Blazing Butterfly
Chapter One
My name is Hana Choai O'Neil, 21 years old. I was half Japanese from my mom and half Irish from my dad, but the only noticeable thing from my Irish heritage was my slight accent. SAO was my first virtual gaming experience. Don't get me wrong, I'm a gamer. Just more of a handheld or console gamer. Virtual gaming wasn't something I thought much of until my friends started doing it. That made me want to see what all the fuss was that they always made of it. So when I finally became curious enough to buy a NerveGear and, with connections via my older brother and uncle, Hiro O'Neil and Akihiko Kayaba, received Sword Art Online, I went home and showed, Ryotaro, my roommate, and had him help me set everything up.
With mine already on, he slipped his NerveGear on as well and laid down on his bed beside me. We were going to dive together so we would appear near to each other in the game. But I never imagined that my first virtual game would be a death trap that would take so many lives.
…
"This had better be worth all the money I spent, and the strings Hiro and Uncle Aki had to pull, to get these things." I sighed.
"It will be, Hana! Trust me!" Ryotaro said cheerfully. "See you on the other side. And when we get back, we'll celebrate with our pizzas!"
"Yeah…" I said, smirking.
I felt him grab my hand.
"Link start!" We both spoke.
…
I logged in as Kurenai, meaning crimson just like my original hair color. When I opened my eyes I gasped in amazement. I ran over to the fountain and peered at my reflection in the water.
My normal curly long crimson hair was now a pretty wavy maroon that faded to white at the tips, knee length and tied into a high ponytail with long bangs framing my face, while my real life icy blue eyes were now a dark purple. I wore a red skin tight long sleeved tunic shirt under black leather chest armor, a darker red mini skirt, black tights and red knee high boots. A beginner's short sword hung at my right side from a black belt around my waist. I was also taller, by at least a foot.
"I told you this would be cool." Ryotaro, no, Klein in this world, said while grinning.
"For once I'll admit you're right." I teased.
After getting over the initial amazement of how real this virtual world was we soon realized we hardly knew what we were doing.
"Maybe we should ask someone to show us the ropes and all." Klein sighed after we bought better weapons with our starter money.
I frowned and looked around nonchalantly.
"What about him?" I jerked my thumb at a young man with black hair and eyes as he ran by, seeming to know what he was doing. "He might be one of the beta testers."
"Alright! After him!" Klein shouted, taking off.
"Hey! You dumbass! Wait for me!" I yelled, darting after him.
…
"Hey, you there!" Klein called out. "Bro!"
The guy slowed down in confusion and stopped, turning to face us.
"Me?" He asked.
"Phew!" Klein sighed.
"That's what you get for suddenly taking off." I muttered, a little out of breath myself. "Anyways, you! You move without hesitation and seem like you know what you're doing, so-"
"Where you in the beta test?" Klein asked, cutting me off.
I whacked him upside the head, causing him to yelp.
"Y-Yeah." He said awkwardly.
"Think you could help a couple newbies out?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's our first day. Could you give us some tips to get through the early levels, huh?" Klein pleaded, placing a hand on the guy's shoulder.
"Uhh…" He mumbled.
Klein clapped his hand together and bowed slightly.
"Come one, we're begging you!" He continued.
The guy hesitated and glanced at me. I shrugged sheepishly, crossing my arms.
"We'll be glad to repay the favor sometime." I offered. "Ah, I'm Kurenai. That blockhead is Klein."
"Nice to meet you!" Klein saluted.
The guy seemed to give in and gave us a confident smile.
"Name's Kirito." He said.
…
I snickered as Klein was knocked back. He curled into a ball and whined.
"Right in the crouch…" He moaned.
"You're so dramatic, ya big baby…" I said.
"You don't feel pain in the game." Kirito reminded him.
"Oh yeah. That's right." Klein said, seeming to bounce back instantly. "Force of habit."
Kirito and I sighed. Having already gotten everything down to a T, I tuned them out and focused on attacking another boar. I gripped my double edged short sword backwards and darted forward. It glowed maroon as I jumped into the air and spun, lashing out with my blade.
"Show off…" I heard Klein mutter, causing me to grin.
"Anyways, I told you." Kirito reprimanded him. "What's important is your initial motion input."
"That's easy for you to say!" Klein whined, "But he keeps moving around."
Kirito picked up a rock and took aim.
"If you do the motion input right, and activate a sword skill…" He said, and threw the rock, gaining the boar's attention again. "…the system will ensure that you hit your target."
"Motion input… Motion input…" Klein mumbled, and braced himself.
"How should I put it?" Kirito said, dodging the boar's charge and then blocking it when it came back around. "Add a slight pause, and when you feel the skill begin to activate, drive it home, like bam!"
"Like bam…?" Klein repeated, then looked as if he understood.
He changed his stance, moving his knife over his shoulder. The knife glowed red. Kirito smiled.
"That's it!" I grinned.
Kirito pushed back the boar and then kicked it around to Klein. Klein let out a yell and charged forward, slashing out with his knife. The boar shattered into fragments.
"All right!" He cheered.
"Way to go, Klein!" I praised.
"Congrats." Kirito said.
Kirito stepped towards him and the two guys high-fived. Klein then picked me up and swung me around.
"H-Hey, idiot!" I stammered, "Let me down!"
"However…" Kirito interrupted, causing Klein to pause and slowly let me down as he paid attention to Kirito. "That boar was about as weak as slimes in other games."
"Huh? Seriously?! I thought they were a mid-level boss or something!" Klein exclaimed, as I face palmed.
Kirito snickered, "Of course not." He said, and looked out at the field were more boars spawned.
Klein suddenly lashed out with a sword skill. I looked at my own sword and pulled some fancy steps and maneuvers. We grinned excitedly. Kirito smiled as well.
"Addictive, isn't it?" He asked.
"Well, yeah!" Klein said.
"You bet'cha!" I agreed.
Klein thrust his knife forward and looked thoughtful.
"These skills…" He murmured, "There are lots of them, like forging weapons and stuff, right?"
He thrust again, and then changed his hold on his knife to a backwards grip like how I hold my sword.
"I guess so." Kirito shrugged. "I've heard there's an infinite variety of skills."
Klein flipped his knife and caught it, changing his grip on the handle to normal.
"On the other hand, there's no magic." Kirito added.
I charged up a sword skill and slashed out three times.
"An RPG without magic?" Klein muttered, "That's a pretty bold decision."
"Being able to use magic would be pretty cool…" I murmured to myself.
"Oh, yeah. You're a first time VRMMO player, right?" Kirito asked me.
I nodded sheepishly, "That's right." I said. "I've played handhelds before, but nothing like this."
"Isn't it more fun to move your body as you fight?" He asked.
"Got that right!" I grinned.
Kirito smiled and nodded in agreement.
"Okay, let's move on." He said.
"Yeah! Let's keep going!" Klein shouted.
…
It was evening now. The three of us were at the edge of the plains. There were waterfalls falling from the floating islands and dragons flying in the skies. I was sitting beside Klein on the grass while Kirito stood nearby.
"I still can't believe it, no matter how many times I look around and see for myself…" I murmured in wonder, "…that we're in an actual game, and all that."
I moved so I was laying on my stomach. I raised my arms and rested my chin on palms as I kicked my legs leisurely in the air.
"Akihiko sure is a genius." Klein agreed. "It really is amazing."
"I guess we should be thankful that we were born in this time period." I said.
"You two make a big deal out of everything." Kirito said, and smiled.
"This is my first experience in a full dive!" I stuck my tongue out at him, "Can you really blame me?"
"So this truly is your first time playing a game with the NerveGear?" Kirito asked.
"Yes. And it was totally worth the sudden rush to buy the hardware and everything just to play SAO." I said softly.
Klein grinned at me, "I told you so!" He said.
I nonchalantly kicked his arm and snickered at his over dramatic outburst.
"Well, I also had connections. My older brother works at the company, plus Akihiko Kayaba is my uncle so they were able to pull some strings and get a copy of SAO for me." I added.
"Wait! Akihiko Kayaba is your uncle?!" Kirito exclaimed, looking at me with wide eyes.
"Yup! Uncle Aki is amazing to have created something like this!" I chirped, but then I frowned thoughtfully, "Though… I have to wonder why he was so hesitant to give me the game… I mean I'm his favorite niece after all."
"Got that right. She's lucky to have someone like him as family so she gets a bunch of stuff for free, while I had to wait in line for three days just to buy it." Klein complained, "But I guess I was really lucky, too, just to be able to get one of the ten-thousand copies. But you were ten times as lucky, getting into the beta test."
Klein leaned back on his arms and stretched his legs out, as Kirito looked at him.
"I mean, only a thousand people go to do it." Klein explained, seeing the look on Kirito's face.
"Yeah, well… I guess so." He muttered, scratching his head.
"So how far did you get in the beta?" I asked, curious.
"In a couple of months, only to the eighth floor." He said and grinned confidently, "This time, one month should be more than enough."
Klein smiled, "You're really into this, huh?" He asked.
Kirito unsheathed his sword.
"To be honest, during the beta test, SAO was all I thought about, day and night." He said, holding up his blade. "In this world, a single blade can take you anywhere you want to go. It's a virtual world, but I feel more alive here than I do in the real one." He chuckled, and sheathed his sword. "Now then, want to hunt some more?"
"Of course!" Klein said, sounding pumped up.
I sat up and glared at him.
"Hold it, moron! Did you forget?" I huffed, rubbing my tummy.
"Ack!" He flinched, "I mean, we'd love to, but we're hungry."
"Right, eating here only makes you feel full." Kirito said in amusement.
"We've got a pizza on the way that should arrive around 5:30PM, so we should log out." I said.
"You two are totally prepared, aren't you?" Kirito smirked.
"Yup!" Klein said proudly. "Well, once we've eaten, we'll log back in."
"I see." Kirito said.
Klein and I stood up.
"Hey, let's friend each other!" I suggested.
"Yeah, good idea!" Klein agreed.
"Wha…? Um, well… Alright." Kirito hesitated, but agreed.
The three of us pulled up our respective menus. In a matter of seconds a screen popped out in front of Klein, Kirito and I.
'Klein and Kirito have requested to friend you. Do you wish to accept?' I read on mine, and pressed the blue circle to accept both of them.
"Hey, after we eat, we're meeting up with some people we know from another game-" Klein started.
"Well in my case, the real world." I interjected.
"So, what do you say? Want to friend them too?" Klein asked.
Kirito frowned awkwardly and looked away.
"It's not a big deal. We pretty much forced ourselves on you, so don't worry about it." I said, grinning to show no hard feelings.
"Yeah, there will be other chances to introduce you." Klein agreed.
"Yeah, sorry." Kirito said, and lowered his head with a small awkward smile. "Thanks."
"We should be thanking you." I said, putting my arm around his shoulder. "We'll definitely be sure to repay you for all your help sometime! Mentally, of course!" I poked him in the cheek and laughed at his startled expression.
"Thanks so much, man." Klein said, as I let go of Kirito and moved to stand beside him.
Klein held out his hand.
"We'll be seeing you around." He said.
Kirito smiled, "If you have any other questions, call me anytime." He said, gripping Klein's hand.
"Sure! We're counting on you!" Klein grinned.
Klein and I raised our hands in farewell before turning and bringing up our menus.
"…What the hell…?" I suddenly said. "Klein, are you seeing this?"
"Yeah. There's no option to log out." He said.
"Try looking again." Kirito said from behind us.
I glanced at him and then looked back at my menu.
"It's not here." I said, as we turned to face him.
Kirito walked over to us and pulled up his menu.
"At the bottom of the main menu…" He stopped and looked surprised.
"See? Not there, right?" Klein said.
"No. It's not." He said quietly.
"Well, it's the first day out of the beta." Klein said, unconcerned. "There must be some bugs. I'm sure the server people are freaking out."
He laughed as I frowned at the thought.
"You will be, too." Kirito said in amusement.
He lifted a hand and pointed to where the clock was.
"It's 5:25PM." He pointed out.
Klein and I both started to freak out.
"My teriyaki-mayo pizza and ginger ale!" Klein wailed.
"And my BBQ chicken with roasted red onions pizza and strawberry-kiwi juice!" I fell to my knees dramatically.
"Just hurry and call the game master." Kirito sighed.
"I already tried, but nothing's happening." Klein said, frowning.
I slowly got to my feet and crossed my arms, gripping my elbows, as a feeling of dread swelled up in me.
"There's no other way to log out, is there?" I asked.
Kirito frowned at looked off to the side thoughtfully.
"No. Whenever a player wants to log out of SAO, the only way they can do that is if they go through the menu." He said after a moment.
"You're kidding…" I whispered in shock.
"There's got to be another way!" Klein said and suddenly jumped and waved his arms. "Return! Log out! Escape!"
"See. Told you so." Kirito said. "There was no emergency logout in the manual either…"
"This has to be some kind of joke…" Klein said, "I know, I'll just rip the NerveGear off."
Klein put his hands to his head and acted like he was taking it off.
"Don't bother. We can't move our real bodies right now." Kirito said, "The NerveGear intercepts any command issued from our brains right here."
"Seriously?" Klein muttered. "So now we have to wait until someone gets around to fixing the bug?"
"Or until someone in the real world removes the NerveGear from us." Kirito said.
"But… It's just the two of us…" I trailed off.
"Yeah, we live alone. Just us two in the house." Klein murmured. "What about you?"
"I've got a mom and a little sister." He said hesitantly. "So I'm sure they'll notice by dinner time."
Klein suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders.
"How old is you're little sister? What's she like?" Klein fired off.
I blinked in surprise and then bristled angrily.
"Sh-She's into sports and hates games, and she's totally not your type!" Kirito stammered. "She has nothing to do with people like us-"
"I don't care about that-!" Klein started.
"Kl-ei-n!" I growled slowly, my Irish accent becoming more notable in my anger, as I grabbed him by the back of his shirt and with all my strength, flung him several feet away.
He crashed landed and rolled, before coming to a stop, groaning.
"H-Hey! What was that for?!" He yelled, getting up and coming back over to us.
I glared at him for a moment, before hmph-ing and looking away.
"Amadán…" I muttered softly in Irish, so he couldn't understand.
"Anyways. Onto more serious matters. Don't you two thing this is weird?" Kirito asked.
"Well, yeah. But it's just a bug." Klein said, casually.
"This isn't just a bug." I said, "Uncle Aki's the type that would make sure nothing is wrong when he launches games or equipment."
"That's right." Kirito agreed, "If we can't log out, it's going to cause some serious problems for the game's future."
"Come to think of it, you're both right." Klein said.
"If needed the developers can shut down the server and log us all out forcibly." Kirito said.
"If that's the case, why haven't they made an announcement?" I asked, looking up at the darkening sky.
Klein narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to speak, when suddenly the sound of the town's bell tower rang loudly. Suddenly a glow enveloped us and the three of us were teleported to the large court yard in the Town of Beginning. And we weren't the only ones.
"Do you know what's going on?" A girl with brown hair asked the tall guy she was with.
"I don't know." He replied.
"Someone forced a teleport." Kirito murmured.
"But who?" Klein asked.
"And more importantly, why?" I added.
The bell stopped chiming and someone called out to look at the sky. A warning, system announcement icon was flashing and suddenly filled the entire sky, making the area around us tint an ominous red. Then what looked like blood fell from the icons. I nervously stepped closer to Klein and grabbed his arm as the 'blood' morphed into a large faceless figure in a red and gold robe and white gloves.
"What the hell is that?" Klein said, moving to put his arm around me protectively.
"A game master?" Someone spoke.
"Why doesn't it have a face?" Another asked.
"Is this an event?" A guy asked.
"I'm scared." The brunette from earlier said.
"Don't worry. It's just part of the opening ceremony." He said to calm her.
"Attention players." The GM spoke in a deep male voice, and I stiffened.
I leaned back from Klein a bit and stared up at the red figure with wide eyes.
"Kurenai?" Klein looked down at me in concern.
"It can't be…!" I whispered. "Uncle Aki…"
"What?!" Kirito hissed and looked at the GM in disbelief.
"I welcome you to my world." He said, "My name is Akihiko Kayaba. As of this moment, I am the only person able to control this world."
Several players murmured in surprise.
"I'm sure most of you have already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu." He raised his hand and brought up the menu. "Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be."
"He's kidding…right?" Klein asked.
"You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head." Akihiko continued, "If any one attempts to do so a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life."
'Is this why Uncle Aki was so hesitant to give me SAO? Because he planned it to be a death game?!' I thought, feeling lightheaded as the people around us began to murmur again.
"This is bogus, let's go." The tall guy said, leading the brunette girl away, only to crash into an invisible barrier. "Hey! I can't get out!"
"Huh. Are you listening to this?" Klein scoffed, "Sorry Kurenai, but your uncle's got to be nuts. Right, Kirito?"
"He's not." Kirito said firmly, "The transmitter's signals in the head gear work just like microwaves. If the safety's disabled, it could fry your brain."
"Couldn't someone cut the power, or…" Klein spoke.
"That won't work. The NerveGear has an internal battery." Kirito said.
Klein tightened his grip around me and shook his head.
"This is crazy!" He snapped, "It's totally crazy!"
"Klein…" I murmured.
"Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted to remove the NerveGear. An unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, two hundred thirteen players have exited permanently, from Aincrad and the real world." Akihito said.
I gasped in horror.
"Two hundred and thirteen?" Kirito said in shock.
"No way… I don't believe it…" Klein murmured.
Akihiko brought up several news screen.
"As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything. Including the deaths." Akihiko said, "At this point, it's safe to assume the likely hood of the NerveGear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important to remember the following: There is no longer any ways to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system. Forever. And the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain."
Kirito clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.
"There's only one way to for a player to escape now. You must clear the game." Akihiko said, bringing up a map. "You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor One. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on Floor One Hundred and you will clear the game."
"Clear?"
"What's he talking about?"
"Why should we believe anything you say?!"
"Clear all one hundred floors? That's impossible." Klein mumbled in shock. "Even the beta testers never made it that high!"
"Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player." Akihito said, "Please, have a look."
Klein let go of me and we all opened our storages.
"A mirror?" Kirito spoke.
Upon selecting it, a mirror appeared in each of our hands. I looked into mine, seeing my pale and frightened expression. Suddenly I started glowing, as did Klein. Klein let out a startled yelp.
"You guys!" Kirito cried out and then started glowing himself.
Soon everyone glowed and panic ensued. A moment later the glowing ceased.
"Kurenai, Kirito, you guys okay?" Klein asked.
"Yeah…" Kirito muttered.
"Fine. I'm fine." I said.
I opened my eyes and gasped when I looked into the mirror again. I had my real life long curly red hair and icy blue eyes again. Not to mention I was a foot shorter again.
"What the hell?!" I exclaimed.
"Who are you?" A younger teenage boy with black hair and big black eyes asked in Kirito's voice.
"We're us, who are you?" Klein asked.
The kid with Kirito's voice looked confused and looked down at the mirror. He then looked shocked, as all the other players began to murmur in confusion.
"You're a guy?!" The once tall guy yelled.
"You lied about being seventeen!" The brunette girl-turned-guy yelled back.
"Wait a second… Klein? Kurenai?" The kid pointed at us.
We pointed back at the same time, "Is that you Kirito?" Klein and I asked in unison.
"Wha… But how?!" I exclaimed.
"The scan." Kirito murmured, "The NerveGear covers your head with a high density signaling device. So it can see what my face looks like, but how's it know my height and body type?"
"Oh! When you first put the NerveGear on, it had you do this calibration thing." I explained.
"Yeah, you had to touch all over your body, like this." Klein patted his arms.
"Oh yeah, you're right. That's where it got our physical data." Kirito agreed.
"But… This is… What's the point?" Klein asked. "Why would anyone do this to us?"
"I'm sure Uncle Aki's about to tell us." I said, looking back at the red robed figure.
"Right now, you must be wondering why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do such a thing?" Akihiko said, "Ultimately, my goal has already been achieved. The reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world by my design."
I gritted my teeth in anger.
"As you can see, I have achieved my goal." He continued.
"Kayaba…!" Kirito clenched his fist.
"This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online." Akihiko said. "Players, I wish you the best of luck."
Then he disappeared with a both of static noise, and suddenly the sky turned normal.
'Why…? Why would Uncle Aki do this…? To play God? Is this his idea of a sick joke?!' I fired off in my head as the reality of the situation started sinking in. 'No… It's not a joke… Uncle Aki's no liar.' I slowly looked at Klein. 'So if we die here… We die in real life… This game…just became real.'
Everyone was quiet… To quiet. Until a girl screamed, and then chaos erupted. The barrier around the court yard disappeared.
Kirito jolted back to reality and looked around. He then shook Klein and grabbed my arm.
"Let's go…!" He said and pulled me along.
I stumbled a bit but kept up with him. Klein followed along, as Kirito led us to an empty street.
"Okay, listen." He said, letting go of me. "I'm heading to the next village, right now. I want you both to come with me."
Klein and I glanced at each other in confusion and then looked back at Kirito.
"If what he said is true, and I know it is." Kirito said bringing up the map. "The only way we're going to survive in here is if we make ourselves as strong as possible. In an MMORPG, the money you can earn, the EXP… Once the game starts up there only so much of that to go around. The fields around the Town of Beginnings will be hunted clean soon. If we head to the next village now, we'll have an easier time collecting cash and points. Don't worry, I know all the paths and places we should avoid. Even if I'm level one, I can get there easy."
Klein and I hesitated.
"Well… Thanks but…" Klein trailed off and looked back at the court yard.
I gave Kirito a sad smile.
"Kirito, you know those friends of ours we were talking about earlier?" I reminded him, "Klein stood in line for three days with them and I went to high school and am in college with them. They're back at the plaza, probably scared out of their minds… Klein and I… We can't just…leave them there."
Kirito lowered his head and seemed to be thinking.
"Sorry." Klein said smiling. "I can't ask a guy we just met to risk his life for a bunch of strangers, can I?"
"Besides, we pretty much know what we're doing now thanks to Kirito-sensei!" I winked. "We'll be okay."
I stepped over to Kirito and wrapped my arms around him tightly.
"Don't worry about us, kid. Take care of yourself." I whispered, and stepped back to Klein's side after a moment.
Klein nodded, "Go on and get to the next town safely." He said, giving Kirito a thumbs up, "The last game I played I ran a guild, so I'm more than prepared to keep this one," He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, "and our buddies safe and sound."
"…Okay." Kirito said, turning around, "Then let's say goodbye here."
"No way!" I said suddenly, starting him. "This isn't goodbye! It's see you later, Kirito!"
"Alright." He said, "If you're ever in a jam, message me. I'll do what I can to help."
"Sure! Back at ya!" Klein said, grinning.
"I'll be seeing you two. Take care." Kirito said and began to walk off.
I crossed my arms and stared after him worriedly.
"Kirito!" Klein suddenly called out.
Kirito paused mid-step, but didn't turn around.
"I…" Klein struggled to find something to say.
Kirito started to walk off again.
"Hey…" Klein called, "Kirito, uh, you look better like this."
Kirito turned slightly in surprise, to see us grinning confidently at him.
"You look much cuter than you're avatar." I said.
"Yeah, well that scruffy face fits you ten times better too, Klein." Kirito called back, "And Kurenai, being a red head suits you better."
"Hmph!" I scowled, but then my expression turned into an uneasy smile. "Hey, Kirito. Could you do me a favor?"
"…Sure." He said.
"Could you keep it a secret that I'm related to Akihiko Kayaba?" I asked, "There's no telling what will happen if all the other players find out… I'm scared to even think of the outcome… So, please…?"
"You're secret's safe with me." Kirito nodded, and then turned around. "See ya!"
With that he ran off. I watched him for a moment, before turning and touching Klein's arm.
"Let's go." I said softly.
