Koga

Finally. The swordsman and his Wolf were back in Snowfrost. But Koga wasn't about to stick around. The cold was not made for him. He was born in a desert, lived in a desert, he might as well be a desert. Hell, he was about as interesting as one. And just as prickly as a cactus...wow, deserts were a much better metaphor for Koga than I'd originally thought. In any case, the man was excited to get back to Floor One, to the Town of Beginngings, his shop, and ultimately Noct. He was feeling far better now that he'd, A) killed things, 2) Worked out his issues...well some of them at least. Maybe the

The pair were slowly approaching Floor Three's Snowfrost now. It had been a mostly silent trip back...that was until Koga heard a familiar voice. "Yumi, come down, please?" Wait was that Yuki? Koga looked over in the direction of the voice. Indeed that was Yukiro. The white haired man was looking straight up at the branches of a tree. "Yuki?" Koga called over to him, "Hey, Yuki!" Evidently the straight sword user couldn't hear Koga though as he continued to plead with whatever was in the tree, "C'mon Yumi! I got a treat for you if you come back down!" Yumi? Oh right. That was Yukiro'

Beyond the Col, materials, and armor, what else had Koga managed to get? The new skill! No, well, I mean, yes...but there were more important gains here. Koga was learning to let go. If only a little. The man hadn't completely made peace with the death's of his friends. But, he was at least coming to terms with his mistakes and leaving them in the past. How many more avenues could open up now? For one, the lingering guilt was fading away. That same guilt that made him irrationally angry sometimes...okay, well not all of it. Just some of it. Koga was still probably gonna get irrationally a

The pair began walking home. Koga could say it had been a successful day of hunting. In more ways than one. Of course, the copious amounts of Col and few materials he had gotten were a great boon. Plus there was that addition of a couple pieces of armor. Not that the man needed it, but hey he was going to sell it and get some Col out of it one way or another. So yeah, the actual hunting half of this had gone fairly well. Now that Koga though about it, a few more outings like this, and Koga might actually be able to afford the rings for his proposal...actually, come to think of it, how in

Item Name: Tasking Armor Profession: Blacksmith Rank: 5 Roll ID: 130807 Roll Result: 10 Item Type: Heavy Armor Tier: 1 Quality: Rare Enhancements: [Mitigation // Mitigation] Description: Nothing appears especially unique about this armor, aside from its beaten state. Post Link:

Koga grumbled as he walked back into his forge. He did not have the amount of materials he expected to need for this stupid armor and what not. But here he was, trying anyways. Fun times. The man set hammer to steel as he always did...except this time around the RNG gods were not on his side. Bust, bust, but aha! A craft!...with one less Mitigation than he needed...oh would you look at that, three more salvages. What a waste. The man swore, rather loudly, stopped himself from throwing his tools, put them away, and left his forge, the door slamming loudly behind him.

"I could've saved Tsuki. I know it!" Koga said with conviction. "I should've fought the Boars on my own, or something." 'And to what purpose?' asked Koga's reasonable side. Tsukiko hadn't been the kind of person to just let him fight a bunch of mobs on his own. But he could've just not suggested getting the game in the first place. It had been idea for he, Tsuki and Hikaru to start playing SAO together. It had been Tsuki's first MMORPG. If Koga hadn't suggested it...Hikaru would have... Regardless of how it had happened, Koga was slowly beginning to understand. His actions, Hikaru's,

Koga didn't notice the tears rolling down his cheeks until now. The hot liquid streaming from his eyes burned his cheeks as he paced back and forth in front of the Wolf, like a lawyer trying to defend a client before judge and jury. Except Koga was the lawyer, the client, the judge, and the jury. And he'd found himself guilty a long time ago. "I dunno what I could've done, but there was something! I...I could've..." What could Koga have done to save Hikaru? The guy had disconnected. The circumstances of that were unclear. Internet? Possible, but unlikely. His roommates, trying to get his

Koga was interrupted from his thoughts as the sensation of something pulling on his coat dragged him back to reality. Koga looked down at the source of the sensation to see Okami yanking on the leather. "Hey, cut it out," Koga said as he pulled the jacket from the canine's teeth. The Wolf kept staring up at Koga with these eyes as that were trying to tell him something. "What?" Koga asked. "No, dude we went over this. It was my fault. I should've...I dunno, I should've done something different." You know that look people give you sometimes? That look that says, "Really? You've gotta be fr

Ashamed. That was it. Koga was ashamed in himself. He made a promise. A promise he knew he couldn't keep. That had always been one of his cardinal rules. Every person had them. A kind of code they lived by. For some people they were...well it might be don't sleep with the same person twice if you're not gonna date them. Never drive drunk, or text and drive. Those kinds of things. For Koga, they were a bit more serious. Never hurt someone you care about. If you get into an argument with someone you care about, take the time to sort it out. Don't go to bed angry at someone you

"How does that sound buddy? That sound good to you?" Koga asked Okami witha grin on his face. The Wolf barked happily, wagging his tail. That sounded like a yes from him. Koga stood up and took another look around them. Still nothing. The man sighed and put his hands in his pockets. The grin slowly fell away as the elation from the string of victories faded away. Why couldn't he have done this when he needed to the most? Not now, when it was only his life at stake. Why could he never seem to be able to save the lives of those he cared about? Koga shook his head. Either an attempt to

"So," Koga began, "what'd we learn from that fight? Or I guess, what were the things we did better, and what could we still do better?" Koga couldn't really tell if Okami ever understood him, but he definitely had that sneaking suspicion that the Wolf could. "Well, for one, you didn't jump in my way that time. That was great." The Wolf withdrew his tongue into his mouth, apparently slightly annoyed with Koga for having brought that up. "Hey, it happened. Get over it. Anyways, you did a real good job distracting the Boar for me so I could get some more hits in. I think the only thing we really

Combat Ends Okami jumped in first, his fangs sinking into the Boar's flesh as he tore into it. Koga moved in that movement. His blade burned bright crimson before being engulfed in a dark aura. Koga swung his katana, blade cutting into the Boar. The last of the Boar's health drained from it's HP gauge, and the animal burst was no more. More loot. Koga closed the window, not giving it much thought. "Good job buddy," Koga said to his friend. The Wolf padded up to Koga, tongue lolling out of his mouth, clearly pleased with himself. Koga knelt at the Wolf's side and pet him as he looke

In Combat Well, this fight was over as far as Koga was concerned. The man strode forward, his weapon beginning to glow the trademark crimson as he did so. Just one quick attack, and it would be over. Except for one thing. The Boar wasn't having it. The weak creature lunged towards Koga, surprising the man. The glow of the katana ended as Koga brought his weapon up to defend. A white blur flashed in front of Koga, colliding with the Boar in a snarling mass of fur. Okami tumbled on the ground with the Boar, saving Koga from any damage. Damn, this Wolf was getting pretty good at

In Combat The sound of boots crunching in the snow lasted only a brief moment as Koga closed the distance between himself and the Boar. Okami barked, the Boar turning to look at the Wolf. Wrong choice. Kuiaratame began to glow crimson as Koga channeled a Gen Getsu. The Boar turned to look at the man right as he swung, an evil look in his eye. The blade cut through the Boar's flesh leaving behind a bright red trail. The Boar had no chance of attacking as it's rather large body sailed through the air, only to slam into a tree only a few feet away. The Boar's health was well into the

In Combat Koga began to move in just as the Boar got fully onto it's feet. The swordsman wasn't about to back down from his attack though. Kuiaratame began to glow crimson as the distance between the two closed. The Gen Getsu sang through the air and cut into the Boar's flesh. Just under the high pitched squeal of the Boar, Koga heard a low growl. Okami was circling the Boar now, ensuring it had no place to escape to. Alright, Koga could get behind that. Koga shouldn't have taken his attention from the Boar though. A heavy weight collided against Koga's leg, surprising him and deal

In Combat It was tried, true, and quite frankly, getting old. But what else was Koga going to do at this point. It was working, might as well keep it up. As Koga moved towards the Boar, he started charging his Ra Setsu attack. As soon as he was in range, the man let it go. Slash, punch, slash and the Boar was stunned. A sizable chunk of the Boar's health was now missing too. The man glanced up at his own health bar. Still not full. Well, Koga had been fighting Boars pretty much back to back. Couldn't expect himself to be at full yet, not with the constant interruptions at least. He

The Wolf just kept staring at Koga as if to tell him he was an idiot. "Okami, can we get back to the matter at hand...as in training you. To kill things. With me. That does not include me." The Wolf huffed and shook his head. Whatever, he seemed to say. Might as well call this training session a bust... Koga shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets, groaning with exhaustion. How much longer was this going to take? The better question was how much longer was the past going to continue to torture him. It'd been more than two years now. Why couldn't he just get over it, or what

"We're really getting in a lot of training for you today, huh buddy?" Koga said to his lupine companion. The Wolf looked up at him with clairvoyant eyes. "I'm not trying to 'make sense' of anything. I know what happened. I wasn't strong enough, fast enough, it was my fault Tsuki died damn it." For the first time in a while that Koga could recall, he was just angry talking about the death of his friends. Even if it was to a Wolf that probably was just doing its own thing. Even if it really was Koga's own subconscious trying to pull something out of him. What did it matter in the end. None of th

Combat Ends Koga sheathed his weapon. He wasn't about to waste the energy to kill this thing. The Boar thrashed about for a moment as it tried either to put out the flames on its hide, or get back onto its feet to attack him. Koga wasn't really sure which one it was. Nor did he care. Moments later, the blue fragments took the place of the Boar, and the loot menu appeared once more. Just Col and materials this time...not that Koga was really complaining. Just woulda been nice to get something better out of it. But the man supposed that was too much to ask from the system. Of course

In Combat The Boar was still out of it. Perfect. Koga wasn't going to waste any time this time, and neither was Okami. As soon as the Wolf saw Koga stun the Boar, he leapt forward, sinking claw and teeth into the Boar's hide. Koga's blade began to shine crimson again as the man charged a Gen Getsu attack. The Wolf knew to back off once he saw the blade catch on black fire. A quick swing, and the Burn and Blight icons appeared next to the Boar's health gauge. And suddenly the Boar was in Koga's face. The man got headbutted by the Boar, and he fell backwards, hand clutching the sore spot

In Combat The sounds grew closer, the rustling of leaves, the snapping of twigs. Okami's growls grew louder and Koga's grip on his weapon tightened. The brush right in front of the pair moved and out stepped...another Boar. Really? That was it? C'mon, Koga's writer can certainly think up of something better than this, can't he? No...no he can't...its three in the morning and his brain is fried, so Koga is gonna fight another Boar. Enjoy. At this point, Koga's strategy consisted of stun, hit, rinse, repeat. It had worked for him so far, he saw no reason it wouldn't continu

Okami padded up besides Koga as he closed the loot menu. "Oh what am I going to do with you bud?" the man asked as he knelt down to eye level with the Wolf, stroking its fur, "You can't run in like that...stuff like that could get people killed...not just yourself..." Koga had seen it first hand. His errors had caused the deaths of others. And he'd known better. Maybe if he hadn't- 'What was that?' Koga stood back up and turned around. Okami had evidently heard the sound too, his ears laying flat against his skull, growling in the direction of the sound. Koga drew his weapon onc

Combat Ends This was it. One more hit, that's all it would take. Koga stole a brief glance at the Boar's health bar. Yeah, one more Gen Getsu, that's all he needed to finish this fight. The man heard Okammi bark and growl as the Boar tried to strike the Wolf, only for Okami to attempt to bite back with a growl. Alright Koga, get off your ass and kill this guy. The swordsman took off towards the Boar again. The blade arced through the air, glowing crimson as a dark aura surrounded the blade and bit deep into the Boar's flesh. Only a moment later, and the creature burst into nothing

In Combat Well, it was now or never. Koga took advantage of the fact that the Boar was focusing on Okami and not him. The man rushed forward quickly, his blade beginning to glow crimson as he swung it in the wide arc of a Gen Getsu. The blade struck the Boar right in hind as it flared with dark energies. This only angered the Boar however. The creature whipped around and bucked its head, driving one of the tusks right into Koga's sternum. The man felt the wind get knocked out of him as he sailed through the air, only to inevitably land on the hard packed snow. Ouch... As Koga strug