Secret of SAO

Road to Redemption

The morning came and Sugu was hovering over the couple, that was zonked out at the side of Kazuto's bed.

Their eyes fluttered open.

"Kazuto...?" Sugu leaned back.

Kazuto's eyes narrowed, but were still dark and soulless looking.

Asuna leaned over and saw the sandwich missing. "You ate your sandwich! That wasn't so hard." Asuna rejoiced.

Kazuto couldn't believe she would get that excited about it.

"Kazuto... will you finally join us in Starfield Glade?" Sugu asked.

Kazuto turned away from her. That was the last thing he wanted to do, right now.

"Don't worry! Take your time, but promise me, you will come back soon!" Sugu smiled enthusiastically, to compensate for his depressed appearance.

He had no idea, why they would be so nice to him. "...sure..." He spoke like he was less than thrilled about it.

"We need to get going Kazuto. I will come by later and make you something to eat. Okay?" Asuna tried to be strong for Kazuto, but inside, she was breaking apart.

Kazuto migrated to the bed, after they left and then he heard a sound on his computer, that now drew all of his attention.

"Is this thing on? I think I got it guys!"

Kazuto immediately recognized the voices to belong to the MBCs.

"No Way! Are you sure, Ducker?"

"Kirito! Are you there?!" Tetsuo's voice rung through the main monitor. "We have been trying to get a hold of you, for quite sometime!"

Keita stood in the view. "We were disappointed, when you never showed up." His expression toned down a few notches. "If you don't want to play, that's cool. But we are worried about Sachi. She never surfaced in ARK, that we know of. So, we were wondering if you had seen her. If you get this message, then logon and meet us on the eastern beaches. We'll wait for you there."

"Hey guys! New recruits!" A voice came from behind them.

They whipped around to see a few men on raptors.

"We aren't looking to join any guild's right now. We are just trying to find our friends." Shiro informed them, refusing their offer.

"You will join our tribe! We are the toughest on the entire island and our fortress is impenetrable. You couple of newbies don't stand a chance against the creatures or armies that reign here. You don't join us, you will be forced to join another. I would accept that offer, if I were you." The man challenged.

"You think you can win us over, by intimidating us, you have another thing coming. If we join a tribe, it will be solely our decision. You cannot force us!" Shiro deterred.

"This one has spirit. Just the kind of man, we need in our tribe." The man approached him. Shiro started to suspect he was a leader of some sort. He turned his attention to Sachi. "What about you miss? Think you have what it takes to stand up to me?"

Sachi was not as composed as Shiro. "Yes."

The leader turned back to Shiro. "You want a chance to solo, then I will give you one chance. Defeat me in a one on one, you and your miss are free to go."

"That isn't a fair fight!" Shiro protested. "You know as well as I do, that a new player can't take on an advanced player like you, with expert gear!"