The first chapter of this story was written by 4fireking and Fairy-L-Tail. It's kind of our second coming after Fairy Tail New Era. Hopefully people enjoy this story as much as the last story, maybe even a little more. Thank you and please read and review.
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In a large grassy meadow, the warm breeze blows stray flower petals through the air; filling it with it's sweet scent. Though the peaceful area filled with such sweet scent harbours two individuals, both standing as they face each other.
One of them, has short, shaggy black hair and grey eyes. He has a small frame, but is very tall. He wears a blue shirt, and black pants tucked into beige leather boots. With his arms crossed, you can easily see the sword held by his hip. Smiling, he looks to the other person.
He, like the first boy, is tall. With broad shoulders, he seems to carry himself tall. With dark brown hair pulled into a small braid, his blue eyes poke out from under his shaggy bangs. He wears a white shirt, the sleeves rolled up, and blue pants tucked into black leather boots. Unlike the first boy, his sword is placed on his back, the hilt above his shoulder.
"What is the best way to finish a game when you don't have much time in your day?" The first boy questions. His name, shown by the icon above his head reads Kirito.
"I know it's not spending hours a day fighting nothing but pigs," the seconds boy laughs. Like Kirito, he has an icon above his head, his name reading Inataro.
"It's finding cheats to the game," Kirito explains. "With the right cheats, you can get to a high level in no time, trust me."
"I appreciate you helping me in this new game. It cost me all my money, but it's really fun. And Kirito... I'm surprised your avatar looks so close to your normal body."
"So does yours, Taro." Kirito smirks, shifting on his feet.
"I always play with avatars that look nothing like me in other MMORPG games. Of course, I put a scar on my chin and usually make my hair pink, but I think that with this new game, it's time for a bit of a change." Inataro shrugs. "Also, quick questions, how do you become a Solo Player?"
"Don't try being a single player like me," Kirito stares at Inataro. "Build a guild, have lots of adventures. And, remember one thing..."
"To believe in myself?" Inataro interrupts.
"No." Kirito shakes his head. "Dodge and always slash their fronts."
Sighing, Inataro nods. "Race you to the woods?" He offers.
"You're on."
oOo
"To your left!" Kirito instructs, slicing through something called a Sesa. In the Black Forest, Sesa have overrun the area, killing all other animals in sight. The creatures look like wolves, but there are three things that makes them different; their blue fur, their glowing purple eyes and aura, and the black bull horns on their head.
Inataro, running towards a tree, flips off of it, raising his sword in the air. Screaming, he charges the sword and plunges it into the last Sesa. Standing up, he picks up his sword and flicks the blood off of it, watching as it disappears in a blue light.
"It's getting easier," Inataro smiles, shifting his sword from hand to hand.
Nodding, Kirito walks up to him. Pointing to the screen before them, Inataro reads it.
Result:
EXP 100
Col 150
Items 3
"Cool," Inataro nods. "Only a few more Sesa to go and I'll level up," he grins, swinging his sword in his hand.
"You should look at your inventory," Kirito advises, opening his.
"Why?" he questions.
"I got a weapon from those wolves and I'm wondering if you got the same thing."
Shrugging, Inataro opens his inventory. Scanning through it, he sees two new items. Looking at them closely, he smiles. "Adamantite Feet," he reads aloud, skimming the information. "Oh, they increase my speed point five percent more than the one's I'm wearing now." Clicking on a button, Inataro looks down at his feet, staring at the now brown boots with ivory horse buckles. "A little bland for my taste, but when I get better shoes, these ones are coming off."
Nodding, Kirito looks at the time on Inataro's screen. "Do you need to log out?" he questions.
"Why would I need to do that?" Inataro questions.
"Didn't you say something about playing for an hour and then -."
"Oh," Inataro cuts him off. "That's right. See you tomorrow in Starting City."
"Later," Kirito raises a hand, watching as he logs out.
oOo
Opening his eyes, Inataro pulls the Nerve Gear off his head and sits up on his old bed. Looking around his room, the fifteen year old boy looks around slowly, looking sadly at the decaying walls, and dust gathering around the room, setting the Nerve Gear on his night stand, he hisses when a shock of electricity hits him in the finger.
Getting up off his bed, he hears a bang on the door. Flinching slightly when his mother's voice screams at him to hurry up, he grabs his backpack and walks across the room to open the door. Moving past his mother, he walks to the front door, ignoring her calls.
Opening the door, Inataro sighs when he looks at the wasteland that was once his home. What was once a peaceful town is now ruins, and garbage. Jogging down the steps to his house, Inataro shifts his backpack on his shoulder and walks towards the dojo where his Kendo practice is held.
Ignoring the calls of the homeless, Inataro keeps his eyes to the ground, the only thing coming into sight is the worn sneakers on his feet. Imagining his boots on his feet, Inataro smiles slightly. With his mind going back to the game, time seems to pass by quickly as he comes to the front of the dojo. Walking in, Inataro looks around, sighing in relief when no one is around.
Quickly getting changed, Inataro bows before walking into the middle of the mat. 'Good,' he thinks to himself. 'I have some time to practice my moves.'
Shaking out his body, Inataro makes his way over to a wooden statue with eight arms sticking out of it. Starting off slow, he begins to hit the arms. Slowly building speed, Inataro shows off his stamina as he goes fast and faster, and longer and longer.
Stopping all movement when he hears a noise behind him, Inataro turns to see his Sensei walking towards him. He is an elder man with a short white beard and crinkled eyes. Wearing a bright yellow robe with black trim, he stops when he stands beside Inataro. "You must be weary," he starts, his voice soothing but firm. "You must save your strength for lessons."
"Yes sir," Inataro nods, backing away from the wooden doll. Now facing each other, the two put their hands in a praying motion and bow to each other.
"Move aside," the man says to Inataro. Nodding, Inataro moves out of the way, and watches as the Sensei walks up to the wooden doll. Doing exactly what he did, but faster, Inataro can only watch in shock and amazement as the Sensei increases his speed. Finishing, and breaking off an arm from the doll, the Sensei steps back from the doll and turns to Inataro who stands wide-eyed and breathless.
"That has to be the coolest thing I've ever seen," he nods slowly, his eyes darting back and forth between the doll and the Sensei. "Can I see it again?"
"Maybe later," he chuckles, patting Inataro on his shoulder. "But martial arts is not about fighting. Of course, you get to show off to the ladies, but it's about discipline. I know you have good intentions, but you should never use the skills you are learning for anything but self-defence or protection." He nods. "Your mother tells me that you've been spending less nights sleeping and more time playing that game."
"It's really fun to play," Inataro mutters. "I have to study for entrance exams, and take Kendo lessons, and worry about my family after everything that happened to this place. It's nice to do something fun for once. And when I'm playing the game, I'm not even awake. It's like... daydreaming."
"You misunderstand," he chuckles. "I'm not mad at your for playing that game, I think it's important that a child finds something that makes them happy. And yet, you must realize that these games have an addictive effect. Too much of it will fry your brain. But, if you ever need a moment to rest or think about the future... a cold shower works wonders."
"Got it," Inataro nods.
oOo
Walking home, Inataro stretches his sore muscles. After their talk, the Sensei trained Inataro and the others in the class so hard that it hurt Inataro to walk. They went over moves, sequences, and finally had a few battles at the end. Yet, every time someone was an inch out of place, Sensei would make them start from the beginning, or do fitness activities.
Walking up the steps to his house, Inataro opens the door. Closing it behind him, the teen slips off his shoes and begins to head to his room when the voice of his mother stops him. "Inataro, your father and I wish to speak to you."
Freezing in his steps, Inataro swallows the bile gathering in his throat. 'They never talk to me,' he thinks to himself. 'They never talk to me. Whenever they talk to me it's because... someone in the family died. Was it Grams? Gramps? My cousins? Oh God, who was it?'
Walking into the room, Inataro bites the inside of his cheek when he notices his father sitting down in his usually chair and his mother standing beside him. "Sit down," his father gestures to the couch.
Slowly sitting down, Inataro stares at his parents. "Taro," his mother begins softly, her tone making him feel even worse. "Your father and I have decided that we are taking away your video games."
Letting out a sigh of relief, Inataro pauses. "Wait, what?"
"You have been losing sleep, forgetting simple things, you started drinking coffee to keep you awake. You are slacking in kendo, you are slacking in school, and -." His father begins but Inataro cuts him off.
"But Dad, a VRMMORPG isn't a game you're awake for. It's like living in a second -."
"You father wasn't done talking, Inataro." His mother interrupts him, making Inataro sigh.
"I'm sorry," Inataro sighs, biting the inside of his cheek.
"We have to cut you off one day," His father continues. "We will be taking away your gaming station until the summer when you don't have classes."
"W-what?" Inataro blinks. "That's three months from now! How is that fair?! You can't take away my game!"
"Not tonight," his mother sighs. "Tonight you can have it, but after tomorrow you won't play until the summer."
Nodding slowly, Inataro gets up from his seat and makes his way into his room. Dropping his bag by his door, he sighs. "What am I going to tell Kirito?"
oOo
Shifting his sword from side to side, Kirito sighs as he looks around him. Watching as someone appears in front of him, Kirito smirks when Inataro looks at him shocked. "You actually came." he states, smiling.
"I never logged out," Kirito shrugs. "I did go into the woods to train, got a new sword."
Nodding, Inataro scratches the back of his neck. "Look, Kirito, I have someone to tell you and I want to say it early because something might happen, but I'm not going to be able to play with you anymore."
Nodding, Kirito laughs, sheathing the sword. "I knew something was bugging you, it' clearly written on your face. I'm not surprised either, did your parents tell you that you can't play this game with exams coming up and you have to wait until exams are over and summer is here?"
"Yeah," Inataro nods. "How did you know?"
"Because you're a momma's boy," Kirito laughs when Inataro punches him in the arm."
"We have all night," Inataro shrugs. "We can go on a quest."
"Sure," Kirito nods.
"What about the Secret Medicine of the Forest one?"
"Secret Medicine of the Forest is boring. It's on the first floor and doesn't have any real challenge. I was thinking we can try Witch of the West and the Three Treasures."
"The quest based on The Wizard of Oz? That's on the twenty second floor. It's too hard for a level twenty player like me to help in that quest. But, maybe we can do that quest I heard about in the fifth floor. I think it's called Chasing The Golden Ape. I don't know much about it, but I heard that it's fun." Inataro offers.
"I already did that quest," Kirito sighs. "When I got there, five of those apes helped the golden one. I took down three of the regular apes before taking out the golden ape. The apes stopped fighting after he went down."
"You don't have to do the quest, you can just let me do the quest and if it looks like I'm going to die, you can step in and save me. Deal?" He asks, sticking out his hand to shake Kirito's. Thinking on it for a moment, Kirito places his hand in Inataro's.
"Just so you know, I was level thirty before I took that quest. It was hard."
"All RPG's are hard. I have to be at me maximum level before I can even think of fighting the last boss. Come on, Kirito, I'm the one who won't get to play tomorrow. Let me fight the monkeys."
"You'll lose the moment you enter their lair."
"Silly Kirito," Inataro laughs, patting his head. "Games aren't about winning or losing, their supposed to be about having fun and feeling like you're a different person when you play."
"Alright," Kirito sighs. "As long as you're okay with losing horribly, I can't stop you."
Walking around the town, the two look for the character able to give them directions.
"Why does he always change spots?" Inataro sighs. "Why can't he just stay in one spot? It would be so much easier."
Shrugging, Kirito points to the guy, waving at to people who disappear in front of him. Turning to face Kirito and Inataro, he smiles. "Welcome players!" he grins. "I have a list of missions for you, would you like to chose one?"
"Chasing the Golden Ape," Kirito says monotonously.
"Good choice!" the man grins. "In your inventory is your map. Good luck players!"
"Let's go," Kirito says, turning around and leading the way.
oOo
"Why do they keep showing up?!" Inataro demands, slicing the head off a giant, green praying mantis. After entering the lair of the Golden Ape, they were faced with battle upon battle, and, like Kirito promised, he let Inataro do most of he fighting.
Now standing back to back, Kirito shrugs. "I told you it was hard."
"It's not hard," Inataro growls. "It's just annoying."
"Yeah?" Kirito questions, using his sword's power to slice through the Mantis, it disappearing in blue lights. "Then explain why I'm fighting right now."
"You saw that I was having the most fun and joined in." Inataro chuckles, destroying the Mantis.
Standing back to back once more, the two breathe heavily as they look around wearily. "I think it's over," Kirito mumbles, just as a giant screen appears before the two teens. Reading it, it says:
Result
EXP 220
Col 250
Items 0
"This is better EXP than the Sesa," Inataro laughs, stretching his arms. "What were those things? They looked like praying mantises."
"I think the technical name is Killer Mantis," Kirito scratches his head. "But I don't know. In most MMORPG games, they create new kinds of creatures. SAO is known for mixing in creatures of every other adventure MMORPG games, so giant paying mantises was what they wanted in their game. They are cool looking though." He sighs. "Well, let's go. We still have a long way to go to get to the Golden Ape."