Chapter 2 - Ho Ho Ho Ya Idiot

Two weeks after the death of Ducker and Tetsuno, and the dissolution of the Moonlit Black Cats, Sachi and Kirito were doing some grinding on Floor 26. Sachi had asked Kirito to help her improve, both her skills and her level. They had mutually decided to avoid the floor 27 dungeon, so Kirito had chosen the fields on the floor below to get Sachi's level up.

"Steady there Sachi, it's charging, be ready," Kirito says as a squid creature was darting towards the girl at a rapid speed.

Sachi readies her shield and spear, and pulls it back slightly, twisting, seeing it start to glow and feeling it start to hum as the sword skill took effect. As the aquatic monster came into attacking range, she let the system take over her strike and thrusted the spear forward, right into the squid's forehead. The monster paused and shuddered for a few seconds, before exploding into green and blue polygons. Sachi hears a ding and looks up on her HUD, to see that she had gained a level, her second now since starting the training.

"I'm at Level 25 now, Kirito," Sachi exclaims, beaming.

"Excellent work Sachi, 7 levels and you'll be on par with the clearers. You're growing fast," Kirito congratulates his friend, "at this rate, we're only a few months away."

Sachi looks arround, then draws out her teleport crystal, "I think that's enough training for today," she says. Seeing Kirito nod, they both call out "Teleport, Taft."

They find themselves back in the city. Once there, they head to the inn they were staying at. This is the routine they had settled themselves into over the past 2 weeks - head out to the Floor 26 wilds, fight some monsters, come back to the Inn in Taft.

"You've been leveling up quite quickly, Sachi," Kirito says, smiling at his apprentice, "faster than I did around the same time."

"It's because of you, Kirito," Sachi smiles back, "I've been able to train at a higher floor than normal thanks to your help."

"You've been doing a lot of the work recently," Kirito praises, "You're naturally talented. Speaking of which, given that you are increasing at a fairly rapid pace, I was thinking we could move up to Floor 28. Take on some slightly more difficult enemies, gain XP faster."

"If you think it will be alright, Kirito, " Sachi says, a slight tone of fear in her voice, masked by determination and, "but I was also thinking. We've been trying to get me on par with the clearers, but I want to be strong like you. You're at level 43, correct?"

Kirito nods and Sachi continues, "Maybe if we went up the floors quicker, I could catch up to that in a few months, rather than just level 32."

"I don't want to bring you up too fast," a tone of worry now seeps into Kirito's voice, "let's start with Floor 28 for now."

"Alright," Sachi responds, seeming a bit dejected but also slightly relieved.

The pair continued to train this way for several more months. With Kirito's help, Sachi is able to reliably keep ahead of the level curve. As predicted, she reached the level of the clearers in that time and even got slightly higher. Reaching level 35, Kirito decides to reward Sachi and asks her to sleep in one night.

Sachi woke up the next morning to a knock on her door and Kirito not being in the room. She looks out through the peephole and sees a slightly tired Kirito, who she lets in, "And where might you have been."

"Floor 30. I was looking for a few things in a dungeon," Kirito goes into his menu, and several things materialize on the table in front of Sachi. First was a metal tipped spear with a long handle, followed by a curved shield, and finally a full set of armor. "Figure you'd be tired of basic gear, and you've been working so hard, so I decided to get you a gift."

"Kirito, this is… Thank you," Sachi hugs the black swordsman, "But also, please don't go crawling around in a high floor dungeon on your own. I don't want to lose you." The unspoken 'Like I lost my friends' hung in the air.

"Don't worry, I was careful. Besides, I'm high enough level that those mobs can't do anything major." Kirito answers, but Sachi still gave him a glare, and he relented, "Fine, fine, I won't do this again." \

Sachi dons the new gear, the armor blue and grey, with the shield being turquoise with gold highlights.

"The Armor complements your hair well," Kirito compliments, "Its far better than what you had before. Rare mob drops can be something."

Sachi checks her stats and nods, "Yeah, this is much better. Thank you, this will help me catch up faster."

On the main city of floor 32, in early December, almost 6 months after the death of the Moonlit Blackcats, Kirito is meeting up with Argo, an information broker nicknamed the Rat for her signature whiskers.

"Anything new Argo?" Kirito asks her.

"Other than what you've already heard, nothing but rumor," Argo explains, "The Revival Item is supposed to be dropped by Nicholas the Renegade, but nobody actually knows anything about its properties. It's a completely new event, not in the beta."

"So you're saying it may not even exist," Kirito confirms with The Rat.

"The only thing I know for sure is that Old Saint Nick will be at the giant Fir Tree on floor 35 at Midnight on the 25th," Argo answers, "It will be tougher than the floor boss as well. I'm hoping you aren't planning to take it on by yourself."

Kirito chuckles and doesn't respond, instead he raises a teleportation crystal and warps back to the town which had become His and Sachi's permanent base. He walks into the Inn, then their room, only to be confronted by Sachi when he closed the door.

"So, you've been gone. What have you been up to Kirito," the now level 45 spear-wielder immediately begins interrogating the Black Swordsman.

"I was speaking with Argo, getting some information on what's up ahead. Standard stuff, " Kirito replies with a nervous laugh, which does not impress Sachi.

"It wouldn't happen to be on the upcoming Chirstmas event, would it?" Kirito's face tenses up as Sachi asks that question, which tells her everything she needs to know, "You're planning on facing it, aren't you."

Caught red-handed, Kirito answers, "Did Argo tell you?"

Sachi nods, "She's worried about you. Frankly, so am I. I don't want to lose another friend to this game."

"If I can get the Revival Item, we may be able to bring them back. At least some of them, maybe," Kirito explains, "At the very least, I have to try."

"The Revival Item may just be a rumor though, for all we know, it was started by Kayaba to give a twisted sense of hope," Sachi responds, now trying to hold back tears, before switching to a stern tone, "I can't let you chase a rumor to your death. You aren't fighting Nicholas the Renegade."

Kirito looks down for several seconds before Sachi continues, "At least not alone. I'm coming with you." Kirito begins to protest, but Sachi shuts him up, "No buts. Thanks to you, I'm just as strong as you are, we'll have a better chance of taking it down together. Besides, even if it is just a rumor, I can't say that this chance is a bad one to take. For Ducker, Tetsuo, and Sasamaru."

Kirito relents and reluctantly nods.

At 23:45 on the 24th of December, Kirito and Sachi approached the area of the great Fir Tree. Having made up their minds, they were going to fight Nicholas the Renegade and get the Revival Item. On the way, they are stopped by the familiar face of Klein, with the Fuurinkazen guild.

"Oi, Kirito. What are you doing out here?" Klein asks, "You aren't planning to go after the Revival Item, are you."

Kirito looks down, but Sachi speaks up, "We are."

"Who's the girl? Kirito, did you get a girlfriend without telling me?" Klein asks, bewildered at Kirito.

"No, no, we aren't like that," Kirito answers hastily, then his tone turns solemn, "She's a friend from the guild I was in…"

"Well, if you insist, we'll back you up," the samurai states, "No sense going in alone and getting yourselves killed-"

Klein was cut off by the sound of marching, which hailed the approach of the Divine Dragon Alliance.

"Shit, those thugs are looking for the Revival Item as well?" Kirito questioned.

"No way we can stop them," Klein looks at the clock indication on his screen, 5 minutes to midnight, "Ah hell. Kirito, take your girlfriend, and get to the tree. We'll hold them off."

"You can't hold them off forever," Sachi complained, also giving a slightly annoyed face at the 'girlfriend' remark.

"We don't have to, just until midnight, then the boss area is sealed," Klein remarks, "Now go, don't be late you two."

Kirito and Sachi run towards the giant Fir tree on the floor, and pass through a barrier, just as the clock strikes midnight. Spotting the tree right in front of them, they begin to hear the slight ringing of sleigh bells, before a loud roar could be heard. As they look up, they see a twisted version of Santa Claus drop from the sky, the HUD now showing "Nicholas the Renegade" with 3 boss health bars appearing below the name.

"This is it, Sachi," Kirito says and he draws his sword, Sachi drawing her Spear, a gift from Kirito from almost 5 months ago, when she reached level 25. Now she's 46, on par with her friend, and about to take down a boss that even the frontlines would struggle with.

The boss draws its giant Axe, and roars yet again, before swinging it at the two of them. Sachi deflects the attack with her shield, and Kirito swings at the arm, using an overhand strike skill to inflict a decent amount of damage. Following the second attack, which Kirito expertly dodges, Sachi lands her own hit with a skill off her spear. Throughout the long and grueling fight, both Black Cats fight in perfect synchronization, trading attacks against the boss and blocking, dodging, and parrying most incoming attacks. Though they aren't perfect, and suffer enough damage to fall into yellow and almost into red. After about a half hour, though, Sachi lands the final strike and Nicholas the Renegade roars as he bursts into blue and green polygons.

Both Kirito and Sachi are exhausted, and are heavily panting as a window appears before Sachi, showing her the reward for her trouble. The coveted Revival Item. She read the description, seeing that it could only affect a single player. They had considered this, it was likely that the item would only be able to revive one player, though not confirmed. They decided to wait until after they got the item before deciding who they'd use it on. She continued reading, before she got to the part that made her heart sink. The item had a time limit. A rather short time limit.

Kirito, seeing this, walks over to Sachi, "What is it?"

Sachi shows the item description to Kirito, who sees the same thing, and softly reads, "'Within 10 seconds.' Damn it. I'm sorry, Sachi."

"No, it's ok. I mean, we didn't even know for sure this existed. At least now someone else won't have to lose a friend," Sachi says, trying to put on a composed front, but clearly holding back tears.

They start walking out of the area and towards the barrier, and exit out back to where Furrinkazen was waiting for them. Sachi throws the item to Klein, who looks bewildered, "You got the revival item?" Kirito nods, "We're not able to use it, not for what we needed it for. Use it to save a friend you see die in front of you."

Klein's eyes go wide when he reads the description, but before he's able to reply, the two of them teleport off to their inn.