CHAPTER 1

A/N: Okay, so this will be my first attempt at writing a multi-chapter story! The time frame of this will take place after Phantom Bullet but before Caliber (If you don't know what that is; go read the light novels or something that'll help you understand) so that's like a two week time frame. I will incorporate A LOT of characters so be warned, but they will all be of the series. No OC. This was made possible by Knowledgeseeker66's advice so go read his stories! Also this is dedicated to Bashabuttonstorys for awesomeness as a person, and for all the stories written, so go read those as well! Without further ado, chapter one!

Disclaimer: This sad author unfortunately doesn't own Sword Art Online.

"Duck!" Kirito screamed at the Undine healer with long flowing blue hair. The girl with lightning fast speed with a rapier in hand did just as he said, barely managing to dodge the monster's katana. She jumped back to stand next to Kirito, looking at him with eyes the color of two clear pools of water.

"Thanks Kirito-kun, now let's beat this monster!" Asuna said with an energetic attitude. He nodded and fixed his grip on the black sword in his hand, recently forged by the leprechaun blacksmith Lisbeth, and charged at the monster.

Earlier, he had received the sword from the blacksmith as a gift, claiming that since he no longer had the sword Dark Repulser, he needed one that would be better than the current great sword he had. Asuna had offered to help him get used to the sword and he had agreed, unknowing of the way she thought she would help him get used to the sword.

"Switch." Asuna said to Kirito as he finished slashing a fourth of the monster's HP, sending it to late green. Kirito moved back and saw his in-game wife fighting in a way that showed exactly why she was given the name, Berserker Healer. The way her rapier moved with rapid movement and accuracy made him watch in awe, just as he did in old Aincrad, in the boss fight of the first floor and the ones after.

The monster they were fighting was almost indescribable. The form its body was contorted with battle scars and mixed with too many animals that it was hard to see what it mainly was. At most, you could tell it was humanoid for the fact it had arms and legs, and able to hold a katana. The head was that of a bird, with arms covered with reddish-black fur with some scales sticking out. On its back was for large spider legs sticking out, and its legs were covered in a sort of metal chain-link mesh that made it impossible to attack its legs. Its name was Samurai Beast, standing at three meters tall with a width of one meter.

'Why Asuna wanted to help me here, I'll never know...' Kirito thought as he was about to call a switch.

Originally, Asuna was planning on just sparring with him until she got an idea. She remembered that Kirito always got used to something fast when in a sudden situation, whether in SAO or ALO, so she brought him to the Imp territory of Alfheim. They were currently in a cave of the zone, and since many of the monsters in this area are somewhat unknown, Asuna thought it best to take Kirito here so that he could get used to the new weapon forged by Liz faster.

'I hope Kirito-kun understands why I brought him here' she thought as she gave a combo of stabs and slashes at the monsters bare chest.

"Asuna, switch!" She heard from behind and prepared to retreat, until something unexpected happened. She tried to dodge, but failed as an arrow hit her right shoulder, making the wound leak virtual blood while flinging her to one of the cave walls.

"Asuna!" screamed a concerned Kirito as he ran to her, completely ignoring the monster and dropping his sword. He crouched down as soon as he was near her, and saw her HP in the yellow zone and dropping slowly. He pulled the arrow out of her shoulder, making Asuna wince slightly. She sat up and looked and the situation in the way that resembled the way when she was the sub-leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath, a pure strategic gaze.

'Doomed' was Asuna's first thought as she saw the monster a few feet away and Kirito without a sword. To top it all off, the monster had minions coming out from the shadows of the cave. Smaller versions of the monster came out with crossbows at hand instead of the katanas.

Standing up, with the help of Kirito, she gripped more firmly the rapier in her right hand. Kirito, seeing what his partner was planning immediately, held her back by her shoulders, making a confused look to appear on her face. He shook his head and gave her a smile, to which she understood completely. She sheathed her rapier and took some steps back and let Kirito fight all the monsters, despite her better judgment.

The Spriggan quickly dashed to where his sword was, grabbing the hilt of it, and ran to the main monster, Samurai Beast. Every fiber of Asuna wanted to help Kirito but she knew that he had something planned, but she didn't know if it was good or bad considering the reckless way he fought.

'I'm going to pray that this works.' Kirito thought as he charged the monster. Raising the sword high as he ran, he suddenly dug the sword into the ground and flung himself over the beast, sword still in hand.

'This idiot!' Asuna thought as she saw yet another one of her in-game husband's foolhardy, thoughtless, and irresponsible actions. She had thought that he would take the monster head on and somehow he managed to do something that, yet again, managed to shock her, even though they have been together for quite some time. 'I guess this aspect of him will always stay the same when it comes to Kirito-kun.' she thought as she watched him with a hopeless smile on her face.

Kirito had managed to fling himself over the monster and was now standing on its back waiting for the moment to come. The smaller monsters were beginning to take aim at him. Kirito narrowed his eyes, hidden behind his long hair, and began to look for the correct timing. Asuna held her breath, unknowing of what he plans to do. The moment finally came for Kirito to implement his plan.

Kirito jumped in the air again, just enough so that he didn't hit the roof of the cave, and landed on the head of the demon, sword first. Just as this happened, all the crossbows went off hitting the beast in the back. Asuna's eyes grew large when she saw what Kirito was trying to do.

'Weaken the monster with the weapons of its own minions... Kirito-kun I'm going to hug you then punch you for doing something so stupid.' she thought as Kirito was sliding down the monster with his blade in the beast's body. The damage Asuna had dealt to it managed to slice another fourth of its HP, and the damage sustained by the arrows sent the rest of its health to late yellow, with it in the verge of being in the red zone. The damage that Kirito was dealing now was astounding, now the HP of the Samurai Beast was in early red and dropping. The monster would have exploded into polygons had one thing not happened.

'Damn it!' Kirito thought as he was thrown into the cave wall on the opposite side of Asuna. 'Why did I forget about the spider legs?' he thought as he checked his own health and saw it in early yellow. Asuna saw this and immediately wanted to go to him, but just as she moved, an arrow hit her again, this time in her stomach, making her fall to her knees and bowing her head down.

A/N: CLIFFHANGER! How did you like the first chapter? Sorry about the cliffhanger but I was reading House of Hades when writing this and I got inspired by Uncle Rick to do a cliffhanger. If I get more than 4 positive reviews then I'll post the next chapter next week. Sorry about any grammatical errors or OOC-ness in the chapter. Review if you liked it or review if you didn't, I could use the feedback!