Sword art online: Aincrad's Flash

Stumbling to his feet, Toyo hesitated just long enough to see the young woman stop in the midst of her sprint down the alley, turn, and practically dive into a pile of old barrels and half-rotted cargo boxes. The abandoned wood exploded upon impact, sending broken boards and bent, rusty nails flying. She emerged from the debris a moment later, clutching a second screeching chicken to her chest. Before the little animal could wriggle out of her arms, she managed to seize one of the still intact cargo boxes and stuff it inside.

Smoothing back a now tangled mass of long black hair out of her face as she panted, the woman quickly grabbed one of the empty wine barrels, turned, and glanced at Toyo. To his surprise, he saw a tiny green cursor hovering about a foot above her head.

She was a player.

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Up until that moment, he had thought for sure he had run into an eccentric NPC with some sort of quest trigger for dumpster diving after chickens.

"Did you at least see where it went?" the girl asked in frustration as she started running again to close the distance between them. "Do you-" her eyes widened and her hand shot up, pointing past him- "there! Please help me grab it before it gets away!"

Toyo turned and immediately spotted it across the street. The large, bow-legged chicken was a brightly colored white- a stark contrast to both the grey hues of the stone buildings and the coppery dusk sky- and thus stood out boldly as it waddled over to some orange peels scattered in the gutter along the streetside. Though it had been incomplete hysteria not two minutes before- nearly knocking him unconscious in the process- the creature now seemed entirely oblivious to its surroundings.

Partially out of a desire to help, and partially out of guilt for not intervening the first time, Toyo quickly closed his menu and began crouch walking towards the chicken. Now that it was calm, he had no desire to get it excited again.

As soon he took a step, however, it's beady eyes shot up, stared at him daringly for a fraction of a second, and then it turned and bolted down a sidestreet.

At the same time, the young woman tore past him shouting, "that doesn't work! We have to catch her!"

Cursing under his breath, Toyo broke into a run beside her, and together they followed the chicken down the narrow road.

Over a dozen worn, mold stained houses flashed by as Toyo and the girl ran. Dogs barked at them from several open windows, a black cat hissed, and a gaggle of NPC beggars shouted angrily while scrambling aside.

"We're sorry, please excuse us!" the girl exclaimed as she all but jumped over a homeless man's self-made tent. She sounded sincere, but she never slowed her breakneck pace.

In fact, it was all Israel could do to keep up with her, yet no matter how fast they went, the half flying, half running chicken somehow seemed to maintain it's distance.

"How are we supposed to get the damned thing?" he asked loudly as they ducked under a pair of suspended construction workers pounding away on a wall.

"We're getting close to the end!" the girl panted. "We should be able to trap it soon."

Peering ahead as he ran, Toyo saw a gradual curve in the sidestreet. He couldn't see beyond it at first, but as they rounded the corner a moment later, he finally saw the truth in her words: there, about two hundred feet down the narrow road, a large stable filled with workhorses and bales of hay made up the end of the path. Decommissioned wagons scattered around the premises made up further obstacles, guaranteeing that there was no way for the chicken to get through.

They picked up their pace, but just as the marathon running chicken began to draw near the dead end, Toyo's eyes caught on two tiny alleys coming up rapidly on their right. The chicken was already beyond the more hidden of the two, but further ahead, the second one began to loom dangerously close.

The chicken flicked it's tiny head from side to side, examining first the incoming stables, then the encroaching side alley. A second later, it began to swerve to the right.

An idea came to him then, and without hesitation, Toyo split from the young woman beside him and bolted for the first of the right-hand and alleys.

"Chase it down the alley!" he shouted over his shoulder as he took off. "I'll try to flank it!"

She nodded and sped up, shooting past him as he dashed down the dark, uninhabited path.

The sharp, pungent odor of refuse and waste hit him like a wave, and the further he went down the narrow path, the worse it got. Trash, rotten food, and even human excrement lay scattered along the muddy ground or piled up in heaps against the sides of old buildings, the latter of which Toyo had to practically leap over in order to avoid. Puddles of rank, murky water covered the few open spaces free of waste, and within seconds, his beginner level linen boots were soaked through.

Of course, he thought bitterly as he ran. Just my luck to run into the city's trash can.