/*Disclaimer
I do not own K-ON or Sword Art Online.
*/
/*Author's notes (9th February 2014)
This is K-ON in an MMO. Inspired by 'Sword Art Online' (but not actually Sword Art Online but there will be similarities). Why K-ON in an MMO? I could have chosen anything- you could crossover any anime into an MMO by having the characters play the game. Well, since MMO should really be MEGA MULTIPLAYER then it should have a lot of characters. I'm used to K-ON characters and I also have some OC characters from K-ON! Continued! (my main k-on fan fic) so they are there to bulk up the character roster.
Since some readers may have not read 'K-ON! Continued!' I will try to reintroduce the characters when they appear. This fan fiction is separate from 'K-ON! Continued!' because I have started this way before I was meant to so this won't really tie in very well with that story...
Why didn't I choose SAO as the setting? I kind of have but whilst it would save me a bit of thinking, someone else has already crossover-ed the two. I also feel more comfortable creating my own MMO. In terms of story and plot line, an MMO game of my design sets no real limit on my imagination in that regard (there are limits of course but I can't be bothered stating them.)
So here is the pilot episode, the prologue chapter.
*/
"It's finished installing," replied Mio to her phone. "What do I do now?"
"Boot it up," a tomboyish called back through the device. "Run the program." The tall girl moved the mouse and gave it a few clicks letting the screen in front of her dim black. "You should be able to handle the rest Mio so I'm going to hang up now."
"Wait Ritsu," she called back but the line went dead. Sighing, she put it to the side and placed her white, Sony headphones over her ears, letting the soft cushions and the active filtering cut out all the background noises. Her eyes on the screen, she waited for something to happen. Then the intro began.
Even on such a small screen, she could see the scale of the game that was being displayed in front of her, an image of the world from a satellite's view zooming in onto The Tower at the centre of the huge island. The music being played was dramatic, but beautiful. Her headphones let the pristine quality of the sounds into her mind as the camera swooped towards the ground.
Villages, towns, cities and castles, all filled with bustling people while shopkeepers and merchants hollered and displayed their wares. The community was buzzing with conversation and homeliness. Outside, past the gates, meadows of grass and fields of flowers swayed gently in the wind. The quality of the laptop let down the cleanness of what could be seen but the evening sunset in the distance seemed so real. The intro took a turn giving her a splendid view of the mountains. Snow topped with skiers. Awesome…
In this fantasy world that Mio was being drawn into, could she feel alive here?
The only thing that was missing was the smells. The smells of fresh bread from the bakery she had just passed, the smell of wet dew from recent rain. There was nothing she could do about that though as she sighed.
And then came the battle scenes. Amongst all this beauty, it showed a player fighting a Slime with a simple, wooden sword. The scene changed and he was clad in armour, his blade made thicker and sturdier of steel as he faced a tougher foe, a kobold dressed in black. In this scene, he used a special, coating his blade in fire and shouting a heroic scream. Another flash, he was older. In front was a greater monster, big fat and red with a monstrous sword. Back to the player, behind him were comrades. In unison drew their weapons. Some had swords and shields; others had bows whilst some had staves. Together, they charged.
In one last flash of white, the screen faded and was replaced with the title of the game
Welcome to Illusia.
"Welcome to Illusia," said a welcoming voice. "Would you like a live tutorial or the in game tutorial?"
Two options appeared before Mio and it took her a while to respond, snapping out of the trance the intro left her in. She clicked the first option without thinking.
"Now calling the centre, please wait a few moments." Mio panicked, realising she was going to have to speak to some stranger. The mouse reached for the cancel button but there was a pop noise and a face appeared on the screen.
"Hello, my name is Miss Helper." Even though it was an awkward name, her welcoming smile helped Mio to relax.
"You can turn on your camera, use the microphone and or type back in reply." She motioned her hand to a corner of the screen displaying the said options. Mio didn't want to be rude so she opened up all three.
"U-um hello…" she stuttered.
"I'm here to help you set up your first character. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Is that alright?"
Undecidedly, Mio nodded.
"Then let's begin." The window containing Miss Helper's face moved off to the side and an avatar appeared in the centre of the screen. "First thing is to create an avatar for the game. You can't change this once you begin the game so make sure you're happy before you select okay.
"Would you like your avatar to be male or female?" Mio seemed quite taken aback by that question. She didn't think she looked like a boy and she pulled out a hand mirror to check just in case. "Some people enjoy choosing their avatar to be a different gender to themselves," Miss Helper explained, noticing Mio's amusing reaction.
"Okay… I'll be female then." Whilst she was once Romeo, she didn't particularly want to relive that moment.
"We're going to choose how your avatar will look now. You can click on these arrows to change various aspects of your avatar. If you want something in particular, ask and I can try and find it for you if I can. You can also ask for me to generate an avatar that looks similar to your appearance which you can then alter. I can also generate a random avatar." It looked simple enough as Mio went through her options. She didn't want Miss Helper to wait on her too long though.
"Miss Helper-san? Can you make one that looks like me please?"
With a nod and tapping of keys, she generated a 3D image of Mio on the screen between them. Mio gasped in surprise, seeing the likeness of herself on her computer. "That's amazing!"
"You may have to change your height as the camera can't see all of you and also your main hand that you use."
With a few clicks, Mio was satisfied (happy she could be a left handed person in the game) and nodded at her helper.
"Now we have to choose your online name. It isn't recommended to use your real name on the Internet for security purposes."
Mio paused and looked around the room for inspiration. A photograph of her best friend almost made her reply 'Ritsu' but that wasn't much better than using her real name. In the end, she settled for the name of her bass.
"Elizabeth." Satisfied with that name, she typed it in and clicked on the okay button.
"Thank you." As her avatar moved to a different corner of the screen, a list appeared before her. "In this game, there are six different factions.
Love/Hate
Hope/Fear
Pride/Shame
Joy/Grief
Gratitude/Anger
Desire/Disgust
"Please choose one which you are comfortable with. Your choice has little effect on the RPG gameplay but will represent which faction you belong to online."
Interesting list, thought Mio, scanning through. She began to wonder which one Ritsu chose but the thought of calling her to ask was washed away as she looked at Miss Helper. It would be rude to call someone in the midst of the help she was being offered.
"Which one should I choose?" Mio asked, wondering what the answer would be.
"It's entirely your choice. Some people choose randomly whilst others have reasons." She stopped there. Mio was still undecided and she didn't want random chance to dictate the fate of her character online.
"Which one would you choose?" It was a personal question and Miss Helper had no obligation to answer. However, the innocent girl's eyes soothed the helper.
"I would choose Gratitude/Anger." She thought for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "Because of the job I do, I receive a lot of gratitude for the help I provide. On the other hand, I get angry when people abuse this service." There wasn't much tone in her voice but it was like she was venting something out. In the following silence, Mio took her words seriously. She related her choice to her job. From Mio's angle, why was she playing his game? Initially, it was Ritsu's idea to play the game together, though she was just getting lonely playing on her own. However, even though it was for a lame reason, Mio still decided to join in, as did everyone else. Was it fear of being left out? What did she hope to gain out of this?
"This choice usually brings out the philosophical side of us, doesn't it?" asked Miss Helper, pausing Mio's trail of thought. "I guess it's because each of us have all of these emotions yet having to make a choice is difficult, even though this choice barely means anything." Mio nodded in agreement. Her trail of thought was lost though as she tried to pick it back up again. 'Why' was the question? Maybe she desired to play this game secretly. Nonsense, she had no feelings for the game itself since it would get in the way of their studies. That thought would also scrap gratitude for the game. In terms of pride or shame, she hadn't been challenged to the game so there was no pride to protect in that regard. It was Ritsu's constant begging to the group that got her involved in this. Then what about love/hate? She had no real opinion of the game, she would have to play the game to get a real idea of whether she enjoyed it or not. Unless she joined in the game out of 'love' for Ritsu? Platonic love, she corrected in her head afterwards without much thought. On the other hand, there was no hate.
"Hope/Fear," she decided before she lost her head. There were bound to be many scary things in this game of fighting monsters and the like. However, she hoped she'd be able to overcome these fears. Wow, this question really does bring out a philosophical side or at least a lot of thinking.
"Are you sure?" Mio nodded and clicked the okay button. A display of 'Beginner', 'Intermediate', and 'Expert' appeared.
"Are you a beginner to MMOs?" Again, she nodded, clicking beginner.
"Now comes the complicated part. What style of play do you want to play as?" There were a list of 'Archetypes' that appeared before her.
Fighter
Guard
Archer
Gunner
Thief
Mage
Cleric
Merchant
There was a lot of choice.
"These are the starting classes. There are more classes within these classes, each and all of them with their unique skills and abilities. As you level up in game, you can level up in more than one class. This allows for a huge range of possibilities." Mio tried to get her head round it. "Would you like me to explain each class? It may take a long time."
Hesitantly, Mio nodded.
/*Author's notes
I'm about to go through each class for the 'noobie' Mio. I've separated the entire explanation if you want to skip it.
PS there are no level caps or limits on items, including equipment. All classes can use any piece of equipment but some are better than others due to the way stat points are allocated for each class and skills in each class tree.
*/
/*Class explanations*/
Fighter:
"The fighter is a close range damage dealer that can wield all weapons. They are very versatile characters and mix well with many other classes but generally take the front line in a fight. With that, levelling up in this class will make you stronger and take more hits. Most specialise in a certain weapon in this class, usually the sword."
Guard:
"The guard is a defensive version of the fighter class. Their skills depend more on their shield and armour so they usually wield a one handed weapon to keep a shield. You can use two shields but dealing damage becomes tricky. As the most defensive class, they usually form the role of a tank or a wall and draw away monsters from weaker allies. On their own they can't deal very much damage unless combined with other classes or allies."
Archer:
"An archer wields a bow for long range damage and has always been compared to the gunner. The archer can shoot over walls and are much easier to imbue magic elements into their arrows. A lot of people switch between long range and short range, depending on the distance between them and the enemy but it isn't necessary to be a high-ranking archer to be good with a bow. In the archer's case, they keep to long range and have skills to keep the distance. Leveling in this class grants a nice speed bonus to your character. A nice class that comes from the archer class is the ranger class that allows you to summon or call for animals to aid you in battle."
Gunner:
"The gunner is much easier to use than bows and arrows as they fire in a straight line. They can also be more powerful but because they are guns, their damage is set and does not scale with the users level so they can be expensive to maintain a good gun at all times. There is a large range of guns from snipers to rocket launchers. Ammo costs money too though. Some guns do have magic but they're very rare. You can create ammo from sub skills (like blacksmithing.)"
Thief:
"This is the most agile class and has many skill to do with speed. It's hard to use since you need to move around a lot to avoid attacks but not getting hit can be the best way for survival. They also get a bonus to money received and have a high affinity for items. However, initially they aren't a very strong class and require a lot of skill to use properly because of their high speeds."
Mage:
"The main offensive magic user of all the starting classes and has access to all the elements. They rely very heavily on their mana pool and defensively are very weak. They can become the heaviest damage dealers though with their elements but they can also become Summoners. Summoners require levels in other classes though to summon certain beings and a lot of mana and becoming a Summoner requires a lot of levels."
Cleric:
"They are the best direct and indirect healers and are essential for any party. However, tend to need taking care of since they don't have much defence. Interestingly, they do get some sort of offence in the Holy class they unlock. Further more, they are also a prerequisite for the angel class. However, that class is very difficult to get and it's debateable whether it's worth getting the angel class. Being able to heal is always a nice thing to be able to do though and is always useful."
Merchant:
"They're slightly weaker than a fighter and guard averaged together but they make up for that by having a money bonus larger than a thief's and the ability to create items wherever. Whilst it isn't always useful, they can gain access to more powerful classes that can create unique items that are exclusive to the class. Whilst making these things can be expensive, they can make a lot of money."
*/
It was a lot to take in. Almost too much for Mio and there was a very long and awkward pause.
"Thank you but… Um, sorry… I don't know…"
Miss Helper let herself smile. "Okay then, think of it this way. Do you want to be close range, or long range?"
"Long range." Mio's reaction was immediate.
"That leaves you with the archer, gunner, mage and the cleric. Do you want to be magical or not magical?"
Mio toyed with the idea of raising fire and zapping lightning bolts. However, she tried to be a little realistic, even though it was a game. "Not magical please."
"Then do you want to be an archer or a gunner?"
It was a tricky question and she tried to weigh up the differences. She didn't like guns. The only times she had seen guns were on the news and generally involved pain for a lot of people. However, realistically thinking again, she wouldn't be able to use a bow. The thought of pulling the string back with an arrow pointing at its mark waiting to kill made her feel queasy. Maybe she wasn't cut out for this game. Why that thought had suddenly occurred to her she didn't know but she realised that she couldn't give up all the hard work Miss Helper had done for her.
The archer, if levelled up enough, could become a ranger and summon creatures. She imagined twirling around and singing like in Snow White, calling all the beautiful woodland creatures to her.
"I'd like to be an archer…"
"Are you sure?" The mouse moved and clicked okay.
"Lastly, we need to distribute your skill points. One has been put into the archer class for you." A circular grid appeared in front of her filled with tiles. Most of the board was blanked out. "The highlighted tiles are recommended for an archer class." As Mio moved her mouse hovered over the glowing tiles, a text box appeared, describing the ability or class. It seemed she could begin levelling up in different classes already. However, they weren't highlighted so she settled with the recommended tiles. Burst, aim, and sprint.
"Now, is there anything you may want to change?" All of her choices were displayed out in front of her. The avatar, Elizabeth, gave her a reassuring smile and was sampling the new bow she had just received. Hope and fear were the words that stuck out at her though as she pondered on whether to change it.
"I'm fine thanks." She clicked the final okay button.
"Now generating your character…" The screen changed to show the avatar moving around in a field of grass.
"Congratulations, you have successfully created your first character!" Mio smiled. It was time to get started soon.
"Thank you for using the online help system."
"No, thank you," cut in Mio, surprising Miss Helper. "I don't think I could have done this without you." The lady blushed and smiled, grateful for her honesty.
"If there's anything you need help with, don't be afraid to ask. Are there any other people that will be playing with you at this time?"
Mio nodded, suddenly remembering her friends were also starting the game together. "Yes, how do I connect to them?"
After some directions, clicking on the settings button, Mio found she was the second to finish creating her character. Yui, Mugi and Azusa were still behind.
"Yo, what took you so long?" said a message, popping up in the side bar.
"Thank you again Miss Helper," said Mio again.
"You're welcome. I guess I'll be going now. I hope you have a wonderful time playing Illusia." She waved goodbye and her window disappeared.
Just as the pop sound indicated the broken connection, a bringing called Mio and she answered the call through her computer.
"Hey Ritsu."
"I see you chose an archer. Smart move, scaredy cat."
"I-I'm not a 'fraidy cat," snapped back Mio.
"Out here in this world there are monsters." Mio involuntarily shivered as Ritsu began to describe some of the beasts and creatures they were going to face.
"Baka," and she hung up.
/*Author's notes
Well that was a massive intro. It is an MMO that I would make though so I've put a lot of effort into it to. I'll save the details for later. I have all the classes set (forty two different classes… wow), and the general idea of the story and the environment (similar to SAO and ALfeim online). If I were to make an MMO or an RPG, I'd make it so you can be anything like a mage combined with a fighter or combining the speed of a thief with a guard, taking hits and dodging them with ease. Basically, lots of options, experimenting and combinations are possible.
Right now, there is no virtual reality device but one will be introduced at a later point (much later when they can afford one each or go to some game centre or something.)
Ritsu has made a second character by the way, the second character being the one that was just seen (by Mio) so she could play with her friends from the same level (1), as the first is already levelled.
I wonder what character classes everyone is going to pick? What are your opinions on Mio being an Archer? At first I thought she would choose a magical style (she was never going to be on the front lines really) but as you can see that didn't happen. Unless I receive enough spam to change my mind…
Please review! Even though this is only an intro, a massive one at that, I'd love to hear your ideas. I haven't thought of anyone else's classes yet so I can easily be swayed right now. I guess I should stop ranting now and go to sleep… Good night.
I lied, I didn't go to sleep. I carried on writing and now I the everyone has a their respective classes. Sorry.
*/
