Pokémon World Online [Pokémon and Sword Art Online Crossover Fanfiction.]

Chapter 15: Malice [Pt1]

After the first floor boss had been defeated, it seemed as if hope had been restored to the hearts of the many players in the game, a way out of this death game seemed so much closer.
However, there was something else the players had to worry about, betrayal. After all, not everyone shared the same goal of clearing the game.

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A few weeks after clearing the first floor, the Assault Team was planning to clear the fifth floor. However, we weren't going to participate in the assault, since we decided to take a break, we were all exhausted! Especially when one day, we went straight from the Guild Quest to the fourth floor boss, we didn't even have time to think of a name for the guild!
This time, while the Assault Team was fighting bosses, we were spending time below. After all, a friend of Cayden's told him there was somekind of battle competition happening in Sinnoh, so we decided to sign up.

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After we all teleported to Jubilife City in Sinnoh, Haruka ran over to the north exit out the city, waiting for us to catch up.

"So... We need to go this way to get to Veilstone City for the competition, it's being held in between Veilstone and Sunyshore Cities. Although... It's gonna take a while. However, there's a small workaround, if someone in our party has a Pokémon that knows Fly, and has been to Veilstone. Since our party's small, we'll be fine getting there, I assume the maximum would be 6, if the Pokemon were fully evolved." Haruka explained. We all looked at each other, sharing an equally surprised look, this discovery was certainly new.

"I think... We're all going to have to walk there. I don't think either of us have been before. Honestly, if this competition was in Kanto, we would be there by now, oh well." Murasaki responded, shrugging a little. With a heavy silence, we all begun to walk out of the city, yet just before we could, a kind of commotion began to unfold.

"Oh, so just because I leave your stupid guild, you assholes start stalking me! The hell is wrong with you guys?!" There seemed to be two players harassing another player, oddly enough, those two players were dressed identically, almost like... two grunts from a villianous team.

"You need to come with us, you'll expose the secrets of the guild." One of the supposed grunts said.

"Well, duh! Of course I will, unless you nutjobs tell me what actually happened with Cyrus. If you don't, I swear I'll-" The other player starts. Before she could continue, Haruka stepped towards them.

"Stop it! Stop fighting!" She shouted. One of the grunts simply glared at her, shoving her aside when she was close enough. The action seemed to irritate Cayden, who moved to fight, however, Murasaki was quick to stop him.

"You morons have gone far enough. Does your new damn boss think it's okay to harm other players?!" She shouts.

"Okay, that's enough here, break it up you lot," Speaking up, I stepped over to the argument, putting my hand in front of the other player, blocking them from the grunts, who simply looked towards me, then the girl, before leaving the city.

"Do you mind explaining what that nonsense was about? Why were those creeps being such, well, creeps?" She looked around the area before sighing a little.

"Fine, fine... Don't see why not. Just... I dunno, they're already pissed with me, let's keep things quiet for now, can we go somewhere private to talk?" She asked, sighing a little.

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The girl invited us into her hotel room, that is, only after we, hesitantly, agreed to help her with a particular task, it seemed there was more to this debacle than just those grunts harassing her.

"So. I imagine some of you would have at least heard of Team Galactic, right? Like, you may have started in this region, or you just assumed based off a similar thing in your own home regions, right?" She asked.

"Um... Yes. I remember they were fairly active for a while, before their activity suddenly ceased." Haruka explained.

"Correct. However, they're somewhat working in the shadows now. The former leader, Cyrus, he just...suddenly vanished. Poof. I can't seem to find any record of him in the game anymore." As she spoke, she pulled up the player search menu, swinging it around so we could all see.

"Do you think he, I dunno, died?" Kurosuke asked. The girl suddenly slammed her fist into the table, causing Kurosuke to yelp in surprise.

"No, dammit! Everyone keeps saying that! He can't be, I doubt it!" She shouted, sighing a little before continuing.

"Sorry, didn't mean to snap like that."

"I take it... They're someone important to you, right? I mean, the person playing the role of Team Galactic's leader, er, former leader." Cayden asked.

"Yeah. He's... Well, let's just say, I know him outside the game, that's all," She spoke. I couldn't help but wonder if there was something more that she wanted to say, yet I didn't bring it up.

"As for why those assholes were chasing me, their new leader's probably worried I'm gonna spill the beans on the nonsense they're planning now. I have a feeling they're gonna stalk me until I'm out of a town, they'll... probably try to PK." She glanced down at her feet after she spoke.

"If that's the case, we'll have to stop them. I'm not letting them get away with whatever they're planning." I spoke. She looked back up at me, grinning a little.

"Exactly! And I know just the way to do it," She spoke. Reopening her menu, she materialized a few pieces of paper with... rather cruedly drawn maps? I do hope they're maps...

"We're gonna storm their secret base and unveil their secret plans. To be honest, even though I was there for a while, I still didn't hear much of their plans, I did hear something about the competition that's being planned, that's quite worrying." As she spoke, Haruka moved to glance over at the maps.

"So... To break in, going through the front way would be suicide... What's the security like out the back of the place? If it's a mechanical door with something like a fingerprint scanner or the like, theoretically, I might be able to hack it. Although, I worry that I'll get caught, I don't know what the consequence could be... The system could consider it the equivalent of breaking into a guild hall, but I suppose, if we had a key or some form of entry instead..." Haruka mumbled, her focus on the maps seemingly unbreakable.

"No, no, it's fine," She responded, taking a card key out of her inventory.

"Seems like somekinda Master Key, I dunno, it just ended up in my inventory a few weeks ago, around the time I left Galactic."

"Oh, but if that's the case, then-" Haruka starts.

"Then we could use that to get in, no problem. I don't quite like to use force against others, yet if we do get caught, I suppose it would be possible to just knock them out or something." Cayden interrupted.

"...I was going to- whatever," Sighing a little after she spoke, Haruka glanced up at the girl.

"By the way, you are...?"

"Oh! Minori. By the way... Thanks for the help, you... have no idea how much it means to me." She smiled a little after she spoke.

We spoke about our plan for a few hours, eventually deciding that it was best to sneak into their Headquarters late at night, hoping that everyone was asleep.