Digimon Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Moon Online: Shadow of Aincrad ❯ Chain of Broken Memories ( Chapter 13 )

With the start of this chapter, this arc of my fanfiction starts now and I think that you get the idea on what’s going to happen, but if you really want to know, you are going to have read and find out, fans! Like I said in the last chapter, I had a different idea, but the preview for the newest Sword Art Online game inspired me on this new idea and personally, I think that it made sense that my original idea. I hope that you like it, everyone! Now, before I would start this chapter, I would like to give thanks and credit to Belletiger and Kanius and Kanius’ YuYuGiDigiMoon series, especially this author’s The Invasion of the Rajita story, for giving me permission to use the idea of Valkyrie Sailor Soldiers and everything that’s a part of them.

 

I DO NOT OWN Sailor Moon, Sword Art Online, Accel World, Digimon series, Yu-Gi-Oh R/GX/5Ds/Zexal/Arc-V, Gundam series, including Gundam Build Fighters, Sekirei, Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed, Senran Kagura, Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, Tenchi Muyo series, Ronin Warriors, Dot-hack series, World of Warcraft series,Power Rangers series, Tron, Code Lyoko, Rave Master, Mouse, and anything/anyone that comes from these and other stories that end up in this fanfiction! Sailor Moon is owned/licensed by Naoko Takeuchi and its various studios and publishers, Sword Art Online is owned/licensed by ASCII Media Works, A-1 Pictures Inc., and its various directors/publishers including Reki Kawahara and Tomohiko Itō, and Digimon is owned/licensed by Toei Animation and its various directors, including Hiroyuki Kakudo, Yu-Gi-Oh is owned/licensed by Kazuki Takahashi, Toei Animation, and Studio Gallop, Yu-Gi-Oh GX is owned/licensed by Naoyuki Kageyama, Studio Gallop and its various directors, Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds is owned/licensed by Katsumi Ono and Studio Gallop!

 

Warning: This story contains intense violence, blood, possible gore, death, mild to explicit suggestive themes, including mind-control and brainwashing, mild to explicit bad language, and mature adult themes/situations!

 

Second Warning: Some to a lot of OOC (Out of Character) actions and mannerisms in this whole story!

 

August 12, 2025, ALO, Yggdrasil City

 

Within Yggdrasil City, we are inside of the home of Kirito and Asuna where Leafa is talking with them and Kirito and Asuna give gasps of shock at what Leafa is telling them.

 

Asuna asks, shocked, “You are quitting ALO?”

 

Leafa responds, “No, Asuna. It isn’t like that. I’m going to be not playing the game for a while and I’ve already paid for the upcoming months to keep my account.”

 

Kirito asks, a bit suspiciously, “Sugu, what are you planning to do?”

 

Leafa tells Kirito, mentally quite nervously, “It’s nothing, big brother. We’ve just been so busy lately and I need to prepare for the new year at school as well as the upcoming kendo matches.”

 

Kirito asks Leafa, suspicious tone in his voice, “Really?”

 

Leafa yells out, annoyed, “Yes, I am! Okay, I get it! I have been a bit ‘testy’ lately!”

 

Kirito tells Leafa, “Testy isn’t the word that I call you, Leafa.”

 

Leafa says, annoyed, “Look, big brother…”

 

Kirito tells Leafa, “It’s okay, Leafa. We’ve all been under stress lately. I trust you.”

 

Leafa asks, surprised, “You do?”

 

Kirito tells Leafa, with a smile, “What kind of question is that? I’m your brother and of course I can trust you, Leafa.”

 

Leafa thinks in her mind, nervously and drolly, “Thanks a lot, big brother. I feel so much better.”

 

Asuna tells Leafa, with a smile, “Kirito-kun is right. You have been a trusted friend and we know that you have going through a lot lately. However, we’re here for you.”

 

Leafa says, with a smile, “Thanks, Asuna.” Leafa then brings out her menu and she uses it to log out in which she vanishes in classic fashion in which Kirito gets a concerned look on his face.

 

Asuna asks Kirito, “Kirito-kun, what’s wrong?”

 

Kirito says, “I just got a bad feeling, Asuna.”

 

Asuna tells Kirito, “I know that you are worried about Leafa. She has been strange lately due to the fact that she and Kayaba share a horrible ‘past history’ and it has grown worse since Kayaba and her battled in Rainbow Gardens, but I’m sure that she will okay.”

 

Kirito tells Asuna, “I hope so, Asuna. I really hope so.” Within Kirito’s mind, the image of Aincrad comes to his mind and he sees the souls of who died in SAO drag Leafa into it in which he thinks in his mind, “I just hope that this dream is just a dream. But why is it haunting me so much?”

 

Sailor Moon Online: Shadow of Aincrad

 

(Sword Art Online opening theme music ‘Crossing Fields’ starting)

 

As the opening ‘scenes’ being, we find Davis Motomiya, wearing an outfit similar to Kirito’s outfit expect his jacket is flame designed and two swords, an Elucidator and Dark Repulser, strapped to the sides of his waist instead of his back, walking down a street and looking at the sky.

 

Next, we find Kari Kamiya, wearing a pink and red version of Asuna’s Knights of the Blood Oath outfit with Crests of Light instead of crosses and strapped to her waist is a sheath for a rapier with a pink handle and a pearly white blade, also walking down a street and looking back behind her.

 

Then we see Suguha Kirigaya and her ‘alter ego’, Sailor Celestial, with their backs to each other with ‘thin wall of light’ separating the two of them in which the scene spins around as the two of them look at each other where Suguha is at her home on her side of the ‘wall’ while Sailor Celestial is in the Moon Kingdom.

 

All three of them are reaching out into the skies and then the world around them transforms into center of the Town of Beginnings for Sword Art Online in which the ground crumbles around them as those that died on Sword Art Online and more try to drag them into an abyss.

 

The scene then changes where Davis is cutting through legions of ‘monsters’ from SAO and ALO as well as youma in which a legion of Duel Monsters appears with Davis having a dragon similar to Stardust Dragon and another monster, Slifer the Sky Dragon, attack them with powerful strikes.

 

Then Davis is fighting against Heathcliff in which he transforms into the massive GM avatar that he used at the start of SAO in which Davis lands a series of blows before slamming him with Starburst Stream, the classic 16 Duel Wielding Sword Skill combo. Soon after, Kari and Leafa, Suguha’s ALO avatar, run at top speed behind Davis and the two of them leap into the air with Kari hitting the transformation Heathcliff with an attack that looks similar to Linear while Leafa does a forward flip and transforms into Eternal Sailor Celestial, also wielding an Elucidator and Dark Repulser, in which they glow with fire and wind power as Sailor Celestial prepares to attack.

 

Then the scene shows Kazuto as his Sword Art Online avatar of Kirito, Serena as her Sword Art Online avatar as Usagi, Keiko as her Sword Art Online avatar of Silica, and Rika as her Sword Art Online avatar of Lisbeth.

 

The scene then changes with Davis, Kari, Sailor Celestial, Sailor Moon, and Kirito looking over the worlds of Sword Art Online, Alfheim Online, the ‘real world’, the Digital World, and beyond.

 

Then there are displays of Darien/Tuxedo Mask, the Sailor Scouts, the Odiaba Digidestined, and Kayaba/Heathcliff before it switches back to a scene where Sailor Celestial, Davis, and Kari are standing in front of the ‘transformed Heathcliff’ with his back to their backs and cleaved into multiple pieces before exploding into hundreds of data polygons.

 

The final scenes show Kirito and Asuna, in her Knights of the Blood Oath outfit, along with Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask being watched over by Sailor Celestial, Davis and Kari resting in front of a tree, and finally, Asuna’s Lambent Light rapier, Usagi’s Lunar Excelsior one-handed sword, Tuxedo Mask’s cane, Leafa’s ALO katana, and an Elucidator and Dark Repulser swords are all together in a pile with Neo Domino City Duel Disks and Davis’ and Kari’s D-3 digivices ‘attached’ to them.

 

(Sword Art Online opening theme music ‘Crossing Fields’ ending)

 

Chapter 13: Chain of Broken Memories

 

August 14, 2025, Sword Art World, Level 1

 

Within the first of the one hundred floating castles that make up the virtual world of Sword Art World, the VRMMO run by the VRMMO club ‘Future Divers’ that’s based on the infamous Sword Art Online, the death game that killed nearly four thousand lives, Leafa, Dai, and Akari, in their current Sword Art World/SAW avatars, are out in the fields outside of one of the towns and taking care of one of the monsters, which looks like a two-headed wolf.

 

The two of them dodge a sonic wave attack and Akari shouts out, “I’ve got it!” Akari then uses three Linears in which quick session and the wolf monster shatters into multiple polygons.

 

Dai says, with a smile, “Great job as usual, Kari-chan.”

 

Akari says, with a smile, “Couldn’t have done it without you, Dai-kun.”

 

Leafa says, “I’ve got to say that this world is quite harder than the monsters on New Aincrad even.”

 

Dai says, “Not to mention that this ‘level’ is bigger.”

 

Akari says, “Well, remember what they said, each ‘level’ of the game is actually its own castle. It is smaller than the original Aincrad or even New Aincrad, but each castle is like its own little world.”

 

Dai says, with a smile, “Not a bad twist.”

 

Leafa says, bringing up her own menu, “And we’ve been here barely a short time. It is still the same day.”

 

Dai says, with a smile, “Yeah. It felt like days have pasted here.”

 

Akari tells Dai, “Technically, days have past, Dai-kun. Well, in game time, they have found a way to make time go faster in this world compared to the real world. It is kind of like…”

 

Dai says, with a smile, “Dragonball and the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in which a year in that dimension is just a day on the ‘outside’.”

 

Leafa asks, “Anime fan?”

 

Akari says, with a giggle, “There was more than just gaming in Rainbow Gardens, Leafa.”

 

Dai retorts, with a smile, “What? Can you blame me?”

 

Akari says, with a smile, “No, Dai-kun. We can’t.”

 

Leafa says, “Well, it is a good thing that they made sure to put a double timer for this world compared to the real world much like ALO through that’s different since ALO runs on a sixteen hour day.”

 

Dai says, “While this place makes you experience days in just minutes to hours.”

 

Leafa says, with a serious tone, “Well, we have an important mission here.”

 

Dai says, “No joke, Leafa.”

 

Akari says, curiously, “Are we sure that something is wrong? This place may look similar to ‘that game’, but it doesn’t seem like that and the people of this club…”

 

Leafa says, “I know, Akari. However, you have to remember that the people of Argus were the same way. All of them were good people just doing their jobs and none of them had a single idea of Kayaba’s wicked plans…until it was too late.”

 

Dai says, “Yeah, he was the one ‘bad egg’ that brought Argus down with his evil actions. And that’s what it could be for this place. If there is one ‘bad egg’, it could be like Argus and SAO all over again.”

 

Akari asks, worried, “You don’t think?”

 

Leafa says, looking over her menu, “Our logout buttons are still working so far, but keep a close eye on them. While Amusphere can’t be used like the NervGear, it doesn’t mean that they haven’t figured out way to get by the defenses to do things much worse.”

 

Akari asks, a bit nervously, “Worse?”

 

Dai says, “The Amusphere is safer, but it doesn’t mean that it is full-proof, Kari-chan.”

 

Akari says, with a nod, “I know.”

 

Leafa says, “And remember, our powers may not work here. Serena might have been able to access her powers at the last moment, but she had a tap deep in order to gain a connection to her powers despite them more connected to her crystal and star seed than her body.”

 

Dai says, “Well, doesn’t the Sailor Scout powers enhanced physical and spiritual strength? Maybe because she had no ‘physical strength’ to ‘power up’ is the reason that she couldn’t use her powers for all those years in SAO.”

 

Leafa says, “Yeah, I had to ask Ami about that. She told me that she designed the pods that they were going to use to enter SAO with ‘connectors’ to allow them to access their powers in SAO through with SAO not having magic, there was a possibility that it still might not have worked. She said that the ‘power thing’ had to be connected with ‘mind set’ and ‘rules of the world’, but I can’t really recall.”

 

Dai says, “Well, anyway, we should keep going.” Leafa and Akari nod their heads in agreement and start to head off to the next town in which a ‘distortion’ forms behind them, but quickly vanishes before Leafa and Dai in the direction that it came from.

 

Akari asks them, “What’s wrong?”

 

Leafa says, with a shrug, “Nothing, Akari. I thought that I sensed something.”

 

Dai says, “Guess all over our ‘cautious talk’ got our nerves.”

 

Leafa says, “Well, let’s just be careful.” Dai and Akari nod their heads in agreement and the three of them walk off, but they can’t help to have a small nagging feeling in them which doesn’t go away, however, they can somewhat ignore for the time being.

 

August 15, 2025, Dicey Café

 

Within Dicey Café, we find Andrew, Ryoutarou, Kazuto, Asuna, Rika, and Keiko assembled together inside of Dicey Café and talking about things.

 

Keiko says, “It has been a while since we have seen Suguha.”

 

Rika asks, “So, she said that she was going to prepare for the new school year and upcoming kendo matches? And you believed her?”

 

Kazuto says, “Look, I know that she was lying…”

 

Ryoutarou tells Kazuto, “You knew? Why didn’t you press her?”

 

Kazuto responds, “Sugu has been really stressed out lately and yes, I remember why as well as she caused quite a bit of trouble. I really don’t get why she is taking a break from ALO in which she is able to do kendo and other stuff while still playing ALO due to its being a skill-based game and she loves to fly there.”

 

Rika says, “Well, she can fly in the real world too.”

 

Kazuto says, “Well, she said personally that her wings in ALO only cost money. Her wings out here…cost blood.”

 

Ryoutarou says, “Guess she is still kicking herself since one of Kayaba’s goals was to force her to awaken as Sailor Celestial and that Etherion power of hers.”

 

Andrew says, “Man! I never knew that such stuff existed!”

 

Asuna says, “It sounds like an incredible power.”

 

Kazuto says, “Based on what Trista said, it is one of the most powerful forces in the universe other than Serena’s Silver Crystal and a power that many have desired.”

 

Ryoutarou says, “The power of creation, huh? It isn’t too surprising, bro.”

 

Andrew says, “And Kayaba, as their so-called ‘daddy’, used her to create the original Aincrad back in the Silver Millennium which caused people on Earth to get fearful of the Moon Kingdom and the Silver Alliance which allowed that ‘demon’, Metallia, to corrupt them and cause the downfall of the Silver Millennium.”

 

Kazuto says, “That’s about the gist of it.”

 

Ryoutarou says, with a snort, “And he may a good sized repeat of his ‘disaster’ with SAO. He used us as pawns in order for force your sister to awaken.”

 

Rika says, with a droll tone, “Don’t remind us, Klein.”

 

Keiko asks, “What does he want with Suguha?”

 

Kazuto says, “That’s a good question. I think that it has to do with her Etherion powers, but he also has designs on Davis and Kari. He was the one that got them trapped in Rainbow Gardens for about as long as we were trapped in SAO.”

 

Asuna asks, “Do you have any ideas?”

Kazuto says, “I can’t be sure, Asuna.”

 

Rika says, “Can you be really sure that your sister will be okay? She doesn’t seem deterred about falling into any ‘trap’ that Kayaba made for her.”

 

Kazuto says, with a sigh, “Well, Sugu isn’t the one to back down from a fight and she doesn’t care if it is a trap too. Sugu always has been fighter in two lifetimes.”

 

Rika says, with a smile, “Yeah, she is that kind of girl.”

 

Keiko says, with a smile, “Suguha is really awesome.”

 

Asuna says, smiling as well, “She is quite a girl.”

 

Ryoutarou says, with a grin, “Yeah, I’ve got to say so.”

 

Rika asks, with a smirk and a glare, “Oh, really?”

 

Kazuto glares at Ryoutarou and he says, nervously, “Whoa! Whoa, man! I don’t see your sis that way!”

 

Andrew says, with a grin, “Better not, bro.” Kazuto then prepares to take another sip of some iced tea in a glass cup and then unexpectedly and mysterious, the glass cup gains a crack.

 

Ryoutarou says, “Whoa!”

 

Rika asks, confused, “What just happened?”

 

Kazuto says, “I don’t know.”

 

Andrew says, “Hey, bro, that’s not a good sign. I know that cup was quite strong and you weren’t gripping it too hard.”

 

Kazuto tells Andrew, “You actually believe in that kind of stuff Andrew.”

 

Ryoutarou tells Kazuto, “Yo, bro. That cup just broke unexpectedly and it was tough.”

 

Keiko asks, “Do you think that something bad is going to happen?”

 

Rika responds, “No way, Keiko! It is just a silly myth!” Rika says, a bit nervously, “I think.”

 

Kazuto gets a ‘bad feeling’ in his heart and Asuna says, seeing the concern on his voice, “Kirito-kun, are you okay?”

 

Kazuto responds, “Yeah, I’m okay.” However, deep down, Kazuto isn’t so sure because he has a terrible theory that something is wrong and he really hopes that he is wrong.

 

August 15, 2025, Sword Art World, Level One Dungeon

 

Within the main dungeon of the first ‘castle’ of Sword Art World, Leafa, Dai, and Akari with Akari having a simple longbow and quiver attached to her back along with her rapier attached to the side of her skirt, but Akari’s rapier is now what looks like a white version of Asuna’s Wind Fleuret with Leafa having a grey version of Anneal Blade that her brother and Usagi used in the early floors of SAO along with a white short curved sword while Dai also has a grey version of the Anneal Blade used by Kirito and Usagi while he also has a pouch containing the best kind of throwing knives in this early part of the game.

 

Akari asks, “Don’t you think that we are using too many weapons?”

 

Leafa says, “You might have a good point, but based on what I heard, I’m going to need to have a high level with one-handed sword skills in order to even take the test that gives you Duel Wielding in this game.”

 

Dai says, “Good idea to get started early on.”

 

Leafa says, “However, you might have point, Akari. We should manage our skill slots well.”

 

Dai asks, “How many do you have?”

 

Akari responds, “Half-a-dozen so far since I’m level fifteen.”

 

Leafa says, “Same here.”

 

Dai says, “Ditto.” The group then sees a safe zone up ahead and Dai says, “Safe zone, up ahead.”

 

Leafa says, with a nod of recognition, “Let’s go.” The group head over to the safe zone and take a breather to go over their menus.

 

Akari says, “Man, it is amazing that we have gotten so far in just first few days that this game has come out.”

 

Leafa says, “Well, you have got to remember that game time and ‘real world time’ are different like Rainbow Gardens.”

 

Dai says, “Or the Digi-World before you and the original Digidestined defeated the Dark Masters, Kari-chan.”

 

Akari says, “Yeah. However, it makes me wonder on how they were able to allow people to experience days of game time while barely hours pass in the real world. It shouldn’t be possible to accelerate the senses like this.”

 

Dai says, “Well, before ALO, you couldn’t fly without getting yourself into a ‘virtual machine’.”

 

Leafa says, “That’s actually a good point. Big brother told me that before ALO, in order to fly in the virtual world, you have to get into some kind of machine like an airplane or helicopter. At the time, plenty of the aspects of the ‘real world’ had to follow into the ‘virtual world’. You couldn’t fly with wings on your back that didn’t exist in real life. When ALO came out and you were able to fly on your own wings, it was the main reason that ALO became so popular.”

 

Akari says, with a nod of her head, “You have a point there, Leafa. So, it is possible to make ‘game time’ different from ‘real time’.”

 

Leafa says, “Well, I wouldn’t be too sure about that. ALO runs on a sixteen hour day, but it still follows the ‘laws of time’ of ‘reality’. I don’t really think we can do something like Rainbow Gardens just yet outside of the old console games.”

 

Akari says, “You have a point, Leafa.”

 

Dai says, “Hard to believe that something bad will happen. I mean, we saw plenty of players revive at the revival station in the Town of Beginnings.”

 

Leafa says, “True, but it doesn’t mean that something else isn’t going on here. If there is something going on, I don’t think that want it public like SAO was.”

 

Akari says, “So, whatever they do, they might focus on a few people? Well, that makes sense.”

 

Dai says, “I know that we have got to stop them, but that’s like finding a needle in a haystack. Well, it never stopped us before.”

 

Akari says, with a giggle, “Dai-kun…”

 

The three of them then get to work on their menus and Dai says, “Man! It is pretty cool that we are starting out with three skill windows and we get one for every five levels with a level cap of three hundred!”

 

Leafa says, “Well, this game is supposed to be even harder than SAO and even New Aincrad in ALO. The only reason that we are in the dungeons so quickly due to the ‘time acceleration’ with days and weeks in here being just minutes and hours ‘out there’.”

 

Dai says, “Yeah, even so. This game is really living up to the hype.”

 

Akari says, with a nod, “It’s tough despite all of the new skills and you have long range attacks due to Archery Skills.”

 

Dai says, “Through it seems weird for a game that has no magic and rely on close range combat weapons to have long range weapons.”

 

Leafa says, with a smile, “Actually, it does, Dai. Remember, back in the ‘old days’, before gunpowder, people actually used more than just spears, swords, and daggers. There were slings, bows and arrows in the form of longbows and crossbows, and in a larger scale, catapults of all shapes and sizes. In fact, this game shows the ‘real World of Swords’ better than SAO or at least, it is what I think.”

 

Akari says, “That’s a good point, Leafa.”

 

Leafa says, “Okay, let’s check our skills.”

 

Dai says, “Well, I have One-Handed Sword Skills, Search, Hiding, Blade Throwing, and Leather Equipment.”

 

Akari says, “I have Rapier, Archery, and Light Metal Equipment.”

 

Leafa says, “I have One-Handed Sword Skills, One-Handed Curved Sword Skills, Search, Acrobatics, and Leather Equipment myself.”

Akari asks, “Do you think that we are being overly prepared?”

 

Leafa says, “Can’t be too careful, Akari. Plus, back in the ‘old days’, there are plenty of instants that Archers also used backup close range weapons.”

 

Dai says, with a nod, “Good point.” After they are done with their menus, they continue on through the dungeon which they don’t notice a shimmer some distance away from them.

 

August 15, 2025, Future Divers headquarters

 

Tokyu is with some of his fellow club members, including former SAO beta testers and former Argus personal, as they are discussing something.

 

Tokyu asks, “You are kidding me, right?”

 

One of his club members responds, “We wish that we were, but it is true. One of our GM is in a coma during an inspection of the game.”

 

Another club member says, “But it doesn’t make any sense! The logs show that he logged out at that time!”

 

A third club member says, “We know. We had personal all over the world check those logs and there isn’t even spam in the files.”

 

Tokyu says, “Calm down, everyone.”

 

The first club member shouts out, “Calm down! Tokyu, this was supposed to be our game! A game that would finally put the ‘final demons’ from SAO, which was supposed to be an awesome new adventure along with the NervGear which was turned into a nightmare by that fiend, Kayaba, in which he was using us, the beta testers of SAO, to perfect his wretched ‘death game’. He betrayed us and the world. We did this to bury Kayaba for good!”

 

Tokyu says, with a serious tone, “I know, my friend!” Tokyu says, “And I know that we can’t stop the game to do a major ‘work over’.”

 

The second club member says, “And the thing is, our GM is just fine. From what the doctors that we have, there is no damage to his body at all.”

 

Tokyu says, “However, I want to make sure that he is okay and I want to double to triple check everything. This is our game and we can’t let anything happen.”

 

The third child member says, “Good idea, Tokyu.”

 

As they discuss about what to do, Tokyu thinks in his mind, “I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all. It may just be isolated incident, but I’m not liking what’s happening. The Amusphere can never kill anyone and we have improved security, but it doesn’t mean that it is foolproof and it doesn’t mean that the Amusphere doesn’t have to do anything directly to kill someone. I can’t let ‘another SAO’ happen and it won’t happen on my watch especially not with the game that we, the former SAO beta testers, dreamed up of in order to put the final ‘ghosts’ of SAO to bed for good.”

 

August 15, 2025, Sword Art World, Level One Dungeon

 

Back inside of Sword Art World, Leafa, Dai, and Akari are taking on monsters that look like Kobold Troopers wearing samurai style armor and they are called Kobold Samurai Soldiers in which Akari uses long range Archery Skills to weaken and disorient the monsters with Leafa and Dai taking the fight to them with basic One-Handed Sword Skills and One-Handed Curved Sword Skills and shatter into data polygons in which the three of them look over the experience, money, and items that they have gained from the fight.

 

Dai says, “Nasty creeps.”

 

Akari says, “Remember, they are demi-human type monsters which means that they can use basic sword skills.”

 

Leafa says, “Making them big trouble.”

 

Dai says, with a grin, “Nothing that we can’t handle.”

 

Leafa says, “Don’t get too cocky, Dai. If we let our guard down, we’re the ones that are going to get clobbered.”

 

Akari says, “Leafa is right, Dai-kun.”

 

Dai says, with a smile, “I know.” The three of them continue through the dungeon which is a lot like a maze and all of them get a bad feeling as they keep going deeper.

 

Leafa asks, “Are any of you…?”

 

Dai says, with a nod, “Yeah, I got a chill.”

 

Akari asks, “How could we…?”

 

Leafa says, “You have to remember that ALO was based on SAO and it was really real, so, this world can feel the same way.”

 

Dai says, “But something tells me that this ‘chill’ isn’t ‘normal’ for this world and this place isn’t ‘normal’.” The three of them are on guard and when they emerge at the end of a passageway in the dungeon, the three of them felt like they have gone through a field which then a massive humanoid behemoth of a Minotaur, wearing ancient Chinese style armor and wielding two Chinese style swords, is right before them.

 

Akari asks, stunned, “What is that?”

 

Leafa says, “It says: The Ancient Duel Minotaur?! Wait a minute! In SAO, the word ‘the’ was only used for boss monsters!”

 

Dai asks, shocked, “A boss monster?! What the heck is a boss monster doing here?”

 

Leafa says, “I don’t know, but look out!” The three of them then barely dodge a strike from Ancient Duel Minotaur and Leafa says, “I can’t a read on him! He must be a higher level boss monster!”

 

Dai yells out, stunned, “What the heck is a higher level boss monster doing here?”

 

Akari says, “I don’t know, Dai-kun, but we don’t stand a chance!”

 

Leafa says, “Akari’s right! Run!” Dai wanted to argue, but he decides not to argue with his girlfriend and other female friend in which they try to make an escape, however, the instant that they got into a passageway, they return back to the same place.

 

Akari asks, “What’s going on?”

 

Leafa says, “Big trouble in the form of we’re trapped!”

 

Dai says, “It looks like we have to fight!”

 

Akari tells Dai, “Dai-kun, it’s too strong for us!”

 

Dai says, “I know, but we don’t have a choice! We can’t get killed here! If this higher level monster is here in this ‘first level dungeon’, then this is big trouble!”

 

Leafa says, “Dai is right! We have no choice and if this powerful monster is here on the lower floor when it isn’t supposed to be then we were right! If we die in here, we can’t be sure what could happen!” Leafa draws her sword and Akari draws her bow in which they barely manage to dodge another sword attack from massive boss monster. Leafa and Dai make sure that the monster is focused on them in which Akari fires her bow and arrows at the boss monster, but they have little effect on him. Leafa and Dai keep attacking back and forth to find any weak spots, but they don’t find any.

 

Akari says, “There doesn’t seem to be any weak spots!”

 

Leafa says, “Keep moving and keep firing, Kari!”

 

Dai says, “We can’t give in!” The fight continues in which Dai barely manages to deflect a sword skill, but the backlash of the attack causing him to lose over one-quarter of his health.

 

Leafa thinks in her mind, “Oh, crap! Even if we manage to deflect his blows, they have such strength that cause us to lose health anyway! We can’t take a direct hit!” The three of them continue to try to fight back against the high-level and high-powered boss monster, but they only make a small dent in his multiple HP gauges while they have lost much of their health. However, Akari then has her arrow hit a jewel on its forehead and it roars out in pain.

 

Akari asks, surprised, “Huh?”

 

Dai says, “The jewel on its forehead! That’s the weak spot!”

 

Leafa says, “We did it!” However, Ancient Duel Minotaur unleashes a sneak attack with hidden knives in its armored wrists and Akari is impaled causing her HP to hit zero in which her avatar shatters into virtual pixels.

 

Dai yells out, horrified, “Kari-chan, no!” Ancient Duel Minotaur then uses this moment to throw one of his giant swords like a boomerang in which both Leafa and Dai are cleaved causing them to lose the last of their health in which they suffer the same fate as Akari.

 

August 15, 2025, Juuban, Crown Fruit Parlor

 

Inside of Crown Fruit Parlor, Darien and the Moon Kingdom Sailor Scouts are enjoying themselves and talking about their plans for the new school through Serena does it begrudgingly, but a horrible ‘pain’ hits her and she puts her hand on her heart.

 

Darien asks her, seeing this, “What’s wrong, love?”

 

Serena says, her breathing becoming heavy, “It feels…It feels like someone important to me is in horrible trouble.”

 

Raye asks, “Are you sure that it isn’t the several smoothies that you had Meatball Head?”

 

Lita says, “Yeah, you did eat quite a bit.”

 

Serena responds, shaking her head, “No, it feels like something horrible happened to someone important to me.” Just then Raye gasps as images of Leafa, Dai, and Akari appear in her mind and they fall into some kind of black hole with a group of ‘dark figures’ in the background along with the strange girl that they saw when they started Sword Art World.

 

Hotaru asks Raye, seeing her reaction, “Raye?”

 

When they look at Raye, Amara says, “You had a vision.”

 

Raye responds, with a serious tone, “A real bad one. Meatball Head was right because one of the people in trouble is her ‘royal sister’.”

 

Serena yells out, stunned, “What?!”

 

Raye responds, “I’m not sure what my vision means, but we need to find Suguha, Davis, and Kari right now! Let’s move!” Immediately, the group leaps to their feet and run out the door in which Serena is preying that she and Raye are completely wrong.

 

August 15, 2025, Odiaba District

 

Within the Odiaba District, our Digidestined and their Digimon partners, minus Davis, Kari, and their two Digimon partners, are with Jun and enjoying lunch when Tai, Jun, Yolei, Ken, and TK get a massive feeling of dread in their hearts and they give that kind of expression.

 

The others see this and Sora asks, “What’s wrong?”

 

Tai says, “I just got a horrible feeling…”

 

Matt asks, confused, “A what?”

 

Ken says, “Something happened to Davis…”

 

The others that didn’t get the ‘horrible feeling’ gasp and TK says, “And Kari too…”

 

Jun says, dread in her voice, “Squirt, what’s going on? This…”

 

Patamon asks, “TK, are you sure?”

 

Hawkmon tells Yolei, “It might just nerves.”

 

Yolei yells out, strongly, “No, this isn’t just nerves, Hawkmon! Something’s wrong! I know it!”

 

Mimi says, “Easy, Yolei.”

 

Soon after, Jun runs away and she yells out, “I have get back to my house!”

 

Matt says, “Wait! Jun!” Matt runs after his girlfriend and SAO in-game wife in which the others run after her with plenty of them wondering what’s going while also having a major ‘bad feeling’.

 

August 15, 2025, Sword Art World

 

Leafa, Dai, and Jun are trapped what looks like an endless hole in which they can’t seem to move or even speak.

 

Leafa thinks in her mind, “What’s going on? Can’t move…Why haven’t we revived already?” Leafa, Dai, and Akari then looks to see what looks like two ‘energy lines’ connected to their backs.

 

Dai thinks in his mind, “What the heck?!”

 

Akari thinks in her mind, “What are those?” Just then Leafa, Dai, and Akari gasp as they see what looks like ‘ropes’ heading towards them, but just as they reach them, they shatter apart in which the strange girl that they saw when they entered this virtual world appear.

 

Leafa thinks in her mind, stunned, “That’s…”

 

The girl looks at them and a female voice, deep and lovely teenage girl’s voice, says, solemnly, “I’m sorry. I can’t let them get you. You are their hope.  You are the only hope of stopping ‘him’. Forgive me for the suffering that I must make you endure.” The girl then creates some kind of ‘energy sword’ and cuts the energy lines in which Leafa, Dai, and Akari gasp as they feel some kind of immense ‘separation’ of some kind before the girl transfers a small piece of ‘energy’ into them before they are flung into a gateway. A bit later, they are inside of the Blackiron Palace of Sword Art World in which Leafa, Dai, and Akari appear inside a chamber known as the Chamber of Revival besides a statue of the original Aincrad and a massive white marble tablet with names engraved on it. All of them then collapse to the ground and they are unconscious for a brief moment, but the three of them wake up to see a male and female player in front of them.

 

The female player asks, concerned, “Are you okay?”

 

Leafa says, woozily, “Peachy…”

 

The male player says, “What happened to you? It looks like you were revived just like we were, but you look like you went through the ringer.”

 

Dai says, weakly, “Thanks a lot, pal. We just got our asses handed to us by a boss monster that shouldn’t be a dungeon outside of a boss room.”

 

The two players give shocked looks and female player asks, “A boss monster within the dungeon and not the boss chamber?”

 

The male player asks, with a smirk, “Did you guys get your butt kicked in the dungeon and don’t want to admit it?”

 

Leafa and Dai give him a ‘death glare’ and Leafa asks, drolly, “Want to duel us and find out tough guy?”

 

The male player says, nervously, “Never mind!”

 

Akari says, “We’ll be okay.”

 

The female player says, with a nod, “Maybe you should log out and take a rest.”

 

Leafa says, “Thanks for the advice. We’ll think about it.” Soon after, the male and female player left leaving Leafa, Dai, and Akari alone in the chamber.

 

Dai asks, “What the heck just happened?”

 

Akari says, “I don’t know myself, Dai.”

 

Leafa says, “That wasn’t like regular revival. I should know. During my time in the original ALO, I went through that myself. Let’s just say that I don’t want to talk about it.”

 

Akari responds, “Please don’t.”

 

Dai says, “Okay, something is really up with this game.”

 

Leafa says, “Yeah. Let’s find a place to talk without causing a scene.” Akari and Dai nod their heads in agreement and they walk to another part of the Town of Beginnings in which they discuss what happened.

 

Dai says, “Oh, man! That was real weird!”

 

Akari says, “It felt like we were getting dragged into…who knows what!”

 

Leafa says, “I know and it looks like that girl wasn’t any kind of illusion.”

 

Dai asks, “What I would like to know is what did that girl to do us?”

 

Akari says, with a nod, “Dai-kun is right. I feel a bit strange.”

 

Leafa says, “Same here.” Leafa says, “Anyway, we were right to think that there is something going on. I think that we should log out and plan our next move.” Leafa brings her menu and pushes the logout button, but then an error screen appears in front of it. Leafa asks, stunned, “What?”

 

Dai says, “I don’t like that Leafa.”

 

Akari asks, concerned, “What’s wrong?”

 

Leafa says, “This is what’s wrong, Akari.” She switches her screen to visible mode and shows the error sign which says: ‘Error! Registered player has already off-line.’

 

Dai asks, stunned, “Wait a minute! What? Isn’t it saying that you have already logged out?”

 

Leafa says, “No kidding, Dai.” Leafa then gasps and she says, “Dai! Akari! Try to logout and don’t argue!”

 

Dai and Akari call out their menus and when they get the same error sign, Akari says, very concerned tone in her voice, “It is the same for me!”

 

Dai says, with a serious tone, “Ditto.”

 

Leafa says, “Let’s contact the game masters now!” Leafa then uses her menu to try to contact the GM of Sword Art World, but there is another error sign that says: ‘Error! Connection failed. Please try again.’

 

Akari says, “That’s seriously not good.” Dai and Akari try and Leafa tries again, but all of them get the same error sign over and over again.

 

Dai says, seriously, “This is a major case of déjà vu.”

 

Akari says, stunned, “We’re trapped.”

 

Leafa says, drolly and nervousness in her expression, “Oh, great.”

 

Dai hugs Akari and he tells her, “Kari-chan, we’ll get through this. I promise that we will. We’ve survived Rainbow Gardens and we will survive this.”

 

Leafa says, with a determined tone, “That’s right. I found my way back home while trapped in Rainbow Gardens and you did too! We survived a living virtual world! We can’t let ourselves be beaten by a game! Our families beat Kayaba’s death game and we can beat this!”

 

Dai and Akari nod their heads in agreement and Dai says, “Leafa’s right! We survived before and we can do it again!”

 

Leafa thinks in her mind, “Sorry, Kazuto. You, too, sis. I guess that I won’t be coming home right away. Take care of mom and Serena-onee-chan for me until I finish this.” Leafa says, “We had better find a place for a while and think about our next move. We’re going to be stuck here for a while and remember, this game runs on ‘accelerated time’ in which one day here may be just minutes.”

 

Akari responds, with a nod, “Right.” Akari thinks in her mind, “I’m sorry, Tai. But Dai-kun and I have survived two years in Rainbow Gardens and we’ll survive her until we can find our way home.” Soon after, Leafa, Dai, and Akari take off into the distance not knowing that some distance away, on a rooftop in the Town of Beginnings, the same girl that they saw is watching over them and a tear comes down her right eye. She wipes it away, looks at the water from her eyes curiously, and she vanishes through a teleportation effect.

 

August 15, 2025, Kirigaya residence

 

Right now, Kazuto is heading home in which he notices that the window to Suguha’s room is open in which he can see a faint sight of a figure standing up in Suguha’s room.

 

Kazuto thinks in his mind, “Suguha?” Kazuto enters his home through the yard in which he is shocked to see the Outer Sailor Scouts and Trivia waiting for him.

 

Sailor Saturn says, solemnly, “Kazuto.”

 

A major feeling of dread comes over him and he asks, “What are you doing here?”

 

Sailor Neptune says, plainly, “Come with us to your sister’s room.”

 

Kazuto asks, concerned, “What do you mean? What happened to Sugu?”

 

Sailor Uranus says, gripping something in her hand, “This.” She then displays the Sword Art World Amusphere game cartridge to him and he gasps in shock in which he immediately runs past them into the house to Suguha’s room only to find her in a comatose state with her Amusphere still on her head with Tuxedo Mask and the Inner Sailor Scouts in the room.

 

Kazuto yells out, shocked, “Sugu!”

 

The others look at Kazuto and Sailor Moon says, her face wet from crying tears, “Kazuto.”

 

Kazuto yells out, “Serena, what happened? What’s happened with Sugu? What was that game cartridge that Amara showed me?”

 

Sailor Mercury says, “We believe that Suguha went to investigate a private VRMMO developed for use by a club known as Future Drivers.”

 

Kazuto asks, “Wait! Future Drivers? You mean the club found to the protection and ‘correct advancement’ of VRMMO technology by the former SAO players that didn’t join the retail version of the game?”

 

Sailor Jupiter says, “You get around.”

 

Tuxedo Mask says, “It seems like they created a game based on Sword Art Online called ‘Sword Art World’ in order to put the final ‘demons’ of SAO to bed.”

 

Kazuto says, “Oh, shit. Don’t tell me.”

 

Sailor Mercury says, “She joined their club to investigate the game since she got strange e-mails about it.”

 

Kazuto asks, “Strange e-mails?”

 

Sailor Mercury says, looking over Suguha’s prone form, “She’s alive, but her mind and spirit aren’t inside of her body anymore.”

 

Kazuto yells out, shocked, “What?!”

 

Sailor Mercury says, “It is exactly what happened to her, Davis, and Kari when they got trapped in Rainbow Gardens.”

 

Kazuto asks, “But why…?”

 

Sailor Moon says, solemnly, “You know why, Kazuto.”

 

Kazuto says, with tears forming his eyes, “Sugu, you idiot…how could you be…Sugu!!” Kazuto falls to his knees and he pounds the floor.

 

Tuxedo Mask says, “We’re going to get her back. She found her way home before and she can do it again. Believe in her, Kazuto.”

 

Sailor Moon says, weakly, “We do, Tuxedo Mask. We just…We have no idea…I don’t know if I can…” Sailor Moon then starts to cry on Tuxedo Mask’s chest.

 

Sailor Mars says, “This isn’t the time, Meatball Head! We have to get her body to the hospital right away and we had better leave the Amusphere on.”

 

Sailor Venus asks, “But it’s disconnected and remember what Mercury said! She’s here, but no one is home! Why?”

 

Kazuto says, getting himself off the floor, “So she has a way home.” As the Outer Sailor Scouts, Kazuto tells Sailor Pluto, “Contact Seijirou.”

 

Sailor Uranus asks, surprised, “Are you serious?”

 

Kazuto yells out, “Damn right I am! I don’t care what it takes! I’m getting my sister home!”

 

Tuxedo Mask says, seriously, “Do it.”

 

Sailor Pluto says, with a nod, “Of course.”

 

Kazuto thinks in his mind, as he looks at Suguha’s comatose form, “I’m not going to lose you, Sugu! I lost too many people ‘over there’ and Serena’s heart may never fully heal from what Kayaba has done in which Sugou nearly took Asuna from me. I won’t lose anyone! I will NEVER lose anyone precious to me ever again!”

 

August 15, 2025, Sword Art World, Level One Boss Room

 

At this time, Leafa, Dai, and Akari are with a group of 77 other players as they take on a massive monster that looks like Illfang the Kobold Lord, but he is wearing samurai style armor that looks like something that a Daimyo and he is wielding a powerful kitana blade in which the players with archery and throwing knife skills are aiming at the weak points in his armor including his exposed face since he doesn’t have a face mask while the ones with swords, shields, and other close range weapons take the fight to the close range monster.

 

Dai says, “Man, this dude is nasty!”

 

Akari says, “No kidding, Dai-kun!”

 

Leafa says, “Watch out for the Kitana Sword Skills!” The massive boss monster, Illfang the Daimyo Kobold, unleashing a nasty series of attacks that managed to ‘kill’ three of the players.

 

Dai says, with a sneer, “Damn it!”

 

Leafa says, with a serious tone, “That’s enough of this!” Leafa then charges in with other players shouting at her not to do anything crazy, but Leafa manages to sense where the attacks are coming from and strikes a final critical blow in which the boss monster roars as it shatters into pieces. Soon after, the players got small screens showing the experience and money gained from the defeat of the boss monster as the words ‘Congratulations’ appears above them in which the large group of players celebrate their victory.

 

Dai, Leafa, and Akari come together and Dai says, in a whisper, “Man! He was a tough jerk.”

 

Leafa says, in a whisper, “Well, they made all of the monsters stronger than the ones in SAO and even New Aincrad on ALO.”

 

Akari says, in a whisper, “And remember, this is the boss of the first castle.”

 

Leafa says, with a nod, “Don’t remind me, Kari. We have a LONG way to go.”

 

Just then a female voice shouts out, “You were really great!” Dai, Akari, and Leafa quickly turn to see a female player run over to them.

 

This young lady has lavender hair which goes down to the base of her neck with two long strands on either side of her head which go down to the top of her chest area, red-violet eyes that could be mistaken for pink eyes in the right light/shade, a lilac-color, strapless dress with a black piece of fabric going across the breasts and down to her stomach, below an intricate coat. This coat is made up of violet and plum shaded components, reaching as far down as the hem of her dress but also leaving some areas open which expose the dress below. Above that she wears a collar of the same violet of her coat, outlined in lavender with a red jewel securing the collar in place. Her legs are covered by plum stockings that go up to cover most of her thighs and violet high-heeled ankle high boots.

 

Akari asks, nervously, “Hello?”

 

The female player responds, “Oops! I’m Strea, nice to meet you!”

 

Dai says, with a smile, “Nice to meet you, Strea. I’m Dai.”

 

Leafa says, “I’m Leafa.”

 

Akari says, “And I’m Akari, Dai’s girlfriend.”

 

The female player, Strea, says, “Wow, Akari. You are so beautiful and I would see why anyone would date you.”

 

Akari says, a bit nervously, “Thank you…I think.” Just then Dai and Akari yelp as Strea hugs them and forces their faces onto her ample cleavage surprising Leafa.

 

Leafa yells out, stunned, “What do you think you are doing?!”

 

Strea responds, with a smile and a bubbly tone of voice, “I’m hugging them! Isn’t it cute? I think so!”

 

Leafa gives a flabbergasted expression and Leafa yells out, “No, I don’t think that’s cute!”

 

Strea replies, “You don’t?”

 

Leafa says, “Yes, I do.”

 

Strea says, with a smile and bubbly tone, “You are just angry that you were left out! Okay!” Strea lets go of Dai and Akari and hugs Leafa in a very bone crushing hug despite her not having any actual bones in her virtual avatar. Plenty of the other players were watching this and they were snickering and having a fun laugh at the three’s expense.

 

Leafa yelps out, “Please let me go…”

 

Strea says, with a smile, “Okay!”

 

When Strea let’s go of Leafa, Akari asks, concerned, “Are you okay?”

 

Leafa thinks in her mind while looking at Strea, “Who or what is she? She would have to build her strength stats to insane levels to get so strong.” Later on, the group then goes through the door on the other side of the room in which when they exit out of the boss room to the get to the next level, the players find themselves going through a see-through tunnel where everyone looks outside to see the many ‘Mini-Aincrads’ that make up this virtual world.

 

Akari says, amazed, “There is so many of them!”

 

Dai says, “Yeah. And we have only managed to get the first one, but then again, it has only been about a day or two back home, I think.”

 

Leafa thinks in her mind, “Being stuck in here, there is a good chance that you are going to lose track in time. Heck, even if you weren’t, you would lose track of time since ‘game time’ of days and months in here would be just minutes, hours, or even a few days to weeks at most. Despite that, it is going to take some time before we can reach the last castle of this game and there is still how we got trapped here in the first place. After our logout got ‘bugged up’, none of the other players seem to suffer from the same problem which means that we were being targeted in which that boss monster that took us out was a part of it through there is no proof to that. It could have been a bug, but these people worked their asses off to make sure that this isn’t ‘another Sword Art Online’, so, it can’t be possible. However, it does look like that something worked its way into this game or it could be someone. Right now, all we can do is play the game and not call attention to ourselves. If anything happens, they might just cut their losses and cut us off. Since this is like the time that we were sent into Rainbow Gardens, if anything happens to us, it might be over for us! Since our minds and spirits are completely downloaded into our avatars, if we’re gone, we’re gone! It doesn’t matter if our bodies are still alive if there isn’t anything to be returned into our bodies! They will be just empty shells kept alive in a forced away until they can’t be ‘kept alive’ anymore! I wonder: Was this the feeling that Kazuto and the others felt when they were trapped in SAO? I thought that I understood them better when I was trapped in Rainbow Gardens, but while this is similar, there is difference. I can’t put it to words, but this situation is different.” Dai, Akari, and Leafa look at each other and nod as they continue to follow the other players into the next ‘Mini-Aincrad’, the next level of the game, to survive long enough to figure out what happened to them, why it happened, and if there is an ‘evil force’ behind this, which might be highly likely, to stop them and whatever evil plans that they have.

 

August 16, 2025, Yokohama North General Hospital

 

Within Yokohama North General Hospital, we are inside of a special hospital room where the comatose forms of Suguha, Davis, and Kari are lying on beds much like the ones that the SAO survivors were put on with the Amusphere still attached to their heads along with IV tubes attached to their wrists and breathing masks over their noses and mouths. This is where we find Darien, the Sailor Scouts, and our Digidestined with their Digimon partners along with Kazuto, Asuna, Keiko, and Rika assembled together as Luke and Doctor Kurahashi enter the room.

 

Trista says, “Thank you for the use of this special ward, Doctor Kurahashi.”

 

Doctor Kurahashi responds, “It is no problem.”

 

Ami asks Luke, “Luke-san?”

Luke says, “It is exactly like what happened before with them, but I don’t get how you can do it with an Amusphere.”

 

Kazuto responds, “Confidence in the current security of the Amusphere, but it is forgotten that like the Medicuboid, both were developed from NervGear technology. With the introduction of ‘The Seed’ added to the fact, people are confident that the Amusphere is safe compared to the NervGear. However, they are mainly focused on how the prevent the Amusphere from doing physical harm to person directly like the NervGear or make sure that it can’t be used for mind-control like with Sugou’s sick experiments. They never thought to prevent someone from downloading a person’s mind completely into a ‘digital format’ without harming his or her body. Kayaba showed that it was possible.”

 

Asuna says, “That’s right. He managed to download his mind into cyber-space.”

 

Kazuto says, with a nod, “That’s right, Asuna. While he did destroy his physical body, specifically his brain in the process, I think Kayaba wanted it that way. I think that he could have modified his NervGear to do it without destroying it. Most likely, he did to make sure that they couldn’t bring him back ever.”

 

Amara says, “Because he rejected the ‘real world’.”

 

Kazuto says, with a nod, “Exactly, Amara.”

 

Seijirou’s voice says, “You are most likely right, Kirito.” Everyone then looks to see Seijirou walking into the room with Tokyu.

 

Raye says, annoyed, “Took you long enough.”

 

Seijirou says, with a nervous tone, “You know how the traffic is in Tokyo, Raye-san.” Seijirou says, motioning to Tokyu, “Everyone, this is Tokyu Ichiban, one of the founding members of Future Divers, and like me, he is a former SAO beta tester that escaped the ‘madness’ of Sword Art Online. His avatar’s name was Sokudo.”

 

Kazuto asks, “Wait! Sokudo?”

 

Tokyu asks, looking at Kazuto, “Do I know you?”

 

Kazuto responds, “It’s me, Kirito.”

 

Tokyu yells out, stunned, “Whoa, Kirito!”

 

Asuna asks Kazuto, “Someone you know?”

 

Kazuto says, “Back in the beta days, Asuna. He was more of associate than anything else, but we got along. His avatar’s name in our language means speed and he lived up to the name all right.”

 

Tokyu says, with a smile, “I wasn’t that good, Kirito. Anyway, it’s ancient history now.”

 

Darien says, “Well, I hope that you can give us any insight.”

 

Tokyu says, seeing the motionless forms of Suguha, Davis, and Kari, “Yes, I have been given the information and this is beyond horrible. I never thought that in my wildest dreams that I would seeing something similar to what took my friend’s lives.”

 

Kazuto says, “I’m guessing that your friends from the beta didn’t survive SAO.”

 

Tokyu says, “Died within the first month, Kirito.”

 

Kazuto, Asuna, Rika, Keiko, and Serena gasp when they see this and Serena says, “I’m sorry.”

 

Tokyu says, with a sigh, “Yeah, thank you. We founded our club to make sure that stuff like this never happens again.”

 

Kazuto says, “I know. I read about you after I had gotten out of SAO and I have to say, you do have a point about Full-Dive technology and VRMMO development.”

 

Tokyu says, with a nod, “Thank you, Kirito. As we have said before, if VRMMO and any type of Full-Dive game or other forms of entertainment are left to single companies without any checks, one ‘bad seed’ could cause something like SAO again. What happened with Kayaba and Sugou proved our point especially.”

 

Amara says, “You have got to admit that the guy has a point.”

 

Seijirou says, “It is the reason that the current amount of VRMMO are ‘checked’ by Future Divers in order to get a ‘stamp of approval’. These days, you can’t bring a new VRMMO game without Future Divers stamp of approval.”

 

Kazuto asks, “And who ‘checks’ Future Divers’ private VRMMO games?”

 

Seijirou responds, with a smile, “Who do you think?”

 

Rika asks, stunned, “You?”

 

Tokyu says, “We’re not taking any chances.”

 

Raye says, “Good point.”

 

Kazuto says, pointing to Suguha, “Anyway, we need your help. You know that you met my sister…”

 

Tokyu asks, stunned, “Wait! Suguha is your sister? I knew from the records that we managed to gather, we knew that her brother was an SAO survivor, but…?”

 

Kazuto says, “Yeah, it’s me. You see, she only joined your club to investigate your Sword Art World game.”

 

Tokyu asks, “Huh?”

 

Tai says, pointing to Kari, “And it is the same for my sister, Kari, and her boyfriend, Davis.”

 

Trista says, taking out a folder, “And here is what we found.” When Tokyu takes the folder and looks through the contents, his eyes widen and Trista says, “She, Kari, and Davis tried to figure out where the e-mails came from and so did we, but we couldn’t find any way to find their origin.”

 

Tokyu says, “Well, I can assure you that no one from Future Divers sent this message.”

 

Kazuto says, “I believe you, Tokyu.”

 

Seijirou says, “Well, Kirito-kun, we can inform you that your sister, Davis, and Kari aren’t the only ones that have suffered this.”

 

There are gasps and Tokyu says, with a solemn tone, “One of our GM is in a similar state as your sister, Davis-san, and Kari-san, Kirito. He was checking an anomaly that seemed to have ‘popped up’ and soon after, we found him in this comatose state.”

 

Darien says, “So, it isn’t them.”

 

Seijirou says, “However, the records show that he logged out around the time that he went into his currently comatose condition.”

 

Raye says, “It is the same from the records of Suguha’s, Davis’, and Kari’s Amusphere. They say that they logged out yesterday, but THIS isn’t logged out.”

 

Tokyu says, “Yes, I know. But we checked and triple checked our records.”

 

Darien says, “And so did we. However, there is something or someone that tampered with the records or made it seem like they have logged out when they somehow transferred their minds into the game itself.”

 

Seijirou says, “However, since no one else has suffered this problem and since there is no evidence at all, we can’t do anything.”

 

Kazuto says, “That’s actually good for now since we have no choice, but to let the game continue on without any hindrance.” Everyone looks at Kazuto and he says, “As long as Sugu and the others are stuck in there, they are at the mercy at what or who did this to them. If they get an inkling that someone is on to them and they have to the means to stop them, they might end what they are doing prematurely and end them along with it. Remember, their minds are downloaded into that game and if their minds are ‘deleted’…”

 

There are gasps of horror and Darien says, seriously, “Then they would truly be dead since there is nothing to return to their minds. Their bodies would still be alive, but there would be nothing to return them since their minds and spirits were destroyed.”

 

Amara says, plainly, “They would be ‘living corpses’.”

 

Asuna says, shocked, “Oh, god…”

 

Serena says, highly concerned, “We need to do something!”

 

Raye says, “But what? We can’t get in there!”

 

Tokyu asks, “You can’t?”

 

Seijirou says, “I’m guessing that despite there is no program to deny a non-member of the club to use the game, you couldn’t get in.”

 

Rika says, “Yep. Kazuto was the first to try to jump in his usual way, but he kept getting error messages. It was the same for Serena, Tai, and Jun along with Serena’s friends.”

 

Tokyu asks, shocked, “Huh?”

 

Asuna says, “We tried different Amuspheres, but we kept getting the error sign.”

 

Amara says, “It was the same for three of us too. Something or someone has made some kind of ‘secret program’ that denies us access.”

 

Tokyu says, stunned, “That can’t be!”

 

Seijirou tells Tokyu, “Tokyu, there is a bit of information that I just found out. It involves the Argus members that you took in.” Everyone looks at Seijirou and he says, “We found records from RCT Progress that way before Argus closed down, there were spies within the staff of Argus.”

 

Keiko asks, “Spies?”

 

Kazuto says, “Industrial spies. The world of business is like a battlefield and there are those that would do anything to win.”

 

Seijirou says, with a nod, “True.”

 

Kazuto asks, “And these spies are linked to Sugou, right?”

 

Seijirou says, nodding his head, “That’s right.” There are gasps and Seijirou says, “However, Kayaba was no fool. Based on the reports, he made sure that they were in positions in which they wouldn’t get important information. Why he kept them, I don’t know, but Sugou believes that he kept them to taunt him.”

 

Lita asks, “Wait! Are you saying that they could have been there when Argus collapsed?”

 

Seijirou says, “It is a possibility and these spies weren’t dumb at all. They are technological experts.” Seijirou says, “However, we have no idea on their identities. Sugou made sure that there was no knowledge on them.”

 

Raye says, “Only he would know them and he has gone with the wind since he has escaped which seems quite convenient to me.”

 

Asuna asks, “Do you think that Sugou’s escape and what’s happening now are connected?”

 

Seijirou says, “That’s actually a good theory.”

 

Tokyu says, taking out a smart phone, “Well, there is one thing to check upon.” Tokyu pushes some buttons and the phone rings in which he puts it on a table.

 

Just then a familiar female voice calls out, “Hey, Tokyu!”

 

Kazuto yells out, “I know that voice!”

 

The female voice from the phone says, “Hey! Hey! Kii-boy, is that you?”

 

Asuna says, amazed, “Argo!”

 

The female voice from the phone says, “A-chan too, huh? It has been a while!”

 

Kazuto says, “It has been a while since I heard from you, Argo.”

 

The female voice, revealed to be the voice of Argo, the information broker of SAO, says, “Well, I have been busy since I got out of SAO, Kii-boy. Is Usagi-chan with you?”

 

Serena responds, “I’m here, Argo. It is nice to hear from you.”

 

Argo responds, “Nice to hear your voice too, Usagi-chan. Anyway, you know the usual if you want to know what I’ve been doing since SAO, but it will cost you ‘real money’ this time.”

 

Kazuto says, with a smirk, “Same old Argo.” Kazuto tells Tokyu, “I’m thinking that Argo is part of Future Divers.”

 

Tokyu responds, “As a paid ‘consultant’ of sorts, Kirito.”

 

Argo says, “Tokyu knows how to get a girl what she wants.”

 

Kazuto says, “I’ll bet. And I’m willing to bet that you are logged into the Sword Art World game.”

 

Argo responds, “You got it, Kii-boy. I’m a ‘special administrator’ in a way. They weren’t taking any chances and they needed an SAO survivor to make sure. And who better than yours truly who knows how to get the information that’s needed?”

 

Kazuto retorts, with a smirk, “For a price.”

 

Argo retorts, with a sly tone, “You say that’s a bad thing, Kii-boy.”

 

Tokyu asks, “Argo, about what I asked…?”

 

Argo responds, “Well, I haven’t heard anything about players being trapped in the game, but there is something else. I’ve found about three cases of players losing important memories from before the game after they were killed and revived.”

 

There are multiple gasps and Michelle asks, “Losing their memories?”

 

Kazuto asks, “Argo, are you sure about this?”

 

Argo replies, “Normally, I would charge for the information, but since Tokyu already paid and it is you, Kii-boy, there is no charge. Yes. I’m sure. I made sure to contact the family and friends thanks to the information given to me by Tokyu and these are cases because these players had friends and family that were part of those events that they forget in the game with them. However, these are so spread out that it hasn’t spread to the general population of the game, yet.”

 

Rika says, “That settles that. Something is going on in that game.”

 

Yolei says, “Big time, Liz.”

 

TK says, looking at Davis, Kari, and Suguha, “And there is nothing that we can do. Not as long as the three of them are trapped in there and there is no evidence to prove that there is something major happening.”

 

Argo asks, “Is that Taki?”

 

Mina and Patamon asks TK, “Taki?”

 

TK responds, with a blush, “It was Argo’s nickname for me.”

 

Kazuto tells Argo, “Argo, there are three more people trapped in the game other than the GM I’m sure that you heard about. One of them is my sister.”

 

Argo yells out, stunned, “What?!”

 

Serena says, “It’s the truth, Argo. They were investigating the game when they got strange e-mails and now, their minds have been downloaded into the game.”

 

Argo says, stunned, “Whoa.”

 

Kazuto tells Argo, “Argo, see if you can find information on players known as Leafa, Dai, and Akari. It is their handle names from ALO.”

 

Tokyu says, “I’ll pay whatever you need.”

 

Argo responds, “It’s no problem, Tokyu. Let’s just say that Kii-boy, Usagi-chan, and I go way back.”

 

Kazuto says, “Thank you, Argo.”

 

Argo retorts, “You owe me, Kii-boy.” Soon enough, the connection cuts off and Tokyu turns off his smart phone.

 

Darien says, “Players that are losing their memories? That’s suspicious.”

 

Amara says, “However, we can’t do a thing against them since we have only a possibility on who they are and if we don’t figure out a way to get them out of the game first, those jerks can ‘kill’ them without damaging their bodies at all.”

 

Seijirou says, “Unlike what happened with SAO, they won’t be considered deaths since their bodies are still ‘alive’.”

 

Kazuto thinks in his mind, looking at Suguha, “Sugu…”

 

Asuna tells Kazuto, comforting tone in her voice, “She’s strong, Kirito-kun. She survived in Rainbow Gardens and found her way home and she will do so now.”

 

Kazuto says, “I know, Asuna.”

 

Darien tells Serena, “They will find their way home, Sere.”

 

Serena says, with a nod, “I hope so, Darien-kun.”

 

Tai looks at Kari’s and Davis’ forms and he thinks, “Kari…Davis…I can’t lose you! I just got you back! I can’t lose you!”

 

August 16, 2025, Sword Art World, Town of Beginnings

 

Within the Town of Beginnings of Sword Art World, Leafa and Dai are racing towards Blackiron Palace in which both of them have concerned looks on their faces.

 

Dai yells out, “When I see that rotten ass, I’m going to kick his butt!”

 

Leafa tells Dai, “I know, Dai. We should have been more careful when we allowed Kari to duel that guy even with half-finish mode.” Leafa thinks in her mind, “I just hope that there is a next time with Kari.” When they go inside of Blackiron Palace, they find Akari stumbling from the Chamber of Revival and when she stumbles, she falls into Dai’s arms.

 

Dai asks Akari, concerned, “Kari-chan, are you okay?”

 

Akari says, holding her head, “Yeah…I think.”

 

Dai says, “Man. I have never been this scared for you since the first time that you went to the Dark Ocean.”

 

Akari asks, “Huh? You sound like I went there more than once, Dai-kun?”

 

Dai says, surprised, “Huh? Yeah. You went there twice. The first time, Gatomon, TC, and Patamon went there to save you and Gatomon digivolved into Angewomon thanks to your powers since you didn’t have your crest.”

 

Akari asks, confused, “Are you sure that happened? The one time that I went to the Dark Ocean was with Ken, Yolei, Wormmon, and Hawkmon in which Hawkmon and Gatomon DNA Digivolved together for the first time, right?”

 

Dai says, stunned, “Kari, it was the second time! You have to remember!” Akari tries to focus and she yells out in pain as she holds her head in which Dai asks, concerned, “Kari? Kari-chan? What’s wrong?”

 

Akari stops screaming and she says, “Dai-kun, I think…No, I know that you are right, but I still don’t remember. My memory…My memory is gone!”

 

Leafa and Dai gasp and Leafa says, “That’s not good.”

 

Dai asks, “Does that mean that we can still be revived in the game, but every time that we revive, we lose our memories?”

 

Leafa says, “Yeah, it seems so. Until we can figure a way out from here, every time that we ‘die’ and get revived, we are going to lose a portion of our memories. And I don’t want to think about what happens when we don’t have any more memories to give.”

 

Dai says, “No kidding, Leafa.”

 

Leafa looks up towards the virtual sky and she thinks, “It looks like that we have our own ‘Sword Art Online’ on our hands and much like SAO, our lives are at stake. We have to win…but what’s going to be the cost?” As Leafa, Dai, and Akari walk away back into the Town of Beginnings to get some rest, they don’t notice that the same girl that they have been seeing is looking over them before vanishing through a teleportation effect.

 

End of Chapter 13

 

(Sword Art Online closing theme ‘Yume Sekai’ starts)

 

As the scene floats down in front of us, we see the Moon Palace in front of a massive lake where instead of the palace, Aincrad is being reflected by the pool of water instead of the Moon Palace. As Aincrad is being shown, we see Kirito, Usagi, and Asuna, in their SAO forms with their ALO forms behind them, floating down and as we float down, we see Suguha Kirigaya surrounded by her ALO avatar of Leaf and as Eternal Sailor Celestial with the form of someone that looks like Princess Serenity, but with Sailor Celestial’s sigils on her forehead. And finally, we float down to see Davis Motomiya, in his Kirito’s style outfit, and Kari Kamiya, in her version of Asuna’s KOB outfit, together surrounded by the three Egyptian God Cards, the Sacred Beasts, Signer Dragons, and many more ‘out of the ordinary’ Duel Monsters including the Aesir.

 

The final scene appears where it shows Kazuto, Serena, Asuna, Suguha, Davis, and Kari surrounded by all of their friends, comrades, and/or loved ones: The Sailor Scouts, Tuxedo Mask, Digidestined and their Digimon partners, Rika, Keiko, Andrew, and Ryoutarou.

 

Preview (Leafa’s voice)

 

“Next time: Presently Past Tense.”

 

And that’s the chapter, everyone! You must be wondering about you know who that you saw in the story, right? Well, I’ll give you this minor spoiler: Yes, it is the same Strea from Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment. And she is going to be the same as she ever was, folks. However, I’ll let you figure out on why she is in that ‘duplicate SAO’ for yourselves. You are going to have to read and find out, everyone! Later and best wishes, Crossover Fans!