Hey guys! This story might seem familiar to some of you, as this is, in fact, a re-write of my original story Sword Art Online: XYZ! The last one had many inconsistencies (thanks to MyNoseAgreesWithMe for pointing them all out) and I hadn't even written a second chapter! So, I've decided to re-write the story and rebuild it from the ground up. Without further ado, I present to you Sword Art Online: XYZ!

I don't own Pokémon! If I did, Serena would be going to Alola.

I don't own SAO, either! If I did, Kirito would be with Sinon.

"Hurry up, Serena! We'll be late for the launch!" called Ash Ketchum, a Pokémon trainer from Pallet Town of Kanto. He once aspired to be a Pokémon Master, but gave up that dream to be with Serena instead. He had tackled every league of every region, except for the Island Challenge in Alola, although he was planning on taking Serena there for a vacation.

Ash and Serena had been dating for almost three years at this point. They met during their childhoods at a Pallet Town summer camp, and then met again in Kalos, during Ash's journey to challenge the Kalos League. Along Ash's journey they met Clemont, the leader of the Lumiose City gym, and his little sister Bonnie. Clemont had gone off to join Ikubus Development, one of the biggest game and technology developers in the world. Bonnie took over the Lumiose gym in place of her brother.

Ash and Serena had planned to get the new VirtuLens, a headset from Ikubus that used "FullDive" technology created by Akihiko Kayaba. Along with the VirtuLens came the hottest game of the year, some even saying one of the biggest launches in history – Sword Art Online: Reborn, a new version of the infamous Sword Art Online.

Many gamers were hesitant about the VirtuLens and Sword Art Online: Reborn. After the "SAO incident", in which 10,000 players were trapped inside a FullDive game, and where you died in real life if your HP dropped to zero, the world grew worried that another situation would rise up. Ikubus Development, however, promised that SAO:R had a Logout button and that IRL death did not exist.

"I'll be right there!" Serena called, rushing towards Ash. She wasn't a "gamer" by any means, but she was excited to try out FullDive with her boyfriend. After all, marriage was a part of SAO:R, and the thought of being married to Ash, even though only in a virtual world, was a thought she was most enthusiastic about.

The two trainers were just about ready to head out the door, before Ash was startled by an electric shock.

"Pika-pi!"

"Oh, sorry, Pikachu!" Ash said, as he looked behind himself. There was his faithful partner, the electric mouse Pokémon, Pikachu.

"Pika!" It exclaimed joyfully, as it hopped upon its trainer's shoulder.

"Alright, let's go!"

~~Later…~~

"And here we are!" Serena announced.

"Yep! And it looks like everyone else is here too." All around him were long lines of people, from casual players to hard-core gamers, all waiting to get their VirtuLens and copies of Sword Art Online: Reborn.

"We're never gonna get our copies!" Ash groaned.

"Are you sure about that, Ash?" Serena pointed towards a herd of trainers, who all looked ready to battle. "Look over there!"

"Hey trainers!" called one of the group members. "If you can beat us in a Pokémon battle, you'll win a VirtuLens and SAO:R. One battle per customer!"

"A battle, huh? This should be fun. Come on, Pikachu!"

The boy walked over to the trainers, prepared to fight. The group member walked towards Ash, Poké Ball in hand.

"So, you want to battle?" The trainer asked Ash. "This ought to be interesting."

Ash could overhear the whispered comments from the other trainers in the group.

"You're gonna owe me ten bucks after this when this kid gets his ass kicked," said one guy.

"No one in this group has lost a battle yet, you better not be the first, Leo," said another.

No one's lost a battle here yet, huh? Ash thought to himself. Well then, let's bring that winning streak to an end – we've got this!

"My name's Leo, I'm head of the promotional board for SAO:R over at Ikubus," he said, putting out his hand.

Ash reached out and shook Leo's hand. "And I'm Ash, I'm a trainer from Pallet Town." Pikachu hopped off of Ash's shoulder. "And this is my partner, Pikachu."

"Pikachu!" it introduced itself, and then hopped back on to Ash's shoulder.

"Well, you want to have a battle?" Leo seemed intrigued. He wanted to test this trainer's strength.

"You bet I do!" As she stood off to the side, Serena could sense the excitement in Ash's voice. She did her best not to get noticed, but to no avail.

"And who's this fine lady?" Leo said, looking over at Serena. He had caught her staring at the two trainers preparing to fight, and took that as a sign she was staring at him.

"That's my girlfriend, so watch it," Ash replied sternly. Leo's face turned bright red, and he immediately apologized.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he insisted.

"It's fine, just don't do it again."

"Who was that?" Ash asked. It wasn't him, and it wasn't Serena or Leo, so who could it be? As he asked himself that question, a girl from the group of trainers stood next to Leo.

"S-sorry, Emily, I..!"

"I apologize for my boyfriend's behavior," Emily told the couple. "It's a habit of his. Doesn't this man know loyalty?" There was silence from Leo, who looked like he was having a breakdown of some sorts. He recovered himself quickly, and rejoined the conversation.

"Hey, I've got an idea. We'll do a couples battle – if you guys win, you'll each get a VirtuLens starter pack, which comes with a VirtuLens, Sword Art Online: Reborn, and a coupon for a free accessory of your choosing. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sure," Serena said quietly. She knew Ash was a very capable battler, but she also knew she was better at Pokémon Performances than battles.

"Alright, sounds cool," Emily said, pulling a Poké Ball from her pocket.

"Sweet, let's go!" Ash exclaimed with excitement.

The four got in to their places, and they chose a member of the promotional board to be referee. Serena, Leo, and Emily got their Poké Balls ready, and Pikachu hopped off of Ash once again.

"This battle will be a 2-versus-2 battle! Only one Pokémon per trainer – the last team standing wins! Battle begin!"

"Let's go, Delphox!" Serena threw out her Poké Ball, and out came her Pokémon. Delphox was once a Fennekin, which she had received from Professor Sycamore's lab before starting her journey.

"Alright, Dragonite, come on out!" Leo threw a ball up in the air, and out came his Pokémon.

"Lapras, it's your turn." Emily calmly opened her Poké Ball, and a Lapras appeared on the battlefield.

"Let's do this, Pikachu!" Pikachu got in to battle stance, and the battle was underway.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt on Lapras!" Ash commanded. The little mouse shot a powerful wave of electricity towards Lapras, only to have its attack hit something else. Dragonite had blocked the move from hitting Lapras. But why?

Emily sent her first move. "Lapras, Ice Beam on Pikachu." The Pokémon started creating an icy-blue orb, and soon sent it out as a laser beam.

"Use Flamethrower on that Ice Beam, Delphox!" Serena ordered, as her Pokémon unleashed a stream of fire. Before the Ice Beam could hit Pikachu, Delphox's Flamethrower melted the attack, saving Pikachu from the damage.

"Heheh, clever move," chuckled Leo. "But cleverness won't get you anywhere. You're going to need power! Dragonite! Use Fly and take Pikachu up high!"

"Pika-pi! Pika pika!" Pikachu seemed to have an idea, and Ash knew exactly what it was.

"Ash, aren't you going to do anything?!" Serena whispered to him.

"Nope, trust me, you'll see!" he whispered back.

Dragonite approached, and aimed for Pikachu's tail. Ash appeared to be calculating when the big dragon would grab Pikachu, and at the right moment, he sent out an attack.

"Iron Tail!"

Pikachu's tail turned in to metal, and in seconds, Ash knew his plan worked. By the time Dragonite grabbed Pikachu, it hadn't noticed Pikachu's Iron Tail. Dragonite now had Pikachu, but the mouse was free to move and attack.

"Hey, Serena, have Delphox use Psychic to keep Dragonite where he is!" the boy whispered once again.

"Delphox, Psychic!" The fox Pokémon held Dragonite up in the air, stuck in its position.

"What are you…?!" All of the trainers could hear the stress in Leo's voice. Ash had him cornered!
"Pikachu, Electro Ball!" With it's tail still stuck in Dragonite's claws, it generated an orb of electricity, and fired it straight at the Pokémon who had grabbed it. By the time Dragonite had processed it, it was too late.

"Delphox, Psybeam!" Serena had Delphox cancel it's Psychic attack with Psybeam, and it fired straight at the dragon.

"What?! No!" Leo was worried now. How were they beating him?! He had the strongest Pokémon out of all of them!

The Dragonite started falling out of the air, and Ash took the opportunity to finish it off.

"Serena! Go all-out on Lapras!"

"You've got it, Ash!"

"Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Pikachu's metal tail sent Dragonite slamming in to the ground. When Ash looked, his plan had worked – Dragonite was down.

"Dragonite has been knocked out!" The referee announced. "Leo has been eliminated!"

"But…how?! How did you that?!"

"Who was it that said cleverness won't get you anywhere?" Ash teased. "I thought I'd show you that you were wrong."

"But..how…ugh!" The friendly head of Ikubus's promotional board had become angry, knowing that he lost a battle. He stormed off to calm down.

"Sorry about that," Emily said. "He hasn't lost a battle at all yet, and he's ashamed and upset that you ruined his winning streak.

"Oh, it's fine. I'm sorry for ruining his winning streak, I guess," Ash replied. "Anyways, we've still got a battle to fight, so let's go!"

Serena had been observant during this entire exchange. In the corner of her eye, she caught Lapras charging an Ice Beam.

"Ash, watch out! Get Pikachu out of the way!"

"Okay...! Pikachu, you heard her!"

"Pika!" It moved over a little bit.

"Lapras, now!"

Emily's Pokémon fired its attack towards Pikachu, but Serena knew that was going to happen. She was about to do something that required a bit of guts.

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" she ordered. It wasn't her Pokémon, but she knew what she was doing.

"Pika!" It dashed towards Lapras, avoiding it's Ice Beam along the way. Pikachu hit Lapras, interrupting Ice Beam.

"Now, Delphox, use Psybeam!"

"Dellll-!" it cried, firing an attack with all its power.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

"Pikaaa…chuuuu!" Pikachu did the same.

The couple's Pokémon combined their attacks, and hit Emily's Pokémon hard. After a quite a bit of dust, Lapras had fallen as well.

"Lapras has been knocked out! Emily has been eliminated!" announced the referee. "Lapras and Dragonite are unable to battle! The winners are the challengers!"

Ash and Serena were met with loud cheering. They were unaware that during their battle, they had amassed a ton of spectators. There was a crowd of people all watching the battle!

"Congratulations, Ash and Serena!" Emily came over with a smile on her face, clapping her hands. "You guys did great. That was a fun battle!"

"You did great too!" Ash said.

"Yeah, it was fun," Serena added. "But how'd you get my name? I don't remember introducing myself."

"I heard your boyfriend call it out during the battle."

"O-oh, yeah…!" Ash sweat-dropped.

"Congrats, guys!" Leo had gathered himself once again. "That was an awesome battle!"

"Thanks for the battle!" Ash replied. "It was pretty awesome!"

"Here's your guys' prizes! You can redeem the coupon over there at that counter!"

"Thank you!" the boyfriend and girlfriend replied.

"Enjoy the game!" replied Emily.

"Hey, and before you go," Leo stopped the two. "Here's my username and Emily's. Once you log in, send us a friend request, 'kay?" He passed them a keycard. "Put this in to the VirtuLens's card slot, it'll automatically register us."

"Alright, will do!" Ash replied with a smile. "Talk to you guys later!"

"See you 'round, Ash!"

Everyone made way for the two as they walked to the counter with their VirtuLens packs. They pulled out their coupons, and they already knew what accessory they each wanted.

"I'll have one of the Poké Ball Scanners, please!" Ash told the guy behind the counter.

"Me too!" Serena chimed in.

They were given their Poké Ball Scanners, and they gave the man their coupons. With their VirtuLens stuff in tow, they headed back home.

~~Later…~~

"Pika…" whined Pikachu.

"Pikachu, buddy, you've gotta get in your Poké Ball if you want to join the game with us."

"…pika-pi." And with the press of a button, Pikachu was back in its Poké Ball.

"Are you ready, Serena?" Ash asked. His girlfriend was doing the exact same thing he was – setting up the Poké Ball Scanner.

"Almost," she replied. "I kinda feel bad for doing this, don't you?"

Ash pondered his response a little bit before replying. "Yeah. Especially for poor Pikachu. I just hope they'll be alright, they guarantee that this device is safe, but I've got a few doubts."

"I have faith that everything will be alright. Clemont said he tested it, he assured us that it's safe. Don't you think his word is enough?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Anyways, I almost forgot; we've got one last thing to do." He pulled out the keycard that Leo gave him, and opened the card slot on his VirtuLens. He put the card in, and waited until the copy light turned green. He took it out, and repeated the process on Serena's.

"There, now we're ready."

Ash and Serena laid down next to each other, with their VirtuLens on. Ash put his hand around Serena's, and held it tight. Within seconds, their fingers were interlocked. In just two simple words, their lives were about to change forever.

"Link start!"

~~End of Chapter 1~~