Hey everyone! Firestorm40 here and welcome to chapter twenty-one of Sword Art Online: Legends of Aincrad! This chapter features Shoto and Kirito on their way to the World Tree, with some extra help. On with the story! 

(Opening Theme - No Game No Life)

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XXX

Real World

Suguha sighed heavily to herself as she walked through the courtyard of her school. She had been excited to start her combat lessons with Saito, but then her kendo instructor had asked her to stay late after school to help tutor some of the younger students. 'At least I'll be home in time to get onto ALO...'

"Hold it right there, Leafa!" a high-pitched, nasally voice caught the girl by surprise, as did the appearance of its owner. She took a deep breath to calm herself as she looked at her friend in the eye.

"I thought I told you not to call me that out here, Nagata," she said warningly. Her friend was a short boy with brown hair and eyes, framed by rounded glasses, and a nervous air about him. He was also known as the Slyph, Recon.

"R-Right, sorry," the younger boy said sheepishly. "W-Well, I just wanted to talk to you about your plans for later... Sigurd and the other said that they'll be going on a criminal guild hunt this afternoon, and they wanted you to help 'em out..."

"Oh, right..." Suguha sighed. "Well, they'll have to go without me- I won't be around those guys for a few days."

"Wha-?!" Nagata exclaimed. "Wh-Why not?!"

"That's my business, and none of yours," Suguha said sharply. Usually she could tolerate her friend's nosiness, but right now it was grating on her nerves for some reason.

"W-Wait, are you going somewhere with that Spriggan and Salamander?!" Nagata said helplessly.

"Yeah," Suguha said crisply. "I promised them I'd get them to the World Tree."

"B-But... That's such a long way away..." he whined. "You never took me up on my offer to take you... And... Wait, that means you all will be... sleeping together...!"

That was the last straw. "Don't get any weird ideas about it, you creep!" Suguha shouted as she darted forward and rammed her kendo pack into Nagata's stomach, causing him to groan loudly and double over in pain. "We're going as a party, and that's it!"

"Ow..." Nagata moaned as she left him lying on the pavement.

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XXX

Suguha made it back to a quiet home at five until three. Normally she would have gone to check on Kazuto or call Saito after coming home so late, but she guessed that they were probably visiting their friend in the hospital, which was just fine for right now. It would save her the trouble of trying to explain to Saito why she had bailed on their training at the last minute.

She dashed upstairs, changed out her school uniform into some casual clothes, and set up her Amusphere at top speed. She grinned as she felt the cool plastic settled comfortably on her forehead, and felt her heartbeat accelerate. "Link, start!"

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XXX

ALO

Leafa walked into the cafe to see two figures waiting for her. The two figures turned out to be two grinning boys. "Hey guys!" she waved cheerily as she joined them. 

"Yo, Leafa!" Shoto grinned at her, while waving.

"Did I keep you waiting?" Leafa asked.

"Nah, not at all," Kirito grinned as he stood in greeting. "Thanks again for doing this."

"No problem," she replied. "I'm looking forward to this little excursion." She smiled shyly at Shoto, who simply returned a head nod in greeting. Then a thought struck her as she looked the two boys up and down. "Uh... By the way, have you guys thought about getting any new gear?"

On instinct, the two boys looked down at their simple clothes, both of them wincing. "Huh..." Kirito said. "I guess we should've thought of that. Let's see, do we even have any money to buy new gear...?" He opened up his menu, scrolled through it a bit, then frowned a little harder.

"What is it, Ki?" Shoto asked.

"This stuff called Yuld..." the boy in black said as he looked up at Leafa. "That's money, right?"

"Yeah," Leafa nodded. "Do you have any?" Shoto looked over his best friend's shoulder, and both of his eyebrows went up.

"Oh my damn!" He exclaimed in shock.

Kirito then looked down and poked his jacket's pocket. "Hey, Yui. We're leaving."

Yui then came out of Kirito's pocket with a yawn. "Okay," she said, while stretching.

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They spent the next hour wandering from shop to shop, checking out both NPC and player merchandise. Several times, Shoto and Kirito got into an argument about what type of swords they should by, to which eventually Shoto gave up on, and Kirito happily bought himself a one-handed straight, black iron sword that he sheathed on his back.

Shoto on the other hand, brought himself a unique sword. It looked like a classic skeleton key  approximately 3.5' long, with a long silver Keychain extending from the hilt, and a token on the end of the Keychain. The token was formed from three spheres, like it was cut from sheet metal. The blade and teeth of the Keyblade are silver, the rainguard is black and gold, and the guard is ruby red and had a flame-like appearance. Also, the teeth of the Keyblade form the outline of a crown. The sword was called, 'Dawn of the Flame'.

"Now, this is a badass weapon!" Shoto grinned looking all over the blade.

"Is he usually a bad spender like that?" Leafa asked, pointing at Shoto.

"No, unless a good sword is involved," Kirito sighed. "Then he'll pay through the nose for it."

"I can hear you, ya know..." Shoto grumbled.

"That's the point." Kirito grinned. 

After a while, the two of them finally got around to purchasing some proper combat clothing. For Kirito, his clothes were black with silver trim. 

For Shoto, he wore a dark orange high-collared shirt. A red, short-sleeved trench coat with orange-edges, but it became knee-long, and golden shoulder pads. He also wore two dark red intersecting straps across his chest. He wore a black belt with a silver buckle. His pants were slacks, and brown in color. He also wore orange fingerless gloves with elbow high sleeves and golden wrist guards. He wore a brown and gold piece of armor on his right forearm. His shoes were like his old, only red with dark brown stripe down the middle and dark brown straps, with silver buckles and golden toe-guards. Finally, he wore a necklace with what looked like a mini version of a dragon's head.

Once it was all settled, the trio headed for the tower, while Leafa was also showing them around more. Not long after that, they were now standing in front of their destination.

"Why do we head to the tower?" Kirito asked.

"Well, when flying at long distances, you need a higher place to start at. It gives you extra altitude. The tower is the highest place in Sylvein. That's why we're here." Leafa explained, turning to the duo.

"Oh, that makes sense" Shoto muttered, remembering how he and Kirito had smashed into the wall the other day. 'Damn bananas...!'

Leafa, seeing that they weren't moving, decided to shove them forward. "Let's go already. I want to make it pass the forest by night" She said.

Suddenly, before they could take another step, a figure landed before the trio with a grin in place. "Hiya guys!" The figure said, turning out to be Haru.

Leafa looked at her friend and blinked, "Haru? What are you doing here?" She asked, confused.

After getting over his suprise for Haru's sudden appearance, Shoto was now frowning at her.

Kirito took notice at his friend's expression. "Whats wrong bu-"

"Haaaaaruuuuuu!!" Shoto growled lowly, making Haru sweat, while Kirito and Leafa's jaws drop at what he did next.

Shoto shot forward at the girl, causing Haru to yelp in surprise.

Leafa's hand went to her sword, thinking Shoto would attack her Sylphian friend...only to watch as Shoto put Haru in a playful head lock, while tickling her sides.

"PfffFFHAHAHAHA!!! SHOTO!! STOP IT THAT TICKLES!!! HAHAHA!!!" Haru cried, tears already flowing down her face as she laughed.

"Why didn't you tell us we know.You IRL, huh?!" Shoto laughed along, giving the girl a nuggie as she squirmed. "We could have all met up instead of getting lost and crap!!" Shoto snickered with a devilish grin, with sharp teeth and horns to match as he tickled her ruthlessly.

"I-I'M S-SORRY!!! LET M-ME GOOOOO!!!"

Kirito only chuckled at his friend's antics, while Leafa just stood there with her mouth hanging open in shock.

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XXX

A little while later, Haru was laying on the ground out of breath with a blush on her face from laughing so hard, while Shoto stood by her chuckling.

Leafa looked on with a sweardrop in place, before she cleared her throat and sheathed her blade. "Anyways, Haru, what are you doing here?"

Haru took one last breath, before springing to her feet with a large grin in place. "Why I'm tagging along with you and these doofs to go to the World Tree! That's what!"

Leafa's jaw dropped once more at this. "W-What?! B-But-!"

"I have no problems with that!" Shoto spoke up, a crooked grin in place as he placed his arms behind his head. "Besides, it'll be even more fun with a extra person!"

"W-Wait-!" Leafa tried to speak up again.

"I say the more strength the better, so I'm cool with you joining Haru." Kirito nodded along with a small smile. 

"H-Hey! Listen to-"

Haru threw her arms up, "Yata! I won't disappoint!" She pointed to the Saber hanging off her belt. "I'm a Master sword user, and I know a few combat spells too! I'll make sure to help carry me weight!"

Leafa watched the three of them converse, before she dropped her head in despair. 'And here I thought I would be alone with these guys...' "Wait!" The three finally listened to the other blonde as she pointed to Haru. "How the hell do you know these guys anyways, Haru?!"

"Oh that?" Shoto placed his arm over Haru's shoulder with a grin. "We also know each other IRL!"

"HUH?!"

"Yeah, we didn't know she had an account till yesterday, so it came as a surprise for us as well." Kirito nodded, as the three watched as Leafa face-faulted onto her face, making the three sweatdrop.

"Ano... Leafa? Are you alright?" Haru weakly asked, receiving a groan in reply.

"This is gonna take a minute..." the three groan in unison.

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XXX

After Leafa had finally recovered from what just happened, the trio, plus Haru, walked into the tower.

Inside, there were lots of Sylphs talking and exchanging conversations with themselves, as Shoto and Kirito just observed them. 

"Hey! What are you guys doing!?" Haru called out to them, with her hands on her hips.

"Come on, slowpokes." Leafa said, dragging them to the where Haru was standing. But a voice behind her stop them in place.

"Leafa! Haru!"

The group turned and saw a tall male Sylph with dark green hair with green clothes to match and heavy silver armor with a huge broad sword hung at his waist. He also wears a circlet with an amethyst on his forehead. He was also accompanied by two guards.

"Hello, Sigurd" Leafa greeted him, as said Slyph and his guards stopped in front of the group.

"I should've known..." Haru muttered lowly.

"What's this I hear about you two leaving the party?" Sigurd asked. "Is that true?"

"Yeah, I guess" Leafa answered.

"Don't you know how that will inconvenience the other members?" Sirgurd not pleased with her answer.

"What's the problem?" Haru snapped. "You promised we could join only when we had time, and that we could leave whenever we wanted." 

Sigurd glared at her. "I know what I said. But you're already well-known membera of our party. If you both leave without a reason, it will damage our reputation."

Leafa's expression became a crestfallen one. She had hoped to avoid this- Sigurd and his friends were notorious for wanting to have the top party in the game, and they were fairly harsh with people that left, despite that they should kinder to other players.

"But..." she tried to come up with an excuse to get away, but to no avail.

"Party members aren't tools," Kirito said as he stepped forward, surprising everyone except Shoto.

"What'd you say to me?" Sigurd rumbled, his voice angry.

"You heard him," Shoto growled back. "Party members aren't meant to be at your beck and call whenever you so choose. They're people, with free will of their own. And you don't have the right to order them about."

"You...!" Sigurd growled, before grabbing his sword. ""You're just a Spriggan who likes to rummage through trash!" He said to Kirito, before looking at Shoto. "I don't know what the hell you're doing here, Salamander, but Slyphs don't assoicate with your kind! You're probably renegades who were kicked out of their own territory." 

"That's enough! Kirito and Shoto are our new partners!" Leafa spoke up, not liking how Sigurd badmouthed them.

"She's right!" Haru agreed. "We made our decision, whether you like it or not!"

Sigurd looked at them shocked. "What!? Leafa! Haru! Are you abandoning your territory to become renegades, too?"

Leafa and Haru looked each other, before determined expressions grew on their faces, as they nodded and looked back at Sigurd.

"Yes, we are. We're leaving this place." Leafa said

Sigurd took out his sword and pointed it at Kirito and Shoto. "As long as you two buzzed around, I didn't plan to concern myself with you. But if you're going to be thieves, that's a different matter. If you're stupid enough to walk into another species' territory, you can't complain if you get killed, right?" Sigurd growled.

Kirito sighed, while Shoto brought a fist up. "I could say the same," Shoto smiled back coldly. "Bring it on, if you really want to suffer humiliation in front of your fellow Slyphs." He gestured casually around the room, directing the others' attention to the other Slyphs in the hall, who were looking on with tense curiosity.

"Sigurd, perhaps we shouldn't," one of the guards said quietly. "If we pick a fight here, it will only cause problems for us, and the party as a whole."

Sigurd growled wordlessly as Shoto regarded him with a wolf's smirk. "Fine," he snarled as he sheathed his sword. "But once you're outside, run and hide, Leafa, Haru. If you two betray me, you will regret it." Then he turned back to leave with his two guards. 

"Geez, what an ass..." Shoto mumbled.

"You said it." Haru agreed with a nod.

"Sorry for getting you two involved in that." Leafa said, looking at Shoto and Kirito

"It's fine... But are you two sure about this? Abandoning your territory..." Kirito said.

"You know, we could just go back to our own territories." Shoto said, rubbing his head.

"Too late for that." Haru said, pushing the boys forward. "You're stuck with us."

"H-Hey..." Kirito said.

"What are you doing?" Shoto said.

Leafa didn't respond, as she followed them to the tower.

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XXX

On top of the tower

"Hot damn!" Shoto said in awe, as he, Kirito, Leafa and Haru looked at the view before them and amazed at the sight.

"Woah! It's so amazing here" Kirito said, smiling at the sight.

"Isn't it? No matter how many times I looked from here the view never ceased to amaze me" said Leafa also enjoying the view.

"It's just like you can raised your hand touch the sky." Haru said, reaching her hand up to the sky. 

Then Kirito turned to the two Slyphs and asked. "But are you two really alright leaving with us like that? I mean, it's we made you leave on bad terms."

"It's alright. I've planned to leave anyway. Never want to be bound by the rules" Leafa answered, her hands behind her back.

Haru nodded. "Yeah, this was a great opportunity for me too. I honestly couldn't put up with being in that party for much longer. Sooner or later, I was going to leave it."

"Oh yeah! That dude said something about renegade. What is that?" Shoto asked curiously.

"Well, Renegades are the players that have left their territory to wander around. And other players look down on them." Haru replied. "Though, I don't care what the others think about me. I do what I want. That's my life style." 

"I feel the same way. But why do they want to tie each other down like that? We all have these wings..." Leafa said to herself.

"Humans are complicated." Yui said, coming out of Kirito's pocket. "I can't understand the psychology that causes the desire to seek others to manifest in such odd ways." 

"See, others?" Haru asked confused.

"This is what..." Yui said, before she kissed Kirito's and Shoto's cheeks. "...I'd do. It's simple and unmistakble" Yui said with a smile.

"Th-That's an amazing AI. Are all Private Pixies like that?" Leafa asked surprise.

Shoto rubbed his head sheepishly. "Nah, just ours."

"Though, she's weirder than most..." Kirito said, putting Yui back inside his pocket.

"O-Oh. The desire to seek others..." Leafa muttered when they heard a familiar voice calling out. 

"Leafa! Haru!" 

The group turned around to see the lift moved, with Recon running up to them.

"Recon?" Leafa asked as soon as he stopped. "What're you doing here?"

"You two left without saying anything!" he pouted.

"Actually, she kinda did..." Kirito said.

"Well I wasn't there!" he said with a hurt expression.

"Well, you're here now," Haru said, exasperated. "So what is it?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Recon said. "I came to tell you that my magic is yours to command! Er, that is... I would go with you..."

"But...?" Leafa prompted.

"But there's something I need to investigate," Recon admitted, looking over his shoulder as if afraid of eavesdroppers. "I don't have any solid proof yet, but I can't ignore this." He looked up at Shoto and Kirito to say, "Hey guys. Leafa and Haru both have a bad habit of getting themselves in trouble, so keep them out of trouble, okay?"

Haru's eye twitched. "I am right here!" She said, a bit ticked.

Kirito grinned and extended a fist, which Recon bumped as the Black Swordsman said, "We'll keep her safe, don't worry."

"Besides," Shoto grinned as he folded his arms behind his head. "Ki and I have knack for being trouble magnets ourselves."

"That only applies to you." Kirito sighed.

"Okay," Recon nodded as he stepped closer to them. "But just so we're clear, Leafa is my- Ow!" The sharp cry was drawn out by Leafa, who stomped on Recon's foot, none too gently.

He kept on whining as she said, "We'll be out in the field for a while, so just message me or Haru if anything comes up." Then she activated her wings and took off.

"See ya around." Haru said with a wave, before following after Leafa

"This is where we part." Shoto said, with a mock salute.

"Good luck, Recon," Kirito grinned as the duo waved goodbye and went to follow the girls.

"Bye..." he said as he looked after them all sadly.

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XXX

"So let me get something straight," Kirito said once he and Kirito had caught up with Leafa and  Haru. "In real life, he's your friend?" 

"Yeah, something like that," Leafa admitted. Nagata was the one who had introduced her to and helped her survive in ALO, so she tolerated his eccentrics and obvious crush.

"From what I can tell, he's had a thing for her since then." Haru said, giggling. 

"I see..." Shoto grinned mischievously.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Leafa demanded.

"Nothing," Shoto said with the same grin. "Just a little jealous is all."

"Wait, what are you jealous of?" Kirito demanded.

"It's nice to have someone like that," Shoto said as he looked ahead. "Makes me wonder how I'll be when I find my special someone."

"Whipped?" Kirito said with a smirk.

"Go fuck yourself!" Shoto exclaimed, causing Haru to laugh at their bickering.

"Now that person's feelings were pretty clear," Yui said as she floated alongside the others. "He likes you a lot, Leafa. Do you feel the same way about him?"

Leafa's eyes darted over to between Shoto and Kirito for a second before, she flushed red and said, "I-I don't know!" And she flew forward a few paces to outdistance them. As she did, she looked back at the tall buildings of Magnolia one last time, a bit of sadness in her heart as she walked away from the place she had called her virtual home for nearly a year.

"It's going to be weird not seeing it for a while, huh?" Haru asked flying up beside her friend.

"Yeah..." Leafa nodded still looking back.

Haru then smiled. "Look on the bright side, at least we'll have those two idiots for company." She said, gesturing back at a certain duo.

Leafa lowered her gaze to see Kirito and Shoto grinning at her, one friendly and the other a bit huger. Seeing that, she couldn't help but smile back at them as she said, "Yeah, you're right. Come on you guys! There's a lake I wanna make it to before it gets dark!"

"Race you there, Red!" Haru called out to Shoto.

"You're on!" Shoto shouted with a grin.

 With that, she and Haru took off at a faster pace, with Shoto and Kirito not far behind.

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XXX

World Tree

Asuna was still inside the birdcage and sitting on the bed silently, with Sugou lying right next to her. After a while, he was about to remove her clothes, until he became bored and laid back on to the bed.

"My, my... You're such a cold woman. It's just a fake body. It won't hurt anything. Don't you want to enjoy yourself a little?" He said with a sign.

"You wouldn't understand. It doesn't matter whether this body is real or virtual. Not to me anyway" Asuna said and turned away from him.

"Are saying that it'll damage your mind. I think it'd be good idea to enjoy yourself while you can." Sugou said and brought his hands behind his head and closes his eyes.

Asuna narrowed her eyes. "I won't be here forever. He'll come to save me" She said confidently.

"Who will? Your boyfriend, maybe? Or that other hero?" asked Sugou mockingly. "What were they're names: Kirito and Shoto?"

Asuna widened her eyes at that."S-Shoto is alive? He's with Kirito?"

Sugou then get's off of the bed. "Wasn't his real name Kirigaya and his blonde stupid friend name Hisaki? I met them yesterday, in the real world. I couldn't believe those weak little boys were the heroes who beat SAO. Where do you think I met them? He said, sitting down in the chair. "Your hospital room. Also about that boyfriend of yours. You should've seen his face when I told him that I am gonna marry you next week." 

Then his expression grew into one of hatred and anger. "Then, his blonde friend had the nerve to put his hands on me, claming he would protect your love for Kirigaya." He snarled, unconsciously rubbing at his neck. "After what happened at SAO, I bet they won't even be able to touch the NerveGear" Sugou said mockingly and laughed like a maniac. 

Hearing that, Asuna bit her lower lip at looked down sadly. Sugou decided to leave the room.

"You shouldn't underestimate Kirito-kun and Shoto like that. I've seen with my eyes at which length they would go to protect other, especially Shoto. They would destroy you if they knew what've done to me and the other 300 players" Asuna said confidently.

Sugou huffed at that. "You seem to have an unshakable trust in those two. We will see about that." With that said, he began to type the password of the door to open. Asuna uses this chance to look through the mirror the reflection to remember the code.

'11,3,2,9.' She thought, seeing the code from the reflection, as she rose from the bed and went to the edge of the cage 'Kirito and Shoto...they're both alive. And I know they'll come from me.' she thought, holding her chest.

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XXX

Neutral Area - Ancient Forest

Shoto, Kirito, Leafa and Haru had finally reached the forest. Though, it wasn't too long before they encountered monsters. Leafa and Haru were about to attack, but Shoto and Kirito were already moving at top speed to engage some flying lizard-like monsters called Evil Glancers.

"Take point!" Shoto said as they drew close, and Kirito flew forward, his sword in hand. He then slammed his blade into the the Evil Glancer's face, sending it reeling before following up with another blow from his sword that slashed into its chest.

Just like that, the Evil Glancer was killed on the spot and disappeared, much to Leafa's surprise. 'These guys really are incredible!'

Haru smirked at them. 'They still got it, huh?

"Switch!" Kirito shouted as he leaped back to avoid being slashed by another one of the Evil Glancer's claws. Shoto flew towards the monster with his key-sword. In rapid motion, he slashed through the Evil Glancer with brutal force and felling it with one strike.

"Nice one!" Kirito grinned as he slammed fists with Shoto, who was also smiling. "This new gear rocks."

"I know, right?" Shoto nodded. "I wonder how strong our magic would be."

Soon they heard a few roars, and turned to see two Evil Glancer were flying away. Shoto and Kirito were about to go after them until Haru put a hand up to stop them. "We got these, guys." She said, standing beside Leafa before they both started to charge up a spell.

Once they were done, they launched their attacks at the Evil Glancers. Haru shot numerous shining emerald needles at one, while Leafa launched five boomerang-shaped blades at the other. The spells then hit their marks, causing the Evil Glancers to disappear into thin-air.

"Nice job." Leafa said, flying up to the boys with Haru.

"Thanks for the backup." Kirito said, smiling.

"We make a pretty good team." Haru said with a smile.

"Heck yeah, we do!" Shoto grinned, as the four of them high-five each other.

Leafa then noticed their wing were about to reach their limit. "Our wings aren't gonna last much longer." She told them.

"How about we land down there?" Haru said, pointing a spot near the lake.

"Yeah." Kirito said with nod.

"Sounds good." Shoto said.

The four of them started heading down to the ground.

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XXX

As soon as they reached the lake, Haru turned to her male friends and said, "You guys tired yet?" She said with a bit of a challenge in her tone and grin, interested to see their reaction.

"Pfft! Not even," Shoto said, a spark in his eyes as he recognized the challenge. "Why, are you ready to drop out?"

"Yeah, we're used to way harder conditions than this," Kirito added as he stretched while looking out at the lake. "We're good to go for a while."

"Hate to bust your bubbles, tough guys. But our journey in the sky is at an end for a while" Leafa told them.

"Huh, why?" Kirito asked, lookin over at her.

Leafa pointed at a moutain several miles in front of them. "You see that mountain, right? It's above the altitude limit, so to pass it, you have to go through the caves. It's the thoughest part of the trip between Sylph territory and Arun, or so I've heard. Neither Haru or I have been past this point, either." She said.

"Really... Caves, huh? Are they long?" Shoto asked curiously.

"Yup. Supposedly, we can rest at a neutral town midway. Do you two still have time today?" Haru asked.

"It's 7:00 pm in the real world, huh? We can keep going for a while." Kirito said.

"Cool," Leafa grinned. "But since it's dinnertime in the real world, do you want to take turns logging out to eat?"

"Sounds good to me," Kirito nodded. "How about you go first? We'll stay here and guard your avatar for you." In ALO, you couldn't log out in the field without being sent back to your last save point unless someone was there to guard your avatar until you returned.

"Okay," Leafa nodded. "I'll try to be quick, I shouldn't be more than thirty minutes or so. Sound okay?"

"Sure thing," Shoto nodded. "We got your back." His words made Leafa smile, so she turned around, sat down on the edge of the lake and logged herself out. She slumped as if asleep while Kirito, Shoto and Haru sat near her body, keeping their eyes open for any mobs or players.

"So..." Haru began to say, getting their attention. "From what I can tell, you guys found out that girl in the picture was really Asuna and dove in here to save her, right?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Kirito said with a nod. "We heard from a friend that Asuna is at the World Tree and being held captived, which is why we need to get there as soon as possible. Though, I was suprised to see you here too, Hana."

"Speaking of which..." Shoto said, looking at Haru. "If you knew Asuna was here, why didn't you tell us when you showed us the picture? Also, why didn't you tell us that you played ALO?"

Haru's eye twitched. "Oh, so it's my fault you two were in such a rush that you ran out of the door before I could say a word?" She retorted.

Shoto opened his mouth to say something, but closed it. "Oh, right. Sorry about that." He said, sheepishly.

Haru waved him off. "Don't worry about it." She said, "Anyway, to answer your question, I didn't want to get your hopes up when I showed that image to you guys, because I wasn't a 100% sure if it was her. Though Leafa told me who you two were, I assume it was Asuna. So when I heard you guys were on your way to the World Tree, I decided to tag along." 

"Oh, well that makes sense." Kirito said with a smile. "Thanks for the help, Haru."

"Yeah!" Shoto said, grinning. "Glad to have you with us!" 

Haru smiled back at them. "No prob." She said, before standing up. "Alright! Since we got some time to kill, I'm going to teach you two how to use your magic!" She stated proudly. 

Shoto and Kirito looked at her confused. "Huh?" They both said.

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XXX

IRL

In the real world, Suguha had just finished eating and making dinner for Kazuto. When she asked at his door if he wanted dinner, she received no response. Assuming that he was asleep, she had moved on with her evening routine.

While in the shower, she fell deep in thought about her current situation in Alfhime Online. 'I'm excited to go back there,' she thought finally. 'Shoto...Kirito...It's not that I'm love with either of them or anything like that... Not even that I have new friends to go on adventures with... I'm just excited that I get to go new places in a new world.'

Leastways, that what she told herself. Seeing her expression in the mirror didn't help reinforce those thoughts in the slightest.

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XXX

ALO

Leafa stirred awake as she logged back in with a smile. "Hey guys!" She called out, opening her eyes. "I'm bac-" She cut herself off as she looked in shock at the sight before her.

Craters, shredded, burned trees and leaves, and fissures surrounded her and most the forest was simply gone. Leafa looked over at her three companions, where Kirito was sitting beside her, nibbling on some kind of candy, Haru was running a hand over her face, and Shoto was...whooping in the air, while holding a fireball in his hand.

Kirito noticed Leafa had logged back in and he greeted her with a grin. "Hey, what's up?"

"W-WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED WHILE I WAS AWAY?!" She exclaimed. "Did any monsters come out while I was gone!?"

"Just that one." Kirito pointed over to Shoto, who was walking over with Haru.

"He did this!?" Leafa asked, pointing around the destroyed area. "What were you guys even doing!?"

The three looked at each other for a few moments and Shoto was about to speak until Leafa spoke up "NOT YOU SHOTO!" She turned to Haru, "HARU! EXPLAIN! NOW!" Haru looked sideways to the two for a second "Well..." Haru started.

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Flashback

"Alright you two time for you to learn how to use your magic!" Haru stated proudly, causing both Shoto and Kirito looked at her confused "Huh?" They both said.

Haru sighed, as she knew this was going to be long so she tried to shorten her long explanation, "In this world, it's not just flying, it's also magic. Take me for example; I'm a Sylph, and we Sylphs can do wind magic." She said a few words and a little tornado came, "WOAH!" Shoto exclaimed, before the tornado disappeared. 

Haru started to talk once more; "Now here is where it gets tricky. Sylphs can also learn other magic, but it takes hard training to master just one element. For me; I am a master at lightning." She said a few more words and lightning came around her then vanished. Shoto, Kirito, and Yui looked confused, she only smiled, walked over to Shoto, grabbing his wrist.

"Hey..." Shoto began. "What are you-? AAAAAAHHHHHH!" He was then cut off as Haru shocked him. Shoto cried as he floated, while his skeletal body was comically being shown a few times before he then passed out with his hair pointing in all directions and smoke coming from his head and mouth. "Whhhhhyyyy....?" Shoto squeaked out with swirls in his eyes.

Kirito looked at over at his fried best friend, before looking back at Haru. "Uhhh, not that I didn't enjoy that, but was it really necessary?" He asked.

Haru just waved him off. "Don't worry, he'll be fine. Give it a minute or two." She said, before looking over at the Black Swordsman. "In the meantime, I can help you with your magic."

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XXX

2 minutes later...

Kirito sighed, before begining a incantation. After a second, his eyes widened in surprise. "Wow!" He said, looking around the forest. "I can see through the dark parts of the forest!"

"Oh! Night Vision magic? Now I see even a useless Spriggan was capable of something" Haru said, smirking cheekily.

"Ouch! That's really hurt" said Kirito and grabbed his heart dramatically.

"Actually you could use any spell you want, Kirito. Though you will only excel in illusion magics, like I excel in lighting magic and Leafa- in wind magic." 

Soon, they heard a groan and looked over to see Shoto sitting up and rubbing his head. "Ugh...did anyone get the number of the thing that hit me?" He groaned.

"Nah, must've been the wrong dial." Haru teased. "Come on, I'm going to help you with your magic."

It was Shoto's turn to be trained, and if Haru was being honest; she wished that Shoto wasn't so dense like one of the Salamanders that calls himself 'Salamander' cause one is bad enough. Cause what was happening right now is that Shoto was running and screaming and was on fire, that's right; on fire. Shoto, who is a Salamander was running around and screaming like no tomorrow all because he was, and still is, on fire.

Flashback ends

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Leafa looked at Shoto who was rubbing his head and looking any where but Leafa, then turned to look at Haru who only nodded her head in shame. "Okay so what happened next?" Leafa urged.

Haru started to play with her hair, looking thoughtful for some time, like she was trying to put what happened next into words. She then explained that she managed to calm him down, with the help of the other two and tried a different approach with him. They started off with a little fire, like for guiding lights in dark caves and what not. Then they went to a light spell attack, it was alright, it only burned a small part of the ground. And Haru found out that if Shoto got mad enough he will set himself on fire.

"Hence why he was running around and screaming." Haru finished as Leafa stared at her in disbelief. 

"Okay!" She sighed. "From now on I will train Shoto with his magic. You and Yui will train Kirito. Is that understood?" Leafa ordered, looking at the group.

 Everyone all agreed, but Shoto frowned. "Great. I get Tinekerbell over here." He muttered.

Unfortunately for Shoto, Leafa heard him. "And just what do you mean by that?" She asked menacingly. Shoto quickly answered with his arms in a surrender. "NOTHING! NOTHING AT ALL!" He said, waving his arms.

But it was too late, Leafa drew her sword and started to attack Shoto, who then took off around the area with an enraged Slyph chasing him.

"GET BACK HERE SO I CAN SLICE YOU UP!" Leafa roared with comical flames in her eyes. Shoto still laughed as he ran, which annoyed the girl to no end.

Haru and Kirito just watched the duo with sweatdrops. "Well, that escalated quickly." Haru said.

"Yeah." Kirito agreed. "Alright, my turn. I'll make it quick."

"Hey, I called dibs!" Shoto shouted. "No one argues with the universal law of calling dibs!" 

"Okay, okay," Kirito said with another one of his smiles. "I was just kiddin, Bro."

"Good to know," Shoto said as he then skidded to a halt, as a result Leafa kept running and ran smack into him and she fell back on her ass.

"Now you stopped" Leafa panted. Shoto just grinned, before he sat down and logged out like Leafa had earlier. As soon as he slumped down in the logout position, Leafa heaved a sigh of relief.

"Everything okay, Leaf?" Haru asked.

"Well..." Leafa hesitated. "I know we're not really supposed to do this, but...Kirito, could you tell me why Shoto is so... I dunno... Fired up about everything he does?"

"That's a good question," Kirito grinned good-naturedly. "Truth is, I'm still trying to figure part of that out, and I've known the guy for years."

"But wait, you called him 'bro', didn't you?" Leafa said with a frown. "Aren't you related or something?"

"Nah, not really," Kirito admitted. "We've been close friends since we were kids. He's a bit of an idiot, as you noticed, but one thing I can say about him... is that he's got a big heart, and he's the guy you can definitely rely on. For that, he watches out for his friends, no matter what."

"So he's a good guy, then?" Leafa asked.

"One of the best," Kirito grinned.

"You can say that again," Yui said as she floated out of Kirito's pocket. "Uncle is a silly person, like Daddy."

"Wait, your what?!" Leafa exclaimed.

"Eh heh..." Kirito said as he rubbed his neck, embarrassed. "Yeah... Long story short, Shoto and I saved her a while back, and I decided to adopt her. Actually, she started calling me 'daddy' and Shoto 'uncle' before we could figure her out, and now..." He shrugged. "Here we are."

"Huh...?" Haru was confused. "So wait... You didn't set her that way, or...?"

"Nah, we didn't do anything to Yui's settings," Kirito answered. "She's just that way on her own."

Yui nodded. "Yep. Even if Daddy logged out, I could still move around."

"R-Right..." Leafa said, still feeling like she wasn't getting the full picture. 

"Man, you guys are weird..." Haru sighed. "I don't know what else to say."

"Sorry, guess I've been around Shoto too long," Kirito grinned.

"Someone call my name?"

"Gah!" Haru shrieked in surprise as Shoto spoke and got to his feet.

"Hey bro," Kirito said as Shoto cricked his back. "You even bother to eat your food, or d'ya just inhale it?"

"There was some out on the table for me," Shoto shrugged. "Why don't you gone on and take a break?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Kirito nodded. "See you guys in a bit." And he logged out. True to his word, Yui did not vanish as soon as he left the virtual world.

"Well, I'm going to log out too." Haru said. "Be right back." With that, she also logged out.

Shoto immediately moved to stand by the lake with a fierce grin on his face. Seeing the look, Leafa asked, "So... what's up?"

"I want to try something," the boy said as he took a wide stance and breathed in deeply.

"Wait, what're you doing?!" Leafa asked, eyes wide.

"Testing out my maximum firing range," Shoto said, as he began to say a incantation. Then he put both hands in front of his mouth as he unleashed a blast of fire. The flames shot forth from his mouth, funneled through his hands, and shot out a good hundred yards over the water, the magic causing ripples to emanate from where the flames nearly touched the surface.

Leafa waited until he was done to say, "Whoa! Yo might be on a whole different level than most of the people I've met. You might even be as stronger than Sigurd."

"Pfft," Shoto scoffed, before nibbling on some kind of candy. "That guy struck me as more talk than power."

"Well, maybe that's true," Leafa nodded. "But he is pretty strong, I guess. And he's been playing this game for a long time. By the way, what's that?" She pointed at the candy stick Shoto was eating. "I saw Kirito eating one earlier."

"Oh, we bought a bunch at an item ahop before we left Sylvein. An NPC said it's only made there." Shoto said, taking it out of his mouth. "It's really good."

"I've never heard of it." Leafa said. "What does it taste like-" She was cut off when Shoto stuck the candy stick in her open mouth with an evil grin. She bit on it instinctively, then immediately wished she hadn't. Whatever it was, the spiciness level was way beyond her ability to handle, and she spat it out with a loud cry.

"Oh man god! That was so worth it!" Shoto laughed loudly.

"I oughta... hurt you..." she gasped in between coughs.

"What's going on?" Kirito asked as he got up. Soon, after that, Haru logged back in.

"Is Leafa okay?" Haru asked, looking at her friend.

"She tried something a little too hot to handle," Shoto grinned.

"That was all you!" Leafa protested, still feeling like her mouth was on fire.

"You gave her one of my candies?" Kirito chuckled as he bit down on one. "Nice."

"That was mean!" Yui said, while Haru laughed at the sight.

"Still funny," Kirito said as he hi-fived his friend. Shoto looked as though he were about to speak, but then he tensed and his brow bent downward. He started looking around the area, leading Haru to ask, "What's happening?"

"Not sure..." Shoto said quietly. "I have an uneasy feeling about something.... Yui, are we alone out here?"

"Maybe you're sensing that I'm about to thrash you," Leafa said sourly, but both ignored her, which made her wonder if something was actually wrong.

"I belive so," Yui nodded. "I'm not picking up any player ID's."

"Hmm..." Shoto frowned.

"There can be a tracer on us" Leafa said.

"Tracer? What is that?" Kirito asked.

"It's a tracing magic. That can take the form of an animal." Leafa explained.

"Well, we will deal with it, if that is necessary. In the meantime, let's go!" Haru said, taking off into the air. Kirito and Leafa soon followed her. 

Shoto took one last look around before shooting into the air to catch up with his friends, 'What was that? I know I sensed something....' He thought before shaking his head to clear the thought for now as he continued to fly.

Unknown to them there was a squad of Salamanders on the ground preparing to chase after them.

To be continued...

Ending Theme - Light of Hope

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Haru: Looks like we're being followed, guys. 

Kirito: Yup.

Shoto: Hey! Think we'll get to kick major ass next chapter?

Kirito: I'd bet my life savings on it, Sho.

Leafa: Cool- I think some of our readers are starting to wonder if we'd ever get another good action scene.

Kirito: Oh come on. We all know that if nothing else, Firestorm40 can do two things- one, leave us on a cliffhanger, and two, produce a good fight scene to make up for it.

Shoto: I guess that's true. Hey Firestorm! You better give the people what they want!

Haru: Until next time, have a good one, guys!