked the detective.

“Well, I was leery at first knowing if I accessed those servers I’d end up back here but since she was so worried about her brother I decided to risk it,” Tobei explained. “We talked and she managed to convince me that there was a lot more I could do to help the players. So I brought up some more of my Kamen Rider designs and placed them into the system to be handed out to appropriate players.”

“Appropriate?” asked the detective.

“Players who want to clear the game and help the others,” Tobei answered. “SAO has psychological monitoring programs, so I had my delivery system judge players who could have one of my Kamen Rider systems handed to them. If they have the right psychological aspects and the right equipment, they get one of the suits. Ideally they’d go on to use them to clear the levels and advance in the game.”

“Ideally,” the detective noted. Of course he knew that human nature couldn’t always be pleasant. “So what about the recordings?”

“Well, since that girl’s brother was involved in the First Floor Boss Fight she wanted a copy so she could see him in action. Doubly so since he’s the one who got my Gaim armor,” Tobei explained. “Much to my horror, she had a friend put it on her blog to show people that the players are advancing and getting closer to finishing the game and coming home.”

“We saw that one. And the rest?” asked the detective.

“People begging me to let them see their loved ones,” Tobei sighed, scratching his head. “Since SAO programmers can access a camera function to watch the game in action, I looked for specific players at their request and made short videos to show how they were doing and sent them to their families.”

“Are those the only recordings you made?” asked the detective. “And are you intending to make more of these Kamen Rider suits for the players?”

“Those are the only recordings,” Tobei nodded. “And I’ve been designing more Riders. I mean, so far the suits I have in the game but only nine active Riders don’t exactly make for an elite task force to help get those people out of that death trap.”

“And you think you could do what our Cyber Crimes Division can’t?” asked the detective.

“I have a better understanding of the game and so far it seems all of the other programmers have gone into hiding to avoid getting lynched by mobs,” Tobei retorted. “We can’t get them out so far but I can arm them better and hopefully save some lives by doing so.”

The detective looked Tobei in the eye. To be fair, he had broken the law. Tobei wasn’t supposed to be going online or even be on a computer. He was still under investigation. However, unlike the other programmers who had gone into hiding to save their own hides, Tachibana had decided to do something to fix the mess he had been involved in making. While he was not the head programmer of SAO, that title belonging to Kayaba, he was the only one who the police could find. Most wouldn’t consider giving better weapons to the players as truly fixing the game, but it was able to help the players survive longer than they normally would if they had to rely on the conventional tactics that SAO’s creator had intended for his game.

After a moment of contemplation, the detective closed his notebook and got up, “Okay. I think this may be something to work with, but I’d rather you stay here until we let you go.”

“I understand,” Tobei nodded, sounding resigned to getting some jail time for what he had been doing. As the detective left the room, Tobei sighed and rested his head in his arms wondering when he would have to get used to windows being barred and sleeping in an orange jumpsuit.

(LINE BREAK)

Aincrad - Second Floor: Urbus December 6th 2:00 PM

Argo hummed to herself as she watched her latest customer walk away with a brand new Budou Lockseed in his hands. Argo herself could only grin as she counted the total Col she had gotten herself since she got into the Lockseed business. She still sold plenty of information, but with her Lockseed business she wasn’t seen as such a money-grubber anymore. At least people never really said it to her face anymore. So they went for being nice so they could get better deals on Lockseeds.

Silly players, she never gave discounts.

Seeing she had some time alone, Argo called over an NPC waiter and made an order for some food. Handing over her Col, she waited for the meal to come as she manifested a document she had been working on. Since she was still in the information trade, she still kept up with her contacts and learning what she could profit from. So far, the biggest potential profit was the Kamen Riders that had been popping up since Helheim became knows and bringing the Lockseeds with them. Argo had been collecting information on all of them when she could get it. Some of them were more informative than others since some of the Riders were more public than the other ones.

Kamen Rider Gaim

Name: Kirito

Lockseeds: Orange, Pineapple

Notes: Too shy for his own good.

Kamen Rider Baron

Name: Klein

Lockseeds: Banana

Notes: 22 and single.

Kamen Rider Ryugen

Name: Sinon

Lockseeds; Budou

Notes: Afraid of boys and guns

Kamen Rider Jotome

Name: Asuna

Lockseeds: Peach

Notes: Kiri-bo has no clue!

Kamen Rider Kerubimu

Name: Silica

Lockseeds: Cherry

Notes: Suits can expand breast growth! Must have!

Kamen Rider Sakyubasu

Name: Rosalia

Lockseeds: Lemon

Notes: Slut.

Kamen Rider Gridon

Name: Agil

Lockseeds: Donguri

Notes: My business rival!

Kamen Rider Kurokage

Name: Kibaou

Lockseeds: Matsubokkuri

Notes: Whiny bully

Kamen Rider Zangetsu

Name: ???

Lockseeds: Melon

Notes: Charismatic leader

Argo frowned as she looked at the last entry on the list. So far no one knew who the last of the Kamen Riders were since no one had seen him transform before. He just showed up with his party in dangerous areas, sometimes even rescuing other players. He was already in his suit by then so the only description they had was his suit. They said he wore entirely white, wielded a sword and a shield, and his Arms were based off of a melon.

It was a point of professional pride that pushed Argo to try and discover the identity of the mysterious Zangetsu. He didn’t appear during the last Boss Fight but she was sure if he was the kind of guy others were saying then he was likely going to appear for the second one. When he did, she’d have her contacts reveal his secret identity to her. Then unless more Rider suits were handed out, her collection would be complete!

Life was, as far as SAO went, good.

(LINE BREAK)

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department  December 7th 12:43 PM

Tobei heaved a sigh as he rested in the interview room once again. The police had let him go on the fifth but then called him back in on the next day, and then the day after. They kept questioning him about everything he had done with SAO, even if he had to repeat himself three or four times. He suspected that it was the Cyber Crimes division that was having the questions repeated so they could get an idea of what he had done down to the last detail.

It didn’t make it any easier to bear.

He had to ask just why they needed him to be so detailed. They had brains who could figure it out didn’t they? It’s what they formed the Cyber Crimes Division for wasn’t it?

The door to the interview room opened and a female officer tuck her head in, “Um...Tachibana-san, you’re wanted at the front…”

“Huh?” Tobei blinked.

“You seem to have some...supporters,” the female officer explained vaguely.

Tobei frowned in confusion as he got up and left the room. The female officer escorted him down to the reception area. Just getting to the room was enough for Tobei to see what the officer had been talking about. Outside the police station and crowding on the sidewalk with cardboard signs were a sizable group of teenagers and even a few adults all making calls to the police and demonstrating for what they desired: Tobei’s freedom.

“Uh…” he gaped. He blinked at the scene for a moment before he spotted a face he recognized, “Suguha-san?”

Still confused, he walked out of the station to meet with the group, “What...what’s going on?”

“What’s it look like? We’re getting you the support you need to get out!” Suguha smiled, standing between a man and a woman, likely her parents. “You’ve been helping Onii-chan and all of the others so we should help you too!”

“Um...wow,” Tobei couldn’t help but let out, considering that he hadn’t expected to receive any kind of support from the people at all.

“You may as well,” Tobei turned around to see the detective who initially brought him in walking towards the group. “We’ve gotten enough information anyway. I’d say stay off of the computers, but I think we all know you wouldn’t. Not with so many people relying on you to give them sight of their loved ones. Just...don’t add anything until we clear you, okay?”

“That I can do,” Tobei smiled.

(LINE BREAK)

Aincrad - Second Floor: Taran Village December 9th 4:45 PM

“Man, that escalated.” Klein groaned, he and his party slumped over their tabletops at a cafe.

“It got a little out of hand.” HarryOne agreed.

“I think one guy threw a trident at us and hit one of his own guys,” Issin offered.

“Good thing you transformed into Baron Klein,” Dynamm sighed. “Scared those guys off.”

“Yeah, but not before a few of them tried to pick a fight with me, demanding the Driver,” Klein muttered, rubbing the top of his head.

“Who were they anyway?” asked Dale. “They seemed way too organized to be just some bunch of friends getting together to be a bunch of thugs or something.”

“Called themselves Divine Dragon Alliance or something,” Kunimittz reported. “The guy I was fighting was declaring who they were like some kind of army. I guess they’re a guild in the making or something.”

Klein and his friends had been exploring the far reaches of the Second Floor when they found a mining village and inside was an NPC who triggered a quest. It took them to an unmodified tunnel filled with ore which they group was to harvest and bring back to the NPC in return for a new weapon. The problem with the quest was that the tunnel was inhabited by a Field Boss called <<The Crystalline Wyrm>> and had to be defeated before the players could get the rarest of the types of ore that were in the tunnel.

The party went through the tunnels and managed to find all of the ore they needed, and some extra to upgrade their weapons later, when they were attacked by the Wyrm. Fortunately, the boss wasn’t nearly as difficult as some of the previous Field Bosses or even Illfang. So with the experience under their belts and Klein’s leadership, they managed to bring down the Wyrm and win some sizable shares of the rarest ore out of the entire quest. The group was feeling particularly victorious when they emerged from the mine, ready to bask in the spoils of the quest they completed and ready to get whatever they could for it.

When they got out, they were promptly forced to face off against a group calling themselves The Divine Dragon Alliance. They wanted Klein and his friends to drop all of the ore they collected so they could take it all. Since the DDA weren’t on the quest themselves, being unable to find the village, they couldn’t enter the mine to get the ore themselves on account of it being a special quest area. So they just decided to steal the rare ores from Klein’s group so they could upgrade their more powerful weapons.  

Naturally the group of mild-mannered nerds weren’t going to give up something they busted their asses to get. Not without a fight in any case. The DDA didn’t seem to care and actually engaged in a fight with them, some of their members turning to orange players when they managed to strike hits on their targets. The nerds were surprised by the attack at first, but they quickly got their heads into the game and began defending themselves. During the fight one of the DDA did indeed try to throw a trident at Issin, but he turned out of the way and the weapon hit the DDA member who was trying to fight him instead.

Klein also saw that the DDA weren’t going to quit so he decided to go all out for intimidation and transformed into Kamen Rider Baron. It swiftly unnerved the would-be thieves, but two tried to fight him anyway. The Banaspear proved to be dangerous despite its somewhat silly name and cut down the HP bars of both members deeply when it struck through their armor. That was enough and the DDA decided to cut their losses and make a run for it before someone died.

“I just don’t get it man,” Issin muttered. “We told them where the village was, offered to share the map data. Why’d they try to attack us anyway?”

“Easy pickings,” Klein grunted. “Why go through all the trouble for a quest when you can get the spoils by just taking them from a bunch of players?”

“This sort of thing hasn’t happened before now though,” Dale commented. “Why’s it picking up now?”

“It hasn’t because the quests before now were kinda easy and mediocre. They weren’t hard and anyone could do them,” Kunimittz answered. “Now we’re finding more dangerous quests with bigger rewards. I mean, we got that broadsword from the quest which does ridiculous damage thanks to the variety of ores we got. That kind of thing can make a huge difference for players but not many are going to risk their necks to get it.”

“Meaning its easier to steal,” Dale nodded, seeing the point.

“Which means we’re probably going to be seeing more of it,” Klein sighed, sitting up. “And plenty may try coming after us since I’ve got a SengokuDriver on me.”

“But that thing won’t work for anyone else,” HarryOne frowned.

“Doesn’t mean people won’t want to try,” Klein shook his head. “Man, we’re getting through this game and everything is still going down the drain.”

(LINE BREAK)

Tobei Tachibana’s Apartment December 11 2:00 PM

Tobei yawned once again as he went over some of the Kamen Rider and their Arms designs which he was putting together for the players trapped in SAO.

Since the police brought him in for another round of questioning, he had become something of a celebrity online. People were blogging about his actions and wondering what he might do next. Plenty of people were still asking for videos of their loved ones in SAO so he had been busy doing that, although with how some of the players were acting they weren’t always happy to see them. Watching one of their relatives try to mug a bunch of other players wasn’t exactly a well-received update to what they were doing.

Tobei himself had also become something of a consultant to the SAO issues that the Cyber Crimes Division were having to deal with. They were actually keeping track of which players attempted to kill or really did kill other players and were branded as orange players. Should everyone escape, those particular players were looking at murder and attempted murder charges. What Tobei was tasked to do was keep an eye on any orange players who were kicking up a fuss and maintain the changes he made to SAO to ensure the players had a better chance of escaping. If he wanted to add anything new, he had to clear it with the head of the division first. Still, with what was at risk Tobei doubted the man would deny his changes unless it was something completely stupid.

Tobei was a little confused why all his old access to Argus’ mainframe was still working. It actually turned out that his bosses in attempts to conceal how involved they were with the game tried to destroy any documentation pertaining to their involvement. In the process, Tobei’s immediate superior destroyed his resignation notice while trying to conceal his guilt. So Tobei was still on Argus’ books and was just technically in hiding like the rest of the SAO programmers.

So now Tobei was back on the job so to speak and was allowed to keep SAO modifications going on the government’s dime although he was supposed to be also trying to figure out how to log all the players out. Not many in the Cyber Crimes division had much optimism for that unless they found Akihiko or anyone he worked closely with. So maintaining the servers and keeping an eye on all lawbreakers and sending relief packages was the best they could do.

Another side to his new status was proving to be quite annoying though. While many people who had a stake in SAO were always welcome to speak to him, the people who weren’t part of it were demanding more videos of the action and more screentime to the Kamen Riders. It was something of an insensitive demand in Tobei’s mind and not worth considering. However, Tobei’s superiors in the Cyber Crimes division were actually encouraging him to do something like that to keep public attention on SAO. The police couldn’t keep on the case forever after all and if the public kept demanding something be done then the police could stay on it to an extent.

What was he going to do about it?

(LINE BREAK)

Aincrad - Second Floor: Urbus December 12th 7: 12 PM

“Mnnnnnnn!” Rosalia purred as she stretched, laying back sensually in her bathtub, enjoying the hot water and the bubbles that caressed her nude body. Ever since she got that SengokuDriver, life had just picked up for the sexy redhead.

She didn’t have to sleep with other Players and make off with their items anymore. Instead, once word got out about her suit, parties would come up to her and ask her for her help. They’d offer everything from Col to items in return for her help in some quests. Seeing the opportunity, Rosalia agreed and joined their parties. Normally she’d never do that, being firmly attached to not risking her life, but the suit managed to empower her as well as protect her so she felt quite confident that she could tackle anything that the floor had to offer. So she’d go with the nerds on their little quests, offering quite the eye candy as she went just for the thrill of it.

“Am I becoming an exhibitionist?” she pondered as she remembered some of the images she let some of those parties see of her. “Okay, the bathing under the waterfall bit may have been much I guess, but we girls need our bathtime. It wasn’t like I was the only girl in that party anyway.”

So Rosalia as Sakyubasu tore through quests and was known as something of a mercenary who’d help any party for the right price. She did discover that her suit cut into the experience she gained from fights which was a bit of a drag. If she wasn’t wearing it when the quest was completed though, she got the full allotment of experience that the other party members got which closed the gap well enough.

Now with all her spoils, she managed to make a pretty nice living for herself. She stayed in the best inns all the time and spoiled herself with the good food and commodities since she could pay for them. She also scored herself some of the most expensive fabrics in the game thus far so she could make herself some of the sexier clothes she wanted. After all, a business needed advertising among the masses if they wanted to be able to succeed.

Lifting her leg out of the bath, Rosalia checked it for her preferred smoothness with satisfaction. One pleasant aspect of being trapped in the game meant she didn’t have to worry about shaving her legs or other little maintenance issues like that. Honestly, if the whole SAO wasn’t so primitive compared to modern Tokyo, she’d say that the creator had done her a favor by allowing her to live like she was now.

Speaking of the game, Rosalia had been hearing rumors that scouts were beginning to reach the far edges of the Dungeon. That meant that sooner or later someone would find the Boss Room. A raid party would be assembled soon and Rosalia had no doubt that the ones organizing it would call for the Kamen Riders to help them, their suits no doubt would help give the players an edge if the Inves couldn’t. Now Rosalia knew that she likely should try to help, but she was very fond of her life and didn’t exactly want to risk it. Against the monsters while wearing her suit was one thing, but a Boss? How much punishment could her suit actually take? She wasn’t exactly willing to find out. On the other hand, if she didn’t take part then that may end up hurting her reputation and her business. That wasn’t good by any stretch of the mind.

“Decisions, decisions,” Rosalia murmured, sinking into the bubbly water.

(LINE BREAK)

Aincrad - First Floor: Starting City December 12th 8:00 PM

jikan no nami wo tsukamaete

imasugu ni yukou yakusoku no basho

genkai mugen iza tobikome Climax Jump!

ii jan! ii jan! sugee jan?!

ii jan! ii jan! sugee jan?!

kanaetai yume ga aru nara

shinjinakucha negatta hibi wo

Catch the wave

mayoisou na toki kanarazu

omoi no tsuyosa ga michibiku

KIMI ga nozomu mirai sude ni

In your hands

hajimari wa itsumo totsuzen

unmei wo tsurete yuku Time tripin' ride

fukannou koete tsukami toru sa Climax

kawaru koto wo osorenai de

ashita no jibun miushinau dake

dare yori takai sora e tobou ze Climax Jump!

ii jan! ii jan! sugee jan?!

ii jan! ii jan! sugee jan?!

mune no naka minna hisoka ni

kaki kaetai kioku mo aru

Means nothing!

atarashii asa wo matsu nara

"ima" wo nurikaero soko kara

honno sukoshi yuuki wo mote

In your mind

tabitachi wa itsumo hitsuzen

douse nara tobimaware Time tripin' ride

sagashidasu no sa jibun dake no

Climax

kinou made no kioku subete

hitsuyou to wakaru hi ga kuru HAZU

hakoeru you ni sara naru Climax Jump!

kokoro wo tsuyoku suru

daiji na kotoba toka

kakegaenai omoide wo atumete

mou sukoshi ato sukoshi...

todokanai hoshizora

akirametara soko ka shuuten sa

hajimari wa itsumo totsuzen

unmei o tsurete yuku Time tripin' ride

fukannou koete tsukami toru sa Climax

kawaru koto wo osorenai de

ashita no jibun miushinau dake

dare yori takaku kinou yori takaku Climax Jump!

ii jan! ii jan! sugee jan?!

ii jan! ii jan! sugee jan?!

The <<Performance Mat>> was alive with music in front of the church as the children who called it home cheered and hollered for the performers. At the side, Sasha, a woman in a nun’s garb with brown hair tied in a braid and glasses watched with a sparkle in her eyes. The mat itself was alive with movement as five Inves Warriors danced along to the beat of a song being sung by their leader. That leader of course wasn’t an Inves, but their handler Kamen Rider Kerubimu as she swayed with the lyrics.

The young lady had been busy with her activities as a new Kamen Rider. She had reworked her show to include herself as a singer in the routine. After managing to get her lyrics right, a song she learned in the real world, she put the show to the test with her pets. With her cute singing voice, her suit, and her dancing Inves, she was quickly becoming a hit. She was especially a hit with the kids at the church who she would perform for every so often.

She hadn’t been too involved in the Front Lines, as the Clearers were beginning to call it. Although a few parties had asked her if she wanted to party with them since she had Kamen Rider armor. She went on a few adventures, but half the time the guys in the group went on simple quests which really didn’t need her and were more interested in trying to get her to permanently partner with them. Several asked her to even marry them! The jerks! So Keribimu kept with her performances and tried to make a connection now and then with a more serious party when she could.

The lack of experience the suit penalized her with kind of sucked, but she could live with that since she wasn’t in any kind of hurry just yet. Still, if she wanted better parties to take her seriously she would have to do something big when the time came. Maybe when the Boss was found?

She shelved the thoughts for a moment as she waved to the adoring children, “Thank you! Thank you! You’ve all been wonderful! Now be sure to be good for Sasha nee-chan and I’ll come back again real soon!”

“Yay!” the children cheered quite loudly for their favorite performer.

“Okay everyone!” Sasha clapped her hands, seeing her cue. “Everyone say goodnight to Kerubimu-nee! It’s bedtime!”

Obediently, the children made their goodbyes and headed back inside of the church where their beds were located. Kerubimu sighed before she waited for the last one to enter and removed her Cherry Lockseed, ending her transformation.

“Good job everyone!” Silica praised her little Inves. “Ichi, Nii, San, Yo, Go, you should all be proud of yourselves!” Lifting up her Himawari Lockseeds, she shut them all which prompted the Inves to return to Helheim until she called for them again.

“Thank you so much for performing for us Silica-chan,” Sasha smiled, approaching her former charge. “It was a little surprising to see you transform like that, but the children loved it.”

“Ah, it was nothing,” Silica beamed, happy for the praise. “I’m just glad to help however I can.”

“Your last donation was a big help,” Sasha nodded. “The children adore the little Inves and selling the higher-class ones really helped the budget. I think we’re in the black for once!”

“Great!” the small player grinned. “Well, I’d better get going then. I’ve got places to go and shows to make!”

“Okay, but make sure you eat right and sleep enough,” Sasha warned the younger girl. “No sweets all the time or you’ll make yourself sick.”

“I know, I know,” Silica rolled her eyes before heading down the street. “Bye!”

“Wait! You forgot your mat!”

“Oops!”

(LINE BREAK)

Aincrad -Second Floor: Urbus December 12th 9: 20 PM

“Oh come on! Marry me and you won’t have to worry about soloing anymore and just take it easy!”

“Back off creep!”

Sinon couldn’t help but shudder as she pushed a player out of her way and stormed out of the inn she was considering staying in. Once again her night had been ruined by another player hoping to schmooze with her and maybe get into her pants and her inventory.

Marriage in Aincrad was a unique function to SAO. When two players, usually a couple, wished to get married they could buy the appropriate rings from an item shop and give them to one another. Once equipped, the pair enjoyed a joint inventory, joint experience, joint everything. When one of them completed a quest or got an item, the other would be able to share everything with them.

Ever since the Death Game started, plenty of people got married just so they could save each other and get stronger without risking themselves. Plenty of Clearers took advantage of this since the cute girls of SAO were hoping to hook up in return for a safe way to gain experience and strength. In functionality, it was the way to go for the sake of survival, but to Shion it was just gross and too many people were taking advantage of it for some free hentai acts.

Sinon wasn’t interested in getting married at all! Especially not to some random guy! The only reason they were interested in her was because of her SengokuDriver and her identity as Kamen Rider Ryugen. Generally, the players were armed with melee weapons. She, on the other hand, was equipped with a gun. She was in fact the only Kamen Rider, and player, equipped with a firearm. That just made a lot of people approach her since she could stand at a safe distance and shoot down her targets. Likely some of them hoped that by sharing inventory with her, they’d be able to use her SengokuDriver for themselves.

Sinon dug out her Grape Lockseed and glared at it, “I don’t know if you’re a boon or a bane now.” She hadn’t heard from her friends in a while and she had been busy as a solo player. She had been exploring the far ends of the floor, trying to mark out any places of interest like villages, tunnels, or secret dungeons. She found those and more, including a portal to Helheim Forest hidden inside a mineshaft. She made sure to let Agil know where it was in case he wanted more Lockseeds without having to travel between floors.

Still, she would have preferred to be able to go through cities without getting bugged by nearly everyone who recognized her. Asking for help with quests was okay, even if some of the groups were spineless and only ever went on easy quests. Others who were just trying to get her to join so they could be famous was worse. Of course, the jerks who wanted to use marriage as an excuse to take advantage of her was the worst.

“The things some people will do,” Sinon muttered to herself. In hindsight, revealing her identity as one of the Kamen Riders in SAO may not have been such a good idea. Gaim, Gridon and Baron could’ve taken down Illfang without her help. However, that was all in the past now and she just had to live with the consequences. With the mood she was in, she decided that going out on a quest might be just the thing to get her mind out of creeps desperately coming to her for her hand in marriage. This game made the concept of marriage so trivial! If she ever planned on marrying someone, it would be someone she liked. Maybe she could run into Kirito or Asuna on a quest, at least then she’d have someone to talk to.

“When are we going to find this Boss already?” the bespectacled girl sighed to herself.

(LINE BREAK)

Tobei Tachibana’s Apartment December 13th 11:25 AM

“I can’t believe you’re convincing me to do this,” Tobei sighed as he watched Suguha and her friends invade his apartment once again, this time with all sorts of computer video recording equipment and props for some kind of set. “And why do we have to do it here?”

“Because you have the free link to the SAO servers and we don’t want to go to Argus anyway,” Suguha answered. “Besides, you said yourself that if people have an interest in SAO it will keep the government going on trying to figure out how to find the creator and save everyone.”

“But it feels like we’re glorifying it,” Tobei argued.

“Maybe, but you asked for an idea how to keep interest going and the Kamen Riders are the big ticket,” Suguha replied. “Besides, we won’t be talking just about them, we’ll be giving updates about what’s going on in SAO and what the players are up to. That way both the people who have a stake in the game and the ones that don’t will keep paying attention.”

“And you just want to show off how cool your big brother is!” one of the girls teased, making Suguha blush.

“No stopping you all is there?” Tobei sighed, watching his living room being converted into a makeshift news room. It was surprisingly well-decorated considering a bunch of kids put it together. “Okay, what do you need from me?”

“Well, the footage of that fight with Illfang might be nice,” Suguha replied, pulling a piece of paper from her pocket and revealing it to be a list. “Maybe some maps of the Dungeon so we can report how far the players have cleared it, and...oh, you said there was a Field Boss near the Dungeon too right? Do you have Footage of whoever beat it?”

“I think Zangetsu was in the party that did it,” Tobei replied. “I’ll get the footage you need and we’ll see what we can do.”

“Great! We’re broadcasting soon so make sure it’s good!” the teenage girl beamed.

“Right, right.”

(LINE BREAK)

Aincrad - Second Floor: Taran Village December 13th 12:00 PM

The air was tense as players, the Clearers, converged in on Taran Village, the place closest to the Dungeon. Just hours ago a callout for any and all Clearers, especially for the Kamen Riders who could come was sent. The replies were swift and soon everyone had come to the village, meeting up at the town square.

Kirito had of course come, shifting through people so he could see who was running the meeting in the first place. Coming to the edge of the crowd, he looked around to see who else had come. He spotted Klein and his friends at the opposite side, their red armor standing out among the tunics and simple metal armor. Asuna and Sinon were both there as well, standing next to each other. Agil was easiest to spot, towering above the other players without even trying. His eyes were drawn to a few other unique people like a redhead wearing rather...revealing clothes or a small girl who had slipped through the other players in the crowd. Kibaou was of course there, making an obnoxious racket with his party, causing Kirito to frown at him.

When the appointed hour came, a man walked into the clearing. He was tall and wore polished metal armor with a sword and a shield on his back. He had slightly gray hair with was tied into a ponytail with some of it hanging next to his face. He was obviously fit if his body shape was any indication, making him imposing slightly for the majority of the other players.

“Hello everyone!” he spoke, his voice loud and confident. Everyone was quick to pay attention to him. “My name is Heathcliff. I was the one who sent out the notice about the Boss Room earlier. This morning my party and I managed to discover it. With a bit of scouting and information from the Player’s Guide we have managed to put together a profile on the Boss.” Ending his speech, he nodded to some other players who were also near the statue and they began passing out papers to the everyone in attendance.

Kirito took one and began reading, finding it to be a profile of the Floor Boss and a rather well-put together one.

“He is called <<Baran the General Taurus>>. He’s a Taurus-Type monster of the minotaur variety,” Heathcliff continued. “He wields a giant war hammer and is suspected of having an advanced version of the <<Numbing Impact>> ability.”

Kirito nodded, looking through the profile. <<Numbing Impact>> was a skill that all of the minotaur monsters had in the Dungeon. Whenever one of them would make a powerful strike, even if it missed it would create a powerful shockwave which if a player was too close, would cause paralysis in them. When caught unprepared, it could leave a player vulnerable to being attacked by the monsters. It was also part of the reason why Kirito took the Dungeon so slowly when he passed through it.

One of the Clearers spoke, “So, are we gonna be using our Inves as cannon fodder?”

“Once the battle begins, the Inves will be serving as a distraction for the Boss,” Heathcliff nodded. “However, to ensure that the Boss will even begin fighting we human players will be leading the charge. If we were to just send in the Inves, there will be no guarantee that the Boss fight will even begin since the Inves aren’t actually players despite being foreign to the game system.”

Kirito nodded, agreeing with Heathcliff’s reasoning. The Inves weren’t actual players and while they could set off certain traps and fight mobs, they couldn’t exactly interact with many aspects of SAO. They couldn’t retrieve treasure from chests or even open them since they required a player to touch them to do that. Kirito wasn’t sure if an Inves could trigger one of the more theatrical events like a Boss Battle opening sequence. It seemed to be a blurred line over how much an Inves could affect Aincrad. Fighting along with an Inves against the Boss was proven to be possible, but using an Inves to fight the Boss for the players so far didn’t seem like a viable tactic. Also the fact that a minute into the Boss Battles the doors would shut, making it impossible to run aside from one of the expensive <<Teleport Crystals>> and it made using such tactics invalid.

“So what do we do then?” asked Klein.

“First, I must ask all SengokuDriver users to step forward please,” Heathcliff replied.

Kirito stepped forward, unashamed of being Gaim of course. Klein, Agil, and Sinon did the same as well. Kibaou almost smugly did the same, strutting towards the lineup with the other Riders. What was shocking was that Asuna, the redhead woman, and the young girl all did the same, taking up spots in the lineup. Murmurs began spreading around as those unsure of how many Riders there were or even how many existed received a shock. Kirito could only gape, seeing Asuna in the ranks. She saw Kirito’s look and stuck her tongue out at him.

“Eight of you?” Heathcliff blinked. “That’s more than I dared hope. Excellent. I’m going to have to ask each of you to take command of a party for this raid.”

“Hey wait a sec!” Kibaou snapped up. “That guy there is a Beta Tester!” he pointed to Kirito and then to the small girl. “And she’s just a kid! You honestly intended to make them squad leaders?”

“If the young man is a Beta Tester then all the better since he has prior experience,” Heathcliff replied. “And if the young girl has a SengokuDriver then she must be strong enough to keep it.”

“Yeah!” the girl nodded. “I’ve fought using this thing plenty of times! I’m over level ten too!”

“GRK!” Kibaou growled, definitely not liking being talked down to by a kid and being laughed at by some of the audience.

“Continuing,” Heathcliff continued. “Since there are eight of you, it will mean an even number of teams. Two teams will be our heavy units, tanks, strong attacks, and the like who will draw the Boss’ attacks as well as be our defenders. Do any of you volunteer?”

“I will,” Agil raised his hand.

“Me too!” Kibaou added.

“Good,” Heathcliff nodded. “Then next group will be our main attack force. They will be moving in and out of the Boss’ range and making what strikes they can. They must be light on their feet and ready to move. Who wishes those roles?”

“I will!” Kirito and Asuna both volunteered, but then looked at one another.

“Good, then next will be our recovery teams,” Heathcliff moved on. “Should any of us become paralyzed by the Boss’ <<Numbing Impact>> it will be their jobs to make sure that we are evacuated before we strike and using restorative means of ending the paralysis.

“Dibs!” called Sinon.

“Me, me, me!” the girl hopped on the spot.

“Lastly is backup,” Heathcliff finished. “These will be the groups that will hang back until they swap out with one of the main attack groups as they grow tired from fighting. They will then fight until they grow tired or weakened and swap out with one of the backup groups. I can assume the last two can handle this?”

“I suppose,” the woman shrugged.

“We got this!” Klein grinned.

“Excellent,” Heathcliff nodded. “Now for everyone else, please look over your skill sets and party up with the group you feel you’d best be suited to. If you feel you aren’t up to snuff then please don’t feel like you must help. It’s fine to put yourself at risk for an achievable goal, but do not sacrifice yourself for it. There has been enough deaths in this game. Let us try to make this a zero casualty fight!”

“YEAH!”

(LINE BREAK)

Tobei Tachibana’s Apartment December 13th 1:01 PM

“Okay Suguha-chan, we’re ready to go!”

“Thanks!” Suguha called back as she took a set at the desk the group was going to be using for their internet broadcast. “Tobei-san, did you send all the files we needed?”

“All on your friend’s laptop and ready to play,” Tobei nodded.

“Okay! We’re ready!” Suguha beamed, making herself comfortable and steeling herself for the show. “When do we start?”

“In 5...4...3...2...1...go!” a girl holding a digital camera spoke, beginning the recording.

“Hello everybody and welcome to the first episode of the SAO Online Report,” Suguha smiled with practiced ease. “The purpose of this broadcast is to inform everyone in the public about what is happening to our loved ones while they are trapped in Sword Art Online as well as the major players who are trying their hardest to help everyone escape. Before we can truly begin our main broadcast, let us do a recap.”

On a laptop controlled by another of Suguha’s friends, the recording image was playing on one window in a video editor while a second window opened up to show scenery of Aincrad. The first window dulled, showing that the main image viewers would see had changed to the second window.

“For those of you who aren’t entirely sure, Sword Art Online was a VRMMORPG game which hit the shelves on November 6th with all 10,000 copies being quickly sold out,” Suguha’s voiceover explained. “However, the game quickly turned dire as it was revealed by the creator Kayaba Akihiko that all the players were barred from logging out and any tampering with their NerveGear helmets would result in their deaths via an EMP pulse frying their brains. It would also happen in a player’s HP reaches 0. Our loved ones were officially trapped inside the game and to this day all attempts to find Akihiko or undo his death trap have been unsuccessful.”

The recording screen then shifted back to Suguha who looked a little solemn from talking about Sword Art Online. Still, she managed to become upbeat again as she continued, “Fortunately, the players haven’t given into despair. As of November 29th, the players had successfully managed to defeat the First Floor Boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord and reached the Second Floor.”

The image on the laptop changed to the viral video of the players taking on Illfang and winning, editing out the portion where the player Diabel died.

“As of today, the players have managed to explore eighty-five percent of the Second Floor and ninety-five percent of the Dungeon. They have also located the Boss Room where the Second Floor Boss is located. What we’ve been able to monitor from forums is that a Boss Raid meeting will be held today in Taran Village for all of the players who are on the front lines, dubbed Clearers. We offer those players our hopes and prayers in a successful fight against Baran the General Taurus.”

“Doing great Suguha-chan!” Tobei heard one of the girls whisper.

(LINE BREAK)

Aincrad - Second Floor: Dungeon Boss Room (Doors) December 13th 2:07 PM

Parties were quickly formed and soon all of the Riders had their own groups to work with. It made Kirito slightly uncomfortable to be leading a group of people he never met, but he knew the logic of the decision and had to heed to it in this case. Heathcliff was obviously more than just a strategist, but also someone who understood the mentality of the players. Despite each of them being different, the Kamen Riders were seen as powerful individuals and having them in their groups would have brought up morale exponentially. Having eight of them there just made it better.

Heathcliff took control of his own group, made up of his own party members and soon everyone set out to the Dungeon. Since it was made to be like underground tunnels, it was a little cramped with so many people moving through it at one time. Still, Heathcliff kept pushing on and everyone pushed on with him. After ascending several flights of stairs and fighting off the odd mob or two, the group found themselves standing in front of a pair of stone doors lit up with large torches and primitive carvings on the front. Reaching it, Heathcliff turned to see the Raid Party.

“Before we enter, I must ask the Kamen Riders to transform so that we can enter at full strength,” he asked.

The group leaders all agreed, first donning their SengokuDrivers and then claiming their Lockseeds.

“ORANGE! BANANA! BUDOU! DONGURI! PEACH! CHERRY! LEMON! MATSUBOKKURI!”

“Henshin!”

“LOCK ON!”

“SOIYA! ORANGE ARMS! HANAMICHI ON STAGE!”

“COME ON! BANANA ARMS! KNIGHT OF SPEAR!”

“HAI! BUDOU ARMS! RYUHOU HA! HA! HA!”

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

“HAI! PEACH ARMS! KURUKURU WITH PIERCING BEAUTY!”

“COME ON! CHERRY ARMS! LOCK AND LOADED, ROLL OUT!”

“LEMON ARMS! MISS SEDUCTION!”

“SOIYA! MATSUBOKKURI ARMS! ISHIGEKI IN THE SHADOW!”

One by one, the Arms dropped from their respective portals and onto the shoulders of their wielders. They all transformed into their respective suits, many shocked at how Silica’s body seemed to grow to accommodate hers, before the Arms unfolded into proper armor, arming the group. The other players all began murmuring, actually optimistic about their chances of winning with eight Kamen Riders leading the way next to Heathcliff.

“Good,” Heathcliff nodded. “Let’s go!”

Heathcliff turned and pushed on the doors, easily pushing them aside. Inside was a large cavernous room which had stalactites. The ground may have had stalagmites rising up, but they were all broken and shattered like something had rampaged through the room. Everything else was covered in darkness and difficult to see.

“Walk slowly,” Heathcliff warned as he led the Raid Party inside. “We don’t know how he’s going to react.”

The words almost seemed prophetic as red spheres of fire lit up in the air at the sides of the room, making all of the stone seem like it was coated with red, be it paint of blood. The party was immediately on guard as they waited for the light to finish appearing. They didn’t wait long as the last ones lit up, revealing the Boss for everyone to see.

He was big, obviously bigger than even Illfang. He was covered in blood red fur and wore a loincloth which was gold and reached his thighs. His feet were hooves and his head was that of a bull, but sporting a necklace around his neck. A great mane of grey shaggery hair covered his neck and his white eyes were almost piercing in the red light. Held in his hands was a massive war hammer which looked to be made with skilled hands rather than like Illfang’s primitive weapons. Finally a red indicator appeared above his head, highlighting his name, <<Baran the General Taurus>>. His name revealed, the giant beast let out a bellow which shook the room.

“All parties! Move to your position!” Heathcliff barked. “Gridon! Kurokage! Take the lead! Gaim! Jotome, behind me! Everyone else move to your positions! Go!”

Kurokage grinned and dashed ahead with his weapon as Gridon ran alongside him. Both charged up Sword Skills for an initial strike on Baran. Both strikes landed, leaving large gashes in the monster’s hide, causing it to roar with fury. Gridon and Kurokage leaped back to allow their cooldowns to complete while their fellow tanks got in a defensive formation.

With Baran recovering from the initial blows, Heathcliff, Gaim, and Jotome took up the beast’s sides and began their assaults with the rest of their squads. Sword Skills flashed as several blows rained down, dropping Baran’s HP. The Boss wasn’t taking it lying down as he swiped at the group, knocking a few of the members away before he lifted his hammer into the air, causing it to glow with a Sword Skill.

“Move! Tanks, defensive line!” Heathcliff barked, leaping back. The attackers moved backwards and let the tank players for a protective line outside of Baran’s attack range. The Taurus General unleashed his blow, trying to strike the retreating players but instead struck the ground with nigh explosive force. From the impact point, waves of yellow energy echoed out like ripples, striking the tanks to little or no effectiveness. However, the wave continued past them and struck a few members of the three attack groups, causing them to cry in pain and fall over. Indicators on their party screens showed that they had been paralyzed by the wave.

“The <<Numbing Impact>>! It’s an area effect with this Boss!” Gaim shouted.

“Kerubimu! Ryugen! Get these men out of here!” Heathcliff ordered.

“Hai!” the two female Riders called, they and their squads charging in to drag the affected players away from the fight so they could recover. His men safe for the moment, Heathclif returned his attention to the battle, seeing that Baran had entered his cooldown period, “Attack squads! Charge!”

“HORAAAAHHH!”

(LINE BREAK)

Tobei Tachibana’s Apartment - December 2: 45 PM

Suguha’s little news update was proceeding well as she seemed to go through the maps and terrains of the things which the players would deal with, emphasizing danger levels and who had managed to complete those objectives and how the more sizable groups of players were progressing. She even offered lists of those players’ screen names in case family members recognized them. She didn’t give too much information about what the players were doing outside of quests, sparing the audience the horror of the orange players. Finally, they were reaching the end of their broadcast and the part which the non-family members of SAO plyers were waiting for.

“Now we turn to the recent updates made to SAO by programmer Tobei Tachibana,” she spoke. “You may remember the name. He discovered the night before Sword Art Online went to the shelves the Death Game protocols hidden in the program. After unsuccessfully trying to remove the programs, and with no one who would believe his claims to their existence, he purposefully downloaded his Kamen Rider armor programs among other programs into SAO to better arm the players and protect them from the monsters.”

On the laptop the editor for the program was using, a panoramic view of Helheim Forest was brought up, “Here is the area in which the supplies Tobei inserted are found. It is called Helheim Forest and inside are NPC creatures called Inves who serve as the mobs, but also as tamable creatures who can assist players when they’re called by Lockseeds, which grow abundantly in the area.”

The scene quickly changed to having the Inves in action, fighting in Inves Games or helping players against mobs, “The Inves have been proving to be exceptionally helpful to the trapped players, exploring unknown regions, testing for hidden traps, and helping players fight off mobs of enemy monsters in the program. One of the experts we talked said that with the inclusion of these Inves Tactics, the projected fatality rate decreased by at least ten percent! That rate decreased further with the Kamen Rider armors Tachibana-san installed.”

The screen on the laptop changed, showing images of Kamen Rider Gaim fighting off Inves and mobs. Suguha seemed to swell with pride as she began speaking again, “This is Kamen Rider Gaim who plays under the screen name Kirito. He was the first to claim the armor which Tachibana-san downloaded into SAO.”

(LINE BREAK)

Aincrad - Second Floor: Boss Room December 13 3:01

“SOIYA! ORANGE AU LAIT!”

“HURRRAAAAHHHH!” Gaim bellowed, his Daidaimaru shining as he slashed through the leg of Baran, causing the Boss to bellow in pain. The attack had the side effect of causing the Boss to stumble while in the midst of another <<Numbing Impact>> strike.

Gaim landed on the ground, panting slightly. Looking back, he saw that his fellow party members were likewise running short on breath. One was even using his spear to try and keep himself standing properly. The Orange Samurai looked back to Baran, seeing that the Boss had only just finished his first bar of health even with the combined efforts of the five parties.

“We’re not going to last,” Gaim panted to himself. Making a decision, he looked back to the reserve parties. “Klein! Switch!”

“Yosh!”

Baron and his party charged into the fray, allowing Gaim and his own group to back off and get to the back of the room where they could rest and recover any of the health they lost during the fights. Baron and his team took the charge with gusto, picking up where Gaim and his group had left off.

Baron led and slashed wide, catching Baran in the flank while he was busy attacking Heathcliff and his party. Rearing back his arm, Baron stabbed with the Banaspear alongside the other spear-users to try and hit Baran’s torso as well as some of the more sensitive portions of his body. It served to hurt the Tauric General, but it also brought his attention towards the group.

“Kamen Rider Baron, also known as Klein was the second to claim a suit of armor. He’s the leader of a group of players who are supposedly a group of gamers who teamed up in other MMO games. He’s taken the role of being a Kamen Rider quite well and has been hamming it up now and then from what we can tell.”

Baran bellowed and swung wide, forcing the players to flatten themselves on the floor to avoid the wide sweep. Baran then continued the momentum before going for an overhead strike to try and crush as many players as he could.

“No way buster!” Baron snapped, hitting his Cutting Blade.

“COME ON! BANANA SQUASH!”

The Banaspear flashed before Baron thrust with it. The banana-like energy projection burst from the tip and pierced Baran’s ankle. The giant minotaur bellowed in pain and once again his footing was compromised and he had to abandon his attack. Even if it didn’t do a huge amount of damage, it did give the other parties the chance to get back up and keep their assaults going.

“Let’s kick his ass!” Baron yelled out, raising his spear.

“OSSU!”

Baron roared and his hammer began to glow as yet again he tried for the <<Numbing Impact>> attack to paralyze the players attacking him.

“HAI! BUDOU SQUASH!”

Once again, he was denied as several blasts of purple energy struck him in the face. Baran bellowed in pain and stumbled back in pain. At the other end of the room with the evacuation troops was Ryugen, her gun still smoking from the shots she just made.

“Kamen Rider Ryugen is the very first of the female Riders to appear, her screen name being Sinon. She’s been making waves since out of the other weapons the Riders have, she is able to use a gun to fight in her battles. This is a proverbial rule breaker in a game where the only allowable weapons are melee weapons so she may have the largest advantage over all of the others.”

“HRAAAAAAH!”

Baran’s kneecap erupted in red pixels as Gridon smashed it with his hammer, sending the red pixels in all directions. The boss bellowed and collapsed onto one knee, indicating a crippling blow. He’d recover from it soon enough, but it was an opening that many of the players would be able to exploit.

“What are we all waiting for?” the brown Rider snapped back at his team. “Attack!”

His fellow Tanks rallied around him and they made their strikes. trying to hit points that they thought would be more sensitive to wounds. They weren’t tall enough to reach Baran’s face, but they were able to go for his legs and parts of his abdomen. The blows struck, throwing more red pixels through the air and dropping the Boss’ HP sharply from their combined attacks.

The fourth Rider is called Gridon and his name is Agil. Although he’s proven to be physically imposing, he’s shown to have a heart of gold. When he isn’t busy with the game of grinding monsters and raiding Helheim, he has been shown to be operating his own market store to give all players access to quality items for cheap prices so they could have a better chance at survival. He’s also gained the reputation of being the greatest provider of Lockseeds in Aincrad.

Baran’s eyes suddenly snapped open and the red glow on his knee vanished. He quickly stood up and reared back his hammer. It was such a sudden attack, none of the players could react in time. The head of the hammer began to glow an ominous red before he brought the weapon down on the ground. It hit with explosive force, sending shockwaves through the air and causing the players to fly back, screams of shock and pain following them as they hit the ground in heaps.

“Ngh,” Heathcliff grunted, standing up but missing a quarter of his life. “So he has an ability to beat off large groups that attack him besides the <<Numbing Impact>>.”

“Seems that way,” Baron agreed, using his Banaspear to help him stand.

Baran snarled and went on the attack again, lifting his hammer for another powerful strike on the players. Baron and Heathcliff along with their parties tried to get their heads back into the game to try and defend against the blow as best they could. As the minotaur came in closer, a chain whipped through the air and wrapped around the Boss’ neck, barely wrapping around it once before locking in place. Thanks to the real-world physics of the game, Baran couldn’t ignore it and moved to tear off the chain.

“HAI! PEACH SQUASH!”

A pink surge pushed through the chain before wrapping around Baran’s head, enveloping it inside of a large peach made of said energy. The Boss began to thrash, trying to get the construct off but it wouldn’t budge. The Raid Party looked up, seeing a pink figure leap above the Boss before dropping a devastating axe kick onto the beast’s head. The peach split open and exploded, dropping a whopping 50% of Baran’s current health bar and forcing the Boss to stumble backwards, his attack forgotten.

In front of the group landed Jotome, wrapping her chain around her arm as the area where Baran’s head was concealed by the smoke of the explosion.

Next is the second female Rider, Kamen Rider Jotome who also goes by Asuna. She’s something of a local celebrity because she’s so pretty and can kick a lot of butt. Apparently a lot of the male players consider her to be something of the latest net idol as far as they’re concerned. So far she seems to be able to take care of herself and look good while doing it in her form-fitting suit. Here’s hoping that she can keep up that reputation so that everyone can escape from the game and come home safe.

Baran growled as the smoke cleared his head, leaving it scorched. He was obviously pissed off and looking for a fight as he unleashed another <<Numbing Impact>> attack. The Tanks tried to

consolidate and shield the other players, but everyone was too spread out from Baran’s previous attack. Several of the players were struck by the blow and were knocked down, paralyzed.

“Moving in!” a new voice called, heralded by numerous cherry arrows which rained down on Baran.

Leading the charge was Kerubimu with the rest of her own party who went directly for the paralyzed players. The members hefted the frozen ones onto their shoulders or began dragging them away. Kerubimu shot more arrows at Barab from an angle, keeping the Boss trained closer to her and the other Riders. It was an incredibly gutsy move for a kid, but one did have plenty of confidence when they had a suit of kickass armor covering their asses.

Shockingly enough, the next Rider is just a preteen girl! Kamen Rider Kerubimu also named Silica isn’t as active in the grinding and quests although she does her share. She’s more often found in the bigger cities with her dancing Inves, making herself an entertainment sensation practically overnight. She’s also especially known to helping out smaller or newer groups of players when they need it to gain higher levels.

Jotome dipped back, looking to the rest of her party and saw that like Gaim’s party before, they were getting tired and weary. They wouldn’t last much longer without rest and despite wanting to escape the game like everyone else, she wasn’t going to sacrifice their lives to make progress against the Boss.

“Sakyubasu! Switch!”

The last team of fresh players charged in, the yellow lemon Rider among them. As Jotome’s team moved back, Sakyubasu’s group took up the charge. The Rider herself moved in closer and took a wide swing with her Lemalberd, digging deeply into Baran’s leg, spraying red pixels in all directions. She then leaped back, looking up at the health bars to see how much damage she did only to pout when she saw it wasn’t an impressive amount.

“Poo! So much for taking it easy!”

The last female Rider is Kamen Rider Sakyubasu, a lady who goes by the name of Rosalia. She’s something of a mercenary who sells her services to the highest bidders when she parties with others for experience and items. She’s got a bit of a bad reputation, but she’s loyal so long as you can pay her. If you want some added muscle in a quest for something good and you have the cash for it, then Sakyubasu is the one you need to see!

While the action was going on, Kurokage was breaking from his group in order to make his own plays on getting the Boss. The sour Rider hadn’t been willing to forgive being shown up by Gaim and it had been expensive to replace the Lockseeds he and the rest of his party lost in that duel. As such, he had been showing off plenty of times during the battle, trying to rally all of the players to his leadership in the middle of the fight. With Baran distracted, he decided to try and make for a decisive blow.

So sneaking around behind the Boss, Kurokage tried to pinpoint any kind of weak point Baran may have had. All of the creatures in SAO had a specific point on their bodies that when struck, would cause massive damage and in most cases were lethal with just the one blow. Kurokage was sure that Baran had a similar weak point and it was just the case of finding it. Since his front had been attacked nearly at every angle, Kurokage was sure that it had to be behind him.

So he examined the creature’s broad back while the other Riders fought it in front, trying to spy a spot which was discoloured or stood out. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to identify anything to stand out.

“Screw it!” he snapped, hitting the Cutting Edge.

“SOIYA! MATSUBOKKURI SQUASH!”

Charging up his attack, forming the pinecone at the end of his spear he leaped up at the broad expanse of Baran’s back. Gripping his weapon, he stabbed it down with force, causing a blast of red pixels which flew in all directions and causing Baran to again stumble. Korukage landed on the ground, roaring in glee, “Yeah! Take that you ugly bastard!”

*WHOOM!*

“Waugh!”

Kurokage ducked low, avoiding a swing from the Boss which went wild, trying to strike all of players attacking him.

After Sakyubasu is Kamen Rider Kurokage, wielded by a man called Kibaou. He’s not very well-liked compared to other Riders. Rumors speculate that he and a group of players he surrounds himself with extort other players ruthlessly for their own personal gain. He often goes on numerous raids with his group and often exclude every other player unless they are part of his party. Unlike the other Riders, this guy is the black sheep of the group.

Baran bellowed as more well-timed attacks rained down on him with the Riders striking with empowered attacks to help keep him stunned. It served to be a good strategy, eventually draining the second and then the third health bar. Once the third bar vanished, Baran stumbled backwards with a growl.

“Did we get him?” asked Gaim, panting.

“We better have,” Kurokage growled, getting fed up with the fighting.

Baran snarled before he bellowed loudly, trembling in pure rage. Steam began to pour from his body and his eyes turned blood red with pure aggression. His muscles bulged slightly, indicating that there were more strength available to them. He then reared back and bellowed, creating a shockwave which pushed back the players slightly.

“Crap! He’s got a berserker ability?!” Klein gaped.

“Get ready!” Gridon huffed.

Baran bellowed again before going on a made charge towards the group. His speed had increased by his berserker status, allowing him to reach the raid party before anyone who could really get away. Upon on the players, Baran reared his hammer back for an overhead smash on them all. The glow of his hammer to execute a Sword Skill was almost like a death call for the group. Another snarl announced the attack as the hammer came down.

“HRAAAH!”

The party cringed, but the hammer didn’t strike them. Instead, the blow was stopped by one of their own. Heathcliff himself stood in front of the party with his shield raised up, taking the full force of the blow. There was a flash from the connecting blow, possibly from an indication that the shield Heathcliff used was a rare weapon and exceptional in its right. However, the defense didn’t last and shattered into blue pixels. The hammer continued, knocking Heathcliff back across the floor and crashing into his comrades. They watched in horror as his HP dropped by more than a quarter.

“Heathcliff-san!” several of his party members cried out.

“I’m...fine,” Heathcliff grunted, standing up. “It was stronger than expected.”

“What do we do?” asked Jotome.

“A final push,” Heathcliff replied, standing up. Even without his shield, he looked like a knight just the same. “Baran only has one health bar left. If we can just manage to keep him off balance then we will be able to drain the rest of his health and win this!”

“And how do you plan to do that?” asked Sakyubasu, eyeing Baran as he recovered from his cooldown period. “One blow from that thing will kill us all!”

“Then we just don’t get hit!” Baron insisted. He looked to Heathcliff, “Just leave this to us Riders Heathcliff-san! We got it covered!”

“The offer is appreciated, but I don’t intend to sit this battle out at all.” remarked Heathcliff. He quickly opened his menu and scrolled through it before hitting several buttons. A flash of blue brought out the familiar form of a SengokuDriver marked with a white helmet and a pale background. He strapped it to his waist and drew out a Lockseed marked with a green melon.

“Nani?!” Kurokage gaped.

“MELON!”

A round portal zipped open above him as a metal melon hovered over him, marked with gold on sections.. Heathcliff then put his Melon Lockseed into his Sengoku Driver and locked it in.

“LOCK ON!”

A war trumpet was heard as Heathcliff put on a look of determination then called out, “Henshin!” before ‘slicing’ open his Lock Seed.

“SOIYA! MELON ARMS! TENKA GOMEN!”

The Melon Arms dropped on Heathcliff and formed his bodysuit. It was pure white with only gold gauntlets and greaves on his arms it legs. The Melon Arms then opened up and folded up to form his armor The front portion split in half, forming a layered chest plate like a shogun’s. The should plates fell onto his shoulders, but the top halves stuck out with golden tips like spikes while the back folded together against his shoulder blades. His helmet was white with a silver mouthplate and large orange eyes with a golden and melon-coloured helmet not unlike a shogun’s with a melon stem on the top. A shield then materialized on his left arm, gold and green like a melon with a round circle on top decorated like a melon with gold sides. In his other hand, he drew a Musou Saber.

“I am...Zangetsu.”

Lastly is the most mysterious Rider of all, Kamen Rider Zangetsu. We don’t know who he is, but he has proven to be a force of nature himself. Players rally around him and no monster he fights seems to last all that long against his weapons. Many of us on the cast and crew believe that this Rider may be the one to lead the people to escaping from this horrible game and come back to their friends and families. Good luck Kamen Riders!

Unlike the rest of the players who were shocked at the appearance of the ninth Kamen Rider, Baran seemed less than impressed. Bellowing again, he prepared to charge at the players once again and crush them all in one fell swoop.

Zangetsu raised his shield and took the blow. Another shockwave of power flew from the attack, but this time the shield held true and left the Boss open to another round of strikes which the other Kamen Riders were more than happy to provide. All eight charged forward, striking at Baran from the sides or shooting at him from afar. Even Zangetsu wasn’t idle as he pushed back on his Melon Defender, forcing Baran off balance. He actually threw the shield at Baran’s face, striking the beast in the eyes before like a boomerang the shield returned to his waiting hand as he charged to fight alongside his fellow Riders.

Baran’s HP began to drop further and further as more and more the Riders planted heavy blows on his legs and torso. Kerubimu even tried shooting him between the legs to stun him...and it seemed to work. However, there were some moments of conflict even in the middle of the fight. Kurokage was constantly trying to push Gaim out of the way so he could steal strikes, hoping to hoard the Last Attack Bonus. Sakyubasu was practically hiding behind the other Riders, attacking only when Baran wasn’t looking at her and was instead focusing on the other Riders attacking him. Zangetsu was the only Rider seemingly on everyone’s side, working with the others whenever it was necessary.

“Heathcliff!” Gaim shouted to Zangetsu. “The HP isn’t dropping fast enough!” he pointed to the last HP bar and it was only a quarter of the way gone. Even with the advanced weapons of the Riders, Baran was still a boss and they were all only at low levels, high for only the Second Floor.

“We’ll have to go for broke then!” Zangetsu nodded. He then called to all of the Riders, “Everyone! Activate your Hissatsus! We’ll all hit him at once!”

Baran bellowed, launching the Riders back. They took the opportunity to form up a line so they could all properly aim at Baran without accidentally hitting one of their fellow players. As one, they reached to their belts and hit the Cutting Edge levers again.

“SOIYA! ORANGE/MATSUBOKKURI/MELON SQUASH!”

“COME ON! BANANA/DONGURI/CHERRY SQUASH!”

“HAI! BUDOU/PEACH SQUASH!”

“LEMON SQUASH!”

Each of the Riders’ weapons charged up with the color of their Arms. Baran roared and made for another charge at the group. As one, they raised their weapons before unleashing streams of slashes and/or projectiles each coloured like their Arms. Each attack hit dead on, piercing Baran’s hide and cutting right through him in blazes of red pixels. Each hole left behind shone like their attack, forcing Baran back with each strike. With Kerubimu’s attack hitting him last, Baran dropped his hammer and stumbled backwards. With the wounds glowing brighter and brighter, Baran let out one last agonizing cry before falling backwards and exploding in a blast of white and blue pixels.

The room was silent, but like a source of energy leaving, the deep red colour of the room seemed to drain into regular stone. The spheres of fire lighting the room dimmed to regular fire, appearing to be on top of regular torches. Everyone remained silent, stunned at the ending of the Boss, but that silence didn’t remain once the battle result screens appeared, several of the players boosting a level or even two from the experience they gained.

“Oh wow,” Kerubimu groaned, sitting down on her butt. “That was...scary.”

“Tell me about it,” Sakyubasu groaned, stretching. “What a chore.”

“Well, at least we can get to the Third Floor now,” Jotome offered, but she sounded just as tired as the rest of the Riders.

Gaim opened his mouth to speak, but a strange clicking noise suddenly came up from their belts. The Riders looked down and watched as save for Zangetsu, all of their Lockseeds closed themselves and allowed the armor to vanish. After that, all of their Lockseeds went from the colorful fruits and seeds into dark gray tones before they unlocked themselves and dropped to the ground.

“Wagh! Our Lockseeds!” Klein cried, scooping up his now gray Banana Lockseed. “What happened?!”

Kirito opened up his menu over his Orange Lockseed and began using the inventory ability to examine his Lockseed. After a few moments of reading over the results, he began to heave a slight sigh of relief, “We used them too much. They ran out of energy.”

“Ran out of energy?” frowned Rosalia. “Well how do we get it back then?”

“Says here it will come back on its own,” Kirito replied. “We just can’t transform until they do.”

“So that is why I didn’t change back,” Zangetsu nodded. “I only used one Hissatsu while all of you had used it several times during the fight. Then the only way to overcome this problem is to get several Lockseeds to use in case Boss Fights take longer than this.”

“Great,” Kibaou grumped. “Whatever, I’m going to get up to the Third Floor with my party. Just don’t try to get ahead of us.”

“This isn’t a competition you know!” Sinon frowned. “We’re all trying to survive and escape, not win some kind of prize.” Kibaou just ignored her, causing her to fume at his attitude.

“Now now, let’s all get along,” Asuna tried to play peacekeeper. “Let’s just go up to the Third Floor and open it up for everyone else.”

“You won’t hear me complaining,” Klein grinned before he waved to his party. “Let’s go guys! We’ve got a celebration to get to!”

“YAHOO!”

(LINE BREAK)

Tobei Tachibana’s Apartment December 13th 3:14 PM

“And now we come to the end of our broadcast. We leave now with our hopes and prayers going out to the people trapped in SAO. Keep going and escape so we can see each other again,” Suguha smiled gentle, closing her broadcast. “We’ll see you during the next broadcast. Goodbye for now!”

The camera girls ended their recording and soon everyone was clapping. Even Tobei had to give his applause at seeing how much effort Suguha was putting into being a serious broadcaster and that the issue she was speaking about was a serious one.

Suguha blushed, rubbing the back of her neck, “So, how did I do?”

“You did great Suguha-chan!” one of her friends cheered. “You’ll bring in the viewers no problem!”

“Ah, thanks!” Suguha smiled, but then looked to Tobei. “So Tobei-san, do you think you can help us keep this report going?”

“I think I can be persuaded,” Tobei chuckled. “In fact, I have some future designs which the viewers may want to hear about.”

To Be Continued...

A/N: Well, here's another chapter. Zangetsu is revealed and more progress happens. The Third Floor is reached, but the game is far from over. And what more does Tobei have planned?