Wandering Spirits Online Chapter 1, a bleach fanfic

In Wandering Spirits Online, a whole new world comes to life at your fingertips. Choose from among the different classes, each of them with their own part to play. There is a beautiful world laid out before you now cast in chaos by the Hollows of Hueco Mundo. Friends or foe, you will make the choices - you have the power to shape it into a community and society of your own. Fight you must, to defend what must be protected. Go forth, adventurer, to create your own future.

Expansion packs now include:

Multiplayer servers – your friends can now join you on quests and ventures!
SoulDive software enabled – encounter the gameworld you have known in a whole new light!
More challenges – new bosses, quests and choices to make!

The first thought in Kurosaki Ichigo's mind when he woke up was "Today is the day." Together with several classmates, he had been eagerly anticipating the launch of the expansion pack for Wandering Spirits Online. It promised to reveal a brand new view of the game world he had become hooked on barely two years before.

Up till then, Wandering Spirits Online was just like any other MMORPG. It contained all the necessary elements of a good MMORPG: spectacular graphics, quests and battling of mobs, prolonged periods of time spent in front of a computer screen jamming down keys and clicking on icons. Now though, with the release of the hyped SoulDive software, Wandering Spirits Online was slated to become the first "New Generation" game.

SoulDive was a revolutionary breakthrough in the world of gaming. It allowed gamers to enter the game world fully – which meant that there was no longer a need for keyboards and clickers, just a physical body which could do everything. It enabled one to fight using limbs and real weapons, talk to others with one's own mouth. Essentially, it was a dive into an unprecedented world far away from the noisy Tokyo suburbs, with everything to do with beautiful landscapes and adventures beyond count.

Ichigo had waited for this day ever since it was announced that KT Studios was developing Wandering Spirits Online for the SoulDive system, nearly a year before. He had gone down to the local game store half a year prior to reserve a copy of the expansion set and a SoulDive headgear immediately after the pre-orders had started. It was a good decision, as he now sauntered into the game store – packed with throngs of equally avid gamers – and approached the counter, producing his reservation receipt and smugly walking out in front of all the other ogling people who had not had the sense to place an order in advance.

After all, KT Studios had said that they were only releasing 13,000 first editions of the expansion set. There was no way in hell Ichigo was going to pass this up.

Walking back home, the small apartment where the Kurosaki family stayed was empty as always – Karin and Yuzu were both still at extra class, while Isshin was probably down at the clinic. Nothing out of place there. Nonetheless, unsure how long he would spend in the gameworld, he placed a note on the table to ask his sisters to remind him to go down for dinner.

Yuzu –

Get me down for dinner when it's ready, will you? I'm upstairs trying out the SoulDive.

Ichigo

With that, he dropped his best friends – Kuchiki Rukia and Abarai Renji – a text to tell them that he was going into the game first. They had agreed to meet in-game on the first day, and prior to the expansion pack had already added each other's user IDs into their friend lists. However, the new expansion meant that they were going to restart their characters from scratch. Furthermore, there was a need for them to get used to the new SoulDive interface, and it wouldn't hurt for him to go in to try it out first.

Once that was done, the SoulDive headgear went on to his head.

"Enter!"

Ichigo had calibrated his headgear earlier on, so he was not surprised to see the familiar popup in front of him:

ID: Zangetsu
Password:

Please key in your password.

He keyed in his password easily, and everything turned black; the knot of excitement wound itself tighter in his chest. This was it.

He blinked. It was shockingly blinding at first, but colours exploded all around him and he was startled.

A mechanical voice spoke in his head: "Please choose your class."

In front of him a row of men and women lined up neatly, dressed in various outfits and in different stances. Bewildered, Ichigo walked forwards to the nearest man. He was dressed as a stealth ninja, from what he could deduce, down to the black face masks and drawn dagger. The mechanical voice said, "Onmitsukido. They specialize in unarmed combat and is able to operate silently and in secrecy. As you advance you can choose to become a specialist in spying or in assassination."

Ichigo knew he was anything but silent. He walked on, to the second person in line. Her face was hidden from him, covered by a face-covering as her hands glowed with a magical light. "Kido Corps. The wielders of Kido, spells used in combat, binding and in healing. As you advance, you will learn to use a sword."

A mage, in most other game worlds. Ichigo had been a Kido Corps member in his previous Wandering Spirits Online game and had maxed his level out then. He would try something new this time, he decided. The following man was wearing a white-collared tunic and holding a white bow fashioned out of a peculiar substance. "Quincy. Human mediums with the ability to purify souls using their Quincy bows. As you advance, you gain special skills unique to yourself."

An archer! Now this would be interesting. Ichigo was about to raise his hand in selection when his gaze drifted to the next person. She was in a black hakama, wielding a sword frozen in a graceful arc.

The mechanical voice said, "Shinigami. The guardians of the soul, bearers of the Zanpakuto. Also capable of performing kido spells upon advancement to higher levels."

Ichigo's choice was made.

In front of the frozen shinigami figure, he raised his hand. The shinigami figure smiled, a small smile that reminded him slightly of Rukia's, and everything disappeared.

Welcome to the Shinigami Academy, Zangetsu!

The automated message flashed in front of him before he dismissed it. Looking around, he found himself in an old-fashioned courtyard with a sprawling building laid out before it. There were also several players standing in the courtyard beside himself, all dressed in a white kosode and either a red or blue shitagi and hakama depending on their gender. He suspected that he himself was dressed the same way. So this was the Shinigami Academy that every Shinigami had to go through… When Wandering Spirits Online was just a computer game, the Academy was akin to an optional tutorial stage for new players to get accustomed to the game controls. Now though, it was apparent that the Academy was a compulsory stage of the game. Interesting.

He tried to call out his game menu by swiping his right hand upwards towards his chest level, which some other players were doing as well. Several drop down menus appeared – his Character Statistics, his Skills, his Equipment and Inventory, his Friends List and the Options. He pressed the Friends List.

There! Right at the top of his list were Rukia and Renji's IDs with green circles next to them. That meant they were both online as well! Selecting Rukia's ID Shirayuki, he sent out a Voice Message similar to when he had needed to use a gaming headset. It was almost like a phone call, now that he was experiencing it for real.

"Oi midget, where are you?"

Rukia's reply was almost instantaneous. "I'm with Renji at the koi pond in front of the Shinigami Academy. Where are you?"

"In the middle of the courtyard," Ichigo said as he looked around for the koi pond.

Then it struck him: if they were in front of the Shinigami Academy, that meant they had also chosen to become Shinigami.

"I see you, asshole! Wait there!" Rukia barely left him any time to react before he felt a huge lump at the back of his head. She might be small, but she was definitely intimidating, he thought to himself.

Renji was beside her, grinning like the idiot that he was. "Yo, Ichigo! Didn't expect you to choose to be a Shinigami, you wimp."

"Look who's talking," Ichigo smirked as he felt a vein in his forehead tick.

The summoning bell rang – three long resounding booms that was unanimously taken to be the signal for all Shinigami-to-be to gather in front of the Academy. It was a grand sight, Ichigo had to admit. There had to be at least a few hundred players squeezing him in all directions here, and this was only one Academy. Adding that to the impressive campus and even larger world he was sure sprawled behind the gates, he was sure purchasing Wandering Spirits Online had not been a bad decision at all.

Automatic pop-up messages appeared in front of all the Shinigami-to-be as they looked expectantly at the grand doors of the Academy.

Welcome to Wandering Spirits Online. You are now about to enter the world of adventure. Defeat Him, lest He bring destruction upon the world. The Academy doors… shall open!

Proceed to the Main Hall.

And open the doors did – they creaked and revealed in all their splendor the inner buildings of the Academy. As the throngs rushed towards the Main Hall, Ichigo and his friends could not help but wonder what exactly this new world held for them.

A/N:

This story is highly based off of "game world" novels like Log Horizon and Sword Art Online. As such, much inspiration has been drawn from these two stories but with elements of the original Bleach series. It is at present a pilot project, embarked upon due to sheer curiosity and I am developing the story as I go.

Please leave feedback and constructive criticism!