• Published 15th Sep 2019
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EQG: Sword Art Online - Aincrad - Mindrop



The Girls get trapped in the newest video game, Sword Art Online. If you die in the game, you die in real life.

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Episode 72 1+1=W - Part 2

Floor 35
June 21 - Year 2

Lunch is finished and the Wondercolts and Geigi Clan are discussing the concerns or approval of a merger, as well as asking any question.

The silence could be cut with a knife, Bladescape thought as the lapse in discussion dragged on. It was to this that Diemond, Kiefer and Lessa returned.

“Fine,” Diemond huffed as she took in the scene. “If you all won’t talk, I will. I am absolutely for the merger. And Kiefer and Lessa are down with it as well. However, there are a few things you need to understand. You, members of Geigi Clan, are not up to par. And it is not your levels that I mean.

“Your look, is fine. Equipment, though, you need upgrades. I don’t do weapons, but armor I know. And yours is lacking. If we merge, well then, I am already woefully behind in making your gear. And I have some good designs lined up.

“I have one thing to note.” Diemond gave them all a hard look. “We would all be Wondercolts. I’m not changing things. I worked too hard on our image. I know at least some of you understand that.

“Here is what is going to happen,” Diemond said firmly. “The only Wondercolt whose armor is without a horsehead is Doombunny. Joltron only has one on his cape. Most of our helmets are horse heads. I spent hours layering things until it was right. I spent even more time on our scale armor. Now, I can wipe all that hard work away and start fresh, except for one thing. I can’t beat Ashley’s Dagannoth Plate Armor. That is one of the best sets of armor this game will ever see. And loud and proud on its chest is our symbol."

Lobelia leaned over to Bladescape and whispered into her ear. "I hadn't considered your armor and the horseheads."

"My armor is an unavoidable aspect we can't get around," Bladescape whispered back.

"I understand completely," Lobelia replied.

They turned their full attention back to Diemond.

“You are all wonderful, amazing people and players. We match. Our ideologies are very similar, if not the same, but when it comes down to it, the blue and yellow horse head has more status and would be a greater loss to the front line morale than Geigi Clan ever will be. You are clearers, we are members of the Assault Team.

“You are about the art of being human. We are about the power of friendship. We value Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, and Empathy. All of that is a magic that is special to humans. All humans. We strive to be all that, the very best humanity has to offer, to everyone because that is what they deserve. It is admittedly not as artful as you are, but we could certainly use a little classing up. Both of us want to be the best humans can be and display the best we can be for all to see and be inspired by.

“So, if you are in, I have something to show you.”

“And that is?” Kamishi asked, trying to stay calm despite his obvious excitement.

Diemond grinned. "The prototype for your armor. Making more sets of our scale armor can’t be done in the timeframe, but maybe once everyone is up to par... I like to keep things as unified as possible, and I will have a few designs because I know the different needs of the armor classes. We can work to personalize armor after everyone is brought up to par."

Diemond smiled coyly. “Darling, you didn’t think that old hakama was out on the table on a complete accident, did you? I did actually forget to put it away after using it as a reference yesterday. It was a mistake. Oh, and I said reference, not pattern."

Diemond called out Lessa. “For the ladies, this is a Light Armor design. It is black because I am still working out the details. It's still missing something, but I call it streamline samurai chic. It's designed to accentuate our womanly figure, while still being what we need for protection. The plates are a light, strongly woven fabric layered together, rather than traditional materials, allowing for a slimmer line. I also used inside stitching and anchors to avoid the traditional bumps seen in the Japanese armor style. This makes it smoother and more beautiful, yet it evokes the traditional feeling."

Diemond looked over to the door and Kiefer strode out. “Now for the men. The color for this model is red backed with green because this was my last design for Klein of the Fuurinkazan guild, but it didn’t fit his spirit. It is quintessential samurai. It was too heavy on the plates for his ronin warrior style, but for you, well I saw 7 very strong and handsome men who will fill this design out and make something of it. Heads will turn and players will wonder who the guys in the Wondercolts are that are keeping the ladies looking oh so fine.”

“Um,” Tariq said, standing up.

“Yes, dear?” Diemond asked sweetly.

“That is Light Metal Armor too, right?”

“Mhm,” Diemond nodded. “Why?”

“It looks good, but I have Heavy Metal Armor since I am a Tank. I was wondering, what were you thinking for the Tanks.”

Diemond smiled coyly. “You like the beefy samurai look, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Tariq admitted.

Diemond chuckled playfully. “I can easily make you a heavy set that will make you look like a terracotta samurai. All players will see is a powerful suit of armor that can somehow move. Only your eyes will be visible behind your mask. It will probably resemble a horse head as well.

“Another question,” Tariq asked. Diemond nodded and he continued. “Can you make it yellow with Blue? Can the guys be yellow and blue? Chok and Rancor are also Tanks.”

“Well,” Diemond said, thinking. “It could be aesthetically pleasing. Or it might be too much yellow. It would be 9 guys of 50 players, which might be too heavy for accent soldiers.”

“I like my armor,” Joltron said. “The samurai look doesn’t go with my shield. So make it 8.”

“7,” one of the guys said. “I’m Delton. I won’t be fighting anymore. I switched to being a cook, but, as asked, my combat skills are still active so I can defend myself if needed. So don’t count me in that.”

“7 would be more accent rather than separation," Diemond said. "Meaning that it is weighing that request in your favor. I would have to look at how it all would go together to be yellow. My biggest concern is that our yellow is rather soft. It makes an excellent accent color, but it may not make a good primary color. I will investigate it.”

“I can accept that,” Tariq said, sitting down.

“I can make strong dresses out of woven material that will be classified as leather armor, or no armor,” Diemond added. “But, enough from me. You know my thoughts and see some of my ideas and my skill. Plenty of you haven’t spoken up.”

Kiefer and Lessa went to change out of the armor. One of Geigi Clan’s women finally spoke up. “Lobelia, I joined to follow you and your ideas. Where would this merger leave you?”

“A councilor,” Bladescape immediately said before she looked at Lobelia beside her. “Unless you don’t want it.”

“I would be honored,” Lobelia replied. “It would be nice to retain some control. I worked hard to get us to this point.”

“And you would be very welcome to help keep us goin',” Backbreaker said. “You know them, and you know how to handle a larger guild. We will need that expertise. And you earned it.”

“Just me would give us an even council,” Lobelia said.

“It sounds like Kamishi does a lot for you,” Bladescape said. “And from what I have heard, he is fast, smart, strong, and wise. He knows how to lead, and he is your lead male. The others follow his lead too. He knows your guild, and it means we would not overshadow you all with a nearly full Wondercolts Council. He would be my first choice to round us out to a council of 5."

Kamishi didn’t say a word. He just sat there, reactionless.

Lobelia stood up. “Is anyone going to give us a valid reason to not merge?” She drew the hard line since none of the members were drawing it.

No one responded.

"Just sit down," Kamishi told her. "They are all followers."

"Excuse me?" Backbreaker snorted.

Kamishi looked her hard in the eyes. "You heard me. They all are followers. Even the Wondercolts."

Backbreaker was taken aback and offended. Kamishi didn't stop as he explained. "None of it is bad. Every player in this room is a warrior. Everyone can fight on the front lines. Some of us need some training to stay current, but even without it, we all have proven that we are warriors.

"The world is split into leaders and followers, and there are significantly less leaders than followers. You can be a great warrior, but not a leader. That is how the world functions and it doesn't make you any less of a warrior.

"Doombunny is the perfect example. She is amazing at what she does. Few have the guts she has. A dagger is arguably the fastest weapon in SAO, but the closeness required to use it is dangerous to a front-line soldier and requires nerves of steel. Despite those steel nerves and undisputable skill, when we teamed up the other day, she stayed with Diemond. You wouldn't ask her to lead a unit on the front lines. That would be dumb. Her strength is to be led and pointed to the job. She then uses her skills to quickly complete the task.

"Diemond might have been leading some of us, but she isn't either. She was more of a cheerleader. A really good one who can see the potential of a player and help pull it out. And as a Tank, she has learned to direct others in battle since they rely on her for protection. She can do some, but you wouldn't send her to lead a team every day from here on out. Why? Because she isn't a leader.

"Kiefer is learning, and has good potential. I am sure he has matured a lot since this game started. His youth is being hidden well. I wish he didn't have to grow up as fast as he did. However, he has become a good, strong man from it.

"Thunderborne has pep, but it's sports pep and leadership, not death game and soldier leadership. Being a captain of a sports team isn't the same as being captain of an army where each decision made will only dictate how much blood is spilled. Not if it will be spilled, only how much. That is our reality.

"Astro had game leadership experience with guilds, that is obvious, but she doesn't have quite the gall to keep everything going without support. Again, none of that is bad.

“The girls in Geigi clan are great warriors too, but most of them default to the guys. They follow them. A few stand on their own and have good leadership potential, but they are not aggressive enough. Which is fine. The fact that they made it to the front line is what is important. They have done more than most players to free us, and they will continue to do more, because each of them is a strong woman of great honor and they deserve the utmost respect for it.”

"And me?" Backbreaker asked.

Kamishi shook his head slowly. "Sorry, but you are a follower."

Bladescape saw it coming and yanked Backbreaker back into her seat as she tried to stand up.

"You can lead a little bit, but you are a grounder," Kamishi explained. "You are a strong support for the leaders. You keep them even keeled. You keep them honest and you keep them realistic. But you can't keep leading at the very front day after day. And that is shown in the boss battles. Everyone needs you to be the cornerstone, the Iron Bulwark who doesn't bend. Not a leader though.

"Lobelia, who I swore to follow, is burned out from leading her warriors. She did an amazing job, but unfortunately this game is taxing and the war is difficult to sustain. We can't just train up replacement soldiers. She put up a very good fight. But she isn't the only one unable to hold on under the pressure. It is why we are here, meeting with you and discussing this merger."

"And you are a leader," Backbreaker snipped.

Kamishi laughed heartily. "I'm the leader of the followers. I prefer to be the supporter of the leader. I can lead, but I find I am best as the second. I can keep going better and longer if my energy is put into the second or third position. Daily responsibility, but not out front the entire time. I know my limitations.

"This game is brutal and many of us have been fighting on the front line since the start. That means over 18 months of no breaks. In the real world, many countries no longer deploy soldiers for more than a year because of how taxing it is, yet here we are, unable to get a real break. And if we took one we would fall behind and be unable to catch up. There is no rotating out or being on reserve in this reality.

"There is only one way we are all getting out of here alive."

"Fight," Thunderborne said with conviction.

"No," Kamishi said, shocking Thunderborne and others. "The only way we get out of here is to find the real, true leaders and follow them. They will have an answer for everything. They will know how to use each of us to our full potential, including how many we can lead and how often we can. They will be ambitious; at the top. But the difference between the lone wolves who are great warriors, Kirito is the king lone wolf, the difference is that the true leaders do it to be stronger for those they lead. They do it to be the example and they spend every minute they can making adjustments to be the best or to take their followers to the next level.

"There is one leader in this room." Kamishi looked at Bladescape who had her hands folded in her lap and was sitting up straight. "Bladescape is one of those real leaders. And it’s the reason she is at the head of the table. You know it, and so does she. It is what she has been doing since the beginning, even if she didn't fully understand it. You even instinctively asked her what she thought at the very start. No matter if she knew from the start of this game or not, she found she needed to be in charge because it was what was best. For people like Bladescape, they are just natural leaders."

The room stayed quiet as all eyes were on Bladescape. She sat there, not saying anything. She was waiting for any final arguments. She had realized where Kamishi had been going since almost the start. When they had teamed up she had fought with him. Despite it being her day off as leader, her leadership still naturally came out. She had noticed him watching her when she took charge, but it was never in a bad way.

Bladescape slowly stood up. She was firm. She was the leader they were looking to, so she made the decision. "No dissenting opinions have been given with substantial evidence or reason as to why this merger should not happen. We need no new deliberation. In a week from now we will have the ceremony here in our guild hall to take in the new members.

"All of you are welcome. I know we have those who no longer want to fight. I understand and respect that. This so-called game has whipped us all hard, and Geigi Clan has lost friends to it. I hope you will join us and play a critical role in the guild and front line fight. Cooking for 50 players is not easy, but knowing we are going back to a warm dinner is very important, I don't know how to even express the depth of how it will keep us going. You would support us by keeping morale and logistics up. Keeping a sword on the front line is just as important as being the one to swing it, if not more so. We will be an oversized guild. Not all of us have to fight to clear this game. We need every weapon and shield available, but we also do need support comrades."

"Question?" one of the girls nervously asked. She stammered out her question after Bladescape gave her a reassuring nod to ask. "If we don't know if we want to join the Wondercolts?"

"A good question," Bladescape said, smiling at her. "I believe the best course of action is to allow those who are unsure to join as probationary Wondercolts. You have a lot of friends here, and with new ones to gain. Friendship isn't something I want any of you to lose, and I know you guys too don’t want to leave your friends. You have been through so much together, too much to easily throw away. Keep that in mind. We will know ahead of time of your decision, so you can either directly join up, or try it out. We will begin by training you, no differently than any other Wondercolt. If you don't like it, fine. A guild is a personal choice and a family. I think you will be pleasantly surprised though.

"We will need to work out a strong structure for our expanded Wondercolts. One that reflects our new numbers. We need a chain of command."

"I can solve that," Lobelia said. "My father is a Major in the Japanese Self Defense Force, specifically the Ground Defense Force. I know the ranks and organizational structure very well. I already have a basic idea of how to best organize us."

"I would love to discuss it," Bladescape said. "Quietly though. It is going to be time for dinner prep soon. We can begin that and enjoy dinner together."

Tariq stood up and bowed. "Thanks, but the rest of us have some things to think on, and probably talk about. The leaders staying away for a few hours might be wise."

"Understood," Bladescape nodded. "Councilors, let's meet on the fifth floor. We can use the beds to sit on since all the chairs are down here."

They were the first to stand up. The others had decided to let them fully leave before they even stood up. The climb up to the fifth floor was something Bladescape hadn't done in a long time. It was a lot more steps than she remembered, mostly because she never went above the third floor, and the first door at that.

They moved a privacy screen and pulled a bed over so the six of them could sit two to a bed in a triangle.

"Good job," Kamishi told Bladescape as they sat down. "You took charge, just like we needed you to. I admit, I was concerned you wouldn’t take the authority given to you. It’s not an easy burden to shoulder."

"You gave a good speech, even if it was a bit harsh." Bladescape replied, "Diemond had them very interested, and you sealed the deal. I hate that they got hit with the truth as hard as they did, but you were right. As long as we have the warriors they are, that is what matters. That and that I don't fail."

"That is why you have me, and Lobelia joining you," Kamishi fired back with a warm smile. "As well as Astro and Backbreaker. We will give you that support so you do not fail. The only other player on the front I might possibly follow is Commander Heathcliff, but he lacks something that you have. I'm not sure what it is though."

Bladescape looked at Lobelia. "So, structure?"

"Every unit should have a lead and a secondary officer," Lobelia explained. "We can use Niso, First Sergeant, for the senior officer, and Shicho, Leading Private, for the junior officer. There are 5 councilors and we can put seven full parties and a party of five together. That means we will need others. They can be finalized later."

"Sounds good," Bladescape replied. "What else?"

"Shikiku has always had a good rapport with the others. I want to put her as our Socho. A Socho is the name for the Sergeant Majors, the highest ranking non-commissioned officers. They usually have 15 plus years of experience. They are lifers who run the unit for the new officers. She can be their best go to for support, and give us a feeling for how the others are doing and what they are thinking. It is a key position, and it doesn't put her on the council to off balance us again. Plus, she has always taken a back seat to everything."

"I would prefer not to be a councilor," Shikiku said. "Your role for me is one I would not only enjoy, but believe is necessary."

"Keeping connected is key," Bladescape said. "I like it."

Lobelia continued. "As for us, Kamishi will be our Ichii, Captain. I will be the Major, Sansa. Astro will be Nisa, or Lieutenant Colonel. Colonel, or Issa, will be Backbreaker. Finally, you will be our Kaisho, or Commander of the Army."

"Okay," Bladescape said. "I want Kiefer as one of our officers. I think he would make a good training officer. He knows how we function for our training regiments. We will need to do something special to catch everyone up level wise, but after he will be able to run our training regimen. He was already starting to lead training teams."

"Then we can put him as our Lieutenant, or Nii," Lobelia replied. "He will be our only full officer who is not a council member."

"I think that sounds good," Backbreaker said, standing up.

"Not so fast," Lobelia said. "We will need to standardize who is in what party. That way they go to their officer first, who then can come up the chain of command with any questions. You, Bladescape, will have a lot to do, but you will always have a lot of people to delegate to so it runs smoothly."

"Right," Bladescape nodded. "But every day is different. I am not sure I like locking everyone into a single party. If we have a boss raid, Field or Floor, we will probably have to pull members from multiple parties."

"Back up plans," Lobelia said, thinking. "Well, we certainly don't have the numbers of a regular unit. In the real world, all of us would be under the command of a single officer in one platoon. We will need more flexibility since we are not a modern army and the rules are different here. Our guild will need the flexibility of a regiment or battalion, not the focused unit of a platoon. We can gain that flexibility if we integrate defense conditions into our structure."

"Defense conditions?" Astro asked.

"Commonly called DefCon," Lobelia explained. "And usually they come with a color. Green is no threat, yellow is a little heightened threat. Orange is threat but no war, troops are ready to move. Red is war. And blue typically means nuclear weapons have been launched."

"That is no good," Backbreaker said. "Blue is our color."

"We can make the colors our own," Bladescape reminded Backbreaker. "Blue can be regular parties. Yellow can be the secondary ones, where we have our raiders separated into two parties. We can make internal changes between those two as we need. And then I guess, we should have a color for special assignments. Assigning 50 to parties will take time, but we need the ability to do so."

"Then I suggest BluCon, YelCon, RedCon, and WhiteCon," Lobelia said. "Red means meet up in the guild hall for special assignments and white is for the day off. We can put up color boards and set the color for the day. At least one in the dining hall so everyone can easily see it."

"If not a few others to make it easier on everyone," Astro said. "Tactical redundancy."

"I like it," Lobelia replied with a wink. "Now you are thinking like a soldier. Especially a Nisa."

"Nisa Astro," Astro said, nodding her head with a sly grin. "I like it."

"Good," Lobelia smiled. "Because it will get used, but we need it to be used to pull off a guild of 50 clearers with members of the Assault Team. If we need to fine tune it, we will. But this will give us a great base to start with."

"Don't soldier units usually have numbers and names? Or symbols?" Backbreaker asked.

"They do," Lobelia nodded. "We could give designations to the parties. It probably would be best to have them based on the senior officer of that party. If they don't change between BluCon and YelCon, that would be wisest. Then the others just fall under their officer for that day's color."

"How long have you thought over this?" Bladescape asked.

"I have played with this for a few months," Lobelia admitted. "But I didn't have the council or officers to pull it off. It all fell on my shoulders. I just set the parties, and if we needed to change up, okay. But we never needed to make big changes. If any were done, Kamishi oversaw a lot of those changes."

"Okay," Bladescape said, thinking. "I think...I think this is wise. We will go for this to start. We have a course set. In a week we will do the ceremony of some sort."

"We can set that up," Shikiku said.

Bladescape nodded. "Okay, then we will also need stats for every member in 5 days. Give them the time to think, but we will need to know to make our final preparations."

"What do you need to know?" Shikiku asked. "That will probably be best gathered by me."

"Total Level, exact XP, and their combat skills,” Bladescape said. “We need to know what armor class, weapons, and if they use a shield, as well as how strong each Skill is." Bladescape turned to Kamishi. "Kamishi, I want to know what each member is fighting wise: Tank, Forward, or Damage. I know I saw some Lancers and Shield Users, give me all the role data you can."

"I'll get you that," Kamishi said. "Lobelia and I will also come up with a ranking for suggested officers. Outside of Kiefer, are there any Wondercolts who you want to see as potential party officers?"

"Thunderborne," Bladescape immediately said. "Let's not waste that peppy sports leadership she has. Plus, she can make really good rally speeches and pep talks.

"Otherwise, they are too busy. AFCK will be running the kitchen, but even if she wasn't, she would not be someone I would assign to lead a party. Diemond does too much work for us as our Armorer to even be considered. Lessa is too hesitant, and she also repairs our equipment."

"Noted," Kamishi said.

"I suggest we give them titles," Lobelia said. "Specifically AFCK. Itamae is a special Japanese chef. That title will make the kitchen hers. I know she will run it well."

"What is armorer?" Backbreaker asked.

"That doesn't exactly have a transferable name," Lobelia admitted. "But for Diemond, and maybe Lessa, Juni means warrant officer. They are technical specialists in their field, but they are not commissioned officers."

"I like it," Bladescape said. "Juni Diemond. We can see how it plays for Lessa. Often our equipment is repaired by Lisbeth. Lessa has gone up in rank for the Metal Equipment Repair Skill, but she doesn't always have time."

"We have a few who maintain things for us as well," Lobelia replied. "We will also get you a list of support skills, not just combat. We might as well get all the skills for each member, with full details so we can sort them out."

"Good idea," Astro said. "I know Skills and Stats are personal, but we will need it all to get things situated properly and find the perfect place for each of them. We need all of us, together, to assign everyone, but this lays a very good foundation. And we don't know the Geigi Clan members. This info will be crucial to ensure we build a safe guild that is strong. We will compile ours as well and swap them so everyone is on the same page."

"Sounds good," Lobelia replied. "We should probably head out."

"Nonsense," Bladescape replied. "Let them have their time away from the leaders to think. The six of us, let's go out for dinner and give the Wondercolts a break. Not everyone is thrilled after all."

"Alright," Lobelia replied. "Lead on."

"I hope AFCK didn't make too much," Astro said. "I won't be there to eat my half. It will all rest on Thunder's shoulders."

AFCK hadn't started dinner. Diemond had twisted the others' arms into getting her tables back into her crafting room so she could start working on equipment. That had taken up their time while the leaders talked, and then they were starting to get everything back in order instead of an early dinner.

Bladescape had planned on helping put it all back, but the timing didn't seem like it would work. The leaders headed out to their dinner. It would be the first of many dinner meetings to plan the guild's activities.

Bladescape (SS): Lvl 83 – Two-Handed SwordSearchWeapon DefenseLeather Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Sprint – Acrobatics – Blade Throwing – Extended Weight Carry - Greatsword
Thunderborne (RBD): Lvl 75 – RapierSprintAcrobaticsArmor Pierce – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Leather Armor – Weapon Defense – Extended Weight Carry – Search
Backbreaker (AJ): Lvl 78 – Heavy ShieldOne-Handed War HammerExtended Weight CarryHeavy Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Fishing – Search – Martial Arts – Acrobatics
AFCK(PP): Lvl 75 – Two-Handed AxeParryCookingWeapon DefenseMartial Arts – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Thrown Weapon – Musical Instrument
Diemond (R): Lvl 75 – Heavy Shield – Mace – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Heavy Metal Armor – TailoringLight Metal Armor ForgingHeavy Metal Armor Forging – Jewelry Making – Extended Weight Carry
Doombunny (FS): Lvl 78 – One-Handed Dagger – First Aid – HideSearchListening – Battle Regeneration – Fighting Spirit – Familiar Communication (Colorra) – Drug Mixing – Reveal -- Fencing
Astro (PS): Lvl 75 – Two-Handed Spear - Purchase Negotiation – Armor Pierce – Acrobatics – First Aid – Light Metal Armor – Battle Regeneration – Weapon Defense – Parry – Extended Wight Carry
Kiefer: Lvl 73 – One-Handed Curved Blade – Parry – Weapon Defense – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Slash Weapon Forging – Katana – Martial Arts - Search - Armor Pierce
Lessa: Lvl 72 – One-Handed Sword – Shield – Light Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Equipment Repair – Metal Equipment Repairing – Armor Pierce – Search - Acrobatics
Joltron: Lvl 75 – One handed Axe – Heavy Shield – Heavy Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Metal Refining – Cooking – One Handed Weapon Creation – Two Handed Weapon Creation – Extended Weight Carry

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