Hello, people of the SAO fandom! It is I, Rozaleena Cortez (RozaCourt for pen-name-short). Some of you may know my Maximum Ride/SAO crossover fanfic The Flock vs the SAO Survivors. After becoming comfortable with this universe, I have decided to put my skills to the test by creating a new SAO story. I hope you all enjoy it!
This is a world where Asuna had not been able to convince her mother to allow her to continue playing RPG and stay in the school with Kirito and the others.
Disclaimer: I do not own SAO. No matter how much I wished I did on my birthday and Christmas.
Unknown POV; known POV (will be stated); 'known POV's thoughts'; 'unknown POV's thoughts'; "dialogue for the known"; "dialogue for the unknown"
Chapter one
I slashed at the boy in front of me again, grinning as he once again jumped back to narrowly miss my sharp blade. He is obviously attempting to keep me from lowering his HP to zero percent before he could find a way past my defenses (and offenses, apparently) and therefore win. But I have no intentions on losing my favorite Blade to a lame ass noob.
I kicked him quickly, sending him flying across the battle arena. I quickly did hand signs (A).
"Flames of Hell!" I yelled, slamming my right hand into the ground. After a moment, the arena was covered in jagged cracks that shot out flames at random intervals and locations.
"No, not this," the boy whispered as the other Hades representatives cheered at my ace Skill Power.
"Yes this. Come at me, if you dare."
The boy was visibly in an inner turmoil. After two minutes of waiting, I lost patience and unsheathed my second sword. I held both handles tightly in my hands, and he spoke as I lunged towards him.
"Alright, alright! I forfeit! Just take the Blade!" I stopped, my Blade and blade a mere millimeter away from his neck (Blade) and stomach (blade). I smirked as I pulled back and sheathed my swords.
"Nice battling you, Zeus apprentice. I will now take your Blade of Zeus." I smirked further as he transferred the Blade to me. This smirk turned to a cruel laugh that echoed through the arena as all Hades apprentices laughed along with me. "That's seven Blades, you weaklings! Attempt to keep up, or I will rule over this game within the month!" With that, I left the arena with my posse.
~Suguha's POV~
"Kazuto, we have to log in and get to the cabin in three minutes! What is taking you so long?!" I slightly whined, standing over my cousin. The raven was taking his time with drinking his hot chocolate, and I wanted nothing more than to log in and get to the meeting with the others.
"What's so important about this get together anyway, Sugu? We can just be a little late," he sighed.
"Silica said she had an announcement to make. A very important one."
"Sugu…." I dropped down next to him and gave him my very best pleading eyes, knowing I had him the instant he looked me in the eye. He sighed again, this time in frustration and mock exhaustion. "Fine, let's go. I'll meet you at the Floor's gate." I nodded, stood up, and sprinted to my room. As I prepared to go into the game, I looked up at the poster of Leafa and smiled.
I closed my eyes slowly. "Link start!"
I closed my eyes and leaned against the closest tree to wait for Kazuto. It's been a few months since Asuna left the VRMMORPG world for good, and sometimes I wonder if my cousin even wants to play anymore. But he always logs in everyday and goes on quests just like we used to before she left. Even if sometimes I have to force him to log in if he's feeling particularly down about not being able to see his girlfriend anymore.
"Alright, let's go, Leafa." I opened my eyes and gave Kirito a smile as he walked closer to me (B).
"Coming." We flew up and towards his cabin near the lake on this floor. It still surprises me he kept this cabin since he and Asuna had bought it together and had so many memories in there. But then again, I guess that is why he kept it, even if he usually avoids entering when it isn't imperative that he does.
"There you two are! We were just about to begin without you!" Lisbeth declared as she pulled us into the living room. As we sat on the only free couch, Yui appeared on her father's shoulder.
"Hi, Daddy and Leafa," she greeted sweetly. I gave her a smile before turning my attention to the now standing Silica.
"Ok, I can now make my announcement! I have found a new game!" My eyes widened along with everyone else's. "And when I looked online for the reviews to see how it is, a lot of ALO players were saying it's even better than ALO." I nearly jumped to my feet at this. A game that is better than Alfeim Online? Impossible.
"What's this game?" Sinon asked her.
"It's called Gods' Apprentice. The object of the game is to beat all 25 levels. It first launched this morning, and more players have logged in to it than the first day SAO was launched." Now that caught my attention. Sword Art Online the most successful launching than any other game I know of because so many people logged in to it. Of course, then Akihiko Kayaba ended up revealing SAO was basically a death game that is nearly impossible for anyone to beat completely. But that's beside the point. I started thinking.
"Hey, I think I've heard of that game before," I replied, tapping her finger on her chin as everyone looked at her. "I got it! The legend of the God's Apprentice!"
"What's this legend?" Klein asked me.
"Well, there's a second objective for the game, though it's more of a bonus. There are thirty six Blades of the Gods. Each player receives one of the two Blades of their Master God when they first log in and can earn the second later on in the game. Of course, there are other swords, but those are the most important. There are thousands of each Blade, but a single player can only have one of each. So say like a Zeus's Apprentice already has a Blade of Zeus. He can't get a second one because it's against the rules.
"However, this is where things get interesting." I leaned forward, and everyone followed suit. "You can challenge someone for their Blade. If you win the duel, you take the Blade your opponent wagered. So eventually, you can have all thirty six Blades.
"That is the legend of the God's Apprentice. If one player can manage to own all thirty six Blades at one time, he or she becomes The God's Apprentice and instantly wins the game. They then can rule over the entire game and receive real world prizes," I finished.
"But?" Kirito prodded, knowing there's more.
"But." I leaned back and sighed. "It's impossible. In order to be eligible to receive a particular Blade, you must have the correct game stats leveled up to the correct part. And to have all thirty six, you must have all stats maxed out. It's impossible for one person to do so because it takes too much time, energy, and money." The others sighed in disappointment and leaned back.
We remained silent for a moment before Silica spoke up. "I say we play it!" She raised her hand excitedly. I smiled and nodded.
"I think so too. It could be fun." The others looked at each other, and one by one they all agreed.
"We should all log in tonight to get a kick start. We'll all meet up in the Beginner's Square at… say, 6 o'clock?" Kirito suggested. We all nodded and stood up.
"See ya soon!" we chorused and all logged off.
~Line Break~
"It says here converters have even less input on what our avatars look like," I told Kazuto as we walked into the game store. I was reading from a magazine and summarizing it to him. "When we log in, our Master God or Goddess is chosen based on our past skill sets and personal personalities. Then our avatars' appearances are determined by our ALO, GGO, and SAO avatars."
"So basically we will look like a cross between games we've played before," he stated, scanning the game aisles.
"Yep. Though mine will only be a cross between ALO and now GA because that's all I've played." I sighed sadly before moving on. "Oh, there is no Beginner's Square. Or at least, there is, but that's not what it's called. In GA, there is a Tri-Brother Cavern. It's a triangle shaped cavern based space that has the same things as any Beginner's Square. The name comes from the strongest of the three Gods: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. A reviewer says to watch out for guilds from those three while in the Cavern because they like to gang up on others."
"Not worried." I rolled my eyes as he snorted. Of course he's not. He's one of the strongest VRMMORPG players in the virtual reality world.
"That's not the point, Kazuto. The point is we don't want to have any confrontations, so don't go out of your way to approach them. Ok?" He picked up two copies of the game.
"I don't approach anyone unless they're endangering other players."
"Exactly." I giggled as he led me to the checkout counter with a scowl on his face. "This will be awesome, Kazuto. Won't it?"
"Definitely."
Ok, lame ending to a chapter, but I had to end it somewhere. Let me know what you guys think.
A: I got the idea of hand signs from the Naruto fandom. It just makes sense for them to make some kind of sign when they're about to use some kind of skill. Plus the whole wand/chanting thing is so overrated. I wanted to try something new for a game.
B: When the characters are in reality, I am opting to use their real name, and when they're in the game I will use their avatars' name. This is to show when they are irl and when they are in the game.
Reviews are greatly appreciated.
-RozaCourt