Author's Note: Before you begin, notice that after joining the game, when it says [Name], it means her in game name, not her real name. Enjoy the story!

"Here, [Name]. This is for you." Your father spoke, handing you a copy of the just released game, SAO.

"Eh?" You asked, looking down at the newly bought copy.

You had been waiting for this game to release for months, but having it in your very own hands surprised you more than you thought it would have. What was your father doing buying it for you?

"This is for me?" You asked in confusion.

Your father chuckled.

"Of course it's for you, [Name]." He smiled.

"But I thought you hated me playing video games?" You asked once again.

"I do." He frowned. "But I know how long you've been waiting for this game to release."

"Really?" You squealed from excitement.

"And I remember how disappointed you were whenever you didn't get beta tester, so I wanted to get it for you."

You jumped in joy as you wrapped your arms around your father in excitement.

"Thank you so much, Papa." You spoke, tears attempting to escape your eyes.

"Go on, [Name]." He nodded, giving you approval to leave at once. "Go enjoy that new game of yours."

You smiled as you shut your door with delight. You quickly made your way beside your computer, opening your disk tray and placing the newly bought CD inside. Momentarily, you hooked your NerveGear into it's corresponding slot and lied yourself down, placing the NerveGear over your head. You took a deep breath, preparing yourself for what was to come.

"[G/N], let's do this." You sighed, flipping on the power switch.

A smile arose on your face as you shut your eyes. 'Link start.' You thought to yourself, causing the NerveGear to begin it's sensory process and language settings to appear. You quickly logged in, excitement running through your veins. You couldn't wait any longer, you needed to play this game. You went through character creation, making a beautiful woman with (h/c) hair and (e/c) eyes. You typed in your usual gamer name and finished the selection, entering the game. You looked down at your feet, realizing your change in body as you looked around to see new players appear all beside you.

"Hmph." You muttered, slightly upset about the amount of people online.

How in the world were you supposed to get good if you had this many people to deal with? You sighed, rubbing the back of your head in annoyance. You made your way through all the players, eventually making it to the shopping district where you found dozens of other people as well.

"Damn it…"You sighed.

"Pretty lady, what's wrong?" An older man spoke, appearing by your side.

"Eh?" You screeched, stumbling backwards, away from the man. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to know what's wrong." He spoke with a seductive smile.

"Nothing." You replied upsettingly. "Which of these stores sells staffs?"

"None." A voice replied from behind you.

You quickly jolted around, finding a blue haired man around the age of twenty walk beside you.

"Magic isn't a skill in SAO."

"Are you telling me that there are no staffs? Not even mage books-" You began to rant in confusion.

"The game is strictly melee-based. Hand-to-hand combat." He spoke with a straight face.

"No way!" You yelled, shaking your head in anger. "I don't want to play then!"

"You're not acting your age little lady." The older man said, approaching you once again.

"Back off!" You yelled, slapping the man across his face.

The man looked at you in shock as he looked around in embarrassment and ran away. You sighed. Why did men in games always do this?

"I wish this would've happened when I first started playing." The man chuckled.

Your face turned bright red at the mans joke.

"Were you a beta-tester or something? You seem to know a lot about the game."

"Yes, but don't tell anyone." He whispered. "The name's Diabel, and you are?"

"I'm [Name]. It's nice to meet you." You spoke, shaking his hand.

"What're you doing playing SAO? Not saying woman can't, it's just that not many seem to be interested in games like these."

"It was a gift from my father, I've been waiting for this game for a few months now." You admitted.

"Woah. Hardcore fan I see? Why didn't you sign up for the beta-test?" He asked.

"I did. I was just too late to get in."

A few seconds of silence filled the air, covered by the excessive talking of other players.

"I'm sorry to hear that." He frowned.

"It's okay." You smiled. "I'm going to get going, but I'll see you around, okay?"

Diabel smiled, waving at you.

"I'll see you around, [Name]!"

After your conversation with Diabel, you began to make your way through all the other players, eventually stumbling onto a player around your height, sitting alone at the back of the shopping district. You watched the caped player from afar as they snuck past one of the shops NPC's, grabbing a weapon from the back.

"Hey!" You yelled, running toward the player.

The player quickly jumped in surprise. As they noticed you, they began to run in the opposite direction in means of fleeing.

"Hey! Get back here!" You nagged, chasing the player throughout the crowd.

Eventually after a minute of running after the player, the player stopped in an ally. As they had realized that it was a dead end, they gave up and dropped the loot. You stopped, panting from the excessive exercise.

"What do you think you're doing stealing from an NPC?" You criticized. "What? You can't make money and buy the weapon fair and square?"

You walked toward the dropped weapon as you picked it up and examined it.

"This weapon is a piece of crap anyways, what did you expect to do with it? Kill a few pigs or something?" You scoffed.

The player remained silent, allowing your anger to boil more and more by the second.

"Well? Aren't you going to answer me?" You asked, walking toward the player.

The player quickly stood up and readied their sword in front of them. Their face and body was entirely covered with their cape, and you could barley even see the sword being wielded underneath it.

"Hey… No need to get physical." You spoke jokingly. "I just wanted to know what you were doing."

"I think that it's time for me to log out." The player spoke.

The player sounded like a girl around your age, surprising you just a bit.

"I guess I'll do the same. We've been playing for quite a while, right?" You chuckled, opening up your main menu alongside the girl.

You clicked through the options, eventually getting to the last option.

"Huh?" You muttered. "It's blank."

You scratched your head in confusion. Where was the log out button?

"Is your logout button there?" You asked the girl.

"Mine's not here either." She spoke.

"But it has to be somewhere…" You spoke, clicking through all the options. "Maybe-"

"I tried calling a game master already." She interrupted. "It's no use."

You chuckled, filling to awkward silence.

"It's no big deal. Just more time for us to get to know each other, right?" You smiled. "I'm sure the server admins are working on it right now."

You stood quietly as you received no response from the girl.

"Why're you so quiet anyways?" You blurted out.

Your eyes widened as you realized what you had said.

"I'm so sorry.. I didn't mean it like-"

"I'm on here alone." She scoffed. "I don't need friends."

"I'm on here alone as well. Maybe we could make a party together and-"

Suddenly, the city bell began to ring, taking you both by surprise. In just a mere second, you appeared in the center of town beside the player you were just speaking to.

"A forced teleport? But why?" You spoke, looking around to find many others just as confused.

At the exact moment you spoke, the sky filled with red warning signs as an enormous floating figure appeared in front of everyone.

"What is that?" You heard one person say.

"Is this planned?"

"That's a game master!"

You gulped down your saliva. You had a bad feeling about all of this, but you just couldn't explain it.

"Attention, players," The game master spoke. "Welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."

Lots of commotion arose beside you, but you ignored it all as you continued to listen intently to the man.

"I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu."

"See, I told you that they'd-"You began confidently.

"But this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online."

Your body began to shake, as you felt shock enter your body.

"You cannot log out of SAO yourselves. And no one from the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."

"What?" You muttered to yourself with turmoil.

You looked at others with sympathy as you realized how panicked they had become.

"Unfortunately, several players friends and families have ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world." He continued.

Several views of websites and news reports appeared around him as he continued to speak.

"As you can see, news organizations across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume that the danger of a NerveGear being removed in now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game."

That man! How dare he act so civil and relaxed about all of this! And expect he expects you to relax? He's trapping you inside of a game for god's sake! Still, no matter what he says, this game won't be too hard to win, you could probably do it in a few months if you really tried.

"But I want you to remember this clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost. And simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain."

Your eyes widened in shock as you began to feel panicked.

"There is only one means of escape, to complete the game. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincrad, Floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the floor boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game. Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves."

You quickly opened up your main menu, navigating to your inventory to find a mirror. You tapped on the item, catching it in your hand. You looked down at yourself to see your created character. What was the point of this? Suddenly, you looked around to see new and unfamiliar faces. What was going on?
You looked back down at your mirror to see your real face as you dropped the mirror in shock. Why was this happening?

"Right now, you're probably wondering, 'Why'? Why would Kayabo Akihiko developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all this? My goal has already been achieved…" He spoke. "I created Sword Art Online for one reason, to create this world and intervene in it. And now, it is complete."

"Damn it…" You muttered.

You knew something wasn't right.

"This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch."

No, no, no… This couldn't be happening. Your father! Your family! What if you can't beat it? What if you die? This can't be true...

"Good luck, players."

And with that, Kayaba disappeared, starting your new life in SAO.