Duo (A Sword Art Online Fanfic) ✔

Chapter Two

"Where did you get this?" I demanded, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Agil sent it to me!" Kirito told me, backing away. We were the same age, but I had always tended to be more intimidating than him.

"Well, then what the hell are we waiting for?!"

Kirito sighed, but followed me out of the building. As he lead the way to Agil's, I dropped back a bit, thinking.

What if the guard in the picture was Rikimaru? What if the girl trapped was Asuna? And if so, why was Rikimaru keeping her in a cage?

So many questions ran through my mind. I didn't even notice when we reached the bar where Agil worked.

"Yo! You're early, man!" He called to Kirito from across the room.

The bar was darkly lit and completely empty. Agil was behind counter, washing some glasses.

"What do you do?" Kirito asked, looking around, "Scare all your customers away?"

"Very funny. Man, at night, it's off the hook in here." Agil defended, holding up his hands.

"Well, I'm here. What's the deal with that picture you sent?" Kirito demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

I leaned forward, eagerly. My fists clenched nervously, waiting impatiently.

"Yeah, that's gonna take a little to explain." He sighed, "But first, check this out."

He tossed a disk case on the counter, causing us to draw closer to take a look at it.

ALfheim Online.

"A game?" I asked, confused.

"It's an MMO for the Amusphere." Agil explained, leaning on the bar, "It's what replaced NerveGear on the market."

"Huh. So, it's a VRMMO just like Sword Art. Alf-Heim Online?" Kirito asked.

"Er, actually, it's pronounced Alv-heim. Yeah, it means 'Land of the Fairies.'" Agil explained.

"Land of the Fairies. Sounds like a cute game." I muttered, frowning.

"Yeah, that's not what I hear." Agil disagreed, "For one, PKing's allowed. And it's got this hard-core skill system."

"What do you mean 'hard-core'?" Kirito asked.

"I mean, the game's not level based, it's skill based. You gotta use your skills over and over to improve them. And combat depends on your real-life physical abilities."

"That is hard-core." I agreed.

"There's no sword skills. Other than that, it's like SAO with magic. What I hear, people are going nuts for it, 'cause in the game, you feel like you're flying."

"Say what?"

"You know how fairies have wings? Well, the game's got this flight engine thing. Once you figure it out, you can fly."

"How does the player control it?"

"No idea, man." Agil admitted, "I do hear it's a pain to get used to though."

"Yeah, I bet." I agreed, "How are you supposed to control something you don't have? Maybe you have to use the muscles in your back..."

Agil cleared his throat, getting our attention back on the task at hand.

"Right. Okay, getting back to Asuna. What does she have to do with this game?"

"And Rikimaru!"

Agil pulled up the photo that had been sent to me when I was visiting Rikimaru.