A/N: Hi guys! So i recently got bored and started to re-watch SAO. Now I decided to write a story about it. I'm really sorry i haven't been updating lately... Even though there's no school.

Once i get an idea stuck in my head, i can't get rid of it...

Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online. All rights go to their respective owners.

November 6, 2022

Akari Nakamura had just turned fifteen when she had received a NerveGear and the game Sword Art Online for her birthday. The game had easily became really popular, for this was a first in this technology. The release date was the same day that it was Akari's own birthday.

And, just as she wished, she had got both the needed requirements to play the game.

After hugging her mother, sister, and father and telling them she loved them so much, she had ran upstairs and was now staring at the NerveGear which sat in her hands almost mesmerizing her.

The game was a VRMMORPG, meaning that people can play the game using their bodies using the technology that the GM Kayaba Akihiko had created, the NerveGear. It was made by the company Argus.

She grabbed the game and placed it inside the NerveGear, her excitement building. Akari didn't know that she would actually get the game that she'd been wanting for quite a while now.

She lay down on her bed, placing the NerveGear on her head. She grinned slightly.

"Link Start!"

When she had opened her eyes again, there were buttons verifying her senses. After checking that everything was settled, the system then asked her to choose her gender and to type in her name.

She pressed the button for 'female.' But, she stared at the text box asking for the name of her avatar.

Akari hesitated. She then decided to use her real name. She pressed the letters spelling it. A-K-A-R-I, she thought as she pushed the buttons. When she had finished, she found herself looking at the character modifier screen to change her avatar as she wished.

Akari stared at the screen, clueless about what she would pick for herself. She decided to change her hair length to shoulder length. She changed her hair color to dark brown. She set her height to a bit taller than she originally was and nodded.

For her outfit, she chose a black longsleeved shirt with a brown jacket over it and decided she would wear brown pants as well. She chose to wear a lighter shade of brown boots to go with her clothes.

The system asked if this decision was okay, and it held up a mirror for her to see it.

She hadn't changed her eye color, which were purple. She figured that the people that she knew wouldn't know who she was because she had modified a lot of her characteristics. Akari shrugged and pressed the button to confirm her choice. Once that was done, the words "Welcome to Sword Art Online!" flashed on the screen.

She felt herself getting pulled into the game, and soon enough she had landed on a rocky surface.

Akari opened her eyes to see tons of players surrounding the area, either buying goods or probably gathering around to talk.

This is so cool... Akari mused as a smile slowly crept to her face. She waved her left hand, but nothing happened. She frowned. She was originally left-handed in the real world, so she was confused at first.

Then, she waved her right hand and a menu showed up. There were other tags on it, and one read 'items.' She pressed the item button with her index finger, and there was a list next to it. She scrolled the list, but there were no items to be found.

Akari sighed. With realization she found out that she didn't have any weapons with her at the moment. She looked around for a blacksmith shop and grinned when she found one.

An NPC was there, apparently selling a sword to another player. Akari decided to look for a weapon while they were busy.

She picked up a sword that looked simple. It had a sharp blade and a comfortable handle. Akari turned around and sliced the air with it, grinning. It was perfect.

"Do you wish to purchase that?" The NPC asked. "I'll give you a discount since it's your first day."

"Sure." Akari nodded. After talking to the NPC about the discount, they had finally settled on a suitable amount and Akari had paid for the sword.

"Have a nice day!" The NPC said as she walked away.

She placed her sword into the sheathe which was on her waist. Akari then realized she didn't know where she was, so she looked at the map.

It read: "First Floor, Town of Beginnings."

So she was on the first floor, huh? Akari had forgotten how many floors total there was in the game, and she didn't mind if she didn't find out. Maybe she could explore for a while. Might as well, since she had a lot of free time.

On the way, Akari realized that she can have quests to complete. One was checked off, and that was where she had purchased her first weapon. She also discovered there were skills on the inventory, and when she had pressed it, there was a list but nothing had appeared.

"Oh, that makes sense, skills need to be acquired." Akari muttered to herself, walking ahead. "No wonder why there would be nothing on here—"

All of a sudden, something pushed her down, making Akari land with a thump. "Hey! What the—" when she whirled around she found a group of boars snarling at her.

"AHH!" Akari yelped as she ran off after struggling to get up. Her HP bar was still green, but it had lowered from the fall. She knew the boars were chasing after her, so she grabbed her sword and pulled it out of its sheathe.

"HAAA!" Akari yelled, charging back at the boars. She swung at one of them, and saw its HP bar was lowered but still green. The boar jumped on her and then kicked her, Akari's HP decreasing. She slashed and slashed, but the best thing she could do was to lower it down to yellow.

She stabbed it one more time and it had exploded into blue crystals. There was a message reading that Akari had gained EXP points and a new level as well.

There were still two boars left though, and Akari was already tired. She was already aware her HP bar was now yellow.

It would be too risky launching herself at the boars. She was outnumbered, and she was about to run again when a flash of green had alerted her back to her senses.

The two boars exploded into blue crystals.

Akari was still in her fighting stance, her sword in hand, but she was amazed. The two boars had gotten killed from one swipe?

"Hey!" A boy's voice called out to her.

In front of her, there was a player in front of her, and he was grinning slightly. His avatar had orange colored eyes, and he had dark brown spiky hair. He was wearing a black long sleeved shirt with matching pants and shoes. He had a green sword in one of his hands and was wearing black gloves with the fingertips showing. The avatar also had a few silver rectangles on his shirt.

Above the boy's head, the name 'Lance' was there.

Akari blinked. "Thanks."

"No problem." He smiled. "I'm Lance. Is this your first day here? I can kind of tell."

"I'm Akari." Akari replied. "Yup, its my first day here in the game. Are the boars here often like that?"

"Sure," Lance told her. He motioned with his sword to point at boars who were re-appearing. "They're like that, but I think they're pretty easy to kill."

Akari stared at Lance, who was taller than her. "Are you a beta-tester?"

"Huh?" Lance said. "I guess you can say that, but I've been killing a lot of those things since I logged in, which was about three hours ago."

Akari shrugged. "Eh. I got this for my birthday IRL."

Lance's eyes widened. "Oh, happy birthday! Coincidence that it was your birthday the same time the game was released, huh? How old are you?"

"Fifteen. And thanks."

"Ah, cool. I'm sixteen." Lance grinned again. "I remember when I turned fifteen last year. That was really crazy. All my friends nearly got in trouble for supposedly stealing a car."

"Is that so." Akari said.

Lance must've seen her expression, because he instantly shook his head. "We're not that bad though. I guess you could say that, considering that I just met you."

It was a bit silent afterwards, but then Lance grinned again. "Wait a sec, maybe I could teach you how to kill those things like I did earlier! You could also maybe unlock a sword skill, y'know?"

"Really?" Akari said, her excitement building once more. Her eyes sparkled as Lance grinned once more.

"Yup! Now, hold your sword like this." Lance instructed. Akari copied his stance, and her sword started glowing silver.

"Good! There's a boar over there, see? It's noticed us!" Lance shouted. "Go get 'em, Akari!"

Akari grinned and launched herself forward, slashing the boar with a single strike. Immediately the boar's HP was lowered to O, and it disappeared in blue crystals once more.

Akari turned around and glanced at the crystals which were disappearing, and she grinned. "Thank you Lance, thank you so much!"

Lance gave her a thumbs-up. "Anytime. See, you've earned a skill and EXP points. I saw you fighting against those three boars earlier. You did a great job, I admit!"

Akari smiled. "Thanks!" She waved her right hand and pressed the 'skills' button, to find that there was one skill labeled there.

She pumped a fist in the air and laughed. "Woohoo! I love this game!"

Lance laughed too as he high-fived her. "Well, you're not alone! I'll friend you. We kinda know each other now anyway." Akari nodded as he waved his right hand and pressed a button to friend request her. He typed in her name and a message appeared in front of her, saying if she accepted.

Akari pressed the button with the 'O' on it, accepting it.

"Okay!" Lance grinned. "So, what are you going to be doing in here?"

Akari checked the sky, which was slowly turning orange like Lance's eyes. She then realized that IRL, it was also around the same time in SAO. "I'm probably going to log out. My sister or my parents would probably be wondering where I'd be if I didn't come for dinner."

"Oh. Well, I'm supposed to be going somewhere after this... A vacation." Lance told her. "So, I think I'll log out too. See you tomorrow then."

"See ya," Akari said as she waved her right hand. She pressed the button and was about to press the 'log out' button, but she didn't see it on the selections. Akari's eyes widened as she retried it, but every time the 'log out' button still wasn't there.

"The log out button's not there!" Akari murmured.

"What? How could it not be? Are you sure?" Lance asked suspiciously.

Akari once more tried it again and saw that the log out button still wasn't there. "I've tried. It's still not there. How about you?"

Lance frowned as he waved his right hand. "Akari, it's at the bottom of the main menu..." The inventory showed up, and he pressed the button where the log out button was also supposed to be. "Strange..."

"See? Not there." Akari said.

But it wasn't there. The only choices were 'options' and 'help.' Below the 'help' button there was supposed to be a 'log out' button, but it wasn't there, even if Akari tried to look closer.

Lance frowned. "Well, this might be a bug or something."

"Must be." Akari mused. "In real life, it's 5:25 huh? Is there another way to log out besides this?"

"Nope, I don't think so." Lance muttered. "When players want to log out, they'd have to go through the main menu. Besides that, I don't think they'll be able to log out besides that method..."

All of a sudden, the bell in the town started to ring.

Akari and Lance looked at each other, and then listened more for the bell's ringing. Akari stared off in the distance, but then a light started glowing, causing the two of them to disappear, a blue light forming underneath them.

When Lance and Akari re-appeared, they were back in the town.

"Did we teleport?" Akari said, glancing in Lance's orange eyes, which were narrowed.

"Yeah... But why?" Lance replied, looking at her worriedly as well.

Sure enough, the bell was ringing still, and more and more players were appearing in the town square. Akari could hear the noises of the players who were muttering and talking about how they suddenly all teleported to the town.

People then continued to talk amongst themselves. Akari scanned the area for anything suspicious, and then trained her gaze on the sky, where there was a small red bar flashing. On it read "WARNING."

"Hey, up there!" Akari said, poking Lance and pointing to the sky.

"Does that say 'warning' or is it just me?" Lance said, worried.

"No, it definitely says warning." Akari shook her head.

Then, more red bars started to flow across the town, this time not saying 'warning' but 'special announcement.' People started to shift uneasily and Akari heard some gasp in surprise. Others stared at each other in confusion and some were pointing to the sky, which was now covered with the red bars.

In the gaps of some of the bars, blood spilled from them to form an object out of it.

"What is that?!" Lance gaped.

The blood then formed into a person. However, the person's face was unidentified, for instead of an actual face there was nothing. However, the figure was wearing a red cloak with gold linings.

"A game master?" Someone asked.

A few more murmurings came after that one, and Akari was speechless with shock. When she glanced at Lance, she saw that he was gritting his teeth. When she stared at other people, some were scratching their heads. Their eyes were all trained on the GM though.

"Attention, players." The GM said. Their voice was very powerful, and it quieted all the players immediately. "Welcome to my world."

Akari grit her teeth as she stared at the figure. His world? He doesn't mean that he's...

"My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."

Akari gasped, while Lance did the same. Other people stared, stunned, at the GM who was currently talking to them at the moment. Akari vaguely remembered seeing his face in the news on the TV, and in magazines talking about the release of SAO.

So this man... He's Kayaba Akihiko, the GM of SAO? It's possible that he's here to explain the no button 'log out' situation. Akari thought.

"Is that really him?"

"He must've spent a lot of time on this..."

Turning to Lance, she whispered, "Is it true?" while Lance shrugged back at her and continued to glance at Kayaba, who was waiting for people to quiet down so he could continue on with his speech.

GM or not, he seems calm about this. Has anyone else had the same problem as we had? Akari mused.

"I'm sure you've already noticed," Kayaba continued. "that the logout button is missing from the main menu. But this is not a defect in the game."

So it wasn't just Lance and I, everyone else too?

Lance's eyes and Akari's eyes both widened at this statement.

Lance turned to her. "So it wasn't a mistake! But why would he do this? I'm going on vacation!"

Akari shrugged, her panic rising. "I don't know... This is insane!"

"I repeat... This is not a defect in the game." Kayaba said. "It is a feature of Sword Art Online."

Akari glanced around the crowd and saw a man with red hair and a red bandana mutter, "A-A feature?" When she focused on the man, she saw that his name was Klein. Next to him was another boy whose name read Kirito.

"You cannot log out of SAO yourselves." The game master continued. The main menu had appeared after he had waved his left hand, making Akari even more confused of how that method didn't work on her earlier. She shrugged. He is the GM, after all. He created the game that way.

"And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. If this is attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and ending your life." Kayaba said.

"What?" Someone in the crowd shouted.

A boy and a girl then decided to leave the area, but they couldn't get out.

"He's got to be insane. Right, Kirito?" Klein said, turning to Kirito besides him with a worried smile on his face.

Kirito didn't say anything. But then he said, "He's right. If the safety on the NerveGear were disabled, it could destroy a brain."

Lance appeared to be listening in on that conversation because he turned to Akari and muttered, "Then if we cut the power... Wait, we can't. The NerveGear has its own battery inside of it. But this is crazy! What's going on?!"

"I wish I knew too, trust me." Akari replied, her eyes narrowed with worry.

"Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the NerveGear." Kayaba continued.

Oh no... Akari thought, her hands on her mouth with shock.

"...As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world."

"Two hundred and thirteen?!" Lance exclaimed. "That's insane!"

"As you can see, news organizations across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths. You can then assume that the danger of a NerveGear being removed is now reduced. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear this game. But I want you to remember this clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game."

"Seriously?" Akari whispered.

"If your HP drops to zero," Kayaba continued, "your avatar will be forever lost. And simultaneously... The NerveGear will destroy your brain."

Most of the crowd gasped when they found this out, and Lance and Akari both stared at each other, their eyes widened. Akari had a vivid image of on of the boars charging and killing her, causing her to be the one to erupt in blue crystals.

"However... There is only one means of escape." Kayaba said. "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.

"Clear it?" Somebody said. "What's he talking about?"

"We have to clear all 100 floors to complete the game?" Lance said, his eyes wide. "That's impossible. Us beta testers never made it anywhere near that high!"

Akari clenched her fists.

"Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves." Kayaba finished.

An item?

Akari opened her main menu and pressed the 'items' button. At the top of her list was a mirror, and she chose it. Immediately, the mirror appeared in her hands and she stared at it, seeing her reflection.

Lance had also did the same. "Why do we have a mirror? Does it shoot lasers out of the screen?"

"Who knows?" Akari shrugged.

What do we have a mirror for...?

As if on cue, Lance yelled as a pillar of blue light erupted, completely engulfing him. Heads turned to see the pillar of light appear.

Akari jumped in surprise. "Lance?!"

Pretty soon, Klein yelled too as it happened once more.

Eventually, more screams erupted, and more pillars of light erupted. Akari gasped, and she saw that Kirito was also looking around in confusion. For one split second, they caught each other's glance before Akari soon found a pillar of light erupt beneath her.

She closed her eyes, but then the light had disappeared.

"Hey, Akari, are you okay?" Lance's voice spoke behind her.

"Y-Yeah..." Akari turned, rubbing her eyes. She then raised an eyebrow when she saw who was in front of her. "Who are you?"

"And who are you?" The boy who suspiciously sounded like Lance said in confusion.

Akari then held up the mirror and gasped. It was herself IRL. Her long black hair had come back, but her eyes were still the color violet, for she had not changed that color. She was still wearing her clothes she chose. Akari found that she was shorter as well.

The boy's hair turned out to be spiky and the color black. His eyes were not orange anymore, they were the color green. He looked handsome as well, and Akari gaped at him in surprise.

When Akari glanced at Kirito, he was also shorter, and his eyes were the same color: blackish-gray. His hair was a bit longer and his face looked more childish too. Klein's hair got shorter too, but he stayed the same height.

When Akari observed everyone, they had also changed too. The boy and girl that tried to escape earlier were both males, startling each other.

"That means..." Akari realized. She stared at the guy in front of her. "You're Lance!" She tried to remove the thought of Lance being handsome from her head.

"And you're Akari, right?" Lance grinned.

Akari smiled. "Yeah."

"But how'd this happen? I know that this is me in real life, that's for sure." Lance questioned.

"It's because of the scan in the NerveGear." Akari explained. "It covers your entire head with a high-density signaling device. Meaning, it could see your face."

"That explains it... When we first used the NerveGear, it had us calibrate it, right?" Klein asked, Kirito behind him. The two of them joined both Akari and Lance in their conversation. "That means this is us IRL."

"That's right." Lance agreed.

"That must be where it got the data." Kirito murmured.

"But... Why?" Akari asked. "Why do all this anyway?"

Kirito pointed to the GM. "I'm sure he'll tell us."

"Right now, you're probably wondering, 'Why?'" The GM said, voicing everybody's thoughts. "Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all this?"

"Exactly." Akari said.

"My goal has already been achieved. I created this game for one reason... To create this world and intervene in it." The GM said. "And now, it is complete. This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch. Good luck, players."

"That was a tutorial?" Lance said, stunned. "Pretty bad tutorial if you ask me."

The GM then erupted into blood and back into the gaps between the red bars. After that, the red symbols had disappeared, leaving the players still staring at the sky, astonished about what had just happened.

Then, someone had screamed "NO!" causing a riot to break out.

"Let me out of here!"

"Is this some kind of joke?"

More arguments had broke out between the people as Lance, Akari, Kirito, and Klein just stood there, stunned. Kirito had his fists clenched though.

"That's it?" Akari yelled. "Is he seriously going to leave us with 'good luck?' That's insane!" Lance immediately placed his shoulders on Akari and muttered, "Calm down. We'll find a way out of this."

Akari stared into his eyes and then looked away, tears forming in them. What would happen back at home? They must be worried sick by now. Akari missed her family so much it hurt for her to think about them.

"This isn't fair!" Lance said.

"I know. But the best thing to do would to probably clear the floors so nobody would cause a panic." Kirito said. "Klein, come with me." As he started forward, he turned around and ran back to both Akari and Lance.

"I'm Kirito. And that's Klein." Kirito said. "We'll see you out in the floors sometime?"

Akari tried for a smile. "I'm Akari and he's Lance. Catch you two later." She waved her hand and the menu appeared. She requested to friend both Klein and Kirito, and they accepted. Lance did the same.

"Light." Kirito smiled at her. "That's a nice name."

Akari's eyes widened. That was what her name meant. Light, or brightness.

(A/N: got this name off of a website, not sure if accurate :P)

"Later." Kirito said as he and Klein left them two alone in the town, people still talking uneasily amongst themselves.

Once those two left, Akari turned and smiled at Lance, who appeared startled. "So, Lance." She held out her hand. "Want to join my party?"

Lance blinked. "Oh, sure!" He grinned and took her hand and shook it. Akari pressed the invite button and it appeared on Lance's screen. Still grinning, Lance pressed the accept button. They were now in the same party.

Akari looked away from Lance and stared defiantly at the sky.

"Hey, Kayaba Akihiko!" She yelled, even though there was no one there, and there was a one out of a hundred chances he'd hear it. She grinned and pointed up to the sky, Lance smiling next to her as she did so. "If you hear me, I'd like to say this!"

A few players glanced at her, but everyone stayed silent.

"CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!" Akari yelled.

A/N: Sooo... I'm done! Goodness, this was the longest chapter I've ever typed. My hands hurt.

ANYWAY... Review? :3

NOTE: I AM NOT TRYING TO COPY ANY STORY OUT THERE IF IT IS OUT LIKE THIS ONE. I JUST WANT TO MAKE THAT CLEAR. Thank you.

IRL means In Real Life for those who do not know.

Baiiii :)

-Choco :)