BlackBell

Taking the orders to heart Hikaru made a mental note of them and readied her sword once more.

This time though, Hikaru came out from behind Klein and then went forward. With a quick jab and then a slash, the sword met it's mark. A hollow howling filled the air as the beast took damage and Hikaru danced back a distance away out of reach, never turning her back on the monster. That was at least one thing she had learned from some practice with the boars.

Being sure to keep her sword at ready all time Hikaru continued to move and maneuver around, making sure that there was not select patterns to her movements. At least that was noticeable. What what that phrase, something like "organized chaos" Seeing it's gaze shift between Klein and her, Hikaru acted like she was going to attack, drawing attention away from Klein and too herself.

Klein 17/17

Hikaru 13/13

Lighting beast 9/20 (Hit -1)

There was so many sounds that Hikaru had never heard before. Squeaking. Squawking. Clicking. It wasn't long before her nerves went on edge and every noise made her jump.

The most stressful part was the fact that there was not pathway that lead though the forest. It was pretty much an at your own risk type of deal, which was in a way much more terrifying than anything. Not per say that Hikaru was afraid of the dark or anything, but at the same time she wasn't such a big fan of it.

She was so up tight that she even drew her sword, which was not normal at all. Normally, the young girl would wait for a monster to strike, but this time she was afraid that she wouldn't see it before being able to respond. Sword out in front of her she managed to cut though some leaves when suddenly she froze on spot.

There it was.

Perched on a high branch and casually cleaning it's feathers. It was definitely a lot cuter than the picture had seemed. Now, all she had to do was feed it....

The question seemed to repeat in her mind over and over again.

"How am I holding up?" She muttered one more time.

Actually, Hikaru had never really taken the time to think about how she was, or what she was feeling. Shifting her gaze to the older man she let herself mull over how to answer that particular question. Memories of going to adventures with people she barely even knew and yet at the same time, being almost completely alone. The realization of the fact that the game was almost the same as her real life caused her to freeze.

Happening to glance down Hikaru was pleased, and excited, to see some of the exact mushrooms that she was searching for. The perfect excuse to take her time. Wandering over she used keeled down and started to pick them.

"I am doing well." Hikaru shrugged nonchalantly, "To be honest not much has changed from life in this game to life in the real world."

She didn't care to elaborate any more than that.

The fact that her father pretty much despised her had stopped bothering her years ago; although every now and then, like on bring your parent to school day or family fun day, she could feel the spark of sadness rise up against all odds. Why were they so lucky? What did they have that she didn't?

"What about you?" Hikaru questioned, cutting off her own thoughts, "Was it anything like you expected, being able to live in a virtual reality?"

(Loot: +1 Rare Mountain Mushroom)

For just once she let her defenses fall. Taking comfort in the warmth and feel of another human being Hikaru felt the tendrils of raw fear retreat from her mind. Suddenly everything felt okay. There were no more dark figures lurking in the shadows and the sounds of the storm seemed distance; almost nonexistent.

Then she saw it.

The horned beast that had thrived within the depths of this monsoon. It was like nothing the girl had ever seen before. A beast that lived in and fed off nightmares. Feeling Klein release her, and promise to stay by her side, got a small smile out of her. If Hikaru had a brother, she could only hope he would be like Klein.

Quickly wiping the smile off her face the girl watched as Klein went after the beast. Drawing the sword, she pulled it back so that the hilt was near her cheek, and then waited. It was obvious that he had more power than her. And that was fine. All she could do was be the best she could, and possibly provide a good distraction.

After all she was pretty light on her feet, and small.

As soon as the beast went flying back Hikaru rushed forward, past Klein, and made a diagonal slash. Unfortunatly, her blade did not cut though any flesh. Hopping back as quickly as possible Hikaru jumped lightly up and down on her feet, prepared to dodge this way and that so Klein could get a hit in once more.

While Claim had the beast distracted Hikaru deiced that she would once again try and land at hit. Bring the sword up near her face she then rushed from behind the animal to try and get a hit from behind. Only, while running in for the strike, the girl thought that she saw a glimpse of the mushroom that the duo had been searching for. It only took that second for the sword to slide a quarter of an inch and completely miss.

With her focus returning just in time to see the miss Hikaru held up her sword prepared to defend, just in case Claim could not get there fast enough.

((OCC: How does the wolf attack?? *sweat*))

Summoning the book out of her inventory Hikaru found the page with the owlgrif on it and began to re-read. The book stated;

"Well, It a good thing I waited until night then."

Pulling the sword out of the sheath Hikaru then started into the dark forest with her head on a constant swivel.

Much to the young girl's relief Klein's voice suddenly carried though the darkness of the storm.

"Just dandy!" Hikaru hollered back, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

There many have been something else the girl forgot to mention, and that was the fact that she had a bad case of Astraphobia. Better known as a fear of thunderstorms. Nearly every time a thunderstorm hit her small the best way that Hikaru could handle it was by bundling up under her covers and covering her head with a pillow. It was the only thing that worked.

Unless there was someone else around.

Like in this instance, Klein was with her and for some unexplained reason having someone with her help the girl be more functional during a thunderstorm event than being by herself. Much to her relief, the shadowy figure of her partner showed ahead, allowing her to call up a burst of speed in desperation to reach him. So much so that she nearly toppled right into him.

"Don't-do," Hikaru started, slightly out of breath,"that again. Promise me."

Without so much as a second thought Claim was approaching the wolf was his sword drawn.

His first attack was not only successful, but a critical hit as well, lowering the wolfs once ten hit points to a measly three. Now Hikaru rushed past Claim and toward the wolf drawing her sword as she moved. Unfortunately the wolf now realized that it was no longer alone, and therefore was able to dodge Hikaru's attack by bounding over her four foot fame and then skidding to a stop.

In frustration her eyebrows knitted together and a frown adorned her features. Using the momentum, and placing pressure on her foot, the young fighter than pivoted herself around so that her back was no longer facing her opponent. Hopefully, while she had it distracted Claim was make the final kill.

(OCC: Rolling))

Why is that every time she ran it a monster in this forest, it was a wolf?

Sighing, more to herself than anyone, Hikaru got lower to the ground and drew her sword only slightly. Right now the wolf was just drinking from the pond. They were still too far away to see the name that hovered over the wolfs head, but there was no way that it was the same one from earlier. That just wouldn't be possible.

The temptation to sneak forward and see what kind of the type of wolf was strong. But Hikaru held her ground and waited patiently. Plus, the wolf had not noticed them yet so there was a chance that they would get away without it noticing. Since Claim was helping though, she would leave that decision to him.

Gestein's warmth was infectious.

So much so that Hikaru felt the ends of her mouth start to twitch in anticipation of smiling.

The itch only got worse when the grown man particularly jumped up and down like a child receiving a gift upon finding the iron ore. While he mined it Hikaru took a quick glance down at her herself. She was still clad in her beginners skirt, vest and boots. By now the girl, like many others, had been here for more that few months. Maybe she too needed to try and get out of her beginner clothes? Plus, she was starting to venture on higher floors so a more sturdy outfit would suit her better.

By the time she had been down reviewing herself Hikaru glanced back up to find that Gestein had not been successful in his mining. And now his attention was back on her. He seemed to be thinking about something, and then suddenly he starts saying that the duo should party together. A type of 'you scratch my back I scratch yours' type deal.

And personally Hikaru didn't see anything to disagree with.

"I don't see why not," The girl stated nonchalantly.

So when the partying screen lite up her facial features in the dark the girl could come up with no reason to tap the decline button. Within second of tapping the accept button the name "Gestein" and a HP bar appeared under her name. They were around the same level. If Hikaru remembered correctly he had been a level one when they first met. Wow, he worked fast.

The lightening bolt that they had just witnessed was obviously a clue.

And Klein knew it too.

Suddenly, he was sprinting off into the murky darkness of the storms wake. Hikaru, not wanting to loose him, started to scurry after the male in a attempted to keep up. Unfortunately, her tiny strides were nothing compared to his longer ones and he was a shadow in the storm within seconds.

Feeling tension start to gather in her shoulders Hikaru forced herself to speed up more. Logically, if she continued to go forward then she should of run in to him. Should of being the keyword. Several feet away Hikaru finally stopped and turned in a full circle. There was only darkness. Panic started to well up in her chest causing her breathing to get shorter and her brain to fritz.

I need to calm down.

This saying kept repeating itself over and over in her head, until the panic started to get held at bay and her breath returned. Now that she could think straight the girl remembered that you could locate party members on your map. Pulling that up she started toward the red dot that glowed just a few feet diagonal from her as the rain continued to pelt down.

With his sword out Hikaru was getting the feeling that this was not normal.

Making the grip on her blade firmer, just in case, the young girl then followed his example and slide down the dirt bank. Coming to the bottom Hikaru didn't even bother to wipe the dust that had gotten on her off. Instead, she was more concerned with following Claim and making sure his back was covered. It was the least she could do since he was helping her finding these stupid mushrooms. Hopefully they were here...somewhere.

With her head on a constant swivel she kept alert to her surrounding in case a mod decided to show up and pay them a visit.

Several hours later the moon had come out of hiding bring with it a veil of darkness that covered the world.

Hikaru, who was still asleep up in her tree, was woken by the stream of moonlight that shined down though a spot right into her face. Blinking her eyes repeatedly in order to adjust to the brightness she tried to roll back over in an attempt to go back to sleep. The only problem was, she had forgotten where she was sleeping that night and rolling right off the branch.

Hitting a couple branches on the way down Hikaru finally landing on the forest floor with a loud 'thump', grateful that the game did not feature a sense of pain. Sitting up and focusing on her HP bar she found that it had gone down a few points. Sighing to herself at her own stupidity, the girl got up and stretched. It was now time to start the hunt of this owlgriff thing.

That was funny, Hikaru could have sworn she just heard Claim murmur something.

But when he turned back around and smiled she could feel herself relax even more. Coming up to stand beside him Hikaru found herself bewitched by the scenery in front of her. It was absolute stunning. Only it was very quiet. Not exactly sure if that was normal or not she shot Claim a questioning gaze, and then habitually put her hand on the hilt of her sword once more.

In this game she had learn that the dead quiet, the one where you can clearly hear yourself think, was almost never the kind of quiet one wanted to wander into. Then again, she had never been here before, so it just may be normal.

Almost immediately Hikaru recognized the face of the man before her.

Gestein.

The mountain of a man who had joined Ethereal's group in order to defeat the mini-boss. He had wielded a battle hammer with expert skill and powerful strikes. He himself had stood out to her for his mainly calming and tranquil aura, as well as the fact that he fought with a battle hammer. It was the first time the girl had seen on wielded in battle. To say the least she had been fascinated.

Having been so focused on recalling the memory of him Hikaru zoned out for a minute. What brought her back though was the movement of him holstering his giant hammer. In response to him putting up his weapons Hikaru lowered her hand off the hilt of her sword.

"Hikaru's right. And no worries Gestein, you did not know who I was," Hikaru stated while bring her hands up and folding them across her chest, "But it is good to see you again as well." Now that she had established that it was safe Hikaru entered the cave even more.

"I was actually investigating the rumor about rare mushrooms within these caves, what about you?

Hikaru was completely fine with letting the older male take the lead. As she proceeded to follow him toward the forest region the young girl found no reason to keep her blade out and with seemingly little effort she slid it back in the sheath until it was needed. Although, she did keep a hand on the hilt just in case a quick draw was forced to be made. One could never be too careful with events.

In all honesty though, Hikaru had never been in an event like this before. Being a city shut-in for the first week or so really inhibits one ability to join these kinds of things. So, she had not idea what she was doing.

Of course, she would never tell Klein that.

Instead she decided that the best course of action would be to follow him. He was obviously more experienced at this than her and right now what he was going was searching for something. Wiping the water that was continuously getting in her eyes away, she too then began search. Then, the biggest lightening bolt that storm had just to produce struck in the forest, causing Hikaru to momentarily freeze.

That was where they should go.

Finding a small smirk tug at the corner of her lips Hikaru just raised an eyebrow at the girl.

But she had agreed.

Swiftly pivoting, the young player scanned the felid in order to find a boar that had not been taken by another player. Right now the feilds were busy with people trying to level up and get stronger, so it was hard to find a monster to take on. Luckily, a few feet away from where they were standing the blue lights started to gather and a boar started to appear.

Before anyone else to attempt to strike it Hikaru slid her blade out of it sheath and dashed at it. Unfortunately, she had planned her attack too soon and it went right though the lights. Not even seconds later the boar materialized and was facing her, red eyes and all.

Luckily, Claim seemed to understand her predicament. Wiping the smile off her face like it was never there Hikaru's face returned to it's normal bored expression. Coming to the incline too she started up the hill. Who knew that there would be a hill in the middle of the forest, which was normally pretty flat. It was strange, but she took it even strides.

Between them, things fell silent. The sounds of the forest clearly echoed though the air; the sounds of birds calling and bugs buzzing. It was rather peaceful. Back in the real world Hikaru never had time for this kind of stuff. It felt like she was constantly doing chores; cooking, cleaning, doing wash, homework and the list goes on. But while being stuck in SAO, it almost feels like she had nothing but time.

It was almost relieving.

Obviously she had not been clear.

"Not eachother," Hikaru then sighed, "What I meant to say was that we should fight a boar. Together."

Hopefully, here in SAO, Hikaru would never have to partake in a duel. And if there was anything for her to say about it she never would. In fact, she would take a hit to her pride and be called the loser, if it meant that she didn't have to make an attempt on someone life. However, if the situation called for it--like out in the grasslands--then there would be no hesitation in defending herself.

While trying to flee of course.

Book open. Check. Ingredients. Check. And now Hikaru was ready to prepare her favorite recipe.

Opening her player menu, the young chief selected the sharpened knife and then began to get started. Flicking the knife over the turkey that she had hunted, there was a small 'ping' and than it was chopped up into small chunks. Whistling a tune Hikaru then turned toward the pita bread and repeated the action. With just the flick of a knife and a small 'ping' all the ingredients that were to go into her Apple Curry Pita Delight were prepared and ready to go. Now all that was left to do was to put it together.

Minutes later the girl had taken a seat on a bar stool at one of the local inns, mouth watering due to the small of the dish. Since Hikaru was a low level player she still didn't have enough money to buy a small house with a kitchen. So instead, she used the kitchens at the inns she stayed at in order to prepare her recipes. Most of the time they didn't mind at all.

While chowing down on her Delight she flipped through the recipe book to try and find the next recipe that she was wanted to try. Suddenly, two players came in and took a seat behind her. They started talking about the rumors surroundings the caves under the Mountains. All of it was information that she had heard circling around before, that until they mentioned the rare mushrooms that grew within the cave walls, that was new information.

Now, she was calmly wandering the hollows of the caves when a sudden booming voice called out, "Who's there?!" Placed her left hand on the sword's hilt Hikaru stepped out into sight.

Not even second later Hikaru was making her way up the tree by crawling on the branches.

More that a little ways of she found the perfect branch to relax on. It was wide enough to safely sit on. Thick enough to securely hold her body weight and smooth enough that she didn't get any splinter. Not that she was even sure that was possible in this game, but that was no point in risking it.

Leaning her back against the trunk of the tree, she then straighten her legs out and rested her hands on her lap. No, it was not as comfortable as the grassland below, but it was much safer and that was the selling point. Tilting her head back on the tree trunk Hikaru's eyes automatically fell shut and sleep overcame her.

Since it was daylight now there was not many sounds in the forest, but as soon as night drops, all that would change.

Tilting her head to the side Hikaru thought about Mayonaka's proposition.

"We could do that..," Hikaru trailed off for a minute, "or you could fight with me and we could learn from each other."

It was a mutual learning matter. This way they both could learn something. After all, Hikaru planned to survive the game and in order to that she needed to learn everything she could. Plus, learning hands-on is a much more rewarding experience than watching from a distance. At least that was was she believed.

What had started out as droplet had now turned into tiny water bombs.

With every second that passed these tiny water bombs relentlessly bombarded the players that had decided to venture out in into the grasslands. And of course that included Klein and herself. Hikaru's hair was sticking to her face and her clothes began to uncomfortably cling to her skin. Above lightening flashed and thunder rang.

"Well," Hikaru stared while pausing for a second to think, and trying to concentrate on the noise coming from above, "With rain like this our eyesight is severely inhibited. Therefore, wouldn't that make the best place for a monster to hide to be where the storm is the heaviest? Which to me appears to be over the forest. And as for what monster...the possibilities are endless. A storm is a mixture of several elements together, so who knows which one they chose. Any options?"

For just a second Hikaru paused, staring at the back of Claim as he wander further away.

Yeah. me too.

Of course, due to the pride that coursed heavily though her veins those words would never make it past her lips. She wouldn't allow them. It would mean that the wall that she had so carefully constructed over the five years of raising herself would fall. And that couldn't happen.

There was something she could do instead though. Mustering up all the courage she had Hikaru then ran to catch up with Claim. Upon reaching him she then tugged the back up his pant leg to his attention. Once she was sure she had it, Hikaru offered him the one thing she did not give out to just anyone, hoping he would understand.

And that was a small smile.