Sword Art Online Roleplay: Equalization

Partway through the fall Connie flipped a switch in one of the handles of the katana, causing it to extend into a bladed whip, as it hit Miefing on her stomach.

"Ooh, adaptability, I like that!" Meifeng smirked at the wound that the girl had put on her for it had been a long time since she's been hurt in a fight. Connie had fell, but Meifeng didn't give her any time to recover, attacking the grounded opponent with a flurry of kicks.

Dan had noted Meifeng's current fighting style as Savate, a french martial art that utilized kicks. He also saw many moves from Shaolin Kung Fu and TaeKwonDo in the mix, but there was none of her signature Wing Chun. He became worried that if she was doing well without her specialty, then there would be complications down the road for Connie.

Connie, pushed the lever again, causing the bladed whip to retracts, part of the blades cut into Miefing's foot, as she managed to get up.

Lanking, realizing he wasn't noticed anymore, leaves the dojo.

Coming out of the cavern, Jormungand was in deep thinking. Her eyebrows furrowed over her icy colored eyes as she took quick steps through the labyrinth of halls. "Weeding out the weak would be effective for our forces and help strengthen our strategy with stronger players..." She muttered, ducking under a large stalactite without even sparring a glance at it before resuming her journey down the hall. "However, it will be time consuming and we must prepare some adequate instructors and use our budget for healing potions..."

"You have in mind already anyone who could train us?" Daisuke asked as he stumbled along after her, hoping over stray boulders in their path.

Jor merely shook her head. "I only know a few competent players who I will consider comrades with their expertise in battle and combat, however, guild leaders might be an option..."

"How 'bout the Knights of Blood? They're a strong bunch."

"They have a tight round table that will be difficult to negotiate with them to borrow a few members or instructors. Anyone except them." Her last response was colder than her usual tone.

Feeling the blades cut into her foot, she kept moving forward, not hesitating to jump on any openings that had arisen. Meifeng decided that kicks weren't getting her anywhere so she decided to switch to Wing Chun, her preferred style. "You finally got me to take out my specialty, think you can handle it?"

Connie nods as she didn't say anything, as she decided to use her specialty as well, her eyes changed slightly to a paler colder shade of violet.

Not knowing what Connie could be planning, the martial artist steadily moved closer to her opponent. Soon the gap closed to a couple of yards, but Meifeng kept herself relaxed and mentally sharp.

Dan however, was had a cold sweat. "I'm gonna get a friggin' heart attack if this goes on... I wanted to step in, but things aren't quite bad enough." He tightened his hand wraps and laced his shoes, since he had a feeling things were going to be bad.

Connie attacked towards her, quickly evaluating the situation.

Connie felt her swords hit flesh, but it wasn't Meifeng's. She looked up and saw Dan, one sword in his side, and the other in his hand.

"That's enough, you two." He said flatly, his eyes the same gray as his teacher's. "You both know that when you kill someone, the die in real life. Save it for someone worth killing.

He pulled the swords out of his body, since his health bar dropped to about half. He breathed a sigh of relief as he averted the crisis, but another one had appeared. Meifeng spoke up suddenly, You're lucky Dan stopped us this time, but I'll admit, you have skill."

Connie didn't say anything as she picked up the swords, and cleaned and sheathed them. " That was very....Brave of you" she said slowly.

As Dan walked past Connie to tend to his wounds, he said If you ever come at Meifeng_Sifu with that kind of killing intent, I'll kill you on the spot." For a brief moment, Connie felt an aura stronger than that of Meifeng's, although it dissipated quickly.

Dan then called over his shoulder,"Sifu! I need you to heal me up!" His eyes had turned back to normal, as Meifeng came over with a bright, "Okay~!!"

Connie didn't say anything as there was a badly noticeable smile on her face. 'Sadly, she wasn't the one I was intending on killing' she though. She looked at Delta, and they both nodded simutanouisly.
" Let's go then" Delta said as he picked up a teleportation crystal similar to the PKer's earlier.
"It was nice meeting you two.Goodbye" Connie said cheerily. As Yuki used it and the two disappeared.

They then appeared at, the level with the city like landscape as they went through alleyways and into a warehouse that looked partially burned down. Soon enough they heard voice outside and there eye color changed to a colder paler versions of their original. On this level it is survival of the fittest, and all you have to do it survive. The figure jumped out at them, only for the figure to be cut down. " Training Day 1" Connie directed "Whoever get the most wins in a battle on this level wins. Ready...Go." The two split up as the tower in the middle glowed, against the dark sky.

"That was dangerous, you know..." Meifeng said as she healed Dan back to full health. Dan looked at his wounds, seeing that they weren't as serious as he though. "There's going to be a time when I'm gonna have to step up my game..." He paused, then spoke up again. "Anyways, I'm going to need you to train me again." Meifeng perked up at the thought, "Alright, but I won't go easy on you!"

They started immediately, doing punching drills, heavy bag workouts, and sparring. Meifeng thought it was a very hard thing to do, but Dan had determination. He went 150% on everything, and even got a few clean hits on Meifeng, but there was always something for her to point out that could be better.

After a week, Dan had shown remarkable progress with his training. "Nice job!" Meifeng called out as she got up off the ground from a one-two from Dan. "Those things hurt like hell! Dan looked at his teacher with concern, "But I wasn't using my Iron Fist extra skill," Meifeng sighed at his concern as she herded him inside for some tea.

Daisuke sighed and shook his head in pity at his leader's refusal to request help from the Knights of Blood Order. He knew that the members of the Knights of Blood Order wouldn't really turn down an offer for a raid, however, their guild and Jor's morals tended to clash. As for now, the blonde man decided to keep his mouth shut and hurried out of the cavern to find other guilds more suitable than the Knights of Blood Order.   

A week later while in her cavern-like office smoking a handmade cigar, Jor opened up her system window and issued a quick PM to the few comrades on her friend's list. The message read the following: "The Breaching Brigade will be hosting another raid from Floors 64 to Floors 67 on Month XX Day XX. We would like to request your assistance as either instructors for a brief training camp within 3 days of time or members to join us on this raid. If no answer is provided, we will assume that you will not be joining us. There is no guarantee that anyone shall live by the end of it, as usual. Sincerely, Jormungand" The war veteran let out an exasperated sigh and sent the message. She took another puff of her cigar, leaned back into her chair, and began strategizing.   

Outside in the main foyer, Daisuke was busy sending multiple PMs to the friends he had made to announce about the training camp. The message read: "Hey, so the Breaching Brigade has officially announced its training camp 3 days from now on Floor 55. If you plan to come, don't expect us to go easy on you guys. If you plan to skip the training camp, meet us on Floor 62 for a debriefing on Month XX Day XX. We'll be seeing you soon and let us know ASAP if you plan on coming to the training camp~" Wyvern was yelling somthing from the corner of his shop, causing the halberd user to sigh in annoynace and assist the younger man. These next few days will be quite interesting and Daisuke couldn't help but feel another psychotic grin spread across his face. 

Delta had just met up with Connie as he got the PM from Daisuke. "What does it say?" Connie asked as she was across the room. They where in one of the outer areas of the level, inside a ruined building. It's was mostly dark on this level so the light of the center showed like stars. It reminded the two of their home in the real world.

Delta had finished polishing the scythe blade as he knew he would have to fix it some time soon. "It's an invitation for this training camp, for a guild I just joined" He replied quietly

"That's nice, you might be able to find some friends there" Connie said as she saw his grave expression. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. It's not going to be like the last time" she said. Of all the one that left Delta left for a very good reason, and the one that was hit the hardest went the majority of the past group went rouge.

"Yeah, so I'm going to reply now" he said as he PMed back to Daisuke "Alright I'll be there in a day"

"I'll come with you to" Connie said abruptly

"Why?" Delta as he closed his system window.

"The guild name what was it again?" she asked

"Breaching Brigade"

"Sounds familiar. And do I need a reason. I'm going wether you like it or not." she said

"Okay.Okay" he said as the two adroitly heard more voices out side

"Come on it can't take all day the is more to come" one of the voices said

"Well resume this later" she said as she teleported with delta to the 55th floor

Dan checked his inbox for the PM that he just recieved, read it, then relayed the information to Meifeng. "Right on schedule, the training camp is going to start soon! I wonder if the others have improved as much as I have..." Dan felt pumped up and ready to go, feeling the effects of his harsh training. However, Meifeng felt differently, "Ugh, the raid's hosted by the Breaching Brigade? Should've know that Jor was up to something, trying to steal my favorite pupil!" She thought about it for a second, then said, "Dan, I'm going with you since there's some business I need to sort out with the guild leader."

Feeling the seriousness in her voice, Dan prepared his teleportation crystal and headed off to 55th floor.

The succession of notification pings from his inbox made Daisuke bounce on his toes with excitement while carrying large crates of potions to their training site. Using her funds from previous raids, Jor was able to rent out a few acres of dense woodland teeming with monsters. Setting down the delicate crate in one of the log cabins that would serve as their house of operations and mess hall, Daisuke waved to Wyvern. "Gonna go pick up the new recruits over at Trellings~ Let Jor know that I'll be back with the next wave of supplies too!" He said before sprinting across the woodland in direction of Floor 55's main town.   

Wyvern made no attempts to stop the youngster from prancing outside, but was watching Jor's tense expression from behind him. Seated on top of a close crate, she was inspecting her checklist of supplies and routinely speaking with her raid members patrolling the perimeter through a communication's link. "Wyvern, how many people do we have now? Counting the ones that Echo are recruiting?" She asked without taking her eyes off the long scroll before her. 

"About twenty to thirty some people. They all have some adequate training and levels, however, there are a few that concern m-"   

"They'll have to deal with death personally then." Jormungand cut in before snapping her scroll together and storing it into her inventory window. "The Breaching Brigade is no charity organization, if I must remind you. Casualties will be casualties, and lingering thoughts of the deceased will not help us progress through this game. Are we clear on this, Wyvern?"   

"... Yes m'am." He struggled to say and lapsed into silence.   

An exasperated sigh escaped Jor as she turned attention outside the window. Her gnarled hands criss-crossed with battle scars and stains clasped together onto her lap. "It's unfortunate that this world must be as cruel as reality... What peace we have, what tranquility...

Meanwhile, Daisuke had reached the outskirts of Trelling where the teleportation portal was. He didn't expect everyone to have a transportation crystal, but it was a good place to convene and gather more recruits. Several large men milled around in impressive suits of armor and fancy weapons, but they all lacked the levels to be on their raid party.

Connie equipped her usual armor, which was a thick black long sleeve vest with pockets containing a few knives. Brown pants, and a white undershirt. As well as her weapons which she had reinforce with a type of metal she got from the level they where previously on. Her brown hair was tied up, as she looked around in the group of people with fancy thing. She stood out not because of her simple armor, but because of her oddly high level. She also equipped a white fox mask (Kind of like the one in Doten ni waru) to hide her face. Delta was equipped with his regular armor as well, his green hair stuck him out from the crowd.Earlier his scythe was fixed as it was reinforced.

As he arrived, Dan equipped his signature hand wraps, which were made from the hide of a high level beast, and his usual black pants and dark gray coat, ready to throw off at a moment's notice. Meifeng's clothing was similar since it was also black, but she was wearing her black and gold qipao and had her black hair tied up in a ponytail, leaving her bangs intact.. The two got acknowledged by the crowds for the two's weapons, or lack thereof. Dan felt slightly irritated at how the men were looking at Meifeng's slightly curvaceous body, and how it perfectly filled the qipao.

Connie walked around. She looked oddly tense, even though they left the level with the city like landscape. She took out a scroll from her inventory and quickly looked trout it before putting it back. She sighed uncomfortably as she saw some men staring at her. Her hand was already at the sheath of her katana on her right side.
To Delta sighed as he shook his head. He knew that even though Connie thought that the men would attack her, he knew that those people where just admiring how she looked. Though cold violet eyes peering out of a mask isn't the best first inpressoin. She was slender compared to the people around her due to the fact that she was a speed based fighter.

Watching the players leave in and out of the transportation portal, Daisuke's eyes lit up at the sight of green friend indicators popping up in his vision. Too bad they were on opposites He made his way calmly through the crowd, reaching Delta and a female comrade beside him on about the same level. She seemed to be glaring holes through everyone around her and was oddly tense. "Glad you came, Delta!" Daisuke shouted through the crowd and nudged his way through. The crowd parted and dispersed at the blonde man's arrival. "Who's your female friend here? You didn't tell me that you'd be bringing such a beauty to our raid party~." Scanning her from head to toe, he concluded that her level was not all for show and that katana of hers was utterly deadly.

Delta was a little surprised as Daisuke sudden appearance "It's nice to see you again as well"He replied "And yeah she kind of my mentor or older sister. Her name is Connie" he introduced as Connie did a small bow.
"It's nice to meet you" she said calmly still looking around at the crowd of people.

Dan saw his three acquaintances and made his way through the crowd to them. Delighted to see the "group" together again, he said, "Yo Blondie! I hear the training camp's gonna be tough!"He then turned to address Delta, "I see you've brought Connie but I have no reason to worry since she can take care of herself!"

While Dan was chit-chatting with the players, Meifeng made her way to them, giving the other male players a very clear warning that she was not a normal girl. "Dan, you shouldn't run off! It's not nice to leave a defenseless lady behind!"

Dan chuckled at her fake helplessness and decided to introduce Meifeng to Daisuke, "Sifu, this is the one that invited me here, Echo. Echo, this is my martial arts teacher, Meifeng Zhang."

Daisuke was a bit put-off by Connie's unresponsiveness to his snide flirtations, but hearing Dan's voice made the blonde grin. He did a quick scan over Meifeng and had a suspicion that she was no official member on their roster list. A mock bow followed Dan's quick introduction. "Pleasure to meet you, m'am. I am a subordinate of Jormungand and Wyvern of the Breaching Brigade, surely you must be aware of their usernames." If she was an instructor, then she was a personal friend of Jor's and he had to tread carefully and not be in his usual flippant manner around her.

((OOC: Just a heads up, Daisuke's username is Echo and he hasn't introduced himself as Daisuke yet.))