Ant Farm

A Sword Art Online fanfiction

Summary: Sword Art Online― the world's first deep immersion MMO, and site of the world's gravest act of cybercrime. Twelve thousand players with their mind trapped online, and their only escape through either victory or death. What would be the price paid― both physical and personal― to save as many lives as could be possible? AU Aincrad Arc, told through the eyes of Rinko Koujiro and Klein.

A/N: Hello and welcome to Ant Farm, my own take at retelling SAO's Aincrad Arc in a completely different manner. Please note that I have diverged significantly from canon with the aim of improving on the light novels' greatest shortcoming: that of characterisation. Hence this story will be extensively AU and will span the clearing of all one hundred of Aincrad's floor through focusing on six key events, covered in six separate parts. I hope you find it an enjoyable read.

Disclaimer: Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara.

Edit (27.10.2014): Re-uploaded Part 1 after editing and removing unwanted parts. A slimmed down story will be easier to work on. Started re-edit of Part 2.

Part 1: Launch Day

*1*

I first met Akihiko Kayaba during my first year at Touto University. He was a shy young man who'd attend Sensei's lectures sitting alone in a corner of the lecture hall, jotting down notes and rarely speaking to others. I never paid him much attention, not until the good doctor finally took me aside and made the introductions. It surprised and enthralled me to no end that the man had such an unconventional and artistic approach to science. He revealed to me much later on our fifth date that his life's dream was to build the world's biggest ant farm and populate it with real people. Typically enough I smiled then and flirtingly encouraged him, but in truth I had no idea of the magnitude of what he really meant…

A decade of acquaintance with Akihiko Kayaba had taught Rinko Koujiro that there is a thin line between genius and madness. She'd once been drawn in by his genius, only to be eventually pried apart by his madness. The spat cost her ten years of wasted courtship, and not to mention her job once management caught wind of it. Consequently she wouldn't have paid another visit to his penthouse apartment were it not for Megumi. The young systems engineer was still her friend, and had begged her to check up on the man. For reasons undetermined they'd lost all access to the Argus mainframe. The system had locked them out, and pressure was mounting by the minute.

It came as a surprise when the lock accepted the old passcode and let her in. Kayaba it seemed had neglected the obvious custom in the event of failed relationships, for estranged lovers to ensure neither could violate the other's privacy. Well, all the better for me. She sighed as she stepped inside, straining her ears to listen against the muted rustle of the building's air conditioning system. It caught her notice at once that the place bore trace of desertion. The bed in their room was empty, the prototype Nerve Gear console lying unattended by the side. His study was the same, but she noted his computer was gone, as was the travelling bag he kept in the wardrobe and his shaving kit. Something was wrong. Megumi wouldn't have called had she known Kayaba was going on excursion.

She tried to call back. But Megumi did not answer her terminal. Somebody else did.

I spent my first day in Aincrad learning the ropes from a beta tester I'd run into. We were all toads in a bowl of simmering water, unaware of the brewing danger. Some of us even speculated that the seeming glitch in the UI was some perverse marketing ploy. It wasn't until late into the afternoon when the bells set off ringing that we had the inkling something was very wrong…

Ryoutarou Tsuboi was a young man fresh out of university and in his first job as an accountant. He was a veteran MMO addict, weaned on World of Warcraft in his school years. Sword Art Online― Akihiko Kayaba's masterpiece― was his first foray into the fertile fields of deep immersion VR gaming that engaged all five bodily senses. His virtual avatar, named Klein, was a less scrawny and more muscular lie, decked out in samurai gear complete with spear and katana, presently seated in a bar with a glass of drink in hand. His partner, another young man dressed in impossible fantasy gear with a lot of black, had his UI open and set to visible before him. He was frowning.

"This is impossible!" the man in black muttered. "Not even in the Beta had I seen or heard of the logout button gone missing. Argus really kicked itself in the balls this time. Do you stay alone?" He questioned.

"Yeah." Klein gave a nod. "Rented place. Moved in during the summer. The landlord might intervene if the authorities are warned, but how long will it be I wonder?"

"What's got you so buggered?"

"I didn't take a piss before I logged in." Klein squirmed. "My bowel's loaded, I can feel it. God, it hurts!"

"Forgot your diapers, Calvin?" His partner smirked.

"Very funny, Kirito. Very funny."

A commotion outside drew their attention. An echoing clamour that grew louder with every passing second. With an inquisitive glance at each other, Klein and Kirito followed the crowd and stepped outside, their glasses of drink still in hand.

The City of Beginnings was the spawn point for all players in Aincrad: the in-game world of Sword Art Online and a virtual castle of behemoth proportions that floated in a bottomless sky spanning a hundred levels. It was a massive city, fortified against the surrounding countryside with impregnable walls and high minarets forming the skyline. And an unseen force had set off the bells on every watchtower in the City. Klein felt the chimes ringing in his ears in a tone of distinct disquiet.

The next moment, the world folded around him.

"No Kitahara-san, he is not here!" Rinko agitatedly spoke on her terminal. "I made my way inside but the flat is empty. Now where is Megumi?"

The reply made her blood run cold. She spun around and half-ran into the living room, commanding the television to switch itself on. She stumbled halfway into a televised broadcast of a reporter standing outside the refurbished shopping mall that was Argus HQ. Framing the remarkably stoic woman in the background were several police cars and a yellow barricade of police tape. The beacons on the panda coloured vehicles flashed a bloody red.

"…are yet to make a statement as to the specific details of the incident, but we have been informed in no uncertain terms that any attempt to remove the Nerve Gear or to interfere with its workings will assuredly have instant and fatal consequences. If your friend or family are currently using the console inform the authorities at once. And we repeat, DO NOT attempt to tamper with or remove the Nerve Gear on your own."

Her eyes drifted to the flashing banner at the bottom of the screen. Fatal glitch in Sword Art Online, thousands trapped within game.

Disconnecting her call, Rinko staggered towards and collapsed onto the nearest couch, her legs gone limp. The gravity of what she'd heard was difficult to comprehend. This couldn't be a glitch, not with the limiters built into the transducer. But then it hit her: the limiters were firmware. All it'd take are the access codes and an innocuous update. The empty formicarium that adorned Kayaba's study was the final piece in the puzzle. If God's a kid with an ant farm―

She screamed.

My vision for a game unlike any other was born during my childhood study of ants. We have so much in common with these little creatures, bound within a system as complex, ingenious and efficient as ours. I used to keep them in formicariums, but the little glass jars could never hold enough. That's when I figured what my ultimate dream was: A world as expansive, complex and immersive as reality itself. The greatest ant farm of all time, populated by living, breathing people…

A lone scream pierced the looming silence. Klein saw her, a young girl ten years of age, fall to her knees and sob hysterically. And then all hell broke loose.

He felt Kirito grab him by the wrist and lead him away, aside from all the screaming and yelling. The assembled crowd of players, all twelve thousand, had broken out in open riot. The two of them steered into a darkened alleyway leading off the central plaza, shielded from the unfolding chaos.

"What do you figure?" Kirito questioned sharply. Gone was the adolescent in black he'd befriended. Standing before Klein stood a short young boy barely into his teens. He figured it was the same for him. It was an ingenious move on part of Akihiko Kayaba, Klein had to agree, to strip all players of their virtual identity, leaving them exposed with the face, body and gender they were born with. That way there could be no doubt left of the gravity he wanted to convey. That all players logged within were now his prisoner, and that this game was now their reality.

"I'm not sure how to wrap my head around this", Klein muttered. He rubbed his scrawny face and the stubble he'd not shaved that morning. The pressure on his bladder was gone. He must have relieved himself during the unfolding horror of Kayaba's declaration. Who wouldn't piss himself at sight of a gargantuan figure dressed in robes like some ancient shaman, but with no face and no eyes to focus on? "Is he bluffing? How on earth can the Nerve Gear kill us if we die in-game?"

The boy's eyes were shadowed, his expression unclear in the dim light. "Akihiko Kayaba is dead serious when it comes to games. Our best chance of survival lies in taking the initiative and levelling our stats. Come with me," he requested. "I know the way to Tolbana. That village would be a good place to start our grind."

"My friends are in here somewhere." Klein protested.

"I can't guarantee their safety."

He swore and rubbed his forehead. "And I can't leave them either. You go ahead, Kirito." He sighed at last. "We'll meet again, if fate be willing. Godspeed, and thank you."

Rinko opened the door for the policemen who turned up minutes later. The officer in charge barked out orders for his men to comb the apartment before he took her aside to the drawing room for questioning.

"You do understand, Koujiro-san, that the situation at hand requires me to ask questions you might find personal?"

She shook her head, fighting to keep from screaming. "Ask what you must, officer."

The policeman had his diary open, jotting down notes. "How long have you known Akihiko Kayaba?"

"Ten years." She replied faintly. "We met in university."

"You are his girlfriend, am I correct"

A nod, "We were."

"What made you both break up?"

She hesitated with a sharp gasp.

"Koujiro-san?"

"Goodbye Klein. And may the odds be in your favour."

Klein watched his friend back away. Kirito had a sad light in his eyes, one that spoke of melancholy and loss. He watched the boy vanish into the alley before he turned, and with his jaw set began the run back into inferno.

Aincrad was ablaze.