Gundam 00, Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンライン 1. History Repeats

_**AN: At last it's here! My newest story idea now has it's first chapter up, and I sincerely hope that it will have you all on the edge of your seats. So without further ado, let's get things started! Gundam fight all set, ready...GO!...Nah just kidding. I just really wanted to say that at least once, but in all seriousness now.**_

_**I do not own anything from either the Gundam or Sword Art Online franchises or any other franchise mentioned.**_

* * *

**Chapter 1: History Repeats**

In the world of VRMMORPG players, there is one incident of the game genre that stands out among all the others: the Death Game Incident, Sword Art Online. In the year of 2022, the game of SAO was the first of its kind to be released and held everything that a serious VR gamer could ask for in such a game, except for the log out feature. Upon the realization that they were now trapped inside of SAO unless they could clear all one hundred floors of the iron castle, Aincrad, and that if they died in the game they would die in real life, the elation that the ten thousand players once held at the chance to play this revolutionary game quickly turned to horror. For a time it seemed all hope was lost to the thousands of players, and that hope continued to diminish as the death toll began to reach such high numbers. However, the night is always darkest just before the dawn, and with that dawn came the rise of the hero who would save everyone in SAO.

That hero was known as Kazuto Kirigaya, better known as Kirito, the Black Swordsman. Being one of the beta testers and the first to receive the title of Beater, Kirito started out as a solo player and did his best to avoid making a connection with others, but over time, the young gamer quickly began to develop strong bonds with many people in SAO, and those friendships were a major part of his final victory against Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of SAO, himself, leading to the liberation of the remaining SAO players who were still alive. Even after SAO was cleared though, Kirito's work was never done, as he went on to solve multiple mysteries involved in VRMMORPGs and stopped multiple criminals that tried to take advantage of them. Sometime after one such final adventure though, Kazuto had decided to hang up his swords and move on to live out the rest of his life happily with his girlfriend and later wife, Asuna Yuuki, a fellow SAO victim.

The retirement of Kirito seemed to be a sign that VRMMORPGs would never again face the dangers that they once had, but as much as people may want it to, no history ever remains buried, and sooner or later something always happens that reawakens that long forgotten nightmare that one just wants to forget. This was a fact that would quickly be proven true once more much to everyone's horror.

* * *

It was just an ordinary morning in Kawagoe, Japan, but for one dark haired young man, it was anything but a normal day. The reason for this was currently being talked about on the currently airing news report. _"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm standing outside one of the many locations that are distributing the newest craze of VR gaming, __Gundam War Online__, and I must say, I have not seen folks this excited for a VR game since before the big reveal of the truth of SAO,"_ the reporter on the television stated excitedly. _"It's been years since a game has been developed without the use of the mysterious World Seed, but now at last, there is an official game being released for the genre of VRMMORPG, and it's all thanks to the mysterious head of Innovation Electronics, and the one thing that's really got a lot of gamers hooked, is the fact that it allows players to take control of their very own Gundam! Using the new NerveReader headgear, the players need only scan in an image of a Gundam plastic model, or Gunpla, that they themselves built, or select a preset model that is recorded in the game's memory, and they instantly become the pilot of that very Gundam!"_

The report continued to play on while the young man inside just sat in his chair reading about Innovation Electronics as he waited for the game's official launch time. As he continued to flip through the pages of the magazine, a voice called out, "Hey I'm heading out to my meeting with the politics club, and I'll be heading for my kendo club afterwards so don't wait up for me okay?"

The boy did not answer right away as he heard the front door open and close before he could even actually give an answer and then just glanced at the clock, which read five til noon. Seeing that it was almost time for the official launch, the young man quickly grabbed his NerveReader and inserted his copy of the game into the disc reader before laying back on his bed and watching the clock as it counted down to the big moment. As soon as the clock read twelve noon, the boy let out a small smile as he declared the ever famous command of all VR games, "Link start!"

A moment of flashes later, and after selecting his preferred language and saying that he wanted to use his character formatting from the beta test, the young man had landed in a small city that was reminiscent of the town in which Amuro Ray lived in before he first boarded the original Gundam. After glancing at his appearance in a nearby window, the young man saw the face of his in-game avatar, which was very similar to his own appearance except with hair that was nearly shoulder length in the back, and upon seeing that everything was as he thought it should be, the young man smirked and declared, "Hello Heliopolis Station. Setsuna F. Seiei is back!"

After taking another moment to take in the sight of the town, Setsuna took off running towards a field where he knew he would be able to score a good amount of money and decent item drops. Being a beta tester did have its advantages so who was he to not try and take advantage of some of them. Just when he was about midway to the gate out of the city, someone called out to him, "Hey excuse me!"

Setsuna turned to see a young man who seemed to go with the default look for his appearance, at least in terms of the face, dressed in a blue and white outfit come running over to him before stopping to catch his breath. Setsuna just stood where he was quietly, staring at the man until finally the mystery man asked, "Were you one of the beta testers? I only ask because you seem like you know what you're doing."

"Yes I am," Setsuna replied shortly.

"That's amazing! Anyways, I was hoping you could give me a few pointers. It's my first day and I don't want to have to figure out the stuff the tutorial doesn't teach myself if I can help it so…," the guy then requested.

Setsuna was not entirely sure if he should say yes or not. To be honest, most people did not come to him for anything, but that was mostly his fault. In real life, Setsuna was not the most social person you would meet, and the presence he gave off to others normally made people feel like he would snap a person's neck if they tried to say the wrong thing to him, so he was not entirely comfortable around other people, but then again, this guy did not know him IRL so there should not be a problem. As he was thinking all this, the young man was getting worried that he might have freaked Setsuna out a bit and quickly stated, "I promise I won't get in your way or anything, I just need a few pointers on some things."

Setsuna finally relented and said, "Alright I'll try to help you out…um…"

"Oh sorry, my name's Kira. Kira Yamato," the now identified Kira stated as he held out a hand to Setsuna.

"Setsuna F. Seiei," Setsuna replied with a small smile as he accepted the handshake. "So where do you want to start Kira Yamato?"

"Well for starters, I was having a little trouble with something I was hoping you could help me out with," Kira stated. "You see, the tutorial booklet of the game said that you can call out your Gunpla…I mean Gundam at any time you wanted with a simple cry like, 'Rise Gundam' or whatever, but when I tried it earlier to see if my Gunpla was scanned right, nothing happened."

"That's actually normal," Setsuna explained. "When you're in a safe zone like the towns, you can't call out your Gundam or mobile suit. You can fly it into the town from the field, but once in the town, it'll automatically be disengaged. If you want to make modifications or view the stats on your machine in the town there's a special section on your menu that says, 'View MS' which will let you do all that."

Kira nodded in understanding before saying, "So all mobile suits are basically off limits in towns huh? I guess that makes sense." Kira then swiped his middle and index finger in a downward motion in front of him as he called up his menu and saw the option Setsuna was telling him about. Once he tapped it, the menu instantly generated a holographic three dimensional image of a machine that looked a lot like the original Gundam except for the fact that it had an extra pair of horns on the helmet, it seemed to be a bit bulkier, and the backpack was much more complex looking. "Yep, look like it's all here, just the way I wanted it to be."

"You should know that the weapons you programmed onto it are still at the same settings as a basic default weapon as well, but the can be upgraded using item drops and stuff in weapon shops or mobile suit factories in the towns," Setsuna then told Kira, to which Kira just nodded in understanding as he noticed this for himself. "Anything else would be better explained through actions in the field if you think you're ready for that."

"Bring it on," Kira dared with a smirk.

* * *

Kira quickly regretted his statement when he hit the grass in a field later on after taking a hit right to the balls because of what looked like an SD Zaku. Kira just rolled around groaning in pain before Setsuna snapped him out of it asking, "Kira Yamato, you are aware that you can't feel pain in this world aren't you?"

Kira immediately froze when he realized Setsuna was right and gained a sheepish look as he apologized, saying it was a knee-jerk reaction. "What's the deal with these human sized Zakus anyway? I thought all the enemies in a Gundam video game would be…ya know mobile suit sized."

"That's understandable. I thought the same thing myself at first when I first encountered enemies in the beta test," Setsuna replied as he pulled out a silver pistol that he had picked up from a store before they had come out here. "But if that were the case then the player themselves would be completely helpless." Kira gave Setsuna a confused look that was clearly asking him to elaborate a bit more than that, and the former beta tester quickly gave a reply. "In this game, the player and the MS have their own separate life gauges. When the MS is inactive, its life gauge automatically replenishes any damage it took, but as far as actual repairs go, like if the machine lost an arm or something, you have to do that yourself or get someone at an MS factory to do it for you. The exception to that is the weapons which automatically regenerate and reload after you deactivate the MS."

Kira nodded to show he understood so far, and Setsuna took that as a prompt to continue, "However, just like in the Gundam manga and anime, the power and abilities of the mobile suit don't matter if the pilot isn't skilled enough or strong enough to handle it. That's why there are weapon stores for pilot equipment as well as MS equipment. We can acquire basic melee and long range weapons and such so that our own stats can be raised along with our mobile suits, but if at any point the mobile suit's stats get higher than yours, it will become much more difficult to use it, and the same holds true for the reverse."

"You mean like how the original Gundam started to have trouble keeping up with Amuro's growing abilities in the original Gundam series, or how Katz had trouble handling the Gundam Mk II in Zeta Gundam," Kira asked.

"Exactly like that. That's why you need to make sure to balance your own skills with that of your machine's abilities," Setsuna replied.

"Yeah I guess that makes sense," Kira replied as the SD Zaku continued to run around near them, acting like they were not even there. "But still, I wish that thing would hold still for a moment so I could actually hit it."

"The problem you're facing is that you don't realize how to utilize your pilot skills," Setsuna said as he raised his gun. "If you do your initial motion correctly and activate the pilot skill at the right time, the system will guarantee you'll always hit your target."

As he said this, he held his gun at the SD Zaku, and the weapon began to give off a faint, blue glow before he fired a few shots, all of which hit the SD Zaku. "An easier way to look at it is simple. Right after you start a move, wait for a moment, and when you feel the skill start to activate, strike hard."

As he said that, Setsuna whipped out a short sword he was carrying on his belt to block the SD Zaku's axe to hold it back, while Kira thought over what Setsuna was saying and instantly pulled out a photon sword, the game's pilot sized version of the beam sabers. Setsuna watched as Kira started up a move and waited until his sword started to glow a bit, and then sent the enemy Kira's way. Kira did not hesitate for a second and let the skill guide him to strike the Zaku, and it instantly broke apart into particles immediately after he hit it.

Kira let out an excited cheer over his victory while Setsuna smiled until he thought of something and asked, "Hey was that thing just the equivalent of a basic slime in other games?"

"Pretty much, and the same holds true for the mobile suit sized versions of them," Setsuna replied as he pointed to a small group of full sized Zakus that were materializing. "So ready to try out your Gundam?"

Kira grinned excitedly and said, "Thought you'd never ask."

Setsuna then stated, "Remember you don't necessarily have to call out the default command to bring out your mobile suit. As long as you say the name of your machine and a word that sounds similar to activate or rise, the MS will still come."

"Any chance you can show me so I can get a better understanding of it," Kira asked.

Setsuna just nodded and he stepped away a few paces before declaring, "Exia, engage!"

A moment later, a large swirl of glowing, green particles began to light up around Setsuna, until the gamer vanished into the glow to replaced seconds later by a massive blue and white machine with a large sword mounted on its right arm. Seeing this, Kira simply nodded and copied what Setsuna had done earlier as he shouted out, "Aile Strike, let's do it!"

A minute later, Kira's mobile suit had appeared alongside Setsuna's in a bright, blue glow. Kira was amazed at how much his cockpit seemed to be like the one for the original Gundam's aside from the 360 view screen. After a minute of observing the cockpit layout and getting a feel for how the controls worked, Kira heard a beep before an image of Setsuna appeared on his screen, showing that the former beta tester was clad in a light blue pilot suit with dark grey chest armor and black gloves.

"While the controls for your MS may seem hard to handle at first, it's actually much easier once you realize that the mobile suit responds just as much to your thoughts as your own body does," Setsuna explains. "In essence, your Gundam is like a large suit of armor when it's active."

"Awesome," Kira exclaimed. "Hey you said earlier that our Gundam's have their own separate life gauges. What exactly does that mean?"

"Simply put, when you're piloting your MS, your HP won't be drained from any damage you take, but your MS's will instead. This means that if your MS's HP hits zero you won't die and be sent back to the starting point of the game or your last checkpoint marker, but the moment the HP of your MS hits zero, it will automatically disengage and there will be a small wait time until you're able to use it again," Setsuna answered.

"Okay I think I get it," Kira answered. "So let's get to the really good stuff."

Setsuna smirked and had his Exia ready its sword before replying, "Let's."

* * *

With that, the two immediately charged in to fight off the Zakus that had just previously materialized.

A few hours later, the two had defeated their opponents and stopped in a nearby area that did not have many enemy spawns to relax a bit. "Man that was amazing," Kira exclaimed excitedly.

Setsuna smirked as he said, "Addictive isn't it? Piloting a Gundam?"

"Yeah I'll say," Kira agreed. "So those pilot skills you were talking about, there are supposed to be a lot of them like engineering or blacksmithing right?"

"Yes that's right, but there's no magic in this game," Setsuna told him.

"Well that's a relief," Kira stated happily. "I mean can you imagine a Gundam video game with magic, even one that was an RPG?" Setsuna chuckled in agreement with that statement. Kira then looked out towards the setting sun as he stated, "You know when I first heard about these kinds of games, I wasn't entirely sure about them, but now that I'm actually playing one, I can't believe how amazing it is. I mean it all seems so real to just be something that's inside of a game you know? Whoever made all this alone has to be some kind of genius."

"Is this your first time in a full dive," Setsuna asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah pretty much," Kira replied. "I mean I considered it a few times after hearing some friends talk about it, but when I went to do some research about it online, I found this article on the whole SAO incident that happened a few years ago and instantly became freaked out by it. I was determined to never play a VR game, but then when I heard about this game, my sister and I both rushed out to buy the hardware and everything just so we could try it out. I still consider myself lucky to have been able to score one of the fifteen thousand copies, but you, you are definitely the luckiest one between the two of us getting the chance to beta test it."

"Well I suppose when you consider that only about five hundred people got to beta test this thing I guess you could call it that," Setsuna admitted.

"So I've gotta ask, how far did you get in the beta anyway," Kira then asked.

"I couldn't get farther than the ninth floor after two months, but now I think I get there in a month easily," Setsuna replied with a determined look. "Because this time, I will become a Gundam."

Kira gave Setsuna a weird look as he stated, "Sounds like you're really into this kind of thing."

"If it involves Gundam, then I'm always really into it," Setsuna replied. "I've been a huge fan of the Gundam series for years, mainly because in a way Gundam got me through some difficult times when I didn't have anything else. When I first dived in for the beta, this was my whole world day and night, because for the first time, I could cut out a world and a future that I wanted together with my own Gundam."

Kira nodded in understanding, but could not help but wonder what Setsuna was referring to when he said that Gundam had saved him somehow. Deciding that it was not important since it was probably just some stuff he dealt with IRL, Kira just dropped it and said, "I guess you're something like a total Gundam nut then huh?"

"Yeah I suppose you could say that, and thank you. To me that's a great compliment," Setsuna stated with a serious face that held a small smile. "So do you want to go and get some more practice in with your Aile Strike Gundam?"

"Yeah you bet…is what I would say, but I'm kinda getting a bit hungry and I don't want to make my sister mad because I kept her waiting for me at dinner," Kira replied sheepishly.

Setsuna gave an understanding nod, but had a far off look as he did. Kira then looked to Setsuna and asked, "You know I was going to meet up with my sister and some friends of ours from real life since we all got this game together, and I was wondering if you would want to friend them and hang out with us." Setsuna quickly looked away nervously, not sure how he would be able to handle himself around other people. Seeing this, Kira quickly reassured him, "I understand if you don't want to. I can always introduce you some other time."

"Yeah that would be fine. Sorry, but thanks anyway," Setsuna replied.

"I should be the one thanking you," Kira replied. "Don't worry I'll be sure to pay you back someday for all you've done to help me out."

Setsuna looked to Kira to see that the dark haired boy's hand was being held out to him again, and Setsuna gladly accepted the handshake as he told him, "If you ever need any more help, just message me."

"Sure thing," Kira replied. He then turned around and opened his menu to log out as he said goodbye one more time. Setsuna then prepared to leave as well until Kira stopped him asking, "Hey uh Setsuna? Total newb question, but where's the log out button?"

"It should be under the options area of your menu," Setsuna replied in confusion.

"Well I'm looking right at where it should be and there's nothing there," Kira told the beta tester.

Setsuna opened his own menu then and saw that Kira was correct. "This is strange," Setsuna muttered.

"Isn't there another way to log out," Kira asked.

"No, just the log out button on the menu," Setsuna answered as he tried contacting the game master, only to receive no response at all. "Did you try contacting the GM?"

"Yeah, but I didn't get an answer," Kira told him. "This is really strange. I know it's the first day out of the beta version, but a bug like this could really cause a lot of problems. Wait, can't we just take the NerveReader off to log out?"

"No, once you're logged in, the NerveReader intercepts all the commands from your brain using an interface that's built into the rig, but maybe if someone were to remove it from the real world…"

"Well I live with my sister and parents, but like I said she's in here too and our parents work pretty late so I doubt that they'll be home anytime soon," Kira then stated. "What about you?"

"I've got a sister and a mother at home, but I'm not sure if either of them are home yet either."

"So I guess we're stuck here th…hey what's this," Kira suddenly exclaimed.

Setsuna was wondering what Kira was asking about when he got a message from the game master. "Official opening ceremony to start in a few minutes. All players will be teleported to the starting town square," Setsuna read.

"Think they might explain what's going on there," Kira asked.

Setsuna was about to respond when suddenly the two were engulfed in a bright blue light and suddenly found themselves packed into the square with all the other players. They could hear everyone muttering in confusion of what was going on, among which they heard people talking with friends about the discovery they themselves had just a few moments ago. Suddenly, everyone went quiet as the sky turned dark and a figure in a long overcoat with a hood that was up appeared before them all saying, "Attention players one and all, I am Aeolia Schenberg and I welcome you…to my world!"

Setsuna could feel his blood run cold, knowing that this was the man that was the mysterious head of Innovation Electronics, and everyone seemed to have that same revelation if the mutterings of shock and awe were anything to go by. Schenberg then went on to say, "Before we go any further, I just want to be clear that I am now as in control of this world as my late former mentor was of a world of his own many years ago. With that being said, I'm sure by now that you have all noticed that the log out button is missing from your main menu. Let me assure you, this is not a bug. It is a feature of Gundam War Online. I repeat, this is a feature of Gundam War Online. You can no longer log yourselves out from GWO, and no one from the outside world can shut down or remove the NerveReader from your person. Should anyone attempt to do so, a special transimiter will send out a microwave pulse that will destroy your brain and end your life."

"He's kidding right," Kira asked nervously.

"No. He's not," Setsuna replied. "Only the creator of the NerveReader would be able to know how to do something like that, and it really is capable of doing that since the transmitters are designed to send out a stronger signal to your mind in order to improve the efficiency of the full dive from the Amusphere, and they can't cut the power since it is the first full dive device to have an internal battery since the NerveGear."

"But that's crazy! A lot of that kind design has been illegal since the SAO incident," Kira half shouted.

"Despite my warning, some have already attempted to remove the NerveReader, and as a result, one hundred ten players have now been deleted from both Heliopolis Station and the real world."

To prove his point, Schenberg brought up a number of air displays that showed news coverage that stated the deaths and the causes were all revealed to be from removing NerveReader helmets. "As of now, it is important that you all remember the following, there is no longer anyway to revive someone other than a person's MS in the game, and if at any time a player's HP drops to zero your avatar will be deleted forever, and the NerveReader will simultaneously destroy your brain. There is now only one way to escape. You must clear the game. Right now you are on Floor One, the lowest level of Heliopolis station, and if you can get through the labyrinth and defeat the boss, you will advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on floor one hundred, and you will clear the game."

Setsuna felt his blood run cold as he heard people muttering in astonishment and fear while others demanded why they should believe anything that Schenberg was saying at this point. Finally Kira pointed out, "We can't clear all one hundred floor of this game. It's impossible. Even the beta testers never made it so much as half that high!"

Schenberg was not finished yet though. "Last but not least, I've included a special item in each of your inventories. I insist that you all have a look now."

Setsuna quickly opened his item storage only to find an object that was named mirror of truth. Tapping the item, Setsuna instantly found a small mirror materializing in his hand, and a moment later, everyone began screaming in shock, including himself, as the whole square was lit up with a bright glow.

Once the glow had died down, Setsuna heard Kira ask him, "Hey are you okay Setsuna?"

"Yeah," Setsuna replied as he turned to face Kira, only to find someone who looked to be about the same age as him with dark purple eyes and brown hair dressed in the same outfit as Kira. "Wait…who're you?"

"Uh…I'm me. Who're you," the stranger asked in Kira's voice. Curious at what he meant by this, Setsuna looked at his reflection again and saw that his physical appearance had changed to that of his appearance in real life. Looking around he saw that it was the same for everyone else as they all muttered in confusion or gave out a cry of shock at the revelation of who someone really was.

Finally, after seeing all this, the two both looked to each other and asked, "That means…you're Kira/Setsuna?!"

"How is this…," Kira began.

"The scan…there's a high density signaling device inside NerveReader rigs that allows them to see what your face looks like, but that doesn't explain how it knows our height and body types," Setsuna answered.

"Wait; remember when you were calibrating it after you got the NerveReader that first time? You had to tap your body all over like by patting your arms and legs and such. That must be how it knew," Kira exclaimed. Setsuna instantly nodded in agreement with that. "Still, this is insane! Why would someone do this?"

"I think we're about to find out," Setsuna replied as he looked towards Aeolia Schenberg's announcement avatar.

"You're probably asking yourselves, 'why would the creator of Gundam War Online and the head of Innovation Electronics do this?' My reason is simple. It is because I wish to do what my mentor had the chance to do, but ultimately did not in favor of simply creating a world he could control. Who was my mentor you ask? The answer is, Akihiko Kayaba, who created Sword Art Online in an attempt to create a world who's fate he could control. While Mister Kayaba was a genius with a vision, it was ultimately rather selfish as he only sought to bring about despair and hatred, which is why my goal is this: To bring about a world where all conflict will be eradicated and so that all will understand just how precious life and understanding really is. With this, the tutorial and official launch of Gundam War Online is now concluded. I wish you all the best of luck in these goals."

Having finished his speech, Aeolia Schenberg's avatar vanished from sight and the sky returned to the state it was in before. Everyone had fallen into a deathly silence as they tried to process all that they had just heard, but Setsuna knew for a fact that everything that was just said was true. Despite the fact Schenberg had kept his identity as the head of Innovation Electronics a secret, the man was a well known genius in many fields of science, and that meant that his proclamation that if someone died in the game that they would die in real life was definitely something that should be taken seriously. After a more few seconds of continued silence, all hell broke loose.

It started with a single person screaming in fear, and it quickly escalated until every single player in GWO was screaming in fear and anger at what had happened to them. Some were so shocked that they found that they could not even keep themselves standing any longer, and none of them ever noticed that the barrier that was keeping them in the square had vanished. No one, except for one person, and he and another person were quick to disappear from the crowd only seconds later.

* * *

"Setsuna, what're you doing," Kira demanded as Setsuna continued to drag him through the deserted streets of the starting town. Setsuna had pulled him out of the town square as quickly as possible when he saw that the barrier had dropped and the two had not stopped running for what seemed like hours to Kira.

Finally Setsuna came to a halt and stated, "I'm going to the next town right now." Kira gasped in shock and confusion at this, which led Setsuna to elaborate on his reasons for this. "If what Aeolia Schenberg said was true, and I'm certain that it is, then the only way any of us will survive is if we make ourselves as strong as possible. I doubt I need to tell you that in games like this that the money you can earn and the XP has a limit for each area you go to once the game starts up."

Setsuna then brought up his map as he continued his explanation to Kira, who he did not notice getting a more serious look on his face in comparison to the panicked one from before. "The fields around this town, Cheyenne Beginnings, will be completely cleaned out soon, so if we head to the next city now, we'll have an easier time collecting points and money. I know the safest routes there and the ones that we can gain some of both from monster drops as we travel, but we would need to go now. That's why I'm asking you now if you will come with me."

Setsuna finally saw the look on Kira's face as he looked up from his map display, and thought that meant that Kira was going to accept his offer. To his surprise, Kira said, "I appreciate the thought Setsuna, but I can't come with you. Remember when I said that my sister was playing this game to? Well she and all our other friends who we got this game with after standing in line for so long are all still back there. Believe me I want to go with you, but I can't just abandon them."

Setsuna lowered his head in despair as he knew that if it were just Kira coming with him he could handle it, but if it were two more or even one more it would be difficult and he did not think he could handle the responsibility of looking out for all those people. "Sorry Setsuna," Kira then said, interrupting Setsuna's thoughts. "I can't ask someone I just met to help a bunch of strangers even he is someone like you, but don't worry I'll be sure to keep all of them safe and teach them everything you taught me. You go on ahead to the next town, and don't worry. One of my friends actually ran a guild in another game so we should be okay."

Setsuna hesitated for a moment before he finally agreed saying, "If that's what you want, but remember if you ever need anything just message me."

Kira nodded and Setsuna moved to leave when Kira stopped him once more. Setsuna looked back and as Kira smiled and said, "You look way better now than before. Seriously cooler and more badass."

Setsuna was surprised at this, as he had never heard people say that about him, and he then turned to reply, "Thank you. I'd say that your look suits you much better than your avatar's look did too."

"Thanks, and about that offer to message you if I needed anything, that goes for you too okay," Kira then told him. Setsuna just nodded and turned to run off, not wanting to look back at the fact that he had just abandoned his first real friend.

Setsuna continued to run as he thought about all that had now happened to him, and of what he now had to do. He thought of his sister and mother who were more than likely worried sick about him, about Kira who he had just left behind, and about the truth that now laid before him. He then stated this aloud as he called forth Exia to take down a Gouf that had just appeared before him saying, "It's not just a game, it's a war. A war of Gundams! I will survive this, and to do so I must…no I will be become a Gundam!"

* * *

_I am getting far too old for this,_ was the constant thought of Kikuoka Seijirou, head of the Virtual Division of the Second Separated Advanced Network Division, Technology Bureau, as he looked over the information that had just been released. "All these years and not once have we had a crisis involving VRMMOs," he thought to himself. "And now this happens. Does Aeolia Schenberg really think that bringing about a second death game will really bring an end to war? How is that even supposed to be possible when he just seems to be repeating what Akihiko Kayaba did all those years ago, and is he really Kayaba's secret apprentice?"

All these questions and more were running through his head even after he had said them. After Kazuto had hung up his swords as Kirito he was sure that it meant that the worst involving VRMMOs was finally over, but now this had to happen, and Kikuoka knew that Kirito was not coming to the rescue this time. Technically he figured that he could have found an unused copy of the game and have Kazuto dive in with that, but that was a very selfish way to think. He knew that if anyone deserved some peace after all that had happened in the past VRMMO incidents it was Kazuto Kirigaya, and besides he had already been told that there did not seem to be any unused copies of the game out there anyway.

At that point, his intercom went off indicating that someone from the front desk was trying to reach him. "Yes what is it," Kikuoka asked after he hit the answer button.

"I'm sorry Mister Seijirou, but there's someone here at the front desk who's demanding to see you," his secretary replied.

"If it's another person filing a complaint then just tell them that we're doing what we can right now," Kikuoka stated flatly.

"Sir, its Doctor Billy Katagiri from SolBrave's technology research and development division and his wife," the secretary then immediately replied. "He's insisting on speaking to you. Says that it involves their adopted daughter and that she's in GWO."

At that news, Kikuoka froze. If the daughter of one of Japan's foremost expert in robotics was trapped in their as well, then this situation had just become much more serious than it originally was. He took a moment to compose himself as he stated, "Tell them that I will see them in a few minutes. I just need a moment to straighten up my office since I wasn't expecting such company today, and once you're done with that I need you to make a call to someone immediately."

"To whom sir," the secretary asked.

Kikuoka paused only for a moment before replying. "To our division's best man for these types of cases. It seems that we may need any help he can give us with this after all."

* * *

**_AN: I know many of you consider this to be a rather short chapter, but it was mostly to highlight on how this is continuing off of the story that was established so far in the SAO anime, IE, it takes place after the Mother's Rosario arc of SAO II. I'm well aware of where Kikuoka's place in SAO established history is, but this is going off of the idea that he was who he told Kirito and the others who he said he was. _**

**_Another purpose behind this chapter was to establish a few basic rules about how some of the mechanics of GWO work, like how the players are able to use their mobile suits and such. Now for those of you who are wondering about what that was at the end there, let me just say that this will flip back and forth between what's happening in the game and what's going on IRL, and the latter of the two might give you some explanations on a few old faces minimum. Finally, if you figure out who Katagiri's adopted daughter and wife are, then please don't post it in a review. It's okay if you're guessing, but beyond that no spoilers please. Anyhow, now that this is up, I want to say that I want to post a few more chapters for this story before I return to the Gundam SEED Prime trilogy so if you're just reading this to pass the time until then I simply ask that you please try and be patient. Now then..._**

**_Next time…First Meeting and Gundam Meister._**

**_Please read and review and I'll see you next time!_**


	2. First Meeting and Gundam Meister

_**AN: Hey Chapter two's here! First off though, a few review responses. A lot of people seemed to give me grief about how the first chapter was just a modified retelling of the first episode of SAO season 1 with a few differences. My response to those people is simply this...Hello! That's why I titled the chapter "History Repeats"! Because guess what, that's pretty much what happened, History repeated! Seriously, I title each of my chapters as such for a reason! Anyhow, as for other questions that were asked after the last chapter, like how Aeolia Schenberg was able to get the kill feature into the NerveReader and other such things, well that will be explained in this chapter, and believe me I did my utmost to make it as different from SAO as I could, but I have only ever seen the anime and read some of the manga so please go easy on me a bit since I didn't read the original novels.**_

_**Anyways, this chapter basically tells some of what happened after where we left off at the end of chapter 1: History Repeats, and yes I'm going to keep reminding people of that for a bit more until you all get the message, and if you don't get it, then as my man Ironhide would say...**_

_**?: [Sound of guns arming] You feelin' lucky punks?**_

_**AN: Actually I was going to say...hey wait a minute! What are you doing here Ironhide?**_

_**Ironhide: Uh I figured I'd put in a few words since you mentioned my name.**_

_**AN: No I mean what are you doing here? You're not even in this story!**_

_**Ironhide: Oh that. Well I thought you should know there's a bit of a problem over on the set for the Gundam SEED Prime sequel...**_

_**AN: Ugh don't tell me its Stella again.**_

_**Ironhide: Uh nope.**_

_**AN: Okay then don't tell me its Lockdown.**_

_**Ironhide: Nope not him either.**_

_**AN: Don't tell me. Shinn and Cagalli again.**_

_**Ironhide: Nope. How many times are you going to guess before you let me tell you?**_

_**AN: Give me a minute.**_

_**Ironhide: You don't have a minute here! It's Starscream again, with the same excuse as before!**_

_**AN: Seriously? Alright I be there in a minute, in the meantime, tell Hound he can threaten to shove a grenade down Scream's throat if he doesn't shut it and if that doesn't work then tell Starscream he can discuss it further with Optimus and the Star Saber. Ahem, anyways, the story will then move on to cover what happens later on with our hero, Mister I am Gundam himself, so let's get this show on the road.**_

_**I do not own anything from either the Gundam or Sword Art Online franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

**Chapter II: First Meeting and Gundam Meister**

It is often said that hell hath no fury than a woman scorned, but whoever first said that clearly did not know that was nothing in comparison to a mother's scorn, a fact that Kikuoka Seijirou was currently finding out first hand. After he had sorted his office he had asked his secretary to send Doctor Katagiri and his wife up to his office and mere minutes later his door was all but destroyed when Misses Katagiri burst in, clearly pissed off to put it mildly. Shortly after that, his office was facing the fury of the dark red haired woman as it neared total destruction, all while she was going on a rant on how her little girl was now being forced into such a terrible nightmare. Say what you would about the Katagiris, but when it came to their kids they cared for them a great deal as if they were truly blood related and not adopted. Kikuoka tried to calm her down as he said, "Ma'am please. We're already doing everything we can to deal with the situation and…"

"Well then you need to start doing a damn hell more than that," Misses Katagiri interrupted as she was suddenly right in Kikuoka's face and holding him by his tie. Kikuoka was now definitely scared and threw Doctor Katagiri a pleading look begging for help.

Now if it were before the head of the Virtual Division had said anything, Billy Katagiri would have just shook his head no, because he knew far better than to get in his wife's crosshairs when she was this upset. Since he threw the look right then though, Billy was quick to his wife's side with a hand on her shoulder as he softly said, "Leesa, calm down. The nice man can't do anything if you keep threatening him like this."

At that point, Leesa released Kikuoka and her anger quickly turned to tears as she muttered, "We were so close to losing both of them to that nightmare though." At her husband's questioning glance, she elaborated saying, "I overheard the girls talking about the game when it was first announced and you know how much they both love Gundam, and they were both planning on logging in at the exact same time to play it. The only reason Christina didn't with her sister was because she was called in for some last minute thing with her internship with the Vashtis. I guess that she couldn't wait for Chris to come back and just…oh god…" At that point she found that she could no longer stay standing and fell to the floor sobbing.

Kikuoka truly felt for these two parents, partially because this was not the first time he had heard a story like this one, and allowed the two a moment to calm down a bit as he helped Katagiri guide his wife over to a nearby couch in his office. Once it seemed that Leesa was starting to calm down a bit, Kikuoka felt that it was safe to tell them what he could and informed them, "I truly am sorry about what has happened to your daughter Mister and Misses Katagiri, but I promise you we are doing everything we can to rectify the problem as quickly as possible. We've already set up a special medical facility to transport all the victims to and we've sent out information on a hotline for others to call in should they find someone they care about, or anyone in general is in this situation. I've also called in one of the best men for the job for this, and I mean the best since he's familiar with dealing with these types of crises."

Katagiri looked to Kikuoka and asked the ever impending question. "How did Aeolia Schenberg find a way to make the NerveReader capable of killing a person like the NerveGear was able to during the SAO incident?"

"The simplest reason is because neither he or his company ever released the full specifications on the NerveReader to the public," a new voice stated. Everyone turned to see a young man had come in the room through the partially destroyed door. This new individual was clearly well built, almost like a swimmer, and wore a t-shirt, pants, shoes, and a long coat that were all black. His hair and eye color were the same as the color of his clothing and he had a very serious expression that could only match that of a soldier.

"Glad you could make it old friend," Kikuoka smiled when he saw this person.

"I was already on my way over here anyway when I saw the news reports on what had happened," the black haired man stated factually. He then turned to the Katagiris as he finished what he was saying before. "Until now, the only thing the public ever received was a basic layout of the NerveReader and since there did not seem to be any reason to look further into it, no one ever did. This is also partially because people heard that its performance and capabilities were better than the previous model, the Amusphere, and really once you hear about a newer better model, most people just don't care enough about anything else. It's a basic psychology thing really. When this started up, I immediately had someone I know get a better look at the NerveReader I have at home and they found that there was a signal amplifier device inside the helmet that can increase the signal that the NerveReader sends out to the point that it matches that of the NerveGear when it would carry out such a function."

"Isn't there some way to disable it," Katagiri asked.

"I'm afraid that I haven't been able to find that out yet, but right now, any attempt to do so without dismantling the NerveReader would have a very high chance of doing more harm than good to the player." The man then paused for a moment to sigh as he told the couple, "If it's any consolation, I can assure you that I understand what you're both going through right now. My wife's story of when she went through the same thing is actually quite similar to your daughter's."

"What do you mean by that," Leesa asked.

"My wife and I are both SAO survivors," the black haired boy replied.

"Even so, we can't just leave them in there; most of those people are just kids, not soldiers," Katagiri half shouted.

"No they were kids," the black haired man then corrected. "They became soldiers the moment that thing was revealed to be a death game, and at this point, the only way any of them will survive is if they can defeat the enemy force that is that game."

Katagiri was not going to just leave it at that, and so he immediately stood up and demanded, "I want to help. If there is any way that we can get our daughter back sooner, then I want to help find it."

The black haired man nodded with a small smile as he said, "Having one of the world's leading experts in robotics lend us his expertise would be a great help. I look forward to working with you."

Katagiri smiled as he accepted the hand shake that the black haired individual offered when he finished saying what he said, before he thought of something that had not come up yet. "If you don't mind my asking, just who are you?"

Kikuoka was quick to intervene. "I hope you don't mind if I introduce you to them."

The black haired man just let out an exasperated sigh as he stated, "Go on. I know you'll just do it anyway even if I said no."

Kikuoka then smirked, confirming that the mystery man in black was right, as he announced in a grandiose tone, "Billy and Leesa Katagiri, allow me to introduce you to the hero of SAO, and many other VRMMO incidents. He's known as the first beater, the guilded hero, most commonly the black swordsman, and now the world's leading expert in mechatronics. Kazuto Kirigaya, alias Kirito."

Both Katagiris gasped in astonishment at the realization that the former hero of VRMMOs was standing right in front of them as Kazuto himself simply sighed and stated, "That was a long time ago. I've told you that Kirito's work has long since been over."

"I'm aware of that Kazuto, but still having you help us now is more than enough for all of us," Kikuoka reassured the former VR hero.

Leesa Katagiri quickly walked over to Kazuto and gave a short bow as she said, "Thank you for helping like this Mister Kirigaya."

Kazuto just smiled as he stated, "There's no need to thank me ma'am. I just don't want anyone to have to suffer through the nightmare of SAO again if I can help it."

Leesa nodded in understanding of this as Kazuto turned to a small, silver device that was on his left shoulder and called out, "Yui, are you there?"

A second later, a small hologram of a preteen girl dressed in white appeared on Kazuto's shoulder asking, "Is something the matter daddy?"

"No not really. I just need you to let Asuna know that I'll most likely be working really late tonight given what has happened, and I may call you later for more help with analyzing some things about the NerveReader or other matters. Can you do that," Kirito asked.

"Sure thing daddy," Yui replied with a mock salute.

"Thanks sweetie," Kazuto said before Yui's hologram disappeared. Kazuto then looked up to see the Katagiris looking at him strangely. "What?"

"What was that just now," Billy asked.

"Oh that was Yui. She used to be a mental health counseling AI for SAO until a string of events led her to where she is now. These days she helps out Asuna and I with a lot of different tasks when we need some extra special help that only she can provide," Kazuto explained.

"Then why does she call you daddy," Leesa asked.

"That's…a really long story."

* * *

A few weeks had now passed since GWO was revealed to be the return of the death game, and of the fifteen thousand players, at least thirty other people had died in addition to the one hundred ten that Schenberg had mentioned on the first day. Most of those deaths were due to suicides but those had quickly stopped after only a couple of days, but rumor had it that some of those people were actually some SAO survivors. This belief was started when someone claimed that he heard one of the suicide victims cry out "I won't live through that nightmare again" before he stepped off the edge of the station, but none of that really mattered to Setsuna all that much.

After he had left Kira, Setsuna had tended to avoid just about everyone as much as he could and just stuck to traveling to other cities on the first floor and mapping the labyrinth that led to the boss room and the next floor. It was plain as day that nothing about the labyrinth was the same as it was in the beta, and that just led Setsuna to believe that the same could hold true for the boss as well, so that was where one would find the young man as he traveled the labyrinth that day, fighting off a trio of Doms in an effort to map the entirety of the maze area while trying to find the location of the boss room.

The Doms were all SD class enemies so Setsuna did not waste time using his Gundam to deal with them and just beat them on his own with his short sword and pistol in little time. Seeing his opponents were defeated and that he was awarded with the expected amount of XP and cash, Setsuna prepared to head out when he heard a scream from nearby.

Setsuna knew that most people tended to avoid the labyrinth in favor of staying in the city like cowards, so the fact that he encountered anyone at all was rare for Setsuna. Either way it did not matter to Setsuna if there was someone else there or not, because that person clearly needed his help and he quickly checked his map. The map for GWO was designed so that you could track where enemies were and other players as well so when Setsuna saw that a single player indicator near his position was surrounded by numerous enemies, he was quick to dash off in that direction after closing the map.

Now the down side to the using the map in this way was that it did not specify what kind of enemies were where, and when it came to players, it only gave more than a basic indicator of their location if they were a player on your friends list. For this reason, Setsuna was still mildly surprised when he saw a squadron of Goufs surrounding a single player mobile suit. Even though he was shocked by this, Setsuna did not hesitate and instantly called in Exia, which appeared in mere seconds in its usual swirl of green particles. Setsuna was quick to engage the enemy after he was in Exia's cockpit as he started off by destroying a small group using his MS's rifle.

As soon as some of the Goufs were destroyed by Setsuna's long range attack, the attention of the other Goufs was quickly diverted to the blue and white mobile suit. Seeing he had effectively made the enemy forget about their original target, Setsuna quickly disengaged his rifle before he unfolded the GN Sword and charged in with the blade ready to strike. It all seemed to be a blur to anyone who happened to observe this fight, as the Exia slashed apart every one of the remaining Goufs almost like a knife through butter. Just as it had slashed apart the final Gouf, Exia folded its sword back up and let the enemy explode behind it while it turned to face the player MS that had just risen to its feet.

Setsuna's first impression of this mobile suit was that it was almost like a female version of Exia. The mobile suit had a kind of feminine build to it and was armed with a physical sword in its right hand, but the difference between this unknown suit and Exia was that it's sword appeared to be more like a katana type of sword than the one that Exia carried. The suit itself was colored mostly dark pink with the exception of the joints, which were highlighted by blue colored circles, and the arms and legs which were a lighter shade of pink than the rest of the suit, and possessed aqua colored eyes. The one thing that stood out about the suit that made it seem like Exia was the fact that it seemed to be powered by a GN Drive, as Setsuna liked to call it, which emitted bright pink particles instead of the green ones that Exia's did, giving it an impression of cherry blossoms as they flew through the wind.

Were he anyone else, Setsuna would have thought that this person might have copied his design of Exia while trying to make it as different as they possibly could, but Setsuna was not anyone else. After taking another moment to take in the unknown suit's appearance, Setsuna finally opened a communication to the other suit as he called out, "Are you alright?"

After a few seconds, the words sound only appeared on a small part of his screen while a female voice replied, "Yeah…I'm alright."

"Good," Setsuna then stated, and he turned the Exia to leave the area.

"W-wait a minute! You're just going to leave me here like this," the girl called out in a panicked tone.

"Yes," Setsuna answered shortly.

"You can't! I'll die out here on my own," the girl cried.

"You should have thought of that before coming into the labyrinth. Besides I don't have time to babysit little girls," Setsuna stated coolly, starting to get annoyed of this girl and her whining. After hearing nothing in reply to that, Setsuna assumed that meant that the girl was done complaining and was going to leave him alone. That was when he heard the sound of a GN Drive powering up, and the Exia pilot knew it was not his machine's drive.

The Exia spun around quickly and armed its sword once more, only to have it knocked to the side by a hard swipe from the pink Gundam, throwing it off balance. As Setsuna tried to recover his control, the female version of Exia spun around and whipped out a beam saber with its free hand. Coming out of the spin, the girl quickly maneuvered her Gundam so that her beam saber was right at Exia's throat while her physical sword was aimed directly for Setsuna's cockpit right at the moment Setsuna had regained control.

"Go ahead and try to repeat that, bastard. Better yet, try to make a move and see what happens," the girl hissed, while Setsuna could only stare in shock at what she had just pulled off.

_How is that possible,_ Setsuna thought to himself. _I know that the information booklet that the beta testers all helped put together specified the weak points of any mobile suits be they player or NPC, but this girl has just managed to target not one, but two of mine easily. The head, which would cause major damage and impair fighting abilities when severed from the machine, and the cockpit, the one point on an MS that can't keep the pilot from losing HP when struck. It took me most of the first month of the beta test before I could even pull that off, and this girl is clearly not a beta tester._Seeing that he was clearly at a disadvantage, Setsuna just folded Exia's sword back up and slowly raised the MS's arms up in a surrendering gesture. "What now," Setsuna then asked.

"You shut down your mobile suit, and I'll shut down mine," the girl replied. Setsuna agreed and gave the command for Exia to shut down, barely even hearing the girl give out her own command as she shut down her MS. In an instant, both Exia and the girl's Gundam disappeared in a swirl of green and pink particles respectively, leaving only the pilots standing in their place.

When he saw the pilot of the pink suit, Setsuna froze in surprise at the sight of the girl that had appeared in the swirl of pink particles. The girl had shoulder length, pink hair that was tied back in a ponytail, with a pair of bangs framing her face, which held a stern expression with aqua green eyes. Her outfit consisted of a purple shirt under a yellow vest, a white belt, a yellow, knee-length skirt, grey boots that went halfway up her lower legs, and grey gloves that ended just a short ways above her elbows.

The pink haired girl could only stare at Setsuna as she took in his appearance. He had since changed from his default outfit of a simple Earth Forces uniform that was similar to Amuro Ray's first one, to a white, long sleeved shirt, a dark blue jacket, black pants, and a red scarf, and the girl could not help but stare a bit at the boy in front of her. It was a shared moment of awe that Setsuna was the first to break out of as he instantly rushed the girl, much to her surprise, and instantly pinned her down on the ground with his short sword at her throat, and his pistol at her stomach.

"Seems you're more skilled in mobile suit combat than you are in hand to hand," Setsuna observed, and he then noticed how the girl's eyes had widened in fear as her face paled at the sight of his short sword. Setsuna stayed where he was for another few seconds before he stood up and holstered both weapons and said, "You should head back to the nearest town as soon as your Gundam has recovered all of its energy."

Setsuna then started to walk away, leaving the girl lying on the ground where she was, panting heavily as she tried to recompose herself.

* * *

Setsuna had gotten a fair ways from where he had previously been, when he felt the presence of someone behind him. Instantly, Setsuna put himself on guard and looked over his shoulder, only to find the same girl from before had caught up with him. Setsuna then relaxed his guard and gave a short sigh as he sped up his pace to try to lose the girl, but the girl just sped up as well. "Stop following me," Setsuna ordered.

"But, I don't know how to get out of here," the girl argued.

"Don't follow me," Setsuna then told her.

"But I haven't seen anyone else in here," the girl quickly replied.

"Stop following me," Setsuna repeated, now getting really annoyed.

"B-but…," the girl started once more. Finally Setsuna came to a stop, causing the girl to freeze with worry as Setsuna let out an exasperated sigh before he spoke again.

"I already told you, I can't babysit anyone, especially someone who freezes up the minute she has to face an opponent head on," Setsuna stated coolly in a monotone before he started walking again.

"Well excuse me for having a fear of knives after what happened to my birth parents," the pinkett shouted angrily at him. That caused Setsuna to freeze in surprise and then turn back to face the girl with a matching expression.

"What did you say," Setsuna asked quietly.

The girl seemed to realize what she had said and immediately looked away while mumbling, "Forget it. It's not like you'd care anyway."

Setsuna did not move to walk away this time, but instead just walked up to the girl until he was at arm's length from her, silently asking her to tell him what she had meant earlier. Seeing that this guy was not going to let it go, the girl sighed before she decided to tell her story. "I was just a little girl when it happened," she revealed. "My parents and I were just walking home from the local movie theater when suddenly a man with a knife jumped out of nowhere. He had this insane grin on his face as he demanded us to hand over all of our valuables, and my father tried to placate him by doing so, giving the man his wallet. That wasn't enough for that man though, and he instantly just knocked the wallet aside, and stabbed my father through his heart. Even after that, he continued to stab him over and over again, laughing as he did while I hid behind my mother's leg as she screamed."

The girl seemed like she was about to break down in tears from the memory she was having to relive as she told her story, but she continued to press on, even when Setsuna tried to tell her that she did not have to if it was too much for her. "When he finally finished with my father, he turned his attention onto my mother. He grabbed her harshly and pulled her away from me while I ran to hide behind a pile of boxes that were nearby, and took his knife and started to cut her dress apart before he finally ran his knife through her. I was so scared at the sight of what had happened that I couldn't move when he saw me. He started coming closer with that sick, horrid smile on his face, waving his knife that was now stained with the blood of both of my parents as he did. I could barely move even after a nearby policeman was able to stop him."

"Ever since every time I saw something that was similar to that knife I would have a panic attack and I would always hear that…monster as he…," at that point the girl could no longer say anymore and buried her face in her hands as she broke down into tears. Setsuna hesitated for a moment before he walked over to her and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, getting her to raise her face and look at him.

Setsuna paused for a moment before he said, "I lost my parents too." The girl gasped in shock at this as Setsuna continued. "I was still just a kid when it happened. A madman had broke into our house and shot both my parents before he started to come after me. As soon as I saw him coming towards me, I just ran out of there, not knowing what else I could do, all the while hearing him laughing as he chased after me. After he was finally caught, I was left to be raised by my mother's sister and her daughter, but we were both so young at the time that we just figured that we were brother and sister. I'm not sure if my sister even knows the truth about our relationship or not."

_This guy…he's just like me_, the girl thought to herself as she looked at Setsuna in shock with tear stained eyes. "Then…how are you able to deal with it," she finally managed to ask.

"…Because I was saved," Setsuna revealed. "That night, after the man was arrested, as someone escorted me to my mother's sister's home, I looked up and saw the Gundam statue. As I looked on at it, I felt as though it were looking right back at me, somehow telling me that everything would be okay. Ever since, I've been into everything involved with Gundam, and now I'm sure that the Gundam will save me again along with everyone else in this game, and if it can't then I will save everyone, together with my Gundam Exia. I am…Gundam."

The girl could only stare at this boy in front of her as he confidently said all of this, and could not help but feel that he was truly able to become strong enough to do exactly what he said. Setsuna then brought her out of her thoughts as he said, "I'll help you get out of the labyrinth, but what you do afterwards is up to you."

The girl nodded in thanks as she wiped her eyes and asked, "So are we supposed to form a party now or something?"

Setsuna paused for a moment before just nodding a yes, and he opened his menu to send the girl a join party request. The girl hit the confirm option and a second later, Setsuna saw an additional life meter appear bellow his own with the name of his new party member. "Feldt Grace," Setsuna whispered, as if trying it out just to see how it sounded.

Feldt just gasped in shock at how this guy had suddenly learned her name without her even telling him before asking, "How did you know…?"

"If you look bellow where your health meter is displayed, you'll see a meter for your other party members," Setsuna explained.

Feldt seemed to squint her eyes for a moment and saw what he was talking about before she said the name on the display aloud. "Set-su-na," Feldt said slowly. "So your name's Setsuna?"

Setsuna just nodded as he replied, "Setsuna F. Seiei."

Feldt just looked at him for a moment before she giggled a little and held out her hand as she said, "It's nice to meet you Setsuna. I'm Feldt Grace."

Setsuna just stared at the girl for a moment, finding the sound of her laughing even a bit to be strangely…cute maybe, before accepting the handshake. The two just held the handshake for a moment before they finally released each other's hand and moved to head on.

* * *

The two had been walking in quiet silence for some time after that they had their little share and greet, but it was not awkward, at least not entirely. It was a little awkward for Setsuna since he did not have much experience around people and did not know how to handle himself around others, the fact of how his time with Kira on the first day of the game had ended being a good example of this, but the fact that the person he was currently in the company of happened to be a girl was making it slightly more difficult for him. Now Setsuna did not have a problem with girls really, if he did he would not ever be around his adoptive mother and sister, but since his range of social skills was little more than that of a teaspoon he found himself strangely nervous around Feldt.

This fact was not helped when he noticed the cute girl taking small glances at him from out of the corner of his eye, but she would quickly look away with a small blush right when he noticed. Like Setsuna, Feldt was not very social and she was especially nervous around boys. Admittedly she was more comfortable around people in a video game than she was in real life, but this was the first time she was in a VRMMO like GWO so a bit of her usual shyness had tended to bubble to the surface. Honestly, Feldt found herself wishing that her sister Chris was here right now. Somehow Chris could always find a way to help her open up to others.

Feldt was suddenly brought out of her musings when Setsuna came to a sudden stop and she nearly ran right into him. Before the pink haired girl could ask why he had stopped, Setsuna had whipped out his short sword once more and spun it around as he blocked a barrage of bullets that had come from a group of enemies that she had not noticed until just now. What shocked her though was the way these enemies were grouped. "Mobile Suit and SD class enemies together? Is it normal for that kind of thing in a labyrinth," Feldt asked Setsuna.

"No its not," Setsuna replied as he holstered his short sword and pulled out his gun to shoot a few of the SD class Goufs that were standing before them along with MS class Doms. "At least it wasn't in the beta version of Floor One. To be honest, none of the beta testers even encountered a grouping of enemies like this until the fifth floor at most." Setsuna only took a moment to analyze the situation before he turned to Feldt and asked, "I'll handle the SD class enemies. Can you handle the Mobile Suits?"

Feldt developed a shocked look at what Setsuna had asked her to do, but it quickly became a determined one as she jumped back a short distance after saying that it would be no problem. Once she was sure she was a fair enough distance away from Setsuna, Feldt closed her eyes before snapping them open and shouting out, "Bloom Sakura Gundam!"

In a flurry of bright pink particles, the familiar pink form of Feldt's now identified Sakura Gundam appeared alongside Setsuna with its sword in hand as before, and clearly re-armed with all of its armaments. Not waiting for a second, the Sakura Gundam instantly charged towards the Doms and slashed one of them apart with her sword. As she spun around, Feldt brought her sword into a reverse grip as she used it to block a slash from one of the five remaining Doms. Two of the remaining Doms tried to rush her, but Feldt saw them coming and used her Gundam's free hand to grab a beam pistol that was holstered on the machine's left side and then fired off a few shots until they were both destroyed. Feldt then pushed the Dom she was holding back off of her as she tried to shoot it as well, but it was able to dodge most of the shots she fired and then join up with the remaining two.

Seeing she was holding them back for the moment, Feldt glanced back to Setsuna and was surprised at what she saw. The way Setsuna was fighting against the SD enemies was almost exactly like how he had fought off the enemies he defeated earlier when he saved her in his Exia, it was almost as though Setsuna were Exia itself. Setsuna had already blasted apart two of the eight enemies and was now rushing right towards the remaining six. Feldt thought for sure that Setsuna was going to use his short sword again, but instead he simply flicked his pistol and it seemed to ignite a beam saber from the top of the hand gun which Setsuna then used to slash apart four of the SD Goufs.

Feldt quickly brought her attention back to her own battle when her sensors alerted her to an incoming missile attack and she quickly maneuvered the Sakura Gundam out of the way. If one were watching this, they would have thought that the Sakura Gundam was moving like a leaf in the wind with how graceful it was moving, and then in a flash of pink, Feldt had charged her machine forward and destroyed two of the three Doms in one swipe of her blade. The third one was lucky enough to avoid this fate by moving in a different direction than the other two at the last minute. That direction led it directly to Setsuna, who had just finished off the last SD Gouf with the saber on his gun, and the Dom immediately aimed its bazooka at Setsuna.

Setsuna thought for sure that he was finished, until a flash of pink flew across his vision as the Sakura Gundam slashed apart the Dom. The pink Gundam then turned to face Setsuna and gave a small bow as the Dom exploded, and a moment later, after confirming the battle had indeed ended, it vanished into pink particles to reveal its pink haired pilot in a similar pose with a bright smile on her face mere seconds later.

Feldt looked up to see Setsuna giving her a small smile of thanks and impression to show how impressed he was with her skills, and that seemed to make Feldt feel all the more happy while her face seemed to feel like it was heating up a bit. Feldt quickly shook her head to snap herself out of her dazed state and then exclaimed, "That was really amazing back there. If I didn't know better I'd say you were fighting as though your Gundam were a suit of armor instead of a mobile suit. By the way, where did you get a weapon like that pistol? I like to think I've been in most of the weapons shops on Floor One and I've never heard of a gun that was also a beam saber."

Setsuna held said weapon up a bit before answering, "It was a rare item drop called the 'Saber Blaster' from a quest that was in one of the other towns on this floor. Once its completed and someone has been confirmed to be using it as an equipped weapon at any item or weapons store it becomes available at all the other stores that appear after Floor Two, but the ones in the stores are considerably weaker than the one from the quest."

"That's amazing," Feldt said. She then noticed Setsuna seemed to have a thoughtful expression on his face and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"These enemies and the way they were grouped was much different and much stronger than the others of this labyrinth, and that means…" Setsuna then raced off in the direction that the defeated enemy group was originally blocking with Feldt following close behind him. After running for a few more minutes, they came to a stop before a massive door.

"Whoa. This is a pretty big door," Feldt commented as she reached out to it. She then jumped a bit when Setsuna suddenly grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Don't touch it! That's the door to the boss room," Setsuna shouted a bit.

Feldt's eyes widened in shock at the fact that they had discovered the Floor One boss's lair, and she immediately backed away from it a bit with Setsuna as she asked, "So what should we do now?"

"We head back to the town, and sell our map data to the nearest Intel Center. After that we go our separate ways," Setsuna replied in his usual calm, monotone.

"Wait what? What do you mean we go our separate ways after that," Feldt demanded.

"Exactly what I said. The only reason I'm going to the Intel Center with you is because your map data might be a bit different than mine since you were clearly exploring a different area than I was, but aside from that I'll have helped you out of the labyrinth and there would be no reason for you to stay around me afterwards," Setsuna explained.

"I thought you said that what I did afterwards was up to me," Feldt reminded him. "What if I want to stay with you?"

"You don't," Setsuna stated. Feldt then noticed that Setsuna had a bit of a sad expression as he stated, "And that's because I am a beater."

"A beater? What is that," Feldt asked in confusion.

"I take it this really is your first time playing these types of games," Setsuna asked. At Feldt's nod in response, Setsuna went on to explain, "Well a beater is someone who is both a beta tester and a cheater. Most of the time, people are labeled as such because they actually are both of those things, but other times, people are labeled that way because they are beta testers who are able to raise their level so much more quickly than even the other beta testers." Setsuna then brought up his own personal information menu and showed Feldt his own level and that of his Gundam's to be at level twenty.

At the sight of this, Feldt quietly gasped, because most people she knew were still having a hard time getting up to level eleven, and she herself was actually only just barely above that, being at level fourteen. Feldt was so amazed that Setsuna was able to become so strong that she almost did not hear him when he asked, "So now that you know, do you really think you can stand to be around someone that most people will consider to be lower than trash?"

"Yes I do," Feldt answered immediately without even a shred of doubt. "I don't care if you're a beta tester, a cheater, or this beater thing. I know you're a good person Setsuna, and that's all that matters to me. Even if you try to force me to leave I won't do it. Not even you can do everything by yourself."

"I can manage well enough," Setsuna tried to argue.

"So then you would've been able to stop those enemies we just dealt with a minute ago without me then? Or for that matter, you'd be able to deal with them and beat the boss all by yourself," Feldt demanded.

"I…I would've come up with something for them, and I think I might be able to think of something for dealing with the boss…eventually," Setsuna continued to try arguing, but he knew his attempts were getting more pathetic. It was true that it was just as difficult to deal with SD class enemies in a mobile suit or a Gundam as it was to deal with MS class enemies without a Gundam or mobile suit, since the miniaturized versions of the larger mobile suits were like a swarm of flies when they went to attack a player that was fighting them in a mobile suit.

Feldt seemed to realize that Setsuna knew both this and that he was losing this argument and simply stated in a tone of finality, "Too late. I've already made up my mind, so you're stuck with me."

Setsuna just stared at the girl for a moment before he finally let out a sigh of defeat, seeing that the girl was not going to let him stop her from doing this no matter what and finally gave in saying, "Alright you win."

Feldt smiled happily seeing that she had been able to get one over on this mysterious boy who had saved her earlier as she then told him, "If you ask me though, beater doesn't seem like a good title for you anyway. I think it should be something more reflective of how good you are in and out of a Gundam and how dedicated you are to all things Gundam. To be honest, I think all of that makes you like a Gundam Master or something." Feldt then paused at her words for a moment as she began to think aloud, "Hey yeah…Gundam Master…that could work."

"I don't know," Setsuna replied. "It doesn't really feel all that right to me."

"Then how about…Gundam Meister," Feldt suggested.

"Gundam Meister," Setsuna asked.

"Yeah, it means master in German," Feldt explained.

Setsuna paused to consider it for a moment before trying it out to see how it sounded. "Gundam Meister." Setsuna then smirked in approval as he declared, "Yeah that is good. I like it, so I guess from now on I'm a Gundam Meister."

Feldt smiled brightly once more, a sight that made Setsuna's face feel rather warm for some strange reason, and the two then began their journey back to the town. As they were walking, Feldt suddenly realized something. She then looked at Setsuna with a small blush as she asked, "Um Setsuna…can I have my hand back now?"

Setsuna raised an eyebrow at confusion and then looked down to see that he was still holding her hand from when he had grabbed it earlier to stop her from opening the door to the boss room. Setsuna's face instantly turned the same shade as Feldt's hair as he quickly let go and looked away nervously stuttering, "S-sorry about that."

"It's alright," Feldt stuttered in reply. After a brief awkward moment, the two finally shook themselves out of it and continued on their journey back to town, knowing that things were going to be different from here on out now.

* * *

**_AN: So yeah, I've now explained how Aeolia Schenberg was able to get the NerveReader to be able to kill people like the NerveGear did. Now for those of you who want a more simplified explanation of how he did it, let me put it this way. How did he build the Gundams in Gundam 00 without anyone knowing? If you don't know the answer to that then you need to go back and watch Gundam 00 again, or your just plain stupid._**

**_On another note, yes I used Sumeragi's real name instead of her Celestial Being codename, and in case it isn't obivous, she is Feldt's adoptive mother. And also, hey it's Kirito to the rescue! Sort of, but either way, Kirito's now made an appearance in my story along with Yui, and yes, there will be other cameo appearances of the other heroes of SAO appearing as well like Klein and Agil, just to name a few. Yeah I know that Yui was only able to hang out with everyone IRL through a little camera on Asuna's shoulder since we last saw in the anime, but I like to think that if Kirito had studied long and hard enough he would've come up with something like what I had shown him to come up with in this chapter eventually._**

**_Also, if you're having a hard time imagining Feldt and Setsuna's outfits, I'll just say that they're slightly modified versions of their regular attire from season 1 of Gundam 00._**

**_Finally, hey Feldt's here, and it case it isn't obvious, she is going to be Setsuna's love interest in this story. I'm sorry to all SetsunaxMarina fans, but I honestly think that the pairing of Setsuna and Feldt makes way more sense. If you ask me, Marina is much more of an older sister kind of figure to Setsuna than she is a love interest, and the age difference between the two is a big contributing factor to that belief. Well with those little rants out of the way..._**

**_Next time…Target Confirmed_**

**_Please read and review and I'll see you next time!_**

**_Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a certain whinny Seeker to deal with who doesn't know to appreciate what he's got._**


	3. Target Confirmed

_**AN: So here we are again. Sorry for the slight delay, I would've had this chapter up sooner but I had one of those lazy days where you just want to take a nap, so I ended up pulling a Kirito. Anyhow, I do have one review I need to respond to before we get started with this chapter. "Dsgundam00" asked me how I planned to do the bosses for the floors, and in response I can only say that you'll get an early idea of how that will work in this chapter. So then without further ado...**_

_**I do not own anything from either the Gundam or Sword Art Online franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

**Chapter III: Target Confirmed**

It was night time when the two finally made it out of the labyrinth and into the nearest town, which just happened to be the same city that Setsuna was staying in at the moment. After a quick stop at the Intel Center to sell their map data, the two had headed for the nearby inn to get some sleep in one of the rooms for the night, or at least that was what they would have done if it were not for the fact that Setsuna's current place of residence was actually a small house a short ways out of the city that he was able to acquire from a quest. Setsuna was actually hoping that Feldt would go to the inn and stay there for the night, not because he was trying to ditch her again…okay yeah so that was part of the reason, but it was mostly because he was not all that comfortable sharing the one bedroom house with a girl. A fact that he was doing his best to make clear to the girl.

"No," Setsuna said when she asked him again as they walked through the town.

"Please," Feldt asked in a cute, childish kind of tone.

"No."

"Pretty please." The girl then added the one thing that no man can stand against. The dreaded sad puppy dog eyes. What Feldt did not know was that this time it would not be as effective.

"The answer's still no, and please stop giving me that look. It doesn't work on me," Setsuna told her.

Feldt pouted at that for only a minute before she got a small devious look on her face, or at least as devious as she could manage, which was very difficult to say the least. She then said, "Well okay, but I would hate to tell people that the mighty Gundam Meister is a major pervert who saves girls just so he can cope a feel."

Setsuna froze and spun around to throw her an angry glare. "You wouldn't dare," Setsuna snarled.

"Try me," Feldt challenged. The two then locked gazes with each other, both challenging the other to test them until finally one of them did give in with a defeated sigh.

"Are you always this stubborn," Setsuna asked.

"Actually no. I like to think I get it from my older sister Chris," Feldt answered happily. Setsuna raised an eyebrow at Feldt's mentioning of a sister, at which the pink haired girl replied, "She's not my actual sister. We just grew up in the same orphanage for a few years and became close like sisters, right to the point where we were even adopted together."

"I see," Setsuna replied. He then saw that Feldt was giving him a grateful smile for allowing her to stay the night with him and instantly said, "Stop that."

"What," Feldt asked.

"You may be able to fool others into falling for that shy, quiet, cute girl routine, but it's not working on me. I know you are an evil little girl underneath it," Setsuna stated.

Feldt blushed a bit at this as she asked, "You…think I'm cute?"

Setsuna quickly turned away as he started walking in the direction of his current temporary residence as he replied, "I never said that."

"But you just implied it," Feldt argued.

"I never actually implied anything of the sort," Setsuna retorted.

"Yes you did!"

"I told you I didn't!" This little lovers spat continued on for a good deal of the rest of the night until the two reached the small house Setsuna was staying in and turned in for the night.

* * *

The following morning, Setsuna woke up thinking it would be like any other morning, until he felt a light, soft object lying on top of him. Setsuna looked towards where this thing was and instantly froze at the sight of a sleeping Feldt lying atop him as she seemed to snuggle into his chest. Setsuna knew full well that she was supposed to be sleeping in the bed he was using when they went to sleep, but the question of how she ended up sleeping on the couch with him like this was beyond his understanding, and honestly he really did not care at the moment, because she was currently preventing him from getting up since she was still sleeping.

Setsuna would have tried to wake up her up with a small shake, but the moment his eyes locked onto her sleeping form, he found something about her peaceful, sleeping face just made his mind think it would be a crime to disturb her. He did not have to worry about that for much longer, as Feldt started to stir a bit as she herself woke up. Once her eyes opened a bit, it took a moment for Feldt to realize where she was and what position she was in, and the minute she did her face quickly matched the color of her hair as she jumped up and scooted away as fast as she could while muttering a quick sorry over and over.

Setsuna found that he could not look her directly in the eyes as he tried to just say it was alright and looked for anything to give him an excuse to change the subject. Thankfully he found something sooner than he hoped, in the form of his message alert going off. Setsuna quickly tapped the icon and opened up the newest message. "What does it say," Feldt asked timidly.

"It's a message to all the high level players with strong combat abilities about a meeting for clearing the first floor labyrinth," Setsuna replied.

"A meeting? Only a day after the boss room was found," Feldt asked in confusion.

"It makes sense when you think about it. Everyone wants to get out of this game as soon as possible. Looks like the meeting is going to be held in Lagrange City this afternoon," Setsuna then told her.

"Are we going to go," Feldt then asked.

"…Might as well," Setsuna replied after a moment. "If for no other reason than to see what some of these other strong players are like and at least gauge how people are adjusting to everything here."

"You sound like you don't want to defeat the first boss," Feldt observed.

"I wasn't really planning on it," Setsuna admitted. At Feldt's surprised and confused look, he quickly explained, "The first boss fight is more of a tutorial kind of battle for people who are fighting a boss for the first time so it would be better to have more people that were not in the beta test than actual beta testers."

"But wouldn't that be more of a reason for me to go," Feldt asked.

"I suppose if you were still on your own it would be, but you were the one who decided to stick with me, so if you keep in mind the fact that I'm a beta tester myself, it shouldn't matter either way if you participate in the first boss fight or not."

Feldt had to admit that Setsuna did have a good point about that. While she did need to learn how to handle a boss fight, it would make more sense if she learned about that from the Gundam Meister than from an actual battle where she might end up dead. She still had one question that needed to be answered. "So you're just going to go to see what the other players that will participate are like?"

"That and see how people are adjusting to the life we've been forced to live now," Setsuna answered. "From what I heard, in the last death game incident, a lot of people were quick to try and make the beta testers the bad guys just so that they could have someone to vent their frustrations against. It was only because of the first beater, Kirito, that they were able to avoid that."

"Kirito," Feldt asked. "Wait I think I might've heard about him. Wasn't he the one who cleared the first death game, Sword Art Online?"

"That's right," Setsuna nodded. "And he's also the one that people considered to be the hero of VRMMOs for a long time. Back on topic though, this meeting may also help us to figure out who we can take on as allies among the other players."

"I guess that makes sense," Feldt agreed, understanding his meaning. Setsuna was basically saying that it would help them figure out who they could turn to for certain things such as additional allies in battle or other such things in the near future like a person that would stand up for them if they needed that kind of person if people ever tried to treat them like enemies.

"We best hurry and get ready to head out now. It's a long trip to Lagrange City by foot or through the use of a mobile suit," Setsuna then stated.

Feldt nodded in agreement and quickly ran for the bathroom as she called out, "First dibs on the shower!"

Setsuna just let her go, since he was already going to let her use the shower first anyways. He just hoped that there was still some hot water left when she was done, not that it really mattered all that much, but there were just some things from real life that you could not do without in this game.

* * *

A few hours later, Setsuna and Feldt had arrived at Lagrange City where the meeting was to take place. The city itself was not all that big, but then again none of the cities on Floor One were, and was really more of a quaint little village than anything. If one were to ask Setsuna, he would say that the place reminded him of one of the villages in the _Naruto_ series. From there it was just a matter of finding the meeting place, and it was not all that hard for Setsuna to figure out where it was since he remembered nearly everything about this floor from the beta test, a fact that continued to impress his female companion.

Along the way, the two could see a lot of people were not lucky enough to find a room at any of the inns in the city, and they were sure that the same held true for all the other cities as well. As they passed by a man who was begging for some money or food, they saw a group of players just laugh at him and kick him down like he was some sort of disgusting garbage. This did not sit well with Feldt and she was about to do something about it, but she was quickly stopped when Setsuna grabbed her arm and just shook his head no as a way to say that they were not worth it. Feldt just nodded sadly and moved to give the poor man some of her own money when she saw that someone had already gone over to him.

The person in question was a tall man with long, brown hair wearing a green shirt, dark pants, and a long black coat. At first glance, it seemed to Feldt that he was going to do what those other guys did to the man earlier, but to her surprise the brown haired man just knelt down and gave away a very large amount of money to the beggar along with some bread before standing up again and walking off. Setsuna also saw this and could not help but give a small smile at the sight of someone who was willing to go out of his way for the players that were not as tough or fortunate as others were, and it was a smile that was shared by Feldt.

After this had passed, the two quickly headed for the meeting place, which turned out to be a small meeting hall that was reminiscent of a meeting room aboard the _White Base_, from the original Gundam series, and they then found seats at the back, something Setsuna insisted on. A few minutes after everyone who appeared to be coming had gotten settled somewhere, a young man with long, brown hair in a ponytail, wearing an all black outfit stood up in front of the room to start the meeting, clearly indicating he was the one who had called the meeting. "Thank you all for coming," the man stated. "Now first things first. My name's Duo Maxwell, but you can call me the God of Death!"

"What kind of lame title is that," someone shouted out with a chuckle.

"Yeah sounds like you want to kill everyone instead of helping us," someone else added as the chuckling continued.

"Hey, hey come on guys, I'm sure we'll all have thought up at least a self-appointed title by the end of all this," Duo stated nonchalantly. Once he was able to get everyone to settle down, Duo's face became serious as he continued from where he left off. "You all know why we're here, but for those of you who don't, I'm happy to announce that as of yesterday, the first floor boss room has been found. This fact is a sign that we can clear this game quickly, and we can't let this chance to prove it to everyone in GWO pass us by, so I'd like for you all to help in storming the boss room and clearing the first floor. I won't ask you to come if you think you can't handle it, but if you are up for it then I welcome the help, and so will every one of the players that just want to leave this game and go home, especially in the case of those homeless people that you've no doubt seen by now."

Duo paused for a moment to let someone say that they were backing out. Everyone took that moment to mutter amongst themselves, and once that had settled down it was clear that no one was going to back out. Duo smirked with pride at this and was about to continue on with his speech when someone shouted out, "Hold it! Stop everything for a minute!"

Everyone then looked to see a man in a ridiculous white uniform with blue hair that was tied back in a stupid ponytail racing up to the front, clearly having a bone to pick with someone. "My name's Yuna, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that we've been cheated and those very cheaters need to apologize to us right now."

Setsuna gave an irritated sigh mentally while Duo did so out loud, both clearly having expected this. "Alright Mister Ponytail," Duo stated, mockingly. "By all means, tell us who you're talking about."

"Like you don't know," Yuna retorted angrily. "The beta testers! After that first day, they all took off to hog all the prime fields and farming areas for themselves. To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if there were even a few beaters among them, and don't try and deny it, I saw a pair of them fleeing the town square to do just that on the first day! I'm almost certain that they're here right now along with a few other beta testers and beaters, so come show yourselves and start begging us for forgiveness! After all, you're also to blame for the deaths of all those people, but don't think you're alone. We've all heard the rumors, there are some SAO survivors among us as well, and they should have done whatever they could to help us, but instead they just chose to either kill themselves or hide out like cowards, so we'll be needing an apology from them as well!"

"Now hold on just a minute," a new voice called out. Everyone turned to the source of this voice, and Setsuna and Feldt both let out a silent gasp at seeing the same man that had helped the beggar from earlier stand up and walk right up to Yuna, clearly putting the blue haired man on edge just by the fact he was taller than him.

"Well who're you and what do you want," Yuna demanded, trying to save as much face as he could, and failing.

"In order, my name's Lockon. Lockon Stratos, and I just want to make sure I understood you correctly," the brown haired man replied. "You're saying that you want the beta testers, some supposed beaters, and any possible SAO survivors to come forward and beg for forgiveness over something that they themselves had no control over?"

"That's exactly right, and don't act like they couldn't have stopped it," Yuna retorted. Lockon just pulled out a small data pad and shoved it in Yuna's face. "What's this thing supposed to be?"

"A guide book," Lockon replied. "Filled with information supplied by beta testers, some of your supposed beaters, and even a few SAO survivors, assuming that they are here." Everyone went deathly quiet when Lockon said this, and remained that way as Lockon turned around and declared, "We all had equal access to this information, a major reason being because it was free, and yet people still died. Now you can all call those people that were just listed cowards or whatever if you want, but I'm not about to hold them responsible for crimes they didn't commit or something they had no more control over than we did. Are any of you?"

People started muttering amongst themselves until Yuna started giving a slow clap. "Lovely speech Mister Stratos, but any sensible person could tell you that whole thing was nothing more than pretty words. Who's really going to believe any of that and not oust those cowards?"

At that point, a small laugh filled the otherwise quiet room. Everyone turned and saw that it was Setsuna who was laughing. "You want to have a pathetic reason like that to hate those losers? Now that's funny," Setsuna declared with a slightly cynical smile.

"What'd you say," Yuna demanded, no one noticing that Duo seemed to have a brief look of recognition at Setsuna's voice.

"I'm sorry, is your hearing as bad as your hairstyle," Setsuna asked rhetorically as he stood up. "Those so-called evil beta testers and beaters that you say need to earn a place in this by begging for forgiveness, they're nothing compared to guys like me. I've been able to go farther than any beater or beta tester ever could, and master things about the MSs in this game that any of you could only dream of handling. I know a lot of other things to, and compared to me, even beaters seem like children."

"You…you bastard," Yuna started to roar. "You think you're such hot stuff, but you're worse than any of them! Who do you think you are?!"

Setsuna smirked as he gave a small bow saying, "I go by the name Setsuna F. Seiei, and before you go labeling me as a beater let me make one thing clear. I'm stronger and better than any beta tester or beater could ever hope to be. I'm a Gundam Meister. Now if you think you can handle the first boss without any beta testers alone, then it's your funeral. Just don't say that the big bad Gundam Meister didn't warn you."

Having felt he had said all he needed to, Setsuna then turned to the door and made to leave with Feldt right behind him, not that anyone noticed the pink haired girl following him. Most of the other people in that room had their attention solely focused on the scum of GWO, the Gundam Meister, as he walked away with arrogant pride. Only two people did not watch them leave with glares, but instead with smiles at what he had just done, but the smiles were not completely for the same reasons. Duo then cleared his throat to bring everyone's attention back to the meeting at hand, and things went back to how they were before that whole scene that Yuna had started.

* * *

"What the hell was that?! What were you thinking back there," Feldt demanded angrily. She had been ranting on and on at Setsuna for his little stunt in the meeting for the past few hours now, and needless to say, it was a scary sight to see the usually calm, shy girl ranting on angrily about something. Looking on at this, one could only say that it really was the quiet ones you had to watch out for.

"I was thinking that I should get my new name out there as quickly as possible while also saving others from persecution," Setsuna replied as calmly as he could to the ranting girl, but in all honesty, the normally calm, stoic Gundam nut was freaking out on the inside.

"That doesn't mean it's okay for you to deliberately paint a large target on your head you idiot," Feldt admonished. "Honestly, it's like you want to get killed."

"Calm down. You know I had to do it," Setsuna stated. "If I hadn't the beta testers and other beaters would have been cast out like criminals when their strength will be an extremely valuable asset to clearing this game." Setsuna started to walk away from the wall he had been leaning against as he told Feldt, "It would probably better if…"

"Setsuna F. Seiei, I swear to God, if you try to say that I should leave you alone, I don't care if you can or can't get hurt by my attacks. I will make sure you are well acquainted with the business end of my Photon Sword," Feldt interrupted, already knowing Setsuna was going to tell her exactly that since that seemed to be a recurring theme with him.

Setsuna just sighed as he replied, "You can't blame a guy for trying."

Feldt's eyes then widened at this. "Did…did you just…make a joke," she asked.

She never got her answer as the meeting just came to an end and someone walked over to them saying, "Man oh man. You've either got a lot of guts or a really good death wish to go and pull a stunt like that."

The two looked to the speaker and saw the smiling face of the same man who had stood up for the beta testers and beaters earlier. "Lockon Stratos," Setsuna greeted in his usual monotone.

"Well I'm flattered that the big tough Gundam Meister knows my name," Lockon joked as he held out a hand to Setsuna. "Nice to meet you, Setsuna was it?"

"Yes that's right," Setsuna replied as he accepted the handshake.

"Seriously though, that's one hell of a thing you did back there, but I gotta ask, are you really as good as you say you are," Lockon asked.

"Yes I am," Setsuna replied.

"He's not kidding. I've seen him in action," Feldt quickly stated.

"Well if such a pretty thing like you is saying that then who am I to argue, Miss…" Lockon asked.

"Feldt Grace," Feldt replied in her usual shy tone.

"Nice to meet you. Guess I shouldn't be surprised you're sticking up for your boyfriend like that," Lockon then told the girl.

Feldt's face instantly lit up like a Christmas tree with a blush as she quickly stuttered, "H-he's not my boyfriend! W-we're just party members! Yeah and…and…"

"Feldt like Setsuna. Feldt like Setsuna," a bright mechanical voice then exclaimed. Feldt and Setsuna both blushed a bit as they looked around in shock for the source. They then looked down to see a large, orange ball with eyes bouncing up and down and flapping a pair of flaps on its sides open and closed every so often.

"A Haro," Setsuna quietly exclaimed.

"Yeah sorry about him," Lockon stated as he grabbed the Haro on its next bounce up and tucked it under his arm. "Sometimes my little partner here can be a bit childish."

"Partner," Feldt asked.

"Yeah. You see, I have Haro here help me out with piloting my MS so that I can concentrate more on shooting my enemies when I really need to," Lockon explained.

"Clever. They didn't have that kind of application for Haros in the beta test," Setsuna admitted. In the beta test the Haros were just a fun little pet that players could get to entertain themselves with if they wanted to, but Setsuna had to admit they probably could have functioned in the way that Lockon had suggested they could. Setsuna then looked Lockon directly in the eye and said, "Lockon Stratos, I also want to say thank you for what you tried to do back there for the beta testers and beaters, and for what you did for that man earlier."

"Oh you saw that huh," Lockon asked, knowing Setsuna was referring to the beggar on the streets. "Yeah well, helping out others in need actually kind of runs in the family, at least for my brother and me ever since our parents and little sister died a few years back. Although my brother's always saying that I'm more reckless when it comes to that kind of thing and that my hard head will get me killed one day. Guess that's especially true now though huh?"

"Yes but either way, thank you for doing it," Setsuna said. Lockon just nodded in reply to this with a broad smile.

The moment was then interrupted when someone suddenly tackled Setsuna from behind calling out, "Hey buddy, long time no see! How ya been Setsuna?"

Setsuna was about to spin around and flip the person off of him, but then he saw who it was and elected to push him off instead. "Duo Maxwell," Setsuna stated.

"The one and only," Duo confirmed. "Man I almost didn't recognize you at first after the whole changed to our real appearance thing, but I'd never forget your voice or way of talking Setsuna. It's been forever since I last saw you."

Setsuna gave a small smile as he exchanged a short fist bump with Duo saying, "Likewise. If I remember right, we last met during the raid on Floor Eight during the beta test."

"Yeah sounds about right," Duo confirmed. "So you gonna take part in the Floor One boss fight tomorrow?"

"No," Setsuna replied. "I doubt anyone would want me around after what happened back there. Besides, you and I both know that the first boss fight was more of a tutorial for later floor bosses. You probably won't see me in a boss fight until floor two."

"If you say so man," Duo replied. He then noticed Feldt and remembered that she had left and arrived with Setsuna and immediately smirked. "Oh now I get it. Setsuna you dog. You were holding out on us."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You're not staying behind from the boss fight just cause of all that. You're staying out of it to get better acquainted with the little cutie over th-." Whatever Duo would have said next was cut off as Setsuna slammed a hard fist into his gut and knocked the wind out of him.

"We're just party members, got it," Setsuna retorted with a glare and a small blush.

"Yeah, I got it," Duo wheezed before he finally got up. "Hey listen Setsuna. Just so you know, Heero and another friend of ours are both here too and we were thinking of forming a guild later on so if you're interested there'd be a spot for ya."

"I appreciate that Duo Maxwell, but for right now I'm going to be avoiding joining a guild," Setsuna declined.

"Well if you say so, but the offer's open ended so if you change your mind…" Duo told him with a shrug.

Setsuna just nodded and moved to leave with Feldt trailing behind him a few seconds later after giving both Lockon and Duo a bow of farewell. After a moment, Setsuna looked back at Duo and said, "Good luck at the boss raid tomorrow."

"Thanks, but I wouldn't worry too much," Duo replied. "After tomorrow, GWO will know for certain that the God of Death is back from hell."

Setsuna nodded in understanding of this and then resumed his trip out of the building and off to only he knew where. Feldt had to jog a bit to catch up with him, having paused to stare at Duo for a moment at his declaration, and finally asked, "So if we really aren't going to do the boss raid tomorrow, then what will we be doing?"

"We're going to start on your training," Setsuna replied. Feldt raised an eyebrow in confusion at that and Setsuna was quick to explain, "If you really are determined to stick with me through this, then I need to be absolutely certain that you can handle yourself in a fight without me."

"You seemed pretty sure of that yesterday," Feldt reminded him.

"That was not complete reassurance. It was more of a gamble I had to take due to a lack of other options," Setsuna corrected, causing Feldt's shoulders to slump a little. "This training is to help you get better and to ensure that you won't feel you need to call on me for help if things start to get too difficult for you, and also…it's to help me be sure that I won't have to worry about you every second we're in the middle of a battle."

Feldt blushed a bit at hearing that Setsuna cared so much for safety like that, and upon finding that her voice seemed to be caught in her throat she nodded in understanding and followed Setsuna out of the city and into the fields so that her training could begin.

* * *

The following day, Duo had led a small raiding party to the door of the boss's lair, and requested that everyone make sure they were ready before they began their assault. Everyone took that time to check over their MSs or adjust their weapons so that they would be reassured that they could handle themselves. Once they had all given their okay to proceed, Duo gave the door a small push, and it instantly opened up.

The room in which the boss appeared to be hiding was rather large, and seemed to be a large shrine to the _White Base_ crew that had fallen into a state of collapse. Everyone could see the remains of statues of the original Gundam, the Gun-Cannon, and the Gun-Tank along the walls, while a large statue of the _White Base_ itself was hung over the archway on the opposite side of the room, clearly marking the exit that led to the next floor. It was bellow the statue of the white ship that they all saw the boss of floor one itself, rising up to face its opponents.

It appeared to use the Zeong that Char Aznable used in his final confrontation with Amuro at the end of the first Gundam anime as a base for its design, but the major difference was that it had a pair of legs which had a set of claws on the end of them, and the horns on its head seemed much longer. It carried a large rifle in one hand and seemed to let out a bestial roar as its name and health display appeared, identifying it to the players as the Hell Zeong Galaxy.

Duo was not intimidated by this in the least, and upon seeing that their leader was not afraid, everyone in the raiding party instantly found that they themselves were not afraid of this monstrosity either. This was proved further true by their response as Duo exclaimed, "Commence attack!"

* * *

What the raiding party did not know was that the moment the boss fight had begun, a video transmission of the events taking place was being broadcast to everyone in the world on any news channel or computer that could receive video that was available. Having heard about this, Kazuto instantly demanded that the video be put on the screen in the lab he and Katagiri were working in as quickly as possible. The minute the feed came through, everyone could see the battle that had begun in the death game.

"What's the point of broadcasting this," Katagiri asked.

"Schenberg said his goal was to rid the world of war," Kazuto reminded him. "Maybe showing these or other kinds of battles in GWO is his way of showing how terrible it can be."

"Well it's certainly working for me," Katagiri commented. "It looks so real that if I didn't know better, I'd say we were watching events play out on a battlefield in real life."

"That's the thing about death games Doctor Katagiri," Kazuto amended. "Even if the battles don't take place in the real world, they still happen in a real battlefield."

* * *

Everyone had instantly rushed in to face this monstrosity head on, and once they got close enough, they split off into squads. One group of squads began to handle the minions of the Hell Zeong Galaxy that had begun spawning around it, which turned out to be SD or MS class versions of the original Zeong, while the other called out their mobile suits to take on the boss itself. Among those facing the boss directly was Duo, as he cried out, "Descend Deathscythe Gundam!"

Duo's Gundam instantly burst forth in a blaze of black flames as a large, black mobile suit with a beam scythe and a buster shield appeared a moment later, and the minute it was fully active, Duo charged his machine right at the boss. Being a close combat unit, one would think that against a Zeong the Deathscythe would have an advantage, but since the Hell Zeong Galaxy was equipped with claw legs, it proved to be more difficult. That did not stop Duo though, as the Deathscythe quickly slashed apart the arms of the Hell Zeong and used it scythe's beam to deflect the shots that the boss fired at him and any others he could.

Duo then saw his chance to swoop in and finish off the boss, and moved to do just that with everyone cheering in premature victory as he did, thinking that they had won, but a second before he did, the Hell Zeong suddenly leaped up and changed its attack patterns by firing a massive beam barrage that assaulted the Deathscythe from every possible angle. It was far too much for the black Gundam, and eventually the Deathscythe had lost all of its health and vanished as it shut down.

Duo looked up as he fell to the ground from where his cockpit had once been, and saw that if the Hell Zeong landed right now, the shockwave would deal a serious blow to his health. The self-proclaimed God of Death bowed his head and growled in frustration at how he had completely forgotten about how this boss's attack patterns changed at the end when it's health reached a certain point, and at his stupidity for thinking that he had it finished. He knew that even if he had remembered, he probably would've charged in thinking that it would have been the same way as it was in the beta test, but it clearly was not, as the beam barrages continued to come from the Hell Zeong as it descended to land atop his position, tearing apart their forces bit by bit.

Duo himself would have become the first casualty in this battle, had a sudden beam blast not knocked the Hell Zeong away from him. Duo and everyone near him looked to see a large, army green mobile suit with a sniper rifle was firing a barrage on the Hell Zeong, effectively keeping it from firing another beam barrage. At a closer inspection, one could clearly see that the mobile suit was a Gundam, as the voice of Lockon Stratos called out, "Don't worry, I'll try to keep him down long enough for your machines to reactivate, but I'll need some help from some other snipers if I want to pull it off."

The effect was instant as any other mobile suit that specialized in long range combat was quick to his side, firing at the Hell Zeong Galaxy, until there was barely any health left. Duo saw this and instantly shouted out, "Forget about holding it back until we can help! If you've got a shot to finish it off then take it now!"

Among all those that were firing at the Hell Zeong Galaxy, only Lockon had the shot that Duo was asking for. Lockon closed his eyes for a moment as he asked, "You think I can do this Haro?"

"No problem. No problem," Haro replied happily. "You've got this Lockon. You've got this Lockon!"

Lockon's eyes instantly snapped open at that as he shouted out, "Alright, then just like the name says… Gundam Dynames, targeted and firing!"

The minute Lockon said that, he fired a single shot from his long range beam rifle right at the center of the Hell Zeong Galaxy. The shot was true to its target, and it instantly hit the monstrosity that had kept them all confined to the first level of Heliopolis Station. A mere few seconds after the Hell Zeong Galaxy had fallen, a large notice appeared saying congratulations, and Lockon found a notice appearing before him saying he received the last hit bonus.

"Now that was some sweet shooting there Lockon," Duo commented as he approached the pilot of the Dynames as said Gundam vanished. "Seriously, I've never seen better than that even from the best marksman I know."

"Thanks Duo, but it's nothing really. My brother served a brief tour a while back and taught me how to handle a gun should I ever need to use one for self defense," Lockon admitted.

"Either way, its thanks to you we're now able to move on to the next level," Duo replied. He then patted Lockon's arm as he said, "So let's give it up for the hero of the day, Lockon Stratos!"

Everyone instantly burst into applause for Lockon's efforts, leading him to just sheepishly rub the back of his neck at the praise, while he absently noted the last attack bonus was a pair of items that were called a "GN Drive Artillery" and a "Beam Sniper 05". Just before anyone could continue celebrating, a strange device floated up to Lockon and Duo that said in a mechanical voice, "Well done soldiers. You have cleared the first battle, but many more are to come."

"Uh…who're you," Duo asked, clearly confused since he did not remember this in the beta.

"I am called Laplace, and I appear at the end of each boss fight to the ones who did the best in the battle and the one who landed the final hit. If you wish to send out a message to the outside world and the rest of Heliopolis Station, now is the time to do so, because I can record and send that message at anytime you are ready," Laplace replied as it floated around Duo and Lockon.

The two then looked to each other before they both nodded to signal they were ready, both had something to say, but while one wanted to say something to the people within GWO, the other had a message that he had to send to someone back home that was probably worried sick about him.

* * *

_"__Hey everyone, this is Duo Maxwell with a message for everyone trapped within GWO,"_ the recording of Duo's message said over the monitor in the lab that Kazuto and Katagiri were working in a few seconds later. _"Rest easy, cause guys like me are gonna do everything we can to free everyone from this nightmare, but that also goes for guys like my man here who brought us today's victory. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Lockon Stratos!"_

A moment later, Lockon appeared on the screen and said, _"Thanks Duo, and yeah I'm gonna do what I can to help free everyone in GWO, but I've also got something I need to say to my twin brother who's IRL. Hey Neil, yeah it's me. I guess you must be really pissed that I'm playing a game when I should be at work with you. I'll be honest, this is the first time I wish I actually was at work instead of playing a video game. Pretty ironic how it takes something like this death game to make me actually want to be responsible like you always say I should be huh? Anyways, I guess you figured out that I'm using your old nickname from your time in the service as my game name, and I intend to do it proud so I can get back and help you out like I should've been doing when I first logged in to GWO. Until then, I'll be keeping the legacy of Lockon Stratos alive here with my Dynames, so be sure that I'll always be targeted and firing until the end of this nightmare."_

With his message finished, the video then ended and Aeolia Schenberg's face appeared saying, _"I hope you all realize what the transmission of this battle means, but if not allow me to explain. I cannot truly accomplish my goal of eradicating war if I only do so in the world of GWO, so from now on, Innovation Electronics will be transmitting a video feed of the battles that are to come in the near future. You will be able to gain access to these feeds through the website for GWO, or through other means that are also mentioned on the same website. Until then, I bid you all good day, and pray that this will bring to light just how terribly important it is for the horrors of war to end."_

Kazuto only stared at the screen that once displayed the image of the man who claimed to be Akihiko Kayaba's apprentice. Was he really the apprentice to the man he once fought against as Kirito all those years ago, and is the end of war really his goal for doing this? Kazuto did not know, but he did know that he now had another job to do. "Yui," Kazuto called out, with the girl AI's hologram appearing on his shoulder a minute later. "Can you find out who this Neil person that was mentioned in the broadcast at the end is?"

"Sure I can daddy, but it might take a while," Yui replied with a cheerful tone.

"Take all the time you need. I think I may need that information later so I can pay him a visit. There's something about that name that actually sounds familiar," Kazuto then told Yui. Yui gave her daddy a cheerful roger as she disappeared once more to look for the data Kazuto had requested, leaving the former VR hero to continue wondering why the names Neil and Lockon Stratos sounded so familiar to him.

* * *

**_AN: So yeah, if you're wondering why I didn't have Setsuna and Feldt participate in the boss fight this time, aside from the reasons that Setsuna gave, the main reason would be because if I had it would've turned out as a repeat of how the first floor boss battle went in SAO, with Kirito and Asuna finishing the job, just replace the two heroes with Setsuna and Feldt. As for the whole broadcast thing, that was actually an idea I got from reading another fanfiction and I figured that having something similar would help with Aeolia Schenberg's plans for GWO. As for the little Laplace there at the end, well that won't always be around cause no one's going to want to send a message to the real world and everyone in the game all the time._**

**_Finally, hooray Lockon's here now! But which Lockon is he? If you think you know then please don't say anything in the reviews. Also we now have our second and third Gundam characters from outside of Gundam 00. Honestly when I was writing this chapter I wanted to have a character that was a lot like Diabel and the need for a character like Kiabou was an absolute must for a story like this. For the latter I honestly couldn't think of anyone better than Yuna Roma Seiran from Gundam SEED Destiny, because he just fits the role of a guy who's all big talk to cause trouble so well. As for the former, it was a little harder to decide, but it boiled down to a choice between Garrod Ran and Duo Maxwell and I just went with the one I knew best. Anyhow, that's all for now, and be sure to keep an eye out for a little something that extends off of Gundam SEED Prime before we finally get to the sequel to said story along with the next chapter so until then..._**

**_Next time…The Two Blades._**

**_Please read and review and I'll see you next time!_**


	4. The Two Blades

_**AN: Hey sorry for the wait, anyways, new chapter's here at last. Again sorry for the wait, I was busy focusing on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Prime: Destiny Sentinels**__** and nearly forgot about this story. Now I'm not gonna lie and say that I'm going to update this as often as the previously mentioned GundamxTransformers story would be updated usually, because in all honesty, the updates for this story may be sporadic at best. So if it's at least a month or so before this story gets updated again, my sincerest apologies in advance. Oh and in response to one of my reviews, I just want to point out that it is only rumored that there are SAO survivors in GWO, because this story takes place at least ten years after the end of the SAO anime's second season, and yes I'm referring to SAO II when I say that. Even among Kirito's group, the youngest member, being Silica, would have likely hung up their swords or whatever weapon they use. I'm not saying that it's unlikely that one of Kirito's old comrades won't appear in GWO at all, but I'm not going to make any promises about it either. Now without further ado...**_

_**I do not own anything from either the Gundam or Sword Art Online franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

**Chapter IV: The Two Blades**

It had been nearly a month since GWO began, and several weeks since the first floor of the second death game was cleared, and while many people may still be worried sick about all of this, two of the people in the small coffee shop-bar known as the Dicey Café were relatively calm. Both of these men, one being the tall, African American owner of the Dicey Café and the other being his red haired friend with a red headband on his head, had lived through the first death game and they both knew just how pointless it was to get all worked up like everyone else was doing, but they were both still worried about what all this meant. "It's still kinda hard to believe huh," the red haired man asked.

"That's putting it mildly Tsuboi," the African American told his friend. "I mean, I thought we were done with all this stuff years ago after Kirito had dealt with that whole Death Gun thing, and then this happens."

"I hear ya Andrew," Tsuboi replied. "But still, the idea that Kayaba had a secret apprentice? It's really hard to swallow." The two could only sit in silence for a moment before Tsuboi finally stated, "It kinda makes you wish we could just go back in there and help out huh?"

"Believe me, if it was up to me and if I were a few years younger, I wouldn't hesitate to jump in there and save the day as Agil one more time, but our time saving VRMMO worlds is long over," Andrew told the red head. "Still, you are right in that regard Klein."

"Heh, it's been a long time since I've been called that," Tsuboi commented. He then gave Andrew a worried look as he asked, "How's the old soldier handling it?"

"That's actually what I'd like to know as well," a voice interrupted the two. Both SAO survivors turned to the door and saw Kazuto walk in with a smile that showed that while he was concerned about the individual they were talking about, it was still good to see his old friends and comrades again.

"Hey Kirito! How ya been buddy," Tsuboi called out as he rushed over to give the black haired man a small noogie. It honestly still surprised Andrew that even after all these years, Tsuboi was still just tall enough to do that to the former black swordsman.

"Hey come on Tsuboi, I thought I told you not to call me that anymore," Kazuto chuckled.

"Well what can I say? Old habits die hard," Tsuboi told Kazuto.

"He's got a point you know," Andrew said as he exchanged a fist bump with the SAO hero. "Anyways, how've ya been Kazuto, and more importantly, how's the Misses doing?"

"Aside from the fact that I'm doing everything I can to set this whole thing right, I'm great, and the same can be said for Asuna," Kazuto replied. "But getting back on topic…"

"Right, well he's been managing as well as expected, but he's also been taking some extra shifts. I think it's his way of trying to deal with it. It's not easy when you've got family trapped in these things," Andrew told Kazuto. He then jerked a thumb towards the counter and said, "But if you want to ask him personally, he's right there."

Kazuto looked over to see a man who looked exactly like Lyle, or Lockon as he was called, from GWO except for the fact that his outfit consisted of a light green shirt, blue jeans, and a vest, and there was also the fact that he wore an eye-patch over his right eye. Kazuto then walked over and called out, "Excuse me, are you Neil Dylandy?"

"Yeah that's me," the eye-patch wearing man replied as he finished polishing one of the glasses. "Why you ask?"

Kazuto walked over to Neil as he held out one of his hands saying, "My name's Kazuto Kirigaya. I'm one of the people working to resolve the GWO situation, and I just came by to offer my sincerest apologies on what happened to your brother, but I promise you, we'll do everything we can to get him back to you."

Neil hesitated for a moment before he smiled and shook Kazuto's hand as he said, "There's no need for you to apologize Mister Kirigaya."

"Kazuto, please."

"Alright then. Anyways, there's still no need for you to apologize. It's not your fault this happened, and while I won't deny that I hate Schenberg for what he's done, I will also admit that I understand where he's coming from being a former soldier myself." Kazuto raised an eyebrow at this, clearly asking what Neil meant when he said this, so Neil happily explained, "I've seen my fair share of battlefields during my tour of duty, and in that time I saw a lot of people who were suffering because of the battles that had taken place. The one thing that kept me going though, was that if I didn't try to keep fighting in order to help rid the world of war in my own way, then I would feel like I'd be allowing others to suffer the same fate as my parents and little sister. They died a few years ago in a terrorist bombing, and now Lyle and I are the only family either of us have left."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Kazuto told Neil as he sat down at the counter with Andrew and Tsuboi. "Though I have to ask, and you don't need to answer this question if you don't want to, why was your old nickname Lockon Stratos? I've actually been curious about that since I first heard it in that broadcast from GWO."

Neil chuckled in nostalgia before he replied. "Well the simplest reason is that I was a sniper during my tour of duty, and in that time I almost never missed a target, no matter how great the distance between me and that target was. Some went so far as to say that if I had to, I could even hit a target from beyond the stratosphere, and that's basically how my old comrades came up with the nickname."

"That's pretty impressive," Kazuto complimented. "I've seen how difficult it is to be a sniper just in the game GGO, so to be able to be that good in real life is a great accomplishment."

"Well thanks, but I'm not as good as I used to be. On one of my final missions, another sniper spotted me and tried to take me out. Obviously I survived, but his shot had hit me right in my eye, as you can probably tell from this little accessory here," Neil told Kazuto as he indicated his eye-patch. "I'm now blind on my right side, and since this was my targeting eye, I was not all that helpful on the battlefield. After I came home, I really struggled to find other work until I met Andrew and he gave both me and Lyle a job here. Though he is grateful for that, Lyle doesn't always show it considering how often he seems to prefer playing games than actually working."

Kazuto nodded in understanding of this while Andrew commented, "Still, it's good of you to cover your brother's shift for him until he's freed from that death game Neil. Even so, I really don't want you to work yourself to death because of this."

"I know man, but…" Neil could not bring himself to finish his sentence, because it would betray exactly what he was thinking when it came to his brother.

Kazuto saw this and patted Neil's shoulder as he said, "Don't worry. From what we all saw yesterday, your brother's going to be fine, and I'm going to do everything in my power to end this nightmare as soon as possible. Besides, your brother is trying to live up to your legacy."

Neil smiled as he said, "Well, as long as he's careful and carrying on the legacy of Lockon Stratos, there's no doubt in my mind that he will always be targeted and firing."

Having finished his business, Kazuto then just decided to spend a little more time with his old friends, sharing some drinks and stories as they did, and also getting to know Neil Dylandy some more before he finally headed home, knowing he now had another reason to bring this second death game to an end as quickly as he could, and praying that there was someone in that nightmare that could do what he did over ten years ago.

* * *

Floor Two of Heliopolis Station was actually reminiscent of Green Noah from _Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam_ with its more space colony feel, impressive towns that were far more advanced in appearance than those of Floor One, and vast greenery. Of course, the appearance and towns of the second floor in the second death game were not the only things that seemed to be inspired by_Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam_, as the enemy mobs were also in a similar situation, consisting of Hizacks, Barzams, Marasais, and many other iconic mass produced units of the antagonists from the second Gundam series. In fact, it was among a particular swarm of Marasais and Hizacks that one would find a group of five players fighting for their lives in their own mobile suits a mere few weeks after Kazuto had met with Neil Dylandy and his fellow SAO survivors.

One of the player machines, was a red machine that was armed with a beam rifle and a pair of beam sabers, and it also possessed the capabilities to transform into a mobile armor as evidenced by the fact that the player did so with ease while in the middle of a fight. Another machine was colored pink and yellow with a set of four fins extending out of its back and looked very close to a Gundam class machine. The third was a military green and tan colored machine that possessed a pair of rifles which it was holding on either side of it as it fired off into the swarm of enemies.

The final two machines were both very familiar in appearance, as one was the Strike Gundam of Kira Yamato, and the other appeared to be a pink version of the same machine. Unlike when Kira first met Setsuna though, his machine was now equipped with a large, light blue anti-ship sword and shoulder armor on its left shoulder, with additional armor on the same arm. Kira still had his beam rifle, but for the most part, he was using his new Sword Strike Gundam's main weaponry for this battle, a fact that Kira did not enjoy at the moment. "I knew I should've gone with the Launcher Strike," Kira grumbled.

"Are you seriously going to complain about this all day, or are you actually going to help me deal with these punks," a female voice asked Kira as the pilot of the pink Strike tried to shoot down some Marasais.

"Hey don't give me that, Sis! It wasn't exactly my idea to go with this you know," Kira retorted as he slashed the massive sword through a pair of Marasais that the female pilot missed.

"Kira, Cagalli, can you two have your little sibling spat later, in case you haven't noticed we're in the middle of a battle," another male voice cut in as Kira's display showed the image of a man with emerald eyes in a red and white pilot suit.

Just then, the pink and yellow machine received a hard hit, and the voice of a second girl cried out as it was knocked off its feet and onto the ground. The tan and green machine quickly spun around and combined its two rifles together before unleashing a barrage on his downed ally's attackers. Just when Kira noticed this though, he was cut off from helping his allies when a squadron of Hizacks moved into his way, making Kira note for the fourth time that day how much more difficult things were on this floor in comparison to Floor One.

Kira closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable attack when suddenly, a barrage of beam blasts from somewhere in the distance either destroyed his attackers, or drove them away from both him and his allies. "What was that," the emerald eyed boy asked in surprise.

"Another enemy," the first girl that Kira had called Sis asked.

Kira then looked on his readouts and then zoomed in on the one who had launched the attack, and then immediately smiled in excitement and recognition as he shouted out, "No, it's another player. That's the Exia!"

True enough, the Gundam Exia was racing towards the battlefield that Kira and his friends were caught in with the Sakura Gundam right behind him, both with their primary long range weapons out and firing on the attacking enemy mob. Feldt continued to fire her beam pistol as she looked at the image of Setsuna that was displayed on her monitor and asked, "Are you sure that we need to help them? We could've just taken out a few enemies without them knowing."

Feldt did not receive any kind of reply for a minute until she heard Setsuna declare, "Have confirmed that the player unit that is believed to be the Aile Strike Gundam and its allies are engaged and being overwhelmed by hostile enemy force. Exia, eliminating the target!"

The minute he finished saying that, Exia had unfolded its sword and charged right into the fray, slashing apart the enemies that were posing the greatest threat to the five players at that moment as he did. Feldt only watched for a moment until she sighed and charged in as well, taking down the enemies that were fortunate enough to avoid Setsuna's attack. In no time at all, every enemy that was threatening Kira and his friends were all sliced apart and the field was cleared of enemies, leading both the Exia and the Sakura to stand down and disappear in a swirl of particles before being replaced by their pilots.

Kira and the others could only look on in awe at what these two players had just accomplished on their own. What the five of them had been struggling to do for hours had taken these two only a few minutes to accomplish, and needless to say, most of them were shocked at the sight and unsure if they should approach them. That decision was quickly made when Kira deactivated his own machine and ran up to the raven haired boy and his pink haired company as he called out, "Hey Setsuna!"

Setsuna then turned and immediately felt a bit depressed when he saw Kira's face. This was mostly due to the fact that he had not spoken to or even seen Kira since that first day when they parted ways on Floor One, and Setsuna still felt bad for leaving his very first friend behind like that. Still, Setsuna was not going be rude and he acknowledged Kira's call by saying, "It's been a while Kira Yamato."

"Yeah it sure has, huh," Kira instantly stated happily. "Hey, while you're here, let me introduce you to my friends." Kira then waved towards the remaining four mobile suits to signal that it was okay, and the four machines instantly disappeared to be replaced by the four players who piloted them.

"This is my twin sister, Cagalli Yula Athha, as she's known as in game, pilot of the Strike Rouge Gundam," Kira stated, as he gestured to a blonde haired girl with amber eyes, and wearing a white and blue outfit that had a pair of yellow tassels hanging down from the shoulders.

"My best friend, Athrun Zala, pilot of the Aegis Gundam," Kira continued as he indicated a boy with emerald eyes, blue hair, and wearing a white uniform with blue highlights, and a green undershirt.

"Dearka Elsman of the Buster Gundam, and Miriallia Haw of the Angel Astray," Kira then finished as he gestured to a blonde boy with dark skin, wearing the same outfit as Athrun but with a red undershirt, and a brown haired girl who also wore the same outfit as well but with a pink undershirt.

At this point, Setsuna noticed that Kira wore the same outfit as Athrun and the other two as well with an orange colored undershirt, which led him to believe that they were all really close friends and fellow party members. It was at this point that Cagalli walked up to him, having already heard Kira introduce him to her and the others while Setsuna was not paying attention, and said, "So you're the infamous Setsuna that my brother's been going on about huh? It's nice to finally meet you."

Setsuna only nodded in reply as he received similar greetings from Kira's other friends until a soft cough got everyone's attention. They all turned to Feldt, who was looking at Setsuna with mild annoyance until he finally said, "Oh right, you haven't met yet. Kira Yamato, this is Feldt Grace. She's my party member at the moment, and a girl who won't leave me alone no matter what I say or try."

Setsuna received a hard hit to the head for that remark as Feldt retorted, "Don't say weird things like that when you introduce someone!"

Kira and the others just stared in wide eyed surprise for a moment before Athrun cleared his throat and asked, "So are you Setsuna's girlfriend or something?"

Feldt and Setsuna both started blushing like crazy and immediately replied, "She's/I'm not my/his girlfriend!"

"Whatever you guys say," Dearka replied with a wave, obviously not believing them. His rudeness was immediately met with a hard elbow to his side from Miriallia, to which he just grumbled a bit before asking the pair, "So how'd you guys get so strong? I mean there's no way you could be the same levels as us and be able to do that."

"We actually do most of our leveling in the Labyrinth and whatever time we don't spend doing that we spend training for future battles," Feldt replied.

"So wait, are you saying that Setsuna is actually training you in how to fight Miss Feldt," Kira asked in surprise.

"Yeah pretty much, and you can just call me Feldt if you want," Feldt quickly told Kira with a smile.

"That's pretty cool. I still consider myself lucky to have convinced him to show me some of the basic stuff that I know, but the fact that you're actually training with him full time is something else," Kira exclaimed.

"Trust me, it's not as amazing as it sounds," Feldt told him. "Setsuna's a pretty tough teacher."

* * *

_Feldt hit the ground hard after she received a hard punch from Setsuna. She immediately wiped her face before she stood back up and assumed a fighting stance as the raven haired Gundam Meister charged again. Feldt was quick to block the initial attack with her arm and his follow-up kick as well, but when Setsuna dropped down to sweep her legs out from under her, Feldt found her guard instantly falter along with the loss of her ability to hold her ground as Setsuna landed a hard kick to knock the wind out of her._

_Feldt moved into a kneeling position as she panted for a bit before asking, "What's the point of training me in hand to hand combat like this when there aren't any martial art pilot skills in this game?"_

_"__There are a few skills like that, but they are extremely rare, and in answer to your question, being able to fight like this can make a huge difference in how you fight with a weapon," Setsuna replied. "It's also in case you ever lose a weapon, so that you'll be able to disorient your opponent long enough to either take their weapon away or retrieve your own. Now try again."_

_Feldt nodded in understanding and stood up once more before charging in to strike Setsuna herself. As she did though, Feldt could not help but think that it was going to be a long day for this training._

* * *

_Another day during Feldt's training saw her and Setsuna at a shooting range so that Feldt could improve her skills with a gun. Setsuna had explained that she needed to improve because from what he had seen of her fighting skills with long range weapons, it seemed that the pink haired girl would only just shoot things at random without trying to get much of an accurate aim on her target. "It's not exactly easy to aim when they're right there though," Feldt argued._

_"__Which is why this training is to help you practice so that your skills at aiming will be so refined it will only take you a second to aim before firing," Setsuna immediately replied as he handed the girl her practice gun._

_Feldt accepted the weapon and immediately took aim at her practice target before firing off a few rounds. Most of the shots were far off from being on target while the others were just off by a few inches, a sight that did not please Feldt in the least, or Setsuna if the look on his face was anything to go by. Then again it was not that much different from his usual neutral look so it was really hard for one to tell, but Feldt could tell that he was definitely not pleased with her results. "Well let's see you do better Mister Big-Shot-Who-__Always-Goes-For-His-Swords-First," Feldt immediately told Setsuna in frustration._

_Setsuna just walked up to the shooting range and armed himself with the same gun Feldt was using as he set up a different program. Immediately, a number of targets began rising up at a fast pace and Setsuna was quick to shoot at each one of them, hitting the bullseye on nearly all of them. Feldt just gawked at the sight as the program finished and remained that way until Setsuna snapped her out of it as he explained, "Your main problem is that you're twisting your wrist a little just a second before you finish pulling the trigger, and that's what's causing your aim to be so spaced out. Other than that, your simply taking too long to aim when all you really need to do is get the target in your crosshairs for even a moment before firing."_

_Feldt nodded in understanding and took her gun back before trying again, thinking once again that it was going to be a long day for this training._

* * *

_Another day of training showed Setsuna helping Feldt to take on the girl's toughest training yet. This training was her toughest because it involved helping the girl to face her fear of knives. Setsuna knew for a fact that while he was one of the few players to use a short sword, there were still other players out there who did so or simply had daggers of some kind as well as enemies, and it would be bad news if Feldt were to face any of them and freeze up like she was doing right now as he pinned her down with his short sword at her throat._

_Setsuna stood up and moved back to wait for the girl to rise, but she did not for a moment. This led Setsuna to try to take a different approach as he told her, "Get up Feldt Grace. You can't let something as simple as one fear hold you back."_

_Feldt gritted her teeth as she tried to retort in a shaky voice, "Easy for you to say, but for me this is not something I can just turn off!"_

_Setsuna took a deep breath and told her, "So you're going to let your fears keep you from helping everyone escape this world then, just so you can wallow in fear for your own life?"_

_Feldt froze for a moment, but this time because of what Setsuna had asked, and she immediately raised her head to ask what he meant, only to find the young man was already explaining it. "Fears are a part of every human being, but the truly brave person is not someone without fear, it is someone who can face that fear and turn it into their strength. Your fear of knives is born from the fact that you are afraid of what a certain knife would once have done to you right? Well think of what that knife or a similar one would do to someone else should you not be able to stop it."_

_"__What it would do to someone else if I wasn't able to stop it," Feldt asked._

_"__That's right Feldt Grace. I understand that your fear of knives is because of what had happened to you once, but if you only fear for yourself, then you can't become stronger. If you fear for the sake of others, then you have more of a reason to become stronger, and you will do so. Simply put, don't fear what the knife will do to you Feldt Grace. Fear what it will do to others if you can't face it and stop it. That is just one other way to truly be called a Gundam pilot."_

_Feldt understood what Setsuna meant when he said this, and nodded her head as she stood up. As she did, a bit of color returned to her face and it seemed to remain there even after Setsuna raised his short sword and charged at her, a clear sign that her confidence was now stronger than ever. It was one small step in facing her fears, but even so, she still had a ways to go before she felt like she had conquered her fear of knives. Knowing this, Feldt could tell that it was…oh you get the idea._

* * *

"But despite it all, it's actually been a big help," Feldt finished as she regaled everyone with the tales of her training with Setsuna.

"Yikes. Suddenly I can't help but feel like I agree with you when you said I got off easy when it comes to training with Setsuna," Kira commented.

"Well, we'd best get going now," Setsuna then said as he moved to leave with Feldt following right behind him.

"Wait. Where are you two going," Athrun asked.

"Back to the Labyrinth. We've nearly mapped the entire place and we're getting close to the boss room," Setsuna replied.

"Are you serious?! Wait, you mean you two are the ones who had allowed the second floor Labyrinth to be mapped so quickly," Miriallia asked in surprise.

"Yes we are," Setsuna stated calmly.

"Well what makes you so sure that you're close to finding the boss room though," Dearka then demanded.

"The enemies in the last area of the Labyrinth were growing increasingly difficult with every encounter, and becoming more diverse in their groupings. Those are sure signs that the boss room is about to be discovered. We would've found it last night if someone hadn't insisted that we return to the inn in the nearest town to rest for a bit," Setsuna replied as he cast a pointed glance at Feldt.

"Well excuse me for not being a human robot, Mister 'I am Gundam', and don't you dare try and tell me that you weren't exhausted or thinking that we would need to resupply before going back in there to face the final enemies before challenging the boss room," Feldt retorted with a huff as she crossed her arms and turned away from Setsuna.

"Wait, are you saying that you intend to fight the boss yourselves," Athrun asked incredulously.

"We are," Setsuna replied in a factual tone.

"Setsuna, I know you're strong even without knowing your exact level, but that's just crazy! You can't take on the boss with just two people," Kira argued.

"Just because it hasn't been done doesn't mean it's impossible you know. Besides, before I met him, Setsuna was actually planning on taking on some of the bosses all by himself without any backup at all," Feldt told Kira in reply.

"Seriously, if this is some kind of joke it's not funny," Dearka added in as he voiced an agreement with his friends. "I mean, you'd have to be that Gundam Meister guy to even think of trying that, and I doubt even he would survive!"

The whole area suddenly became quiet until Setsuna turned around to face Kira and the others and gave a small smirk as he stated, "Well then, I guess you'll find out soon enough if the Gundam Meister survives or not."

None of the five knew what Setsuna meant by that until it struck Cagalli and she quietly gasped, "Are you saying…you're…the Gundam Meister?"

Setsuna just nodded in reply, eliciting more gasps of shock from the party of five, while Feldt giggled and told them, "I actually came up with that name for him."

With that little revelation, Setsuna and Feldt then moved to leave while Kira looked among his friends, almost as though he were asking their permission on something. When the other four all nodded in reply to him, Kira stepped towards the pair and called out, "Hey Setsuna, we're coming with you!"

Setsuna and Feldt both turned back to see Kira's determined expression and the matching ones on each of his friends' faces, instantly telling them that they were serious in this claim. Setsuna continued to stare for a moment before he turned away and said, "I appreciate the offer, but I can't accept it Kira Yamato."

"It's not an offer Setsuna," Kira immediately replied. "I am telling you that we're coming with you, and this time I'm not taking no for an answer. You had my back when we first met that day when we all found out that this thing was the return of the death game, and you went so far as to offer to help me in getting stronger so we could survive. I turned you down back then, but this time I'm going with you all the way, and so are the rest of us." Kira then smiled as he told Setsuna, "Don't worry, we'll be fine, and by the end of this crazy adventure, you'll be glad you had the Orb Angels with you."

"The Orb Angels," Feldt asked in confusion.

"It's what we plan to call our guild when we finally reach a high enough level to form it," Athrun explained. "We named it that partially because its similar to the name of a non-profit organization that Kira and Cagalli's parents started up a few years back for helping orphans, Orb Union."

Setsuna looked on at Kira for another moment, seeing the determination in Kira's eyes, until he finally relented and began to walk off again as he said, "In order to form a guild, the tenth floor of the game has to be cleared first, but in the meantime we'll be glad to have you onboard."

Kira smiled brightly at this and immediately thanked Setsuna for allowing them to come with him and Feldt, and so the seven players all set out for the Labyrinth, and what would be the next step in clearing Gundam War Online.

* * *

The journey to Setsuna and Feldt's last position from before they had to return to the inn for the night was long and difficult, but with the combined strength of the seven players and their MSs, they were soon at the pair's previous checkpoint in no time at all. During the travels, Kira and his friends were able to gain quite the significant jump in their levels so that they were just at the right level for facing the boss of this floor. Setsuna made sure to explain the best general strategies and attack patterns for handling boss fights to the members of the Orb Angels as they went, and by the time they were finally encountering strong opponents, Kira and the others were very well versed in how to handle a boss for when that battle came.

Dearka eventually had to ask why they were planning on taking on the Floor Two boss so soon, and Setsuna was quick to explain that there was a safe zone in the Labyrinth near the area that Boss was believed to be. Setsuna then went on to explain that they would be able to return to that same safe zone to replenish their health and other resources before they took on the boss without having to return to the town, which led to Dearka agreeing that the plan was definitely sound.

As they walked what Setsuna and Feldt believed to be the final leg of the way to the boss room, the girls had decided to hang back a bit from the boys so that they could have a little bit of girl talk. Feldt was happy to talk with Miriallia and Cagalli, since she did not have that many female friends in real life and in GWO she was always with Setsuna, but that was before she discovered what the topic of the girl talk would be.

"So what's really going on with you and Setsuna," Cagalli asked the pinkette.

"W-what?! Nothing! Nothing's going on with me and Setsuna, we're just party members," Feldt quickly stuttered, trying her best to hide the blush that was rushing to her face.

Sadly, her attempts failed and Miriallia quickly smirked as she asked, "So you're saying that you've never had a moment where you enjoyed holding his hand, or having him so close to you, or maybe a moment when you woke up sleeping on top of him one morning."

"It wasn't like that! That was an accident," Feldt protested, and then immediately blushed when she realized what she just revealed.

Both of the other two girls smirked in victory at having caught Feldt's momentary slip, and they were quick to pounce on this opportunity. "So has he ever said that he thought you were cute or anything like that which caused you to blush," Miriallia then asked.

Feldt figured she did not have a lot to lose with telling them about all of this and just relented as she said, "Yeah he did once, even though he denied saying it afterwards. Besides, it's not like there's really a thing between us. I mean I met him right after he saved me from being killed by a swarm of enemy mobs. Doesn't that seem more like just some little girl with a crush on a superhero or something?"

Cagalli just smiled genuinely this time as she replied, "It depends on the guy and how you feel about him after some time has passed. Trust me, I should know since I ended up in a similar position to you."

"Really," Feldt asked, wondering if she could figure something out from listening to Cagalli's impending story.

"Yeah. It was actually how I first met Athrun. I was always getting bullied by this big jerk who thought he was superior to others simply because of some status he held, until Athrun got him to back off and saved me from getting beat up by the bully one day. We were just little kids at the time so it was really nothing more than just a little girl's crush, literally, but a few years later I found that I was genuinely attracted to Athrun. Eventually, I found I couldn't take just holding it in anymore so I walked up, put myself out there, and told him exactly how I felt about him."

"Then what happened," Feldt asked the blonde.

Cagalli blushed a little in remembrance as she replied, "He just looked at me for a minute until finally he wrapped his arms around me and…kissed me. It was our first kiss, and we shared it with each other."

Miriallia sighed happily as she said, "That story gets me every time, and I was actually the first one to find out about it too."

Feldt looked from the girls to Setsuna, who was talking with Kira about something, and thought that maybe Cagalli was right and that she should just allow some time to pass before she did anything, and then if she found out that she really did have feelings for Setsuna, she should just come out and tell him then.

Of course, the guys would have been asking Setsuna about his relationship with Feldt as well, had Setsuna not diverted the conversation from him onto Kira's Gundam since it was different than when he last saw it. Kira happily explained that he had designed his Strike Gundam to be able to utilize different kinds of equipment that specialized in different areas of combat, but when he scanned it for GWO, he was only allowed to set one of the packs for his default equipment and he had to get the materials necessary and bring them to a Mobile Suit Development Lab before he could use either one of the other two. He then went on to explain that after he reached a certain level with each of the three packs, he would be able to unlock a new one for his Gundam that would be even more powerful than the three individual ones.

Setsuna was very intrigued by the thought of what that mystery fourth pack would be, and the exact capabilities of the Striker Pack he had yet to see when the group came upon a large door that was exactly the same as the one that Feldt and Setsuna found in the Labyrinth on Floor One. "Is this it," Kira asked Setsuna.

"Yes it is. This is the boss room," Setsuna replied. The Gundam Meister then turned to the others as he said, "If anyone feels that they need to return to the safe zone before we go in, now's the time to say so, because otherwise, we go in, and once that door opens, the boss fight will have begun."

Everyone looked between themselves and at their stats for a moment before they all nodded to Setsuna to say that they were ready, and upon seeing this, Setsuna then turned back towards the door and gave it a small tap. When they entered the room, it was mostly dark, but they could see the distinct symbol of the Republic of Zeon, and a minute later, a large mass appeared before them.

Everyone could only gasp in shock at the sight before them, as it looked a lot like the Queen Mansa from _Gundam ZZ_, except for the fact that it seemed to possess an extra set of arms and a pair of wings on its back. It was almost as though it were a mutated version of the Queen Mansa, a fact further enforced when it's head seemed to open its mouth to reveal monstrous teeth along with a bestial roar. Everyone was frozen in shock at the sight of the monstrosity before them, and some were thinking about using a teleport item to leave until they all looked at Setsuna.

Unlike everyone else, Setsuna was just looking at the altered Queen Mansa without any fear at all, almost like he had seen far scarier things his entire life, and when Feldt looked again, she saw that his eyes were burning with a kind of determination that she had only seen once before from Setsuna. She was immediately reminded of when she had first met the Gundam Meister and how fierce his determination was when he told her about how he was saved by Gundam and how he would save everyone with his own Gundam, and Feldt knew immediately that if Setsuna was not going to fall underneath the sight of this monstrosity, then neither would she.

A minute later, four life gauges appeared alongside the boss and revealed it to be named the Empress Mantha, and upon seeing this, Setsuna cried out, "Everyone, call out your mobile suits now! Kira Yamato use your Launcher Striker and provide covering fire for us with Dearka Elsman. Athrun Zala, Cagalli Yula Athha, and Miriallia Haw, handle the minions as they spawn. Feldt Grace your with me."

Everyone immediately gave an affirmative reply as Kira took only a few seconds to change his Gundam's equipment via his player menu before they all began to call out their machines, starting with Kira as he said, "Launcher Strike Gundam, let's do it!"

"Aegis Gundam, launch now!"

"Strike Rouge Gundam, take off!"

"Buster Gundam, lock and load!"

"Angel Astray, rise!"

"Bloom Sakura Gundam!"

"Gundam Exia, engage!"

The minute the seven mobile suits had appeared, everyone had charged into action as the minions began to spawn. Kira and Dearka both used their suits long range firing capabilities to keep most of the enemies off of their allies while Athrun, Cagalli, and Miriallia used their own machine's beam sabers to cut down the others. When Athrun noticed some SD enemies beginning to spawn, he immediately shut down his Aegis, and began to fight them off himself. Cagalli did not miss this, and after making sure that Miriallia could handle the other MS class minions, the blonde immediately joined Athrun in fighting off the SD enemies using a pair of dual pistols while Athrun fought with a trench knife and a rifle.

Kira fired another round at some enemies that were approaching Setsuna with his Agni, and looked to see the Exia and the Sakura advancing on the boss. Kira watched in shock for a moment until he saw that almost half of the Empress Mantha's life was already gone, and he then saw how Setsuna and Feldt seemed to flawlessly deflect the boss's beam attacks with their swords as they slashed at it in a nearly-never-ending stream of attacks from those same weapons. Watching as the two Gundams attacked the boss as they did almost made it seem like they were dancing for a time, until the boss's life was reduced to one life gauge, and suddenly it jumped back.

Everyone was confused for a moment until Setsuna called out, "Be careful, it's about to change tactics."

"What are we up against now Setsuna," Athrun asked.

"In the beta test, this boss switched to striking from a distance using the Funnel bit-type weapons. They moved at incredibly high speeds and fired at nearly random targets, so be careful as to not draw its attention onto you for too long," Setsuna replied as he watched the Empress Mantha raise its arms up.

The minute its arms were spread out, Setsuna was sure that the funnels were about to strike, but instead, all they heard was a strange ringing sound as the room seemed to glisten for a minute. The next thing any of them heard was Miriallia cry out in surprise and they all turned to see the Angel Astray fall onto its back as smoke came out of its chest and arms where it appeared to be hit.

"Miriallia no," Dearka cried out as he moved to try and help her, only to find himself getting blasted at from all sides. Dearka looked to where his attackers would be, knowing that Funnels tended to move quickly around their target, but he gasped in shock as he cried out, "What the hell's going on?! There's nothing there!"

True enough, the beams seemed to be firing from empty air, but in reality it was actually coming from those few glistening areas of the room that had appeared after the Empress Mantha had raised its arms, and that was when Setsuna realized what was going on. "They're Clear Funnels! They're designed so that we can't see the Funnels and make it seem like they're attacking from thin air!"

"How are we supposed to fight this thing if it's attacking with a weapon we can barely even see," Cagalli demanded. Setsuna could only grind his teeth as he snarled for a minute at this unforeseen development.

* * *

Meanwhile in the real world, everyone was watching the broadcast of this latest boss fight either through an app on a mobile device, which they downloaded from the GWO website, or just on a special channel that one could also get through the website. No one could believe that anyone would want to take on a boss fight with just seven people, thinking that it was suicide, but as the fight had gone on, everyone had to admit that these seven were very skilled, perhaps even more so than the group that had tackled the Floor One boss.

As the fight suddenly turned to where it currently was though, everyone began to worry as the boss seemed to nearly take down at least two of the player mobile suits. At that point, Katagiri finally recognized the pink Gundam that was taking part in the boss fight. "Oh my god. That's the Gunpla that Feldt made! That's my daughter fighting in this battle," the scientist cried out in fear.

Kazuto gasped in shock when he heard this, and looked to see that Katagiri was referring to the pink mobile suit with a katana like sword in its hand which was launching a majority of the attacks alongside the blue and white one that looked so much like it just a while ago. Kazuto then began to find himself praying that Katagiri's daughter would survive this somehow, through some miracle, and that the others would defeat this enemy as well.

* * *

Setsuna was analyzing every aspect of their current situation, and eventually he realized that there was only one way that this was going to work. "Athrun, Cagalli, recall your Gundams and cover Miriallia and Dearka while they engage the SD enemies in your place. Kira, Feldt, I need you two to buy me a few seconds as I equip Exia's newest weapons."

"Roger that," Kira replied as he rushed the Strike forward, firing its missile launcher at the boss as he did.

"You've got it," Feldt replied as she charged in as well. The minute that Kira had fired the Launcher Strike's missiles, Feldt was able to see some of the Clear Funnels easily and immediately destroyed them with both her Beam Pistol and her Sword. A minute later, Feldt spun her sword into a reverse grip as she deflected the incoming beam attacks that soon followed.

Kira was quick to react when he saw that the target had changed to Feldt, and immediately fired his Agni Cannon once more, destroying a fair amount of Clear Funnels in the process. This little back and forth that Kira and Feldt had begun continued for another few seconds until they heard Setsuna shout out that he was ready. Kira immediately backed off while Feldt continued to deflect the enemy beam attacks while firing her pistol at any enemies she could when they caught her eye. She only paused for a moment when a blue and white blur blew past her and revealed itself to be the Exia as it fired its rifle at the Clear Funnels, only to raise more smoke in the process.

Feldt watched in fear for a moment as the air around Setsuna seemed to glisten for a moment, knowing that was a sure sign that their opponent was about to fire on Setsuna, when suddenly, the Exia reached for a pair of handles on the sides of its waist, and then spun around as it destroyed every single Clear Funnel that had surrounded it. When the smoke cleared, everyone looked on in shock to see that instead of the sword that Exia carried on its arm, the blue and white Gundam was now fighting back with a pair of blades instead. Exia then charged in and slashed away at any Clear Funnels that fired on him, while also deflecting their fire as well.

Feldt quickly shook herself out of her awe and immediately began to provide support for Setsuna by deflecting any beams that Setsuna might have missed and shooting down Funnels just as quickly so that Setsuna could focus on the boss, and the Exia pilot did just that as he charged in and slashed away at the boss at incredible speeds.

* * *

In the real world, Kazuto and Katagiri could only watch in wide-eyed awe as the Exia attacked its opponent with such speed and power. From Katagiri's point of view, it was like watching a powerful swordsman tear into his opponent with a continuous barrage of slashes, while Kazuto found himself seeing something that was very familiar to him. The reason being because that the way this particular Gundam was fighting, was in a way that was similar to how he once fought as Kirito when using his Dual Blades.

Kazuto continued to watch this as he soon smirked and said to himself, "It looks like there really is someone in there who can fill my old role."

* * *

At the Dicey Café, Andrew, Tsuboi, and Neil were watching the same broadcast on the television that Andrew had set up in his shop a while back and all gazing on in awe at the sight before them. It was a sight that Tsuboi and Andrew had seen only one other person use in their fighting and something that they were happy to have finally seen again after so long.

"Now that is…," Tsuboi began.

"Yeah. It sure is," Andrew agreed. They both drew a confused look from Neil, but the eye-patch wearing man just simply shrugged it off knowing that they would tell him later.

* * *

At the home of Kazuto Kirigaya, a young woman with long, orange-brownish, chestnut hair that went all the way down to her lower back and hazel colored eyes, and wearing a white coat and shirt with a red, knee-length skirt was also watching this broadcast in awe as well, hardly believing her eyes at the sight before her. A minute later, a silver device on her right shoulder began beeping until Yui's hologram appeared on it. "Mommy," Yui asked as she too had seen the sight on the broadcast.

"I know Yui," the woman, who was once known as Asuna the Lightning Flash, and now known as Asuna Yuuki Kirigaya, said in reply. "He is just like Kirito when he fought isn't he?"

"Yeah he is," Yui replied.

Asuna looked back and smiled as she wondered aloud, "Could this be…the second coming of Kirito?"

* * *

Setsuna and Exia kept up their barrage of sword strikes with the Exia's two blades as the health of the Empress Mantha dwindled more and more until finally, there was only a small amount of health left. Exia charged in for the final strike, when the machine caught the blade he was attacking in with one of its four hands. Feldt could only gasp in shock as she watched this, until Setsuna let out a mighty battle cry and drove a hard slash with his other sword home. The minute the blade struck, the Empress Mantha fizzled for a moment until it finally burst apart, and a minute later the congratulations banner displayed, signifying the end of the boss battle.

Seeing that the fight was over at last, Setsuna let out a breath he did not know he was holding and felt himself collapse from exhaustion as the Exia vanished into its usual swarm of green particles. Just before he hit the floor though, Setsuna felt himself be caught by a pair of soft, slender arms, that slowly lowered him down a bit until he was resting on someone's lap. Setsuna then looked up wearily to see Feldt's smiling face looking down at him as she cried tears of happiness.

Kira and the others all looked on at the little sight, and they all knew for a fact that those two were going to at least end up becoming a couple before this whole thing was over, all the while celebrating the victory over the Floor Two boss in their heads. The whole time, they barely even registered the arrival of Laplace until the small silver device floated up to Setsuna to explain who he was and tell him of the chance to send a message if he wanted to. Setsuna looked to Feldt as he told her, "You should send a message first Feldt. I'm sure your family will want to know you're okay."

Feldt looked at Setsuna in surprise for a moment before she nodded with a grateful smile, and then stood up to face the camera on Laplace so that she could send that very message to home that she so desperately wanted to send for so long.

* * *

**_AN: So there you have it, the identity of the Lockon Stratos who is in GWO, and of the original Lockon's role in this story's continuity. Also, I hope you all catch that little tid bit I did there when Setsuna arrived to help Kira's group. If you can't, here's a hint, it's inspired by a moment in the first season of Gundam 00. Also, I'm not gonna lie, I really wanted to do a little spin from Second Coming of Char and that gave birth to the whole second coming of Kirito thing there. With that said, hey look, more cameos of classic SAO characters! Ladies and gentlemen, here's Agil, Klein, and SAO's original lead female protagonist herself, Asuna! Also, I hope I did a good enough job explaining how the Strike's striker packs work in this, because if not, please let me know via a PM and I'll try to go into more detail on that._**

**_On one final note, I really tried my best to make the battle there at the end as epic as possible, but I didn't want it to be too spectacular. I knew I wanted it to be a battle where Setsuna would end up with that title of Second Coming of Kirito, and that's when I remembered the Clear Funnels from Gundam Build Fighters, so there you have it. Now with all of that said, I'm not saying this story is on any kind of hiatus until further notice, it's just not going to be updated as possible while Gundam SEED Prime: Destiny Sentinels is going strong. This is because the story is so strong in my mind that it's easier to come up with how things play out in that story than it is for this one, since most of it is going to be something of an original story line. I'll try my best to get the next chapter for this story up as soon as possible, but until then, please be patient with me and wait to see..._**

**_Next time…_**_**Moments of Rest**_**_._**

**_Please read and review, and I'll see you next time!_**


	5. Moments of Rest

_**AN: Okay, first off, please don't get mad, and if you already are, then please put away the torches, pitchforks, guns, beam sabers, and all other forms of weapons that you likely want to use on me, including rotten tomatoes! I know, I know, I'm lousy for not updating this thing for...for...uh [stage whisper] How long has it been since this was last updated?**_

**_Setsuna: It's been over a year._**

**_AN: A YEAR?! Geez...Okay, saying I'm lousy for not updating this thing _might_ not be the best way to put it, and it also might be putting it a little too lightly._**

**_Kirito: Gee, ya think?  
_**

**_AN: [sighs and then muttering] If this is the kind of attitude I'm going to get from this story then I'm suddenly finding myself almost missing Deadpool. _Almost_. [normal voice] Okay, so yeah, I am very sorry that it's been a while, but stuff happened! I mean for one thing, Gundam SEED Prime was going in a major swing of things, then there was all the excitement from the Avengers movie last year that prompted the start of my Code Avengers series, and not to mention some of the plans I've been forming for a follow-up story to Keyblades of Future Past, which I am hoping to start working on sometime soon. Likely after I've finished Gundam SEED Prime: Chaos Hunters, and then I got really into a Mass Effect kind of mood that led to the start of my Captain America&amp;Mass Effect crossover, Avenging Normandy, and let's not forget about how I've finally managed to start work on Justice Marvel, along with the second story of my Code Avengers series, plus I've been brainstorming other ideas for other stories that I haven't even considered adding into my profile information for future stories, including an Avengers AU that takes some inspiration from some of the recent DC Animated Movies like Justice League War and such, along with a couple of Spider-Man stories and a possible Spider-Man&amp;Arrow-Verse crossover story..._**

**_Feldt: Okay, okay, okay! We get it! You've had a lot of different things involving your overly abundant imagination for stories that distracted you from this for longer than you would've liked. No need to ramble on about it._**

**_AN: Sorry. Anyways, I hope that this chapter will make up for making everyone who follows this tale wait for so long, and...well I won't make any promises that I will update it again soon, because I don't want to make myself a liar if I end up not doing so for another year, but I am going to try, try, TRY my hardest to not take so long in updating it again. Now then, I believe you would all like to log in to the adventure so...Link Start!_**

_**I do not own anything from either the Gundam or Sword Art Online franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

**Chapter V: Moments of Rest**

Everyone just watched in silence until Feldt and Setsuna had delivered their messages to the real world and the rest of the world of GWO, until Laplace finally left and Kira felt he could no longer keep it in. "So Setsuna, what the hell was that just now," Kira asked.

"What do you mean," Setsuna questioned in reply, part of him hoping that Kira would just drop it since he had a strong hunch as to what Kira was referring to.

"Don't play dumb, you know exactly what I'm talking about," Kira retorted. "When did you get those new swords, and how'd you even do all of that?"

Setsuna did not say anything for a moment, but eventually he had to sigh in defeat and revealed the answer to Kira's question. "They're special weaponry that are designed to work exclusively for Exia or other machines like it: the GN Blades."

"GN Blades," Cagalli whispered in both awe and confusion.

"They're basically designed to work in a greater variety of situations that the GN Sword that Exia normally uses can't. As you've probably noticed, the GN Sword has difficulty doing significant damage without a certain amount of swing and space because of its size, but the GN Long Blade and GN Short Blade are able to do just as much damage without such needs," Setsuna explained. "I had originally designed Exia to use a total of seven swords, but the system would only let me program it with certain armaments so I still have to gather the necessary materials before traveling to a Mobile Suit Development Lab so that I can get the other swords. So far, the GN Blades are all I've managed to complete."

"Seven swords," Athrun gasped. "I may prefer close combat in most situations, but even I'm not that crazy about it."

"Well from what I've heard, no one's ever used more than two beam sabers for their machine since most people prefer to stick with beam rifles and other similar weapons," Dearka commented. "Of course, Kira's the exception to that because of his Sword Strike, but this is the first time I've heard of anyone wanting their MS to have so many swords. It almost makes it seem like you've got a unique skill or something."

"I don't," Setsuna stated flatly. "I've just modified the Exia so that it is capable of using such armaments. That's something anyone can do at either the beginning of GWO or through certain functions of the Mobile Suit Development Labs."

"Either way, all that matters at this point is that we've made it through and we've now gotten one step closer to freeing everyone trapped in this death game," Miriallia cut in with a bright smile on her face.

"Mir's right," Kira nodded in excitement. "So why are we just standing around here when there's a gate to open up? Let's go guys!" With that said, everyone started to charge forth, until Kira stopped in his tracks for a minute and saw that Setsuna and Feldt had not moved from their current positions, having both remained where they stood after they had delivered their message to Laplace and the rest of the world. Seeing that the two had nervous expressions on their faces, Kira figured that they would rather have some time to themselves before anything else, and said, "You guys take whatever time you need to rest up. After all, if anyone in this group needs it after everything that just happened, it's you two. We'll catch up with you guys later, okay?"

"…Okay," Setsuna finally nodded after a minute, and he could not help but find that the situation was rather similar to when he first met Kira, only this time, Kira was the one going on ahead and leaving him behind. At least, that's what it seemed like until a friend request notification suddenly appeared in front of Setsuna, and he was surprised to see that it was from Kira.

Setsuna's eyes immediately found Kira's back as the brown haired man gave him some last, parting words. "Hey Setsuna, don't die in this, alright? I'd hate to lose any friends to this thing, so…just don't die and stay alive. And one other thing…I meant what I said the last time we met. You ever need anything at all, whether its help with another boss, an event, or you just want to talk, message me."

Setsuna could only stare in shock at Kira, having not expected that at all. After the way he had taken off on that first day, he was sure that Kira hated him, and even more so once he found out that Setsuna had been training Feldt, and yet, here he was saying that he still wanted to be friends and that he would really be on call if Setsuna needed anything. The whole thing was both surprising and rather new to Setsuna, as no one had ever shown an attitude like that towards him in his life. Sure, he might have met a few people that were a bit like that in the beta test of GWO, but most of those people were just saying such things as fellow players of another game, while Kira was being absolutely genuine in his words. Seeing all of this caused Setsuna's voice to become lodged in his throat for a reason that he could not really understand, so in the end, the only response he found he could give was to simply nod and accept Kira's friend request, much to the brown haired young man's delight.

With all of that said and done, Kira finally headed off after his friends, leaving Feldt and Setsuna on their own, not entirely sure what to say or do now. They knew that they would have to get moving before the place flooded with players that were taking the long way up to the next floor of Heliopolis Station, but there was still something in the air that they felt that they needed to address, yet they were not entirely sure how to do so. Eventually, Feldt was the one to break the tension, as she was soon practically throwing herself at Setsuna as she wrapped her arms around him in the tightest hug she could manage, leaving the boy wondering if she was trying to show some form of affection or if she was trying to suffocate him until he felt his shirt getting wet, indicating that the pink haired girl was crying for some reason.

"You…you crazy…unbelievable…You're a total idiot," Feldt finally whimpered as she let a few tears fall.

"Um…how," Setsuna asked in honest confusion, as he had not been expecting that from the normally shy girl.

At that point, Feldt pulled back so that she could look Setsuna straight in the eye, allowing the Gundam nut to see her slightly agitated face that was marred with tears. "How could you just charge in like that on your own," Feldt demanded. "You practically threw yourself right into that monster's jaws like it was nothing, and you're still acting like you don't care could've died just now! And more importantly, how could you have thought for even a second that we could've handled any of this with just the two of us? One of us would've died if Kira and his friends weren't here for crying out loud, and then…then neither of us would've gotten home to our families again and…and I wouldn't…"

At that point, Feldt's words became muffled once again as she broke out into fresh sobs, staining Setsuna's shirt with her tears, while the boy himself just stood there in shock. It was not that he was being careless about this attack…well, not completely careless, but he did this because he really thought that he and Feldt could handle it on their own. Looking back on it now, he could not help but acknowledge that Feldt was certainly right to be ragging on him like this, because they had just barely survived with Kira and his friends helping them, and he found himself wondering what would have happened if they had tried to fight this boss with just the two of them. Setsuna found that he had to acknowledge that if they had gone with his idea of trying to tackle this battle with just themselves as he had originally planned for, then there was a very likely chance that one or even both of them would have ended up dead for certain, so the pink haired girl that was sobbing into his chest had very good reason to be acting the way she was right now.

Eventually, Setsuna found himself wrapping one arm around the pink haired girl's smaller body in an attempt to try and calm her down. The motion was a bit awkward at first, mostly because of Setsuna's lack of social skills and the fact that he had never really been in a situation where he needed to comfort someone before now, but after a minute or so, Feldt seemed like she was calming down a little, and Setsuna's gesture became a little more relaxed and natural. After another few minutes of silence, Feldt finally calmed down and pulled back a little so that she could face Setsuna once again, and said, "Promise me that whenever we try to fight a boss from now on, it will be part of a real raiding party. I don't mean like what we were just doing; I mean a real raiding party like the one that had fought against the Floor One boss."

Setsuna knew that he would not be able to say no to such a request even if he wanted to, and to be honest, he found that he could not give any answer other than the one he did give. "I promise, Feldt Grace."

Feldt nodded in acceptance of that, and then pulled herself close to Setsuna once again so that her head was resting in his shoulder, much to Setsuna's confusion. At first he thought that she still had a few tears to get out, but when Feldt did not shake or even let one drop of water fall from her eyes, Setsuna quickly figured out that was not the case. "Feldt Grace, we should probably get going," Setsuna pointed out.

"Just shut up and let me stay like this…at least for a few more minutes," Feldt softly replied.

Setsuna did not need to hear the pleading in her voice to know that she desperately wanted this to last a while longer, and so he simply nodded in response before bringing his other arm around the pink haired girl so that he could rest it just a short ways above his other arm. Part of him wanted to reach up and run his fingers through Feldt's pink hair, but he was able to squash that part of him before it could surface fully, as he felt that doing so would be taking advantage of the poor girl right now. Neither of the two were sure how long they stayed like that, but eventually, they did break off the hug and slowly moved on to the next floor, and whatever adventures it held for them and the rest of the players in GWO.

* * *

A week had passed since the battle against Empress Mantha, and Leesa Katagiri could not stop watching her youngest adopted daughter's message over and over again. The reason for this was two-fold actually. First was that it allowed her to see her daughter's face in a state other than the eerily calm one that Feldt had on her face whenever she went to visit the young girl in the hospital that had been set up for the GWO victims, especially since it allowed her to see Feldt's beautiful turquoise eyes, but the other reason was because she was able to hear Feldt's voice again. Now, she would not say that the words that Feldt said in the message were not important, but just the fact that she could hear her daughter's voice again was something that she was able to cherish. The message that Feldt sent was just the icing on the cake.

_"So to everyone in GWO…uh, the second floor boss is defeated, which you probably already know because of the fact this message is going out anyway,"_ Feldt started in the recording. Even in a VR, it seemed that Leesa's daughter was somewhat shy, but she was actually glad to see that Feldt had not changed too drastically. The pinkette then gathered herself and went on to say, _"Anyway, the battle was hard, but we won in the end, and…honestly, the only other thing I want to say in this is a message to my family at home. Mom, Dad, Chris, I'm sorry for making you all worry about me so much, but I am doing alright. I'm managing to get by and survive, and believe it or not, I'm able to hold my own in a fight here. I most likely won't be doing something this crazy again, so don't worry about that, but I will definitely be helping in the efforts for freeing everyone from this death game. Chris, I'm sorry that I couldn't wait for you before logging into GWO, but considering how things turned out, I'm actually kind of glad I didn't wait, otherwise we'd both be stuck here, and I doubt that Mom and Dad would be very fond of that. Mom, Dad, like I said, don't worry about me. I'll make sure to be careful, and I promise that I will live through this thing so that I can come home to you all. I just wish I could make it back sooner, but at least things aren't too bad over here. There's a lot of great things to do to help you take your mind of the whole death game thing, even if it's just for a little while, and I think it's also helping me open up to others a little more easily. Also…I met this boy…Chris, I know what you're likely thinking, so I'm going to tell you right now that it's not like that. He's just someone who's helped me out and I plan on sticking with so that I can keep him from getting into trouble. Trust me; he kinda needs all the help he can get considering the crazy stuff he tends to get himself into. I miss you all, and I'll do everything I can to get back to you as soon as possible, and to help everyone else here do the same with their families. I promise."_

With that final promise, Feldt's part of the message had ended, and even now, Leesa could not help crying a little at seeing her little girl being so brave despite the circumstances she was in. Feldt had always worried about others more than herself, so it was no surprise that she would want to end that death game for the sake of everyone else that was trapped in there and not just herself. What really grabbed her attention though was the fact that Feldt had admitted that she had met a boy while she was in there, and despite what the pink haired girl had said, Leesa could clearly tell that it was probably exactly what her oldest daughter thought if the small blush that Feldt had gained was any indication. Feldt had always been rather shy, especially around boys, so the fact that she had met and was now spending time with a boy in this game was a very big deal to Leesa.

When said boy appeared a second later to give his own message to the world, Leesa and Chris could both see why, as the young man with dark hair that had appeared before the camera was rather handsome, and Chris had to gush a little over how he gave off a serious, badass type of vibe with the intense look that his chestnut brown eyes held. It was when the boy spoke that showed the two women why Feldt would likely develop feelings for him, because when he did speak, his voice held a strong sense of determination that one would have a hard time finding in just anyone. _"My name is Setsuna F. Seiei. I am the first Gundam Meister of GWO, and I intend to free everyone trapped in Gundam War Online, together with my Gundam, Exia. No matter what it takes, I will fight to save everyone in here, even if I have to do it alone."_

"Seriously, if he weren't trapped in that game and Feldt weren't already completely gaga for him, I'd be all over that cutie of a hottie," the voice of Christina Katagiri commented when she heard Setsuna's part of the message from the hall, causing Leesa to turn and see her eldest, light-brown haired daughter standing in the doorway as she started gushing about how her little sister had finally found a boyfriend like only an older sibling like Christina could.

"You do know that he's probably a little too young for you, right Chris," Leesa asked her adopted daughter with a sigh.

"Well yeah, but you can't deny that he's good looking," Chris argued. "I mean really, how can something be so hot and so cute at the same time? It's got to be some kind of crime or something. You have to admit, a guy like that is going to be good for Feldt in more ways than one."

"Shouldn't you be doing some sort of homework from the Vashtis or something," Leesa interrupted before Chris could go any further. Chris's face quickly fell at that reminder, and she immediately bade her mother a rapid goodbye before she disappeared into her room to do said work from the engineering family.

Leesa had to smile a little in response, because to be honest she really did share her eldest daughter's thoughts on the young man who identified himself as Setsuna F. Seiei. That boy would most definitely be a good influence on Feldt in many ways. The only thing stopping that now would be her youngest daughter undoubtedly being too shy to really take the plunge to do anything romantic with said boy. Of course, another reason for that smile of hers was that she actually enjoyed Christina's antics in regards to such things, but they were really more enjoyable when she was able to see Feldt's reactions. It might be a little mean, but seeing the young girl get freaked out by such accusations of having a romantic interest in a boy was rather funny, and yet she knew that it was just another way that the two showed how much they cared about each other.

* * *

A few months went by after the battle against Empress Mantha, and in that time, while there was still no progress in freeing the imprisoned players of GWO from the real world, life somehow managed to go on for everyone. People managed to find some way to peacefully live both in game and out, and many players even managed to join the warriors that were now at the forefront of the battles for clearing the game, including Setsuna and Feldt, much to some players' surprise and/or dislike and a great deal of progress had been made in clearing the game as well. In that time, the clearers had managed to clear the game all the way up to the twentieth floor, and just as Setsuna had said, once the tenth floor had been cleared, guilds had started to be formed among the players. The Orb Angels were among one of the first to become an official guild, but there were still a few other guilds that were much larger and more famous than the small, currently five person guild, and each of the most impressive guilds were at the forefront of the clearing team.

It was now the holiday season, and while many people were stopping to admire the lights and decorations that Heliopolis station had outfitted itself with for the holidays, Feldt and Setsuna were just returning to the inn that they had rented out on the nineteenth floor after a meeting for how to defeat the boss of Floor Twenty and a long day of training. Though he did not show it as much as Feldt, Setsuna had to admit that he was a bit tired after everything that had happened that day, and that was without accounting for the questing that they had done to raise their levels and earn some money, or credits as the in-game currency was called, but it became a little more clear when he finally fell down onto one of the beds in the room once he was close enough. Of course, he only fell into a sitting position and did not fully collapse onto a bed like Feldt had, but the corners of his mouth did turn up into a small smile when he saw how exhausted she seemed to be in comparison to the ball of energy she was when they woke up this morning.

Neither of the two really said much after that point, until Setsuna opened up his menu to access a journal he had been keeping about the various things that had taken place since the start of the game, whether it be in regards to his own experiences or the various other guilds and major names that had come up in the recent months. When she popped an eye open to see Setsuna looking through said journal, Feldt's curiosity was quickly peaked and she was soon making her way over to see what Setsuna was looking through from over his shoulder. "What're you looking at in there now," Feldt finally asked once she was next to him.

Setsuna had been so engrossed in the notes in his journal that he did not even notice the pinkette's approach until she was right next to him, and as a result, he found himself completely startled when she spoke up. He had quickly composed himself almost a second later, but after being around him for so long, Feldt had gotten good at recognizing various things about Setsuna, and she was quickly bringing a hand to her mouth so she could hide the humorous smile that had broken out as a result of his surprise. After leveling the girl with a small glare to show that he was not laughing, Setsuna replied, "I've just been going over my notes on the major guilds that have been formed."

"Oh, I see," Feldt nodded in understanding. "Are you considering joining one of them?"

"No," Setsuna denied. "I'm a solo player, and I don't join up with guilds."

"You know, I'm pretty sure you're not an actual solo player since we're always together," Feldt pointed out.

Setsuna said nothing in reply to that and just turned back to his list, prompting Feldt to lean in closer to get a better look at said list. A few months ago, such an action would have made Feldt's face do a very grand impression of a tomato, but now, her cheeks only gained a slight dusting of pink when she got this close to Setsuna while the thoughts of being so close to him did not bother her at all. Looking at what she could see, she immediately spotted the Orb Angels being on the list of major guilds, and she had to remind herself that it was mainly on that list because of Setsuna's connections to the small group. Eventually though, Feldt decided to break the silence and asked, "Remind me again how you have such a drawn out list of the guilds?"

"It's mostly thanks to a certain pair of info broker siblings," Setsuna replied, and that was all one needed to know to realize he was referring to the brother and sister duo of Hong Long and Wang Liu Mei. The pair had been beta testers like Setsuna, and even after the assault teams had made it past the point where information of the beta test was useless, the two were still the best source for information in GWO. Of course, Wang Liu Mei was really the person that most people dealt with when they wanted information, but everyone knew that her brother Hong Long was always around somewhere watching out for her like a hawk, and the fact that no one knew the exact level of combat capabilities either of the two possessed gave them all the more reason to not try and piss off either one of the two.

Feldt had simply nodded in response to Setsuna's explanation, having met the Intel Siblings herself a few times, and also having gotten flustered by Liu Mei's shameless teasing of her and Setsuna, and then went on to her next question. "So, if you're not thinking about which guild you would want to join, then why look over this information?"

"I'm mostly looking over the information that I had just added thanks to the recent updates that the Intel Siblings had sent out to both me and to the general public, but it's also so that I can review it all to know which groups would be good to have as allies and which to avoid," Setsuna replied.

"Which to avoid," Feldt asked.

"Not all the guilds are formed for good reasons," Setsuna revealed, his eyes quickly narrowing as he thought of one such guild in particular. "Take this guild called the A-Laws for example. They claim that their purpose is to help everyone escape the game, but they don't have a problem with killing anyone that they think would be in their way, even if it's just someone who doesn't want to fight and die on the front lines."

Feldt nodded grimly in response to this, knowing exactly which group Setsuna was talking about. "I remember meeting one of their leaders once during a boss battle meeting," Feldt commented after a minute. "I think his name was Arba Lindt."

"Yes, that's right," Setsuna nodded in response, knowing who Feldt was talking about. "He's one of the biggest leaders in the guild, and he's been known to take pleasure in using any brutal methods to persuade someone to his way of thinking."

"Well, it's not like everyone in that group is bad," Feldt pointed out as her thoughts went to the founder and true leader of the A-Laws. "At least they're being lead by someone with good intentions."

Setsuna nodded in response, knowing exactly who Feldt was talking about as he brought up what information he had on the A-Laws' leader. "Barack Zinin. He views himself as a peace-keeper, and it's believed that he has such a job IRL due to his passion for protecting the innocent and how he's so determined to not let people die. Liu Mei's information also shows that there's some speculation that he also served in an armed service at some point in his life, given how well versed he is in the various types of weaponry and military tactics. Still, one or two good people does not make up for the crimes that have been committed by the other more twisted members of his guild. He probably hasn't properly dealt with them because he's afraid of what might happen to him or to his guild afterwards."

Feldt did not like the edge in Setsuna's tone near the end of his little speech, and she liked the hard glare on his face even less. It honestly scared her that someone who could do what Setsuna had done for her could actually turn into someone that was so vicious like this, so she elected to turn towards a topic that might calm him down a little and asked, "What are the better guilds like? The major ones I mean."

Setsuna's hard glare immediately fell when he heard that question, and he quickly tabbed over to a section detailing such a guild in response before he spoke again. "Well for starters, there's this group here. You remember Duo Maxwell, right?" When Feldt nodded in confirmation of this, Setsuna continued, "Well this is the guild that he and his friends were planning on forming, and they're now one of the best guilds in the game…"

* * *

Since Heliopolis Station was designed to be a massive space station, it was really no surprise that there would be at least one floor that had a section that opened up into outer space like Floor Fifteen did. It was nothing too impressive though, really, as it was really just a few areas that stretched across a decent area of some small spaces, but the area that made it up was still large enough for either a decent credit/experience farming field or even a few special quest. Some of these space areas even had small towns in them, and though some people were a bit hesitant to live in such towns, when they found out that they could easily acquire a basic space suit so that they could navigate the areas without an MS, they became a little more relaxed about it. Of course, part of that nervousness was that going into these areas would cause someone to get sucked out of Heliopolis Station altogether via the large holes that allowed parts of space to enter the station. Thankfully, it was quickly made clear that was not the case, as while some of the station did open up into the starry expanse outside of it, those openings were sealed up with invisible force fields that would take a great deal of destructive force to disable for even a minute, leaving folks to traverse in the space-like towns and quest in the similar fields as much as they would like.

One such quest was taking place right now, as a familiar, black Gundam with a beam scythe slashed its way through various, space-based MS enemies, while its pilot shouted out his now iconic battle cry. "The God of Death is back from hell!"

The Deathscythe easily descended on the various enemies that stood in its way, be they the Rick Doms or Gaza-Ds, and when Duo saw that the enemies in his immediate vicinity were all dealt with, he glanced over to an area where one of his teammates was and quickly raced over when he saw that said teammate was in trouble. "Isn't it a little early for you to be needing help from the God of Death," Duo asked his guildmate after he had slashed apart a Bawoo that had nearly struck said friend from behind.

The MS that Duo's friend piloted was a Gundam that was colored mostly white with blue highlights and lining on its shoulders and skirt, while a green orb was held in the center of its chest, and a pair of yellow claws seemed to be folded up into the front of its arms. In addition to the large, red and white shield it held, one could also easily spot the massive rifle that it was currently carrying on the back of its waist while a green beam saber was held activated and ready in its right hand. The most notable thing about this machine though, was the yellow and white wings that were mounted on its back, indicating that the machine was either capable of transforming into a mobile armor mode, atmospheric flight, or even both. A minute later, Duo was greeted with the image of this Gundam's pilot on one of his communications screens, and one could see that the person in question was a young man about the same age as Duo, with brown hair and blue eyes, and he was wearing the same type of black and red lined space suit that Duo was.

"Wing Gundam and I had things perfectly under control," the brown haired boy informed Duo.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Heero," Duo shrugged to his friend and guild leader, Heero Yuy.

A minute later, a red and orange Gundam suddenly spun its way into the fray and opened up a missile barrage from the launchers in its shoulders before firing its massive machine guns at the enemies that were starting to approach his teammates. After a few minutes of continuous fire, the image of a brown haired, green eyed boy appeared on Duo's monitor as he stated, "Even so, we can't deny that we're not making much headway here. Maybe we should consider retreating back to base."

"That's not an option, Trowa," Heero retorted. "We all knew that this quest wouldn't be easily accomplished since it was reported to have a quest boss that's almost as strong as the field bosses on the lower floors, so if we go back now, then we'll likely lose whatever progress we made."

"Well to be fair, that is the whole reason why you insisted that only the best in our guild should be taking part in this, right, Mister Leader," Duo lightly teased Heero. He then became a little more serious as he proceeded to launch his buster shield towards some enemies that were approaching from their left flank as he inquired, "Speaking of our best guys, any reason why those other two aren't here yet? The whole reason we were going to meet up out here was so that we could tackle this quest all at once, and yet when things started getting hot, the pretty, proper boys split."

"They were hoping to circle around and scout ahead to see if there was anything worse up ahead, so I wouldn't complain if I were you," Heero reminded Duo as he holstered Wing Gundam's beam saber in favor of its massive rifle, better known as the Buster Rifle. After lining up his shot with his targeting scope, Heero let loose a powerful burst from the large weapon, and a number of enemies quickly went up in smoke.

Heero then prepared to fire another shot when a black and dark red Gundam with a devil-like appearance suddenly swooped in and slashed through a number of the enemies that had managed to get right on top of the three with a powerful beam sword. The devil-like Gundam then lashed out with the heat rod mounted in the shield on its left arm, and the minute the whip-like weapon had wrapped around a Rick Dom, the weapon became incredibly heated before it melted through the enemy MS and caused it to explode. "Sorry we're late," the voice of a man in an extravagant red and white uniform with a white, helmet-like mask over his head called out to the three. "We were caught up in an ambush as we tried to make our way back, but the way ahead to the field boss of this quest should be clear now."

"About time, Zechs, but where's your partner in crime," Duo commented as he pointed out that one of them was missing.

"Ask and you shall receive, my young friend," a more elegant sounding voice rang out, and an instant later, a large, yellow beam tore through a variety of enemy MSs in a way that was similar to how the Wing Gundam had. Looking to the source, one could easily spot a white and blue MS with a large rifle in one hand and a massive thruster pack on its back. "Treize Khushrenada and the Tallgeese, at your service, gentlemen," a light brown haired man in an extravagant blue and white uniform with yellow tassels on the shoulders of his coat announced.

Heero simply nodded in response to this and was about to turn his attention back to the battle at hand when everyone suddenly heard someone calling out to Zechs in a panic. Turning to the source allowed all five of the young men to see that a group of Gaza-Ds were about to ambush Zechs and his machine when a white and purple colored MS with a number of spikes on its shoulders had suddenly rushed in and destroyed each one before they could get close. Zechs did not need more than a second to recognize the machine or the voice that had called out to him, and he immediately replied, "Noin, what're you doing here? The Taurus isn't capable of keeping up with us and our machines!"

"Maybe not the typical Taurus, but mine can," a young woman replied in playful retort. "Besides, Relena would be crushed if you and Heero died, and she's not the only one in your case."

Zechs barely suppressed a groan before he looked to Wing Gundam and said, "Heero, do us both a favor and make sure that Relena never tries to improve her MS for such intensive battles like these or boss raids, otherwise you'll be dealing with this kind of thing as well."

"I doubt we really have to worry about that too much," Heero lightly smirked in good humor. "Now let's focus on what we came here to do. Heavyarms will move ahead and open up a salvo that should clear out the majority of the remaining enemies. The Tallgeese, Deathscythe, and Taurus will then provide covering fire and support to myself and the Epyon as we make our way forward. Try to take as little damage to your machines as possible, because the minute we clear this field of enemies, we'll be right on top of the quest boss."

"Understood," everyone else eagerly replied to their guild and current party leader.

Heero then simply looked forward with an excited smile on his face as he declared, "Alright, let's go show these guys what the best warriors of Colony Meteors are made of!"

* * *

"They sound like quite an…interesting group," Feldt commented when Setsuna finished telling her about Colony Meteors' leading members and some of their other notable guildmates, feeling that there was really no other polite way for her to describe them.

"Don't try to sugarcoat it, Feldt Grace. They are all weird in their own way," Setsuna told the pinkette, having had first-hand experience dealing with Heero, Duo, and even Zechs Merquise during his time in the beta test of GWO. Honestly, he found the three to be easy to get along with, seeing as they were each rather focused on whatever goals they set for themselves in one way or another, more so in the cases of Heero and Zechs than that of Duo, but with the way they would sometimes get in and out of battles and such, there was really only so much he could take.

Feldt had wanted to slap Setsuna for being so insensitive towards his old friends and their guild, but she knew that would just be the pot calling the kettle black since she was honestly thinking the same thing about the rather eccentric group. Shaking the thought from her mind, she turned attention back to the topic at hand and prompted Setsuna to continue with what he was telling her by asking, "What other ones are there?"

"There is this one other guild that's led by a trio of brothers," Setsuna revealed as he brought up the information on said guild. "Apparently some people have made the mistake of thinking that the three are triplets, despite the fact that even after Schenberg had unmasked everyone at that opening ceremony, when in fact they are each at least one or two years apart when going from one sibling to the next…"

* * *

On Floor Ten, a trio of Gundams were currently returning from a farming mission while taking on any enemies that they encountered along the way, and if one were to look closely, they would actually see that the machines were very similar to one another. The first of the three machines actually looked very similar to the RX 78-2 Gundam from the original Gundam anime series, and it carried a large white and blue shield and a rifle. The second machine actually had much more of a difference in comparison to the original Gundam, as evidenced by the large white and blue wings on its back along with a larger version of the rifle being used by the first one. Finally, the third one was the most bulky of the two, and seemed to be rather similar to the Gundam ZZ, and it was quite clear that it boasted the heaviest amount of firepower. The one commonality between the three Gundams was the bluish-green letter "A" that was centered in the middle of their chests.

Upon reaching the town that was currently serving as the headquarters of the guild that these three mobile suits belonged to, the three Gundams disappeared in a flash of light to reveal their pilots: a trio of boys that were clearly brothers, but from all appearances, one would be hard pressed to think that they were not more than a year apart from one and other. The pilot of the first machine was clearly the oldest of the three, and had Persian green hair, while a yellow jacket, black shirt, and white pants were his choice of attire. The middle child was actually a bit taller than his older brother, but not by very much, had blonde hair, and wore a white shirt underneath a black jacket and black pants. Finally, the third and youngest brother had brown hair and was decked out in a red shirt, white jacket, and black pants.

As they approached the town, they were quickly greeted by a tall man with white hair and decked out in an all-white attire with the only deviants from such color scheme being the black and red patches on the shoulders of his jacket and his black gloves and boots. "Well, how'd it go out there, triplets," the man asked in a boisterous, slightly joking tone that was partially serious.

"How many times have we told you not to call us that, Woolf," the green haired boy heatedly demanded

"Sorry Flit, but it's just so easy to wind you up doing so, and the way you react is just so funny," Flit replied.

"Calm down, Bro," Flit's blonde brother told the older sibling, getting Flit to just cross his arms in a huff. The blonde then looked over to Woolf and reported, "We were able to meet the quota that the three of us had set for ourselves, at least when it comes to leveling up our MSs, but Flit and Kio still need a little more experience before they've achieved the Pilot Level that we were going for."

"And what about you Asemu," Woolf asked.

Asemu seemed to get a little downtrodden at that question, but he eventually admitted, "I'm…even further behind than they are."

"Only by one or two levels, Asemu," Kio insisted to his older brother.

"Well it shouldn't be too big of a deal so long as none of you are too far below the levels of your MSs," Woolf reassured the three. "Besides, at the rate you three have been going, you'll likely be able to take on the next boss raid with just the three of you."

"Don't get too excited, Woolf," Flit cautioned. "After all, we'd prefer to play it safe so that none of us die before we're able to escape this death game and go home."

"You're just saying that 'cause you want to see Emily again," Asemu teased his older brother.

"You should talk! You just want to get out so you can screw around with your girlfriend, Romary," Flit retorted.

"Dude! Kio is right there, remember," Asemu snapped back.

"And you do remember that I'm not five, right," Kio reminded his older brother.

"Girls, girls, you're all pretty, but if you don't mind, Woolf and I would like to head out and do some leveling of our own," a young woman that seemed to between the ages of Flit and Asemu suddenly cut in before the brotherly feud could go any further. The woman in question had a confident smirk on her face, and wore her blue hair in a short ponytail while her bangs were held back by a red headband. The rest of her outfit consisted of a uniform that was similar to Woolf's save for the fact that she wore a brown jacket and a dark red shirt.

"Alright, just be careful out there you two, and make sure your team stays safe," Flit cautioned. "Arisa, I'm counting on you to make sure Woolf doesn't go crazy."

"Why do you have so little faith in me, Flit," Woolf moaned in false hurt while Arisa just rolled her eyes at her teammate before pushing him to the point where they could call out their MSs.

"Don't let it bother you too much, Woolf," Asemu said. "He's just making sure that the Vagan AGE Guild doesn't fall too far behind all the other major players."

* * *

"Well these Vagan AGE guys sound driven," Feldt commented.

"That's one word for it," Setsuna agreed. "Though Wong Liu Mei thinks that some of their members might be a little too driven in some regards. Particular in the case of one of the Asuno brothers."

"What makes her say that?"

"Wong Liu Mei had learned from a very reliable source that Flit Asuno seems to hold a deep seated hatred for Aeolia Schenberg after a close friend of his was killed in a battle. She doesn't know when the battle was or what it was even for, but the theory is that it happened during one of the boss raids or another similar battle. Now he's basically sworn to kill anyone that would willingly side with Schenberg for whatever reason or even Aeolia Schenberg himself."

Feldt did not like the sound of that. From what Setsuna said, it almost sounded like the oldest Asuno brother intended to hunt down Aeolia Schenberg even after this was all over so that he could kill the man in person just so he could avenge that one friend. She could sort of understand where Flit was coming from, having had similar thoughts herself in regards to the man who had killed her birth parents, but from what Setsuna was saying, it seemed like Flit wanted to actually go through with that plan. The idea of someone with such a mind-set leading one of the strongest guilds in the game made her feel a little sick to the point where she was sure that she had nearly thrown up in her mouth, but she was able to compose herself before such an occurrence could happen.

After taking another minute to regain her ability to swallow, Feldt looked to Setsuna and went on to ask, "Are there any other guilds like those two?"

"There is one," Setsuna confirmed. "The one that's said to be the strongest guild in all of GWO, and they've made it clear that their primary mission in this game is to end Gundam War Online. Though I have to wonder a little about their choice of name."

"Why? What do they call themselves," Feldt inquired, only to receive two words in answer before Setsuna revealed what he knew about the group.

"…Celestial Being."

* * *

From their current frontline base, the leader of Celestial Being could clearly see his various troops preparing for both the scouting mission to gather Intel on the next boss, and the raid that would soon follow after it. The man in question wore a standard uniform that was common for all the guild members of Celestial Being, that being a pair of white pants, black boots, brown gloves and belt, a white shirt that had a green diamond in the center of the chest while the top portion of the shirt above the diamond was a certain color, purple in the case of this particular man, and a long-sleeved jacket that was the same color as the top half of his shirt. The Celestial Being guild leader also had dark violet hair and dark red eyes that were hidden behind a pair of glasses, and his face currently held an impassive look on it.

As he studied his troops in their various drills and workouts, he could not help but think back to the words that had been spoken during the opening ceremony of GWO, and how Schenberg had said that this was all to end war. Unlike most of the people that were trapped in this game, he actually had to agree with what Schenberg was doing; the man had essentially forced thousands of people into a war unlike any other, and if everyone in the world saw this entire thing unfolding, they would be forced to recognize the foolishness of continuing down the violent path that humanity was currently walking. Many would say that he was crazy to be agreeing with Aeolia Schenberg's plan, but the leader of Celestial Being would say he preferred to think of it as being a little more open-minded without letting his hatred of the man who created this world blind him.

He was soon interrupted from his train of thought when one of his advisors entered the room to speak with him. This man being just a bit taller than him and had short, black hair, while his Celestial Being uniform was white and dark grey, and he stood at slight attention as he said, "Tieria, I think I've got something you might like to see."

The purple haired man turned his full attention to his guildmate and asked, "What is it Lasse?"

"We just received confirmation that there are now two more players that have MSs powered by GN Drives. That makes a total of six such players, counting you."

Tieria paused for a moment to let this information sink in, before he finally nodded in thanks to Lasse and dismissed his current second-in-command for the moment, leaving him alone with his thoughts. "So, all the original GN Drives seem to have been found now. The first one only being in use at the start of the game because the player was a beta tester who gained it from landing a last attack bonus against the second floor boss during the beta, just like he did this time. Then there was that one GN Drive that was found by another player in a quest on Floor One who ended up partnered with the Gundam Meister, and not long after that the GN Drive Artillery was found by Lockon Stratos when he defeated Hell Zeong Galaxy. And of course, there's also my GN Drive Heavy Assault that I gained after I received the last attack bonus on Floor Twelve. Now two more have been discovered. The only question is when did they find them and whether or not we can persuade them to join us."

Tieria paused in his train of thought once again before he looked back out at the members of his guild that were still training or just finishing up with their daily routines for the day, and after watching for another minute, he found himself commenting aloud, "It won't matter if they join us right away or not. In the end, all the current GN Drive users will be united together under the same flag, because it is their power that will ultimately end this world, and lead the way to the end of war. That is all the more reason to believe that they will soon be joining Celestial Being."

* * *

"I…honestly don't know what to think about this guild," Feldt finally said a minute after Setsuna finished telling her about Celestial Being.

"Neither do I," Setsuna admitted. "All I know is that their leader, Tieria Erde, uses a GN Drive like my Exia and your Sakura do, and that there are in fact others using GN Drives now besides us three."

"And one of those people is Lockon," Feldt finished. "Those things are pretty rare. I mean, every time I've looked them up in the game directories, I've only found that they're supposed to be unique MS equipments that serve as the ultimate power source for an MS."

"I know," Setsuna nodded. "That's why I think that anyone who has a GN Drive is someone to seriously consider in one way or another. Whether they should be considered a threat or otherwise…well, that still remains to be seen."

"Well, what about Lockon? He has a GN Drive now too, and he definitely seems like someone who could be a great ally," Feldt reasoned.

"As far as I know, Lockon Stratos is probably the only one we can really trust, but since I've yet to meet Tieria Erde outside of battle, or even so much as see the other two GN Drive users, I can't really say one way or another," Setsuna swiftly replied.

"Did Wong Liu Mei at least tell you what Lockon's doing now," Feldt asked.

"Apparently, he's been acting as a part-time merchant so he could sell high-level weapons and equipment to struggling players while also donating whatever extra money he has to the players who really need it. Beyond that, he's helping to push forward in the fight like the rest of us," Setsuna informed Feldt.

Feldt only nodded in response to this, and then looked away from Setsuna for a minute as she lightly bit her lip in nervousness. This quickly caught Setsuna's attention, mostly due to the fact that he did not normally expect this kind of thing from Feldt now-a-days, so if she was getting nervous about something, there was usually some sort of big reason. At least, it would be a rather big reason in the young girl's opinion, because a lot of times when she was that nervous or anxious about something, it was for a reason that Setsuna did not usually consider to be all that important or just thought was silly, but he would never say that to her or even out loud, mostly because he did not want to upset her too greatly by letting her know he thought that. Despite her shyness and her usually calm, kind demeanor, Setsuna could still well remember how she had effortlessly managed to put a sword at two of the most vulnerable points on his Gundam when they first met, and that alone was rather scary to the normally stoic Gundam Meister.

After another minute or so, Feldt opened her inventory and produced a small package that she quickly held out to Setsuna. "Merry Christmas, Setsuna," Feldt softly said, surprising Setsuna with such an action. "I know you said that the holiday isn't really part of your religion, but I still felt that I should at least give you something, so…"

Setsuna was not sure what to think in regards to this. Yes, he had told Feldt that he did not celebrate Christmas because it was not part of his birth family's religion, but he had not expected her to still find a present to give to him. Naturally he was touched by the gesture, but he did not really know what to say in response to it, so he just silently accepted the gift before slowly opening it. When he did, he found that Feldt had given him a new scarf to replace the one he currently had, which was starting to wear out in terms of durability, and after running the dark red fabric through his fingers, Setsuna could tell that this was not something that one could just purchase at any of the stores in the game, especially when he saw that the end of the scarf had what looked like an image of Exia's head on the end.

"Did you make this," Setsuna finally asked after a minute of silence.

Feldt seemed to brighten up a little when she heard that question and replied, "Yeah, I did. It took a lot of work to level up my Crafting Skill so that I could do it, but if you like it then it was definitely worth it." When Setsuna glanced down at the scarf again, Feldt's face seemed to fall a little along with her spirits as she asked, "You do like it…right?"

Not wanting to give his partner the wrong idea, Setsuna quickly assured Feldt, "Yes, yes, I do like it. It's just that…well, I've…I've never really received a present like this before."

"You haven't," Feldt asked.

"Well my birth parents did not really have much more than what they could get just to get a cake for birthdays and such, and everyone in my foster family is always busy so they don't usually have time to get more than a gift card or something," Setsuna explained.

That broke Feldt's heart a little when she heard that, until she realized something that Setsuna had not mentioned. "What about your friends," the pinkette asked. "You know, all the ones you have IRL. Didn't they ever give you anything for something like your birthday or anything?"

"I don't have any friends," Setsuna revealed. "Most people tend to avoid me because I come off as being cold and being…well, let's just say that they don't think I'm one to really carry a conversation or anything."

This time Feldt could really feel her heart breaking for Setsuna. It was one thing for family to always be busy and not be around for you, but the idea of not having any friends at all just because everyone was afraid of you for some reason was just too sad for her to even bare thinking about. Hearing that Setsuna had to deal with that kind of life for so long was really upsetting for Feldt, and so, without even thinking, Feldt was quickly moving closer to Setsuna until she had wrapped him in a tight, warm hug, much to Setsuna's surprise. "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore, because you've got me," Feldt softly reassured Setsuna. "I mean, I consider you to be my friend, maybe even one of my only friends in this whole nightmare of a game, if not my best friend."

Setsuna was completely stunned by both the girl's actions and her declaration. Normally, if anyone other than his foster family were to get this close to him, he would shove them off and shout for them to not touch him, but something about this girl kept him from doing that, and when she said what she did, that feeling only grew. After another tense minute or so, Setsuna could feel a small smile reaching his face as he slowly returned the hug and whispered, "Thank you, Feldt Grace."

The two stayed like that for a few more minutes until they finally released one another so that they could turn in for the night. Thought Feldt did so with more of a blush on her face, there was no denying that she was beaming the entire time she was getting ready for bed.

* * *

Later that same night, Feldt woke up with a start, panting so heavily that you would think she had just run the longest marathon in her life. Such a thought could further be enforced by the sweat that had now drenched her body, but in truth, it was mostly because of something that had woke her up many times before in the past. That did not mean that she was able to keep from tucking her knees into her chest as she silently cried into her arms, because the nightmare she just had was one that she had always hoped she would never have again, yet it kept coming back to her. After her tears had finally subsided, she would have normally gone to Chris or her parents for comfort, or down to the family kitchen for a snack that would ease her nerves, but she knew that she could do neither of those things because she was trapped in GWO. Unfortunately, she also knew she would not be able to get back to sleep after waking up from that nightmare, so that was why she found herself deciding to do what she was doing right now.

"Um…S-Setsuna," Feldt stammered in a whisper as she gently shook her friend in the darkness of the night.

After a couple more shakes, Setsuna finally stirred from his slumber and turned a bleary pair of eyes towards Feldt. When he saw the state that the girl was in, he quickly figured out something was wrong, and quickly asked, "What is it, Feldt Grace?"

"I…had a nightmare…about the night that my parents were killed," Feldt admitted, though she had to mentally scold herself for sounding like a small child that had gotten caught with their hand in the cookie jar when she said that.

After staring at her for a minute, Setsuna just nodded in understanding before he scooted over in his bed and said, "Get in." Feldt jumped a little at the sudden order, and Setsuna went on to say, "That is why you woke me up, right? To see if you could sleep next to me in order to calm you down enough so you could go back to sleep?"

Admittedly, that was the reason why Feldt had woke him up, but she did not expect him to beat her to the punch and just offer her to sleep next to him like that. Still, she nodded a thank you in response and slowly climbed into the bed until she was lying next to Setsuna with her back facing towards him. "G-goodnight Setsuna," Feldt nervously stammered, seeing as she's never shared a bed with a boy before.

"Goodnight Feldt Grace," Setsuna sleepily yawned, even though he could tell that she was still a bit uncomfortable with this arrangement. That did not mean he went right back to sleep though, but rather, he stayed awake as best as he could as he waited for her to say something else in an attempt to relax herself a little more before she finally dozed off.

Setsuna was not let down in his assumption, as almost a minute later, he heard Feldt ask him, "Why do you always call me that?"

It was not really a question that Setsuna was expecting, and that was all the reason for him to turn over so that he could face the girl, allowing him to see that she had done the same at some point as well. "What do you mean," Setsuna asked.

"You always refer to me by my full name and never as just my first name. I mean, sure you sometimes don't do that, like in the heat of a moment in a very intense battle, but every other time, you always call me by my full in-game name. Why is that," Feldt clarified.

Setsuna was not really sure how to answer that in a way that she would understand or not be offended by. In all honesty, he had actually done that with a lot of people for the longest time because he did not want to get too close to anyone, due to the fact that he felt like every time he did get close, he would always be hurt like he had when his parents died or when he found out the truth about his foster family. Then he remembered that Feldt had been through a similar experience to his own and after taking another minute to think on it, he finally said, "It's nothing too personal. It's just something I've done for a long time now because of what had happened to me, and because I didn't want to get hurt again by getting close to someone."

Feldt nodded in understanding, knowing exactly why Setsuna would feel that way since he had told her about his past, and since she had gone through the same thing, and after another minute of silence, she looked him in the eyes and said, "Feldt."

"What," Setsuna asked, not really understanding what she meant by that.

"That's what I want you to call me from now on," Feldt elaborated. "No more of the 'Feldt Grace' stuff. Just call me Feldt. After all, it would be a little strange if you weren't on a first name basis with me, wouldn't it?"

Setsuna just stared at Feldt for a minute or so, until he finally let a smile slip onto his face again for the third time that night, and nodded as he said, "Understood…Feldt."

Feldt nodded in return, and soon after that, she was fast asleep once more. As he stared at her sleeping form for a minute, Setsuna could not help but think about what having this girl around was doing to him. He was not saying that having her around was a bad thing, but it was certainly doing something to him that he had not experienced in a long time, if ever, at least not as far as he could remember. When he suddenly heard her muttering his name in her sleep, he found a fourth smile reaching his face that night, and he was soon subconsciously wrapping his arms around the girl as he drifted off to sleep as well while he whispered, "Thank you for being my first and best friend Feldt."

With that, Setsuna also drifted off to sleep, never knowing that Feldt had gained a small smile of her own as she slept, indicating that somewhere in her dreamland, she had heard what Setsuna said, and that she was very happy to hear him say that.

* * *

**_AN: So yeah, there's the aftermath of the battle that took place at the end of the last chapter, we got some more Setsuna&amp;Feldt moments, and look at that. Cameos galore this time around! Yeah I've set up some of the major player guilds in this story and showed you some of its biggest members, and yes, they are all from various Gundam Series outside of the Universal Century._**

**_First off, of course in case you didn't already know, was the team from the After Colony timeline of Gundam Wing. Yes, everyone other than Zechs has their original machines, and yes, I did not include Wufei or Quatre in the team, because frankly, I honestly just went with the guys that I knew better. This is actually the line-up of Gundam Wing playable characters that you get in the video games Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 and Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn, in case you were wondering, with the addition of Noin, and yeah, this story's version of Relena is also in the game, but I wouldn't expect her to be heavily involved in the fighting if I were you. I mean, this is Relena after all._**

**_Second off is the three heroes from Gundam Age. Yeah in this story Flit, Asemu, and Kio are brothers instead of being three different generations of heroes and all that, because really, I just couldn't see that same thing working here in the way I wanted it to. Also, yeah, Flit's hatred of Aeolia Schenberg is based off of how he was so hateful and vengeful towards the Vagans in the series, and yes, the irony of my decision to call them the Vagan AGE Guild is not lost on me, that's why I had named it as such._**

**_Finally, go on and be honest, how many of you knew that Celestial Being was going to end up being one of the guilds in this story? Yes, Tieria is leading the guild, because frankly, since Sumeragi is not in the game and is Feldt's adopted mother, who else did you think would lead the group? And furthermore, before any of you start wondering or making assumptions, yeah, they are going to end up being like the Knights of the Blood Oath in this story. How much like said guild they will be like, you'll just have to wait and see for yourself._**

**_Also, I mentioned the A-Laws as one of the guilds because I wanted to show that not every guild formed was going to be one of the good guilds, but really, the idea I was going for here was actually that they were similar to how the Aincrad Liberation Army was like in SAO. You know, a group that was formed to help people but ended up getting twisted around when some idiot came along and started getting all greedy, selfish, and...well, you get the idea._**

**_Oh, and before anybody says anything, yeah, Wong Liu Mei and her brother are like Argo in this story, because honestly, what other role could you see them playing in such a tale, and what better role could I give them?_**

**_Speaking of bad guilds though, yeah, you should probably expect a group like Laughing Coffin to show up at some point, because really, how can you not expect people like that to crop up in something like this, and I can tell you that such a thing will lead to a certain confrontation that you may or may not remember from Gundam 00._**

**_As for the names of the guilds, I basically thought up most of them from off the top of my head using some recognizable names and things from the series that each group comes from._**

**_Now, like I said earlier, I can't promise a quick update to follow this one, mostly because I don't want to accidentally turn that promise into a big fat lie again..._**

**_Setsuna: Which would be easier to avoid if you would put as much focus into this as you do some of those other ideas._**

**_AN: Let it go, Setsuna. Anyways, I will try my best to get another update for this out as soon as I can, but I do have other stories that I need to work on, and I've also got my own trials and problems of life to deal with as well. As much as that sucks and we don't want to have such things, we all do, right? So just try to be patient with me, or at least as patient as you can be, until we meet in this story again when we come to..._**

**_Next time…_****Chapter VI: Twin Terrors****_._**

**_Please read and review, and I'll see you next time! Logging out._**


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