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

Chapter 17: A Request for Help

While there were a number of guilds we could have asked for help, a number of them were smaller guilds that were part of the assault team. They wouldn't bat an eye on matters below Aincrad. The fact that our requests were constantly ignored became quite frustrating.
However, once we were about to end our search, another guild, about the same size as ours, had asked us for help, just as we were asking them for help!

The guild, Kingdom Key, didn't have any outlining features like the other guilds in the game, in fact, they were similar to our guild. Perhaps that was why they wanted to ask us for help? Since our guilds weren't very well known.

"So... You guys are called 'Starshine' now, right? I could have sworn you guys were nameless yesterday..." The guild leader, Kami, explained. She seemed like she was older than I was, maybe a second or third year high schooler, I couldn't tell.

"Yeah. We couldn't think of a name before, but we did now." I responded.

"I see, I see! Now... Shall we talk about what I need help with?" She asked. I nodded a little after she spoke.

"Okay. A few days ago, an NPC gave us a quest to find a kind of weapon. We didn't get much information for it, yet based off the level requirement for it, we thought it was best to ask for help from other players." After her explanation, she opened up her menu, showing the quest in question to us. It was... Incredibly odd. Instead of a description of the quest, a riddle was given. 'When light passes through five clear crystals, the path will be shown to what you seek.', save for that cryptic note, there was nothing else, nothing that so much as hinted where we would be able to complete the quest.

"'When light passes through', huh..." I muttered to myself, trying to make sense of it. We were all silent for a few moments, until Murasaki eventually speaks up.

"Where exactly was this quest found? I think... We should go there to start. Since we don't have any other leads, it would be better than just sitting here trying to make sense of it." Murasaki explained.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that?!" Kami exclaimed.

"If I remember correctly, it's on the fifth floor. There are a number of monsters that seem like they're based off, I dunno, gemstones or something." As Kami explained the details of the quest, I looked over at my friends. As I looked at Minori, it seemed as if she was deep in thought.

"Minori, are you okay?" I asked. She looked up at me, as if surprised by my sudden question.

"Oh, no, I'm fine. I had some slight suspiscions before, yet... I think we'll be fine." She explained, nodding a few times after she spoke, attempting to reassure that everything was indeed okay. While I wasn't entirely sure everything was okay, I simply decided to take her word for it.

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Once we arrived at the designated location, we began searching for anything in the area that could possibly make reference to the quest. However, it wasn't as easy as we anticipated. After searching the entire forest, we found nothing that would help to lead the way. We stood in front of the entrance to the cave, one that had been blocked by a giant, unbreakable crystal- it was someone's suggestion to attempt to hack away at the crystal, yet that was incredibly useless.

"Maybe... Try breaking the crystal again?" Kurosuke asked, raising his sword above his head.

"No, let's try something else first-" Before I could suggest, well, anything, Kurosuke had lost his balance, causing not only himself to fall forwards, yet the sword he held in his hand. His weapon cut the crystal, creating a small dent while the tip of the blade scraped against it, creating a painful screeching sound.