Sword Art Online: Kasey's Story

Floor 1: Boss

Its been about a month since I lost Toshi. Dozens of players have died in here. Many of them died trying to find the boss on this level. There's supposed to be a meeting of some sorts to talk about the boss. They say that they've found the lair its in, they said that a couple days ago and turned out to be a fake. This should be good.

"Okay people, lets get started. First, I just want to thank everyone for coming, its good to see you. My name is Diabel, and my job, in my own mind, I like to think I'm a 'Knight'. Alright, so here's the deal, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower today. First, we need to defeat the boss and make it to Floor 2. The next step is, we have to tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game. Fact is, its our duty as the most capable players to get everyone out of here. Do you agree, or not?"

Everyone is silent and eyes start to wonder all over. One guy starts clapping and eventually they're all cheering him on.

"Okay, glad to hear you're all with me on this. Now, lets figure out how we're going to beat the boss. First off, we'll team up into parties of 6. A typical party doesn't stand a chance against a floor boss. We need to form a raid group made up of multiple parties."

The players around me start forming parties left and right. I haven't worked with anyone else since... since I lost my only friend, not just in here, but in the real world too. Jade nuzzles my face and I remember that I'm not alone. I remember what he said to me.

'Make friends... real friends'.

Just then, while I'm lost deep in my own thought, someone comes up to me.

"Let me guess, you got left out too?"

"No, I already have a partner."

Jade looks over my shoulder at the guy in front of me and smiles.

"Wow! You're a beast tamer, not many people can do that. I've only seen one other person tame a beast. Its rare. Anyway, wanna form a party?"

"I guess, we don't really have a choice."

I send him a Party Request and he immediately accepts it.

"Nope, we don't."

He chuckled and smiled. He had an amazingly perfect smile, except for one of his front teeth being chipped. I could tell from the way he carried himself that he was confident, maybe a little cocky. His green eyes matched his standard outfit. I notice that hes staring at me, looking up and down .

"What are you looking at?"

"Your personality."

I stare at him in confusion.

"I'm trying to figure out who you are, the real you, but its like you built such a huge wall around yourself that its harder then I thought. All I can see is a pretty cute guy."

I can feel my face burn and quickly turn my head around.

"W-Well, can you stop it, its creepy."

I was confused, what was it about this person that made me feel... this way? What feeling was this?

"Alright, looks like everyone's teamed up, now then-"

"Hold up a second!"

A man from the back screams out.

"My names Kibaou, got that! Before we take on the boss, I wanna get something off my chest. We all know about the 2000 people that died, well some of you need to apologize to them, right now!"

"Kibaou, I think I know who you're refering to, you mean the ones who were ex-beta testers, right?"

"Of course I mean them! The day this stupid ass game started, the beta guys ditched us beginners. They took all the good hunting spots, and all the easy quests too. They were the only ones getting stronger. This whole time they've ignored us like we're nothing. I bet there's some of them here. Come on out! We should make them apologize to us! Not to mention make them give up all their money and items they've gathered! They can't expect the party to trust them, when they don't trust us. Why should we!"