Once I got to my bike, I turned the Augma off and shoved it into my bag. Once I was ready I jumped onto my bike and sped off to the location Klein had sent me. Once I made it there, I knew I was at the right location, as there were plenty of other players in the area.
"Alright, now to find Klein." I muttered under my breath. It didn't take me long to find him, as it was him who found me.
"(Y/N)! Glad you could make it! Now it won't be much of a sausage fest with a girl with us." I sighed and pulled my Augma out and placed it on my head. I pulled the wand out and fastened it to my wrist.
"Woah, (Y/N). You went up in ranks again! You're pretty serious about this game, huh?" Klein asked. I shrugged and shook my head.
"Not really, I just want to be good at the game my friends are playing, that's all." I stated. Kirito and Asuna showed up.
"About time you showed up! Sweet! You brought Asuna with you!" He waved at the two. I approached them. Asuna shook her head.
"No, I brought him! He didn't want to come, but after I beat the others at rock-paper-scissors, he didn't have a choice." I chuckled sheepishly as Asuna glared playfully at me.
"Also, you never told us you could ride a motorcycle!" I rubbed the back of my neck.
"I wasn't planning on it either..." Kirito chuckled.
"I knew." I glared at him.
"What?" He asked me. I huffed.
"You're just as bad as Hikaru!" I exclaimed. He chuckled and apologized.
"Well guys, let's show the girls how badass we are!" Klein shouted to his guild. I only shook my head at their antics. Kirito and Asuna pulled out their Augmas and the wands. Once they were ready, we all activated them at the same time.
"Ordinal Scale, activate!" The world around us shifted and changed into the Augmented Reality Ordinal Scale called its home. The boss rose up out of red flames in the center of the field. My eyes widened in disbelief. It's true.
"That's..." Asuna was unable to finish her sentence.
"That's an SAO boss!" I exclaimed and Kirito nodded
"It's the boss from Floor 10 in Aincrad. Kagachi the Samurai Lord!" Kirito exclaimed and I frowned. I fought this boss with my guild.
"He looks exactly like him, doesn't he?" Asuna asked. I put my sword away and pulled out my bow instead.
"Too bad we can't use our sword skills here. I wonder if he's gonna use the same attack patterns." I looked over to them.
"I'm going to stay away and cover you guys from the back, I don't want to be anywhere near that thing until we figure out if it has the same attack patterns." I stated. Right after I said so, a drone flew over and the AI I had seen earlier with Eiji spawned on a ledge. Klein gasped excitedly.
"YUNA?!" He exclaimed, many others were doing the same.
"I hope everyone's ready! It's time to battle! So, start the music!" I gasped. Her voice sounds... familiar. A player that looked like a tiger stood beside Kirito, Asuna and I and he raised his fist in excitement.
"Oh, awesome! YUNA's singing! It's a special stage with a bonus!" I noticed our Atk went up. The clock then began counting down. Kagachi growled, preparing to start attacking us. I shook myself out of my daze. Asuna looked over at me in concern.
"Is everything alright, (Y/N)?" I nodded.
"I'm good, it's just that the AI singing sounds so... familiar. It almost feels nostalgic to listen to." Asuna's eyes widened when she realized I was right. I then focused on the boss. It was already taking players out one by one.
"Enough of this, we need to beat this thing before it beats us!" I exclaimed and Klein agreed.
"What do you say, Kiri-dude?" Klein called to Kirito. Kirito seemed unsure. Kagachi used his snake attack on some players that were shooting at it from above. The attack landed close by to us and we hurried to avoid getting hit. Klein called out to Kirito from the other side of the affected area from the attack.
"Don't let your HP hit zero! Your rank will get docked!" Klein called out. I was on Klein's side of the attack as it followed Kirito and Asuna.
"I know that!" I heard Kirito yell back. I looked over to Klein.
"You guys take front lines, I'll cover from the back!" Klein nodded and his guild began to rush forward.
"Come on, you guys! That bonus has our name on it!" He exclaimed. I stayed still, nocking an arrow in my bow and raising it to my line of sight. I kept close watch on how they were doing. One of them had parried the blow of Kagachi's katana, leaving an opening for Klein and another of his guildmates to rush in and get some hits. I noticed after they hit it, they took the boss's aggro and I decided to change that. I breathed in, and then out, letting my arrow fly and hit a weak spot in the boss's armor. I must have did an adequate amount of damage, as it stopped running after Klein and turned to face me. I swiftly changed my weapons, bringing my sword back out and running towards it.
"W-what are you doing, (Y/N)?!" I heard Klein yell. I ignored it and dodged an incoming attack. Swinging my sword, I got two hits in on it. The boss was not happy about that as I jumped back from another attack.
"You guys could help me if you wanted to, y'know!" I called out. They gasped and nodded.
"Right!" I jumped back and the Tank for Klein's guild rushed in to block a hit that was coming my way. Klein and his other friends took the chance to do an all out attack against the boss, pushing it into the corner of a building. It got out of the damaged building and hissed at them.
"I think you guys pissed him off." I smirked. Kagachi attacked Kirito and Asuna once more. He then growled and began to run after the two of them. My eyes widened.
"It's coming for you!" Klein yelled at them.
"Kirito's not going to be able to handle it..." I muttered. I began to run after the boss. Asuna ran over to Kirito to see if he was alright. Kirito only ran towards the boss to meet it head on.
"You dumb idiot!" I cursed. I was right to believe that Kirito wouldn't be able to handle it, as he tripped and tumbled to the ground right in front of the boss. For a moment, my SAO instincts kicked in. I'd blame it on the boss we're fighting being a boss from Aincrad. I swung my sword at Kagachi's right leg and helped Kirito get up. Kagachi fell down to the ground and was incapacitated for only a moment. I used it to help Kirito instead of killing the boss.
"You idiot!" I growled at him. He chuckled sheepishly. I glared over at him.
"You can't be stupid like that. This may not be SAO, but you can still hurt yourself here by falling like that." I muttered. He ran alongside me as we tried to get away from the boss.
"It's just hard to move." I huffed and Asuna and I spoke at the same time.
"You're just little out of shape is all/really out of shape is all!" We looked between each other and laughed as he gasped and panted.
"I'm not out of shape!" He exclaimed. The tiger player dove in between us with a rocket launcher.
"Watch it! I've got the kill shot!" He exclaimed, firing the rocket. Kagachi dodged the attack, sending the rocket flying at YUNA. Someone deflected the rocket, sending it crashing into the back of Kagachi. The person that protected YUNA landed. His rank appeared, causing everyone to gasp at it.
"Rank 2?" Asuna gasped out. Kagachi rose again, I readied myself, recognizing this pattern.
"We're entering the final stage!" I exclaimed. The samurai brought out his second blade.
"He's making his killer move! Tanks! Follow me!" I gasped as he got closer.
"Eiji?" I muttered under my breath. He easily dodged the beam attacks that the boss sent at him, getting a solid hit once he was close enough. Klein cheered him on.
"Nice hit, man! Come on!" He rushed forwards and his guild followed suit. Asuna cheered as well.
"Yes! Wait for me!" I stayed beside Kirito for a moment. I glanced at him to see he was a bit dismayed that Asuna went off without him.
"I'm going to go join in, you alright, Kirito?" I asked. He sighed and nodded.
"I just need to get used to this." I nodded as well and took off, following Asuna. There's only less than a minute left. Asuna got a decent hit on the boss, pushing it back and causing it to growl at her. Klein and his guild followed suit, causing it to turn and attack them. I took my chance and swung a few times at the opportunity I had spotted. I retreated afterwards behind the tank that Asuna stayed behind. Klein and his guildmate began running away, causing the boss to follow them. Eiji ran towards the boss as it was running after the Fuurinkazan members. His cuts were fast, almost too fast. Before I knew it, there was an X design in the boss's figure. Asuna took off from beside me and moved in to get the final kill. I smirked and switched to my bow.
"I don't think so, Asuna..." I nocked an arrow into place and let it loose, flying by and hitting it just after Asuna passed Eiji, getting the hit just as she dealt the killing blow on the boss. The boss exploded, causing a harsh wind to blow in all directions. I rushed forwards, past Eiji and to Asuna. She looked back at me, a dazed expression on her face. I was going to mention that I killed the boss at the same time as her. However, I decided not to, instead asking her what was wrong instead.
"Asuna?" I called out to her. She didn't get the chance to respond as YUNA began to talk.
"Congratulations on beating the boss! I just boosted everyone's points! And~ I have a special reward for the player who worked the hardest!" Asuna sheathed her blade and turned around, watching as Eiji walked away. Asuna then turned around and was greeted by YUNA, who kissed Asuna's cheek, followed by tightly hugging me.
"Huh?" "Eh?!" Asuna and I exclaimed at the same time. I could faintly hear Klein and Kirito gasping in either jealousy or shock. Probably jealousy for Klein and shock for Kirito.
"You two are this battle's MVPs. You both killed the boss at the same time, congratulations!" We both got 10,000 points each. She waved at us.
"See you at the next battle!" And then she vanished. Asuna was visibly flushed for a moment, then she turned around once more. I did the same, knowing she was looking for Eiji.
"That was the person I met today." I stated. She gasped and looked at me in shock.
"What? Really?" She asked and I nodded.
"Yeah. His name is Eiji. He used to go by Nautilus in SAO. He was actually a part of your squad in the Knights of the Blood Oath once. At least, that's the most I can remember at the moment." I told her. She furrowed her brows in thought. Then her eyes widened.
"I remember now. He froze up in the middle of a boss battle and nearly costed us the fight." I frowned and nodded.
"Yeah... The aftermath of that battle and the new orders he received from the higher ups is what I remembered. He was very distraught when he came to my home. I felt so bad for him, as it was his goal to join the front lines. I also remember bringing him to someone, but I can't remember who she was for the life of me. It's like my mind doesn't want me to remember her." I looked down dejectedly. Asuna placed her hand on my shoulder.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll remember soon enough. Maybe you could even ask Eiji to help you remember?" I smiled lightly at her and nodded.
"Maybe." Kirito approached the both of us.
"Nice job, you two." He then stood next to me as we faced the directed Eiji left in.
"So that guy's number two? He's a powerful player, that's for sure." I nodded. Afterwards we were looking at the rankings. Klein and his buddies were talking about their ranking status. I caught Asuna looking at Eiji's rank while Klein bothered Kirito about his placement.
"Looks like you barely moved up in rank at all, Kiri-dawg." Kirito gazed disinterested in the ranking.
"Like I care. I'm leaving the AR Raids to you guys." Klein chuckled.
"Make sure you get the lady home safe." He nudged Kirito with his elbow. Kirito scowled at his red bandanna wearing friend.
"Of course I will!" He exclaimed back. Klein looked over at Asuna.
"Hey, if the kid here gets fresh with you, give me a call. I'll come save you!" he chuckled. Asuna looked back over at him and chuckled back,
"You got it!" We all laughed as Kirito frowned. I walked with them as it seems like Kirito parked his bike right next to mine.
"You both drive save, alright? Also, Kirito, might want to make sure you didn't hurt yourself from that, fall?" I asked him. He sighed and nodded.
"Yeah, don't worry, I will." Asuna stopped me from getting on my bike.
"Hey, (Y/N), we're going to be in ALO after we all get some rest. Come join us when you're ready!" I smiled and nodded.
"Okay, I will!"
I'm quite shocked that I finished this battle scene so soon... Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed it!