Floor 75, Boss room. Aincrad 2 years after the launch of SAO
This is not how people die.
Disappearing into thin air, leaving nothing behind to prove they ever existed at all.
This is not how people die.
This thought kept repeating over and over in my head as I laid on the cold ground unable to do much beside watch the HP bar in the comer of my eye slowly decrease.
I hear a women scream. A moment later, I see bodies hurling through the air before disappearing into nothingness.
All caused by that thing.
This level's final boss: A fearsome monster unlike any we've face before. It was a massive multi-jointed skeleton centipede-like beast, which normally would be trouble on its own, however this boss was different.
It's attack patterns were irregular as it seemed to target whomever it pleased. On top of that, it was fast and extremely powerful as it killed most players with one hit. You didn't see it coming until it was too late.
I didn't see it coming until the beast was right in front of me.
And now here I lay on my back, slowly dying and unable to feel any part of my body.
Its ironic, being able to feel inside a virtual prison. That's what this was all about, freeing ourselves from the death game known as Sword Art Online.
We've been trapped in here by the bastard Kayaba for 2 years now.
2 years.
While that may seem insignificant to some, it sure as hell isn't for me. It's time that I'll never get back, though that hardly matters now.
When your health bar hits 0, it means more than a simple "game over".
That's what makes SAO a death game, if you die in the game you die in real life.
Originally, there were 10,000 of us when this game started. Now there's about 7,000, give or take a few hundred people.
That's right, the bastard killed 3,000 and the list just keeps growing.
I don't know if this is was some sick satisfying way for him to play god or whatever the reason behind this mass murdering system was but I hope Kayaba rots in hell for what he's done.
Too bad I won't be around to see if he does.
As I looked around the room, seeing other players running around as they try to overcome this level's boss, I spot the man I consider my best friend staring right back at me.
This guy, heh, he saved my ass more times than I can count over these past two years. Not just me, but a number of players.
We had our own group too, a guild known as Renegade.
We were mercenaries who took the jobs others didn't want or didn't have the stomach for while punishing other 'bad' players: Mostly thugs and murderers.
It was sad really, even in a situation like this people still killed other people.
Like I was saying, we became the necessary evil in this virtual world. If we didn't who would? Hehe, I know it sounds cliche. These things usually did.
He looked at me with a sad face yet with a hint of anger. I rarely seen him this upset over anything. Made me feel special for these last few moments.
If I had any sense of myself, I would have cracked a half-assed smile and try to say: "Don't worry, I'll just shake this off and be up on my feet in a minute."
Too bad we'd both know that was a load of crap.
Suddenly, my friend's face turned to pure anguish. He looked towards the skeleton monster, I swear if looks could kill that thing would be dead right now.
He wrapped his fist tightly around his twin swords.
"DAMN IT!"
He yells at the top of his lungs, charging towards the boss, the monster, My murderer.
I watch my friend unleash an assault of sword slashes against the large best. Each blow filled with rage and power.
Despite the impressive display, the boss was barely effected by the barrage.
Still, my friend just kept attacking the damn monster. Over and over his swords clashed against the hard bone, all the while I was fearing for the beast's brutal retaliation.
It never came, at least not while I could still see.
Everything started to grow fuzzy, I glanced towards by HP bar and saw it was almost empty.
I tried to laugh, or at least let out a chuckle, but my strength had left me long ago.
Knowing I had a few seconds of life left in me, I wish- no I prayed that no matter what happened from this point onward that my friends made it out of this hell alive.
Though Kayaba dying at the end of a blade would've been nice, I didn't want to waste my last request on that prick.
I struggled, focusing my sight on my friend. Just to know in my last moment that he was alive.
And there he was, still hacking away. I smiled, or at least I was on the inside.
It was comforting really, that the man I respected most was still kicking some ass despite all this chaos, this despair, this death.
My eyes started to slowly close, my ever failing vision still held the image of my friend fighting away like a mad berserker against that damn skeleton centipede thing.
It filled me with joy yet at the same time regret that I wouldn't be able to see how this story ends. If my friends, or if anyone for that matter would make it out of this death game alive.
I felt a single tear drop run down my cheek as I close my eyes one last time...
2 years earlier, at the Town of Beginnings...
It was the launch date for the 1st MMORPG for the latest gaming system; a virtual system known as the Nerve Gear.
Unlike other virtual systems, this one intercepts the electrical waves your brain sends to move the parts of the body and redirects them to you in-game avatar.
That way you can be relaxing on your bed playing a game without running around and bumping into stuff, or worse.
Usually worse.
Up until this point, no one has taken full advantage of this system. Which was a disappointment for gamers everywhere. Leave it to the inventor of this gaming system to be the first to make a game that utilizes the system to the fullest.
The only catch is, only 10,000 copies of this game are available for the premier day. Another disappointment for anyone not camping out in lines or have a reserve copy for being a beta tester.
A beta tester like myself!
Yep, I was one of the thousand lucky people to get a sneak peek at what this game would be like and it was awesome.
Not only the game itself though, but some of the other betas I played with were pretty cool. I was even apart of a legendary team!
We cleared farther than any other party in the game. Note I said party, not players. That's cause this solo player nicknamed the 'Black Swordsmen' managed to get a whole floor ahead of us.
Only happened cause we took the time to fully explore every floor we came across.
You know, for items and such.
...
Ok, maybe not I wasn't apart of it, but I knew them. They helped me out from time to time.
Oh, and the leader of that group was my rival!...Well I considered him my rival anyway...
Even though he laughs at me every time I say it...
ANYWAY! The five of us agreed to meet up when the game went live. Only I'd be bringing one more for the ride.
Beside me, and holding my hand, was my little sister.
"Oniiiiiiii-chan~" My little sister said in her usual cutesy way. "When are these friends of yours gonna show?"
I looked down at her and smiled.
My sis designed her avatar as close to a 'fairy princess' as she possibly could, and between the long pink hair, blue eyes, and the other features she spent a good 3 hours on setting made her look pretty darn cute.
Not that I'm saying she wasn't in real life! Far from that, its just that this avatar of her's was much cuter than her real self. At least to me.
...
"Be patient Tifa." I said, calling her by her character name instead of her real one. "They'll be here any minute."
"But I'm bored!" She pouted before crossing her arms.. "I though you'd said this game would be fun."
I rolled my eyes. "You haven't got to the fun part yet. We're just waiting for these guys cause they could help you out far better than I could."
"Hmmm..."
Tifa, or rather Elizabeth, recently turned 10 years old. You can kind of tell through her immaturity haha.
Now my sister isn't much of a gamer, but she's stubborn and gets jealous pretty easily. So when she heard I got a free copy of the game I beta tested, she kept bugging me to buy her a copy so she can play too.
I had to spend an entire night in the street just to make sure I got a copy.
And no, she didn't even say thanks.
Don't I have a nice little sister?
Before I could said anything else, I spotted the guys I was waiting for. Only there was one more person with them, and a brown haired female at that.
Though chances are "she" was really a "he", since a number of guys play as girl characters in MMOs for any number of reasons and SAO was no different. It even included a voice changer option to make you sound completely different from how you normally do.
Only makes it harder to tell the difference.
I waved my hand at the crew, catching their attention almost immediately.
In front was my rival, a man I respected more than any in both this world and the real one. He goes by the username Rydar, but his real name is Ryan.
How'd I know? He told me of course! I AM his rival after all!
...
OK, he told all of us who played with him during the beta. Only those he played with for awhile though, so a select few know his real name.
"Yo Ryan!" I shouted once they came closer. Barely giving a second though as I blabbed out his real name for all to hear.
"Damn it Alex, call me by my username!" Rydar replied. "At least when we're in public."
Alex. Yep that's me! Its both my username and my real name.
I'm not too big on secrets and such, kind of why no one really tells me any personal stuff ehehe...
I know, its a bad habit. I'm trying to stop, but I just can't help myself sometimes.
"Oh, right sorry." I used my free hand to scratch the back of my head. "I'm just used to calling you that."
"Good grief man," Ryder said with a huff. "You need to be more like Juno over here and learn what not to say."
"More like stop and think before you speak." Juno added.
Juno was the smallest of this group. About 4 foot 6 inches, give or take. Strong silent type too, mostly cause he waits till the right moment to say what's on his mind.
He's also one of the few players that uses, and mastered, a bow. During the beta, the archery system was overly complicated and most gave up straight away.
Juno though, not only figured out how to effectively use a bow but also proven to be thee best archer in the game. He could snipe enemies from 200 meters away, given he had a clear shot.
I wonder if they managed to tweak the system a bit so anyone could use a bow. If so, how much would Juno's skills improve?
I couldn't wait to find out!
"Cut the kid a break. He's still young." The tallest member of the group, TJ said. "He'll learn, given time."
TJ, now this guy was a giant. Easily 7 feet tall, and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if that was anywhere near his actual height.
He's hard to read though, at least for me. I've seen him act gentle and caring at times, then completely ruthless, taking on foes without mercy.
I guess you could call him a berserker.
This guy is a damage dealing tank, and he was scary strong during the beta. I've seen him take on swarms of enemies all at once, knocking most of 'em out with one blow before they could even touch him!
He's one of the guys I wouldn't wanna fight unless I had like 100 guys with me then maybe, MAYBE I would chance it.
"And if he doesn't then you just gotta stop telling him personal stuff Rydar." The orange haired man next to Rydar said.
This guy was Titan, real name Michael but everyone called him Micky.
He was a tank, a normal tank that took blows for the team and dished out some in return while he bought time for the rest of his comrades to deal some heavy blows.
He was a somewhat easy going guy who could make friends with just about anyone, and bust their balls while he's at it. What was really impressive about the guy was his determination and his drive to protect others.
Now if knights were still a thing in this day and age Michael would defiantly have been one. I'd bet on it.
If I knew him in real life, I wouldn't be surprised if he was a charity worker or a volunteer firefighter or something like that.
Rydar shrugged his shoulders before letting out a sigh. "I guess."
He said, placing his left arm on his hip. He looked at me, then at my little sister. Rydar smiled. "This your little sister you've told me so much about?"
I nodded with a smile. "This is Eliz-"
"Tifa!"
"-Tifa. This is Tifa, my little sister." I said with an awkward laugh.
Rydar took a few steps towards my sister, then he crouched down.
"I'm Rydar. Nice to meet you." He said with a smile.
My sister simply stared at him for a few moments, studying him. Suddenly, she turned her head back towards me an pouted.
"Hey Oni-chan, you lied! This guy doesn't look cool at all!"
I slapped my forehead. "Tifaaaa!" I said, embarrassed by my little sis. "It's not his looks that make him cool, its how he fights that makes him cool."
"What I don't look cool?" Rydar stood up and looked at his friends. "Does my avatar really look uncool?"
TJ simply nodded, which didn't really help since it didn't specify if he mean yes or no.
"Eh, in a Rogue type way." Titan replied.
"No comment." Juno said before turning around.
The female closed her eyes, crossing her arms before shrugging in response.
"Tsk," Rydar turned his head back around. "Everyone's a critic."
He looked at me, noticing that I was staring at the woman I didn't recognized.
Rydar closed his eyes, clearing his throat to grab my attention.
I turned my gaze to my rival, the latter held out his hand towards the female player.
"Let me introduce you to Rebecca. She'll be rollin' with us from here on out." Rydar smirked. "And before you ask, she's really a she. I know cause we've meet in real life."
"Meet is an understatement Ryan." Rebecca said bluntly before opening her eyes. "I have known you for years after all."
"What do you expect me to tell them, the truth?" Rydar replied.
"Maybe, after all they'll find out sooner or later." Rebecca closed her eyes once more. "Unless they're dimwitted, like this Alex boy seems to be."
"Hey..." I said, trying to sound like my feelings were hurt when they really weren't. "That's a little mean."
"And?"
'Owch.' I thought. 'This one's got some spark.'
"Ehehe." I scratched my cheek with a finger. "So you two know each other huh? What is she your girlfriend Rydar?"
Rydar placed his hands on his hips, giving me a big old smirk. "Not quite..."
He paused a few moments before continuing. "This lovely lady here is my mother."
"WHAT?!" Micky and I said in unison. "Your mother?!"
"That's a shocker." Juno added. "I though you said your mother was a scientist?"
"I took an extended leave of absence for personal reasons." Rebecca answered. "As such, I do not wish to share them nor the reasons why I am currently playing this video game with my son."
"There you have it!" Rydar clapped his hands. "Any other questions before we get underway?"
Surprisingly, TJ raised his hand. Rydar turned and nodded at the latter.
"What exactly did you research, if I may ask?"
Rebecca let out a sigh before answering. "I could give you all the technical names for all the fields I research but I doubt all of you would comprehend what they are."
That was aimed at me. I just know it.
"So I'll tell you what my research contributes to."
She held out three fingers.
"Electronics, ranging from small data chips to computer hard drives to military grade equipment like drone control systems and such."
"Virtual reality and theories, including systems much like the Nerve Gear and other lesser products. I have helped contributed to some of the unsatisfactory games that proceeded the release of the Nerve Gear as well as some basic guidelines for other potentially fulfilling games like SAO."
"Does that mean you're playing SAO to prove some of your theories about virtual reality?" Titan cut in.
"Those theories have already been proven or disproved thanks to my son and his fortunate luck of being a beta tester." Rebecca answered.
"Continuing on, the third item my research contributes to: Psychology or the study of the human mind for those of you who aren't familiar with the term."
Yeah, she hates me or at least thinks I'm an idiot. I know what Pychonnogy is.
Or was it Psychopathic? I'm not too fond of complicated words...
I'm not helping my case am I?
"More specifically, I study how a human mind reacts in a virtual environment." Rebecca continued as she held our her hands.
"How does it function? Is it any different than in the real word? If so, why and how?" She smiled, which took me by surprise. "These questions fascinate me to no end."
Rydar took a step forward. "And now you know."
He looked at each of us, seeing if anyone else had any questions.
Satisfied that there weren't, he continued.
"Before we go off doing whatever, I'd like to say something." He paused for a moment. "Let's assume that things are different from the beta."
"How do you mean?" I asked.
Rydar looked at me. "Levels and amounts of enemies, locations of rare items and bosses, stuff like that."
"Makes sense," Titan added, placing his hand on his chin. "Wouldn't be fair for every none beta player if everything was the same."
Rydar turned his head back to Titan.
"Exactly, though we still have a bit of an advantage since we know how to play."
"Damn straight." Titan said with a smile. "Now, shall we go hunting?"
"Good idea Micky." Rydar looked at my little sister. "It'll give our two new recruits a chance to get used to the combat system."
A few hours later...
The eight of us spent the afternoon grinding in the fields around the Town of Beginnings. We tested for any differences in the combat system while teaching Rebecca and my little sister how to fight.
Turns out the system's been tweaked to make using your Sword Skills feel a little more natural, and they fixed the Archery system a bit.
Still somewhat hard, but not as unbelievably hard as it once was.
Meaning Juno was now an angel of death.
Yeah, be scared. I know I would.
Also, Rydar's mom is pretty damn deadly with a spear. Once she got a handle on the combat system, she tore apart these boars like she's been doing it all her life.
Course the mother of the most boss beta player I know would be a natural at fighting in a video game.
Go figure.
By the end of the day, all of us were used to the combat system.
All of us, except my little sister.
She was getting there though, which was good considering she never played a virtual game before.
The majority of us sat on a hill watching my sister going at the wild boars one more time.
"Go Tifa!" I shouted, cheering my sister on while waving one fist high up in the air. "Show that boar what you're made of!"
She let out a little roar, charging the boar head on.
I struggled to hold in my laughter as the boar moved at the last moment, causing my sister to stubble down into the dirt with a puff.
"So close!" Micky said with a bit of sarcasm.
"Give it another go," Rydar said with a smile. "You'll get it this time."
"You've been saying that for the past fifty tries Rydar." Micky said as he laid down on the grassy fields. "Maybe she's not cut out for this."
"Am too!" Tifa shouted after she stood up. She pouted at Titan, taking that pose most anime girls do when they're annoy at someone.
Despite my sister not being a hardcore gamer like myself, she was an otaku through and through. Thanks to that, she would often copy motions or even quote lines she's seen in anime.
"Baka! Bakabakabakabaka! I'll show you that I can do these types of things!" Tifa spun around to face the boar, she pointed her dagger towards the latter before holding it behind her back.
She spread her legs out, waiting for the chance to strike.
My sister showed all the determination of one of those anime character's she admired so much. I got to say, I've never seen her this focused before.
It made me real proud to see my sister show such effort for something, even if her motives were selfish.
All of a sudden, she dashed forward.
"YAAAAHHH!"
Her dagger glowed, indicating the charged Sword Skill. With a single blow, Tifa cut the boar in two.
She spun back around, giving us the peace sign as she grinned her teeth with a victorious smile.
"Well I'll be..." The usually silent Juno said.
Titan smirked. "Bout time you took this seriously short stack!"
"I'M NOT SHORT!"
Titan laughed, he looked up at the sky.
Now, if we weren't inside a video game that would be all he'd be seeing. Since we aren't there are other things he currently saw -in other words the player's hub-, like the miniature clock he pulled up awhile back.
"Oh shit it's past 5!" Micky jumped to his feet. He took a few steps forward before waving his hand back at us. "Well it's been fun, but I gotta go to work."
"Right," Rydar said with a smirk. "Off to be a productive member of society."
"You're just jealous I have a job."
"Yeah right, I'm totally jealous of your job at a convenience store."
"Piss off!" Titan said with a laugh before pulling up his main menu.
As he was, I was trying to imagine Micky working at a convenience store. Not at all as awesome as a volunteer firefighter.
His finger scrolled down to where the login button was, or at least should be, then he paused for a few moments before turning his head back towards us.
"Am I going blind or is the logout button missing?"
I raised my eyebrow. The logout button's missing? How could that be?
Quickly I opened my own menu, scrolling to where the logout button should have been.
I gasped, What Micky said was true, the logout button wasn't there.
Was this some first day error or some sort of sick joke from the game masters or even the creator?
"Huh." Rydar said calmly after checking it out for himself. "Well, looks like we can't logout."
"You mean we're trapped in this game?" Micky said, his voice cracked with fear.
Rydar shrugged his shoulders. "I guess."
"What do you mean you guess?!"
Rebecca stood up, she looked into Titan's eyes with a serious look. "Calm down."
"HOW CAN I BE CALM IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS!?"
"Panicking won't make it any better."
Rebecca looked at my sister, the latter was sitting with he knees to her face.
She shook every now and then, I knew better than anyone that mean she was crying.
"And upsetting the children only makes it worse."
Titan opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it. He let his arms slunk at his side as he stared at the floor.
"Just what the hell does thi-"
Ding. Ding. Ding.
A bell rings, echoing across the land.
A moment later, a field of bright lights engulfed my friends and I.
Taking us away to the place were all our questions would soon be answered.
(Rydar's POV)
The first thing I noticed when I could see again was the bell still dinging. The second was the amount of people gathered around me.
We were in the plaza located in front of the Black Palace in the Town of Beginnings.
Scattered around me were my friends and my mother, as well various other players. It seemed like every player in the games was here or being summoned here.
The bell stopped, its dinging to be replaced by a low beeping noise. Players around me started to look up at the sky, I followed their lead and spotted a red WARNING symbol flashing above the palace.
Suddenly, the red symbol multiplied at an alarming rate and covered the entire sky.
What looked like blood started to pore down from the red sky, forming below into some sort of figure. It took shape, appearing as a giant clocked being that hovered above the plaza.
It seemed like a game master, but it had no face or any other limbs aside from its arms.
"Attention players," The figure spoke, spreading its arms outward. "I welcome you to my world."
"My name is Kayaba Akihiko and as of now I am in control of this world."
I looked to my mother, she meet my gaze and nodded. I looked back towards the apparition calling itself Kayaba.
'So he's Kayaba...' I squared that thought away and began to wonder why he was here. I immediately ruled out this being some sort of promotional gimmick or any sort of announcement on the fact we couldn't log out.
You don't start those sort of things with 'I'm in control of this world.' In fact, all you accomplish with that is the suspicion that you're the cause of it.
Wait...
Was that it?
My eyes widened at the realization, was Kayaba here about to tell us that we can't logout because of him?!
"I'm sure many of you have notice the lack of a particular function in your main menu; the logout button." Kayaba said, all but confirming my suspicions.
"This is not a defect in the game, rather the way Sword Art Online was meant to be played. I repeat this is not a defect but a feature to the game."
Boom, there it is.
"You cannot log out of SAO and no one outside can shut down or remove the Nerve Gear."
"Any attempt to do so will result in a series of powerful microwaves emitted by a transmitter inside the Nerve Gear that will destroy your brain and thus ending your life."
And now it escalated into something worse.
"This information has been given to media groups around the globe and is being broadcasted as we speak."
"Unfortunately, several players' families and friends have ignored this warning and attempted to remove their Nerve Gear."
Kayaba slowly raised one of his hands, a moment later multiple images of live news broadcasts appeared around his avatar.
"As a result, 213 players have perished from this existence. As you can see, news organizations around the world are reporting what I have shared with you so far, including the deaths of these players."
"As such, the chances of having your Never Gear removed is now minimal at best."
I scanned the various images, they were all real, live broadcasts of players that died playing SAO. This bastard was serious.
Not only that, but people died and he didn't seem to care.
After a few more moments the images vanished, diverting all attention to Kayaba once more.
"I hope that you will attempt to clear the game despite these pleasantries, however there are a few more details I must share with you."
"As of now there is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP reaches zero, your avatar will be lost forever, and simultaneously, your Nerve Gear will destroy your brain."
"Currently you are on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. In order to proceed to the next floor and those beyond it, you must find and defeat the each floor boss."
"There are a total of 100 floors in Aincrad and once you've defeated the final boss you will clear the game and be able to return to the real world."
This was insanity. None of these people deserved this.
"Before I wrap things up I would like you all to open you your inventory lists. I have added a present from me to you. Please see for yourselves."
It wasn't out of curiosity that cause me to rush and open up my inventory to see what this mad man left for us, but out of concern that it was some sort of trap.
If it was, I wanted to be the one to spring it. That way, my pals would know and ignore this son of a bitch.
I scrolled down past the materials I collected earlier and noticed a new item: MIRROR. Seeing as the name alone didn't shout TRAP to me, I decided to take it out.
It was a plain old hand mirror, nothing too special. I quickly looked to my left and right, noting that my friends and mother held the item in their hands as well.
"What the hell?" Someone nearby said. "You tell us we're trapped in this game then give us a mirror so we can looked at our scared faces?"
"This is total bu-" Another player started to say, before a light emerged from his mirror.
All around me, mirrors shone their light upon the players that held them, briefly surrounding them in a flash of light before transforming into something different.
Finally my mirror flashed me, blinding me for a second. I had an idea what the mirror, or more accurately Kayaba did to us. I held the mirror up, looking into its reflection.
I smirked, somewhat relieved that the item wasn't the type of trap I originally thought.
Staring right back at me was my actual face, the one I was born with. I brushed aside the black colored lock of hair dangling in front of my left eye, noting how accurately this 'new avatar' was to my actual body.
"So that's it." I said before dropping the mirror. It crashed on the floor, shattering into data before disappearing forever.
I looked at my mother first. Sure enough, she looked exactly how she did in real life.
Her short brown hair was replaced by long flowing blond hair. Her eyes sparkled a deep, dark blue. There was the beauty mark below her right eye and her skin was right shade of pasty white coloring. Overall, my mother looked like she was around my age, (mid-twenties if you wanted to push it) and a stunning beauty to boot.
Can't help but admire how accurate this system was.
She caught me staring, then frowned before crossed her arms.
"Staring at your mother is rude, especially when you're fantasizing all sorts of naughty thoughts."
I chuckled. "Come on ma, you should know me better than that."
I turned my gaze to the others.
TJ turned from a mid-aged giant with a black bear and pony tailed hair to a brown haired giant with a scar over his chin. His hair was short and he seemed to have his eyes closed, though he could be one of those people whom can see everything with he eyes closed or something.
Micky, or Titan transformed from his orange spiky haired avatar to a black haired average looking teenager. Can't say I was surprised.
Juno didn't really change all to much, still had his short size, his green eyes, and short spicky hairstyle featuring a pony tail. Only things that changed was the color of his hair from black to gray, the color of his skin was a few shades browner and that he looked a lot younger than I thought.
I mean A LOT younger, like he's ten years old younger.
Yeah, Juno was a shota. Who knew?
Alex wasn't too different from his avatar, just a tad younger looking and had a slight tan. Probably from sunburn.
His sister was a different story. She transformed from this pink haired fairy princess imitation to a black haired six year old girl with twin pigtails. Her eyes were black, and honestly she looked cuter to me now than she did before.
As for me, I wasn't too different from my avatar. Aside from a dark purple hair coloring instead of a pure black one and some details on my face my last appearance was practically my real one.
With my sturdy body build, short black hair with a length of hair stretching down a half of my forehead, a few locks of hair popping out from over my ears and a number of hairs sticking out every here and there.
To anyone staring at me, they might have though that through some convenient glitch I kept my original avatar.
I always did look like a rouge or so my ma says.
Micky was the first one in our group to utter a word since this all went down, aside from me and ma a few moments ago.
"Damn TJ, you really are a giant!" He said as he studied the latter up and down.
The giant grunted in response.
Micky looked at Juno next. "Wow, really wasn't expecting this."
"And what's that?" Juno crossed his arms with a frown.
Micky snickered. "Given the way you sound and act, I though you'd be older."
"I'm 20."
"No way, no way in hell you're 20!"
"Why would I lie?"
Micky shrugged his shoulders with a smile. "I don't know."
My mother walked over to Juno, she leaned froward staring at him.
I chuckled once more, knowing what was about to happen.
Juno raised his eyebrow. "What? What is it?"
My mom remained silent as she continued to stare at Juno. After a few moments, she picked Juno up, holding the shota by his arms.
Juno grinned his teeth in annoyance. "What is it?" He shouted, obviously he didn't like to be manhandled.
"You're cute." My mother said bluntly.
"Wha-"
My mom quickly threw Juno into her chest. She held him with one arm as she moved her free hand though his hair a few times.
"You are cute. I have an attraction to cute things."
I let out a laugh, my mother could be a real riot sometimes. Between the fact that she rarely shows her emotions towards others and her usual cold attitude towards others it was no wonder why I found moments like this so funny.
"I can't breath...!" Juno's voice was muffled, all thanks to my mother forcefully stuffing his face into her breasts.
Before anyone could add anything further, Kayaba continued his previous announcement. Snapping us back into the reality of our situation.
"Right now, you're probably wondering why? Why would Kayaba Akihiko, creator of Sword Art Online and the Nerve Gear do all this?"
"I created Sword Art Online for one purpose, to create a world that I can intervene in."
"And with that, I officially end the Sword Art Online tutorial. Good luck players."
Before anyone could react to this obviously evil declaration from a mad man, Kayaba's avatar melted. Mist pored out of the deflating form as it slowly vanished without a trace.
Then, the sky was restored to its original colors.
For the moment, everyone was silent. Most likely still processing what they were just told. Trapped in a video game, unable to see your friends and loved ones unless this game was cleared, and you will die if your HP hits zero. It was a lot to take in all at once.
I clenched my fist so tight that it shook.
"You bastard." I muttered. "All this is to you is a chance to play god. You don't care what happens to us as long as you entertain is that it?!"
I decided against yelling at the time. If I did, all that would accomplish is setting everyone off. I'd rather prevent that from happening for as long as possible.
"No way...This has to be a bad joke." Alex looked at me. "Isn't that right?"
"I'm afraid not." I said in a blunt tone. "He was dead serious. We really are trapped in this world."
It might have been harsh, but the truth usually is.
"But why?" Alex looked around at each of us. "Why trap all of us in this game?"
"To play god." TJ said. "Simple as that."
"He doesn't care." My mom said, still holding Juno tightly to her chest. "That man has no regard for human life."
"You sound like you know the guy." Juno added, having popped his head out far enough so he could breath.
There was a few more moments of silence before someone screamed, after that the crowd started to panic. All yelling and cursing at Kayaba to let them out, it would prove fruitless.
No matter what they said after all that the bastard wasn't gonna let us walk out of this so easily.
"We need to leave." I said. "Before things turn ugly."
"Agreed." Titan added. "Don't wanna be around when they turn into a mob."
"And...where are we going?" Alex said. I could tell the kid was trying to hide his fear from me, not that I blame him given that I'm his role model and all.
I turned around. "To the next town."
I started walking out of the square, my friends and ma followed. We moved through the alleyways, both to avoid unwanted attention and to follow the quickest route out of the town.
"So..." Alex said in a half whisper, his sister walked along his side holding his hand ever so tightly. "Why are we heading to the next town?"
"Anyone want to answer that?" I said, normally I would've myself but right now I had to focus. This was no time to humor the clueless.
"One the mob realizes that simply complaining won't get them out of here, those with the will to fight will begin to pick the surrounding mob areas clean." Micky answered.
"We want to avoid that." Juno added, and yes he was free from my mother's grasp, walking a far distance away from the latter. "So we're staying ahead of the masses and moving to the next town."
"It's quite an easy concept to figure out." My mother said with a sigh. "Though with everything that's happened I suppose I can let this one slide."
"How kind of you..." Alex said in a depressing tone.
I felt bad for the kid, and even more for his sister. They didn't deserve all this, to be robbed of their lives, their freedom.
It made me sick that Kayaba would do such a thing.
"I can't understand how you guys are so calm about this." He added after a few silent moments. "I mean, aren't you afraid?"
"Who said we aren't?" I said. "Being afraid in a situation like this is natural.
"Right now we can't think about it." Titan added. "We need to stay focused if we want to stay alive."
"And get out of this game." Juno finished.
I nodded in agreement. The only way to survive was to become stronger and fight. No amount of crying or lying in some bed curled up in a ball would help any.
Everyone remained quiet for the rest of the trip to the town's exit.
I turned back to my comrades, I looked at each one a few moments at a time.
"This is it." I said. "Take a moment to prepare yourselves, from here on its a fight for our lives."
Alex looked down at his sister and gave her a smile. "Don't worry Elizabeth. Everything's going to be alright."
The teary eyed six year old nodded. She leaned her head on her brother's arm. "I told you to call me Tifa oni-chan."
Alex patted her head with his free hand. "Sorry, sorry. It won't happen again."
He started to come to terms with the situation, or at least was putting on a great act. Either way, that's a good sign.
I turned around, taking in deep breath before exhaling.
Aside from myself, I had my original team from the beta with me; the giant offensive tank TJ, the archer genius Juno, and my right hand man Titan aka Micky.
Along with them, I had my mother, whom apparently found a way to transfer what she knew about handling a spear into the game or just naturally talented -She took some classes on spear usage during her high school days if you're wondering what I mean.-
There was my self appointed 'rival' Alex and his kid sister. The forward was a decent one-handed sword wielder while the latter showed some promise with a dagger.
Given the fact that we were in a death game now, this was a pretty fair company of people to party up with.
With some luck, we'd all make it out of this alive.
"OK lads and ladies." I said, pausing for a moment to decide how to word the rest.
"This is the start of our journey, to become stronger to survive and eventually clear this death game." I took a step forward, leading my friends unto the open road.
"And to kill the bastard that trapped us here in the first place."
Ch.1 The Start of a Journey.
END
Hello one and all! I thank you for reading this. I've recently been getting back into SAO and thought up a bunch of things so, when I'm having motivational issues with my Dragon Ball Z SS story I'll be adding more unto this one. (And though it might not seem it, that happens quite a bit.)
That said, don't expect regular updates. Mostly cause this isn't my main focus.
This is gonna be a bit of a Alt Universe setting to the anime, mainly cause I'm including a few events from the revamped manga, tweaking a few existing ones and adding a few new ones I've made up (plus the whole following Rydar and his gang bit.)
Now Kirito and the regular cast will be included and they will still be important (and no pairings will be effected I assure you), so don't you worry about that.
Anyway, I've been trying a new style of writing for this story. That whole POV story telling from the eyes of these characters, that's been fun so far. Tell me how I did and what you think about the story so far.
Thanks again for reading, till the next entry.