A/N: Decided to go back to my original fanfic roots and do a fanfic on SAO. Now granted, I don't like SAO much anymore. I like the novels, but the anime hasn't given the novels its justice. Anyway, this is an older fanfic that I wrote 2 years ago and decided to take it down once I "retired" from fanfic writing. However, I'll slowly be able to upload stories that just isn't MLP related. For those who are new, yes, I am a brony. Anyway, onto the story!

"I will need everyone to report to the gym for a special assembly."

In a class, a group of students had to stop there band class just to listen, "Wait, what is this for? Mr. Brown, do you know anything about this?"

A young man, probably the band director, shook his head in response, "No, I was never told a meeting would occur this period. Come on, let's go."

They exited through a back entrance that led to the school's gym, "Everyone sits together with their class, got that Mr. Brown?" A voice said over the radio as they sat in silence. Students around them were chatting away, as they waited for what the assembly about. Most were trying figure out what was going on.

It was then everyone heard a loud audio break, and everyone turned towards the center of the gym to see their principal, Ms. Sain, standing beside some weird equipment, "Everyone settle down, I know you must be wondering why I called all of you to the gym. Well, I think you can see the equipment that lay beside me as I speak. This man beside me, will explain it all."

She handed the microphone to the man behind her, "Good morning students. You see, I think you've seen all over the news and social media that this equipment here, is being used for the next level of virtual reality gaming," Everyone got slightly louder at the mentioning of what the equipment was, "Well, this school was chosen, along with many other schools, to take part in our project. We will choose a minimum of 2 students to participate. Now, shall we get along with this?"

What he expected was to see everyone jump up to be chosen, but... no one stood up, except one person. That person: Erik Walter, "I'd like to participate. I think this will be pretty cool to do."

"Ah, then come on down son. Let us get you prepared. Now, we just need one person. If no one else will volunteer, we'll need to hand pick our 2nd participate."

Once he saw that no other hands went up, he sighed, "Alright, let us pick our 2nd participant," He looked around, and stopped on somebody, a girl that was sitting behind Erik, "How about you young lady? Maybe you would like to participate?"

She just put her hands up in retort, "No, I'm fine with not participating."

"Come on Raven. It'll be cool," After thinking it over, she hesitantly agreed to the offer.

"Thank you, now, if you step over there by the equipment; we'll put this little wrist device on you two."

"What is it supposed to do?" The man didn't answer them, he just ushered them over by the equipment.

"I want you two to lay here. I'll put the devices on as your are in game so you won't feel the pain."

"What pain?"

The man just chuckled as he gave the two students two helmet devices, "I need the both of you to put these on, and once they're synced up with your body, you will then say the activation code: Link Start!"

They did as he said, and in unison they said, "Link Start!"

Please enter the name you would like to use: Xero

Are you sure you want this name
-Yes- No

Welcome to Sword Art Online!

A bunch of blue pixels surround them as they spawned in. They looked around and gazed at how real the game looks. Erik, or now known as Xero, walked around the spawn area before he walked into somebody else, "Excuse me, huh? Raven? Is that you?" A girl that had the same appearance his own classmate.

"Yeah, uh, who are you?" Xero remembered he didn't use his real name.

"Raven, it's me, Erik. I didn't use my real name like you," She jumped and held her hand to her mouth.

"I'm so very sorry. I didn't know, I was wondering why you looked so much like... 'Erik'."

Xero chuckled at her comment, "Well, in here, my name is Xero. And I guess your name is still Raven."

She lightly punched Xero's arm in retort, "Oh shut up. I didn't think I had to. I've never played something like this before. So I used my real name."

Meanwhile, in the gym, a large screen showed the perspectives of the two participants, "On this screen, you will see the perspective of our two participants. We will monitor them, those who will want to watch when they dive, are free to watch. You may also send a message to them once we set it up. Which will be in about a week."

Back in the game, the duo are walking through the streets in the Town of Beginnings searching the shops and taking up quests, "Well, we should probably learn the basics. We can't jump into combat until we learn how the battle system works," Raven nodded as she followed Xero, "This first quest we accepted, so it should be simple. Here, I'll invite you to my party."

Xero opened a menu, and tapped on Raven's name, "Alright, I sent the party invite," A screen popped up in front of Raven, and she tapped the accept button, "Alright, um, do you know how to fight?"

"Well, it seems we can hit as freely as we like, but there seems to be a few skills that we can activate to do massive damage," He stood in front of a boar and unsheathed his sword from his back, "Alright, so if I control my center of gravity, and unleash all my force in one point..."

He dashed forward as his sword glowed a bright blue aura. Once his sword came in contact with the boar, it exploded into a million blue pixels, "Huh, I guess that's how it works. Why don't you try it out. Here I'll agro it for you."

"Wait!"

Xero stopped before he could agro the mob, "What's up?" She held the hilt of her sword, but she didn't draw it, "What's wrong? Do you need help getting in stance?" She nodded and Xero walked up to her, "Well, there's no real stance. You just have to center the gravity. So it's more a mental thing rather than it being a physical thing. To be honest," He took her sword, and put in her hand, "I think you need to take a kendo like stance."

He then proceeded to fix her stance, "Once you have your stance, move the sword kind of slanted next to your face. Once you do so, concentrate on the amount of gravity around you. Then once you feel the moment, unleash it," He ran up to the boar and kicked it towards Raven, "Alright, here's your chance!"

The mob closed in fast, but remembering back to what Xero had told her, she did as she was told. She soon felt the power of her sword increase, and in almost a split second, she charged through the mob with ease. The mob exploded into crystals, just as the last one did, "Wow... I actually did it!"

Xero smiled and nodded, "Well, let's get this quest over and done with," Raven nodded, and they were off to finish off the quest they had accepted.

-1 hour later-

They had completed their quest, along with a little extra grinding. By the end, they were both level 5, "Whew, I think it's time to head out. Let's go ahead and log out of here," Raven nodded in agreement and they both opened their menu, but to their surprise. The log out button was no longer there, "Wait a minute, the log out button was here when we entered. What happened to it?"

"Do you think it's a bug in the system?"

Xero shrugged his shoulder, "I don't know, but if it was, they should've fixed it by now, or released a message about it. People are probably going out of control about this, aren't they?"

Xero laughed at thinking about that, but Raven had different feelings about this, "No, what if this isn't a bug? What if the game was made to not allow us to leave?"

Xero paused at this, he looked around, "I don't know, but this isn't going to be funny if you're right," Just as he said that, they were both beginning to get teleported out of where they were.

"Xero! What's happening?!" Just as Raven asked that, they were teleported to the clock tower in the Town of Beginnings, "It was a force teleport. I'm guessing this is the opening ceremony. My question is why they would... wait a minute," Xero stopped as he pointed towards a small little warning flashing in sky.

The sky then started to become filled with all these icons. After the entire sky was full, they started oozing out blood, "What in the world?" The blood started to form into that of a hooded NPC. Everyone stared in awe of the formation.

Xero stepped back, knowing the consequences left what's to happen, "Oh no, it's really happening," Raven looked at him curiously, but was more curious about the hooded figure. It was then the hooded figure started to speak.

"Greetings players, I know most of you are wondering as why there is a lack of the log out button in the menu. Well, we did that on purpose, but it won't necessarily be permanent. It was only for this one time. I will explain why I have done this."

Xero was speechless, but he wasn't afraid, just shocked, "First of all, allow me to introduce myself. I am the creator of the devices you are currently using: Akihiko Kayaba. And now, all of you, are part of my glorious project. As of me, you will all be required to beat the game. If not, you will all perish."

Confused, all the players began to converse with one another, "Now, now, I will explain everything. As you remember, as you dove into the game, the advisor that is currently overlooking you bodies strapped on a wrist device. That device has a timer on it, and you must follow that timer. You must dive into SAO everyday, if not, the device will shock you until you dive. The longer you take, the worse the shock will get"

"You may never take this device off. If you do, you will be shocked severely. Also, no one is allowed to remove the Nerve Gear off of your head. If they do, the Nerve Gear will send high frequency microwaves to your brain and fry it, indubitably killing you. Lastly, if you are to die in this game, the Nerve Gear will take the same action, and fry your brain. Either way, you will... die."

Everyone froze in place as they heard what he had said. Basically, if they die in the game, they'll die in real life... Xero thought right... this was just as he thought would happen, "Xero..."

Someone yelled at the top of there lungs, "Why the hell would you do something like this?!"

"Ah, I knew someone would ask that. You see, I simply wanted to create a world of my own desire. This is all I have to say. As of now, no one has died yet. Which means that there is a total of over 5,000 students playing this game. There is only one thing just have left to say... may god be with you."

The hooded figure disappeared from sight, and after a few seconds of silence, the crowd of players began to panic. Some worried about loved ones, others worried about dying. As for Xero, he was nowhere to be found. Raven looked around for Xero, and she saw him walking through the crowd. He held his head down, and when he approached the exit of the area, he started sprinting away.

Raven gave chase to him, and found him near the exit of the town, "Eri-, I mean Xero! What are you doing?"

"If what he said was true, then our best bet would be to stock up on items and level up as fast as we can. If we're to beat this game, everyone will need to be strong. As for you Raven, you should stay in the Town of Beginnings. I don't think this is your fight..."

Raven sighed, and walked up to him, "Listen, I want to help. So, we need to stick together, maybe we can make a difference."

Xero turned away from Raven and started to walk, "Well, I don't really role with people on games like this. I think you can find a group of people you can trust. I'll stay solo for the time being... if I ever need help, I'll be sure to message you. For now, I'm going to head out. I'll see you around.

"Erik!" Before he could even move, Raven called his name again, "Um, I'd much prefer your irl appearance. But I could get used to this as well."

Xero chuckled at her comment, "The name's Xero, but yeah, same to you. You look way better than your avatar," Xero started to run, and he yelled back, "I'll see you in the next floor!"

A/N: Hehe, yeah, I kind of used that last bit as part of the 1st ep. I don't remember how I wrote this when I did two years ago. I really only revised parts of it and checked for grammar mistakes. However, I am not the best proofreader and probably still have minor grammar or spelling errors. Anyway, I will probably upload about 5 or 6 more chapters over the course of today before the uploads stop for a bit. Don't expect me to upload a lot since I am in college and that always comes first! Anyway, I hope all of you enjoy this series and don't worry, Kirito and Asuna along with the entire gang will still be here. I'm actually thinking of making Kirito a possible antagonist, but whatever. I'll see what I'll do with the series as it goes a long. Alright, see all of you in the the future chapters!