Into the Game (SAO)

Chapter 1

I jogged home, excited to play my new game I got. I was orginally a Japanese game, but I was friends with someone in Japan and they told me about the game and I wanted to play. He got it for me and I paid him back through online.

"Yo, Dani!"

I turned to see my friend, Eric Martin, my best friend. He was very easy going, could almost be friends with anyone. People were surprised we were such good friends since we were different, but we'd known each other since we were kids. "What? I want to get home."

He smirked at me. "To play your nerd game."

I huffed, scratching the back of my neck. "Oh, shut up, already. Not everyone likes to play sports."

He had a soccer ball under his arm and he grinned at me. "Well yeah, you shouldn't try to be so anti-social all the time."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, it must be why I'm good at gaming." I said this sarcastictly.

He grinned again and waved me away, running off to where I knew the soccer field was. Our school sport wasn't football, but soccer. It was the popular thing there. I got home and saw my mom cooking dinner in the kitchen. I braced my hand on the wall. "Hey, mom, I'm going to play my knew game!"

She was suprised when I bought it. SAO was a RPG game that let you go into the game into a virtual world. She didn't think I would spend so much money on a game, the thing was at least a good 400 dollars. It was my own money I got from my part time job so she left me alone about it. She never got my love of video games, it was the first one where you could go inside, I had to play it.

Espcially since I heard the Beta testers were done with it, though I heard they didn't get too far. Mom asked. "How was school?"

I tapped my foot impatiently. "Uh, good. I'll eat dinner when I'm done okay."

She stopped cutting up the fat off the meat she would make later. She smiled at me and laughed, seeing how impatient I was. "Okay, sweetheart, go ahead."

I grumbled at the nickname, but ran upstairs and into my room, slamming the door shut and locked it, carefully pull out the NerveGear from my top drawer, it looked like a huge helmet and a visor covered the eyes. I had to hide it because my little brother might find it and break it. I think I would've actually killed him.

I went back to eat dinner and waited until it was close to 1:00 am before getting ready.

I laid out on my made bed as I didn't want to hurt myself from sitting for so long and put the NerveGear on. I did what they told me to do, it said to touch my body so that it could read it or something. Then I created my Avatar. A guy of 17 with short black hair and green eyes, a blue shirt and black pants with boots.

I laid my head down and felt my heart beat quicker in excitment, before calling out.

"Link Start!"

/ / / / / / /

I stumbled for a second and then saw that I was in a place called the Town of Beginnings. It must be where I start. I passed people walking around and talking. I felt a little awkward, seeing some many people and me being alone. But this was a game and I might of been awkward in the real world, but gaming is where I can be confident.

I squared my shoulders and grinned, getting ready to play. I opened my menu and saw a had a couple of things there already. A simple sword. I clicked on it and the sword was in my hands. I was in awe at it, it was so real. Nothing like Call or Duty and any other RPG I've played.

Putting my sword back, I shoved my hands in my pockets and walked forward, passing a bunch of people talking to their friends. I gotten to a field that was void of anything and grinned to myself, bringing my sword back from my menu. I looked over and saw animal, I think it was a warthog or a pig. I gripped the hilt tighter with my right hand and frowned in thought, the sword feels a bit awkward in my hand.

When I didn't know what to do in a video game on my PS6, I usually looked at my menu. I quietly pulled it up and looked at the place where my weapon and something that said skills were. I looked and saw something that said. Sword skill.

I pressed it and felt something like power go through my arms and glow into my sword. I grinned again and ran forward, intending to attack the pig. I attacked his side and he howled, forcing me to jump back. He stopped on the ground, huffing and snorting through his nose. I think I needed to attack him one more time. I darted forward and quickly jumped on his right tusk, turning my body, plunging my sword downward, slicing down. With a loud squeal that made my ears ring, he burst into glass like shards, but I knew that they had to be pixels or something.

I rolled and hit the ground. Shaking my head, I looked up as I heard a wierd sound. I saw that I gained some XP for killing the pig. My eyes widened in excitment, cheering and gave a fist pump of victory. "Yeah!"

"You're a new timer too?"

I yelped at the voice and spun on my heel. Two guys were standing there. One had dark clothing and black hair with long bangs and a sword strapped to his back. He had a small smile on his face. His eyes were as equally dark, maybe slightly lighter. The other guy had longish red hair and had a bit of a beard. Their avatars looked about my age.

I rubbed the back of my neck, smiling. Okay, all I need to do is introduce myself, it's not like I'll see them in the real world. So, if I say something stupid I don't have to see them. "Hey, I'm Dani, Dani2008."

The redhead grinned. "Hey man, I'm Klein."

The black haired guy nodded his head. "I'm Kirito."

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I'm new. Loving this game though."

Klein laughed. "I know right, I just got here too. This guy knows what he's doing, being a Beta tester and all."

My eyes widened in shock. "W-what?! Your one of the 10,000 beta's?"

Kirito smiled slightly, but looked like he wanted to frown. "Yeah, I was."

I decided not to say anything, I was good at reading body language.

Klein rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I'm off, ordered a pizza before I got in here for 5:30."

My eyes widened. "Man, is it that late already?"

Klein nodded. "Yeah, time sure flies in here."

I decided in a little bit I would leave too. I didn't want to make my mom wait too long, plus I could always play tomorrow. Klein grinned at me and held out his hand. "Nice meeting you, Dani."

I smiled back, grabbing his hand and shaking it firmly. "Yeah, you too. See you around?"

He let go of my hand with a nod and turned to Kirito. "Hey, I was going to meet up with some people after this, so if you want you can friend them and hang with us, both of you can."

My eyes widened in shock as I looked at him, this is why I liked virtual games more than IRL. Kirito looked surprised too. Klein waved a hand. "It's cool if you don't want to, no pressure. I could always intoduce them another time or something."

Kirito replied. "Yeah, sorry. Thanks anyway."

I nodded my head, swinging my arms. "Yeah, maybe later."

Klein raised his arms. "No way! I should be doing all the thanking. Hey, one of these days I promise I'll pay you back for all your help, virtually that is."

"Yeah, right."

"Thanks for everything man, seriosuly."

I was feeling awkward again, like I was a third wheel, but I didn't want to say anything or bring attention to myself by walking off. Klein shook his hand too and I smiled at them.

Klein went to log out and I was about to turn and head back to town. But he said. "Huh?"

I blinked and turned back, I saw Kirito do the same. Klein asked. "Where'd the log out button go?"

I frowned. "It's missing?"

"Yeah, come look."

I was already walking over, Kirito next to me. "It should be there."

Oh, yeah, he was a Beta Tester, he would know. Klein shook his head. "Nope, it's not there."

I frowned some more and opened my menu, looking for where I knew the log out button would be. But in the Main Menu where the three spots for Options, Help and Log Out, were supposed to be, only the first two were there. Kirito said. "It should be in the Main Menu."

I shook my head. "It's not on mine either, is it a glitch or something?"

Klein shrugged. "It could be, it is the first day out of Beta. There's bound be some bugs. I bet the server people are freaking out right now."

Kirito told him. "You will too."

He showed him that is was 5:25. I had to laugh as he flipped out.

He shouted. "IT'S NOT FUNNY! MY TERRYOKI MAYO PIZZA!"

I scrunched my nose up, what the heck was up with his taste buds. Kirito doesn't seem disgusted about it, maybe it's a Japanese culture thing. Kirito said. "Why don't you contact the GameMaster."

My eyes widened in surprise. "Good idea."

Klein said. "I already did that, but he's not picking up. Is there another way to log out of this thing?"

I shrugged and turned to look at Kirito. His voice dropped down in seriousness. "No, whenever a player wanted to log out of SAO, he can do it by going through the Menu."

"That can't be right, there has to be some other way out."

I said. "Maybe we just have to wait until they fix it."

Klein whined. "I can't wait that long!"

I shrugged again. "I don't know, then."

Klein was jumping around. "Return! Log out! Escape!"

If I wasn't getting a little worried, I might of laughed. I looked up nervously, it was getting dark. Kirito said. "I told you so, there's no emergency in the Log Out either."

Klein gaped. "No way, your kidding!"

I felt myself pale. "I don't think he is."

Klein grabbed his head. "I'll just rip the NerveGear off my head."

I shook my own head. "That won't work." I did research on the NerveGear before I put it on my head.

Kirito nodded. "He's right, don't bother, once your hooked in, you can't move your body in the real world anymore. Your Gear intercepts all the commands you give from inside the game. Using an interface built inside the rig."

I frowned at that, I sort of knew it. It was one of the iffy things I thought about while deciding I was going to use NerveGear, my want for the virtual game turned over the worried part. Klein looked at me and I nodded. "Yeah, I read all about it before I put it on."

Klein snapped. "So what? Now we have to wait until someone gets around to fixing it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, like I said before."

Kirito nodded. "Yeah or until someone from the real world comes along and takes the Gear off us."

I smiled in relief, my mom would do that. Klein sighed. "I live alone, you?"

I said, frowning in worry. "I have a mom and little brother at home."

Kirito nodded. "Yeah, I have a mom and little sister, but they'll notice by dinnertime that I-"

He rushed at him and put his hands on his shoulders. "You have a sister, how old, what's she like?"

Kirito's face went awkward and I smirked. Kirito said. "She's into sports and hates games. And she totally not your type, man!"

Klein wouldn't back off so Kirito kicked him in the balls. I grimaced and asked. "What the hell man?"

Kirito shook his head. "It don't hurt, but we need to get serious. Don't you both think this is weird?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but we can't do anything about it right now."

Klein said. "Yeah, totally. But it's just a bug."

"This isn't just a bug. If we can't log out, it's going to cause some serious problems for the game."

"Yeah, I guess your right."

Kirito asked. "I wonder if the developers know what's happening. They can just shut down the server and long everyone out. But why haven't they made an annoucement?"

I shrugged. "Maybe their working on it."

Suddenly a big gong sound was heard, like one of those church bells. All three of us looking in that direction we thought it was coming from. Suddenly I yelped when I realized the ground left me and it felt like I was entering the game all over again.

I looked around and saw that a bunch of people were appearing with Kirito and Klein on my either side. Almost everyone else looked as shocked as I felt. We were back in the Town of Beginnings again. I muttered to myself. "Did the game do this?"

I think all the players in the game were here, it was getting really crowded. Kirito gasped. "Someone forced a teleport."

I asked. "Is that possible?"

There was a crease between his eyebrows. "I don't..."

People were talking and freaking out around us. Kirito asked. "Now what?"

I looked up and saw red hexagons with WARNING and System Announcement spread across the sky. The sky was now just red and something like blood poured down from a certain section. I flinched back in shock and disgust. "Shit, the sky is bleeding!"

Klein gaped too. "What the hell is that thing?"

I looked toward Kirito but he looked as lost as I did. Then this wasn't in th Beta either. The thing was bubbling, until it stopped and someone in a red robe with gold lining showed up. He was floating in the sky. It lifted it's arms and said. "Attention players, I welcome you to my world."

Kirito asked. "What does he mean by that?"

I shrugged, still looking up. "His plan?"

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba and as of this moment I am in control of this world."

My eyes widened in shock. "H-his game!"

Kirito and Klein looked shocked too. Kayaba continued. "I'm sure many of you noticed an item missing from your Main Menu's, the Log Out button. Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be."

I looked at him in disbelief, what the hell? Klein asked. "He's kidding, right?"

I shook my head. "I-I don't think he is."

Kayaba said. "You can't log yourselves out of SAO. And no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull. Destroying your brain and ending your life."

I felt myself stiffen in shock, what? Does he mean the whole time he was planning to trap us in a game before anything even started? I clenched my fists in fear and anger. That we can actually die? What if my mom or little brother decide to take it off, blowing up my brain?

A couple tried to leave, but a force field stopped them. Klein looked over at us. "Huh, are you listening to this crap? He's gotta be nuts, right?"

My eyes were wide as I looked up at Kayaba. "He's not lying." I did read up on the Gear, doing something like that isn't impossible.

Klein stared at me. "What? What do you mean?"

Kirito said, staring ahead. "He's right. The transmitter signal in the head gear work just like microwaves. If the safety's disabled, it can fry your brain."

Klein was shocked by the news. "Couldn't someone cut the power-"

I shook my head, clenching my fists tighter as they shook. "That won't work, the NerveGear's got a internal battery."

Klein snapped, panicked. "This is crazy, totally crazy!"

Kayaba said. "Despite my warning, families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGear. An unfortante decision to say the least. As a result, the game now has 213 less players than when it began. They been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world."

My eyes widened with a gasp. "T-that many!?"

Kirito said. "213?!"

"No way! I don't believe it!"

I can't get over it. That much lost life in so little time. Most of them had to be kids too. Kayaba continued. "As you can see, most media outlets have around the clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, the likely hood of NerveGear being removed is miminal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important you remember the following. There is no way to revive someone in the game. If your HP drops to zero, you avatar will be deleted from the system forever. And the NerveGear will destroy your brain."

That part of not having my mom take it off was a little bit of relief, but either way if you die in a game, i'll die for real. I didn't sign up for this when I bought the game from my friend. I'm good at games, but that doesn't mean I don't die in them. I'm a teenage American, I don't want to die. I clenched my fist even harder.

Kayaba said. "There is only one way for a player to escape now. You must clear the game. Right now your gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on Floor 100 and you will clear the game."

I shook my head as people complained. "What, clear a MMO without dying? Impossible." Some people don't even beat a MMO even with dying a bunch of times.

Klein gasped. "We can't beat all 100 floors."

Kayaba said. "Last but not least, I placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please, have a look."

Though my hand trembled a little, I opened my Menu and went to my Items and slid to the right, seeing something that said, "mirror".

With a confused frown, I pressed it. It was a small handheld mirror. I flinched at the blue light that hit me. I heard Kirito shout my name. I yelped out, but stiffened as my voice grew higher. I blinked as the light left. I looked at Kirito shocked. He was a younger guy, about my IRL age with black hair and almost black eyes, a long piece of hair between his eyes.

Klein looked at the same, except a little younger. I put my mirror toward me and saw brown hair reaching above my shoulders, blue eyes and a bit of pale skin. My clothes were the same, but there was one thing.

Klein gaped. "YOUR A GIRL!?"

I blushed. "Y-yeah. I always play a dude with MMO's. People think girls can't play."

Kirito asked me. "Why do you look American?"

Klein said. "Oh yeah, this game was excusively in Japan."

I smiled a bit. "I have a friend from Japan and he got it for me."

Klein looked a me with a smile and before he could anything, I raised a hand. "Please not now."

His look fell, but he didn't say anything. Kirito was still shocked looking at Klein and myself. I asked. "How can it even know how we look in IRL?"

Kirito looked confused and then his eyes widened. "The scan. It has a high density scan signal device inside the NerveGear rige. It can see what my face looks like. But how does it know my height and body type?"

Klein said. "When you first put the NerveGear on, it had to do that calibration thing. It asked you to touch your body all over like this, remember?"

My eyes widened. "Right! I found it a strange request a first."

Kirito nodded. "Yeah, I forgot it got our physical data."

Klein put a hand on his head. "But this...what's the point?! Why would anyone do this to us?"

I frowned. That was something I didn't know. What I wondered was if my friend from Japan was in the game or not. I hope he wasn't, I wouldn't him to have to go through this.

Kirito said, pointing above us. "I think he's about to tell us."

I looked at the floating man above us with something close to hate. What would he do this. 213 people are dead. I don't want to know how many will be dead at the end of this, if anyone even survives this game.

Kayaba said. "Right now, your probably wondering why. Why would Akihiko Kayaba, Developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear do this? Ultimitly, my goal was a simple one, the reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design."

Kirito hissed. "Kayaba."

I grit my teeth. "All this bastard wants to do is play god. Not caring what lives he messes with in the process."

Kayaba said. "As you can see, I have achived my goal. This marks the end of the Tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

I clenched my fists as he started to disappear. That stupid god complex bastard. I quietly looked around and saw people frozen in the shock and horror. I knew something would break them out of it and I needed to leave now. I looked at Kirito and Klein, feeling guilty that I would leave them. But I was alone here, I didn't know if my friend was here. Klein and Kirito looked like they could handle themselves.

I quietly moved through the throng of people, making sure not to bump into anyone. I didn't want to be in the middle of a riot. I escaped to an allyway between two houses when I heard the screams. I winced, but kept walking. I heard. "Hey Dani!"

It was Klein's voice. I turned, walking over to them. "Hey."

Klein frowned. "Why'd you run off like that."

I shoved my hands in my pockets. "The crowd was getting bad, a riot was gonna happen. Hell, it's happening now."

Kirito nodded his head. "You have a point. Listen up, I'm heading out right now for the next village. I want you both to come. If what he said is true and I think it is, the only way were going to survive is by making ourselves as strong as possible. In a MMO RPG, the money you can earn, the XP, once the game starts up, there's only so much of that stuff to go around. The fields around the towns of beginnings are going to be hunted clean soon. If we head to the next village now, we'll have an easier time collecting cash and points. Don't worry, I know all the paths and places we should avoid. Even if I'm Level 1, I can get there easy."

Klein had a awkward smile on his face. "Thanks, but remember when I said about those friends of mine, that I was telling you about? We stood in line for a whole night to buy this, they're back at the Plaza somewhere. I can't leave them."

Kirito looked conflicted and I frowned to myself, I could tell he was a bit like me, not liking to be in big groups. Klein snorted. "Sorry, can't ask a guy to risk his life for a bunch of strangers, can I? So don't worry about me, get your ass to the next village. The last game I played, I ran a guild, with the stuff you just told me. I'll get by no sweat."

I said, feeling a bit nervous as I had to interact with new people like I usually did. "Kirito, if your okay with it, I'll come with you for a while."

His eyes widened and I shrugged. "It'll be helpful till we get to the next village."

Kirito told Klein he'd message him if he had trouble. As Kirito walked off, I went to follow him.

Klein said. "Kirito, you look better like this. Better than your avatar."

I chuckled to myself. Klein grinned at me. "Nice meeting ya, Dani."

I turned my head with a smile. "Yeah, you too Klein. Take care of yourself."

I followed Kirito.

Well, that's my first SAO fanfic. I don't get why this fandom gets a lot of hate, I'm really loving SAO. Hope you like it.