Suki took the chance when Umichi battled, to regain her balance and footing, watching warily, and noting how Umichi Attacked the minatour, watching its health deplete. She was confident that she could now take it down without getting hurt herself, and as it turned to her once more, she darted inward. She used it's size against itself. She darted in close, where its massive weapon would be useless to attack her, and began to attack, using <<linear>> <<rip ravine>> and <<sweep>>, before darting out, and then darting around the Minatour.

As its health decreased, the Minatour became more aggressive, and switched its weaponr from the axe to the hammer. It's attacks would be more powerful, and Suki knew if she got hit by it, she'd be dead. This was the perfect agility and dodging training, and she smiled. As it swung its hammer, she dodged, ducked and darted in, once more making the weapon useless as she attacked with <<rip ravine>> and then darted back out, leaping into the air, and dodging another attack. She quickly got her bearings again, and backed away as the minatour came towards her.

She smiled. Instead of waiting for the minatour to attack again, Suki darted in. She waited as the Minatour lashed out with an attack, adapting to what she had been doing, and she leaped to the side, dodging behind the minatour. She finished it off with <<linear>>, and stepped back, as she reciecdd the item drop of cream, she put it away to return to the baker and finish the quest. She looked over to Umichi and smiled "that was fun"

Sanshain was at a table eating as he noticed Angelo talking to a stranger. Sanshain didn't want to interrupt and he didn't really like new people. He did listen to their conversation though. Quests, that's a good idea. And, when did we decide Angelo was the leader? Sanshain thought with a laugh as he finished eating. He watched the two talk a little while longer before walking up to Angelo, "Hey, I'm going to get a room. Be right back." Sanshain then turned and walked to the inn keeper asking for a room.

Caits said
""Well, there's several quests we have done, and some I've read about in the guide book. Quests are good, because you can get experience, col and good items from them, as well as skill points. Some would be good for you specfically" Paka said, thoughtfully. "Lets see. There's secrets of the medicine forest as well. You can get an Anneal blade, which you can sell for a good price if you don't wish to use it. There's Sasamaru's Daughter. New Cuisine. The sick companion, but again you need an Alchemist. This ones from the guide book, The town messenger, as well as a special tip There there's Creature of the full moon. The time is just about right. We did this one, but you need an alchemist. If you don't have a blacksmith, I can help. You need to completed the dire werewolf quest as well, to get the weapon to slay the wolf. These are all in different towns, but if you wish to do the dire werewolf, you have to sleep in citadel."

Honestly nobody in the group has taken a specialization, and to be honest I'd rather be a performer to make people smiled and to be able to dodge enemy attacks with ease." Angelo said Bertie turning to sashine " alright here's your key I already bought a room with separate beds" Angelo said throwing him one if the keys before turning back to paka "we could use a good blacksmith and we don't have a alchemists for some of the quests you mentioned"

Yui - Forest of Horunka village <<8>>

She felt a bit scared by all the neptents sprining out of the beast, she felt like going in shock at any moment. Can they even try to live through this wave it surely looked like a lot but when she saw Timi taking them out so easily. She snapped out of the small shock and started attacking them all by just swining her sword around, They would quickly fade into air after 5 hits or more. She waited for her aoe skill to go off cooldown again and used it <<Cyclone>> She kept slicing them and started panting heavily "Timi some more low health here." She said to her half shouting while panting, They quickly where all finished as Yui dropped down onto the ground with her sword right next to her. She was sitting next Hana on her knees went spread at the bend point of her knees. Her sword was half stabbed into the ground to lean on with one of her arms. She sighed and dropped her head in an angeling way against her sword "Luckily thats over" She looked straight to the girl again while still sitting in the same position "Are you okay, did they hurt you somewhere."

Pakuna thought for a few moments "well, then there's one that may be good, it's entitled Escort Mission, but I'm not sure how it's activated, it's suppose to be easy, based on information brooker rumors, and has good experience rewards. Or villiage invasion, but you need to be neR Okinaba, again from information brooker rumors, and Sasamarus daughter. Those three of recommend" he said

---

----

Timi's eyes were narrowed, as she was weary now and she would be glad to be in the safe zone once more. She went over to Yui and Hina and smiled. She knelt by Hina, and said softly "don't worry. We will take you back to your father now!" She smiled brightly and the girl nodded. She didn't appear to he injuried, just frightened.

She offered her hand to the NPC girl, smiling as se accepted it, then reached out for Yui's hand, "let's get out of here before more Nepents turn up or something" she said, "are you okay?" She asked Yui, unable suppress a yawn on 'okay' so that it probably sounded both muffled and long "aaaaooooookaaaaaaayyyy". She blushed and looked ahead, knowing they weren't too far from the town

She looked up at Yui and said "I'm hungry again"

Watching Suki finish off the Minotaur, Umichi smiled back to her. "Is that so? Anyway, why don't we sit down somewhere, before we continue?" he suggested, seeing as though the area they were in was very meadow-like, giving it a nice atmosphere and feel. He sat down, as he did so he patted the ground, indicating to Suki to sit next to him. It was late in the afternoon, and approaching evening. The sky was starting to tinge in orange, ever so slightly.

The Minotaur gave some decent exp, around 400. It was reduced due to his level, but it was a decent amount. Umichi checked for any item drops received, most were normal, but he found he had received the Minotaur's horn. It seemed possible to play/blow, but Umichi did not feel like it at this moment in time.

""Why don't I tie your hair with the ribbon now?" he suggested. "Where is your ribbon? And what style would you like?" Umichi asked, holding his hand out, waiting for a ribbon. If he received it, he would slowly and gently stroke his fingers through her hair, unwinding any tangles, if the system had programmed for any to exist. Afterwards, he would tie the way she had wished. Finally, he would ask her whether she liked it or not.

Yui - Forest of Horunka village <<8>>

The girl sniffed her nose from being scared and gave a nod to Yui "I'm glad your fine." She gave a warm smile to the little girl and pulled out her long sword from the ground and placed it onto her back "let's get out of here before more Nepents turn up or something" she nodded at Timi looking pretty serious "Right" she took Timi her hand and walked up front tk lead the two out of the forest. She looked back over her shoulder to Timi "are you okay?" she looked up to the sky for a moment and answhered "Yea i'm fine, The others might be worried about us. We have been out here pretty long. We should go back to the inn after this." She gave a giggle at the sleepiness of Timi "You already had enough sleep." She said with a joking manner.

They left the forest and Yui sighed again in relief that they where finally out of the forest. She released Timi her hand and they all walked towards town. When they arrived they walked past the food stand with the bread again when Timi talked some more again "I'm hungry again" it wasnt long ago when they had eaten she must have used most of her enegry in that fight. With that tiny body of hers it takes a lot to kill all the beasts and swing a sword around "All right, but dont eat any more snacks after this or you'll get a tummy ache and you still gotta eat dinner."

She walked over to the shop and crouched down to face Hina "Are you hungry, I can buy something for you if you are." The child seemed to be a bit more cheerfull now since they left the forest "I want a chocolate bun, Can I have one onee-chan." Yuis heart skipped a beat when she heard the word onee chan again she couldnt get enough of it. Her face went a bit flustered when she replied back to Hina "O yea, of course." She got back up and looked over to Timi "What do you want this time Timi." She faced the stand owner and ordered up Hina her order and a melon bread along with Timi her order.

They all walked back to the blacksmith wile still eating half the bread. As soon as they entered Hina began running towards the blacksmith that was in the back of the store with the bread in her mouth. The only thing that could be heared was "HINA.""DADDY" and some crying from the little girl. The blacksmith came up to the front of the store with the child still in his arms "Girls I cant thank you enough. Here is a little something for the trouble." Yui could see they completed the quest and would even get something that she wanted. She accepted the piece of heavy armour and came up with a request "Are the other pieces of the armour for sell, I would really like to get a full set of armour made by your handiwork." She put on a brave smile so he couldnt possibly decline the offer "I dont have any problems with that" she bought the other pieces of armour from the blacksmith and waited for Timi to finish.

(Armour to be added in images are on my computer)

Suki was glad to sit down for a bit, and smiled, sitting down beside Umichi. She looked out over the orange over the beginning sunset. It amazed her that they could program the sun setting so well here, and it made her glad they could still get a chance to see it. She relaxed,, confident in the fact that they would know if there were any monsters about and be able to counter them before they attacked.

Besides, she was with Umichi. She felt safe with him, as she always did.

She opened up her inventory, taking out the red ribbon she had bought early on in the game, and handing it to Umichi when he asked, saying "I just want it out of my face" She said brightly, shifting so Umichi didn't have to struggle to work with her hair. Like everything in the game, ones hair was completely life like. Suki's hair was always smooth and soft in the game, but she didn't complain when he ran his fingers through it.

when he was finished, Suki smiled, and stated that she loved it, before stretching out, watching the sun setting slowly.

---

Timi smiled brightly when Yu let her have some more food. Even n the real world, Timi was just about constantly hungry. She always thought it was due to her growing, but she had nothing to concretely support that theory. She was a fairly energetic girl, so that could contribute to it too. When Yui ordered the bun's, Timi chose one at random, and eagarly began to eat it as they walked towards the blacksmith, swallowing a mouthful of food and smiling as Hna ran towards her farther.

it was a feeling of satisfaction, to be able to protect someone, and save them, to return them to a safe place, and it gave Timi a warm feeling. She examined the rewards, hesitating before accepting the throwing knives, putting them away in her inventory, and said "It was no trouble at all, to bring Hina back to you" When everything seemed okay, she said farewell to the blacksmith and the NPC girl.

She finished off her bun, licking her lips, and looking about the town. "We should head back to the others, shouldn't we?" She said, stretching, pleased at the job that Sasamaru had done on her gear.

Surprisingly her hair was smooth, Umichi wasn't sure whether it was the programming or if that was really how it was. Most of the time in real life, hair would have a few little tangles at the very least. There was not a single one when Umichi ran his hands through Suki's hair. Bringing the hair from the front, to the back, out of her face, he tied the ribbon elegantly into her hair. With her smile, he smiled back. Leaning back, onto his hands, looking up at the darkening sky. The orange started to turn scarlet, then crimson. The sky was going to be dark soon, it was approaching 1900 hours.

"Well, we either can continue with the second round of the quest or head back to Tolbana. What do you say Suki?" Umichi asked. He would not mind which they did. It was likely he would come back later that night to solo it if they went back to Tolbana in the first place. And head out for some more training. It was definitely getting harder to train and level for him.

Suki's hair was never tangled in the game. It was a bit unnerving, and very easy to get use to. She wondered how their bodies were back home, what care they were being given, and if they were being cared for beyond the minimal means of food and water. It was morbid thinking really, but Suki managed to smile, as she imagined her eldest brothers twin girls, five now; probably having a blast treating her as a doll. He was the only one who had a family of his own. She loved her nieces and doted on them. She sighed softly, she pushed aside those thoughts, and just let herself enjoy this.

She knew if she said to head back to Tolbana, Umichi would come back and complete it by himself. She had no doubt he'd be able to conquer the minatour easily, but they knew for experience that the night could make things appear different. She remembered the rainbow Nepent and shuddered, remembering how close she had come to being a million pieces of data. She didn't worry so much when he was just attack the normal monsters, but things like the minatour were mini bosses and that made her uneasy.

"Let's do the second round" she said, thinking that it had the added benefit of more time with just Umichi. "I think that will just push me over the edge to level up" she said brightly, smiling,

Angelo thought about it wondering what mission they would go about doing. The escort mission seemed to be perfect for them considering it was just the two of them and an invasion seems to be going overboard however saving someone's daughter seemed just as good. "If possible I think we would rather do the escort quest first at least then the rescue the daughter quest. All we need to do is know where the escort mission takes place and we can figure it out once we get their"

Sanshain smiled and listened to the two talk as he ran his fingers across the key. He was interested in the quests and he really needed to level up too. He needed to be able to fight stronger monsters along side Angelo. If he didn't level up at some point him and Angelo would become two different skill sets and could no longer be a group. Mainly because if Sanshain is a lower level character going against higher level monsters he'd have to always be protected. He didn't want that, he wanted to be able to defend himself and help Angelo advance in the tower.

"Alright then," Umichi replied smiling at Suki. "That's good." He checked over his own experience. He still needed a good 2.5k exp at least to level. He would get most of that from the quest and killing the Minotaur again. Some labyrinth hunting would probably compliment the rest. Getting up from his position, he held his hand out to Suki, offering to pull her up. Walking to town, he wanted to bring up some more conversation. "So, you live on a farm right? What kind of farm? I mean, most people think of a farm as being for all kinds of animals and vegetables or even fruit. So, I'm just a little curious as to what kind of farm you live on." Umichi asked her.

After a while, they reached the town and found a baker. "Oh, have you heard? There's rumors about that there's a cow with incredibly delicious cream. I wonder, would it be too much of a hassle to ask you to get me some?" The baker asked Umichi. The baker wore a hair net, and had a connoisseur mustache, with dark skin and a mohawk and was named Tabu. He wore an apron with slacks, a Hawaiian shirt and boots. It was the oddest combination he had seen in the game yet, but Umichi did not question it. With the quest pop-up appearing, Umichi accepted the quest. "Let's get going Suki." he called out to her. Having left the area where the baker, "That was .... kind of strange ...." he commented on Tabu and his appearance. Soon after leaving the town and entering the field.

Suki smiled and took his offered hand, rising. she matched her pace to his, and glanced about them as they walked. She hadn't yet put much training into her detection skill, so she did not want to be taken unawares if a monster were to sneak up on them. She was never quite sure how to train detection. The sprint skill was easy-You jut had to run. As Suki typically ran every morning, doing so here in the game wasn't much of a change then in real life. Expect she tended to stay in safe zone, rather then risk running straight into a monster.

She looked over when he asked about the farm, and smiled slightly. "Well. we have some animals, some cows, chickens, and pigs. We have a couple of horses too. We mostly grow vegetables, but we do have an apple tree or two. It's a good sized place, and we do well. There' a sort of freedom living on a farm. I got to grow up doing virtually everythng wth my brothers, and running around on a farm? I don't think there's anything quite like it" She smiled "its fun watching my nieces try and catch the piglets. They don't care about getting muddy or dirty, just like I didn't. You know, if it wasn't for my brothers, I wouldn't be here. They got me the game, and the nerve gear, because they knew I really wanted to play it. They probably wish they had never gotten it for me but...here there's a sense of freedom. For the firt time, I can do stuff without them looking over my houlder, wondering if its too dangerous. I love them to bits, but sometimes, they can be too protective" She shrugged.

As they found the baker, Suki Studied him. She very nearly laughed, but managed to be polite, and said when Umichi commented on the baker, "Tabu? Perhaps they meed up in his programming, or perhaps he's meant to be that way. Either way...it was kind of strange" She agreed

---

Paka noddded, opening his Guide book, "As far as rumors go, the Escort Mission is in Okinaba, it's a town a few hours away with windmills. You just go to an inn, and eat there. that's all the guide book ay" He shrugegd, looking to Angelo

Keisuke's player icon had finally turned green again, it was an odd feeling walking down the street and only have some of the people give him dirty looks. He'd earned a bit of a reputation in some part of the town of the beginnings but he didn't care, these people were nothing to him, just like the people in the real world. He quickly wiped all thoughts of that hellish world from his thoughts, he was in SAO now and he was damned happy to be here. Keisuke equipped his claw skill as he exited the town, he decided he'd try and focus more on exploring today rather than fighting and see if he could get even further than he;d been before. After a short amount of time walking his listening skill kicked in and he heard quite a ruckus. As he turned to the direction he saw in the distance what looked like a couple of people fighting a hoard of plants, one of them did not look to be very old at all.

For reasons unknown to him at the time he bolted in the direction of the horde of nepents and activated his <<pounce>> skill as he approached leaping and slamming into an already wounded little nepent smashing it into crystalline fragments. He then got up and readied himself as the other monsters began to react to his presence, he held his claw up and it glowed orange for a few seconds before his <<swipe>> skill activated slashing it across the body leaving 3 red wound marks on the beast. He then drew back into a proper combat stance ready to follow up with another attack

Umichi

"Oh, that sounds like that classic game from years and years ago ... Harvest Moon. It sounds like a farm from that game." Umichi laughed at the idea. "A little bit of everything, instead of a specialization which most farms have nowadays, to have a more stable type of income." He smiled, listening to Suki talk about her farm life and family. "Well, that's just the nature of an older brother, to protect their siblings, even if they do not show much affection to them." starting to look down, his gaze looking like it could see through something, looking at something that wasn't there. His eyes then closed and refocused at what was in front.

Having entered the field, they walked around looking for a Minotaur. The sun was reaching a point of setting, it was soon going to be dark. It was at a point where the sky would turn red to black fairly quickly. Scanning across the horizon, he finally spotted it. "Over there" he said aloud, not exactly telling Suki, but if she heard, she would know what he was on about. He drew his Anneal Blade, "Better make it quick, or the sun will go down." he said dashing off.

The Minotaur's battle patterns did change from night to day, but it was still a simple thing for Umichi to handle. Ducking down at the last millisecond, he turned to cut into the Minotaur, continuing behind it. Turning towards it, he cut again, cutting into the back of the Minotaur before it could swing again and use a sword skill. His cut finished in a position, where he could activate the next skill, <<Vertical Arc>>. His blade glowed, as he cut a V shape into the Minotaur, dealing a good chunk of damage. The post motion had him standing there, as the minotaur prepared to swing at him again.

The post motion wore off, but still Umichi stood there. The Minotaur's strike was from above, as it came down, he took a small side-step, dodging the attack completely. He dashed through with another attack, standing behind the Minotaur once again. Taking some distance, he checked it's health. In those few hits, Umichi had almost taken down a bar of it's health. The sword skill must have done quite a bit.

---

YukiHana

While fighting off the hoard, another Onii-san with claws came. With each of them taking down a number of Little Nepents, soon the battle was over. YukiHana was tired. She was running for so long, and still had to fight most of the Little Nepents that came after her. Sitting down, catching her breath, she looked around, only to see that only the last onii-san that came to help was around. Confused, she looked up at the man. He had brown hair and a brown eye. His hair covered one side of his face, so she could not tell whether he had two different colored eyes or not. "Um.... Arigatou Gozaimashita Onii-san!" She called out to him, getting up on her feet and bowing. "Ano ... (Um...) Do you know where the others went? I would like to thank them as well ...." YukiHana looked down, a little shy.

This was quite unlike her, but that was due to this person being an unfamiliar person. She didn't know whether she should be as playful as she normally would. For now, she looked like an innocent, shy girl. She was all alone, and would actually like to have company, but she didn't know anyone in this game, nor did she know how to interact with people that much older than her.

Then that's where we will go in the morning, right now all we should do is rest and get ready for the quest tomorrow." Angelo said simply starting to walk inside but not before sending paka a party request "it would be great to have you in our party just in case we face a strong enemy. A larger team is always helpful" Angelo said smiling as he started to walk inside

Suki smiled. She had heard of the game, but she had never played it. She made a menta note to look it up. Whenever they got out of here. Would she remember that, in weeks to come? She didn't think so. "A little bit of everything lets us put more into several things, if one aspect doesn't make much income" She said, and then shrugged. "Yeah, but the trouble is, there's six of them, and one of me. And then my father. So seven" She said with amusement. she thought on what he said. The nature of older siblings. Did Umichi have a younger sibling? Was that what he saw with Timi? She thought of Timi and Yui, and hoped they were okay.

She started to look for the Minotaur, knowing it was gong to be dark soon. She looked over when Umichi said over here, and made her way back tover ot him, staying back as began to engage the Minotaur. She watched, ready to jump in if she was needed, if he needed help, but content to just watch for a minute or two. As he stepped back, taking stock of the minotaur's health, Suki darted in, using her sprint skill to land two quick attacks, dodging out the way, and stopping a safe distance away, looking back.

Ayame smiled silently to herself as she read Umichi's message, pleased that the other two would be on board with the project as well. Believing that the conversation needed no further prodding, she closed the PM window and returned to her file. The document had grown to a considerable length, but by this time it was simply a rough draft of what had happened. Editing would probably have to come later; for now, chronicling their story as it came was top priority.

---

As the hour passed by, Ayame stretched and looked at the document she had written. It was maybe eight or nine pages in length, but even without everyone else's adventures the story seemed to be shaping up decently well. Saving the file and closing the interface, Ayame got up from her seat and stretched her arms out. Even though it was a virtual world, the strain of having her body in such a position for so long still managed to elicit an involuntary response from her. As she turned around, Ayame noticed Fujiwara sitting on the steps up to the second floor of the inn, almost expecting her to have noticed him earlier.

"Hideki! You're awake!" Ayame cried out, startled. Fujiwara simply shrugged and nodded.
"Yeah, guess I am. Still a bit sore though. Goddamn, last night was the most intense crap I've ever seen before." he said before standing up and walking up to Ayame. "Hope I didn't make you worry too much."
"You idiot! Of course I'd be worried about you! If you're gone the entire night and we don't get any warning about you going off on your own, we're ALL going to be worried!" she responded, fists clenched tightly. Taking a deep breath, Ayame sighed and relaxed. "Geez. I thought you'd have learned from when you were 7..."
"Well, circumstances were different then. Whatever. It's fine. I'm heading out to train-"
"Not this time." Ayame responded, grabbing Fujiwara by the ear. "You're staying here for today."

Fujiwara winced in pain as Ayame dragged him down into a seat and rubbed his ear as she quickly brought up a PM window.

"Don't I get a say in this?" he asked, rubbing his ear as he looked at Ayame.
"Nope. You brought this on yourself. You're sticking with us, and that's final." she responded as she typed up a message to everyone in the party.

"Fujiwara's awake now, so I guess that means it's getting close to night... I guess? We'll meet you back at the inn whenever you're ready."

Sending off the quick one-line PM, Ayame sighed and leaned back in her chair. Today was much to stressful for her to keep her composure any longer.

"So... Can I ask what happened to you this morning?" she asked, looking at Fujiwara expectantly.
"Ah... that's a long story..." Fujiwara trailed off as he began to retell the story as to why he was out for so long.

Keisuke frowned at the child "They left. Seemed to want to return to the safety of the city as soon as they could. What on earth is someone as young as you doing here?" keisuke was very blunt in his speaking, he didn't know this girl and thus he didn't care too much about whether his words offended her or came off as aggressive. He still didn't fully know why he went to help but right now he didn't really care. He kept an ear out on the surroundings for any sounds of more monsters coming but thankfully none were currently nearby