Disclaimer: I don't own 'SAO' or any of its related titles, nor do I own the 'Killzone' franchise. SAO and Killzone are owned by their respective owner, and this story is purely for entertainment purposes. This is also a SIOC story, so don't like don't read. Anyway, please enjoy.

Chapter 1: The Vulture

"Hehe, looks like the forum was right," muttered a bald man wearing a tan shirt and holding an MP-5K sub machine gun. He turned to his friends, 4 guys wearing desert apparel and holding varying assault rifles and battle rifles. "This place is rich with high grade materials, so let's gather as much as possible."

"Yes boss!" the men shouted. They began fanning out, pulling out shovels and picks to begin mining the canyon area of its rare resources. As he watched the others begin the tedious task, the bald man smirked as he began to consider what these resources would mean for his team.

Gun Gale Online was a first person massive multiplayer online role playing game, where you had various missions you could complete to gather in game currency, which would enable you to get better gear and equipment. But one of things about the game was you had to pay a monthly account fee of 3000 yen, lest you lose your account. You could pay with real money, or you could gather enough in-game currency to pay for the renewal fee.

This lead to an interesting dilemma; do you farm a bunch of easy and relatively safe PVE missions that wouldn't payout so much, or do you take the harder and more dangerous PvP missions that payout much more, but could lead to big losses, as your equipment and gear could be nicked off your body and be sold off. There was however another way to make bank, and that was farming rare resources. Not many did this as it was boring, didn't help level up your main stats other than strength, and relied on the stat barely anyone bothered with, luck, but if you could find, gather, and sell your rare resources to a reliable vendor, you could roll in cash.

The main problem came with the fact that rare resources were just that; rare as fuck. Thus hearing that there was an area rich in rare resources was like hearing that there was a new gold vein, ripe for the taking.

Thus the man had gathered his friends and set out to find this place, rich in some metal that sold for 300,000 credits per 1 kg, the equivalent of a monthly fee. And there was easily enough to give his team of 5 a year without having to pay out of their pocket. But it was strange, why wouldn't this place have been picked dry by now? Unless…

The man looked around quickly, scanning canyon walls for anything out of the usual. If it was as he suspected, he had led his team into a trap, one set up by a damn dirty PK'er, or Player Killer. It wasn't unheard of, for someone to leave a rumor on a forum, waiting for some gullible fool to kill and loot his corpse. But why lead them somewhere that legitimately had the rumored resources? The bald man froze as he saw what could be passed off for a mirage on the top of a butte. It was unlikely, but it could be a player hiding under an optical camouflage cloak; it bends the light away from the user, thus concealing their location, but left behind a mirage-like effect in its place.

The bald man switched from his MP-5K to a M40A3 sniper rifle, and raised it at the mirage. Placing his finger on the trigger, the in-game gunline appeared, with the aiming circle focusing around the mirage. The bald man was about to pull the trigger when he felt a round pass through him from behind, knocking him to the ground and killing him instantly, as the round had passed through the man's heart.

The sound of the report of a sniper caused the four men to begin scanning the canyon wall and firing randomly.

"Damn you, we'll avenge our boss!" shouted a black-haired man with an M16A4, firing randomly at any place a sniper could be hiding, which were numerous. The man was about to call out to one of his friends when he saw a round object falling towards him. His eye's widened.

"GRENADE!" the man shouted, quickly running away from the grenade, narrowing avoiding his explosion when he dived under a wrecked jeep. He saw two of his friends were huddling behind the jeep.

"Jesus guys, do you have a clue about where the sniper is?" the man asked. One of the men, a guy with a mohawk, shook his head.

"No, we've seen nothing, but whereever he is he can't be far, not if he threw that grenade," the mohawk guy. The man sighed; this wasn't good, a unseen sniper was the worse thing imaginable, as he could dicate the flow of the engagement.

~BEEP~

The man paused; what the hell had just beeped? Tilting his head, the man looked up, and paled when he saw a blinking green light that was embedded in a block of C4. He didn't get another word out when an explosion ripped the jeep apart, taking out the three men that had thought themselves safe near the jeep.

The final man, a skinny guy wearing a bandana and carrying a G3 battle rifle was running as fast as he could down the canyon. If he could get out of that fucking labyrinth of possible sniper nests, he could reach the team's ATV and get the hell out of there alive. He turned left and saw the ATV was in sight.

The man was smiling; he was so close! All he needed to do was-

BANG!

A bullet punched straight through the man's left knee cap, sending the man tumbling down.

"Jesus fuck!" the man shouted; while not as painful as it would be in real-life, in GGO pain was made so players would know when they got hit and could take cover; without it, a player could remain standing up and getting hit without realizing it. It was akin to getting hit with a hammer; painful, but unlikely to do any real harm.

The man had let go of his battlerifle and was inching to crawl towards it, but a sudden weight in the form of a boot smashed into his arm.

"Not so fast," a voice said, causing the man to look up at his adversary. Instead of a face, he was greated with a gas mask that had 3 red lenses arranged in a triangle formation, covered by a cloak that seem to fade out of sight whenever the man remained still, and in his hand was a semi-automatic pistol he didn't recognize; it had a cylindrical magazine in front of the trigger and had a grip similar to a HK USP.

"What do you want PK'er?" the man growled. The masked individual lowered the pistol towards the man's head.

"I want your gear; it would sell well after I make some…modification," the masked man stated. "Now die."

Bang!

Looking down at the man I had executed, I sighed.

"God, I'll be busy looting their bodies and then modifying their guns to be worthy of my buyers," I muttered to myself. "All so I can acquire enough funds to afford that three-level magnification scope for my rifle. It had better perform as I hope."

Raising the menu, I began looting the corpse in front of me for any valuables, noting that the guy had managed to get some of the rare steel that was located in the area. It would sell for a pretty penny, but it wasn't what I was after; no, the primary weapons of these idiots were what I was after.

You see, it's one thing to mine resources, it another to farm missions for rare-level equipment, but if you invested as many skill points into weapon creation as I have, you can turn Tier 1 weapons like G3 battle rifles and M16 assault rifles into high-class Tier 4 weapons, like for instance turning the G3 into a high-precision PSG-1. It does take resources, some credits, and the base weapon, but in the end, you make a decent profit, even if you sold the end product to a NPC vendor.

But for someone like me, who also ran a small shop in one of the major safe zones, this meant I could sell the weapon for practically it entire value, at least 95% of the price of what the vendor would sell it for. This meant that even taking out 5 players with crappy gear I could afford high-end equipment and attachments for my own kit without hurting too much. As I continued into the canyon to loot the other corpses, I began to remember how much joy I had playing Gun Gale Online and how I got into it.

After my failure to join the US armed forces, I had lived with my family, working at a nearby gas station, until sadly my mother and grandmother died in a car accident*. In the aftermath, I had paid what remaining debt my family had, which left me with enough to get or do something to take my mind off the loss. I decided to sell the house, as it had too many memories, and move to Japan, where I managed to find someone willingly to teach an American the language and after a year was speaking mostly fluently. In addition, I had got a job at a nearby gas station (I wonder if that I my lot in life, as this would be the third gas station job I held), stocking shelves and helping maintain the cleanliness of it. After a while, I got an AmuSphere, and I decided to try out Gun Gale Online.

I had been playing for a few months, enjoying the game and loving the freedom from life it gave me when they had a special event that changed how I was playing; the Killzone event. It was a special event inspired by Guerilla Game's Killzone franchise, with players able to obtain weapons and gear from the Killzone universe. It was a month-long event, and while I didn't get what I had initially set out for, it had led to a road I hadn't considered; a Player-killing Sniper.

I had acquired the Helghast Scout set, complete with the cloaking device, a Sta-18 pistol, and finally the master piece I was working on upgrading, the VC-32 Sniper rifle. It was one of the more powerful rifles, outside of anti-material rifles, highly accurate, and it was an absolute gem to use. I thank my step-father for teaching me how to shoot when I was younger, as I was able to use the VC-32 without having to use that stupid Gun-Line aim assist, which meant I could snipe a target beyond the traditional 600 meters without exposing my position. When combined with my cloaking device, I can take shots from unorthodox positions and take advantage of the confusion.

I shook my head, deciding to focus more on the task at hand as I began to loot the final corpse. I was glad that I only had one more body to loot, as I didn't like the vulnerability that looting made your character. Because you had to use a menu, you were essentially locked in place for a moment, which was fine when you were in a safe place or had friends, but out in the open, it was such an easy target for anyone to take. However, as I finished looting the corpse, I thought of the rather dark nickname I earned.

The Vulture, as I was called. A scavenger of GGO, the forums ranted how I was a plague to groups that tried to farm key areas, due to how long I could wait and persist in my hunts. With my unusual character build that focuses on dexterity and sensibility and armed with a sniper rifle and explosive traps, I had taken groups out that had outnumbered me ten to one, all without a scratch. The only reason was that I in turn looted their corpses, hence me nickname. I think there is even a bounty on my head, that was how much I pissed people off.

I smirked at how much of a joy I got out of making other's miserable; taking the gear they worked so hard for and then selling them to someone else for much higher prices after I tweaked them, it was sublime. Standing up from the fifth corpse, I started to make my way back to the safe zone, to my room. I glanced at all I took;

-2x G3 Battle Rifles

-1x M16A4 Assault Rifle

-1x MP-5K SMG

-1x M40A3 Sniper Rifle

-1x FN FAL Battle Rifle

-5x Glock 17 Pistols

-4x Grenades

-400x .308mm rounds

-150x 5.56mm rounds

-225x 9mm rounds

I chuckled; what a profitable looting run. I could convert the G3 rifles into PSG-1s or MSG-90 sniper rifles, the M16A4 into any number of high-grade custom AR-based rifles, the M40A3 into a highly tuned rifle, the FN FAL into a L1A1 marksman rifle, and I could sell the ammunition. I was pondering what to do with the Glock 17, as pistols are not well received in GGO; too slow a rate of fire, lack of punch at range, and the weight that carrying one brought meant it could deny low-strength character builds from using a weapon the player rather use. I could turn them into a Glock 18, making them machine pistols, but between the cost of converting them and then the time to sell them, well, it just wouldn't fetch much. I'd probably be better off selling them to some random NPC vendor.

I glanced at the in-game clock in the menu and sighed. It was nearly 9 o-clock, which meant I had to get to bed and get some sleep. I had work in the morning, which I didn't look forward to, not one bit.

"Gah, what the fuck did I do in a past life to deserve this?" I muttered to myself. Today had been truck day, which meant we had stuff coming in that had to be checked in, put away, and various minor things. I had to help the kitchens out, as it was a single person working at the time I got in, check their stuff in.

Throughout that process, we had a person quit, we nearly bungled up the invoices, barely got the frozen goods into the cooler before they melted or got too warm, and then I had, going back to the coolers I worked in, had to move another 68 cases of that god awful brand of water, barely managed to stock the shelves full of sodas, energy drinks, milks, and got the beer section done. Oh, and I also had to deal with the outside garbage's, which were nearly over flowing.

I was nearing my apartment, contemplating how well my store in-game was doing. Hopefully not as badly as the gas station had been today. I got the doors and opened it, about to close it when I heard a voice call out.

"Wait!" I paused and held the door open and saw a slightly out of breath woman a few years younger then me. I frowned; I felt like I should know her, yet from where I hadn't a clue. Wasn't a collegue of mine; I knew all of my co-worker's faces if not their names. I kept failing to come up with a reason I would know her, yet I felt like I should know her.

She had long black hair, blueish eyes, was wearing a loose aquamarine shirt and khaki slacks, and was pretty tall for a Japanese woman. But still, I was taller than her, by about eight inches or so. That and massively heavier; despite the nearly two years of cutting back on what I ate to conserve money and the lack of personnel guilty pleasures in Japan, I still weighed around 325 pounds. Better than 420 pounds, but then again not really.

"Thank you so much!" the woman said, dragging my attention out of my head and back into reality. "It looked like it was about to rain, and I didn't want to get caught out." I shrugged.

"Eh, probably for the best, those clouds are looking pretty dark," I replied, before seeing a familiar package. "Got yourself an AmuSphere?" The woman rubbed the back of her head.

"I-ah-yeah I did," she said a little shyly. "I got interested after visiting my parents and seeing it mentioned on the news, and my friend recommended ALO to me." I nodded; Alfheim Online was a popular fantasy VRMMORPG, so it made sense for her friend to introduce her to ALO.

"I heard of it, saw some gameplay of it, but I could never bring myself to play it," I said. "If it was a bit like Dark Souls, I might be more interested in it, but yeah."

"Oh, you play VR games?"

"Only a couple, mostly Gun Gale Online, but I also play Death in the Heavens and Millennium Racers."

"I see. So, um what do you do?" the woman asked, changing subjects. I answer her question.

"I work at the local gas station, stocking the cooler and beer section mostly. How about yourself?"

"Oh I go to university, hoping to get my major in Music," the woman said. She hesistated before continuing. "I'm Kohiruimaki Karen, pleased to meet you." She extended her hand which I shook.

"I'm Vi- wait, this is Japan, not America. I'm Moran Vincent, pleasure to meet you." I was about to say more when the woman paused.

"Ah, this is my apartment, I hope we can talk again sometime?" I nodded.

"Sure, not a problem, do you want to exchange information?" She nodded, and I, ever so grateful Japan had the custom of people exchanging business cards to fall back on, handed her my card. It had my number and name on it, so it wasn't like anything back could happen with that information, or I assume so. She handed me a similar card with her name and number.

"Thank you, and I'll talk to you later," Karen said (ain't no way in hell I was going to try and pronounce her family name, I'd butcher it six ways til Sunday), entering her apartment and closing the door.

I smiled, having contact with someone that wasn't work related or my brother, before I went to find my apartment, only to pause briefly. I glanced at Karen's door, then my door, then back at hers. I walked over and knocked, my confusion mounting. She opened the door.

"Ye- oh hi Moran-san, how can I help you?"

"How long have you lived in that apartment?"

"Um, six months now, why?" I sighed, before explaining to Karen.

"I've lived in the apartment next to you for nearly two years, how the hell did I not once ever meet you?"

Author's Note: And this is where I end this chapter. Well, where to start?

I started writing this literally yesterday, as I had a gotten halfway through SAO Alternative: GGO and finished it this morning. Seriously a good show, and in most ways better then SAO (no kirito, no unexplained hack moves, etc), an awesome cast, and that ending, such a bad-ass then flat-footed ending! Seriously, I wonder how many battle royale are won that way; must be infuriating to watch a good game end in such a bullshit way.

So, I decided to write this fan-fiction, where I was basically just another player that gets involved with the SJ and then develop my character from there. I have a bit of the plot planned out, and it will follow closely to the anime, with some deviancy as I interject some extra flavor to the major events. So somethings will remain the same (like LLENN meeting Pito), while others won't (like the result of the 2nd SJ, fuck border camping assholes that do nothing but steal the win at the last second).

I want to say that this is not a cross-over fiction, due to the involvement of elements from Killzone. I included that disclaimer as I don't want to get the story pulled down, and I do want to involve elements from Killzone into the story. Things like weapons, character designs, and a few other things I want to include, but this story won't include characters or story elements from Killzone, as it wouldn't make much sense.

This story is also a self-insert story, so I will include real elements from my life to give myself more personality in the story. When I do, I will leave a *, with an annotation at the end in the A/N to explain the source of it. They won't be very often, maybe one or two a chapter, but when you see it, it has to do with my life.

Now onto the one annotation, that I marked with a *. I thankfully still have my mother and grandmother alive, but this is an actual concern of mine, mainly because a car accident can occur through no fault of one's own action. I live in middle of bum fuck nowhere Nevada, and I know we go through beer in town like crazy and I also know there are druggies in town. So I'm a little bit concern for my family's safety, and hope that this fear of mine never comes to pass.

Also, that scene about work, yeah, that was my day today. I hated work today.

Anyway, please read, review, follow, and favorite, and I'll catch you guys next time!