The sounds of foot steps moving across the concrete echoed through the air. The sound mostly drowned out by the rain falling down from the dark sky on to the concrete streets.
Kazutos eyes were locked down on to the large box he was carrying in his hands as he walked across the dark streets ignoring the ran soaking his hair. He had been waiting for this moment for quite a long time.
Closing the door behind him Kazuto walked into his room and gently lid the box down across his bed before taking a moment to get on to his computer.

The light of the screen lit his eyes as he scrolled through reading and watching articles about the release of the worlds first ever vmmorpg. The game called Sword Art Online. Using the new technology created called the nerve gear that allowed a player to fully immerse themselves in the game. It was the same game and gear laying beside of Kazuto on his bed right now.
Kazuto had been one of the very few selected to beta test Sword Art Online and had become completely immersed in the game to a point that he felt more alive inside the game than in the real world sometimes.
Since the beta test had ended Kazuto had been waiting eagerly for the game to be released finding out any information that he could and keeping up with how popular the release of the game had become. Anyone who wanted to get hold of the game on it's release aside from the beta testers had to wait in line for days just to get a copy.

Kazuto took a deep breath shutting down his computer and walking over to his bed. He removed his nerve gear from the box and locked his eyes on it was everything was set up properly. He slid the helmet over his head and laid down across his bed a smile crossing his face "finally ..." he said quietly "i'm going to be back in this world".
After he finished confirming the settings Kazuto clenched his fists together tightly "Link start!".

Blinking as he felt himself inside of the game Kazuto flexed his fingers back and forth and looked around. He smiled to himself everything looked like it had the last time that he had been inside the game during the beta test.
It was insane how real the creators had made this games world look and feel and that was what set it apart from anything else like it. Kazuto looked up bringing his hand into a fist "let's do this!" he said running off toward the plains.

Kazuto was already getting a good feel back for the game having taken down a few weak monsters and exploring the world again. He looked over to see a red haired man struggling to fight with a board and smiled .
He knew that it was going to be even more interesting this time around with all of the new players that would be inside of the game. Walking over to the man he smiled "you have to focus" he said simply reaching out a hand to help the man up.

The red haired man blinked looking up and laughed taking his hand and pulling himself up "yeah i'm trying I just don't get it man!" he said scratching his head. Kazuto moved in front of him and drew out his sword "like this you just have to prepare and then once your ready activate the sword skill" he said.
Bringing his sword up to block the coming boar he looked over at the man "and then you just unleash it" he said smiling and kicked the boar over toward the mans direction.
Klein tilted his head to the side a bit and nodded "build it and just release huh?" he muttered getting himself ready with his weapon and then doing what he was told launched forward and slashed across the boar.
His eyes lit up as he took out the boar "hell yeah!" he laughed "thanks man!"

Kazuto smiled and nodded "no problem but that boar is as weak as slimes in other games" he said truthfully placing his hand on his hip. Kleins mouth dropped open a bit and he shook his head ""what really! damn" he said but ignored it for now laughing once again "I'm Klein by the way thanks for the help man I'd have been here getting beat up all day without you" he laughed.
Kazuto looked at him and nodded "Kirito" he said simply shaking his hand "no problem if you need anything else just let me know" he said looking toward him.
Klein nodded with a smile "yeah man for sure i'll add you" he said bringing up his menu and sending Kirito a request "hey i'm meeting with a couple friends here that I waited with to buy the game if you wanna hang some more with us"
Kazuto blinked giving a look "uhmmm..."
Klein looked at him and laughed "no no man it's fine you don't have to" he said with a laugh "thanks for the help though for real! i'll see you around" he said turning and waving toward him.
Kazuto nodded with a small smile "yeah sorry see ya around"

Kazuto began to explore the world a bit more taking out a few weak monsters here and there so that he could shake the rust off from himself of fighting in SAO. He tilted his head as a small boy came into view.
The boy looked pretty young at the most around nine or ten years old. It was pretty rare that you seen anyone this young in a game like SAO. Kazuto watched as the boy tried to fight with a boar but got knocked down and layed there frightened as the boar charged him.

Tomoya scrunched his eyes shut tightly laying on the ground afraid of the boar. This game seemed much more real than other games and it scared him a bit. He opened an eye after a moment passed by and he hadn't been struck by the boar. Tomoya blinked some long blonde hair from his face and looked up to see a dark haired boy standing in front of him with a sword and then the boar disappeared. Kazuto turned looking down at Tomoya and smiled "you don't need to be afraid it can't really hurt you I know it seems real though" he reached down helping him up.

Tomoya stood up brushing himself up "uh...yeah I wasn't really afraid I just...was coming up with a plan" he said looking away a bit. Kazuto raised an eyebrow and laughed lightly "I see" he said.
He looked down at the younger boy "just prepare yourself in your head and then when the monster attacks release" he explained similar to the way he had with Klein earlier "here try" he said as the boar re spawned.
Tomoya swallowed looking at the boar after listening to him "al...alright" he said getting his weapon ready and closing his eyes. Kazuto waited and then smacked the boar "coming at ya now!".
Tomoya took a deep breath and opened his eyes becoming a bit afraid again as he watched the boar coming at him. He froze up a bit. Kazuto watched him "don't be afraid remember it can't hurt you!"
He blinked as he heard Kazuto and gritted his teeth before closing his eyes and then remembering what he had been told and launched at the boar.

Tomoya kept his eyes closed tightly after slashing across the boar a bit afraid of what may have happened. "ya did it!" Kazuto called out The younger boy blinked opening his eyes and laughed "your right!" he said pumping his first "yes!" he jumped up a bit and then looked at the older boy.

Kazuto nodded to him "just fight like that and you'll be fine" he said starting to turn away from him. Tomoya blinked running up to him and grabbing his sleeve lightly "hey...uh...would you mind i I hang around you for a bit?" he asked.
He turned back looking down at the boy and gave him a look about to respong when the boy stopped him.
"I promise I won't annoy you! you seem strong though and I want to be strong" he said looking at him. Kazuto tilted his head and sighed "yeah sure" he shrugged his shoulders.
Tomoya smiled excitedly "i'm Tomoya! what's your name?" he asked looking up at him.
He couldn't help but laugh "Kirito" he said looking up ahead "let's go hunt a bit more" he said starting off toward the plains again. Tomoya nodded following behind him eagerly.

Kazuto and Tomoya hunted and explored the world fir a bit before Tomoya stopped "hey I have to go eat dinner this has been awesome!" he laughed.
Kazuto nodded with a slight smile "Yeah"
Tomoya smiled "can I add you as a friend?" he asked bringing up the menu not waiting for an answer and sent Kirito a request.
Kazuto watched him and laughed as the boy brought up his menu and sent the request before he could even answer. Kazuto nodded accepting the request.
"cool!" he said happily and then brought up his menu and waved to Kirito "see ya later!" he said looking through it but couldn't find the button he was looking for.
Tomoya frowned confused "I can't find the log out button" he said.

Kazuto looked over toward him and began to bring up his menu "it should be at the bottom of the screen" he said narrowing his eyes confused as he didn't see the log out button on his menu either "what...?"
Tomoya looked at him "is there some other way out or something?"
Kazuto shook his head "no this is bad if there is a problem with the log out button that could cause some serious issues for the game" he said thinking about it.
Tomoya frowned thinking about it and then looked up as a sound started to go off.
Kazuto glanced up hearing the noise and looked around confused as the view began to get fuzzy 'what the..."

Kazuto blinked looking around now standing right in the middle of the town of begginings along with what seemed to be like every other player in the game "an auto teleport" he muttered knowing how weird this was.
He looked up as something started to happen up toward the front in the sky. It was almost as if something was forming in the sky out of blood or something. He narrowed his eyes as it formed into a person.

"hello players of Sword Art Online I am the games creator Kayaba Akihiko"

Kazutos eyes flinched a bit looking up at the man who created SAO in the sky. He swallowed tensely as he watched knowing that something was up. He had a feeling that this was something really bad...

"I'm sure you all have noticed that the log out button is missing from your menus and are wondering why that is?" he said calmly.

"I assure this is no accident and is indeed a feature of SAO"

Kazutos eyes widened as he listened barely even noticing the whispers of the people around him.

"You can not log out of the game and you also can not leave the game by your nerve gear helmet being taken off of you as a few people have already experienced. If the helmet is removed from you'r head a signal will be transmitted that will fry your brains"

Kazutos mouth dropped open a bit almost shaking as he listened to Kayabas words. Most of the people didn't believe it or just thought that this was a part of SAOs normal opening but he knew this wasn't the case.
He had studied and observed this man and he could just tell that he was telling the truth.

"The only way for you to leave SAO is for the games full one hundred floors to be cleared and if you die here you die in the real world as well" he said waving his hand bringing up some tv feeds "as you can see over two hundred players have already been killed by their helmets being removed"

The panic was now starting to set in with most of the players in the area yelling and asking questions.

"Also you can all find an item in your inventory's compliments of me have a look"

Kazuto was in shock as he brought up his inventory and blinked "a mirror..." he muttered clicking on it and then just as he did all of the people standing in the area began to switch forms. Some from girls to boys and other things.
Kazuto looked at himself and then returned his attention up toward Kayaba.

"As I have said to leave this game you must clear all 100 floors of SAO I wish all of you players good luck" he said simply before disappearing.

Kazuto just stared on as Kayaba was gone his hands shaking and then glanced around as the crowd around him erupted into pushing screaming and more. He gritted his teeth "damn it..."
He knew what was now at stake "if...if I die in this world i'll die in the real world" he muttered looking around "i'm not going to let this game defeat me..."
Looking up he knew that he needed to go now. He cut through the crowd and darted off toward the town bumping into someone.

Klein looked down a bit as he felt someone bump into him "hey you!...wait Kirito is that you?" he asked looking at him.
Kazuto looked at the man "Klein?" he asked looking him over and then shook his head "listen Klein now that everyone knows what's going on the only way to stay alive is going to be to get as strong as possible and people are going to be clearing out this towns resources soon."
Klein blinked looking at him still shocked about all of this "I guess your right...but how do we know for sure that this is for rea..." he stopped getting cut off.

"it's for real! listen i'm heading to the next town i'm level 1 but I can get there easy you should come" he said looking at him. Klein blinked looking at him now seeing how serious this really was.

"I I can't you remember those friends that I got the game with there still back in the town waiting for me..." he said then stopped "you go on Kirito i'll be fun with all that you taught me!" he laughed giving him a nod and thumbs up. Kazuto just looked at him "if you say so" he said looking down. If it was just Klein but there was no way that he could take all of his friends to.
Klein nodded "go ahead man i'll be alright". Kazuto looked at him and nodded turning away from him "if you need anything send me a message".

Klein nodded "you got it"
Kazuto clenched his fist together and began to walk away.

"hey Kirito!"

Kazuto stopped glancing back a bit.

"I was just gonna say you look better like that by the way better than your avatar I mean" he laughed.

Kazuto just looked down "yeah and that scruffy face of yours suits you much better!" he said looking up before turning and starting to walk away. He glanced back to see Klein gone and gritted his teeth darting off.
Kazuto stopped as as monster came into view and tightened his fingers together drawing out his sword "I won't lose" he muttered running directly at the monster that was charging him back "I wont!"

Next Chapter~ Chapter 2-Someones gotta be the villain