VRMMOEQGRPG

by Yarael-BJ-Poof

Episode Four: Casualty

11.31.16 12:18P F#01

A twig snapped under Sunset's boot as it laid on the dirt path leading up the mountain. Its nonexistent life was taken immediately, but its killer felt no remorse. It was one of hundreds of snapped sticks on the long journey, and there were hundreds more to come.

Sunset paid it no notice, instead keeping on listening to the constant bickering between Kibaou and Anon.

Kibaou growled, "If this walking goes on any longer, I'm gonna pass on before we even reach the freaking boss."

Anon rolled his invisible eyes and retorted, "Then maybe you should have lost some pounds before playing an active game. A lot of pounds."

BURN.

Pinkie said at the back of the group, "Dayum, I wish I could think of good comeback lines like that. Hey Rainbow, think you could teach me how to do good comeback lines? You're really good at it."

Rainbow answered, "Maybe sometime, when we're not occupied with, oh, life and death."

Twilight was bringing up the rear, panting heavily and clutching her chest. "I guess others of us should have lost some weight as well."

Pinkie grabbed Twilight's shoulders. "You don't mean that, do you? Not all of us are fat blobs! I mean look at me! Look at this bodehhh..." she started to do a sexy-dance before Sunset smacked the back of her head.

Kibaou said, "Some things are impractical to some people. Maybe when we're done, you can do that dance again..."

"Speaking of impractical," Rarity said. "I once saw the absolute epitome of impracticality. Derpy once came to school wearing a burgundy top with a light brown skirt! And on top of that, she had yellow shoes!" she shuddered at the mere thought.

Everyone else groaned pretty loudly, but Agil chuckled and said, "Someone actually wore that color combination? That's pretty impractical, all right."

Every head turned to Agil with their jaws hanging down to the ground.

Agil said, "What, I took an interior design class, okay?"

Sunset nodded and said, "Interior designing is pretty interesting, if you know what colors go with whatnot."

A man in Anon's party said, "Like that awesome brown-and-offwhite combo they wear in Attack on Titan? That's pretty dang cool."

Rainbow said, "Oh man, I love that show. Can you believe Armin's scream was the number 1 ringtone of 2015?"

"Ringtones?" someone in Agil's party said. "People still vary with their ringtones? All I've heard recently is that freaking PPAP song."

Applejack said, "Ah will never understand the popularity of that song."

Anon, slightly ticked, said, "If we're all done going off on irrelevant topics, might I suggest we stop and have lunch? We obviously still have a long way to go."

Everyone agreed this was a good idea and all found stones and logs to sit on. The forest scenery was beautiful in the middle of the day, with the sun casting rays through the leaves and the branches.

A spider crawled out of a tree and stopped on Kibaou's sandwich. He immediately hacked them both to pieces, gaining 1 XP, much to everyone's amusement.

During the rest of the time, Anon read from the guidebook, about the different locations of items and details about enemies. Most people paid attention, except for Pinkie, who always found a way to get distracted, and Kibaou, who was fuming about his lost sandwich.

After lunch was over, they packed up and kept walking, although there was less conversation than before.

The massive tower in front of them was imposing enough, but the fact that it was at least ten miles away was just scary. Still, they kept on walking.

Walking as if their lives depended on it.

Which they did.

---

11.31.16 06:48P F#01

Anon slammed his sword into the ground before him. "Alright everyone, this is it. And before we go in, I have just one thing to say: Let's win!"

All the parties silently agreed, and Anon slowly pushed open the heavy wooden door. "Let's do this."

The door creaked open to reveal the darkness behind it. Nothing moved, nothing made a sound except the twenty pairs of boots walking down the corridor.

Kirito realized he was probably the only one present who had completed this level before. He prayed that his past experience would let everyone advance to the next level, to complete one step to freedom.

A pair of red eyes appeared at the end of the hall. Instantaneously, light flashed through the corridor, causing the walls to glow different colors and slowly ripple as if they were made of magma.

An enormous creature fell to the ground from where it had jumped. Its body resembled Rufus from Street Fighter, while its head was a mix of a bull and a wolf. Its flesh was a dull shade of red that seemed to barely cover the pulsing veins beneath. It wore a red tunic with black leggings, and had a gray diamond marking on its stomach. It carried an iron shield in one hand and a massive battle axe in the other. It had a truly ghastly appearance that, if it had appeared in real life, would make even the bravest of men cower in fear. Everyone wanted to do just that, but they stood their ground with their swords drawn.

Three small sentinels appeared next to it, each brandishing a stone club and wearing knight's armor and helmets.

All four started charging at the ready group of fighters.

Anon thought to himself, "This is what we've all been waiting for. This goes to all our fallen friends." he raised his sword and yelled, "ATTACK!!"

Most everyone immediately rushed at the beasts, yelling their own battle cries. Twilight and Rarity stayed slightly behind, while Sunset, Rainbow, Applejack, Kirito, and Asuna ran at them full force. Anon followed as well, keeping a pretty safe distance to issue orders.

There was a metallic clang as Agil's axe connected with the beast's own. Applejack and Kibaou soon followed, slicing at the monster's axe while it parried their attacks. A man jumped behind the boss's arm to dismember it, but was effectively blocked by the wooden butt of the axe. The turmoil became so chaotic that Anon had to stop everyone before they all killed themselves.

"Squad A and Squad C! Switch!"

The two teams immediately traded their places on the battlefront as the mighty weapon whizzed through the thin air where they had momentarily been.

"Here it comes, Squad B! Block!"

Agil affirmed, and he and his party held their weapons out as the boss's axe came into contact with them. They all were knocked slightly back, but no one was hurt.

"Squad C, keep guarding and get ready to switch! Now!"

Sunset yelled to the others, "Now's our chance!" She, Pinkie, and Rarity took a forward stand in front of the others, who all jumped out of the way and countered another blow. The monster's nostrils flared as its arm flew behind it.

"Squads D, E, and F, keep the sentinels off us! We're going in!"

Kirito said, "Roger that," and looked in Asuna's direction, but she was already off and running. He took off after her and reflected a hit from a club. Asuna kicked a sentinel's breastplate off and cut out a nice piece of its stomach. She then rushed ahead with her sword pointed forward, saying, "Number three!"

Kirito stopped. Thoughts ran through his mind. "I thought she was only a beginner, but she's incredible. She slices so fast I can't even see her blade."

Asuna dashed around a sentinel, blocking its strike and then whipping it over and blasting it to pieces. Her cloak settled around her figure once again.

Kirito smiled slightly and complemented her, "Nice going." He didn't have time to notice if she responded as another sentinel leaped in front of him and swiped its club at him. He parried it and knocked it away with a solid hit.

Rainbow, caught in the fray of fighting the boss, yelled to him, "Kirito! You can do this! We're all counting on you guys!"

Kirito clenched his fist and rushed at the sentinel, blocking each slice it delivered. He nearly stabbed through its helmeted face, but another player beat him to it by cutting off its head in a clean stroke. It died in a burst of glowing triangles.

He and the other player quickly shook hands, then went right back to fighting.

Except there was nothing to fight anymore. The boss had ceased attacking. It threw its axe and shield into the air and they landed with a clank behind it.

Sunset wondered, "Did we really get rid of its three health bars already? We might actually beat this thing!"

Kibaou laughed, "Looks like that guidebook was right."

Anon yelled, "Stand back!"

The group turned around to look at him, but he was running at the currently unarmed beast. "I'll go. I can handle this thing!"

Kirito stopped. "Wait," he thought. "Weren't we supposed to surround it with the entire group? Is this even wise?"

The boss reached behind it and pulled out—a longsword with two points on the end. The exact opposite of a Talwar.

Anon kept running. Kirito thought, "That's not a Talwar, it's a Nodachi! It's different than in the beta test!" He wanted to stop Anon before he got killed, but found himself unable to move. He just gathered all his strength to scream, "NO!!!"

Anon, glowing sword in hand, turned around to look at Kirito, as did everyone else. The beast leaped into the air and wall-jumped off the vaulted ceilings. It was moving almost too fast to keep track of.

And then, it dove straight down and slashed open Anon's chest.

Kibaou yelled, "ANON! NO!" Anon's body flew across the hall and thudded as it came to a stop on the other side. The monster landed in front of the group and roared right in their faces. Pinkie cowered behind Rarity, who was cowering behind Twilight, who was cowering behind Rainbow. They couldn't take their eyes off of Anon's motionless body or the beast that was sure to devour them.

Kirito ran over to Anon, healing potion at the ready. "Why did you try to take it alone?" he asked, putting the bottle to Anon's mouth as the other's health bar was draining. Anon pushed it away.

Kirito gasped. Anon weakly said, "You were a beta tester,weren't you?" This came as a shock. Anon able to figure out Kirito was a beta tester, a fact Kirito was making a point to keep secret.

"You...were after the rare attack bonus item." This was an even bigger shock. The ordinary players had no clue that the bonus item existed. "You mean you were a beta tester too?"

Anon nodded and smiled slightly. "Please...defeat...defeat the boss..." His body began to glow. "For everyone..." With that, Anon disappeared in a burst of light and ceased to be.

The others stared at the scene in horror. No one wanted to believe what just happened had actually happened.

Kirito couldn't bring himself to cry. Instead he thought about how Anon had taken routes he would never have taken. About how Anon always stood by the other players while Kirito only cared about his own survival.

Asuna appeared by Kirito's side. "I'll go too."

Kirito gathered his voice and courage and said, "Thanks. Let's do this."

The beast roared. Kirito and Asuna ran at it like they had done with the sentinels. It was the exact same as the sentinels, only bigger, Kirito was telling himself.

All the other players were on the ground, ready to admit defeat. Twilight couldn't believe any of this had happened. But she noticed that Kirito didn't give up. She admired his courage.

Kirito lunged at the boss with a wide-ranged slash. Its Nodachi glowed and crossed with his sword. Kirito shook it off and yelled, "Switch!"

Asuna jumped high in the air to catch the top of the boss's head, but it was wise and swung its sword at her in midair.

"ASUNA!" he shouted. Asuna's cloak was ripped to shreds, but she was unharmed. As the hood and cape came off, they revealed lots of long brunette hair, shining brown eyes, and a well-developed figure. Kirito couldn't help but stand there and stare. He had given a few thoughts as to what she might look like, but he never would have imagined that she would look so...

...beautiful...

He came to his senses as the boss's sword crashed down a few feet away from him. He spun around and hit the sword multiple times, while each hit was blocked. The monster raised it suddenly, and brought it down. It cut a straight, shallow gash along Kirito's stomach. He launched backwards and knocked over Asuna. His health bar was depleted quite a bit, but not enough to finish him off. That was the beast's intention as it raised its sword once again, ready to dispose of its two attackers.

The blade came down on—another blade. Kirito opened his eyes and saw Rainbow standing there, holding off the heavy Nodachi. The boss fell back, ready to attack again.

Asuna looked at Rainbow, then Kirito. Rainbow looked down at Kirito and said, "We'll hold it off until you recover."

Agil stepped forward and agreed with her. All of his men, and the six students from Canterlot High rushed at the beast with their swords in attack position.

There were several seconds of intense fighting before the boss leaped in the air and thrusted its sword into the ground, causing a shockwave that blasted everyone away. It then rushed at the floored Agil and Rainbow, ready to finish the job. Kirito got to his feet and yelled, "I'll finish you first!"

The two blades crossed again, but this time, Kirito's was glowing. He cut a slash across the boss's upper body, then yelled to Asuna to switch.

She did, and she stabbed through the beast's belly and made a deep gash around the left half of its body. Kirito then cut all the way through its body at the same time Asuna did, causing it to fly in the air. It began to glow a light shade of blue before imploding.

The boss was defeated.

Kirito was exhausted from the sheer agony of the past ten minutes. The difference of this fight and the one in the beta was overwhelming. And Anon...

Asuna put a hand to her racing heart and said, "I suppose we can move on to the second floor now."

"Yeah," Kirito wiped a load of sweat from his face. He got down on one knee and tried to gain his strength again.

"WE DID IT!!!" Everyone started cheering and jumping around.

Pinkie got a party cannon out of absolutely nowhere and shot it. "If there's a party, there's gotta be loads of confetti!"

A small viewscreen appeared in front of Kirito. It read, "Congratulations, you got the last attacking bonus! Coat of Midnight"

Applejack came up and patted his shoulder. "That was some mighty fine swordplay if Ah say so myself."

Agil helped him up and said, "If it weren't for you and Asuna, we would most likely all be dead."

"Well..." the group started clapping before Kirito could finish his sentence. It was quickly stopped by an angry "WHY?!"

They all turned to look at Kibaou. "Why did you let Anon die?"

Everyone gasped. "Let him die?" Kirito was in shock again.

"OF FKING COURSE! You knew about that technique the boss used! If you had told us about it before we started, he wouldn't have died!"

Everyone exchanged awkward glances. Someone in Anon's party said, "I know! He's probably a beta tester! That's how he knew all the attack patterns! He remembered them from the beta!"

Someone else said, "Come on, any other beta testers here? There shouldn't be, since none of us knew the boss's moveset!"

All the members looked around at each other. The six CHS students knew none of them were beta testers. Others were not too sure.

Kirito was fuming. "This is bad..." He remembered Anon's final words: for everyone. But then he saw the rare item in front of him.

Agil confronted Kibaou again. "Come on, there..." He was cut off by the sound of laughing.

Kirito was laughing. "Beta tester? Ha, don't even think about comparing me to those noobs."

Asuna and Sunset exchanged glances. This was getting weird.

Kirito got up and continued, "The 10000 beta testers were bottom-level beginners who didn't even know how to collect items. All you guys are better than they'll ever be."

Kibaou growled.

"But I'm not like them. I made it to a higher floor than anyone else in the beta test. The reason I knew those attack patterns was because I fought monsters with katana skills on floors high above us. I know more than any guidebook or info broker. Lots more."

Rainbow didn't like this. Kirito was starting to sound evil.

Kibaou thundered, "That's worse than a beta tester! You're just cheating!!" His party members started yelling it with him. "Cheater! Cheats, cheats and cheating!"

"You're a beta tester AND a cheater!"

"BEATER!!!"

The voice of unknown ownership hung over the crowd like a dagger.

"Beater..." Kirito repeated. "I like that. I am a beater. From now on, don't confuse me with all those other testers."

Kibaou's jaw was hanging open. Kirito opened his menu and activated the Coat of Midnight. It immediately appeared over his simple blue tunic: a majestic black cloak with silver studs and a decorated base.

Rarity saw it and fell in love with it at once. If–no–when she escaped the game, she was going to design one just like it. Possibly a unisex version.

Kirito smugly brushed past everyone and walked up the stairs to the next floor. Sunset, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Twilight, Pinkie, and Asuna ran after him. "Wait!"

He slowly turned around to face them.

Asuna spoke up first. "When we were fighting the boss, you called me by my name. How did you know it?"

Kirito pointed in the air. "Right about there, you can see an HP bar with the player's name. You can see mine, can't you?"

Asuna looked. "Kirito? Your name's Kirito?"

He turned away again. "Yeah."

Asuna laughed. "Oh, I'm so stupid. It was there the whole time and I didn't notice!"

Rainbow whispered to Applejack, "I saw it as soon as we got introduced. What took her so long?"

Applejack shushed her to let Kirito talk. "If the time ever comes when someone invites you to join a guild, don't turn it down. There are limits to what a swordplayer can do."

"But, you're going solo."

Kirito opened his menu and disbanded his party.

The door opened and Kirito walked away.

The seven girls stood there in disbelief. They weren't sure whether to follow him or not.

They weren't sure whether they would even see him again.

They weren't sure if they would even make it out alive.

Author's Note:

YESSSSSSS I FINALLY BROKE 3000 WORDS!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, all that aside, what did you think of this chapter? This was my very first attempt at writing an action sequence, so I apologize if it's not all that good. I will probably get better as the story progresses, since there's a lot more action scenes to come. Also, reader feedback, should they immediately go with Kirito or wait up and meet him again later?

Bonus: try to spot when I started quoting the dub instead of the sub.

Comments

[Mkchief34]

Nice!

[violet_star_267]

Your Action scenes were perfect! But I thought the first boss was blue....And what was with anon? I remember someone different lol. Other than that, good gravy this is awesome!

[Yarael-BJ-Poof]

7826347 Thanks, and yes the boss was red. I was watching the episode to see how to interperet it, and it was red. (I guess some other boss must be blue, but I haven't gotten that far into the series yet.)
And about the Anon, I wanted to put him in the story as a side character, but he ended up replacing that guy Diabel and just died. I wanted to experiment with using him as a third-person character, I've only seen one other story that used him other than second-person.

And thanks Again for positive feedback, I'm enjoying writing this