Author's Note: Hello and welcome to a reboot of my first ever post on this site.

After over a year of not touching the story (And losing all my notes and files for the plot), I have decided that I wanted to give a new approach towards the epic fantasy story that I wanted this to be.

I'm still an amateur writer, so please review and let me know how I am doing!

I hope that you enjoy. Here is the new first chapter of "It's Not Just a Game Anymore"

Oh. And I don't own the anime.

Chapter One

Arashi's eyes glanced back down towards his paper, the Japanese word for "Test" placed at the top right-hand portion of the page.

The whole class was mostly silent, save for the few that have yet to finish the test on World History, which was still enough to fill the room with the light sound of pencil scratching on paper. Arashi quickly glanced over his paper once more, going over each question slowly.

Even after 2 years he was still having a hard time with the language. He sighed, realizing a few mistakes that he had made in his writing, but deciding that he may as well turn it in regardless. He'd be content with a just passing grade.

After assuring himself that he hadn't missed too many of the questions, he took a hold of his pencil and slowly began to write in his name at the top. The writing was sloppy and still barely passing for a middle schooler of the native language, but he was happy with the improvements that he had made since first coming to the country.

"Arashi Kobayashi"

He mouthed the name a few times, it still felt foreign on his lips. The Japanese language was still taking its time to integrate itself into his mind.

Arashi Kobayashi was not his real name, but for the sake of he and his mother's safety it was needed.

He scowled a little, glaring at the name as he quoted the suited men that first told him about the trip to another country. They had handed him an official passport with his new name on it, repeating "It's for your safety."

He let out a very long and soft sigh, turning his head away from his test and directing his attention to the window on his left. Instinctively he moved his hand up to brush his red-dyed hair out of his face. He hated thinking too much on the past like that, it always brought back more memories than it should have.

A few birds flew by, reminding him that he was located on the third floor. The sky was bright and clear, with a few white clouds drifting lazily above. Below, the school's courtyard was in full view, which would soon be flooded by the students all leaving for the day. That was something he both enjoyed and loathed about his last class, you were given the best view in the school pardon the rooftop, but you'd also find yourself staring at the exit/entrance to the school wishing the time would go by faster.

He willed himself to look away from the exit of his school, taking interest instead of the ever-living city that encompassed it. It wasn't that bad of a place to live, he supposed. It had parks, plenty of shops, plenty of attractions, plenty to do. There was a little of everything, for everyone. That was how his mother had described it.

Absentmindedly, he began to write onto the few pieces of scratch paper that he had on the side of his desk. He wrote his new name a few times in Japanese, and then in English cursive. The difference in penmanship was great, the cursive being smooth and well-practiced while the Japanese characters looked sloppy and forced.

The pencil moved again, writing a new name. His old name.

He quickly turned his pencil over and began to erase it, leaving nothing but eraser shavings in its place.

Arashi almost growled under his breath, writing out his thoughts in his own native language.

'Why am I even here?'

He was interrupted from writing anything more by the loud bell ringing throughout the school, signaling the end of the day's work. Arashi quickly crumpled up the paper and tossed it into his backpack, glanced down at his test one last time as he stood with the rest of the class. They each turned in their test one by one before heading out into the hallway. He made it almost to the exit before a voice called out to him.

"Hey, Arashi-kun!"

The person in question turned his head.

"Oh. Hey, Toshiro." Arashi raised his hand as he greeted his friend.

Toshiro crossed his arms a little, pouting. "You forgot you were coming over to my place, didn't you? You didn't even wait in the classroom for me like you said you would!"

Toshiro Akata, son of the principal of the school they both attended. He was a short, glasses wearing blonde that spent most of his time inside reading too many books than is probably healthy for him.

At least, that's what Arashi thought.

He stood at 5'2, notably shorter than Arashi's 5'8. His blonde hair was long and often styled differently every other week. It had an effect of making him look incredibly feminine, and most that don't know any better are quick to assume that the shy, quiet blonde was a girl. Today it was let free, draping along the sides of his face and down a good portion of his back.

The two of them had become quick friends since Arashi's arrival to the foreign country, with Toshiro being assigned to help Arashi get acquainted with the school system. It helped that Toshiro also spoke a little bit of English, that probably being the reason why they were paired together in almost all their classes, just in case Arashi needed a little help understanding something.

Arashi rolled his eyes. "I knew you would find me regardless."

"You're an ass!" Toshiro pouted again, hugging his books close to his chest with one hand and lightly punched Arashi's shoulder with the other.

"Uh-huh, completely." Arashi snickered a little and walked in step alongside his friend. The two of them walked outside, followed by most of the student body.

"Alright! The weekend is here and I'm SO ready for it!" Arashi cheered, raising his hands into the air as he stretched, before resting them behind his head.

This time it was Toshiro's turn to roll his eyes. "Don't seem too eager, I had to practically beg my father to let someone come over for the weekend. You better not blow this for me."

Toshiro's father, Mr. Akata, was a rather serious man, one that demanded the best out of his students. That was especially so for Toshiro, being both his student and his son. Arashi sometimes had a problem with the old man and his demands for perfection, especially when that sometimes meant working his son to exhaustion the nights before exams.

Arashi huffed and crossed his arms, then smirked a little bit. "I could just speak English the whole time I'm there, I know he still can't understand me more than half of the time."

"Please don't. He's already wary of you because of your little pranks." Toshiro groaned.

"Oh please, I've been here about two years now. I'm a perfectly respectful citizen that would never do anything to harm another student in any way possible!," Arashi's voice was practically dripping with sarcasm, lightly bumping Toshiro's shoulder with his own. "He has nothing to worry about, other than me corrupting his son every once in awhile."

The blonde bumped his hip against Arashi, glaring softly at the ex-American. "I'm still in trouble from the last time you decided to..." Toshiro paused, finding the right words to quote Arashi's English, "Spice this boring-ass place up"

Arashi chuckled, recalling how he was able to convince his friend to walk into the women's restroom and replace the soap with pink dye. Sadly, the small prank was only able to effect a few people before it was found out and quickly changed back. Arashi just had not anticipated that the school's security system involved hidden cameras showing the effeminate male walking into the bathrooms unnoticed, openly holding a canister of the dye.

Well played, old man.

"The best-laid plans..." Arashi mumbled. "We should've done it to the showers, at least then it would have been worth it..." He mused.

"We had Gym class that day, idiot! We would have been pinked as well!" Toshiro shook his head incredulously.

"You'd be cute with pink hair. Then no one would be able to tell you weren't a girl!" Arashi joked, sticking his tongue out.

Toshiro's face went red quickly, one of his hands going up to lightly brush across one of the blonde locks of hair that covered some of his face. "S-shut up. You're a complete ass." He pouted, quickly turning his head away from Arashi, shaking his head a few times.

"You are really not convincing me otherwise here, Toshiro." Arashi teased further, but got no response other than a glare

The two of them walked mostly in silence for the rest of the time.

Some of the other students were walking nearby, more than likely also on their way to home. A close group of underclassman seemed to be talking to one another rather avidly about something. Noticing this, Arashi did his best to try and listen in on the conversation.

"Did you hear? Sword Art is going to be reaching the end of the beta tonight!"

"Damn. Wasn't it only a thousand people in the world who got a beta copy? Auugh! I wish I was that lucky!"

"You'd have to be pretty important to get one, I heard. Like, rich or something."

"Probably. But the full release of the game is supposed to be only a month after the beta is over, I can't wait to sit outside the game store to get one of the ten thousand copies."

"Yeah right. That's going to be even more impossible. Millions are going to be trying to do the exact same thing. I can't even afford the Nerve Gear system, and neither can you!"

Sword Art Online. Nerve Gear.

How could he have expected anything different to be the topic of conversation? That was what everyone had been buzzing about since the trailer and news release of the only Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (VRMMORPG).

The Nerve Gear itself was one of the most amazing innovations of human technology, with the ability to completely trick your brain into believing something virtual to be real. Full-Dive technology, if he remembered correctly, was what they were calling it. There had been demonstrations of how it worked, with every one of your human senses being transferred into an avatar.

Not being able to tell the difference between what was real and what was virtual. It was as exciting as it was terrifying.

That was some Matrix-level shit right there.

But Sword Art Online was the first game to be created where multiple people could be in the same virtual world at the same time. It was also made by the very creator of the Nerve Gear itself, Kayaba Akihiko. Only a thousand copies were given out for beta testing, and Arashi would be lying if he said that he hadn't at least put in an application. He didn't even have a Nerve Gear!

Though this was fairly common for most people, not having the Nerve Gear. The state of the art equipment was more expensive than most houses in the area that he lived in.

But still, the thought of placing that large helmet of his head...and feeling just how far virtual reality has come...

"Are you going to just keep on walking, Arashi-kun?"

Oh. Shit. He spaced out again. Arashi shook his head quickly and turned around to see Toshiro standing a few paces behind him next to a large black metal gate. He noticed that the black fencing that surrounded the property was covered in foliage, which made seeing through almost impossible.

Come to think of it, Arashi had never seen Toshiro's home before.

"Hey...Toshiro...?"

"Yeah?" He adjusted his glasses a little and tilted his head to the side.

Arashi walked back beside his friend and glanced at the gate. "I've never seen your house before, and...I haven't been to anyone's house since coming here. What if I mess something up or...I don't know, disrespect your family honor or something?"

Toshiro laughed a little bit, pushing the gate open for the both of them. "You'll be fine, my father won't even be home for a few hours. And mom probably won't bother us anyway. We'll be in my room most of the time."

The blonde took a few steps in, and Arashi was soon to follow. The change in atmosphere was almost instantaneous. The sidewalk that they were walking on was now replaced with a light cobblestone walkway, green grass and a yard that was decorated with everything from small ornaments to a small creek running across the property. The pathway lead the both of them over a small bridge, crossing the small waterway.

But what soon caught Arashi's eye was the home itself.

The building itself was large, more than two stories if Arashi had to guess, with white decorated walls each depicting fish swimming. Red wood separated the white walls from one another, which matched and complimented the rest of the house. The front entrance, which their pathway was leading them towards, was lined with lanterns that glowed even in the afternoon sunlight. Under each lantern, a small bonsai tree was placed perfectly under the small light.

In comparison to Arashi's own home, this place was a palace.

Toshiro didn't seem to be phased by the beauty his own home held and continued to walk normally, turning around once he noticed that his friend had slowed down to take in the sight.

"Is there something wrong, Arashi-kun?" Toshiro tilted his head a little.

"Your place is amazing, Toshiro..." Arashi managed to mumble out, taking a few quick steps forward to be at Toshiro's side. The two of them continued onwards to the doorway, Toshiro chuckling softly at Arashi's reaction to his home.

"It's just home, the inside isn't as flashy I swear," Toshiro said, taking his shoes off.

Arashi quickly started to do the same thing. This was the first time that he had been into someone's home, and he didn't want to make any mistakes culture-wise.

At least he'd try not to.

Toshiro opened the door slowly, stepping inside with Arashi following behind him and closing the door once inside.

"Mom! I'm home! And I have Arashi-kun with me!" Toshiro announced, speaking loud enough to be heard through the thin walls.

This, of course, is when Arashi suddenly became extremely nervous. What was he supposed to say when meeting someone's parents for the first time? He was in their home, what did they expect of him? Did his mother know that he didn't speak the language very well? What if he messed up and was never allowed to come back!?

Toshiro was quick to notice the sudden nervousness of Arashi, who reached over and poked Arashi's stomach, whispering with a smile. "You'll be fine, idiot, calm down."

Before Arashi was able to disagree, Toshiro's mother walked into the room from one of the doorways placed at either side of the room.

It seemed that Toshiro had gained most of his looks and size from his mother. She wore a bright yellow sundress, which complimented her long golden hair cascading down beyond her shoulders. Her cerulean eyes that practically sparkled as she caught eye of her son and Arashi. She was just barely taller than Toshiro.

"Ah! Welcome home Shiro-chan! And is this the Arashi-kun that Shiro-chan always talks about?" She seemed to know the answer immediately, noticing how Shiro-chan suddenly went bright red.

"M-mom! You don't need to say it like that!" Toshiro immediately shook his head back and forth, placing his gaze to everywhere but Arashi at this point.

Toshiro's mother tilted her head, putting a finger up to her lips. "Oops! Did I say something wrong?"

Arashi seemed confused, and a long moment of awkward silence was formed as a red Toshiro refused to speak.

Feeling the need to speak and break the awkward silence, Arashi suddenly stood straight and bowed deeply towards Toshiro's mother.

"T-thank you for allowing me into your home for the weekend, and giving me time to be with Toshiro!" He tried to make himself sound as formal as possible, keeping his head bowed the whole time while speaking.

When there was a continued silence, Arashi shut his eyes tightly, thinking he must have said something wrong.

He was proven otherwise by the soft laughter by Toshiro's mother, who waved her hand towards them both with a giggle.

"He's so formal! Did you teach him to do that, Shiro-chan? He's getting much better at speaking since the last time I heard him years ago!" Arashi lifted his head to see that Mrs. Akata had one hand on her cheek, smiling. It was then he remembered that he had met her one before when he had first come to the country and met with Toshiro for the first time. Back then he was barely able to form a sentence without taking multiple pauses in between.

"Y-yeah, he's been doing really well...though I haven't...been...teaching him..." Toshiro seemed to be embarrassed by his mother's use of his name and continued to look away.

"You have such a cute friend, Shiro-chan! You can take him to your room now, the poor boy looks so nervous! It was a pleasure to see you again, Arashi-san!" Mrs. Akata waved one more time, before disappearing through the same doorway that she first came in.

Again, an awkward silence filled the room.

"Y-you..Uhm...wanna go to my room now?" Toshiro mumbled, glancing up towards Arashi.

"Y-yeah..." He replied. They both seemed to be uncomfortable already, and it had been less than a minute of him being here.

Toshiro nodded a little and walked into another room, with Arashi following behind.

Arashi noticed that Toshiro had been mostly right about the inside of the home. Other than the constant use of the fish wallpaper, the inside seemed to be simple and quaint. Small pieces of furniture sat in the rooms, along with small cushions and lamps. Art pieces were scattered neatly about the walls.

Toshiro eventually stopped at the end of a long hallway, turning towards the only door. A small wooden plaque with the name "Toshiro Akata" hung in the middle.

"This is it..." Toshiro seemed nervous and began to slowly open the door, before suddenly closing it after spotting something inside.

"W-wait! I forgot to do something! I need you to wait out here for a second, okay?" Toshiro didn't wait for a reply and quickly opened the door just enough to slide in himself, and closed it behind him.

"O...kay?" Arashi was again confused, he was sure that someone like Toshiro didn't have a messy room. And the sound of shuffling inside only made Arashi all the more curious.

After a minute of the constant shuffling, Arashi glanced around nervously. He wasn't sure if Toshiro had anyone else living with him besides his mother and father and felt really lost standing out in the middle of the hallway alone like this.

"Okay...you can come in now Arashi-kun"

That was all Arashi had been waiting to hear, quickly opening the room and walking inside.

Toshiro's room was different from the rest of the house, with sky blue wallpaper (still adorned with fish) instead of the white the rest of the house used. The floor was mostly covered by a large square rug placed in the center of the room, it being a pearl white. Also placed in the middle of the room was a very short glass table, rimmed by black wood. A sitting cushion was placed on either side of the table, these being a light shade of pink.

Unsurprisingly, one of his walls was almost entirely covered by a bookshelf, each section of which being filled almost completely with books. Beside the bookshelf was a wooden desk with a lamp, fitted with a rather large computer setup. This was no doubt where Toshiro spent most of his time studying. On the side next to the door they just came in through sat a small dresser.

Toshiro's bed was placed at the side corner of the room, the head of the bed being placed right under a window that had a perfect view of what looked to be a garden. The blue curtains were parted and pinned to the wall, for now, letting light flood the room.

At the foot of Toshiro's bed sat two large boxes, completely covered with white sheets. It looked like a really desperate way to try and hide something in a room where you couldn't hide anything.

Toshiro himself sat cross-legged on his bed, the blue sheets being slightly misplaced. He had changed out of his school uniform, now wearing a loose long-sleeved blue shirt with large buttons spaced down the front with matching, lighter blue, loose pants. Was he already dressed in sleeping clothes? The blonde boy looked up expectantly towards Arashi, giving a nervous smile.

"Welcome to my room, Arashi-Kun!" Toshiro greeted him with a wave.

"It's a cute room, Shiro-Chan" Arashi chuckled a little, dropping his bag next to the door's entrance and stepping a bit more inside, only to be hit in the face by a pillow by a rather red Toshiro.

Arashi chuckled and picked up the pillow, fluffing it a little bit. "I'm just teasing you, Shiro-Chan. There's no need to get all embarrassed like that." He tossed the pillow back lightly, which Toshiro caught and hugged it close.

"Ass." He said simply, pushing his face into the pillow.

Arashi rolled his eyes a little at his timid friend, going over to the desk and turning the chair around to sit. "So...What's under the sheets over there? Hiding some dark secrets from me are you? I thought we were friends!?" Arashi put his hands over his heart, giving a face of mock hurt and betrayal.

"I-it's a surprise for after dinner, when I'm sure that we won't be interrupted for the rest of the night" Toshiro responded, laying down on his side on his bed, still watching Arashi.

Arashi spun around a little in the desk chair, looking around the spinning room before landing perfectly facing Toshiro. "Okay...so what are we going to do in the meantime? When are we gonna have dinner?"

"Probably in the next hour or so when my father gets home from work..." Toshiro rolled onto his back, looking up at the ceiling. "Though to be honest with you, Arashi-kun, I'm really excited with what is in those boxes."

Arashi crossed his arms. "Now who's the one teasing?" He huffed and rolled the desk chair over towards the bed, leaning his head a foot or so over Toshiro's. "Ass."

Toshiro stuck his tongue out, smiling.

"I'll bite that tongue if you keep it out." Arashi threatened, glaring downwards towards the blonde.

"Please do." Toshiro quickly remarked, now smirking.

Arashi turned beat red and pushed off from the bed frame and rolled across the floor in the chair, spinning slightly.

"Oh Goddamn it, Toshiro. You can't just say something like that to a guy!" Arashi spun around a little quicker in the seat, never focusing on one thing.

"Says the person who said they'd bite my tongue, you had it coming!" Toshiro was chuckling, sitting up in his bed and returning to the cross-legged position.

"Ass," Arashi said simply.

"Blushing Wimp" Toshiro retorted.

"Nerd." Arashi locked eyes with Toshiro, his world still spinning slightly.

"Better grades than you'd ever hope to have." Toshiro met his eyes and smirked.

"Are you calling me stupid?"

"You said it not me."

"Hmph. Ass."

"American."

"See now you're just being racist."

"I stated a fact."

"Half the school thinks you're a girl."

"Now that's just an opinion, how can you know the exact amount of people that think that compared to those that don't, specifically in our school?"

"Smartass."

The both of them were grinning widely at this point, breaking out into chuckles and finally a small bout of laughter.

"I'm glad you're my friend, you nerd." Arashi rested his head on the back of the chair and looked up at the ceiling.

"Yeah, you too, idiot." Toshiro fell back into his bed and did the same as his friend.

The both of them sat/laid in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the calmness that came with being home after a day of school.

"I'm home everyone!" A voice called out from somewhere in the house.

"My dad's home early.."Toshiro mumbled a little, rolling himself out of bed.

"Come on, we better go say hi to him at least and let him know we both got here okay," Toshiro said, going over to the door.

Arashi got out of the chair, legs a little wobbly from spinning around so much, and followed Toshiro back through the same hallways as before. Arashi felt the familiar nervousness bubble come to his throat as he was reminded that was not only his friend's father but also his principal.

The two of them entered the main room just in time to see Mr. and Mrs. Akata lightly embraced. Both of which were smiling. was a much taller man, standing taller than Arashi was. It made for a rather comedic comparison in heights for himself and his wife. Mrs. Akata seemed to have been in the middle of cooking, as she wore an apron and had a light grip on a wooden spoon.

"Welcome home, father," Toshiro said with a small smile, bowing quickly.

Arashi quickly said the same thing, not realizing until after he spoke that he specifically quoted Toshiro.

Mrs. Akata started giggling, while Mr. Akata had an amused smile on his face.

"Now now, Mr. Kobayashi, calling me your father is not going to be doing anything for your grades. It also shows your level of understanding of the language, I thought Toshiro would have taught you better." Mr. Akata sounded more amused than reprimanding, but Arashi felt the same wave of embarrassment wash over his face. His ears burned with it.

Mrs. Akata lightly hit the chest of her husband, giving a cute but annoyed look. "Husband, I already embarrassed the poor boy earlier, don't be mean or you will be sitting without food at the dinner table." She threatened, holding up her wooden spoon.

Mr. Akata closed his eyes and waved his hand cautiously. "Fine fine dear, I'll let the boy be. I trust that the two of them will behave during Arashi-san's stay here for the weekend." He spoke to his wife but his look was directed towards Toshiro and Arashi.

"Y-yes sir, of course, sir," Arashi said, still incredibly nervous and flushed from his previous mistake.

"Of course, father." Toshiro smiled, suppressing another chuckle.

"Dinner will be ready in just a minute, so you all can take your seat at the table." Mrs. Akata smiled as she spoke, disappearing into the same doorway she came out of the first time.

With varying degrees of eagerness, the three in the room followed behind her.

Dinner went by a lot quieter than Arashi thought that it should have.

The meal was fantastic. Curry with spiced meat was one of the foods that Arashi came to enjoy greatly when he moved here. He took care to eat slowly and not give in fully to his hunger, which earned him a very appreciative glance from Toshiro.

Toshiro's parents sat side by side at the table, with Mrs. Akata sometimes whispering something into Mr. Akata's ear, who would then glance at either Toshiro or Arashi. Most of the time it was both. The most conversation that went on openly was Mr. Akata asking about how he was doing in the country since his move two years ago.

"W-well I suppose...I struggle with a lot still, but I'm getting slowly better at speaking and writing..." Arashi half-mumbled.

"As I can see. You're no native speaker, that's for sure." Arashi felt his heart sink a little, but then Mr .Akata continued. "But you are improving and getting better. That's the best that someone can hope for, improvement." He smiled a little, then continued to eat.

"A-ah...thank you, sir," Arashi replied, then went silent and ate quietly.

After being excused from dinner, Arashi helped Toshiro clean the dining room quickly, before the both of them tried to retreat to Toshiro's room.

They were quickly stopped by Mr. Akata.

"Bed before midnight." He said simply, before returning to the kitchen with his wife.

Toshiro grew excited as the both of them entered his room once more. He quickly leaped onto his bed and turned to Arashi.

"Are you ready for something amazing?" Toshiro asked excitedly, reaching his hand over towards the two boxes that had been covered with sheets.

"If it is actually just two boxes I swear I'll hit you." Arashi chuckled and took his seat in the desk chair again, rolling over beside the bed.

"I'd be more than disappointed if it was just the box, with what these cost." Toshiro grinned, and slowly started to pull away the covers.

Arashi's eyes widened quickly as the first box was revealed.

Painted on one side was a large, futuristic-looking helmet. It was slightly elongated at the back, with three glowing lights on the edge where the user's face would be. Jet black in color, the letters "NVG" were printed in bold on the front of the helmet, with other writing being obscured at the angle the picture was at.

Printed at the bottom of the illustration laid the words that solidified Arashi's shock.

"Nerve Gear" He whispered, barely able to be heard.

"And that's not all, Arashi-kun" Toshiro spoke softly, smiling in honest happiness at his friend's shock.

The blonde held up two small cases in his hands, two copies of the same game.

In large, bold letters, the word "Beta" was printed across the case.

"I was able to get the systems awhile ago...but I bought the two copies off of two people who didn't like the game after they got it...we only have until midnight to play, since that is when the beta closes but...we're both guaranteed full copies once the game come out...but we can play together for the rest of the night."

Arashi was still in shock, staring directly at the boxes, then towards the two copies of the single most anticipated game of all time.

Toshiro reached out and waved a hand in front of Arashi's face, smiling widely.

"Hey, idiot. Are you going to stare or are we going to tear into these boxes and get ready to play with the other beta testers for the rest of the night? It's already 6" Toshiro stuck his tongue out and tossed a copy of the game into Arashi's lap.

"Hell yeah..." He whispered, eyes fixated on the blue game case laying on him. "Hell. To the yeah."

Arashi jumped out of the chair, grinning wildly as he held the case up.

"Aincrad awaits!"

It didn't take too long to set the two Nerve Gear systems up. After opening the boxes they realized that a majority of the box itself was filled with an insulator foam to make sure that the contents were completely safe and unharmed.

Arashi didn't want to think about what would happen if something was wrong with a device that was practically overwriting your own brain. Probably not something pretty.

Something that Arashi never realized was that the actual system itself was just the helmet with a small port on the side to connect it to the internet, and another small cable that connects to the computer.

"It says here that the system calibrates specifically for the person that is wearing it, and takes about 5 minutes to completely set up." Of course, Toshiro was reading the manuals and instructions.

"That should be fine, I guess." Arashi shrugged, slightly annoyed that they couldn't just put the helmets on and go right into the game.

"Users are recommended to have the helmet calibrate while laying down, as they may experience nausea, dizziness, hot flashes and phantom touches." Toshiro quoted aloud, "Huh. A full body scan and calibration? This is some really amazing stuff, Arashi-kun."

It was a little concerning, but Arashi was not going to miss his chance at something exclusive to only a thousand people. The full scan seemed a bit intrusive in his mind, or rather to his mind, but if so many people with the Nerve Gear have already gone through this then it must have been safe. They wouldn't release a system like this if they haven't crushed any of the bugs in the code.

He hoped.

The calibrations were over quickly. They both did it at the same time, both of them at least slightly worried about the strange machine that they put over their heads.

A few quick beeps, a little warmness over the body, the feeling of falling for half a second that made both of them gasp. Done. A message appeared on their visors.

Starting calibrations complete.

Toshiro got up before Arashi was able to. A small tilt of his head allowed him to watch as Toshiro placed both game disks into his computer, and connect each of their respective helmets into two slots in the back. The two-monitor setup that Toshiro had worked great in this case, with one bootup coming up on each screen.

A small light flashed over Arashi's visor, and the logo for the Nerve Gear systems came into vision before his eyes. A female A.I voiced through the helmet, reading the next screen to pop up.

Booting: Sword Art Online

Arashi felt his excitement hit a new peak, almost wishing that Toshiro would hurry up and finish.

"Alright..." he heard Toshiro mumble, before he ran over and joined Arashi on the bed.

They laid opposite to one another, with Arashi being closer to the end of the bed and Toshiro closest to the wall. They both grinned as their eyes met from across the bed.

A new set of words flashed over their screen.

Start Sword Art Online?

"Here we come, Aincrad. Ready Toshiro?" Arashi glanced past the screen.

Toshiro gave another thumbs up. "On three?"

"On three." Arashi repeated.

"One" Arashi felt his heart rate double.

"Two" Toshiro glanced down at Arashi, before closing his eyes entirely.

"Three! Link Start!" They spoke in sync.

There was a small beep, and then the world faded away.

He was falling.

It eerily reminded him too much of those rare times when he would drifting off to sleep, only to jerk awake. Only this was much, much worse. Terror gripped him as he continued to fall into an eternal pit of nothingness.

Color exploded outwards from below him, and suddenly he was assaulted with a barrage of senses. A strong pressure pushed down on every inch of skin that he had. He tasted salt, then sugar, then every other variety of flavor imaginable. White noise dug into his brain, leaving little room for anything besides terror at the sensory overload. The white noise slowly began to clear into a high-pitched squeal, but no matter what Arashi tried he could not rid himself of the now painful sound.

In an instant, it was all over. The colors that had assaulted his eyes even while closed turned into pure, blinding white. His legs, albeit shakily, found solid ground. The boy breathed raggedly, as if just again realizing that he needed air. In a panic, he tried to look around. He felt his head move, but his vision shifted seconds after the actual motion had been made.

He attempted to move his head again, lightly shaking it back and forth, and again his vision sluggishly mimicked what his actual movements were.

Input lag?

He swore under his breath a little, and slowly began to look around. He noticed that his vision was starting to catch up with him faster and faster, and within a minute it seemed to have synched completely. He was thankful for that. Much more of that and he was sure to be sick.

New User Registered. Calibration 100% Complete. Continue to Sword Art Online? Y/N

A menu popped up in front of his vision, startling him. He had almost forgotten that none of this was real, it sure felt real to him though.

Curiously, he reached a hand up and tapped his finger where the 'Y' was. The menu fell away into blue pixels, which melded into the ground.

Two words floated up from the same spot where the menu fell, and in an instant all the previous terror turned into pure excitement as he read.

Aincrad Awaits

Welp! There's chapter one! It felt really slow-paced, I know.

In the NEXT chapter, however, we will be having our first steps in the world of Aincrad! (Which also means actually giving a physical description of our main character! Haha...now the lack of that in the first chapter is justified. Shut up.)

If you liked it, please be sure to tell me! If this story starts to go over well with people, I have a whole bunch of other ideas that'd I'd be willing to get started on as well!

Until next time!