Episode 21 Tonkii

During this arc, Kirito and Suguha essentially accidentally stumbled into Jötunheim. There, they encounter two evil-god monsters fighting, one of them being a giant jellyfish-isque creature. It appeared that the jellyfish-isque monster was being picked on by the other evil-god monster [who was clearly winning]. Suguha, overcome by a sense of obligation, persisted to aid the jellyfish-isque monster with Kirito.
This is a highly unusual action given the state of things. Evil-god monsters are perhaps the most difficult of monsters; they drop the best items in the game, and they possess a significant amount of money [remember the allusion given by the Lords when Kirito gave them the money?]. The typical player would "tag" Tonkii by attacking it, then allowing the opposing monster to defeat it -- since a monster is not capable of looting, the spoils of the kill would transfer to the next party, which in this case, would be the players who tagged it. Nevertheless, Kirito and Suguha helped the jellyfish, bully victim; they did this primarily by giving it its preferred element of water -- they were currently sparring on land, but once they reached water, Tonkii turned overpowered and shit.
After the fight, they were a little confused as to what Mr. Jellyfish Monster was doing. He wasn't hostile, but rather, he offered them a ride on its back. This is especially strange behavior, considering that the typical response of a monster would be to attack. Suguha named the monster Tonkii after a childhood book. They reasoned that saving Tonkii was a precursor to an event quest [quests activated by an anomalous catalyst]. They soon encounter an evil-god mod monster hunting group -- Kirito, being Kirito, disposes of them with the power of friendship. After forcing a retreat of elite soldiers, they continue travelling. There, they encounter a very particular weapon; it's described to be perhaps the "best" in the game, but to attain it, you would need to clear through the entire dungeon [at this point, they're simply passing by the sights on Tonkii, who now has the ability to fly -- imagine being on a helicopter outside a skyscraper looking into the windows, it's essentially analogous to that -- they see it, but they can do little to interact with it]. Soon afterwards, they separate from Tonkii. Suguha tells Tonkii to not allow the other evil gods to bully him, and proceeds on her way to Aarun, where we are now.

<strong>School Schedule</strong>: When Kirito offers Lyfa the courtesy of logging off for school, he's doing it under the assumption that Lyfa's an average student. Since Suguha's in her last year of junior high, and since she's already been accepted to high school, she seldom attends -- she only needs to show up for kendo [but since she's essentially "practicing" in ALO, her instructor lets her be]. Kirito himself does not have school, he's considered a victim of the SAO incident, and in being so, will be assigned alternative education

<strong>MvM Battles</strong>: In ALO, battles between monsters typically only occur on three occasions.
1. If a monster is tamed by a Cat Sith [race], then it could be used as a combat pet
2. A Puca [race] can play a melody, confusing or agitating the monster.
3. A monster can be manipulated via illusion-type magic [Typically by Spriggans].

<strong>Tonkii</strong>: When Suguha was little, she had read a picture book that revolved around an elephant named Tonkii. After a certain war, an order was given to dispose of the fierce creatures at the zoo [because elephants are fierce, and because arbitrary orders to murder fierce animals after wars are normal]. The zookeeper, crying and sorrowful, put poison in Tonkii's feed. But since Tonkii was a smart elephant, he did not eat the food. Tonkii died starving while receiving repeated cheers from the bystanders who noted his audacity and intelligence. Suguha cried whenever Midori read her the story. True story.
Elephants = Jellyfish.

<strong>Jötunheim</strong>: Home of the evil-god monsters. Added a month ago as part of a major update, most of it is still unexplored due to its difficulty. Reportedly, less then ten people have set foot within this zone [which is totally ridiculous for an actual MMORPG, but let's follow the storyline here]. They theorized that since they were one of the first few to have entered the zone, they had triggered some sort of event quest [which does exist in some MMORPGs; in WoW, it was the opening of the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj]. They also took into consideration their very peculiar circumstances; a normal hunting party would have attacked one of the monsters; it was ridiculous [from an objective, gaining viewpoint] of Suguha to pity an evil-god monster; Tonkii could have been a very simple kill. But since they saved Tonkii, it could have been an unusual catalyst in activating this event quest.

<strong>«Freedom of Spirit»</strong>: Suguha's feelings of a verisimilar virtual reality. During the fight against the Undine, evil-god-monster-hunting group, «Crescent Moon Bay», the narrator goes on to mention Suguha's philosophy on internet relationships. Although they were clearly playing against hostile players [who wanted to kill Tonkii], they had to realize that they were real people too. In a typical MMORPG, a person becomes less personable and more egotistic as they attain more gear; Suguha believes that virtual reality allows one to be effusive with their emotions without outlash that would be typically incurred in real life -- but, as a person becomes more attuned to the game, they become less of who they really are online [contrary to her thesis], and more like a specific "gamer" [someone who focuses on the mechanics of the game more than the mechanics of the real world; e.g: a very dedicated roleplayer who has difficulty delineating reality from fantasy].