This is my second story, but I feel like my first one was a trial run. Enjoy!
"Mr. James. Could you answer my question?" Ah crap I was spacing out again. "Are you able to repeat the question?" Please don't slaughter my grade because of this. I'm already failing this class. "The question was; What do you think of the current situation of the world?" Mr. Blount said. I could hear the frustration in his voice.
"I think that the world is in a very…" Ok see, I'm not the smartest kid around. I get super bored fairly quickly, leading into my bombed effort grades. I can safely say, that none of my teachers are fond of me, especially Mr. Blount. I can't really blame them though, I get annoyed with myself for the same reasons. But! Mr. Blount just seems to always push my buttons. His voice is flat. He wears the typical teacher attire; a button-up shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. There is absolutely nothing interesting about this guy. I just can't find a way to entertain myself in his class, so 99% of my time in that class, is spacing off.
"Thank you, Mr. James. Next time you space out in my class, it's a detention." Ah Thank god! "Thank you." With that, he continued on with his lesson. I was just about to space out again when somebody nudged me. "Hey, you're going to get in trouble if you space out again." I looked behind me to find a girl staring at me. "Thanks, I really don't need another detention." Now if somebody asked me, I would have instantly denied it, but truthfully, this girl was beautiful.
She had short black hair, Green eyes, and just she seemed like the 'Perfect Girl'. Now I was never really interested in girls. I saw relationships as something that would just hold me back. Everyone I knew had always been just broken once they had been dumped, and I'd rather not feel that. My mom was the only one who was happy when she got divorced, but I could see why now, unlike when I was a kid.
My Father was a horrible person. He repeatedly started fights with my mom, expecting her to do everything. She worked herself to the edge, going to work early, getting home late. He also cheated on my Mom, how many times? I don't know but he got caught every time, and after taking the rent money and ditching us, my Mom finally divorced him.
I didn't want to deal with that, so I just stayed away. But this girl was different. "My name's Hanako Utada. What's yours?" Hanako, Even her name is amazing. "My names Nick, Nick James." Please don't let class end. "Are you a foreigner? Your name doesn't sound Japanese." Whelp, time to explain. "Yeah. I was born in America, but my family decided to move here when I was really little."
"That's really cool! I've never actually met a foreigner. Is America different from here?" Well I wouldn't know. "From what my Mom has said, it sounds really different, but I don't remember much from when I lived there. My mom has some pictures…Brrring..Brrring..Brrring" Damn you bell! "Well looks like that's the end of school! Yay! The weekend is finally here!" She said happily. "I know what you mean. My classes have been killing me. In fact I think I'm bombing most of them." I hate school. "Would you like some help? I could tutor you so you don't fail. I'm not the smartest, but I bet we could at least get your grade to a 'B'." Holy crap…Did she just offer to tutor me? "Are you serious?" She smiled and nodded her head. "Thank you, god my parents were going to kill me if I failed this class." Yes! Putting her hand on her chin, "Now where to study" she asked. "Well we could use a coffee shop or something." I answered.
That was just about how the rest of the month went. School, studying, and sleeping. Of course eating as well. With Hanako's help I was able to get my grade to a high 'B', But the most surprising thing to me, was that I wasn't getting bored of her or studying, but I think the studying part was because I got to hang out with her. Then it hit me. I had a crush on her.
Something else had me excited as well though. It was November 6th. The Launch of the first VRMMO game ever. Sword Art Online. It was made by Kayaba Akihiko, who also made the Full Dive technology the game uses. I had managed to save up enough money to buy the Nerve Gear, an the game. I had also managed to get Hanako to wanting to play it too. We both decided to skip school today, so we could log in on the launch day. It was 11:59. I quickly turned off my bedroom light, hopped into bed, and all but threw on the nerve gear. "Link Start!" I yelled. After going through making account, I was brought to the Character Creator screen. Damn, the options go on forever! I made my character look somewhat like me. He had dark brown hair, with a red streak, Grey eyes, and my fabulous burn scar on my lower lip. I was 6 foot, which so was he. The manual had cautioned about making your character a different gender, or a different height/weight, as it could affect you in game. I was fairly skinny, not much bulk. I hit done, but the game quickly pointed out I hadn't put a name. It took me a minute, but I finally choose Luc.
After hitting done again, my vision went dark. Um what happened. Then the brightness hit me. I had to close my eyes and throw a hand up. Once I had regained my vision I moved my hand away and found myself staring at huge coliseum. It all looked so real, I could hardly tell that it was a video game. Me and Hanako had agreed to meet up outside the walls on the west side of the city.
During my run there, I found a weapon shop which I stopped at, buying my self a Sword. It felt good in my hand even though it was just the basic starting sword. It was like I could almost feel the power radiating from it. After I was finished with checking out some other shops, I resumed my walk to the west gate.
I had just made It through the gate when someone called out to me. "Is that you Nick?" I spun around finding a girl with a cloak on. "Is that you Hanako?" I want a cloak… "Yeah. I'm so glad we were able to find each other. This game is packed!" I wonder if this is all 10,000 players. "We should head out into the fields. Try and level up some." This is gonna be so much fun! "Sounds like a good idea."
For the next few hours, we spent most of our time fighting the Wild Boars that cluttered the fields. For the first few minutes, it was terrible. We had to fight like real life, but then I remembered about the Sword Skills. I had Quickly thrown open my menu, navigated to the skill tab, and gone through the entire list trying to figure out what skills to take. I only had two skill slots, with the first being filled with One-handed Sword. I eventually chose Sprint for my second skill. Mizuki, which was Hanako's in game name, Choose Rapier for her first skill, which matched the Basic Rapier she was using. The second skill she chose, after much convincing on my part, was Sprint.
We quickly found out that Sword Skills sped up our battles, which meant we could fight longer with ought needing to rest. By 5:30, we had managed to level up to twice. I figured that I'd have to be light on my feet, but have enough strength to match my swords strength requirements, So I put 2 points into Agility, 2 points into Strength, and 1 into both Dexterity and Vitality.
"Man, today was so much fun!" I've finally found something that doesn't bore me after 5 minutes, besides Hanako that is. "You've got that right. Getting your grades up was so worth it, even if it was a struggle." Hey! "To bad it's so late, I think I'll have to get off. Dinner's probably ready." She said sadly. " Don't stay on here to long after I leave." Like I'd do play this game with ought you. "I'll probably hop off right after you do…hey what's wrong?" What's wrong with her. "Hey Nick, open up your menu, and tell me your log out button is there." Why wouldn't it be there. I opened my menu, scrolling through it till I found the settings tab. She was right. The log out button was gone.
I was about to say something when this blue light enveloped me. I closed my eyes due to the brightness, but when I opened them, I was somewhere else. I'd been transported from the fields back into the coliseum. It looked like everyone was here. I felt a tug on my shirt. "Nick, what's going on?" I wish I knew. I was about to respond when I saw a red hexagon appear in the sky. I had to squint to read WARNING printed on it. What the hell? Then another one appeared. Then another and another, until the sky was filled with them, turning it into a red shade.
That's when this red goo started to seep through the cracks. It looks like blood. The good filled out into a the form of the GM. Is this a welcoming announcement? "hey it's ok Mizuki. I think this is just something like a Welcoming announcement." She looks scared out of her mind.
"Attention Players," The GM said, "Welcome to my world." Your world? Then you must be Kayaba.
"My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment, I am the sole person in control of this world. Well that's pretty cool. If he's as amazing as everyone thinks, this game will be amazing and difficult.
"I'm sure you've already noticed that the log out button is missing from the main menu" Kayaba said. "This is not a defect of the game, I repeat, this is not a defect." Umm, the log out button, is what?!
"It is a feature of Sword Art Online." Kayaba said, "you cannot log out of SAO yourselves, and no one on the outside can shut down or remove the Nerve Gear." Ok this guy is a psycho! I thought while analyzing the situation. More and more people had that look, of despair on their face. We needed to get out of here as soon as I could.
"Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the Nerve Gear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain, and ending your life." God Dammit! People all around me were starting to freak out.
"Unfortunately, several player's friends and family have ignored this warning, and removing the Nerve Gear." Kayaba said, continuing his monologue. "As a result, two-hundred and thirteen players are no longer a part of Aincrad. As you can see, News Organizations across the worlds are reporting on this incident." Everyone was awestruck as various screens popped up, showing news casts in various languages.
"I hope you relax and attempt to clear the game, but I want you to remember, once an HP bar hits zero, there avatar will be erased forever, while the Nerve Gear simultaneously fries their brain." There was no way we were gonna beat this game…"Aincrad has 100 floors, as of now you are on Floor 1. Make your way to the dungeon, clear all twenty levels, and defeat the boss, opening up the next floor. Defeat the boss of Floor 100, and the game will end logging out all remaining players." If I can defeat that boss, I can escape! No, I need to make sure that Hanako makes it out, even if it means that I die.
"Finally, I have added a present from me to your item storage, please see for yourself, and players. Good luck, you will need it." And with that, Kayaba melted back into the sky, and disappeared, along with the red sections in the sky. Rather quickly, you could hear the ringing sound of thousands of menus being opened. I looked in my own inventory scrolling through, until I found, a Mirror? I tapped it and it appeared in my hands. After a few seconds the almost the entire plaza was covered in blue lights as people….changed. I looked at the mirror and I saw me. The real me, not my avatar. Someone dropped their mirror, and that's what kick started the panic.
I looked over to see Hanako crying. "Hey, Hanako. Hanako look at me." She turned here head slowly. She looked so sad. " We will survive this game ok?! I will get you out of this game!" Her facial expression changed. "Look we need to get out o here. Lets head to that other town we found ok?" She nodded. I took her hand and we took off.
Once we made it outside of the walls, I had to pull out my sword. A wolf had spawned in front of me. I let go of Hanako's hand and put my sword into the starting point for Slipstream. I felt myself shoot forward, feeling the resistance of my sword digging into the beast's chest. After a moment, I heard the beast shatter and the reward screen pop up. Hanako caught up and we continued on our way. We will Survive
Hopefully you enjoyed my story! I will be updating it as often as I can. I accept all the reviews I can get as they will help me improve my writing, which means better stories for you