Sword Art Online: Frontier Mira
Chapter 1: The White Whale
Author's Note: I should probably make clear what's going to be different from Xenoblade X's canon. First, the class system will exist, but to add variety to weapons early on, the Striker, Commando, and Enforcer classes will be skipped, having a new fourth tier in their place. Next, Skells will move like Gundams, as they do in certain cutscenes. Finally, skills will likely have little role in the story.
It's been a while since the release of a new VRMMO. Many players felt their old games getting stale, even with the regular content updates. In Alfheim Online, the biggest challenge ever since the original release, New Aincrad, had been cleared. Kazuto Kirigaya, known by the name Kirito, now was left with little to do there. His friend, Shino Asada, known as Sinon, had returned to her own adventures in Gun Gale Online, while the rest of his friends continued to find what enjoyment they could out of ALO.
The answer to their problem had been answered one day, as they sat in the Dicey Cafe, talking about where to go next. On the news, a reporter had been discussing a new VRMMO, set to release in a week. Xenoblade Chronicles VX. A futuristic RPG taking place on an alien world. This is just the thing Kirito needed to liberate himself from boredom.
"Hey, that looks pretty interesting. You guys want to try it out?"
Kazuto's best friend, Ryotarou Tsuboi, named Klein online, got up from his seat. "Of course I do! But I'm not waiting in line for hours again."
"Okay, that's not a problem. Who does want to?"
No one spoke up. Kirito sighed. "Alright, fine." He pulled out his phone and set a reminder on the day of the game's release.
When that day came, and Kirito had bought the copies of Xenoblade, he immediately ran back to the Dicey Cafe, where his friends were waiting for distribution. He came running in the door, heavily panting, with a small bag by his side.
"I'm... here!"
Kirito's girlfriend, Asuna, walked up to his side and took his arm. "What's got you so tired?"
Still panting, Kirito turned to her. "Sorry... had to beat the rush hour here."
Asuna guided him to one of the cafe tables, where he set the bag and his body down. After recovering his energy, Kirito emptied the bag onto the table, showing eight copies of the game, one for each of the group, including one of the managers in the cafe. He handed each one out, keeping track of the total cost.
"You guys owe me a lot for this. It was a lot more expensive than I thought."
Rika, who goes by Lisbeth, stood looking at the box. "How bad could it be? If it's just another MMO."
"7000 Yen, per game."
"Wow, and then there's the subscription fee. Alright, I'll find a way to pay you back."
Sinon put the game underneath her arm, as if it were a book. "So when shall we start it?"
Suguha, Kirito's sister, leaned over the table. "Why not later tonight?"
Everyone agreed upon this, and called Agil, one of the caretakers of the cafe, to see if he wanted to join. He told them that he could, but only a little after everyone else, while he closed up shop. They spent a little more time talking about other things, then left to each of their homes.
Kirito and Suguha arrived at their house, and each went to their rooms. Kirito's AmuSphere was perched on a shelf, high up on the wall. He pulled it down, rolled onto his bed, and placed the device on his head. Closing his eyes, he spoke two words.
"Link Start!"
Colored cylinders flew past Kirito's eyes, while the AmuSphere established a connection to the servers. His vision went dark, until a room lit up around him. Menus flashed on each part of his body, while a mirror image appeared in the center of the room. This must have been the avatar creation screen. Unlike Gun Gale, there was no conversion option, so everyone would have to start fresh. Kirito changed the default options to match his own face, all while wondering if Yui, the AI who had imprinted on Kirito and Asuna, would be present in the game. After finishing his avatar, the room went dark again, and became extremely small. Kirito felt a harness close around him, while he was thrown around in the small room, feeling light G-forces working on his body.
About 5 minutes later, the shaking ended. A red light began flashing above Kirito, indicating a button. He pushed it, and a hatch opened in front of him, revealing a tight, grassy canyon, and a rainy sky. Kirito removed his harness, and hopped out of the pod. Lightning cracked, and thunder boomed above, while he checked his surroundings.
"No sign of anyone else."
Kirito turned back to his pod, checking the interior. Inside, he found an assault rifle, and a knife.
"A rifle? It looks a little strange."
He took both weapons out of the pod, holstering the knife on his hip, and inspecting the rifle. The gun looked very different from the ones he had seen in Gun Gale, with a circular handguard, and a long grip near the barrel.
"Where's the trigger on this thing?"
He slipped his hand in the guard, where he felt a curved trigger. Kirito raised the gun upward, pointing it toward the sky, while he covered his left ear with his free hand. Three trigger pulls fired three bullets into the air, at a very audible volume.
"That's got a kick to it. Not bad."
At that point, Kirito heard what sounded like an insect's cry behind him. He quickly turned to what was a giant gray roach.
"Giant bugs, eh? Well, no better time to test the combat."
When Kirito raised his rifle, multiple elements appeared on his display. In the top left corner of his vision, there were various bars, and his name.
"Okay, these must be health, experience, and... what else?"
On the top of the screen, there was information on the enemy, it's health, level, and name.
"Origin Blatta? Odd name."
Finally, at the bottom of his vision were many different elements. There were nine circles, of varying sizes. The biggest one was in the center, and it showed a blank image. On each side, there were two mid-sized circles, containing a yellow and orange symbol. Finally, there were six small, empty circles, three on each side. Above that were two pieces, the one on the right naming the weapon Kirito was holding, and his positioning compared to his enemy. On the left, there were bars for his HP, TP, and Morale Level.
"Time to get fighting."
He shot a whole clip of ammo into the Blatta, draining it's health one-fifth. The green bar underneath his HP began filling up as each bullet hit. While Kirito was shooting, the Blatta charged at Kirito, it's pincers closed. After he drained his clip, the bug lunged at Kirito, opening it's pincers wide. He rolled to the side, taking no damage.
"Doing good so far, but what do I have for skills?"
Kirito looked down at the circular symbols. He selected the orange one, and took a peek at its description.
"Assault Hammer?"
He shifted his shoulder backward, and hit the Blatta with the butt of his rifle. It screeched into the air, as it fell onto its back. Kirito covered his ears to protect himself from the deafening scream, and watched it flail on the ground. He selected his other skill, Flame Grenade, to try and finish the creature off. Kirito pulled a bolt on the side of his rifle, knelt down, and shot an explosive projectile into the Blatta's stomach. Small embers burned, as it threw its legs more furiously, before dying down and bursting into crystals.
"Whoa. That was a pretty cool fight." He spoke as he lowered his gun.
Not long after, three more cries emerged behind Kirito. From the cliffs above his pod, three more Blattas crawled down to attack. Kirito put away his rifle, and drew the knife from his hip.
"I can take these guys, no-" He examined their level.
"Level 23? Never mind, I need to run!"
Kirito sheathed his knife, turned around, and sprinted through the rain. The three Blattas chased after him. After ducking behind a rock, he held his breath, waiting for the insects to pass by. After a few more minutes, there was only the sound of rain and thunder in Kirito's ears. He poked his head from behind, where huge mosquito-like creatures, hippos, and more Blattas inhabited.
"With scaling like that, this place definitely isn't very tamed. I can't wait to see the later areas."
The rain was starting to lighten up, so Kirito began sneaking through the canyon. There came a point when he was spotted by one of the hippos, who was drinking from a small pond. It simply turned away and continued drinking.
"Looks like a lot of the creatures aren't so hostile, either."
After this encounter, he stopped sneaking, and increased his pace. There was a wrecked jeep along the cliff side, to which Kirito walked toward.
"Busted. Dang." A prompt appeared in front of him, asking if he wished to search the wreckage. "Search? Okay, let's check this thing out."
Kirito investigated the vehicle, and found a lost piece of torso armor, along with 1000 credits and experience. It was enough to level him up, and level his... class?
"A proper class system? As long as they have my usual. Looks like I learned a new skill, too."
He opened his menu, looking for his skills, named Arts in this game, to check the new addition. Chrome Armor, increases Physical Resistance. He also equipped the new armor, affecting his defense and resistances. It was a metal chest piece, with short, white and orange sleeves.
Further down the canyon, there were two Blattas, much lower level than what he had encountered earlier, blocking the exit. Looks like the perfect time to test it. Kirito drew his assault rifle, aiming at the left bug, and fired a clip into it. When both of them began dashing toward him, he took out his knife, and raised in the air, activating Chrome Armor. He also ran toward them, holding his knife to his shoulder. When one Blatta leaped at Kirito, he thrust the knife forward, deflecting the creature's pincers, and dealing decent damage. Its assistant gnawed on Kirito's leg, draining his health somewhat. He knocked it off using Assault Hammer, then followed up with a Flame Grenade to kill it off. After that, he reloaded his rifle, and fired at the first bug. It flinched in the flurry of gunfire, and uncovered itself to see Kirito running at it. He kicked the Blatta, causing its front half to raise into the air, then drew his knife to slash at its stomach. It did enough damage to flip it onto its back, and twitch for a short time before dying. Unlike the other creatures, it didn't burst into shards, so Kirito shot one more bullet into its head.
A menu popped up in front of him, showing two boxes. He opened them both, getting some materials from the monsters, and a new assault rifle. After equipping it, he sat, leaning against the cliff face, slightly exhausted.
"I wonder how everyone else is doing. Especially Asuna. I'm pretty sure she doesn't take bugs well."
He stood up and exited the canyon after his short rest, then started running toward a promontory to get a look upon the much more open landscape. The rain had cleared up, and the clouds were beginning to do the same. When Kirito reached the edge of the rocks, he observed the land, seeing herds of boar-like creatures crossing the field. He turned his head to a nearby land bridge, where there were tall, lumbering creatures, that looked like tortoises with giant legs. Kirito felt the ground shake underneath him, as he looked upon a huge dinosaur raise its long neck from the ground. Above him, huge whales covered in translucent wings flew above him, with a majestic roar. On one side of the area were huge mountains, and even floating islands, and on the other, more flat land, including lakes and beaches.
"Holy... this is amazing! All it's missing is flight!"
Out by the shore, a large vessel, sitting atop a mass of turquoise crystals, stood out from the grassy landscape. Huge cranes poked out of the top of the structure, and on its side, there was an American flag, with the words "New L.A." painted on the side.
"Looks like a city. That must be where I need to reach." He took note of the American flag. "Whoever developed this must be a fan of the West."
Kirito crouched down, and looked over the edge of the rock formation. In his mind, he was planning a route to the city, that went across a river, through some fields, and more areas that he couldn't see.
"This drop doesn't look too bad. One last test. Does this game have fall damage?"
Getting a running start, Kirito hopped off of the cliff, aiming for a piece of relatively flat land nearby. As he approached the ground, he tucked in his knees and rolled upon impact.
"I guess not."
He looked at New L.A. from his lower viewpoint, and it seemed even more imposing than before. It was time to reach it, and hopefully find the rest of his group.