A/N: Hey guys! ANOTHER series I've started, and hoping that this one is gonna turn out good. Once again, I'm gonna need a beta for this one. It's gonna be a bit longer than the original SAO season, as it will try to build up the two main characters relationship. Who are the main characters? Well, read on to find out! (Or, if you were a normal person, you would've just read the description.)

I DO NOT OWN STARSET'S MUSIC, SAO OR EVEN THIS STORY. Jks about the last one though. But if I really did own SAO, do you think I'd be here?

Anyway, some swearing in this one, watch out if that kind of stuff offends you. Welcome to chapter one of:

The Bodyguard

The year was 2022, the year the first commercially available VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online, was released. Gamers all around the world looked forward to the worldwide release of such a game. However, the game, for the moment, was limited to Japan. This made many gamers around the world slightly upset, but they knew that eventually, SAO would get a worldwide release.

One group of gamers, however, couldn't wait for the grand release. A group of gamers in Australia decided to pool their money and resources, as it were, to try and get at least one of them to play the game, over in Japan, for a week. They knew the game came with an English setting, but that it was unfinished, so that had to choose between the two who could speak Japanese. The two drew straws, and the one who pulled the longest, would go to Japan. Both straws were pulled out, and the guy who won was named Jake Richardson, aged 15.

After farewelling his group of friends, he got on the plane for Japan. He had rented out a house in downtown Tokyo, close to where the game stores were selling both the Nerve Gear, and SAO. He moved in, feeling rather alone in the world. He had never left Australia, and now here he was, in the middle of the most technologically advanced nation on the planet. This is where our story begins, the night before the release and launch of SAO.

I was scared. I had never been this far away from home before. Even though I had been on school camps, the furthest I had been was Canberra, and that wasn't too far in comparison to where I was now. Japan.

It's so much cooler than I imagined!

When I had learnt Japanese in school, I was one of few that actually paid attention. Therefore, I took Japanese with me as a subject all the way through Year 1, to Year 9, where I was now. I could speak fluently, and could understand the rapid-fire Japanese most natives spoke, which was much better than my classmates.

As I sat on my bed watching the sun set, the song I was listening to changed, and a new song started to play.

Mayday! Mayday! This ship is slowly sinking!

They think I'm crazy, but they don't know the feeling.

I breathed in. I breathed out. Tomorrow. That's when the game is released.

I eventually feel to sleep, as the vocals of Dustin Bates, accompanied by the backing of Brock Richards and Ron DeChant finished their incredible song. I was ready for whatever the game was going to through at me.

Or so I thought.

I placed the Nerve Gear on my head, waiting for the clock to tick over, and for SAO to come online.

Here we go. No turning back now.

Eventually, the Nerve Gear asked me to touch certain parts of my body. And so I did, and eventually, the Nerve Gear fell quite, and then quietly told me that SAO was ready to play. My heart stopped for a small second, and I creamed as loud as I could

"LINK START!" The Nerve Gear began flashing colours past me, and I was launched into the world of Sword Art Online. I was tense with excitement as I waited.

I was transported to an empty room, and as I looked around, and I spotted a console. I walked up to it, and saw a flashing "Welcome" button. I pressed the button, and a female voice began to speak.

"Welcome to Sword Art Online, player! Please choose your username."

A keyboard appeared in front of me, and I thought for a while. My name was Jake Richardson. I wasn't going to use that. I thought back to my other usernames I had used throughout my history of gaming.

XxJESTERxX? Nah, too simple.

Jakos? Maybe, but I think it's probably taken, and I'm not going to have numbers in my name.

Red_Beetle? Who would think of a username like that?

Lord Lost? Well, that makes me look like a noob, so no.

Crassus? Hmm, sounds Roman. Alright, here we go.

I entered Crassus into the text box that was above the keyboard, and pressed ENTER. The female voice asked me to confirm my choice, and I pressed YES. The keyboard and text box disappeared. The female voice asked me to start to design my avatar. I was disappointed with that all that could really be changed was face, height and weight. I could have gender swapped, but that just wasn't right. Guys pretending to be girls were creeps, especially in a game like this. I fiddled around with my hair a bit, and changed my height to make my 6'5" height in real life, come down to just 5'11". After doing this, I pressed accept, and accept again.

The game then dumped me into a large city, where I was surrounded by other players. Thousands of other players. I cheered in delight, surrounded by the other who were all doing the same. I sprinted towards the marketplace, and started to look around at all of the wares the NPC's were selling. Swords, armour, and many other items. I was looking around, and I spotted the exit to the city only a few hundred metres away.

I started to run towards it, but then a black haired player ran out in front of me. I was running too fast, and I collided head on with the player. As SAO's collision system was as realistic as possible, we both went sprawling. "Hey, watch where you're going dumbass!" I yelled at the other player. The other player simply shook his head, and ran off. I got off the ground, and continued to the gate.

As the third wolf fell to my blade, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that all of the tutorials I had read online had paid off. I had destroyed three groups of wolves, and was very close to levelling up to Level 2. I wanted to build a speedy, hard-hitting character, with an emphasis on evasion and hiding skills, with listening and sword skills thrown in. I knew, from some online beta guides, that there was a level 2 minor dungeon on the first floor, that contained a full set of ninja gear in a once off. This would boost my One Handed Sword, Evasion, Hiding and Listening skills by 100, and boosting my Strength, Vitality, Dexterity and Agility stats by 60. It was a very potent armour piece, and I hoped that I was the only one who was going for it, even though I knew this was impossible.

I saw a couple of players pass me. As I looked closer, I saw it was the black-haired player from before, with another red-haired player. I could hear what they were saying, or have a close look at what they were doing, but whatever it was, I couldn't care less. They were probably just trying to get some early levelling in.

I continued to wander through the plains outside the starting city, admiring the views. I was walking for about an hour, before I spotted a level two monster. I ran towards it, and drew my sword. As I approached it, I stared on in shock as I was surrounded by six level one wolves, along with the level two wolf. As I desperately tried to escape form the ring, another player leapt off of a nearby rock, and landed next to me. I nodded a silent thanks, and we turned back-to-back and prepared to face off against the wolves.

The level two, and two level one wolves attacked me, while the four remaining level one wolves attacked my mysterious new friend. I struck at the level two first, and took away 25% of its health. As it retreated, I struck the level one's, destroying them in a few hits. The level two leapt past me, and tried to strike my new friend in the back. As he leapt past, I sliced him along the middle, effectively cutting him in half.

As I turned to help my companion, I watched as they sliced the last wolf, and it disintegrated into thousands of polygons. As the combat had ended, I received my XP and Cor, and discovered that I had levelled up to level 2. I cheered, and transferred the loot I had earned into my inventory. I opened up the level up menu, and put my points into agility, so that I could run faster.

I turned to say thank you, but then I saw who I was facing.

A girl, of all things. Good God, she's pretty… I tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey."

She smiled at me, and held out her hand for me to shake. I took it, and shook back. "So, thanks for saving me back there." She smiled again, and laughed softly. "Hey, well maybe you shouldn't have charged off into a high level area." I sheepishly rubbed the back of my head, blushing as she laughed. Damn emotion compensator…

"Name's Lisbeth." I nodded.

"Crassus." She cocked her head in curiosity.

"That's an interesting name. Where'd you get it?" I softly laughed.

"I don't often play MMORPGs, I usually stick to RTS and Strategy games. Hence the name. Crassus was a Roman General, who wasn't very good at his job. Kinda reflects my RTS – and most games, actually – play record as well." Lisbeth laughed softly once more, and I smiled.

She pointed back to the town. "Come on, let's head back. Getting dark anyway, and I want to be in a safe area when I log off." I smiled, and indicated for her to lead the way.

As we were walking towards the town, I saw some more players. Then I saw something interesting.

They disappeared.

Lisbeth obviously saw it too. "No-ones meant to have teleportation crystals at this point." I was about to answer, then I felt myself get teleported, and watched as Lisbeth was teleported as well.

What the fuck is going on?

I materialised in the main square outside of the Black Palace, with Lisbeth standing beside me. Lots of players were asking similar questions around the square.

"What is going on?"

"Why are we here?"

"Why can't I log off?" This brought gasped, and hundreds of player simultaneously brought up their menus, and I did the same, thinking that it just was some asshole playing a prank, and tricking everyone into looking at their menus. However, I was mistaken.

Wait, what the fuck? Ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit please nononono!

I desperately tried to find the log out button, but it wasn't there. Lisbeth was doing the same thing. "What is going on?" she muttered under her breath. I grabbed her arm, and made her look up at the sky.

While we had been busy with our menus, the sky had been covered with hexagons, with the words "SERVER ANNOUNCMENT" printed on them. Blood, or what looked like blood, was dripping out of the cracks around the most centre hexagons. Eventually, the blood formed a solid figure that looked an awful lot like the game master.

"Attention players. I welcome you to my world." I frowned. His world? That would make him…

"That's Akihiko Kayaba…" Lisbeth turned to me with a blanched expression.

"No way. That's the creator of SAO and the Nerve Gear?" I nodded sadly.

"He's trapped us here." Lisbeth turned to look back at Kayaba, not believing what I was saying.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba. And as of this moment, I am in control of this world." Kayaba announced dramatically. The players around me cried out with anger and disbelief.

"That's bullshit, man!"

"Yeah, seriously, cut the crap!"

"He's not serious right? I've got a life in the real world." I shook my head at the naivety of the other players. They couldn't seriously be thinking that this was a hoax.

Kayaba began to speak again. "I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus – the log out button. 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." This brought more cries of disbelief and anger, with some players looking around, trying to figure out if this was a dream or not. Lisbeth turned to me. "He can't do this, right?" I didn't want to answer, as the truth would destroy her, while a lie would crush her soul when she found out the truth.

"You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the Nerve Gear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the Nerve Gear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life."

"What the fuck man! Is this some kind of twisted joke?"

"This really is bullshit! I'm leaving!"

"Yeah man, fuck this!"

"Crassus… is he serious?" I turned to Lisbeth, to see that her eyes were filled with tears. I pulled her into a hug. "Hey, don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine." She looked up at me, and slowly nodded.

Kayaba was continuing. "Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the Nerve Gear, an unfortunate decision, to say the least. As a result, the game now has two hundred thirteen less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world."

Holy shit…

Lisbeth cried out in shock, and was joined by the thousands gathered in the square. Many people simply fell to their knees, while others just collapsed and fainted.

Kayaba opened up screens, and `they were showing current media coverage of the event. "As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a Nerve Gear 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 way to revive someone within the game.

If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system... forever.

And the Nerve Gear will simultaneously destroy your brain.

There is only one way for a player to escape now - you must clear the game.

Right now, you're gathered on Floor One, the lowest level of Aincrad.

If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor.

Defeat the boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."

You sick bastard…

"Clear the game?"

"How the hell do we do that? Not even the Beta Testers made it that high!"

Kayaba gave us one last message before he left the area. "Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please have a look."

I opened mine up, as did Lisbeth.

Inside was a mirror. I equipped it, and shown in the mirror reflection, was me.

The real me.

I dropped the mirror, and could see that everyone else was doing the same thing.

I turned to look at Lisbeth, and found instead a young girl about my age, but about three quarters my height, kneeling on the ground. I, now back to my original height, crouched down next to Lisbeth. She turned to look at me, and almost jumped back in fright. She whispered, "Crassus? … Is that you?" I nodded softly. "Come on. Let's get out of here." She grabbed my hand, and we ran for the main gates of the Starting City. We could already hear the cries of loss and pain from the players behind us, and so we just ran faster.

I didn't want to know why so many were screaming in loss.

We arrived outside of the dungeon that I had wanted to go. Lisbeth was panting, and I asked her to wait outside. She protested, but I pointed out a very, very important fact.

"If you hadn't helped me with those wolves, I'd be dead. Here and in the real world. I owe you my life, and so I will protect yours. Please stay here." She hesitated, then nodded sadly. I entered the dungeon. I stopped for a moment when I spotted that the opening floor was empty. I rushed through the rooms, only to find three level one players trying desperately to escape the ten level two wolves trying to kill them. I screamed at them to come to where I was so that I could help them. They stopped to look at me, but the wolves caught up.

I looked away, as the screams of the players faded away into echoes. I rushed forward cutting down the wounded wolves easily. When I accessed the dead player's inventories, I found a pretty good mace and shield. Lisbeth would like this. I also gained some blacksmithing tools. I pushed ahead, and eventually, after a few more rooms filled with level two monsters, reached the boss. The name above his head read The Guardian of the Underworld. I rushed forward, using my new speed to outrun his attacks, and land a few of my own.

After about half an hour of this toing and froing between me and the boss, and lots of dodging by me, the boss exploded into a thousand little polygons. A large Congratulations! Appeared above the dead boss, and a screen opened up in front of me. It detailed that I had gained three items, along with a substantial amount of Col and XP.

The first item, the last hit bonus, was a katana. The katana's description mentioned that it was adaptable, whatever the hell that meant.

The second item was the ninja suit and mask. All of the stat and skill boosts were slightly increased, a pleasant surprise for me.

Finally, the last item was a book. A skill book in fact, one on blacksmithing, and it would permanently raise someone's blacksmithing related skills by 50 each.

The first two I equipped, and after sending a party invite and friend request to Lisbeth, I ran to the front of the dungeon, passing the room where the three players feel. I knelt for a bit, and thanked them for their sacrifice, and promised I would finished this game.

When I arrived at the entrance, Lisbeth jumped up and went for her sword, but when she saw it was me, she lowered it. "Here, try out these." She took the mace, shield and skill book I offered her. Her eyes widened at the sight of the book, and she eagerly accepted the trade. "Thank you so much! Hey, if you have the time, do think that we could go material hunting?" I nodded.

"Yeah, we need the experience anyway. How do you want to fight these monsters?" She thought for a second. "You have health potions don't you?" I shook my head. I had forgotten all about buying health potions in the rush to escape the city. She sighed. "Well, we should head back to town to get some. I was hoping that you'd have a few." She smiled slightly at me. "You know what, I'm glad I helped you with those wolves. Now I have a ninja bodyguard." I smiled sheepishly, even though she couldn't see my face. She laughed softly.

"Let's go, Mr Ninja." I smiled. I felt like this partnership was going to lead to great things.