[PP-F1] It's just the Beginning[Klein]

[BlackBell 0]

Today started like any other day.

Waking up, getting breakfast, basically the usually morning since getting stuck in this game.

Only today, going outside after breakfast, Hikari was surprised to find that the air was strangely still. Normally a slight wind blew though the Beginning City at all times; keeping a cool, refreshing feeling in the air. Right at this moment though there wasn't even a slight breeze. Then without any warning that changed.

A strong gust, more like a gale, blew threw the streets of the city. Hikari was forced to shield her face as the dust and dirt was harvested off the streets and thrown at players mercilessly. Abruptly, the wind died back down to a gentle breeze, and proceeded like it was a normal day.

Off in the distance though, dark-gray ominous clouds started to make there way to the Starting City.

[Kirito 0]

Klein was traveling through the starter city to gather provisions for himself and Cindel. It was for another dungeon dive for the duo so they could be stronger and more experienced than those who just sat by doing nothing. Left hand raised to shield his eyes a bit as the gale force wind took him by surprise. A blink was given as it died down in the next moment " The hell was that?"

His hand dropped to his side as he gazed at the distance at the foreboding clouds. Was it going to rain? Had it ever rained ? He never paid much mind to the whole thing and shrugged slightly. This area was protected so really no harm could be done." You okay?" He asked as he spotted the player standing there.

[BlackBell 0]

"You okay?"

Blinking, and habitually rubbing her emerald green orbs, Hikari automatically assumed that the male player was speaking to someone else. Probably one of him friends or even a partner. Only, upon taking a quick glimpse around, she was surprised to find that no one else was in the immediate area.

Which meant one thing; he had indeed talking to her.

"Yeah, are you?" Hikari questioned flatly while taking a glance beside her. It was an older male player with short, spiky blaze red hair and a banana on. His eyes were what appeared to be amber. And he was on the taller side. In all honesty she had not meant to ask the player if he was okay. Really it was a ridiculous question. They were in a safe zone, so the answer should to be obvious. At least one would think that the answer was obvious.

[Kirito 0]

"Good and good. " It was natural instincts to ask if anyone was okay. Well, his instincts anyway. He flashed a polite smile as he walked on with his items but was bothered by those clouds. It didn't settle right with him. His good nature allowed him to be seen as an over caring person which he obviously didn't mind. Gaze fell back to her as he spoke. " What's up?"He asked while juggling his items.

[BlackBell 0]

((OCC: Just wanted to let you know that I am changing her name to Hikaru.))

For just a second Hikaru was distracted by the juggling objects in the man's arms. Watching them go round and round she could feel herself start to daze out and focus on the moving objects. It was his question that brought her back to the reality of Sword Art Online.

"That cloud," Hikaru stated flatly while turning a pricing gaze toward the massive marshmallow, "do you know what that-"

Before even getting to finished the sentence her message box made a small 'ping', letting her know that mail had just been received. She wasn't the only one either. People all over the square appeared just a confused as they too received some type of message as well. Narrowing her eyes suspicion Hikaru opened the message to find it titled, "The Omen of the Gods."

[Kirito 0]

When the message popped up, he placed all of his items down and noticed she had received one too. In fact, he noticed everyone had gotten a message at the same time. Gaze was given to her and then back down as he opened the message to see the title. " Cause that's not creepy or anything.He muttered.

Gaze returned to the girl and he just watched her puzzled expression. It seemed she had read it too or the title anyway. He spoke a bit to her." What do you think about it? The message that is. I got the same one."

[BlackBell 0]

"Not sure, but we're going to find out."

Taking a breath in though her noise and out though her mouth she pressed her finger against the screen indicating for the system to open the message. In mere second words filled her display, reading;

"Greetings Players! We would like to introduce you to the Event "The Omen of the Gods." In exactly two minutes SAO will endure it's first thunderstorm! During this storm there will be be a special monster somewhere on floor one. The players who find this monster will retrieve special items! That right, I said players! In order to contend in the Event you must pair with a player nearby, after all once the Thunderstorm starts you can no longer join in the Event.

You now have one minute."

"It's an event to get special items. We now have one minute in order to join. Party with me?" Hikaru question, while turning to face him. She knew this was last minute; and normally she would never do something like this, but if the items that were won in this event could even help, then it was worth trying.

[Kirito 0]

That was certainly unique as he grinned. He placed all of his items in inventory and drew his new sword out. He gazed at her and tilted his head."Why not? Sounds like a good time.He swiped open his menu and pressed party with her name within the message.

Upon waiting , he gazed at the distant clouds and stretched a bit. He wanted to know what prize they could win if they happened by chance to kill whatever may come." What do you think the prize is? "

[BlackBell 0]

When the party screen popped up in front of her there was no hesitation in tapping the accept button. As soon as Hikaru did a gigantic rumbling sounded in the distance. That rumbling was soon followed by the white, hot flash of lightening splitting the clouds. Rain, the size of small bullets, started to fall from the sky in torrents. The wind was whipping across the plains creating a strange hallow wail. It was almost like the storm had sped up. What was once a distance away was almost right on top of them.

"I don't know, but it better be good." Hikaru stated flatly turning a piercing gaze toward the grasslands.

Because I really hate thunderstorms.

Focusing back on her partner, whose name looked to be Klein, Hikaru noticed that he had drawn his sword. Following his example she too pulled out her left handed sword and kept it at her side. Remembering the message, which said that once the storm started that no one else could join, she also assumed that it meant the start of the event.

"You ready Klein?"

[Kirito 0]

Was he ready? Yes. A simple nod was given to respond to the girls question. Light amber eyes stared into the distance as he pondered what could possibly be the monster that comes forth. Could the duo handle it? He placed the blunt side of his blade against his shoulder and started walking. " It may be a safe zone but I don't wanna try and see if I could die here. So let's do this."

A grin of excitement was seen as this was a unique quest

And he wanted to be the first one to go at it and win. He looked from person to person he encountered. He wanted to gauged their chances at killing the thing whatever it may be.

[BlackBell 0]

Keeping her sword at her side Hikaru followed Klein though the streets of the city. Observing her surrounding carefully the young girl began to think about the best course of action during this event. There was no telling how many people were participating. After all, not everyone standing on the street was paired up with someone. And then there was also the people who were paired up but not in the event. The probabilities were endless.

But the best place to start would probably be where the storm was hovering over, which was a majority of land outside of the city walls.

"Hey Klein," Hikaru stated while speeding up in order to keep up with his longer strides, "Why don't we head for the grassland and forest area? That's where it appears that the storm is heaviest."

Even as she spoke other duos where heading out of the gates and into the open areas of the game; getting soaked in the process.

[Kirito 0]

He glanced at the players around him and then back at her." Sounds good. I think we should try and beat em to the end." Klein was becoming wetter by the second by the heavy rain. His amber eyes tried hard to see into the distance but the rain effected even the tool to help their vision. He pondered what monster could be out there..A water element? A land fish? Whatever it was, he wanted to kill it and get the grand prize.

" Any thoughts on which direction ? Or what may be lurking?" He asked her. He wanted her opinion to see her thoughts and to gauge how a girl this young would do.

[BlackBell 0]

What had started out as droplet had now turned into tiny water bombs.

With every second that passed these tiny water bombs relentlessly bombarded the players that had decided to venture out in into the grasslands. And of course that included Klein and herself. Hikaru's hair was sticking to her face and her clothes began to uncomfortably cling to her skin. Above lightening flashed and thunder rang.

"Well," Hikaru stared while pausing for a second to think, and trying to concentrate on the noise coming from above, "With rain like this our eyesight is severely inhibited. Therefore, wouldn't that make the best place for a monster to hide to be where the storm is the heaviest? Which to me appears to be over the forest. And as for what monster...the possibilities are endless. A storm is a mixture of several elements together, so who knows which one they chose. Any options?"

[Kirito 0]

He took notice of this girls deduction and her intelligence. He nodded as he headed in the direction of the forest. Most of the players were heading to the grasslands but he stared at the distance at the forest. Water seemed to be hindering his vision but her theory remained logical. " Let's do it. We will follow your lead and we will get this party started. "

He took point with his blade still clutched in his hand. The water completely drenched his form from top to bottom. This was bad as he huffed a bit looking. He was looking for anything out of the ordinary, anything obscure that would trigger an event.

[BlackBell 0]

Hikaru was completely fine with letting the older male take the lead. As she proceeded to follow him toward the forest region the young girl found no reason to keep her blade out and with seemingly little effort she slid it back in the sheath until it was needed. Although, she did keep a hand on the hilt just in case a quick draw was forced to be made. One could never be too careful with events.

In all honesty though, Hikaru had never been in an event like this before. Being a city shut-in for the first week or so really inhibits one ability to join these kinds of things. So, she had not idea what she was doing.

Of course, she would never tell Klein that.

Instead she decided that the best course of action would be to follow him. He was obviously more experienced at this than her and right now what he was going was searching for something. Wiping the water that was continuously getting in her eyes away, she too then began search. Then, the biggest lightening bolt that storm had just to produce struck in the forest, causing Hikaru to momentarily freeze.

That was where they should go.

[Kirito 0]

Head perked in the direction of the strike of the lightning bolt. Footsteps quickened and blade lowered to the ground almost scraping the ground. He turned his head and laughed." Always follow a sign when you see one !" He grinned looking ahead at the area for the lightning strike. With the sheer amount of water that was following, it would of been easy for the flames to be quenched.

He started dashing out through the rain. Water droplets started flying off his face as he tried to squint to see. The sheets of water falling made it damn near impossible for him to proceed so he started to worry about the young girl.

" You okay back there?" He shouted and turned to gaze at her. His sprint started to slow to a light jog to allow the girl to keep up. They had about a few more minutes before they would arrive at the scene.

[BlackBell 0]

The lightening bolt that they had just witnessed was obviously a clue.

And Klein knew it too.

Suddenly, he was sprinting off into the murky darkness of the storms wake. Hikaru, not wanting to loose him, started to scurry after the male in a attempted to keep up. Unfortunately, her tiny strides were nothing compared to his longer ones and he was a shadow in the storm within seconds.

Feeling tension start to gather in her shoulders Hikaru forced herself to speed up more. Logically, if she continued to go forward then she should of run in to him. Should of being the keyword. Several feet away Hikaru finally stopped and turned in a full circle. There was only darkness. Panic started to well up in her chest causing her breathing to get shorter and her brain to fritz.

I need to calm down.

This saying kept repeating itself over and over in her head, until the panic started to get held at bay and her breath returned. Now that she could think straight the girl remembered that you could locate party members on your map. Pulling that up she started toward the red dot that glowed just a few feet diagonal from her as the rain continued to pelt down.

[Kirito 0]

The intense sound of water masked any sound around him. Eyes focused in on the surroundings as best as he could before he would sigh. The sight of smoke was being masked by the water and vision was completely poor. His head turned a bit to look for Hikaru. The fact was she was missing. Red cursor blinked at her direction and he was sure she was still alive.

He waited patiently for the young girl to catch up. He did however notice that the scent wasn't too far off from them. That was always good to know as he spoke. " You okay short stuff ?" He shouted hoping she could hear him.

[BlackBell 0]

Much to the young girl's relief Klein's voice suddenly carried though the darkness of the storm.

"Just dandy!" Hikaru hollered back, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

There many have been something else the girl forgot to mention, and that was the fact that she had a bad case of Astraphobia. Better known as a fear of thunderstorms. Nearly every time a thunderstorm hit her small the best way that Hikaru could handle it was by bundling up under her covers and covering her head with a pillow. It was the only thing that worked.

Unless there was someone else around.

Like in this instance, Klein was with her and for some unexplained reason having someone with her help the girl be more functional during a thunderstorm event than being by herself. Much to her relief, the shadowy figure of her partner showed ahead, allowing her to call up a burst of speed in desperation to reach him. So much so that she nearly toppled right into him.

"Don't-do," Hikaru started, slightly out of breath,"that again. Promise me."

[Kirito 0]

He caught the girl that ran into him. He looked down and spoke." Sorry. And I promise." He miscalculated the circumstances. He was a lot faster than her and older so that did play some sort of advantage. Here they both were wet and in range of it.

It being the colossus that stood before them. A horned beast outlined by the rain. A blink was given as he focused on the beast while his arms were wrapped around the girl. This was going to be a difficult fight. Lighting streaked the sky lighting up the small opening and he saw it. The beast was huge! " Let's do this..."

He let go of her and smiled. " I'll be by your side here on out." He winked and dashed away. Blade rose and he was off. He held his blade tight and a brilliant red glow lit up his sword. He stopped short of the beast and swung hard. Blade connected with the lower chest of the beast and sent it flying backwards after the cut was sent into it. He poured as much power into that strike as he could.

BD 10 SUPER CRITICAL DMG

4+2=6

Life drain activated

Klein 17 / 17

Hikaru 13/13

Lighting beast 14/20