Lost Days - SAO One shot

[LawOhki]

Ya'll can blame Ozzallos for this.

“Speech”
‘Thought’
Weapon Skill

zx

November 6th, Month of the Cypress
Launch

A wave of nausea passed over Ranma as feeling returned to his body. All over he felt pins and needles as though his limbs had all gone to sleep quickly leaving him, and when he opened his eyes he found that he was no longer in his room. Tapping his foot, he could feel the unyielding hardness of the white stone floor beneath him. A warm breeze rustled his hair and he reached up to brush his bangs out of his eyes, grumbling over the limited acceptable hairstyles available. The style was close but it was tied back into a ponytail rather than a pigtail. Around the grand circular pavillion that stretched around him, blue human sized beams of light shimmered before extinguishing, showing the arrival of yet more players into the world.

Up above it was all blue sky and sunshine bright enough to make him squint. Whistling in appreciation of the realism so far, he rolled his shoulders, and brought his hands up in front of him to test out the movement. Immediately he noticed how sluggish it all was. The actual movement felt completely realistic but there seemed to be a long delay before his body would respond.

“Idiot! What took you so long?” Akane’s voice berated him and tried to whack him over the head. Only for her fist to bounce harmlessly off a tiny shield that appeared above his hair.

“What’s the rush, tomboy? If I gotta play this stupid game for Nabiki I might as well make a good character.” He shrugged, having considered a lot of the options available before deciding on the skills he would use. Even if Nabiki just wanted to test out the NerveGear helmets she had bought along with three copies of Sword Art Online.

“We’ve been waiting here for ten minutes.” Nabiki groaned, standing next to her sister. If it wasn’t for her voice Ranma might not have recognized her immediately due to the middle sister taking a longer hairstyle done in a big ponytail. Otherwise she looked exactly like the actual Nabiki.

“Ah!” He took a step back when he finally noticed Akane’s character. Both of the girls were wearing similar clothing in different colors. Like him they wore a long sleeve shirt covered by a simple piece of leather armor over their rib cage. Akane had also chosen pants while Nabiki had went with the skirt that ended midthigh.

“What?” The youngest Tendo asked defensively and looked down at herself. Her hairstyle was similar but with spiky bangs and overall her body matched up with what Ranma knew. Except for one thing.

“You made your boobs bigger!” Ranma gasped dramatically and began to laugh hysterically as she once again failed to be able to hit him.

“You stupid jerk!” Akane screamed in his face in impotent rage. “This is how I really look!”

“How much did you add?” Nabiki asked helpfully, looking closely at her sisters simulated bust. “One? Two cups?”

Akane blushed and crossed her arms over her chest. “What about you? What did you add to?” She narrowed his eyes at him, inspecting him for differences.

“Me? I’m amazing enough as is!” He gloated and laughed.

“That’s it! You made your head normal sized!” Akane pointed out dramatically.

“Woah, you picked out a cool weapon!” A teenage boy complimented Akane. He was standing with three others all in the same starter outfits and carrying one or two handed swords.

“Thanks!” Akane beamed at the attention, pulling a meter long crude kanabo from its place on her back to hold in both hands.

“Everybody else just picked swords. We’re all pretty lame.” Another jokingly remarked.

Ranma frowned and felt his own weapon that looked like a thirty centimeter long dagger with no hilt. He had chosen a much more exotic weapon than Akane’s baseball bat sized mace with spikes, but he didn’t need to advertise that yet, and not to these three. Picking out just the right weapon to play with had been the reason why it had taken so long to get through the character creation.

“You girls want to be in a party with us? We can help you level. It’s really dangerous outside of town.” The one who had spoke first offered.

“I think I can handle myself.” Akane smirked and rested her weapon over one shoulder. “But I need to show my sister and this idiot here how to play.” She leaned in to stand close to Nabiki who wasn’t paying attention and pointed at him.

“Can we at least be friends?” The shortest one asked, raising his right hand, and having a series of white buttons appear in the air just below his fingers.

“She’s my fiance, take a hike.” Ranma finally butted in, stepping between the trio, and Akane.

“A cute girl with a loser like you? You’re just lucky we can’t duel till level five.”

“I better hurry up and level then.” Ranma scoffed at the other boy being any threat to him and took Akane’s hand to pull her in a random direction away from the other arriving players. Nabiki could do her own thing, like extorting others for money with bad information.

“Challenge.” Akane forcibly broke from his grasp.

“Eh?”

“I bet I can level faster than you.” The short haired girl smile confidently.

“A bet?” Nabiki’s smirking face appeared between them. “Akane versus Ranma, who can get the most levels before dinnertime? And what will be the stakes?”

“You should be in on it too.” Ranma pointed out. “It’s just a game.”

“Me?” Nabiki took a step back in confusion before recovering herself. “I suppose with my intelligence it would be no problem for me to beat you two at a game. I’m sure I could figure out all the best strategies before either of you got out of the city walls.”

“I’m the one who checked all the beta info.” Akane remarked haughtily. “You’ll both lose to me.”

“Losers scrub the dojo floor.” He offered as a punishment.

“Both of you have to eat my cooking and admit to liking it.” Akane countered.

“Woah! How about winner gets a week of game time, on me.” Nabiki quickly offered her own proposal.

Ranma wasn’t too sure how long this video game would keep his interest, but there was no way he was going to voluntarily eat Akane’s cooking. “Game time.” He agreed.

“Game time.” Akane nodded before roughly poking him in the chest. “But you’re still going to eat the next thing I make!” She added before running off into the crowd.

“Meet back here at five!” Nabiki shouted after her sister then grabbed onto his arm. “So where to first?”

“Huh?” He asked intelligently.

“Neither of us can be the loser, right? You help me and I’ll think of someway to repay you on the side. Akane doesn’t need to know.”

“Repay me how?” He asked pointedly.

“Do I have to say right now?” Feigning insult at the suggestion his question held.

“Yes.” Ranma nodded emphatically.

“I’ll forgive two thousand yen of your debt.” She offered.

“Four.”

“Two and half.”

“Three and a half.”

“Fine.”

He smirked. “Alright, let’s get started then.” Ranma stopped to look around at the ever increasing sea of players arriving into the game before asking. “Uh-- which way do we go?”

zx

Four hours later

Nabiki’s wakizashi glowed a pale cyan as she lashed out, slicing cleanly through the snout of a wolf as she sidestepped its lunge. The cut left a glowing red line across the lupines face with a grid pattern inside. It crashed to the ground and shattered into thousands of rainbow colored polygons.

“Easy.” She announced and holstered her weapon. A status window appeared before her showing the experience, items, and money in the currency of Col that she had received. “More teeth, how exciting.” Nabiki remarked dryly, hoping that something more interesting would come from killing the beasts on their way back to town.

Ranma was clapping, sitting on a large stone, and looking far too pleased with himself. “You sure showed that one!”

“I’ve showed about forty of them.” She flipped some of her longer hair to the side. “Not my fault that they aren’t smart enough to leave me alone.”

“Think Akane did any better?” Ranma asked, looking off towards the circular city where they had started. The sky was slowly darkening and turning a beautiful shade of orange as the game world slowly went from day to night.

“She probably went out and died to the first thing she ran into.” Nabiki joked. It was very unlikely though. Ranma had complained excessively about how encumbered he was by the combat system but had still easily plowed through everything they had come across without activating any of the sword skills that Nabiki was relying on.

“I do kind of like this place.” He turned his head into the wind and closed his eyes. “Could do without being crippled by this stupid weapon system, but I can see why everybody wants to go off on a magical adventure.”

“The great Saotome Ranma, on the same level as everyone else, how tragic!” She cried out sarcastically and clasped her hands in front of her chest.

“Still above yours.” The boy stuck out his tongue at her. She had hung back and used Ranma to see how things worked, he had reached level four while she was only partially through level two.

“As long as we’re above Akane, it doesn’t matter.” She didn’t need to worry. In the end she would be higher level than both of them since she was the only one who had the game, they were just renting from her. And neither family or family-to-be would stop her from making money renting this out to anyone willing to pay. ‘I can’t believe they didn’t put in copy protection for this game, you don’t even need to register a serial number.’

“I’m tired of all this walking.” She laced her fingers together and stretched her arms high above her head. “I’m going to log out and tell Akane she lost.”

“Lazy.” Ranma remarked slowly and his eyes glanced down and to the left to the clock that would be in his own field of view. “Plenty of time to get back.”

“Quicker we get out the quicker you can slobber over Kasumi’s food.” She pointed out, already bringing up the main menu in front of her. Sliding her hand upwards on the menu, it scrolled up to the settings panel.

“Good point.” He brought up his own menu, having figured out the action quickly.

“Where is it?” She blinked several times, seeing that there was no option to log out. Scrolling through all the other tabs her confusion grew at finding no way to log out.

“Where’s it supposed to be?” Ranma asked in confusion.

“Right here.” She moved to be right next to him so that the holographic menus were parallel. “See that empty spot?” On the bottom of the settings tab was an open spot with an icon that looked like a door.

“So then how do we get out?”

“How should I know?” Nabiki demanded angrily, rapidly jamming her finger into the help button with no response.

“Oh well, let’s get back to the town while we wait.” Ranma hopped off the stone and nearly fell on his face. “Damn game.” He grumbled at the way it screwed with his coordination.

“This is serious, we need to find out what’s wrong.” She followed after him.

“So let’s go ask a few people in town. You probably just don’t know where it is.”

“But I do! It’s supposed to be right there!” She protested his statement that she was doing anything wrong.

The sound of bells ringing from all around them interrupted further protests. “What’s that?” She looked around trying to pinpoint the sound that seemed to be coming from all around them. Her eyes unfocused as a bright white light consumed everything.

For a moment she thought that she was out of the game before realizing that she was back at the giant courtyard where everyone started the game. High above the center of the plaza, a clock tower with a bell at the top continued to toll as more and more players appeared around her in pillars of light. As the last flash of light seemed to vanish, the bell quit ringing with a sudden and artificial suddenness.

“Ranma-- what’s going on?” She asked, subconsciously moving a bit closer to the boy, having a hard time seeing anyone through the thick crowd of players.

“Maybe it has something to do with how we can’t get out.” He theorized, still not as concerned about that bug as she was. “Hey tomboy! You around!” Ranma called out.

“Ranma quit calling me that!” Akane answered from the right, pushing through the four players that were between them. “Honestly.” She huffed, straightening out her clothing. “What’s with getting brought back here? I was almost to level five.”

“Oh that’s too bad, I’m level five.” Ranma lied.

“What?! That’s impossible! How did you do it?” Akane grabbed him by his leather vest and shook him roughly.

“Not now, Akane.” Nabiki tisked, the sky turning a shade of crimson bathing everyone in a red light.

Oozing through hexagonal tiles was a thick blood red flood that coalesced into a large mass that grew and contracted in weird contortions. The colors shift and suddenly floating high above the pavillion was a figure covered from head to toe in a deep burgundy robe lined by gold accents.

“Is it a game master?” Someone asked and immediately more players began to call out questions.

The giant looming figure spread his arms and spoke in a deep masculine voice. “Welcome to my world.” He greeted politely. “My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole controller of this world.”

Nabiki really didn’t like the way that was phrased and could feel the apprehension coming from the other players.

“The one who made the game?” A girl to the side asked.

“Ah! Is that really him?” A boy asked excitedly.

Everyone quieted the moment the man started to speak again. “Many of you may have noticed that there is no logout button in the main menu.” Before the giant, the game menu was summoned and he deftly moved the indicator to hover over where the logout option should be. “Do not be alarmed, this is not a defect in the game but a feature of Sword Art Online.”

“How is not doing something a feature?” Akane irritably growled and turned to her. “Did you know about this?”

“Just found out a minute ago.” Ranma answered, never looking away from the floating figure.

“There is no way to logout of Sword Art Online and attempting to remove or tamper with your NerveGear from the outside will result in the transmitter emitting a powerful microwave. Ending your life.”

Players began to yell up obscenities and demands to be let out until dozens of panels spread out around the game master. Websites, news cameras, photographs, and public notices showed the outside world as panic spread among everyone connected to a player.

“While I have announced the results of these actions, there have been a few who did not heed my warnings. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players have been lost.” Akihiko continued sadly.

“Our parents don’t listen-- we’re so dead.” Nabiki gasped in horror.

“Any minute now.” Akane added softly.

“With this extensive reporting, further deaths of this sort should be rare. I hope that you will relax and not be burdened with this worry. But you should be aware that as of now there is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. Should your HP drop to zero, your avatar will be lost forever, and your NerveGear will destroy your brain.”

Nabiki stared upward in mute shock along with everyone in the plaza. ‘This can’t be real, it’s just a game. It has to be.’ She rationalized, trying to fill the deafening silence with her own thoughts as the thousands of people around her all waited with bated breath.

The game master waved his hand and all the windows vanished save his in game menu. “I have allowed you two means of escape.” Hitting a button, a three dimensional map of all one hundred floors of Aincrad scrolled by. “The first is to complete the game by clearing the boss on every floor. Freeing all those left alive.”

“None of the beta testers made it anywhere close to that.” Akane gasped and took hold of Ranma’s arm, the black haired boy stoically waiting without expression.

Akihiko dismissed the map and his menu. “There are currently fourteen thousand five hundred and thirty two players online. While only ten thousand copies of Sword Art Online were sold. Many of you are here due to alternative means and while I applaud your desire to view my world, I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t apply a penalty for forcing your way into Aincrad. Whoever slays one of these unlicensed users shall free only themselves. That is the only other way to escape.”

‘Oh dear.’ Nabiki gulped as desperate pleas were shouted for ways to weed out players using a pirated copy. There were accusations mixed in, several players around her began to push their way through the crowd trying to get to one of the exits. Many others near them instantly following crying out that they had found one, and attempting attacks that failed in the safe zone.

“To find them you must know them.” Akihiko answered cryptically and Nabiki felt a weight suddenly appear in her hand.

She felt a sudden buzzing and without wanting to she raised the object to see that it was a small circular mirror that reflected back her mostly premade avatar. ‘A mirror?’ All at once the plaza was engulfed in blueish-white light that vanished in an instant. Blinking away her blindness, Nabiki stared in shock as it was literally her face being reflected back, not the approximation she had started with.

“What the hell is this?!” She screamed, similar sentiments being roared in mass by the crowd as all the players now looked like their real world bodies.

Akahiko’s artificially loud voice was easily heard as he continued. “Now that you are no longer hidden by an avatar’s shroud, I feel that I can properly cheer for you to fight bravely and wish you the best of luck.” Black smoke loudly billowed out from beneath the game master’s robe, the shape beneath collapsing in abnormal ways as he lost consistency. The robe vanished into smoke that flowed like water rushing back up into the tiled sky.

The red tiles flicked and vanished in a staticky flash. Silence once again reigned, everyone around her staring up at the beautiful sunset that had returned to the sky. It held for nearly a minute before one of the mirrors fell to the stone and shattered. The screams were so loud that Nabiki had to cover her ears, the assembled mass of over ten thousand people all crying and shouting felt like being physically hit.

Nabiki felt the simulated g-forces as a strong arm wrapped around her waist and picked up up from the floor. Bouncing repeatedly off players, she looked to the side, and saw that Ranma was carrying her off while pulling Akane along her hand. Out of the crowd, he took them out and down a street with only a handful of others leaving with them.

“Ranma-- what are you running for?” She asked meekly, still in shock over the announcement.

He took a turn around a corner into a small alley without anyone else around before stopping and putting her back down on the ground. “Sorry, didn’t think that was the best place to be around.” He finally answered with an awkward and strained chuckle.

“You can’t just run out of the game, idiot.” Akane rolled her eyes and snorted in disgust. “What are we going to do?”

“Seems pretty easy so far. I’ll just beat the game.” He bluffed, crossing his arms and bowing his head to lean against the wall.

“It might not be true-- maybe it’s all a big joke.” Nabiki suggested hopefully and without any conviction.

“I don’t think we should ignore the giant.” Ranma gravely answered her suggestion. “But if it’s win or kill someone-- I know what I’ll be doing.” Nabiki nodded her head absently along with Akane. A quick fix to this situation was initially tempting but she was a small time con-woman, not a murderer.

“Say Nabiki-- Ranma-- why are your eyes gold?” Akane asked in confusion, looking between her and Ranma.

Nabiki held up the mirror she still held in her hands and took a closer look, finding that her brown eyes were now obviously golden. Ranma grabbed it and twisted it so that he could verify that he also had lost the blue color to his eyes. She ignored that to inspect Akane, who had the same eye color that she had always had.

‘I was supposed to have the real copy.’ Nabiki decided now would be a good time to panic.

zx

December 20th, Month of the Holly
44 Days since launch
2nd floor

Parrying the downward swing of a meter high kobold goat herder’s staff, Ranma reversed his grip on his weapon, and plunged it through the creatures crude leather jerkin up to the hilt. The foul smelling humanoid, a mixture of rat and reptile froze as the killing blow was registered by the game before exploding in brightly colored polygons.

“You could have just left it to me.” Akane roughly pushed past him to go for the herder’s horse size goat that was about to attack in retaliation. One powerful horizontal swing from Akane’s spiked club met the beasts head first charge, her weapon passing through it’s form as it dissolved without losing momentum. “See?” She hefted the weapon to her shoulder and smirked proudly.

“Hogging all the experience, again?” He asked jokingly and checked the small clearing for any more monsters.

“Me? You’re still somehow higher level.” She asked incredulously, holstering her kanabo across her back. “You’re still sore that I can be as strong as you in here.” Akane snidely remarked and crossed her arms.

“Obviously not if you’re still behind.” Ranma loudly whistled back down the path up the flat top mountain to signal the others it was safe for at least an hour. He wasn’t about to let Akane know that they were in fact the same level still, with her pulling slightly ahead. The thought of her being better than him at this was too hard a pill to swallow. Thankfully both of them and even Nabiki were several levels above the monsters on this floor so they didn’t have much to fear.

Following behind them was a group of eight other players heading to the second floors main town of Urbus physically in order to gain experience and search for crafting supplies. The entire floor was covered in flat topped mountains and endless network of paths snaked their way through the valleys. Occasionally they would zigzag up and over mountains, they had decided to make the trek up in order to get a better sense of where they were in the maze below.

“Did the goat drop any ingredients?” Ranma asked, cycling through the junk items that he had received from the four kobolds he had dispatched on the way up. Even being trapped in a virtual world, they still had to eat.

“I should be able to raise my cooking skill with this one.” Akane giggled insanely as she summoned up a huge shank of meat.

Instead of asking why they would want to waste food, he kept his mouth shut. Akane had quickly learned her lesson about trying to hit him as a way to retaliate. The system immediately had changed her player cursor to orange and she was attacked by some nearby guard NPCs. It was funny at the time, but it made her an obvious target, and she hadn’t fallen into it again.

It wasn’t long before the rest of the party arrived and they formed a circle around a cooking fire to rest. Outside of the two Tendo sisters, he didn’t really know any of them. There was a boy trying to cook while Akane remained unable to produce edible items even though cooking in the game was simplified to pushing buttons. Nabiki was still negotiating with another girl on the price of a wide brimmed hat that she had desperately wanted since forming the party.

The only other two that seemed interesting was a very tall black man named Agil with a completely bald head. His weapon was a double bladed, two handed battle ax and he had helped guard the rest of the group while Ranma and Akane had cleared the way. The black man was quite personable and obviously wanted to help out. Rumor had it that he had even been part of the first group to kill a floor boss.

And the other high level character was a quiet middle aged man with long slicked back grey hair gathered in a ponytail at his neck. He carried a small shield on his back and a one handed sword was attached to his hip. Heathcliff was his name and Ranma suspected he had been of the vilified beta testers by how calmly he moved through the world. After this stop it was agreed for the four of them to switch roles so they could get experience as well.

“You are both very talented.” Heathcliff complimented him and Akane. “I feel rude to ask, but why aren’t you helping one of the clearing groups instead of ferrying players to the next floor? Your levels are high enough.”

“What’s the death count up to?” Ranma answered the man’s question with his own.

“Over two thousand.” Agil answered gravely, which sounded far more powerful with his deep voice.

“To get through two bosses. But it wasn’t the clearing groups that were dying by the hundreds the first day.” He paused, having rushed ahead with Akane by his side before learning of how bad it was for players just trying to leave the starting town. Being reminded of how many had already been lost seemed to sour the mood of their party.

“Back in the real world, we’re martial artists.” Akane took over for him. “And it’s our duty to protect the weak.”

“A noble cause, but there are only two ways to leave, and there will always be players needing protection so long as we are here.” Heathcliff solemnly summarized their situation, crossing his arms to hold his chin in one hand. “Reaching the end is the only way to help everyone.”

Ranma kept silent about the second way to leave but clenched his fists in anger and frustration. Thanks to Nabiki pirating their copies of the game, they were both targets for anyone desperate enough to become a murderer in order to get out. Those rushing to clear content would be dangerous enough to make serious attempts on their lives.

“We should push more.” Akane hastily hit a quicktime window prompt for her cooking. “Somehow get the others to stay where it’s safe.”

“Like all those things I convinced you to stay out of?” Ranma teased trying to ignore the threat anyone with gold eyes was under as he lazily twirled his weapon in circles, his finger through a loop at the pommel.

“I’m the one who knows how to play the game.” Akane snarled at him. “I can do just as much-- no more than you. Duel me if you want to find out.”

Giving one last spin, he caught the dagger like blade, and stared at Akane dubiously. This had been coming up more and more, Akane simply not respecting what he could do, and he was halfway tempted to take up her offer just to show her up.

“This again, Akane? Give it a rest.” Nabiki snapped at her sister. “Have a duel when we get to town, your ego battle can wait.” The four lower level players around the fire watched nervously as the short haired girl fumed before snorting, and going back to her cooking. Nabiki watched her sister briefly before turning back to the girl she had been badgering. “450 Col, final offer.”

“Agreed, this area hasn’t been fully explored yet, and we shouldn’t let our guard down.” Agil added to Nabiki’s angry condemnation of Akane’s demand for a duel, trying to further de-escalate the situation.

“Once we reach the teleport gate at Urbus--.” Heathcliff drew their attention. “If you still wish to duel, maybe it would help to hold an event in the Town of Beginnings.”

“Help what?” Akane asked, looking away long enough to miss an important prompt that would turn her attempt at cooking incredibly sour.

“Every one of us has seen someone die. Has seen the ways Aincrad can break you.” The grey haired man paused briefly before continuing. “But how many examples of how it can make you strong are there?”

He smiled and turned to see that Akane also liked the idea of a public duel.

zx

January 2nd, Month of Oak Moon
57 Days since launch
1st Floor

Akane checked the durability of her equipment one last time as she waited for the battle to begin. Heathcliff and a few of his friends had quickly spread word of high level players dueling in the populated cities. While the players struggling on the third floor paid little attention, too caught up in their own struggles. That left the lower levels still calling the Town of Beginnings home to fill the seats of the Azimuth arena, situated to the west side of the city.

Looking out through the double doors across a dirt theater, she could see Ranma standing on the far side of the rectangular stadium, inside the opposing tunnel. With how the shadows obscured him, she couldn’t make out any details, but she did see that he was standing with a man taller than him by a head.

‘Doesn’t matter.’ Her gear was as enchanted as highly as current trade skills allowed. She had gained nearly four levels since the trip to Urbus and with how Ranma seemed clueless about making himself legitimately better as a player, she was confident that she was better than him. In the real world, he may make a mockery of her skills but here she could be the best.

“If I wasn’t making a ton of Col from the bets, I would be berating you both for being such arrogant children.” Nabiki exclaimed in disgust.

“I’m helping out, this’ll inspire people.” She protested absently. “And I can finally put that arrogant jerk in his place.” Akane chuckled sinisterly at the thought of retribution for every insult and humiliation at the cursed boys hands.

“Whatever, just get it out of your system so we never have to come back to this city again. I need to go make sure all the bets are in.” Nabiki rolled her eyes and took the steps back up into the stands. Akane had been busy preparing that she didn’t known any of the players Nabiki had recruited to help her create a betting pool but she wasn’t surprised her sister was moving quickly in establishing a network of lackeys.

Standing alone and hearing the excited murmur of the crowd outside, Akane was starting to feel a little nervous. Having never competed in anything with this much attention or at this scale, she felt self conscious. ‘Come on, Akane. Get a grip!’ She berated herself and paced angrily from wall to wall trying to psych herself up.

The large bell at the center of the city rang hollowly to signify the top of the hour, and sounding almost as horrible as when they rang on the first day on Aincrad.

‘This is it.’ She nervously gulped and took several deep breaths. ‘I can do this, in here I’m better than Ranma. I can finally win.’ Squaring her shoulders, she stepped out of the tunnel into the midday sun.

Her feet felt like they were encased in lead with every step. Now that she could see the stands rising up on either side and the oppressive mass of players come to find some sort of distraction from the nightmare of Sword Art Online, she found herself in a weird dichotomy. Akane couldn’t be more apprehensive about the outcome, if she lost it would crush her. But if she won, in front of all these people, the very idea filled her with enough eager energy that she practically skipped to a stop in front of Ranma.

Akane’s mind screeched to a halt when she saw Ranma’s face. “What-- what are those?!” She nearly doubled over in laughter.

“It’s for a quest.” Ranma shrugged, clearly embarrassed by the three red whisker marks on each cheek. (1)

“What quest is that? Look like a dorky cat?” She chortled.

“Guess it’s just something you don’t know about.” He smirked arrogantly and opened up his game menu. “Last chance to back out, it’s supposed to be a game but I’d still feel bad hitting you.” Ranma warned as pompous as ever.

“Don’t worry about me.” She summoned up her menu and initiated the duel before he could, selecting the first strike mode. The winner would be decided by the first clean hit or getting the other to half their hit points. “Finally you can take me seriously, catboy.”

Ranma’s response was to accept the duel without a word. The crowd erupted in cheers when the notification appeared above their heads showing the english word ‘Duel’ and announcing their names. A countdown timer dropped into view beneath the announcement, and immediately began to tick down from sixty seconds.

Akane took a step backwards and in one smooth motion drew her kanabo testsubo with one hand. Adding some flourish as she brought it in front of her to grip with both hands, she settled into a loose combat stance, ready to activate any of her weapon skills. Her new kanabo had a polished metal head that shined from the sun and the smooth wooden handle fit perfectly in her hands. She had even picked up from a group quest a plate chest guard that included a single pauldron on her left shoulder that would increase her defense dramatically.

Ranma in contrast had picked up a red shirt with front and back tails similar to what he wore in Nerima. Over top of it, his minimal leather chest guard had been replaced with a more substantial one that came down below a belt around his waist. He had replaced his long guard-less dagger with one that appeared to have red lines running down the blade. Holding it across his body in a reverse grip, Akane almost believed that he was taking her seriously.

The timer hit ten seconds and the crowds cheering grew so loud that when it hit zero, she couldn’t hear herself scream out her attack as she exploded into action. Leaping, she raised her kanabo above her head, and brought the glowing blue weapon down. Ranma’s eyes widened in alarm and sidestepped her attack.

She didn’t notice how the crowd’s roar vanished as her first attack missed. Ranma came in hard from the side, aiming for her ribs. Akane pulled back her mace and used the handle to redirect his attack and push him past her. Turning, she attempted to hack at the back of his knees but he avoided it but jumping forward out of her range.

“You’re always running!” She shouted, activated her other skill for a charge. “Rushing Crash!”

Ranma didn’t have time to turn and face her before she was on him. He tried to desperately parry but her horizontal slash easily knocked his weapon to the side, and sent him flying across the field. Her fiance slid to stop on his knees clutching his chest and right arm.

Akane stared at him in shock as cheers erupted in response to their brief exchange. ‘I’m stronger than him.’ She realized in glee. For the first time since meeting Ranma, she was able to see all his movements, and was the one controlling the tempo of the fight. If he hadn’t been able to partially parry her attack, the duel would have been over with her as the winner. Not that it would take much more, the half circle bar hovering shoulder height around him indicating his health, showed he had barely over half left. Even if she got the lightest of glancing blows, victory was hers.

“What’s the matter, scaredy cat?” She taunted, feeling light headed over her impending victory. Finally she had something she could hold endlessly over Ranma’s head.

Ranma casually regained his feet to flick his ponytail back over his shoulder. “You just lack showmanship.” He responded with tired sigh. Bouncing once, he started a slow jog towards her.

Feeling confident, she waited till the last moment to lazily slash across his body, knowing that he would avoid it somehow. The crowd gasped as Ranma vertically leapt over her weapon in a motion too fast to see. Akane realized her mistake too late, she couldn’t complete her swing and reset her attack timer before he landed within arms reach. In shock, she felt the first cut on her shoulder the moment she could move freely. Desperately backing away, Ranma stayed right with her, his short blade lashing out repeatedly inside her guard to shave points off her health.

‘He’s actually hitting me!’ She mentally exclaimed in alarm. Akane had felt the virtual pain before while questing and Ranma’s individual attacks barely hurt. “I won’t lose!” Pushing through the pain, she ignored defense to attack him. She was sure that in this close range he wouldn’t be able to dodge and as her kanabo swung forward, but he somehow ducked underneath her blow, and deftly parried it over his head.

Akane’s two handed weapons slower attack speed kept her from recovering and left her completely open for Ranma to score a clean hit on her. ‘I lost.’ She realized despondently looking down at Ranma’s golden eyes as the smirking boy shoved his right hand forward. His dagger moved right for her face and she watched in horror as it was about to be shoved directly into her nose.

“Gotcha!” Ranma laughed and his dagger snapped open with a harsh metallic shing to reveal that it was in fact a folding fan with red ribbing.

“Ah!” She screamed in shock, flailing wildly as she stumbled backwards. “Wha- wha- what is that?!” Akane furiously demanded hearing laughter from the players in the stands.

“Isn’t it obvious?” The boy with cat whiskers painted on his face gave off a loud haughty laugh and lightly fanned himself. “Surely you didn’t think I would pick something so mundane as a dagger!”

Akane’s left eye ticked angrily as her fiance continued to act like this whole thing was a joke by bowing and waving to the spectators. She didn’t even have to activate a weapon skill, so furious that she attacked him with pure brute force. Her sideways swing was so fast that its wake kicked up a cloud of dust that covered almost half the arena, completely missing her target. Blinded by rage and dirt, she swung erratically, desperately trying to score any damage against him.

“Mourning Crescent!” Ranma announced a sword skill and Akane never saw the attack that rose up and across her body.

Her kanabo was jerked painfully from her hands to fly upwards high into the air. The cloud that had hidden them vanished in an instant from the wind created, leaving her with her arms partially upraised, and the razor sharp metal leaves of Ranma’s tessen hovering a hairs breadth from her nose. Akane didn’t even feel the slash that had traced from her right thigh to her neck. Two heavy thumps announced her bisected mace landing, it shimmered briefly before its durability reached zero and exploded into polygonal shards of light.

In the upper left corner of her vision, she saw her health bar drop to the halfway point before stopping. “I lost.” She whimpered, a dialog window appearing above them showing the time of the fight and proudly declaring Ranma the winner.

zx

1 - Quest to unlock the Martial Arts extra skill. The NPC who gives it draws whiskers on a players face until they complete the quest without a time limit.

[ijp92]

were you inspired by Ozz's snippets on his zetaboards page?

At any rate, it looks like a well done fic so far. The extra-players thing is totally in line with Nabiki's character and is a good way of forcing your crossover characters into their own adventures away from the clearers. Especially considering their aggressive personalities.

I have just two criticisms
1. I don't think weapon choices were that varied early on, much less as starters.
2. If Ranma passed the martial arts quest (as I'm assuming he did thanks to that jump) then why didn't he wash off the whiskers?

Other comments are:
make it clearer how much time has passed. I almost missed the line that said two bosses had already been killed. This is especially important since the vast vast majority of fics have their characters take part in the first boss fight.
also, when did Ranma take part in that quest anyway? It was time consuming and I didn't get the impression that their group split up often.

Otherwise, this was a very originally and well-done fic. I can't wait to see more.

[Fellow Sufferer]

Well, it certainly is a well-written story. But, if it's all there is to it (with no future snippets planned) - which is what I take from the "one shot", it's not very well done from a structural point of view. The fight scene at the climax doesn't really resolve anything that needs resolving, and the original plot line (golden eyed players and their plight) is underdeveloped and left hanging, making for a disappointing ending.

[LawOhki]

were you inspired by Ozz's snippets on his zetaboards page?

Yes, you can blame him for this.

At any rate, it looks like a well done fic so far. The extra-players thing is totally in line with Nabiki's character and is a good way of forcing your crossover characters into their own adventures away from the clearers. Especially considering their aggressive personalities.

I have just two criticisms
1. I don't think weapon choices were that varied early on, much less as starters.
2. If Ranma passed the martial arts quest (as I'm assuming he did thanks to that jump) then why didn't he wash off the whiskers?

Other comments are:
make it clearer how much time has passed. I almost missed the line that said two bosses had already been killed. This is especially important since the vast vast majority of fics have their characters take part in the first boss fight.
also, when did Ranma take part in that quest anyway? It was time consuming and I didn't get the impression that their group split up often.

Otherwise, this was a very originally and well-done fic. I can't wait to see more.

1. Well there are thousands of weapons available just for each. I'm not going with him pulling a Borderlands and just making slightly different stats or names for 4 weapons.
2. He hasn't passed it, the marks stay on until he does. He started it a couple days before the duel, their group having split after reaching Urbus. Next section will show that they are gone. As well as Akane's reaction to being publicly humiliated.

Akane as a player is going to be hyper focused and moving ahead as fast as possible. She may have upgraded her gear but she only had one or two pieces that were any good. Ranma by contrast explored the second floor a good deal looking to do any quests he could find even odd ones, so he ended up being just behind her in levels but a higher item level. (If a wow analogy is apt)

Well, it certainly is a well-written story. But, if it's all there is to it (with no future snippets planned) - which is what I take from the "one shot", it's not very well done from a structural point of view. The fight scene at the climax doesn't really resolve anything that needs resolving, and the original plot line (golden eyed players and their plight) is underdeveloped and left hanging, making for a disappointing ending.

That isn't the end.

As for the golden eyed players, it was going to become an increasing threat to them as the clearing slows to a halt near the end, and playing killing becomes a bigger threat. At this early time just over a month in, none of them were going to volunteer that it wasn't their real eye color. I didn't want it to be something that was so immediately obvious like a big P branded into their forehead, had to give them a chance, and it can even be covered up by a helm.

[Fellow Sufferer]

That isn't the end.

Well then. I suppose I'm going to have to wait and see where you'll take it next.

[WG_Writer]

I have seen a couple crossovers and this has the most potential. It would be a shame to make it a oneshot, but do what you must. If you push your fic too hard it might die unfinished.

[LawOhki]

I have seen a couple crossovers and this has the most potential. It would be a shame to make it a oneshot, but do what you must. If you push your fic too hard it might die unfinished.

Thanks. My intent is to do it as an exercise to make something that is 'complete'. Hit all the major points and give an impression of what happened to connect it all. Original idea was to end it in a really horrible cliff hanger just to be cruel.

However I'm not planning to do that now. Promise....

Depending on reaction I'm not adverse to adding more that covers specific periods of time. Especially time after getting out. Like Ranma trying to /ignore Kuno who's just so happy to see his pigtailed goddess once again! Even if that vile fiend Saotome has somehow taken from her her healthy energy!

[WG_Writer]

Time jumps are not a problem, the thing is that we really need to know what... floor and the relative date. Be sure to have occasional references to how long it has been over all. remember how long the entire SAO saga actually took. Exact dates are a nice touch but not really required as long as we really know what is happening and get an idea of how long apart it was.

[LawOhki]

Time jumps are not a problem, the thing is that we really need to know what... floor and the relative date. Be sure to have occasional references to how long it has been over all. remember how long the entire SAO saga actually took. Exact dates are a nice touch but not really required as long as we really know what is happening and get an idea of how long apart it was.

I've started to include the days since launch in each section. So each starts with...

January 2nd, Month of Oak Moon
57 Days since launch
1st Floor

I've only seen four months actually named and they all referenced trees so I filled the rest up.

SPOILER - Show Spoiler

January - Oak Moon
February - White Fir
March - Yew
April - Sakura
May - Olive
June - Fig
July - Palm
August - Birch
September - Weeping Cherry
October - Ash Tree
November - Cypress
December - Holly

I do keep coming up with more things to throw in, primarily to help show how Ranma and the others became part of the premier players club. But at the same time I don't want him to replace any canon characters.

[WG_Writer]

I do keep coming up with more things to throw in, primarily to help show how Ranma and the others became part of the premier players club. But at the same time I don't want him to replace any canon characters.

hmm... that will be hard at best, for it to really be worth its salt Ranma needs to be in toe with Asuna at least. He may not be Kirito, but you are doing a Ranma fic, and to make it interesting we do need him to do something to aid up until the final battle.

[LawOhki]

hmm... that will be hard at best, for it to really be worth its salt Ranma needs to be in toe with Asuna at least. He may not be Kirito, but you are doing a Ranma fic, and to make it interesting we do need him to do something to aid up until the final battle.

Oh Ranma is going to be way up there with the elite and taking part in a few of the big battles. He'll just be getting to it slower off a bit of a different philosophy. (I'm treating the series proper like it's a companion piece as I have no desire to rewrite the entire story) Would be fun to have Ranma get in on the Gleam Eyes fight though, and at first sight going "Ah! Pantyhose! What are you doing here?"

Gleam eyes *growls*
Ranma "I was happy to see you, why do you have to be such a prick all the time?"
Incredulous stares
Ranma "what you don't speak minotaur?"

SPOILER - Show Spoiler

While helping clear the 25th floor, where the majority of initial clearing players died, it'll traumatize him enough to decide to slow down and to focus more on building up everyone in his guild to be capable of dealing with such horrors. Ranma will be reasonably friendly with Heathcliff and will get asked to personally help out when dealing with difficult content. Akane won't be there for that floor and will stick with the mindset of pushing herself on the front line, gaining her own sphere of admirers.

Still trying to think up some nickname for Ranma to get, leaning towards The Red Tornado since his weapon skills often create strong gusts of wind. Though it would be nice to have something really unexpected.

SPOILER - Show Spoiler

Will be getting it at the same time Heathcliff got his nickname on the 50th floor when he held off the boss by himself.

[Spica75]

I've only seen four months actually named and they all referenced trees so I filled the rest up.

A couple of variations in case you havent already found them(probably contradicting the 4 you did have).
http://www.maryjones.us/jce/celtictreecalendar.html
http://www.zodiart.net/ZodiArt/What%20T ... x_page.htm
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/brit ... index.html

[WG_Writer]

As far as a Nickname...

if you want a funny one you could go with Akakage (Red shadow) a nod to Naruto's naming scheme for the Kage, a joke towards Akane where it appears he is following in her foot steps as he stays lower then her initally (which Akane could tease him endlessly about), and his general nature of just being there unexpectedly like a Ninja, without being a direct Naruto nod this time, just that he comes out of the shadows, so to speak.

[Konsaki]

This suggestion is assuming Ranma's going for an evasion build in SAO, since that's how he normally fights in the manga.

During a floor boss fight, Ranma somehow gains agro after using a high damage attack while also triggering a Rage Mode. He manages to evade tank the entire rage mode without taking a single point of damage by seemingly dancing around all the boss's attacks. This gets him the epithet "Dancing Phantom/Demon" (Mai Youkai) to acknowledge his high DPS build and the remarkable feat.

SPOILER - Show Spoiler

IIRC, Heathcliff has multiple epithet and had some before the 50th floor boss. Also the fact that Kirito has the first epithet of "Beater" and then "The Black Swordsman" well before that as well. Hell, Kirito got the "Beater" just after the first boss, though it's not a kind one.
I'd have Ranma get this epithet at a lower level floor boss but one past the Beta experience so it's uncharted territory. It also helps explain it as these are the trail blazing raids where quite a few people are still hopeful and they haven't had the huge wipe yet.

[LawOhki]

As far as a Nickname...

if you want a funny one you could go with Akakage (Red shadow) a nod to Naruto's naming scheme for the Kage, a joke towards Akane where it appears he is following in her foot steps as he stays lower then her initally (which Akane could tease him endlessly about), and his general nature of just being there unexpectedly like a Ninja, without being a direct Naruto nod this time, just that he comes out of the shadows, so to speak.

Akane won't really get to tease Ranma endlessly about anything.

I do like the kage reference, if only because Ranma/Nabiki's guild is going to be called the Emperor's Children. But for some reason I want to hold out for something much more unexpected and positively themed.

This suggestion is assuming Ranma's going for an evasion build in SAO, since that's how he normally fights in the manga.

Ranma could be considered something of a dodge tank. He'll soon have the unique skill << Hard Counter >> that upon successfully parrying an attack results in him being immediately able to deliver a critical strike without being blocked, dodged, or parried. Comes with something like a 5 second cool down when only using a single weapon.

During a floor boss fight, Ranma somehow gains agro after using a high damage attack while also triggering a Rage Mode. He manages to evade tank the entire rage mode without taking a single point of damage by seemingly dancing around all the boss's attacks. This gets him the epithet "Dancing Phantom/Demon" (Mai Youkai) to acknowledge his high DPS build and the remarkable feat.
(not really a spoiler) IIRC, Heathcliff has multiple epithet and had some before the 50th floor boss. Also the fact that Kirito has the first epithet of "Beater" and then "The Black Swordsman" well before that as well. Hell, Kirito got the "Beater" just after the first boss, though it's not a kind one.
I'd have Ranma get this epithet at a lower level floor boss but one past the Beta experience so it's uncharted territory. It also helps explain it as these are the trail blazing raids where quite a few people are still hopeful and they haven't had the huge wipe yet.

That's a reason to put it on the 25th floor.

SPOILER - Show Spoiler

Have Ranma be pivotal in finishing up the boss with Heathcliff. A sword and shield combo while the remaining party members are trying to recover since they don't have such freakish stamina. One or the other gets the last hit and get a stupidly good weapon like the Liberator set Heathcliff uses. (Above and beyond their levels in reward for the difficulty of the quarter floors)

Next day or whenever the next planning sessions happens, Heathcliff publicly approaches Ranma to be in his guild and gets turned down creating a schism in the clearing players on which mindset to follow on getting through the game.

Majority of SOA takes place after this has already happened so it is an area that's not covered by canon.