[PP F8] Only the best.

[Zelrius 0]

The boy looked out the large window that oversaw the west side of the great forest around himself. The building he stood in; suspended on a wooden platform high in a tree, as was the architecture in the Floor. This building was the same exact building that both the Floor Eight and Nine Boss fights were held. (the First Floor Nine one, anyhow). And Zelrius quite liked the building. Mostly because it brought back the memories of when he was nothing more than an extra sword in Boss fights. Back when Nikki was the tank of SAO, and when The Ebon Vanguard was the "world" power. Those were the days, or so Zelrius thought. When he was so care free and had little to no regard for anything or anyone. To this day, he let it not show that he had grown sympathetic, if only a little. Now here The Blood Buccaneer was, however. With information and reports of an adventure that was told couldn't be done alone.

 

It was the type of Adventure Zelrius had wished more Video Games had when he was growing up. One's that could leave you stumped for hours on end, and even lead from Anger to absolute nausea from wandering back forth in the same area trying to figure out the Mystery behind what ever the task was you were doing. And Someone had finally brought this miracle to Zelrius. Just the right amount of information, and all he needed now was a strong, trustworthy team of people. Those people he had messaged and called forth to this building, the one of memories. Secluded away from any town, allowing entry for The Yellow Players of the world, yet just as homely as any building in all of SAO, for some strange reason yet to be uncovered.

 

Calrex, whom was in the Brigade before the great Migration (As Zelrius calls the disappearance of his Comrades in recent days) Seemed to be quite the hefty bit more powerful than he was previously, and was invited to said building on the basis that he was atleast semi reliable and not a complete moron.

 

Rebekah, The girl Zelrius met one day quite a bit ago, while under a sort of sickness that plagued the boy. She proved resourceful, and slightly less annoying than the rest of the world. Later, that same girl ended up in partipating in the next few boss fights, making her appear only less of a waste of time.

 

Ariel, Loyal and quite powerful Zelrius assumed nowadays seemed like a nice fit into this whole group thing. Once more, proving to be more bearable then the rest of the world, Zelrius was especially pleased the Lessa had like Ariel as much as she did. That was one of the main reasons Zelrius even gave Ariel a chance, Lessa had spoken highly of her.

 

And Finally Kiru. Zelrius trusted her. She was Keith's choice in life, Just as Nikki was to Miaki. The Blood Buccaneer was tolerant of those whom his companions chose in life, and had even made great friends with Nikki (Of course After the incident on the 8th floor). That and Zelrius felt she needed something to take her mind off of Keith, atleast for just a little.

 

The boy stood in the room, His golden sheath on his right hip, inside of it a quiet and extinguished twinfire sword. The Hydra Skull Helmet rest peacefully on the great desk, directly infront of the pushed in chair at the head of the table, facing the door. In the boy's right hand, he held the light blue pendant with the Brigade's sigil. The boy's Dark blue and golden tuxedo, the same one he had worn at the new Year's party, was pressed and clean. The boy was more then ready to get things rolling along here.

[Calrex 0]

At the teleportation circle on the eighth floor there was a flash of blue light as a player with blue hair appeared from the light. He gave a small sigh as he exited out from the plaza, stretching his arms as he walked. On the back of his hip, with the handle pointing towards his right arm, was a deep sea blue sword in its sheath. Around his neck was a small glass ball which if one were to look inside seemed to house a miniature ocean. As he walked his menu was open, the player tracker active as he had a private message in his other window.

 

"Zelrius, from what I remember he was one of the, if not the strongest players in SAO, and one of the leaders of the Azure Brigade before their disappearance. I only met him briefly for a short time when I first met Kiru. It's strange that he would contact me all of a sudden, but nonetheless it seems like something important I should follow up on."

 

After making his way across the village he eventually saw Zelrius' locator inside a rather secluded building, tucked away from the rest of the town, a good distance outside of the gates, it seemed like the building itself might have been some kind of accident, like it should be where it is. It certainly didn't seem to belong out in the fields, at least to Calrex's knowledge.

 

He gave a calming breath as he looked down at his necklace, the Ocean's Defense. It was around the time that his fiancee, Teayre, had given him this that he had decided to not be afraid of the cold, logical side of him, and managed to bring that part of him he dubbed the cold persona under control, and with it his full swordsman capabilities once again. At the same time he glanced at the Rook piece that Ariel had given him, the item that symbolized his position within his new guild Absolute Pin, the person in charge of the guild's defensive strategies. He went through the various flights of stairs he eventually arrived at the room, seeing the player that was known as the Blood Buccaneer.

 

"Heh, I guess Oikawa's title for me, the Ultramarine Knight, hasn't really caught on at all hasn't it. Alright, let's see now..."

 

As he entered the room he gave a nod to Zelrius, "Hey there Zelrius, I don't think we've been formally introduced, but nonetheless thank you for inviting me here. I'm Calrex."

 

With that he stood to the side of the doorway, waiting to see what was going to happen next.

[Rebekah 0]

She had always disliked hanging out around that ignorant guy, Zelrius, because of his attitude, but she had always respected him, his ability as one of the strongest players in Aincrad. Ever since that uneventful day when he was building a fire outside of that extremely humid floor, they knew. However, Rebekah had never turned down an opportunity to train alongside Zelrius or any high level player, as she strived to be the best. The thing that most people had not learned is that there is no reason to be afraid of orange players, and she is able to trade insult for insult towards him. That was the other reason why she had shown up today, since it had been a long time since she had attended one of these, as well as the fact that she was bored, and may enjoy poking fun at someone or two.

As she arrived on this 8th floor, she was the third person to arrive to this event, which she knew that there would certainly be more people. As she scanned, she ran through a list of names in her heads that are strong enough to be invited. After reading the requirements that Zelrius was looking for, she had a general idea of the others who would show up. Zel was here early, but there was also another male which she did recognize seeing him somewhere before, but not actually speaking to him before. She waited to see if she should introduce herself to him, but decided to let someone else to say something first. As she turned to Zel, "So, do you need help building a campfire today?" as she mock him about the first time they had met.

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

The teleportation gate in the 8th floor's  Florenthia Village shone brightly as another player set foot for her first time on this forest themed floor. She took a look around, her silver eyes almost instantly assessing the other players and NPCs around her. After that initial habit was out of the way she took notice of the wood-based building. Then with a sigh she summoned the inbox to read a recently received message that piqued her interest. After confirming the coordinates for the meeting spot she closed her inbox and with a few elegant hand gestures summoned the HUD map and searched the before mentioned coordinates, raising her eyebrows in surprise to see a friendly marker at the precise spot. 

 

"Okay, so it's outside town...and Cal-kun is already there it seems. Well considering WHO sent the message I can imagine that there would be more ex-Brigadiers there. I wonder what he has planned..what do you think girl?" asked the blonde after memorizing the route they had to take and closing all HUD menus. Her attention was now directed towards a white furred lion cub that tilted her head at Ariel's question, then released a low growl in response.

 

"Yeah we'll have to get there and see" she continued with a half pleased smile as they started walking towards the town exit. The meeting place wasn't hard to find, especially with all the support the SAO in-game interface had to offer. Their destination was as expected, in the middle of a green forest with nothing more than trees and a suspended building to differentiate the place from its surroundings. 

 

For some reason, Ariel had in her right hand the King and Queen pieces and had been playing with them the whole trip 'till here. She still couldn't believe it that she had formed a new guild and was already recruiting new members. It was a hard blow for her when she found herself kicked out of the Brigade one day with no apparent reason..then found out what happened. She didn't want to believe it but part of her thought that her 'family' had abandoned her, the heads of the guild retreating in the shadows. The fact that two of her best friends, Baldur and Tyger also disappeared didn't help her much. So she spent her last months in grieving and anger at the 10th floor, fighting all the undead that she encountered. In the process, reverting to the full extend of her fencing skills that she cultivated IRL.

 

She entered a sprint starting position and took a look at Kimba who appeared to read her intention as she was getting ready to run as well: "Race you to the top?" she asked, right before instantly sprinting towards the entrance of the suspended building. The blonde was fast, faster than your average player..having learnt the <<Sprint>> skill but the jungle raised lion cub was even faster, gaining ground over her and winning the race, by a split of a second. The two were now in front of the main entrance door entering the meeting spot.

 

"Huh?..Senpai?" she softly mumbled in surprise. For a split of second Ariel's face had a pleasantly surprised expression as she spotted a familiar blonde standing near other two figures. One she clearly recognised as the one bearing the Rook piece in her guild, Calrex... while the other one was unfamiliar to her. She did however recognise the sigil that his pendant had on it. It belonged to the 'Azure Brigade'..Ariel's former guild of which she had once thought as of her 'family'. She approached the others, ignoring the neatly dressed boy and the hydra head on the desk and casually greeting Calrex:

 

"Guess you received the same message as I did." she said with half a smile then directing her gaze towards the other female in the room: 

"It's been too long Rebekah-senpai... so, you got invited here too huh?" she asked with a nostalgic voice. With memories surfacing, of the last time she'd met her during her 'noob' period with the Guardians.

 

In the meanwhile, Kimba entered the room and started staring the the hydra head helmet on the table, she rose on her two paws over the table, trying to reach it and play with it but failing.

 

 

[Kiru 0]

I had delayed responding to the invitation or heading in the general direction of the meeting. Instead I sat, one leg gracefully tucked behind another at my seat while drinking a glass of water. Since this was Floor 8 I decided upon ordering a water instead of a hot chocolate. Getting a hot drink would not only make me feel hotter than I already was but give me a stomach ache. For obvious reasons, water was the best choice. With the water I also was eating yet another piece of bread I found in my inventory. For the past few days it seemed that all I had consumed was bread, but that wasn't true. I ate a sandwich at a cafe on Floor 2 yesterday. I guess it was still some sort of bread but still, I didn't only eat one thing. Along with my meals, my appearance didn't change that much either. My hair was neatly combed and I was wearing different clothes but overall I looked the same. 

 

My eyes slowly drifted from the window to my open HUD, then to the time. According to the clock I had been avoiding leaving my place for exactly twenty-two minutes now. I sighed, knowing I couldn't avoid this meeting, I could tell it was important. I took one last sip of my water and stood up from the table in silence. I walked to the front of the small cafe. Before exiting the building I read over the message again and took a look at Zel's cursor, he was farther than I anticipated. I let out a groan of annoyance and dragged my feet out the door. Once outside I was greeted by the blistering heat and the way too bright sun that hung over the town. Being exposed to such a big mass of light after being secluded in a not very well lit cafe caused me to sneeze. I frowned and placed a hand over my eyes to serve as a shield from the sun. I looked left, then right, then turned left and weaved through the town, through alleys and small openings in the wall. I continued to walk with absolutely no motivation until I was well out of the town. For then next thirty minutes I treaded in the harshly paved walkway towards Zelrius' location.

 

When I finally reached the building where the PM directed me to I could tell from the noises resonating from insider that there were other people here as well. Knowing Zelrius I had a general knowledge of who would be in there but I also had no idea who he trusted enough to discuss something with. I placed a hand on the door, took in a deep breath and pushed it open. I stood in the doorway and looked at Zel, he was easy enough to spot. "Hey Zel-" My greeting was cut off by a sudden sneeze, stupid light. "Excuse me," I said, unimpressed at my entrance, "as I was saying...hello Zelrius." I took a step forward into the doorway, unaware of the uneven stone in the room. The front of my boot caught the edge of it and I was sent forward towards the table. Luckily I caught myself in mid-fall and balanced myself on one of the chairs. I stood up immediately and straightened myself, clearing my throat in the process. "So, anyone else we're waiting for or can we begin?" I asked, finally scanning the room to see who exactly just witnessed not just one, but two embarrassing moments. I recognize everyone that stood before Zel. Ariel, Calrex, and Rebekah. Ariel, who insisted on calling me "neechan" was also an ex-brigader, meaning she was worthy of whatever Zelrius had in mind. Calrex, who was the first one to come to my aid when I was crying. Rebekah...I didn't really know what to think of her, she was extremely seclusive and didn't give off the vibe of being weak. I swallowed and stared at Zelrius, whom I had the strongest bond with. Surely he would speak up. 

[Tristan Delaney 0]

Tristan had taken an extended leave of fighting after the Hydra boss fight. He needed to recuperate after having to deal with what was basically his first boss fight, which had quite an impact on poor lil' him. He says that though, the only players who died were the underlevelled ones and someone like him was actually under little threat. It was more having to cope with death that hit him, such as Rue who he ad many adventures with (and their party). After coping the at one time near suicidal Celes during her breakdown, it was something he didn't wish to witness.

 

Now however Tristan likes to think he has overcome that and that he can now simply respect death, but not be stuck in grief like the past. Now he shall tank and do the best he can, but not bring himself down if he fails to protect someone, for he gave the best he could. And as it turned out, Zelrius had invited him to a party of only the most powerful players in Sword Art Online. Well, he was one of the top tanks at current, more so in rebound damage,at the cost of offensive capability. So it seemed only honourable to honour his request.

 

Tristan warped into Floor 8 and went to the mapped location, an interesting building which a previous boss battle was at. There, he saw Zel, someone named Calrex who he did not know at all, Ariel who he didn't know, Rebekah (an ex guild comrade) and Kiru. He kept himself cool, however had a strong feeling that if Kiru was anywhere near as emotional as in her past, that she would be very stingy towards him and not very respectful to him. He would respond nicely, being the person he was, but was worried that he had irreparably destroyed their friendship, something he wished hasn't happened. Maybe he should buy her a coffee after this and chat. 

Tristan waved hello to them as he came into the group and gave a quiet "Hello.", which looked odd for someone his tall height, like a gentle giant. And clad in ebony steel armour with a vicious looking spear and shield (appearance in signature). A very gentle giant he supposed?

"So what will we be questing today?"

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius only glanced over as one by one the people began to fill in. Some attempted speaking to him, and some not so much. Nonetheless he answered the following strings of dialogue  as they came.

 

"You're correct, No formal introductions, my deepest apologies. Have a seat, and wait for the others to arrive. I cannot imagine it'll be too long for anyone, with the exception of Kiru, As for right now, Have a seat, enjoy a drink."

 

Zelrius waited not too long for the next arrival: Rebekah. and she drew back to their initial meeting of eachother:

 

"We might need such a thing. Right now? No. Later maybe. This one could take a little longer. However, yes the fire will be intentional, and not a creation of Delusion." 

 

Ariel made her way next, and didn't really say anything to Zelrius, to which he was semi-pleased, and a bit hurt by. They had been old Guildmates, and a Hello may have been nice.

 

"Greetings and Salutations, Ariel. Please, have a seat and chat with the current attendees while I plot and wait for the others."

 

After of which, not long after, Kiru had entered the building. Earlier then the Blood Buccaneer had quite expected, nonetheless, Here. Her entrance brought a chuckle to Zelrius something very few things did anymore.

 

"The award goes to Kiru Yudai for having the most Graceful entrance. Greetings be to you, and watch the floor there are nooks and cranies, you might trip again. As of Right now, we are waiting on Mr Delaney as of right now."

 

As the words left his mouth, The man had arrived, bringing relief to Zelrius. He stood for a second to say the following:

 

"Greetings and Salutations, Tristan. It has been some time. You may or may no recognize some of these people. I'll give you all a minute to get familiar with each other. Than I will speak once more of the plot here. Hope you all brought your Journey gear. This is going to be a long one."

 

Back at the head of the table Zelrius had his feet propped up on the desk and the Hydra head set aside from that. The golden sheath for the sword leaned lazily against the side of the table, and the pendant was wrapped around the head now. Zelrius decided it was finally time to do a little unwinding, after all, these people were meant to be his friends, right?

[Calrex 0]

As the rest of the people invited to this meeting arrived Calrex's eyes watched each of them, scanning their characters for any unique traits. The first was a young blonde woman that seemed to be familiar with Zelrius as he spoke in a more casual fashion. Second was his guild leader, Ariel, as he nodded, "It appears so." When she turned and spoke to the first woman to arrive Calrex made note of her name being Rebekah. The third to arrive was Kiru, who he had met only once before this, the two-toned hair being a clear indicator of who she was. The last was a man by the name of Tristan, who Calrex could tell from his gear was a tank-build player, much like himself. However, compared to himself, which was more of a bruiser, blended for both damage and defense, Tristan seemed more oriented to be an absolute defender. Nonetheless, he suspected if Zelrius had invited him here, Tristan was powerful.

 

"All of the people here...if we decided to take on a floor raid right now I wouldn't be surprised if we were more than powerful enough to taken down any boss. Nonetheless I'm still curious as to the reason Zelrius has invited us here."

 

As Zelrius spoke to get familiar with one another Calrex nodded as he looked over at Rebekah and Tristan. Since Ariel and Kiru were already acquainted with him, he felt it of higher importance to formally introduce himself to the two he didn't know. "It's nice to meet everyone, a couple of you for the first time. I'm Calrex, and I'm looking forward to fighting alongside all of you."

 

With that he sat down in his chair as he swiped a couple of times on his menu to make sure all of his gear was in order. He figured he wouldn't be needing the Grand Gauntlets if he was going to be using the Grand Blade for the most part, so he kept it in his ready slot. The only thing he needed to equip at this point was his Grand Chariot armor, but he figured to wait until they actually got battle ready before doing so.

[Rebekah 0]

As everyone else had arrived, and people were exchanging their greetings, Rebekah could not help but focus in on Ariel, who called herself a senpai. It had been a long time since she saw Ariel, and she had grown a lot stronger than Rebekah had in the exact same time. She still remembered when Ariel was new to the game, a long long time ago, but she knew some people grew faster than others. As for the other two members that joined the group after them, Kiru, who seems to be in a recovering mood after what had happened, and Tristan which she had not seen for a very long time. She was surprised to see Tristan again, as many players often disappear and reappear later, and she was glad that he was back for now.

As Zel started to greet everyone, he had on all of his best items, a clear reminder that he was the strongest player in Aincrad with all of his shiny unique items that many people do not have. As she looked around, Calrex was the only player who she had not met yet, and he took the initiative to introduce himself, so she would do the same. "Hi Calrex, I am Rebekah, and I cannot wait to get started." It has been a long time since she was a part of any small raids, which was very important for her as communication is key in these battles, as opposed to a solo battle.

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

The blonde looked at Zelrius direction and offered a nod to him while saying: "Isn't it a bit redundant to mention both?" when a familiar small figure entered the meeting room. Ariel's attention had been focused on Kiru, who made for herself quite a... unique entrance, for their sake the blonde acted as she didn't see it. But she was a bit sad that Kiru only properly greeted Zelrius but that wasn't the matter in the moment. The girl with the two-toned hair seemed different. Ariel couldn't put her finger on it but something was definitely different about her. "Neechan...." she slowly muttered in a worried tone, more to herself than anybody else.

 

Her chain of thoughts was once again disturbed, for the best, as the last member of the party had arrived. A thank by all appearance but he didn't have the mixt build that Cal had. This guy had, beside the height, a huge and intimidating looking lance...a shield that remembered her of Zel's sword and was clad in black armor. He offered a small greeting to which Ariel stepped towards him and returned the favor, as he seemed a pretty decent guy with at least common sense: "I believe we haven't meet before, Kayla Ariel D'Sole... Known as the 'Crowned lion' by some." she said in a clear voice as she continued "And that little furball is my companion Kimba." She ended up pointing towards the white lion cub that was...displeased when Zel moved the Hydra head. The young lion cub gave a small growl at the blonde boy and made her way towards Ariel's side, looking first at Kiru and then at Tristan.

 

After she'd finish her business with him, Ariel's attention would return to Kiru... 'something definitely happened since last I saw her' she thought as she took a seat at the table, across Zel's position but a bit to the left. As Kimba made her way beneath the table and yawned lazily, the blonde looked the golden boy in the eyes and started talking in a serious tone: "I was surprised when I saw your message. Who would've thought that Zelrius, allegedly the strongest player in SAO, would summon little old me, among some pretty heavy names" she took a pause to turn around and meet everybody's gaze then continuing "I Imagine you have something big planned if you want to do it with a party. I do have a guild to run, so no matter how much I'd like to idle 'chat', unfortunately time is not on my side. I suggest you start telling us the reason why you summoned us."

[Kiru 0]

I straightened my back by and crossed my arms after looking at around the room. My eyes traced everyone's faces, seeing if it was a shock to see me fall or if they were laughing at me. Throughout my entire time here I hadn't embarassed myself this much before. Occasionally I would make a fool of myself or Keith would do something funny but it was eventually forotten. This incident however was in front of the people that Zelrius had called forth, the strongest of Aincrad. Everyone saw my stumble but only one person had responded to it, and it was Zel. The reaction I got from him wasn't one I thought I would get. I didn't expect him to chuckle at my lack of balance, or even congratulate me. If anything I thought I would get a snicker. Though seeing how we were closer friends I guess the way we spoke about and to one another would be different. The chuckle wasn't the only thing I caught though, it was the "Kiru Yudai" part of his speech. He knew that Keith and I never had the chance to have a proper ceremony before he disappeared but he called me by the last name of Yudai. Blood rushed to my face, and a smile appeared. It was the small things that Zelrius did for me that made the biggest impact. Simply returning a hug or calling me by his name made me feel a whole lot better, it even made me forget what I was here for. "Yes, I have been the most graceful since the beginning, no one can beat me at entrances either." I said, beaming with a small smile. 

 

My falling entrance was forgotten instantly and the smile on my face slowly disappeared when Zelrius stated the last person we waited for. The moment he said the name of the player my face went pale. "Delaney?" I asked quietly, a pit forming in my stomach because of the name just mentioned. "Oh no...please don't tell me..." Thoughts began to race through my head, he couldn't be meaning Tristan. Surely it was someone else. As soon as I thought of the red haired male Zelrius welcomed another person. Slowly I turned around and made eye contact with none other than Tristan Delaney. 

 

The memories of Tristan ran through my head, out of control. Going to eat somewhere fancy, punching him, kneeing him in the gut, yelling, and worst of all the crying. Seeing him pick up Lessa at Celes' grandmastering party was the final straw. At that moment I felt my already closed off heart shatter. At the time I was dramatic but now I just resented him. He didn't even apologize or talk to me after that night, he disappeared. It took awhile for me to go back to normal considering that I had let someone in on my personal life for it only to be trample and thrown away. To make things worse, I still had something of his. I opened my eyes, not realizing I had closed them in the first place and stormed over to Tristan. As soon as I stood in front of him I scrolled through my inventory and selected an item. Surely he would knew exactly what it was. The Hoya of Minos. I held the golden necklace out to him and glared, shooting daggers with my eyes. "I'll have you know that I did not enjoy holding onto this for such a long time. I should have thrown it off the edge of Aincrad. So here." I said, thrusting the pendant forward until it was touching him. 

 

 

[Tristan Delaney 0]

Tristan cracked his neck to the side with his hand as he listened to Zelrius speak, already anticipating greatly the oncoming action. He was probably rusty from having been out of combat for so long, so something like this was sure to give him a crash course in getting his posterior back into the fray. Knowing Zelrius, what they would tackle would be by no means easy either, so he better be ready.

 

"Well I'm ready for you to throw us some curveballs, with your masochism for a challenge exceeded only by few in this world. Well, the few that also still survive." Many low level players died from carelessness, he for one came close a few times. However the thrill of combat spurned him on to help his comrades more and to move on. Zelrius probably just sought something that could provide a decent challenge.

 

Kiru approached him and looked with a incredibly gloomy face. Oh [censored], he had totally forgotten to talk to her before he left. Well this would go down fantastically...

As he anticipated, she was unsurprisingly seething through her teeth at him. Tristan rubbed the back of his neck and slightly reddened in the cheeks in embarrassment, not really sure what to say. Certainly would have to offer her a coffee and chat, because there was much to discuss.

He took the Hoya of Minos shaped just for her with great regret, sighing and nodding. He would hold onto to it for now, maybe returning it in the future so decided to keep hold of the pendant.

He breathed out a sigh, clearing his mind. "Well, I hope I won't be attacked without forewarning from you at the least, unlike the several times you punched or kicked me." he spoke with slight jest in his tone, though it was awkward with the tension in the air.

 

He turned to Zelrius, anxious to continue with their outing. "Well I'm ready for the journey ahead."

[Zelrius 0]

A Smirk and then a standing position fancied Zelrius. Show time. He remarked silently in his own mind. With a straightening of his bowtie and a flattening of the creases in parts of his dress shirt, The Blood Buccaneer spoke once more, and as ever, the voice was attention demanding and completely full of himself. But this speech would hold slight compliments for the rest of those throughout the room. 

 

"As of right now, all of you; Shut the hell up. Any conversations you have now, remember what you were saying and tuck em away. You're more than free to converse once we begin moving. But as of right now, The Blood Buccaneer will speak. I am sure some of you will have questions," A deep breath as he looked at the assembled group and then carried on "As a good bit of you have already noticed, I am sure, we are a very powerful group of people. Infact, We are probably the top players in existence minus Oikawa and Mari. I'd like to shed light that I had invited Mari, and she respectfully declined. No matter, Tristan here has taken her place, and I much rather enjoy this addition than the Pink Haired PKer. Back to what I was saying; Most of you are level Thirty or higher from what I've heard and those who aren't certainly have the strength of some of those that are above thirty."

 

A quick stop. That would conclude that part of the speech. Next.

 

"With that in mind, I have brought you all here to deal with a certain problem. Here on the Eighth floor is a rather large, eh, Fortress, if you will. This fortress is riddled with Puzzles and enemies, much like you'd see on an old Playstation 2 or even an NES console. You know, The good ol' days of Gaming. The monsters in here have been recorded, by yours truly, to be stronger than those we know on the 10th floor. Averaging Fifty or so HP a piece. Now for the interesting part: It is rumored by Information Brokers that after collections of 3 key pieces, The players are to battle a greater enemy. HP and Stats are unheard of or unrumored. I've long demanded a challenge, a few in this room know that. And this is precisely what I was looking for. If you're in, Stay in the Room. If you wish to back out, There's the Door."

[Calrex 0]

"Hm...so Zelrius had intended to invite Mari along as wel, but she declined. Well, I guess with the reputation she seems to have developed recently I guess it's no wonder. Hope things get better on her end. As for Oikawa, I wonder why he had not decided to invite him along as well..hm...Zelrius, Kiru, Ariel, Rebekah, Tristan...adding me makes six people. He just said we need to gather 3 pieces of a key..."

 

"3 pieces of a key, going from the number of people here I'm gathering that we might be breaking up into groups of two to go after each individual piece?"

 

Calrex had listened attentively to Zelrius conversation, although he did take into account the aggression in Kiru's voice when she had spoken to Tristan. From what he could gather the two had some history, especially if there was a pendant involved. Possibly a previous relationship before she got engaged to Keith? He let the thought pass as he gave a calming breath, awaiting the inquiries the other members of this team probably had in their minds.

 

"It certainly seems there's a lot left to chance with this little venture Zelrius has planned. He said it's similar to the puzzle solving dungeon crawlers of old gaming, but I also remember that there was a lot of trial and error in those games, at the expense of death to the characters and having to restart old save files. Not exactly something we can risk in SAO. He also said that the enemies within are going to be stronger than those encountered on the tenth floor, the one which is currently the highest floor we have unlocked...hm...there's certainly going to be a lot of risk in this. I just hope that we're strong enough that it will help to compensate for the things we don't yet know."

[Rebekah 0]

The only thing that caught her attention throughout Zelrius' entire speech was the word puzzle. Just how complicated is this event that he wanted to go after. Yet, this was the type of challenge she was looking for, her training and skills have remained stagnant for quite some time, and she would like to break that hurdle. Perhaps, this was the thing she had been waiting for. She considered herself the weakest player among the group, even with Tristan being lowered level, but he was a tank. Rebekah on the other hand, focused on damage, but she does not deal as much as the others. With that in mind, her decision was made a long time ago, which was to stay with the group to collect the three keys.

The other 3 players have yet to make a decision, but she knew that the reason they arrived and would join in. It was a long time since Zelrius showed that much planning over something, which made her trust what was going on. From her several interactions with him, he was not one to clearly think over something, since he does not have to. Being one of the strongest players in Aincrad, if not the strongest, he can get away with almost anything. But because of the planning involved, that was something that he has not seen in him in quite a while.

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

As Zel decided to ignore Ariel directly and start his somehow practiced speech, the blonde faked a yawn, making sure she was heard. All the first part was just a big talk without saying anything of importance to her. Near the end, she slid backwards on her chair as it make a squeak sound, ready to get up and was about to motion Kimba to to the same, so they may leave Zel bask in his own arrogance. She found his way of addressing them pompous and unnecessarily offending, she was ready to leave, until certain words reached her ears: 'battle a greater enemy' and 'challenge'. All the other words he spoke, she found them useless. "I don't know and don't care of what games you're referring to but this stopped being a game for the majority of us right after that damn sky got bloody on the first day. In any case, you don't see me leaving." she said in a not so amused tone, then used the room she'd made with the backing of her chair to stretch her arms above and then behind her thinking: 'Strongest group, yeah sure.... Except for Calrex, I don't know how any of them fight. Teamplay is an important component in a battle, as well as measuring one's strength. If this kid thinks that only gear and lvl makes one strong he's still wet behind the ears despite all that he pretends.'

 

Next hearing Calrex's educated guess, Ariel raised a hand and said, a bit too loud like a high schooler: "Hi Hi(Yes Yes), if we're doing teams I'm okay with all of you, except for golden boy over here." she said with a smile, lowering her hand and waving her hair blond behind her, while looking at her potential partner for the key retrieval mission.

 

 

[Kiru 0]

(Sorry about the bad post, couldn't think of anything  really)

 

"You can only hope that you'll be walking by the end of this..." I muttered under my breath and walked back to my original location. Being angry with Tristan wasn't worth my time right now, especially with Zelrius telling everyone in his usual way to be quiet. I took a deep breath, crossed my arms and focused on Zel. As he explained our mission I looked around the room. Everyone here was more than capable of whatever Zelrius had in store for us, I was sure of it. Calrex seemed like a good fighter, he was compassionate and would probably help out at any given moment. Ariel was like her familiar, she was aggressive when needed and was a powerful lady. Rebekah was mysterious, I knew nothing about her, but I was confident that she was good. Tristan, as much as I hated to admit it, he was one of the best tanks I have met. Then there was me. Nothing too special about me other than my daggers and impulsive fighting style. Together, we could get anything done, probably even the next five boss battles. After Zelrius finished I scoffed a little bit. This task was going to be challenging for us but he could have easily done this all alone with only losing about a fourth of his HP. Maybe I was exaggerating but I was still glad he invited me. I shrugged my shoulders and leaned back on the edge of the chair. The questions would commence now. Calrex was the first to state that we would split into three groups. Then Ariel was next. To my surprise, Ariel wasn't as polite when she asked her question. She even went as far to act sarcastic about it too. I covered my smile with my hand and raised an amused eyebrow at Zelrius. I didn't think Ariel could be like this this. 

[Tristan Delaney 0]

Tristans curiosity was piqued when it came to that this would simulate a RPG dungeon like those of older games no longer seen. The types which had Devices of Plot Advancement, which then would come together to a culmination in usually a boss room of sorts where they would fight a larger foe. These were types of games along with others he grew up with as a kid, so this excited him greatly. "Sounds like a worthy challenge for only the best."

 

Tristan equipped his weapons and rolled his shoulders saying "Well I don't know about you but I'm growing tremendously impatient, because the more I hear of this place the more it piques my curiosity. It may kill the cat but goddarn it sounds fun, so I'll throw myself at it." He thought about how they would pair up and said "Ideally I would go with a damage dealer, but ultimately I'm fine with who I go with. So long as it doesn't take too long to set up."

Tristan at this point left the tension with Kiru for another day to solve, since this in his eyes was at present a larger matter.

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

The blonde looked around the room and saw that almost everyone was hooked on the idea, herself included. She couldn't lie to herself and not admit that fighting alongside such players wasn't an appealing prospect. She'd suspect that they wouldn't go against a floor boss but with the proper preparation they could, until then they'd have to settle with this 'Fortress' and the secrets it contained. But the blonde wouldn't knew how much time it will take for them to gather the keys... or even be able to reunite like this again. Floors needed to be cleared so this thing will most likely be passed onto second plan. She could feel the accumulated excitement dissipate after this realization.With the corner of her eye she spotted Kiru show a amused expression. She wouldn't mind to be put in a team with her. Despite being so fond of the two toned girl, this blonde didn't quested or fought by her side that much. She was beginning to wonder if her affection wasn't something more simple than what she thought.

(staying IC for that period, short post to end this thread already.)