Link Start

"Link start!" a voice breaks the silence of the cold, quiet apartment in Tokyo. The Japanese Rising Sun and American Stars and Stripes hung from the nearby wall. Outside, car horns and sirens sound throughout the metropolitan city. A window shows the view of a pond surrounded by a park with the sun rising to its right. Next to the window was a bed. On it, a figure laid down on the red mattress.

The male figure was clad in light brown combat fatigues with the patch representing the rank of sergeant major on his chest. He wore a NerveGear helmet on his head, lights blinking on the right temple. A light brown combat helmet rested on a table beside a glowing computer monitor. A pair of dog tags rested on his chest, rising and falling with each deep breath. On it read: "Hashimoto/Shijo/9276391/A."

That was me. My name is Shijo Hashimoto. I am 26 years old. When I was just a baby, my family moved from Japan to America, to Florida to be precise. When I graduated high school, I enlisted in the American Army. That explains why I was wearing a uniform and why I had an American flag hanging on my wall. I retired as at the rank of sergeant major, hence my patch on my chest. I actually was part of the Rangers. But enough about me. This is the story of my time in SAO.

I was transported to the world of Sword Art Online, the virtual MMORPG on the NerveGear. Today was the first day of its release and already five thousand people have logged into the game which took place on a flying castle in the sky called Aincrad.

I looked around, taking in all the immense beauty of the virtual world. I was in the Town of Beginnings, on the bottom floor of the castle on the clouds. There was a total of 100 floors. The castle itself was shaped like an upside down ice cream cone, with the size of the floors shrinking as you made your way to the top.

I noticed that I stood at the middle of a circular plaza, with a structure next to me. The structure looked like Big Ben from England with a brass bell on top. There was a rectangular platform where players can stand to teleport to other areas of Aincrad. There was a huge plaque on the platform. The platform itself had four obelisks standing at the corners.

The plaza itself was huge. I heard it was the largest plaza in the entire game. People were appearing as they spawned here. I also noticed that there was a huge black dome sticking out of the clear blue sky. That was the Black Iron Palace.

I've been here before. I was a beta tester when the beta was out. And to be honest, most of the beta testers didn't know jack shit about RPGs. There was only one dude who made it to the eighth floor. Was his name Kiraco? Hell, I dunno. I've only made it to the third floor myself.

Anyways, I walked around the Town of Beginnings. I walked past stores and stands selling weapons and healing items. That oughta be useful. I must've been walking around for hours because the sun started to set, it's golden rays shining.

I stopped to take a look at my reflection on the glass pane. My avatar is different from what I looked like back in the real world. Here, I was a tall and buff man with short brown hair on a light brown head. My face was shaped like a box, with a wicked looking scar across my left eye. I had a huge mouth and a face of a hardened veteran, which I was in the real world. I was wearing a desert brown sweater with a steel breastplate, wearing it like a bra. I was wearing a pair of dark brown cloth pants. I had a short sword strapped on my back.

I stood there for maybe a couple minutes. I was lost in a gaze until I felt someone tapping on my shoulder.

I turned around and saw a beautiful woman standing in front of me. And I mean gorgeous. I probably had to resist the urge to ask her out. She had brown and wavy hair flowing over her shoulders. Her freckles looking like small, brown polka dots on her rosy perfect cheeks. I looked down and just lost it. Long story short, girl got curves. She wore something that looked like my attire, except that her dress was red and she wore a skirt of the same color. She wore brown, knee-high boots.

"Hi." said the woman. She sounded like an angel from heaven. Calm down Shi. I told myself, For all I know, she could be a he.

"Hello." I squeaked. Did I just fucking squeak? I cleared my throat and tried again. "Hey." I said as deep and confident as I can. I can feel myself turning red with embarrassment.

"Can you help me? I'm trying to find the log out button, but I think it's missing." she asked.

"Uh huh." I said, staring in her almond shaped eyes. Her light brown eyes shimmering in the setting sun.

Wait, setting sun? What time is it? I asked myself. I opened my menu really quick, the white interface appearing in front of me. The analog said 1700. I set my clock settings to military time, so it's five in the afternoon.

"What do you need help with again?" I asked the woman, completely forgetting what she had asked me.

"I can't find the log out button." she answered.

"Whaddya mean?" I asked, totally puzzled. She opened her menu and scrolled all the way down. The button that was supposed to log players out of the game and out of the NerveGear helmet was gone. It was just a blank slate. I scrolled down my menu and I saw the same problem.

"Huh. Probably just a bug. The devs are probably gonna fix it in a couple hours." I calmly explained.

"Really? I wanna get out now." she said, sounding a little worried.

"Relax, ma'am. This game is new and people are still working out the kinks." I assured, "Don't worry miss..."

"Naomi." she finished my sentence. Her name was Naomi. Well, at least her avatar name.

"Miss Naomi." I said. "Please, just call me Naomi." the woman named Naomi said, smiling.

"Well, nice to meet ya. I'm Shi." I said, holding my hand out towards her. She took it and shook it.

My name in this world was Shi. People wouldn't use their own names as their username, right? It's like giving away your information to strangers. Anyways, my friends in the Army called me Shi. They got Shi from Shijo. Sergeant Shijo "Shi" Hashimoto. Get it? Shi, Shijo? Play on words. I'm rambling, aren't I?

"Hey, do you feel a weird, tingling sensation?" I asked. My entire body felt like it was being tickled.

"Yeah," she said, "I do. Is that nor-"

The next thing I knew, we were teleported back to the plaza. Someone forced teleported us here?

I looked around and I saw Naomi standing next to me. All of the players have been teleported to the plaza. "Shi." she called out. "What the hell?" I asked myself. "Look." she pointed at the sky. A red hexagon floated in the sky. The hexagon multiplied into thousands, creating a dome around the plaza.

"The sky's bleeding." I nervously joked, watching the "blood" trickling from the sky form into a large red figure of a robed, faceless man.

"I am Kayaba Akihiko," the voice boomed, "the creator of SAO and a developer of NerveGear.

"You may have noticed that the log out button is missing from the menu. I can assure you that is not a bug. I've removed it from the menu deliberately. You are all my slaves and I own you all. If any person tries to remove your NerveGear... let's just say that you die. Already, two hundred and thirteen people have died from this. The only way out is to work your way to the one hundredth floor and beat the final boss. And if you die in here, you die in real life.

"Oh, and I've put a little gift in your inventory. Go ahead and take a look for yourselves." the robed man said.

I opened my inventory and clicked on the one thing there. The item then appeared in front of me. It was a hand mirror. I looked at Naomi, who was also holding a mirror. A flash momentarily blinded me.

When I blinked the stars out of my eyes, I looked at my mirror and saw myself. But it wasn't my avatar, it was myself. My actual self. I was still pretty tall and muscular, but my face was different. The scar across my eye was gone and I looked a little younger than my avatar. I had a small chin jutting out of my head. My eyebrows looked a little thick, but not too thick. I didn't look really bad in real life, but I wasn't what you would call Mr. Perfect. I looked towards to where I last saw Naomi.

She didn't really change. She was a little shorter, probably at chin level at best. Least she still got her curves... I'm an asshole. Her face didn't really change, except for her hair. It was still wavy, but it was blond instead of brown. Blond! Even better! is what I would've thought if I didn't just find out that I could die at any moment.

"And to you I bid thee good morrow!" Akihiko said, his voice echoing through the plaza. His body dissolved into nothing, the red hexagons that covered the skies were cleared. Nothing could be heard, only the eerie whisper of the wind.

It was like that for about a minute or two. Everyone stared at each other as if they were the ones who were gonna save them. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

Suddenly, like a flock of birds startled at a toddler running at them, panic ensues. Cries and screams of people who want out pierce the silence. Many people ran every which way, threatening to stampede over Naomi and I.

"Follow me!" I grab Naomi's hand and pulled her out of harms way. I led on with Naomi following nearby to a small alleyway. The panicking people mostly stayed over at the plaza.

"Okay, we're safe." I said, panting and out of breath.

"What do you mean 'we're safe'?" Naomi growled, sounding slightly pissed.

"Calm down, you're still processing things." I said, holding my hands up as if I'm telling her to be steady.

"We're gonna die! If we get killed here, we get killed there!" she said, clearly pissed, "How are you telling me to calm down!" This is not working. How am I gonna calm her down?

"Trust me, we're staying alive. I promise I'll get us out of this." I said, sounding determined. I didn't get killed over in Afghanistan, I wasn't gonna let a measly game kill me. A game that could kill me in an instant. One where if I die in here, I die in real life. I'm now starting to get scared. I started to fully grasp the situation. What do I do?

"Come one Shi. You're a soldier for fucks sake. You're a Ranger. Rangers lead the way." I silently reminded myself of who I was. I reminded myself of the Rangers motto. Rangers lead the way. Lead the way. That's it! I'll lead Naomi and whoever joins up with us! I watch her ass, she watches mine. And maybe, just maybe, we'll get outta this shitstorm.

"Come with me to the next town over. There's nothing much here for us anyways." I proposed. We stood there for about 30 seconds, Naomi still thinking things over.

After what felt like a while, Naomi broke the silence, "Okay. I'm going with you. I trust you."

She trusts me. We've only met today and she already trusts me. I smiled and she smiled back. Seeing her smile made me feel like I was already outta here, already outta this shithole. She made me feel at peace.

Shi, we still have a game to beat.

One month later, Tolbana

It's been one month. One fucking month. Already, 2,000 players have lost their lives this cruel mistress we call SAO. Twenty percent of people have died, yet we haven't gotten anywhere close to beating the game. We're still only on floor one. Floor fucking one. Morale is lower than a bomb crater. At the rate we're going, we'll all die before the tenth floor. No one knows where the goddamn floor boss is. 8,000 lives are still stuck in this fucking game.

Naomi and I walked through the streets of Tolbana. I wore a light brown scarf that I found from a monster drop over my mouth and a two handed longsword on my back. Naomi had her one handed sword in its sheath on her belt. "Hey, Naomi?" I said.

"Yeah?" she answered, looking at me. The streets we walked through were almost dead silent. No one wanted to try and beat the game. They just wanted to live, even if they had to live in this world.

"If we get the chance to be on the frontlines, to risk our lives to get everyone the hell outta here, would you do it?"

Naomi just stared at me, as if she was still thinking about it. Just then, someone interrupted us. "Hey, you two!" the guy called out, "There's a meeting at the ampitheater if you guys wanna go!"

I turned to look at him. There was a man standing across the street. "You talking to us?" I asked. "

Yeah. If you wanna go to the meeting, go over there." he told us, pointing towards the ampitheater. I looked back to Naomi.

"You wanna check it out?" I asked.

"Do we have a choice?" she replied.

Many people were sitting down in the seating area, which was raised above the ampitheater. The place looked like a pit. The center was at the bottom and the seating area stretched outwards and upwards. We took our seats in the back. At the ampitheater below, a man in armor and blue hair stood there.

"My name is Diavel, and I'm a knight." he said to the people at the ampitheater.

"There's no job systems in the game!" one player called out. The rest of the people laughed. I laughed too. I haven't had anything to laugh at in a while, so this felt really good.

"Okay, okay, settle down now." he calmed down the players. "Now," he continued, "on to the meeting. We have received intel on the boss room. And by intel, I mean that we've found it." The place suddenly got serious. "If my intel is solid, we will be fighting Illfang the Kobold Lord.

"I am calling you to fight alongside me, to help beat this floor. To get the people to believe that they can win this fight!" The people cheered. I looked behind me. There was a boy, maybe 13-ish, sitting next to a robed figure. Wait, is that him? It was that kid who made it to floor 8 in the beta. I don't remember his name though.

"This boss is not the type of boss where we can all hit it all together. He will have minions protecting him. This boss not the type of boss you could just swarm. That's why I'm telling you to get yourselves into groups. Preferably around six per group."

Everyone went to party up. I partied up with Naomi, but no one else would join our group. Fantastic. It's like the playground at elementary school. I was that odd man out when I was a kid. Everyone now sat in their respective parties.

"Wait!" a voice called out amongst the crowd. One man stood up and ran up to Diavel. "My name is Kibaou and some people here owe us an apology!" he demanded. He had light brown, spiky hair and a small spot of a beard on his chin.

"An apology?" Naomi asked, clearly confused.

"Who needs it and for what?" someone else called out.

"Beta testers did not help out us beginners and instead taking all the easy quests and hunting grounds for themselves!" he yelled.

I tensed up. Beta testers? Like I said, most testers were retarded dumbfucks who couldn't get past the first floor. How dare he had the nerve to call us practically cowards. "I bet that there are some beta testers here with us right now! We should make them give up all their money and equipment to us!" he demanded.

Naomi put her hand on my shoulder and I relaxed a little. "Hey, it's okay. I know you're trying your best." she assured me.

One man rose. The guy was huge. And I mean huge. The man walked up to the Kibaou dude. He basically towered over him. He was a huge muscular man with a huge wicked axe to go with his look slung on his back. He was a dark skinned man with a tough guy look. I'd like to have him in my party. "My name is Agil," he called out, "and beta testers did help us. If you look at your inventory, you'll see a little book there."

He pulled out a book from his inventory. "It was a guide. Written by the beta testers. It tells us what to do and what not to do. It even had some information on the bosses. So if you say that the testers did not help, you're wrong." he said. Kibaou looked away, clearly defeated. He sat back down. "You can continue now." Agil told Diavel.

"Okay! Let's talk strategy!" he called out. Finally, something I'm good at. I commanded a nine man squad when I was in Afghanistan and I played quarterback in high school. "Does anyone have any ideas?" he announced.

Naomi tapped on my shoulder. I looked towards her. "To answer your question," she said, "I would risk my life on the frontlines. I would do for the people here... and I would do it for you." The world around me turned silent. Did she say she would give my life for me? For me? I smiled on the inside. Finally I knew what to do.

I stood up. "Hey, come on down here man!" he waved towards me. I eagerly walked down to Diavel with Naomi beside me.

"Hey," I said while shaking Diavel's hand, "I'm Shi."

"Good to meet you Shi, I'm Diavel." the "knight" said, "So who's in your party?"

"Just me and Naomi." I said, pointing my thumb towards Naomi. Naomi smiled and waved.

"Just her?" Diavel looked confused.

"No one really wanted to join our party." I said, grinning.

"So, how can I help?" I asked. "Well, I do need an assistant for coordinating the fight." Diavel said.

"You got your man." I said confidently.

"I need to know if you are capable of these lives. I need to know I can put them in your hands." Diavel explained.

"Like I said, you got your man." I said.

"Have you ever had a life in your hands?" Diavel pressured me.

"Yes I have." I said, "Multiple lives. I was an American Army Ranger. I saw combat in Afghanistan. I led a squad at one point. I've been there, in the fight for our lives. I've killed and seen people on both sides be killed." It was true. I have seen the bloodiest battles in the region. I've lost some friends in the process. I just don't wanna lose anymore. This ain't Afghanistan and I'm outta the Army, but I can still lead the men in front of me.

Rangers lead the way.

A/N: Hello guys! This is my first SAO story and my first time trying to do a story in first person. I actually found out that doing first person is much easier. If you have any comments, please tell me in the reviews. Please be nice as well. If any of you are interested, check out my story on Gate: Jieitai Kanochi Nite Kaku Tatakaeri called The Captain. Anyways, I bid you adieu!

A/N: Just a small fix. Instead of stage, I changed it to ampitheater. Small mistake on my part. 7/31

A/N: Another small fix. Just changed some data in the dog tags. I found out that the last line is supposed to tell people what blood type. Just paying attention to detail. 9/9

A/N: Grammar fixes. 10/11