Sword Art Online - Reforged - Ch.1 - The Game Begins
I'm back! Welcome to my new project! I really enjoyed watching this Anime, but I thought it lacked some main story points and episodes and I aim to add on to the plot. Keep in mind that there are labeled perspective changes. I'm d trying to make the chapters substantially longer than my other stories, and I'm also trying to keep this updated regularly. New chapters will be released every other Monday, unless specified in the previous chapter. Anyway, enjoy! And don't forget to write those reviews! They really help me out!
~~~Brandon~~~
"Alright, you ready to do this?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." I told my best friend Avery as I slipped the nerve gear over my head.
"Hey Brandon, I'll see you on the other side."
"Link start!" We said in unison.
I was so excited, I was finally going to play Sword Art Online. In just a few moments, Avery and I were going to be experiencing an entire new virtual world to conquer.
My uncle helped work on the game with his close friend Akihiko Kayaba in Japan. He flew me over to Japan to beta test the game, and once again later with Avery to play the game for a few weeks.
I followed all the instructions in coordinating my senses and entering my name before being teleported into the game.
I opened my eyes slowly, bright light blinding me for a moment. I brought my hands up to my face, flexing my fingers and stretching my arms.
"Isn't this amazing!?" Avery asked as she jumped onto my back, her long blonde hair cascading around my face and over my shoulders.
"Yeah." I answered in amazement as I spun to take in my surroundings.
We were the center of a massive town, the Town of Beginnings. People were appearing all around us, looking around in the same amount wonder and amazement as Avery and I.
"Want to go kill some monsters?" I asked Avery.
Avery's bright, amber eyes sparked with excitement as I asked her this.
"Hell yeah!" She exclaimed, pumping her fist into the air. "But, we should go before everyone else kills everything." She told me.
We walked the long, windings streets of the town before finally exiting it and stepping out into the wild. Before us expanded an impossibly large field of lush green grass and wild flowers. Giant towers could be seen that held up the floors above. One of them was the dungeon, the way up to the next floor.
"If you do your initial motion right, and activate a sword skill at the right time... The system pretty much guarantees you'll always hit your target." I heard a voice say off in the distance.
"C'mon, let's go check this out." I said to Avery as I jogged towards the voice, over a small, gently rolling hill.
I saw two guys at the bottom, one had just lunged forward using a sword skill to kill a wild boar.
"I did it! That was awesome!" He exclaimed.
I recognized the other player from when I played the beta.
"Hey! Kirito!" I called out as we approached the pair.
Kirito turned towards us, and smiled as he recognized me.
"Hey Brandon. It's been a while." Kirito said.
"It has. What do you think of the full version? Pretty sweet huh?" I asked.
"Yeah." He agreed. "Oh, um this is Klein, I just met him a little while ago." Kirito told me, sheathing his sword.
"Nice to meet you Klein. I'm Brandon and this is my friend Avery."
Klein immediately jumped towards her, striking what seemed like an intentional pose.
"So, how old are you? You single? You're pretty cute." Klein said all at once.
"Um..."
THUNK!
Kirito and I laughed as Avery kicked him the balls and sent him flying backwards.
"Ow!" Klein exclaimed. "Oh right, no pain."
"Well it was nice meeting you guys." Klein said. "I've got a pizza coming soon though, so I'm going to log out now."
Klein swiped his right hand down to bring up his menu and logout, but froze before doing so.
"What's wrong?" Kirito asked.
"There's no logout button."
"Huh?!" Kirito gasped.
Kirito pulled up his menu and navigated to where the logout button should've been. Over his shoulder, I saw that the button was just an empty, white rectangle.
"Maybe it's a bug? I mean this is a brand new game." Klein suggested, his voice quivering with worry.
At that moment, our bodies started glowing brightly and we appeared back in the main square of the Town of Beginnings. People were looking around frustrated, some looked scared as well.
"Someone forced a teleport." Kirito murmured under his breath.
"Look!" Avery shouted, nudging me and pointing up towards the sky.
A single, blood red cell flashed in the sky with the words "System Announcement" on it. More cells popped up around it until they formed a dome around the square.
A thick, red liquid began to drip from the top of the dome, pooling into a sphere that was suspended in the air. Once the sphere was filled, the liquid churned in the sky before flashing violently. A giant form of a man in a robe floated above us.
"Attention, players. I welcome you to my world." The giant form said.
"My name is Akihiko Kayaba. And as of this moment, I am in control of this world." Akihiko said to the crowd.
"What's he mean by that?" Kirito asked no one in particular.
"I'm sure by now most of you have noticed an item missing from your main menu."
People gasped as they brought up their menu and saw the logout button was gone.
"The logout button. Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. This is how 'Sword Art Online' was designed to be." Akihiko explained.
"He's kidding, right?" Klein asked nervously.
"You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life."
"No way!"
"That's such bullshit!"
"Are you listening to this crap?" Klein asked. "He's got to be nuts, right?"
"He's not." I answered. "My Uncle helped develop the NerveGear, it works just like microwave. If the safety is disabled, it could fry your brain. Plus it's got an internal battery so cutting its power is pointless." I explained.
"Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted to remove the NerveGear, an unfortunate decision, to say the least. As a result, the game now has two hundred and thirteen less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world." Akihiko said sullenly.
"Two hundred thirteen..." Kirito muttered.
"No way, I don't believe it!" Avery exclaimed.
"It is important to remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops below zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever, and the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain. There is only one way for a player to escape now, you must clear the game. Right now, you are all on floor 1, 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." Akihiko told us.
"Also, I've placed a present in the item storage of every player. Please have a look."
"A mirror?" Kirito said.
My vision flashed as I peered into my own mirror and I looked around.
"Who are you?!" Someone asked as we made eye contact.
"I'm me! Who are you?"
"Wait... Kirito? Klein?" Avery asked.
I looked down at my mirror and dropped it on the ground in shock. I looked just like I did in real life, and so did Avery.
"How's it know what I look like?" Klein asked.
"The NerveGear can scan what your face looks like, and the calibration test we took when setting up the NerveGear stored our physical information." Kirito explained.
"Why? What's the point?"
"I think he's about to tell us."
"Right now, you're probably wondering why. Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do this? Ultimately, my goal was simple. The reason I created SAO was to control the fate of a world of my design."
"This is crazy..." Avery whispered.
"As you can see, I achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of SAO, but before I go, I have one more thing to say" Akihiko said, the massive form turning to face me, and in perfect English began to speak to me:
"To you, Brandon Wakahisa, your Uncle, and my dear friend, begged me to allow you a way to leave when he discovered my intents, so you are the only person who will be able to logout of Sword Art Online, but I hope you will stay." Akihiko told me. "Players, I wish you all the best of luck."
"Brandon..." Avery started to say, but I quieted her as the crowd erupted with explicit remarks towards Akihiko.
Akihiko's malevolent form melted into the thick liquid and spilled onto the ground, dissolving into colorful shards of light before it reached the players.
"C'mon guys, we gotta get out of here." Kirito said, sprinting from the square.
I grabbed Avery's hand and followed him into town.
"Guys, I can't go any further." Klein said as we approached the outer wall of the Town of Beginnings.
"I've got some friends of mine here and they're back at the Plaza. I can't just leave them there." Klein told us. "I can't ask a few people I just met to help a bunch of complete strangers. I'll be fine."
"Alright, but if you're in a jam, just message us, okay?" Kirito said before dashing off towards the exit.
"Let's go." I said as I pulled Avery behind me.
I sat on the edge of my bed inside the inn, staring at the logout button on my main menu. It wasn't fair that I could leave, but no one else could.
"What did Akihiko say to you? Kirito asked.
I looked over at Avery's sleeping form. She was the only other one who understood Akihiko.
"He told me I could logout." I told Kirito.
"Why would he..."
"My Uncle worked on the game with Akihiko Kayaba, he begged him to let me be able to leave." I explained.
"Are you going to do it? Logout I mean." Kirito asked.
"I won't do it. I can't leave thousands of people, it's not right. If I die, I'll die with them."