Hey, thak you so much for giving this story a chance and please to leave review, favorite or fallow if you like his story!

I do not own SAO but I do own the new characters you will see

"Hi there! Time for this week's MMO Stream. You just saw a promo of today's featured game. And this is what last week's launch day looked like. Can you guess what everyone's waiting in line? Sword Art Online!"

A clicking sound filled the small room while the video kept playing. The source was coming from the owner of the little room. He was a sophomore in his high school, about fifth-teen. He was tapping his lighter on top of his wooden desk as the video played, unsuccessfully keeping his attention. He was looking forward to summer since he was accepted as a Beta Tester for Sword Art Online and promised a copy of the final product, which came into the mail just today.

He didn't look like the gaming type with the first glance at him. He stood at five feet and two inches, about four inches shorter than he's supposed to be. He looked to be starving himself thanks to his skinny limbs and hardly visible ribcage. He head inky black hair that was slightly untamed, covering his ears slightly and covering most of his face, only allowing most of his left side of his face to been seen. His bangs were dyed dark blue that matched his dull blue eyes. He needed glasses if he wanted to see normally and of course that build up the list of reasons he was picked on by the jocks.

He looked over to his NerveGear sitting next to his alarm clock. He was tempted to just start playing now. His eyes gazed over to the picture of him and younger sister, when she was six and when he was ten. He let out a little smile when he remembered his sister and mother were going to be here soon. He shared the small house with his father, his whole family was from America and had moved to Japan for his father's ease to getting to work in the high corporal empire in electronics.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a loud thud from outside his door, it being the front door closing and locking. He was now alone in the house for the next six hours. The American smiled towards the NerveGear, looking at the time to see he had plenty of time to do some level grinding and get a head start on the game.

He started the game up on his monitor, closing up the video, and jumped out of the computer chair, landing on his bed. He quickly plugged in his NerveGear to his computer's tower and slipped off his large glasses. He moved his hair out of the way as he placed the helmet on, lying down on the sheets and hearing it start up. He grinned once a minute passed, the right time for the NerveGear to have finished warming up. With a low and almost tired voice he turned the helmet on.

"Link start."

With a buzzing sound his vision grew slightly weak before millions of color flashed at his eyes and the NerveGear now turning off his mobility. His eye quickly darted at the option's menus, logging in and selecting English as his language. Another white flash filled his eyes before he blinked it away, now seeing a knee a foot close to a brick floor.

He slowly stood, now towering at a six foot two. He gripped onto his brown leather gloves and stomped his black spiked combat boots. He looked down and saw he was going to be stuck with the level one red tunic and armor. He shrugged, knowing he was going to start somewhere and started to stretch a little, letting his eyes adjust and see the hub up the left corner. He noticed that they updated the hub, the health bar no longer being red but now green and the word font for his name was much nice. His screen name was plastered on the name tag; Rotsen.

Rotsen grinned as he let a hand run through his untamed, dark blue hair before running into the town before him, ignoring the newer or Beta Testers walking in. He had a task to complete, that being getting to the best place for grinding on the first level and buy the right equipment he was going to need.

He zoomed past dozens of players socializing, telling the deference between Beat Testers and noobs easily. He didn't take the time to pay attention to the girl he knocked into, making all the ores and hammer fall onto the ground.

"Hey, watch it!" She cried out as she rubbed her head, obviously ticked off.

"Ugh, sorry about that." Rotsen couldn't help but apologize, knowing it was his fault. "Here, let me,"

"No, I got it,"

The two started to bicker over the mess, Rotsen trying to be nice and pick up his mess but the girl was persistent and not wanted his help. The two kept the little argument until he helped her up and handed her the ores that were scattered. Once he was done he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry about that."

He looked down to her, now getting a good chance to look her over. Her character was a few inches shorter than him and with short brown hair . She was in red level one armor and tunic with a default sword on her side. The only thing that caught his attention was the blacksmith hammer in her hands and her eyes, which were a piercing pink.

The girl was a little red faced from embarrassment and tried to act cool, not wanting to look like a damsel in distress. "Well you should, I mean really, what rush is there to aimlessly run around."

Rotsen couldn't help but feel a little ticked since he did help her. "For your information I know where I'm going, and by the looks of it you're not. Wasting a lot of money on ores and hammer."

"Well you should know this is all for me to become this game's best blacksmith!" She went up to the tips of her toes, getting up in his face and catching him off guard.
"And where are you going anyways?"

"What's it to you?"

"Well you seem to know where you're going and I'm curious."

An annoyed look was plastered on Rotsen's face, obviously not liking her attitude towards him. "You're not going to leave me alone until I tell you?"

"As hell I will," she answered back, the look in her eyes telling him he was cornered.

With a sigh Rotsen caved in, predicting it best to give her what she wants so she wouldn't bother him. "I'm a Beta Tester and I'm heading for a good place for me to start level grinding."

She kept her stare on him, waiting for her to do something. It wasn't until a moment later until she spoke again. "Will you take me there?"

"Why would I do that?"

"I could tell you're a nice guy, since you did help me out so maybe you can help me again."

Rotsen raised an eyebrow at her, asking if she was serious. She gave him a soft smile but it still felt cold and hard to him. He sighed, now repeating himself.

"You're not going to leave me along until I take you?"

"What do you think?" She flashed a much more mischievous smile, making his eyes widen slightly.

Another moment passed as they continued to stand in the middle of the market section of the Town of Beginnings. Rotsen didn't break eye contact with her until he thought he started to weigh his options.

"Try to keep up then!" He flashed her with his famous devil smile, catching her surprise. He ran past her, running down the street and stopped after he passed a few stands. "You coming or what!?"

"Wait up!" She cried out as she put all the ores and hammer into her inventory and ran after him. She struggled for a moment, tripping over her feet and grabbing Rotsen for support. He didn't have time to react, falling with her and crashing back onto the ground.

"Ugh, is this going to a normal thing now?" Rotsen asked, rubbing his head.

"Hope not, uh… I never caught your name."

The American had a smile back on as he stood up, holding out his hand to the female player. "Names Rotsen. What's yours?"

She looked at the hand a little uneasy before grabbing it, letting him help her. "Lisbeth, but my friends call me Liz."

"So I can you Liz?"

"No, you're not my friend yet." Lisbeth couldn't help but tease him, thinking it was funny to see him having that annoyed look on his face.

"Guess friends only show friends good grinding spots." Rotsen shot back, grinning before running back down the street.

Lisbeth was a little shocked, shaking it off quickly and ran after him, yelling at him to wait up for her.

-:-

The sounds of a blade piercing through the air filled the area as Rotsen quickly sheath his three foot long blade. The digital boar that stood behind him turned into red code before exploding into small pieces of code and disintegrated. A small alert appeared by his side, telling him the Exp. he gotten.

"And that's how you do it."

He looked back to see Lisbeth having an annoyed look. They've spent the whole day grinding, Rotsen teaching her the ins and outs of combat, and them just talking about other MMO's and just life. Right now Lisbeth was sour about how easily he had been leveling up and the struggle she was going through. He was about level seven already and she was stuck on level four.

"You don't have to gloat about it."

"I can't help it," He rested himself agents his blade, thrusting it into the ground so his hand was prompted over it and supporting him. He looked over the horizon, seeing the sun already setting and telling him how long he'd been spending on this game. "It's getting pretty late, think it's time to finally log off."

"Yeah, I'll do the same." Lisbeth slide her hand down, letting the main menu to appear in front of her. "Hey, you're going to be back on tomorrow?"

Rotsen stopped his hand over his main menu when he heard Lisbeth He let a small smile creep on his face. "Why, you can't stand going through a game day without me?"

Lisbeth stiffened a little, growing a little irritated. In the hours spent talking and training with him she already grew accustoms to his poking fun. "Hey, I need all the help I can get on these first few floors. Plus you're going to need an upgrade from your weapons eventually and I'm the only blacksmith that you know."

The American rolled his eyes before laughing a little to himself. "Alright fine, I'll be back on at ten in the morning, eastern global time."

"I'll do the same then, see you then." She flashed him a smile and a wave before opening up the log out options. She froze before speaking up. "Ugh, Rotsen where is the log out button exactly?"

"What kind of question is that?" He asked as he too opened his log out options. "It's supposed to be right… here…" His eyes narrowed a little, trying to get his head around what was going on. The log out button was supposed to be there, right next to the cancel button.

"What's going on?" Rotsen was ignoring Lisbeth now, not on purpose but he needed to focus now on what was going on over the landscape farthest from them. A whole wave of small white beams could be seen, telling him that people were being teleported.

"I guess we'll find out." He mumbled aloud as he saw the teleported wave get closer to them, now teleporting them back into the center of the town.

Rotsen looked around, seeing the thousands of players that were online to this game, all being teleported in. Some that were in small parties were grouped together, as if they were expecting dangers. Other players that he could tell were Beta players were doing what he was doing, scanning the area for reasons why they were teleported and checking their inventory and options for reasons to this.

"Rotsen, what's that?" Lisbeth's voice was shaky. She was confused about the sudden teleport and her hand to was slightly trembling, pointing towards a small dot on the virtual sky. Rotsen squinted his eyes, trying to make out what it was. He couldn't tell what it was until more were starting to pop up. It wasn't until the sky was blood red that he could see what they all said. Polygons reading the words ERROR!

He stood there in silence as what seemed like blood started to ooze from the sky, collecting together to make a red coated figure, larger than the whole town square. It seemed to be a ghost since it was lacking both a face, for the hood's shadow was covering its face, and it was missing its legs and possibly its lower torso. Everyone was dead silent as it was there. It's booming voice now being used.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba. And as of this moment, I am in control of this world."

Mumbling filled the air as players tried to wrap their heads around everything that was happening whilst others just seemed to brush it off as an extreme expansion pack or something on the lines. Rotsen however stood in silence, staring dead center at the Kayaba, remembering his name on the legal release forms on the original contract he signed to get the NerveGear and get his hands on the Beta version of this game.

"I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus - the log out button. Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how 'Sword Art Online' was designed to be." Kayaba motioned his left hand up, opening his own large menu to show others who didn't know about the log out button. Lord behold the log out button was missing.

"H-he's kidding, right?" Lisbeth said idly to Rotsen, not truly expecting him to respond.

"You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one 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."

"Are you listening to this?" Lisbeth wanted more than anything that this was all just not happening, just hoping that this person was just a greasy hacker in a dark basement pulling a prank. "He's got to be nuts, right? Right, Rotsen?"

Rotsen remained silent for a moment before sighing, looking down to the ground. "He's not. The transmitter's signals in the headgear work just like microwaves. If the safety's disabled, it could fry your brain. It'll be like putting a potato in a microwave with tin foil wrapped around it."

"Couldn't someone cut the power or...?"

"That won't work. The NerveGear's got an internal battery. Meaning almost infinite battery life."

"Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGear, an unfortunate decision, to say the least. As a result, the game now has two hundred thirteen less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world." As he spoke several windows were being opened around and above the crowd, showing dozens, rapidly getting close to hundreds, of news reports of brains being fried by the NerveGear and many grieving families at hospitals or outside their homes.

"Two hundred thirteen…" Rotsen mumbled under his breath as he saw the numbers finally slowing down. His heart stopped when he saw his own house on the news, no doubt his father gotten word of the NerveGear and had reported it.

"No way... I don't believe it!" Lisbeth was trembling completely now, no doubting seeing a news cast of her home.

"As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important to remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to 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're gathered on Floor One, 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."

Players started to yell now, all saying what was on their minds about the dilemma.

"Clear?"

"What's he talking about?"

"Why should we believe any of the crap you're saying?"

"We can't clear all 100 floors... That's impossible... even the beta testers never made it that high!"

"Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please have a look."

Rotsen's eyes widen in surprise as he opened his inventory, seeing a small item icon in his pouch. He selected it and a mirror appeared in his hand, showing him his character's face. He looked at his face, seeing nothing actually happening to him. He stopped studding himself however when he heard Lisbeth let out a small squeak, alerting Rotsen.

"Liz!" He gasped when he saw a white light encase Lisbeth He didn't know what to do but even if he could think of something it was too late. He was then encased by the same white light. He covered his eyes and crossed his arms over his face to protect himself.

"You okay, Rotsen?"

"Yeah. Wait... Who are you?" Rotsen felt a little dazed as he heard Lisbeth 's voice and he looked over to the source, now seeing that the light was gone but Lisbeth wasn't there anymore. Instead a girl about fifteen was standing right next to him. She was exactly as tall as he was and had pink short hair. The only thing that seemed familiar was her piercing red eyes.

"Wait, who are you?" She answered up, eying him as if he was crazy.

"Wait a second," Rotsen looked around, seeing the tons of people that were a majority of girls were now a majority of guys. It was like he was dropped into a new crowd of confused players but he knew it was still them since he could tell from the town square, it was completely the same when he first teleported in with Lisbeth

The girl continued to eye him until her eyes caught on Rotsen, looking at his icy blue eyes. She had a surprise look on her face, shocked at who she was looking at. "Is that you, Rotsen?"

"Wait, Liz?" The American looked at himself now, using the mirror that was still in his hands. He saw that his blue hair turned back into his inky black hair with the dyed streak. His eyes widen as he looked over himself, seeing he still had on the same gear but now his whole body was inside the game, including his height. His face redden from embarrassment as he realized that the girl was really the same Lisbeth he'd been grinding levels with and that she was actually the same height as he was.

"B-but, how?" Panic started to flow back into Lisbeth, overlooking herself as well.

Rotsen's eyes widen as he started to remember the pamphlet he was giving with the NerveGear, remembering a certain section. "The scan. There's a high-density signal device inside the NerveGear rig. It can see what my face looks like, but how's it know my height and body type?"

It was Lisbeth's turn to make conclusions. "When you first put the NerveGear on, it had to do this... calibration thing. It asked you to touch your body all over, remember?"

"But wait, why would he do this. I mean, this all doesn't add up."

As if on cue Kayaba spoke in his booking voice again, gaining everyone's attention again. "Right now, you are probably wondering why. Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do this? Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design.

"Kayaba..." Rotsen's first started to clench, rage now filling inside him.

"As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

The whole town square was silent now. No sound was made or could be even heard as Kayaba disappeared with everything, the red sky, the windows and himself. Everyone just stood there, others on their knees. They're whole world had just crashed down on them all, realizing that all wasn't just a game anymore.

Rotsen was thinking to himself now, much like everyone else was possibly doing. "It's not a game anymore. It's real. Akihiko Kayaba created a virtual world. He designed the NerveGear rig.
The man's a genius! I've been a fan of his for the very beginning ... so I know... everything he just said... is the truth! All those hours spent listening to his podcasts and interviews to find out about the actual date release of Sword Art Online, for any tips or tricks in the game. All of it is true. If I die in the game, I'll die in real life!"

Silence now fell; the first one to scream in agony was a girl in front. "My god... No!"

"No way!"

"Not cool, dude!"

"Let me out... Let me out of here!"

"I can't stay here. I have a meeting after this!"

"You have to let us go!"

"We're fucked!"

Rotsen slowly came back, blinking rapidly before looking over to Lisbeth . She seemed broken, not being fazed by the shouting. She just laid there, on her knees, deep in thought. Rotsen knew she wasn't going to survive long, not without help. He grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the crowd and into an empty path out of the town. When he knew they were along he let her go, speaking to her frozen expression.

"Listen, Kayaba is telling the truth. We're really stuck in this game. So if it's based off of every MMORPG then we have to get Exp. and money as fast as we can. The fields out here are going to be hunting dry so our best chance is to head to the next town. Don't worry, I know the best paths to go on and nothing wrong is going to happen. Liz…?"

Lisbeth stayed frozen for the whole conversation. She tried her best to make a decision and she knew what she was going to do. "Rotsen, listen… thanks but I don't know. I mean, I already have a friend here and she'd be devastated if I left her with a guy I just met today."

Rotsen went into a silent argument with himself. He was able to split all the loot an Exp. with Lisbeth but with another player? It wasn't going to be enough.

He slowly nodded, having a small smile to try and comfort her. "I get it, I'd do the same. If this is what you want then I'm not stopping you. Just promise me you'll call me up if you're ever in a jam?"

She slowly started to look up from the ground, a playful grin back on her face that he remembered her having not an hour ago. "As if we're ever going to need help."

Rotsen chuckled, looking behind himself and seeing the sun getting lower. He looked back to Lisbeth, a tired like smile now on his face. "I guess I'll see you on the next floor Liz."

Rotsen gave a little two fingered salute before starting run down street but stopped when he was grabbed the back of his tunic. He stopped and turned around, seeing it was Elisabeth Her face was a little red but it was gone unnoticed by Rotsen. In her hands was one of the ores she had when they first met at the town square, after their fall.

"Here, take this. It's Endorum. It's a rare metal in the game I got off this merchant with a glitch. He was reported by another player so he was taken off the grid. I want you to have it and sell it in the next town so you'd have enough supplies."

Rotsen looked at the dark green ore covered in black rock. Another soft smile was plastered on him as he placed a hand over it, feeling a small spark before putting it in his inventory. Blue code encased it before disappearing out of her hands.

"Thanks Liz, now promise me I'll see you on the second floor?" A small grin spread across his face as Lisbeth's went into an irritated state as he raised his right pinky.

"You got to be kidding me."

"Does it look like I am?"

Lisbeth rolled her eyes playfully before entwining her pinky with his, making the promise. "This is also a promise you won't stupidly die to something out there."

"I won't." He grinned before breaking contact, now running down the empty street and out into the fields outside.

He ran with everything he had in him to continue running, wanting to take advantage of his time. He didn't even stop when he saw large Dire Wolf on the path, being aggroed by him. His mind however acted first as drew out his three foot long sword. Rotsen yelled as he ran his blade through the Dire Wolf when it was midair, cutting it in half and continued running, making a new mental promise.

"I got this! I know I do! This world won't get the best of me! I will get to the hundredth floor! I will survive, no matter what!"