A/N: Another chapter done! It's a tad longer than usual to accommodate the fight with Chrome Disaster and then some though.

Chapter 12

"Yukina... what's with the nervous look?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing!" I quickly denied it, even though I knew it was quite obvious externally from the way I was crossing my arms under my chest and looking down at the ground while sneaking peeks at Kyrius every now and then. The events of last night were still quite fresh in my memory...

"Well... I can understand if you're nervous about later," Kyrius let out a forced chuckle. "It's not every day you get a vital mission to basically save a world."

... Baka Kyrius! Had he forgotten about yesterday already!? Even after sleeping over!?

"Well... Chrome Disaster is really unlike any other opponent I've ever faced..." I groaned in exasperation.

"I'll be with you, no worries," he smiled.

That statement immediately set my heart aflutter and warned my cheeks up in a light blush...

"It's part of our plan after all."

...

I proceeded to bang my head on the wall beside the elevator in frustration - Kyrius just kept warming me up only to shoot me down again later! Why in the world was he being so difficult to get through to!? This guy was far too oblivious for his own good... and my sanity! At this rate I was going to die of frustration before I ever managed to ask him out! Ugh... it looked like I was going to have to make the first move...

"Kyrius... I..."

"The elevator's here," he announced.

I bashed my head on the wall one more time for good measure before sighing and following the clueless, thick-headed class president into the elevator and stopping short as we saw the other two occupants.

"Good morning, Kuroyukihime-san," I greeted my legion master.

"Oh, good morning to you too," she nodded to us.

"I wasn't aware you lived here..." I said thoughtfully.

"I don't. I just stayed with Haruyuki-kun last night," she glanced at the chubby teenager standing beside her. Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed something and she quickly bent down in front of him and said, "Haruyuki-kun, your tie is crooked."

"Ah, thanks..." Haruyuki said sheepishly as he looked away.

Well, at least he knew to appreciate when a girl was pining for him... unlike a certain blockhead standing beside me. I sighed as I felt the urge to slam my forehead into the elevator wall - I was so close to confessing to him! Stupid Kyrius! Stupid elevator!

The elevator stopped at the 21st floor to admit a short girl with short brown hair and a fox hairclip on the left side of her face. She blinked in surprise when she noticed the other couple in the elevator and narrowed her eyes threateningly at Haruyuki. Almost immediately the guy began to sweat bullets - ah, I see... a love triangle... I shot a glare at Kyrius, who seemed completely oblivious to the tension in the elevator as Kuroyukihime stood up and began to glare right back at the newcomer.

"This looks... awkward," I muttered.

"Hmm?" Kyrius was apparently off in his own world.

I simply groaned and decided to keep waiting...

"You look worn out, Yuki-chan," a concerned Phoenicia adjusted her glasses as she stood beside me.

"How do you know?" I mumbled.

"It's pretty obvious when you're slumped over your desk like that," Inoha said monotonously. "What happened?"

I cast a short glance at Kyrius, who was talking with Sanno and chuckling at something. It was lunch break, so he had come over to visit. Thanks to his reputation, he was earning quite a few looks of ire from the rest of the girls in the class, but he was ignoring all of them and just talking to my class president and his best friend. I wondered how exactly Kyrius managed to get all that attention without even asking for it… and still ending up with all of it sliding off his extremely impressive obliviousness.

Just remembering it made me slam my head into my desk violently, startling Phoenicia and Inoha. Neither of them missed the preceding gesture.

"A certain class president being a blockhead as usual?" Phoenicia sighed.

I bashed my head on the desk again.

"Your forehead is going to bruise at this rate," Inoha shook her head as she moved behind me and pulled me into a more upright position.

"Kill me now or I'll just go insane from his regal blockheadedness…" I groaned.

"It's really incredible how he misses those moments, isn't it? Want us to go have a word with him?" Inoha looked at Kyrius.

I shook my head even as my cheeks flushed red from imagining his response… I couldn't even get half a second in before my brain quite simply shut down and refused to think about it. What if he rejected me? What if I somehow messed up and ended up doing something bad?

"Sheesh," Phoenicia huffed. "Shouldn't you just confess to him and be done with it?"

"I can't tell him directly… You know I'm not that kind of person! I want him to realize his feelings himself…" I poked my index fingers together shyly.

"Even when he's such a blockhead?"

*slam*

"Like I said, your forehead is going to bruise," Inoha muttered.

"This is too frustrating…" I gave a muffled mumble.

"What is?"

I looked up to see Kyrius standing beside me, his head cocked aside in a confused expression.

"No-nothing…" I quickly stuttered out as I looked to the other side to hide my rapidly-growing blush.

"Well, I'll drop my stuff at my own place before we meet up later at yours. Is that fine?"

The classroom suddenly became drop-dead silent as all the other girls in earshot stared at us. I felt my blush deepen even further. Not turning around, I quickly nodded.

"Great! I'll see you then."

I didn't see him leave, but the footsteps told me enough about his position so I could turn to look at Inoha and Phoenicia once he was far enough away not to notice my blush. I felt the blush spread to my neck when I noticed the two of them had their jaws dropped on the metaphorical ground in disbelief. That… and the rest of the girls in the class glaring daggers at me…

"Did… did he just ask you out on a date?" Inoha got out of her stupor first.

"Well… uh… uh…" I stammered, unable to tell them the real reason for us meeting up… "I don't know!"

"THAT totally sounded like he was asking you out though!" Phoenicia gave a muted squeal of delight.

I covered my face in dread… the school rumour mill was definitely going to get a hold of this… WHY!? Why did that idiot Kyrius have to say it in a manner that sounded like he was asking me out on a date!? It was only the mission to take out Chrome Disaster and yet here he was sounding so enthusiastic and romantic! Already the rest of the class was whispering and I could tell most of them were talking about me…

"I thought he was a major blockhead!" Phoenicia looked at Kyrius again, who was now talking with Sanno again.

"Kill me now," I resumed slamming my head into the desk repeatedly in agitation. "Just kill me now so I don't have to deal with this… this… guy…"

"OHOHOHOHOHO!"

"Or that troublesome girl…" I added, and punctuated with a particularly hard slam, trying to knock myself out before Hoseki could start talking. I much preferred getting a headache from a concussion rather than a headache from listening to her obnoxious laughter.

"Take it easy, Yuki-chan…" Inoha patted my back as I slumped over in front of my locker, dreading the hate mail that ALWAYS came with these moments with Kyrius. Granted they had slightly mellowed down since Kyrius and I confronted Hoseki, but they were still there regardless…

I took a deep breath and stood aside as I opened my locker. Predictably a flood of letters fell to the ground, but Inoha and Phoenicia were already standing by with a broom and a dustpan to clear it away. They had seen it happen to me enough to know when it was coming. Some people still liked doing it the old-fashioned way… I still had no idea how they managed to do it without being caught on the cameras though.

"Just ignore them, they're only sore over you snagging Kyrius first," Phoenicia reassured me.

Another hate mail landed in my Neuro Linker's inbox only for me to immediately toss it into the trash can with a flick of my hand. I seriously needed to look into getting a filter for it…

"Need an escort home?" Inoha asked sportingly.

"I'll be fine…" I sighed as I closed my locker after putting some stuff into it.

"If you say so. Stay safe, Yuki-chan," Phoenicia smiled and patted my back gently before walking off towards the library for her librarian duties.

"See you tomorrow! I look forward to hearing about the good news!" Inoha ran off cheerily with a wave at me that I returned, if weakly.

"Why do these things keep happening to me…?" I moaned sadly as I stepped out of the school and began to walk back home.

At least class ended a little earlier than usual today… When I got home I would have time to take a bath and rest for a little while before meeting up with Kyrius and heading off to join the fight. I blushed again when I recalled the blockhead's words… When I checked the school message board later it had indeed spread very quickly so practically the whole school thought I was dating Kyrius now. Some people had congratulated me – heck, I had seen my alleged partner being congratulated too, but he didn't quite seem to get what he was being congratulated about.

I sighed and continued walking at a brisk pace, trying to push Kyrius out of my thoughts and recapping on the mission plan for later. Black Lotus, Silver Crow, Scarlet Rain and Cyan Pile would be the frontline team to engage Chrome Disaster, while Shadow Phantom and I, Ruby Sniper would be on the tracking team to trail him, slow him down if needed and act as support for later in the fight. It was understandable – the two of us had the highest mobility of the group aside from Silver Crow, but he was needed to help carry the slower Duel Avatars forming the frontline group. We were just relying on Scarlet Rain to find the guy first before we could move.

I began revising a few battle plans I had against Chrome Disaster… Judging from what Yuniko had told me, he was mainly a close-ranged fighter, but with incredible jumping power, enough that getting away from him was going to be hard. My plan was basically to help wear him down using extreme long-ranged attacks, helping Scarlet Rain. The sides of my mouth quirked up slightly in a smile – the two of us hadn't teamed up in quite a long while.

Kyrius would be switching to a mid-ranged skirmisher role, keeping Chrome Disaster's attention away from me and quickly moving around him, kiting and suppressing him. I had no doubt he'd be able to hold his own in close quarters, but as an obvious power and armoured type it wouldn't be easy to damage him. As Shadow Phantom, Kyrius's attacks were only deadly if aimed at critical areas, but Chrome Disaster's armour was likely far too thick for his attacks to get through. Until we had a better idea of how good it was, it was better for us to stay away.

I stepped into the shower and let the hot water run over my body as I relaxed. Things were far too hectic now… Especially after Kyrius ended up looking like he was asking me out. I resisted the urge to bash my head on the wall again – I could already feel that bruise developing after I gave myself a minor concussion in class trying to avoid listening to Hoseki. The annoying fangirl just kept on going and going and going…

"Baka Kyrius," I mumbled softly to myself.

Drying myself off with a towel, I froze when the doorbell rang – that was surprisingly fast of Kyrius… I sighed and opened the door remotely after a quick check of the door camera. In the meantime, I grabbed the nearest clothes I could find – my school uniform and exited the bath while towelling off my long silver hair.

"So are you ready?" Kyrius asked as I came into view.

"Ah, just wait a few minutes…" I shook my head and went back into my room to hunt down my hairdryer. "Just make yourself at home!"

He had been over plenty of times – under my brother's supervision of course. That was the only reason I was comfortable enough with him being in my house. That… and my feelings towards him, probably. He was just far too dense to realize… For half a second I considered giving up on him, but I ruthlessly quashed that thought – he had already carved his place out in my heart, I just needed… wanted him to fill it himself.

"Shall we get going then?" he asked when I stepped out of my room idly tossing my hair to make sure it was thoroughly dry.

"Yeah," I nodded with a slight blush as I walked over to him.

"He's moving!"

I looked up from the cake I was enjoying. Kyrius simply opened his eyes – he had apparently been meditating or something while drinking his tea. The others snapped to attention from whatever they had been doing as well.

"Cherry's on a train on the Seibu Ikebukuro line. If he follows his usual pattern, he'll be hunting in Ikebukuro," Yuniko said wistfully as she interacted with her Neuro Linker interface unseen to the rest of us.

"Ikebukuro? How should we get there?" Kuroyukihime put down her cup of tea and looked around at the rest of the members of the group sitting at the table. "Travel in the real world? Or…"

"Let's go inside. With this crew, we won't be caught by the Enemy," Yuniko piqued.

"That's right," Kuroyukihime agreed.

"Enemy?" a confused Haruyuki asked.

"Haruyuki-kun, remember the command I taught you when you reached level 4?"

"H-hai."

"Right then, let's show you the true battleground for Burst Linkers like us," she nodded and glanced back at the chubby teen. "You won't have any problems using 10 points for it, right?"

"Yes, if it's only 10 points," he replied, still somewhat confused. "But what's the true battleground?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. It's where you can find the very essence of what we call Accel World," the leader of Nega Nebulous replied. "Let's go. The mission to destroy the 5th Chrome Disaster starts now!"

I already had the popup menu ready, so I hovered my finger over it and said, "Unlimited Burst!" at the same time the others did.

The world quickly snapped into shades of blue while everything froze. The entire world around us broke down into data, surrounding us in an inky darkness with ethereal blue lines running all around us. The familiar sensation of my body turning into that of my Duel Avatar took over as my senses adjusted themselves to it. Once it was done, I gently stepped onto the ground of the Unlimited Field of Brain Burst.

We appeared to have spawned somewhere on a tower in the field – taking a few steps forward we could see an entire dark, futuristic city sprawled out before us, lights twinkling in the darkness and illuminating parts of it. I made a disgruntled noise – this field wasn't as good for sniping as I liked. Too many obstacles… but at least it would be easy to navigate the area using my grappling hooks. Shadow Phantom materialized beside me without a word, Kyrius already in his battle persona. He laid a cold gauntlet on my shoulder reassuringly, causing me to tense up before blushing slightly.

"Where are we?" Silver Crow asked. "A neutral field with no limits?"

"That's right. We've previously used it to hunt the Armour of Catastrophe," Black Lotus replied. "By the way, have you noticed anything else?"

"Anything else…? Oh, there's no time limit!"

"That's how it is. Remember, this is a field with no limits," Scarlet Rain nodded.

"You can do practically anything you want in here," I added. "Maybe more fun for you since you can fly around and enjoy the wind on your face."

"Once you're here, it's possible to stay forever," Cyan Pile explained. "Of course, you have to be level 4 or higher to enter."

"We're accelerated, right?"

"Of course," Black Lotus said.

"So if we stayed here for a whole day in real world time, it'd be…" Silver Crow lifted a hand and began to count on it. "Thr-three years!? Why didn't you tell me earlier, Taku!? I could've gotten so much stuff done in that time!"

"It's best not to," Cyan Pile patiently replied.

"Huh?"

"He's right, you know. If it's a few days, you might forget a few appointments or something trivial. But if you spend a month or two here, you'll be a very different person when you return," Black Lotus put in her two yen. "It's natural. Your body wouldn't age, but your soul would."

"The soul can age?"

"She's just saying you'll get older mentally, but not physically," Shadow Phantom offered. "You spend too much time here, your mind will mature much faster while little to no time passes in reality, comparatively speaking."

"More importantly, we should really get going," Scarlet Rain interrupted the conversation. "When we accelerated, we had two minutes of time left before Cherry's train was due to arrive at Ikebukuro. We've still got plenty of time, but…"

"You're right," the leader of the black Legion nodded.

"But then how are we going to get to Ikebukuro?" a clueless Silver Crow asked. "Are we going to run?"

I deadpanned at the stupid question. Beside me I could see Shadow Phantom staring at the train carrying Cherry Rook… a time bomb just waiting to go off.

"Don't be stupid, why else would we bring you?" Scarlet Rain turned to look at Silver Crow. Underneath her Duel Avatar I was quite sure she was rolling her eyes…

"Huh?" Before the poor guy had any time to respond, Scarlet Rain had suddenly appeared right in front of him hugging him around his waist.

"You'll hold me tight, right, Onii-chan?" she switched to her more childish persona all of a sudden, leaving Silver Crow very flustered and confused.

And that was before Black Lotus's eyes suddenly gleamed and Silver Crow found himself on the receiving end of a VERY intimidating glare from a jealous Legion master.

"What are you talking about? The one you'll hold tightly is me. After all, look at my arms and legs," she raised a bladed arm that managed to catch the moonlight enough to glint menacingly, causing Silver Crow to take a step back in fear. "Rain, you can take Silver Crow's legs!"

"You've gotta be kidding me! That design is your own fault!" Scarlet Rain argued. "Why don't you just take the train?"

"What's your problem!?" Black Lotus shot back.

"Please tell me that two of the highest levelled Burst Linkers in the game aren't squabbling like children right now," I muttered.

Shadow Phantom lifted a hand and uncharacteristically smacked his own forehead.

"I thought so, I'm not hallucinating," I rolled my eyes. I couldn't see how Black Lotus was getting so defensive over Scarlet Rain's teasing… but then again I barely knew Haruyuki.

"Right, let's do this. I'll just-" Cyan Pile was interrupted by both of the Legion masters in the group.

"Nobody asked you, Four-Eyes!"

"Mind your own business, Professor-kun!"

A clearly depressed Cyan Pile scooted over to squat beside us and started scratching in the floor with his pile bunker.

"I'll leave the rest to you…"

"Taku!"

Now that was just plain sad. Shadow Phantom smacked his forehead again, this time shaking his head as well.

"Right then, you decide."

"What are you going to do, Silver Crow?"

"Um… I'll just start charging up my finishing move gauge…" a sheepish Silver Crow rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"Should we start going after the train first?" Shadow Phantom approached Black Lotus once we were sure the commotion had died down.

"Eh? Yes, sure…" our Legion master quickly nodded.

"Understood," my partner nodded back.

I grabbed hold of him and anchored a grappling hook firmly to the side of the building before jumping off, controlling our descent by extending the winch slowly. Nothing much was spoken as we kept going – once we were low enough that I was sure we weren't going to take any fall damage, I nodded to him and he quickly jumped off while I released the hook and fired one from my other hand at another building, dragging myself towards it.

This wasn't the first time I had to use this technique to travel – I silently thanked Western comics for the idea of using my grappling hooks to travel long distances. Spiderman in particular. Well, I had never been quite into those Western stuff, except for the movies. As I slung myself around a corner, I started wondering what Phoenicia would do if she ever saw me moving like this… maybe call me Spiderwoman or something. My character had the right base colour after all…

We made good time to the train and quickly landed on top of the rearmost carriage. I secured myself using a grappling hook, while Kyrius simply stuck his scythe into the top and used it as a handhold. Far in the distance I could see a flicker of light in the sky, probably the others. I summoned my gun and scoped in on them to check. Yeah, Silver Crow was holding onto both of the girls while Cyan Pile was holding onto his legs for dear life.

"Poor Cyan Pile," I shook my head in pity while dismissing my gun.

"Why are the two Queens fighting over Silver Crow anyway?" Shadow Phantom grimaced.

Immediately the ghost pain on my forehead came back to hit me. Unfortunately I didn't have anything to bash my head against in this situation… Yep, he was being clueless as ever…

"So what's the plan?" Shadow Phantom deferred to me. For strategies I had the better head and the ability to think ahead. Tactically he was better with spur-of-the-moment decisions and reactions.

"We just have to wait until Chrome Disaster shows up. If anything happens to the main team it'll be our job to hold him back until they manage to come in and help. I actually think it'll be a better idea to follow the train on foot. Less chance of us ending up in his killzone when he appears..."

Shadow Phantom gave me a nod of acknowledgement and quickly jumped off the carriage to fade into the shadows of the buildings running beside the railway. I began slinging myself along beside the train, maintaining a respectable distance from it. I couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen though… then again, running into Chrome Disaster was definitely bad no matter which way you looked at it.

Suddenly I heard several explosions in the sky, and looked up to see a few fireballs blossoming in the general area where the main team had been flying. Even as I watched, several more fireballs appeared. I quickly slung myself onto a rooftop, stopped and whipped out my gun to zoom in on them using the scope. I could see several missiles flying towards the main team, which was now trying to descend out of the line of fire…

"This isn't good…" I muttered.

"In more ways than one," Shadow Phantom appeared beside me.

"What more can go wrong?" I asked.

"That."

A loud, demonic roar rang out through the air, making me cover my ears and wince. THAT definitely did not sound good.

"Don't tell me…"

"He's out," Shadow Phantom said grimly. "A lot earlier than expected."

"The main team is probably going to get held up quite a while too…" I ground my teeth in frustration. Things were going wrong… Far too wrong…

"If it makes things better, he's still heading towards Ikebukuro but at this rate he'll be done with his hunting and long gone when the main team gets there to deal with him."

"I don't think we can slow him down for too long either…" I muttered, deep in thought with a finger on my lip, or what passed for it.

"Do you think it would be possible to lead him to the main team instead? That way we can also try and help them – whoever decided to set that ambush is definitely well-prepared… likely with overwhelming firepower," my partner suggested.

I gulped at the thought of the main team getting decimated there before we could deal with Chrome Disaster… but the idea was definitely sound. That way it might be possible to use him to sow confusion among the ambushers' ranks, tearing them apart while also keeping him distracted for the others to take him out.

"I like it… but we need to pinpoint their location first. I can't tell exactly where they landed."

"How far can you throw one of your sensor pods?"

"I can do one better and fire them from my cannon in howitzer mode."

"Great."

I switched my gun to cannon mode immediately. Palming a sensor pod from my backpack dispenser, I simply slotted it in the business end of the barrel. Using the map to calibrate my aim towards a large crater – the likeliest spot for any ambush to occur in the immediate area, I fired. The makeshift radar pod launched out of the gun barrel with a loud boom, punching through the sound barrier on the way. I tracked it until the apex of its trajectory before switching to my map. When it hit the ground, the sensor pod started to transmit…

And I could see a large collection of about a hundred Duel Avatars grouped around the crater, with a small group of four inside the crater itself.

"Found them," I shook upon seeing the numbers they were up against… "You were right, it's an ambush – looks like an entire Legion against the main team by the looks of it…"

There was a sharp intake of breath from Shadow Phantom.

"We need to hurry," he whispered loudly.

"They're in that direction," I pointed roughly in the direction of the main team. "How do we lure him there?"

"We'll fight him in close quarters, keep baiting him closer and closer…" Shadow Phantom cradled his scythe, speaking in a determined tone.

"I'll cover you then," I hefted my gun while switching it to sniper mode.

"Hey big guy, over here!" Shadow Phantom taunted the hulking Duel Avatar walking slowly along the railway.

The... thing was exactly like Scarlet Rain described... Huge, chrome and a walking disaster clad in heavy armor wielding a huge sword that looked like it could cleave right through several feet of steel in one swing. I gritted my teeth as I peered down the scope of my gun at the fifth Chrome Disaster. The entire thing reeked of darkness and evil... I could almost smell it even from this distance.

The taunt immediately got him moving. He stretched a hand out towards my partner, only for Shadow Phantom to disappear into the shadows from in front of him and reappear to his right at close quarters swinging his scythe already. The attack pretty much just bounced off Chrome Disaster's thick armour, forcing him to back off when the hulking thing swung an arm at him.

I squeezed my trigger, popping a shot off that slammed into the thing's arm and knocking the swing off course into the ground. I bit back a curse - the attack still didn't get through the armour and even the small scratch left behind by the attack was rapidly healing. My sniper rifle had the highest penetrating power of my normal weapons, so that meant pretty much only my Railgun finisher would be able to penetrate that armour. Ugh... I'd have to rely on explosive attacks to damage it until I could charge up my finisher.

"Look out!"

I barely threw myself aside in time to dodge the black beam attack that Chrome Disaster had fired off from his sword. As it was, it tore through the roof beside me, gouging a deep trench into it and continuing onwards to perforate another building behind me clean through. I blinked in surprise as I stared at the thing pointing its slightly smoking sword towards me... another ball of black energy gathering at the tip...

... He could see me at this range!?

"Hey, that's not fair!" I gasped, dismissing my gun, picking myself up and jumping off the building mere moments before a beam strafed across the roof, utterly destroying it.

I swung myself onto another roof while checking to see what Chrome Disaster was doing, and breathed in relief when I saw Shadow Phantom kick him right behind the knee, causing him to buckle and completely miss his next shot at me. I seized the chance to get in closer, swinging over him while divebombing him with mines from my backpack. The explosions rocked the area even while Shadow Phantom leapt back out of the blast radius, throwing several daggers into the smoke for good measure.

The smoke abruptly cleared to reveal Chrome Disaster just finishing a mighty swing of his sword. He opened his palm and aimed it at me in a vaguely familiar motion... but whatever it was I definitely didn't want to get caught by it so I twisted my body in mid-air to dodge it. Something grazed my side and all of a sudden my vision erupted in stars as the huge Duel Avatar slammed into me.

"Yuki!"

I recovered fast enough to dodge the follow-up attack with a well-timed dodge using my grappling hook. Before he could latch onto me with his fist, I spun in the air like a ballerina while releasing my mines. As a result the fist just grabbed the mines, causing an explosion that bodily flung me into a nearby building. I cried out in pain - the impact really hurt! Before I hit the ground, I managed to arrest my momentum by firing my hooks to my sides. When they connected, I pulled them taut for a short moment and crumpled on the ground unceremoniously after releasing them.

"Ugh..." I gritted my teeth and pulled myself to my feet.

"Are you okay?" Shadow Phantom appeared right beside me, asking quietly.

"I'm fine... just give me a bit of time to recover..." I panted.

He nodded and faded back into the shadows only to reappear a moment later right behind Chrome Disaster. A series of strikes bounced off his back, causing sparks to fly as his blade scraped across the armour ineffectually. He immediately had to duck under a slash and backflip over it again when it came full circle, prescribing a lower arc. I switched to gatling gun mode and fired off a heavy spray of lead at the thing forcing him to use his sword to block.

Shadow Phantom seized the chance, ducking in close again and getting his attention with an upwards slash that bounced off Chrome Disaster's helmet. That done, he ducked back into the shadows making sure to reappear in pain sight afterwards. He ducked around a corner in time to dodge whatever attack his opponent threw at him when he opened his hands... and very abruptly launched off his feet in a very familiar motion.

I should know, I used grappling hooks myself!

"I need to go tell Kyrius!" I whispered to myself as I started running after them, using my grappling hooks to pull myself horizontally across the roofs, riding my gun like it was a snowboard by hooking my feet in the handholds on it.

Crouching and then kicking downwards, I powered my makeshift snowboard onto a higher roof and fired off another grappling hook at the wall on the opposite side. It was quite easy to track my partner and our target since they were causing so much destruction along the way and kicking up smoke clouds wherever they went. Probably more Chrome Disaster than my partner considering his style wasn't as likely to cause collateral damage.

The path they were taking was diverging a little from our intended path though - it seemed that Shadow Phantom had been forced to change course a few times from falling debris and had ended up getting a little lost in the maze of buildings. I thought of dropping to ground level, but decided that I'd just get in his way. Instead I just kept skidding along the roofs following the smoke trail.

"Kyrius!" I shouted when I saw a particularly large plume of dust erupt.

Closing in on it, I saw my partner half-buried in a wall with Chrome Disaster advancing on him... I gripped my gun, switching to sniper mode and aimed at the base of his neck... only for my shot to glance off again.

"Even in that kind of place!? Photon Maser!" I unfolded my gun into its energy cannon mode and squeezed the trigger.

A bright beam of red light burst out of the barrel of the cannon, slamming into Chrome Disaster's back and causing him to stumble. He turned around and aimed his sword at me, but I anticipated the attack and jumped off to ground level before it hit. I hit the ground rolling into a run, snapping off a volley of fire in gatling mode to keep him suppressed. Unfortunately he appeared to have learnt his lesson and simply charged at me through the hail of lead.

Caught by surprise, I didn't have any time to react as he rushed me with his shoulder, sending me flying again. I gritted my teeth and used my grappling hooks to control my flight before I could crash into another wall and end up taking damage. A series of loud scratches told me that Shadow Phantom was trying to get his attention again - I used the chance to recover and land on a roof, wincing slightly as pain shot through my chest. My armour simply wasn't designed to take heavy impacts like the ones Chrome Disaster kept hitting me with... so it was now cracked quite badly - I didn't think I'd be able to take another hit.

Shadow Phantom wasn't too well off either - several close calls had torn his cloak off, revealing the jagged, aggressive lines of his light armour. Even that wasn't untouched - several cracks marred its surfaces where he had gotten hit hard. Chrome Disaster simply didn't move like a heavily-armored Duel Avatar... He moved like he was much, much lighter! A whirlwind slash from Chrome Disaster that came out of nowhere managed to cut into my partner's leg. I heard a sharp intake of breath before he jumped into the air only to get caught by his opponent's free hand. The hulking Duel Avatar quickly opened his mouth and began to move Shadow Phantom towards it...

"No!" I shrieked as I ran in close, jumped onto Chrome Disaster gripping his neck with my legs and rammed my gun barrel into the open mouth. "Shotgun Blast!"

An explosion erupted inside its mouth, causing it to flail wildly and roar in pain even as it let go of Shadow Phantom. Unfortunately it also bit down... hard, breaking my gun in half and causing it to explode, which blew me a good distance away. I cried out painfully as I rolled across the ground, eventually coming to a stop after hitting a wall hard. The impact dazed me for a good few seconds...

It wasn't long, but it was enough for a very much enraged Chrome Disaster to have my critically-damaged Duel Avatar in his grip by the time I recovered. It growled at me fiercely, causing me to recoil in fear as it opened its mouth wide, revealing the sharp teeth lining it and an inky darkness within...

No... was I going to die here?

I closed my eyes, almost ready to accept my fate...

"Get your filthy hands off my partner, you monster!"

Shadow Phantom appeared directly behind Chrome Disaster with a large ball of black energy in one hand. The attack slammed into his neck, causing him to roar in pain once more, but he didn't release me this time. He just spun around and headbutted Shadow Phantom, but my partner nimbly dodged it by flipping over his head as it came and delivered a series of slashes to the inside of his elbow that forced him to let go.

I screamed as I fell to the ground, but in half a second Shadow Phantom had caught me in his arms and run off carrying me. The scenery flashed by for a while before he let me down on top of a roof a good distance away.

"You shouldn't have come for me," he shook his head.

"And neither... neither should you come to save me..." I was still quite shaken by my brush with death - I knew I'd just respawn afterwards but the experiences in Brain Burst were always just that little bit too real...

"How was I supposed to leave you alone to die like that!?" he snapped.

"I couldn't let you die either!" I fired back. "Especially to that thing!"

"Well..." he looked a little taken back.

"If it means you'll live I'll gladly go and save you as many times as it takes, even if I die in the process! Do you know how important you are to me, Kyrius!?" I continued, fuelled by my adrenaline and his silence. "I still owe you from the time I got kidnapped too!"

"I just did what anyone else would've done in my position!"

"But you endangered yourself going in there yourself to save me! You didn't have to go that far and get injured yourself!" I clutched at his chest, sobbing gently.

"Yuki..."

"Kyrius, you're more important to me than you think. Not just as a friend or a classmate or a class president..." I whispered.

"Then... as what?" he was positively clueless.

Then my adrenaline wore off and I started thinking a little more clearly... enough to realize exactly what I was telling him... My face started steaming, and I was pretty sure that if... if he could see my real face... it'd be the same colour as my Duel Avatar... What the heck had I been thinking, almost confessing to him like that in this situation!? Why did I react that way? Why did I have to run my mouth off like that!?

"Umm... as a... as a..." I poked my index fingers together shyly.

A series of explosions ripped out nearby, drawing our attention in an instant. I inwardly sighed in relief at dodging the bullet, but I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed for some reason... Why did he never take the initiative!? Someday he was going to kill me with the tension he kept unknowingly creating!

"We should probably go help..." Shadow Phantom said. "I don't think he'll chase us this far away so he's likely to go jump into the battle by himself."

"Well... the thing is..." I sighed wistfully as I showed him my gun... or rather what was left of it. Since Chrome Disaster had broken it, I wouldn't be able to use it for a while. The gun has broken in half, losing most of the barrel. I could still use a few of the functions but otherwise my main advantage was gone - most of my points had gone into it after all. Without it I was down to a quarter of my full strength at most.

Plus, I had already checked it over for damage - normally it would've simply vanished instead of appearing in a broken state. It looked like Chrome Disaster was capable of permanently damaging equipment - not a surprising ability for him to have. It would be troublesome to fix... I'd either have to go to the shop and buy a new one or look for Iron Forge... I did prefer the latter though - he'd be able to fix it and add some upgrades. I wanted a basic form for it that was more suitable for close combat after all. A huge gatling gun was a little too unwieldy.

"I won't be of much use with my weapon damaged like this..." I shook my head.

"Then... I'll stay with you in case any stray fighters try to take advantage of you," Shadow Phantom nodded.

"I'll be fine! Just go and help the others, I'll just lose a few Burst Points if I do die. Taking out Chrome Disaster is a lot more important than my Burst Points," I pointed at the column of smoke rising not too far away.

"Eh, I think I might be too late anyway," he shrugged as we saw Chrome Disaster taking off with Silver Crow flying after him in hot pursuit. "I'll never catch up to him at this rate - he did get my leg."

I hung my head in defeat - I had totally forgotten about his leg injury. Neither of us were in any condition to pursue now, with my gun broken and his leg almost amputated. We just nodded to each other and continued moving towards the silver speck in the sky that was Silver Crow.

"Nice to see you made it," Scarlet Rain inclined her head slightly towards us as we approached her.

"Not quite in one piece though..." Shadow Phantom indicated his injured leg, eyeing her own stump of an arm. "What happened over there?"

"We got ambushed by Yellow Radio and the Yellow Legion, and then Chrome Disaster got to us," she said flatly. "Hate to say this, but I owe Silver Crow one for saving my ass."

I chuckled lightly - that was so like her not to like owing other people.

"Anyway, we still need to... finish off Cherry," she sighed.

"There really is no other way, is there?" I slumped.

"There isn't. I have to put him out of his misery now," the Red Queen cocked her gun determinedly.

"I... I understand," I slumped even further, but straightened myself to say, "I'll trust in your decision and know it was the best way to go, Niko."

"Heh, you have that guy to thank for it," she snorted. "Let's go."

'That guy'? Sounded like she really owed the guy a lot more than she was letting on. I wondered what kind of person Silver Crow was like, to elicit such a reaction from her...

We didn't walk much further before we reached a fresh, large crater at the base of a large skyscraper. Silver Crow was standing beside it still wreathed in the dust kicked up from whatever attack he had used to flatten Chrome Disaster. I suppressed a gasp as I caught sight of a charred avatar in the very centre of the crater... or what was left of it at any rate. Scarlett Rain said nothing, just continuing onwards into the crater, stopping by him only for a moment to thank him.

Her steps echoed forebodingly as she continued to walk towards the crippled Duel Avatar of Cherry Rook. When she was close enough, she stopped and bent down excruciatingly slowly and gently lifted him up using the stub of her left arm, arming her gun with her right hand. The rest of us watched in silence as she put the gun to her former mentor's chest. A second or two of hesitation, and then a shot rang out clearly through the air.

Cherry Rook's body dissolved into streams of bright data that twisted and rose into the air.

"Cherry and I don't know our guardians, in the real world that is. Our real parents. My school is an education center for abandoned children. Because of my personality, I had trouble fitting in at school. I was always playing VR games alone," Scarlet Rain recounted as we approached her slowly. "But three years ago, a boy who was two years older than me suddenly approached me. His face was bright red, and he was laughably intense. He asked me if I wanted to play a more enjoyable game."

She paused for a moment to let her nerves settle down before continuing, "When I became a Burst Linker, he was really intent on teaching me everything he knew. He shielded and protected me. But… I soon caught up to him and then I surpassed him. Before I knew it, I was level 9. And after I became a Legion master, I became obsessive. I didn't think at all about how he felt or what problems he was struggling with."

After that, she started trembling wildly. I could tell she was struggling not to let her tears out.

"In real life, when we'd meet at school, I didn't even realize that he was acting strangely. He wanted to be my guardian forever! That's why he sought more power and was tempted by the Armour of Catastrophe! If only I'd said more to him…" she broke down.

I shared a look with Shadow Phantom before nodding and walking forward slowly to kneel beside Scarlet Rain. Much to my surprise, Silver Crow also walked up and gently laid a hand on her shoulder, stopping her sobs as she looked up and turned to look at us.

"Niko, it's true Brain Burst isn't a normal game. I'm always scared that I'm not strong enough… And I'm frightened she'll abandon me someday. But…" he inclined his head slightly, sounding grateful as he continued, "I know her real face, name and voice. Whatever happens, I know that bond will never disappear. You should start over in the real world and become friends again."

Scarlet Rain lifted her head slightly.

"In Accel World, we're in different legions, but we became friends in the real world."

"Friends!?" Scarlet Rain waved her stub of a left arm wildly, forcing Silver Crow to let go. "You're a hundred years too early for that! At best, you might make a good subordinate for me!"

"You said that exact same thing to me when I first joined," I pointed out. "Still became friends later on."

"Well…"

"Whose subordinate is he?" a familiar voice rang out.

I turned around to look at the source – Black Lotus and Cyan Pile were standing on the edge of the crater beside Shadow Phantom.

"Senpai! Taku!" Silver Crow shouted. "I see! An hour passed so you've fully recovered! You were really crazy back there…"

"You're one to talk, Haru," Cyan Pile fired right back jokingly.

"Well then, don't you have something to say to me, Scarlet Rain?" Black Lotus hovered over to the leader of the Red Legion.

Silence reigned for several moments as they stared each other down.

"Sorry," Scarlet Rain looked away.

"That's all!?"

"Well you were lying around sleeping while we were in the middle of a fight!"

The argument was interrupted as a sudden shift in the battlefield captured our attention. The sky had changed and become brighter while there were clouds rolling across the sky rapidly. The change picked up in speed when a large kaleidoscopic wall of energy appeared, rolling across the Unlimited Field. When it passed us, the field completely changed. Everything was converted into data for fractions of a second before it shifted, transforming metal into wood, earth and nature in general.

Where there had been tall, dark buildings now stood tall, majestic natural formations of rocks and trees. I watched in awe as the field lost the gloomy, dark mood of the Dark City field, changing into the lush, verdant green and earthy Forest field. The chirping of birds filled the air, several flocks of birds climbing into the air realistically in the distance. Words simply couldn't express the sheer beauty of the scene I was looking over…

"No matter how many times I see this, it never gets any less amazing," Shadow Phantom shook his head in wonder.

"I couldn't agree more," I nodded.

"Transition time. Here in the neutral field, the elements are very unstable. They change at fixed intervals," Black Lotus said, explaining for the benefit of Silver Crow. "Anyway, enough standing around watching in awe. We still have work to do."

"Right," Scarlet Rain turned towards Black Lotus.

"Everyone open up your status screens and check your item storage," my Legion master ordered. "If the Armour of Catastrophe is in there, make sure you get rid of it."

I did as ordered, coming across nothing in my inventory except for the remains of my gun.

"Nothing here," I sighed, knowing I'd still have to go see Iron Forge to get it fixed.

"It's not here. It's gone for good," Silver Crow said.

"Yeah," Scarlet Rain agreed.

"Right," Cyan Pile added.

"It's all over," Shadow Phantom nodded.

"Then that completes our mission. Come, let's celebrate!" Black Lotus hovered off, with an ecstatic Scarlet Rain following behind calling for champagne.

"I wouldn't mind champagne, but you're definitely underage…" I felt a cold bead of sweat roll down my Duel Avatar's brow.

"Indeed. Children should drink juice!" Black Lotus chirped.

I turned and took one last look at the beauty of the Forest field, wishing I could take a screenshot of it. Shadow Phantom walked up beside me and laid a hand on my shoulder to get my attention. I just nodded, turned back and followed the others towards the nearest Leave Point.

A/N: I kinda feel like I tend to get stuck on the moments where I write about the events of the anime. Next couple chapters will be a new, completely original arc though. This fanfic is arranged in several arcs for those who haven't noticed.

Chapters 1-6: OC Introduction Arc (if you can call it an arc)

Chapters 7-12: Chrome Disaster Arc (first half of the anime)

Chapters 13 - ?: Haven't-decided-what-to-call-it-yet Arc

The other OC Duel Avatars will be getting more exposure in the upcoming chapters. I can tell you one thing though - the main pair will be getting some upgrades soon. Exactly what kind of upgrades... I'm not going to spoiler that. XD