A/N: So… This is my first post on this site. I hope that you enjoy this story!
But before you read it, a quick thing.
I KNOW not everything is the same as in the Sword Art Online anime, manga, and light novel, but, well, they explain a lot of things really poorly, so I have to make up a lot of things, and do a lot of research. You'll notice I do something like /open/datafile/... I just thought this would be a cool way to explain some things the characters shouldn't have to, since the story takes place in a video game, and computers... If you hate it, please, please tell me, so I can prevent from doing it in the future.
~Thanks!
~The last Dino Bear
November 6th, 2022 12:54pm, 8 hours after initial release of game, 6 minutes to server start
Light flickered through a dark room as an old computer monitor played back a news broadcast from earlier that day. A smiling, yet rather daft-looking woman stood in front of a line of people that stretched far beyond the boundaries of the screen. Next to her stood a rather disheveled man with wild hair and an unkempt face.
"So, how long did you say you have been waiting here again?" The women turned and smiled as she spoke to the man.
"Uh, well me and my friends have been waiting here for six days now, but some of the more hardcore gamers have been here for… I'd say a week before us. Insane right?" He spoke quickly and awkwardly, like he just wanted to get it over with.
Another smile from the woman, she seemed to have no idea what he was talking about.
"Why are so many people interested in this new game for the NerveGear? From what I've heard, most games for the virtual reality system haven't been very highly rated."
"Well, isn't it obvious?" The man suddenly spoke with newfound energy and agitation, staring at the reporter in anger. "Sword Art Online is the first MMO for the system! Not to mention it's developed by the creator of the system, Kayaba Akihiko! Something that really catches people's eyes is that there's supposedly no magic! Just weapons! Bold step, considering nearly every MMO existing has some sort of magic class. It's sure to be amazing, and there are only 10 000 copies being sold worldwide for the first three months! People have been taking bets on how quickly it'll sell out-"
Click
The screen shut off with a blink, leaving a young boy to sit alone in the dark room, holding a large box in his lap. Placing his hands on the already torn flaps, he pulled them flew upwards to reveal a gleaming device in the shape of a helmet, which the boy pulled out slowly, staring at it in awe. He had purchased this NerveGear two months previously, just for this game, Sword Art Online, and had only opened it once, to calibrate it. He was one of the lucky ones, getting the game when it was released at the store on the news program. He had been in the back of the broadcast the whole time, right near the front of the line.
Looking over to a small digital clock, he leaned over and picked up a small metal phone off his desk, flipping it open and quickly punching in a number. It rang three times before springing to life with a voice on the other end.
"Yo? That you Mikuo?" A quiet voice crackled through the device, filled with static.
"Mhm. Listen Simon, we need to find each other right away after spawning. Players are no doubt going to be flooding the place, and we don't wanna get caught up in the tidal wave." Mikou responded quietly, hardly able to contain his ecstasy.
"Right. There are still five more minutes left until server start… See you in game, man."
beep
Putting the phone back on his desk, the young Mikou sat for a moment before taking the helmet and placing it on his head, watching as the digital hub sprang to life around him. A little clock in the corner of his vision told him there were now four minutes left until the server went up, and players could enter the game.
Taking a deep breath, impatient exhilaration began shooting through his body. He knew close to nothing about Sword Art Online, almost everyone except for beta testers suffered the same. All that was known commonly was that the world was a placed called Aincrad, and existed as a series of floors, with each one made up of one large area and many small floating islands. But that was about it.
Every second that ticked away seemed to last a millenium, and Mikuo could barely contain his excitement.
BEEEEEEEP
The timer went off, meaning the server was now open.
With a nervous smile, Mikuo closed his eyes, and said the words that would connect him to the game.
"Link Start."
He had a sudden sensation of falling as the world around him disappeared to be replaced with a swirling vortex of colour and light. It was strange, yet it only lasted a moment. When it stopped, he threw his hand in front of his face as he was blinded by sudden bright light. Pulling it away slowly, his eyes adjusted and he began to make out the world around him.
He stood in a large, seemingly empty room with blue walls and an eerie look about it.
Particles floated around it, glowing with soft light. Suddenly, a female voice started booming around the room.
"Welcome, player, to Sword Art Online. You are currently in the character creation hub. Please create your custom avatar, and your Sword Art Online experience will begin."
A small panel opened in the ground in front of Mikou, and an odd, terminal-like device rose out of it. Approaching it swiftly, the boy shot out a hand to press the large glowing button on the center.
In front of him, a floating holographic screen appeared, and displayed a rotating avatar. On the terminal, countless small buttons flashed everywhere, displaying different options to edit it with. Pursing his lips for a second, Mikou pushed his hand towards the eye colour button, and slid it upwards, causing the hazel eyes of the avatar to grow slightly darker.
After cautiously pressing a few buttons here and there, he was finished.
The avatar pretty much resembled him exactly. It had the same, soft, round shape of eyes, right down to every fleck of colour in the hazel irises. The same crooked nose, and long brown hair.
Moving hand over to the button labeled "Okay", he pressed it quickly, and another holographic screen appeared, this time asking for him to enter a username. Almost immediately, he entered his usual name: "Hikarou"
After a moment, he was surrounded by another vortex of colour.
November 6th, 2022 1:03 pm
Hikarou ; Floor: 1 ; Location: Starting City ; Player level: 1 ; status: alive, healthy.
When the vortex ended, Mikou, now labeled Hikarou, stumbled forwards into the Starting City. It seemed to stretch on forever, perfectly detailed houses and beautifully sculpted skies, the world around him felt so real, right down to the wind on his face. He was shocked by how amazing the world around him looked.
A sudden roar of noise from behind him pulled Hikarou out of his awe. All around him, small portals opened and single players lept through them, leaving them to disperse a second later. Voices began to call out in amazement as they saw the virtual world they had entered. Scanning the crowd quickly, Hikarou searched for the avatar he knew Simon would play as, since he never changed his appearance in any game they played, he could easily recognize his friend.
When he realized he wasn't there, Hikarou began to slink away from the players behind him and into the empty city beyond.
On his back, a small sword jostled and shook noisily while he dashed, looking at every back alley and side road, trying to take it all in. Suddenly, a person shot out from one of the alleys, looking around.
Hikarou collided with him, and they both were sent flying backwards from the anti-pvp force field that sprung to life. Rubbing his head, the boy suddenly realized that nothing hurt, he had forgotten that there was no pain in Sword Art Online.
Looking over to the person he had bumped into, he was about to shout an apology when he saw the name tag above their head. "Simous." It was Simon's username, no matter what they played. Standing up quickly, he walked over to his friend, holding out his hand for him to grab.
"Thanks man," Simous grabbed his hand, and was helped up by the boy. "Sorry about- Hey! Mikou!" Simous suddenly shouted, recognizing his friend's username.
"In game, I'm Hikarou, remember. Anyways, how'd you get here so fast, Simous?" Hikarou smiled, happy to have found his friend so quickly.
"Easy, I didn't spend a millenium making my avatar." Simous teased, knowing how much care his friend put into every detail of the character that represented him. Unlike himself, who spent twenty seconds maximum.
"Eh, whatever. Come on, let's go look around outside the city. I want to look around a bit." Hikarou responded, shaking off his friend's teasing. Turning, both of them began towards the gate of the city, ready for the world ahead.
November 6th, 2022 1:49 pm
Hikarou: Floor: 1 ; Location: Starting City Fields ; Player level: 4 ; status: alive, injured.
Simous: Floor: 1 ; Location: Starting City Fields; Player level: 5 ; status: alive, healthy.
"Goddamnit, SWITCH!" Hikarou stumbled backwards, away from the growing pack of dire wolves, to allow Simous to engage them. The two friends had been grinding for nearly 40 minutes, and only leveled up a few times. They had stumbled onto an area filled with dire wolves, a low level enemy that could be deadly in packs. They just couldn't kill them, the wolves just kept coming no matter how many they killed. They had figured something out while fighting, though. Enemies adapt to a player's fighting strategy, and when one player fights against monsters for a while, they learn how to attack and counter perfectly. So when the monsters engage a different player, they forget the last players strategy, and have to adapt to the new player, making it easier to take them down. It was an interesting effect, making teamwork incredibly important.
Raising his sword above his head, Simous jumped over to Hikarou, and in turn he jumped over to where his friend was before, taking on the other side of the horde. Sure enough, the monster's attacks slowed down, becoming easy to block.
There was a flash of light from behind him, and Simous was suddenly back by Hikarou's side.
"What are you doing man?! The horde is going to-" Hikarou trailed off, suddenly realizing the wolves were fleeing, and with quite a few of their numbers missing. Turning back to his own side, he continued attacking. "How did you do that?" He asked his friend.
"Sword skill. I was going through my inventory earlier and saw a bunch of slots labeled "Sword skills", and just as I leveled up a second ago, something flashed in front of me, saying I had unlocked the sword skill "Slant"."
Open/DataFile/SwordSkills /Info/
Sword skills are special abilities designed for player use, essential for combat. By performing actions called Pre-Motions, players can activate special abilities that allow them to perform incredible feats. Pre-Motions can be as simple as lifting a sword above the shoulder, or can require the player to perform special actions, though they are never difficult. The server takes over after the Pre-Motion, and finishes the attack at a speed that would normally be impossible for players to achieve. There are thousands and thousands of sword skills, which are given to players based on the Weapon Skills they have trained.
Close/DataFile/SwordSkills /Info/ \Return Game/
Looking over to his friend, Mikou opened his mouth to ask if he knew anything more, when the Dire Wolves began to pounce. The two, side by side, tore through their ranks, each stroke of the blade like that of a paintbrush, artfully dissolving the wolves into pixels, and leaving them to disintegrate back into the fiber of the game.
When the last beast fell, both Simous and Hikarou fell onto their backs, panting. Suddenly, in the corner of his vision, Hikarou saw a small notification pop up. "Sword skill Vertical added".
Looking over to his tired friend, he spoke up. "I got one of those things too. By the way, what level are you?" As he asked this question, he looked over to the green bar stuck in the top left of his vision. It displayed his username, health bar (which was rather low), and level. He was surprised to see it was 7. Before the fight, he was only level 4, so, awesome.
"Eh? Oh, I'm level 8." Simous spoke up, sounding exhausted. "Higher than me as always…" Hikarou moaned. A sudden thought occurred to him, they had been getting Cal (the game's currency) that whole time, how rich were they? With a quick hand motion, he opened his inventory, and looked over to his Cal. The number next to it showed 570. He couldn't believe his eyes, after only that, he had gotten 570 Cal.
Raising himself up, he grabbed Simous' hand and pulled him onto his feet.
"Come one man, let's go grab some better equipment." An excited glint shone in his eyes, and he completely forgot about how tired he was. The duo turned and began making back for Starting City, passing an occasional player along the way.
November 6th, 2022 3:41 pm
Hikarou: Floor: 1 ; Location: Starting City ; Player level: 7 ; status: alive, healthy.
Simous: Floor: 1 ; Location: Starting City ; Player level: 8 ; status: alive, healthy.
When the pair returned to town, they had immediately went to the shops, picking up new weapons, armour, and even food. In game, you still got hungry, and the virtual food would simulate being full, though in real life the body still would need nourishment. They had spent more than an hour just browsing.
They sat on a bench near the center of town, Simous clutching his new war hammer in one-hand, and a sandwich in the other. Hikarou held close a Two-handed straight sword, as he had already finished a bowl of soup before.
Sighing, Simous stood up. "I gotta go man, my little brother has this kendo performance or something, and my mom's making me go to "support" him or whatever."
"Damn, well see you later man." Hikarou nodded, sad to see his friend go so soon.
Opening his main menu, Simous stopped dead. "Dude, there's no logout button."
"What do you mean "no logout button"? It should be right there at the bottom of the menu!" Suddenly, Hikarou noticed the small fountain area around them was completely empty, and some screaming and shouting played off in the distance. "You're freaking me out dude, here let me show you-" He stopped dead as well, opening his menu, he saw that there was no logout button. "No- It should be right-" Hikarou began to panic, looking around for someone else, to see if this was for everyone, but again, the clearing was empty.
"Here, I'll just take off the helmet!" Simous raised his hands to his head and made an upwards pulling motion, like he was trying to remove something from his head. Hikarou held out a hand to stop him. "Actions we make in the game aren't happening in real life. The NerveGear intercepts the brainwaves and makes them into actions in the game instead."
"So we're just stuck here?!" Simous cried out, looking just as panicked as Hikarou felt. "Until they fix this bug?!"
"Or until someone takes off the Gear…" Hikarou trailed off, wondering how something so awful could happen.
Suddenly, there was a booming sound of church bells coming from above, and the duo felt themselves disintegrating. Within a second, they had reappeared in a massive courtyard, and all around them was people. It seemed every space that could be occupied by a player was, and the noise was ceaseless. All around voices called out, in alarm, fear, and confusion, adding to the chaos of this place.
Then, a shadow fell upon the massive group of people as a colossal barrier started to form above the courtyard, it was bright red and made up of thousands of small hexagon shapes. Suddenly, something thickly red, like blood, began pouring from the cracks in between every hexagon, and poured itself down, not touching the ground, but coming together, every little stream forming to create some sort of sickly cocoon above the ground. The courtyard was very silent now.
The cocoon started to change, shifting and altering shape until it became a colossal figure in front of the group. It was dressed in a red robe, the same colour as the streams that had formed the cocoon, with a hood pulled over it's face. It hovered over the ground ominously, it's legs and feet completely invisible, as it made no sound. The voices began again, scared screams and questions, wondering what exactly this monster was.
It began to speak, in a massive, booming voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Needless to say, the voices of the players stopped very quickly.
"Attention, players. Welcome to my world." It raised the long, slender arms attached to it's side in a welcoming pose, almost like it was inviting the players to somewhere. "My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."
Voices of panic began again, and Hikarou stepped back in shock.
"Is it really him!? The creator of the game?!" Voices called out from all around, asking this question. Kayaba held out his hand to silence the crowd, and began speaking again.
"As I'm sure you have noticed, the logout button is missing from the main menu, but this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect in the game… It is a feature of Sword Art Online."
"What?!" Simous whispered in distressed from beside the similarly shaken Hikarou.
"You can not log out of SAO yourselves, and no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear." Kayaba continued. "And if this is attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain, and thus, ending your life."
The crowd entered a state of uproar, with screaming, crying, and shouting people surrounding the two friends like a firestorm of emotion.
Simous turned to Hikarou, voice trembling with fear. "He's- just lying, right man? I mean, the NerveGear can't really do that, can it?"
Looking to his friend in sorrow, he avoided his eyes. "The- The transmitter does work like a microwave, and if the safety was disabled… It would fry a brain."
"Then we can just cut it's power, right?!" Simous looked over desperately, trying to come up with anyway they could escape this mess.
"The NerveGear has an internal battery, that can last up to three years without needing charge." Again, he avoided his friend's eyes.
"No. No no no no no! This is crazy, this is insane!" Simous turned around, shouting, trying to push through the crowd and get out of the courtyard. He was shoved back by the writhing mass of bodies, and Hikarou grabbed his arm.
"You need to calm down. I - I promise I'll get us out, there has to be some way out, somehow." This did little to calm his friend's nerves, but he stopped moving around, and just slumped down as if he had given up. Kayabo started to speak again.
"Unfortunately, many players friends and families did not know this, and attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever. From Aincrad and the real world. As you can see-" All around the massive figure, multiple screens appeared, showing news broadcasts and updates. "News agencies all around the world are reporting this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume that the danger of your NerveGear now being removed is minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game."
Hikarou looked up in even more shock. This- this crazy man wanted them to complete the game?! When 213 players are dead already?!
"But I want you to remember this clearly." Kayaba spoke again, ridding his voice of any emotion at all. "There is no longer any method to revive a player within the game. If your HP drops to zero… Your avatar will be forever lost, and simultaneously the NerveGear will destroy your brain."
The courtyard was completely silent. No one could speak after hearing this stunning revelation. Die in the game, you die in real life.
"There is however, one way to escape." Once more, Kayaba addressed his silent audience. "To complete the game. You are currently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the floor boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the final boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."
"Clear? Clear all 100 floors?" This question sparked another uproar of voices, shouting about the impossibility of such a task. The beta testers had only made it to Floor 10 in three months.
"Finally, I have added a little gift from me into everyone's item storage." Kayabo spoke above the voices. "Please see for yourselves."
Hikarou cautiously opened his inventory, and saw that a new item had in fact been added. It was labeled "Mirror". Pressing his finger to it curiously, he equipped it, and saw a small mirror fall into his hands. Suddenly, there was a burst of light from beside him, and he saw Simous was surrounded by a glowing blue light. One by more, even more people were surrounded by this light, until everyone around him had been enveloped by it. Then, Hikarou himself was surrounded by the light. In one collective burst, everyone was blinded by a flash of white. When it died away, all around him the boy saw everyone had changed appearance. Simous now looked like Simon, with the same pointy black hair, bright brown eyes, and tall figure. He himself had changed appearance slightly, all the carefully defined aspects of his avatar dissolving into his slightly different real life look. He stared at the mirror in shock as he realized what had happened. The mirror had changed everyone to appear like their real life selves.
"How does this work…?" Simous muttered under his breath, looking in awe at his real life body in game.
"Well, when you put the NerveGear on, it covers your head with a high density signalling device so it can see what your face looks like." Hikarou spoke up to answer his friend. "For the height and body shape- It probably came from the calibration. You know when you had to touch every part of your body with the gear? It probably took photos and constructed them into these bodies. But… why would Kayaba do this anyways?"
Hikarou looked over to the silent Kayaba, as he loomed above them ominously. Sure enough, not a second later he spoke again.
"I'm sure you're wondering at this point - why? Why would Kayaba Akihiko, creator of the NerveGear and developer of Sword Art Online, do all this? My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for a reason. To rule this world and intervene in it. And now it is complete. This ends the tutorial for the Sword Art Online launch. Good luck, players."
And just like that, he vanished. Disappearing into thin air, taking the red barrier surrounding the courtyard with him. There was silence in the area for a full minute before the panic spread at a newly found-level.
Simous and Hikarou however, were long gone when it started.
4:11 pm
Hikarou: Floor: 1 ; Location: Starting City ; Player level: 7 ; status: alive, healthy.
Simous: Floor: 1 ; Location: Starting City ; Player level: 8 ; status: alive, healthy.
"We have to do this, Simous." Hikarou sat next to his friend in a dark alley off of one of the side streets in the massive Starting City. "We have to clear this game."
End chapter 1
Hikarou unlocked stats: Simous unlocked stats:
HP: 1032 HP: 1071
Leather Equipment:53 Leather Equipment: 41
One-handed Straight Sword - 58 One-handed Straight Sword - 65
One-handed Curved Blade - 15 One-handed Curved Blade - 15
One-handed Dagger - 15 One-handed Dagger - 15
One-Handed Rapiers - 15 One-Handed Rapiers - 15
Two-handed Straight Sword - 18 Two-handed Straight Sword - 15
One-handed Warhammer - 16
/Open/DataFile/Skills/Info
Skills play a major role in the SAO universe. There are many combat, and non-combat skills to be found, though certain objectives and milestones must be reached to obtain them. For example, Simous and Hikarou had to level up their one-handed straight sword skill to 50 to even unlock the rapier and two-handed straight sword skill. Other skills, like Simous' one-handed warhammer skill are obtained by having the weapon being purchased from shop, eventually, this skill will level up enough to unlock other weapons, like two-handed battle axe. There are many other skills too, like cooking, which allows the player to prepare better food, forging skills, bartering, tracking, searching, detection, and so on. These are unlocked as level milestones are reached.
/Close/DataFile/Skills/Info
A/N: Just so you know, the character's ages are rather young. Mikou/Hikarou is 13, while Simon/Simous is 14
Please leave a review or whatever if you liked it!