0321 hours, November 23rd, 2022

1st Floor, Near Horunka Village

There was something to be said about how lifelike Sword Art Online was. Advertised as the first real Virtual Reality game, all five senses of the human mind were appealed to.

Barring specific effects, such as the opening of a menu screen, everything heard was right there. The murmur of a crowd in a marketplace, screams of monsters, the clang of blades or even the snores of a semi Teutonic roommate.

Smell and Taste went hand in hand, as one could walk past a bakery and smell fresh bread, pastries, fruits, and the likes. Although, it was still too early in the game for players to outdo the usually tasteless NPCs...

Perhaps one of the greatest advantages for VR systems was the visual prowess. If a picture had a thousand words, then one second of viewing Virtual Reality was a million pictures. The sunsets alone were absolute pleasures to behold, complete with the effect of bird-like creatures flying off into the 'sun.' Once a gamer tried VR, it was nigh impossible to return to two-dimensional computer monitors, which were quite bland in comparison.

Finally, the sense of touch. It reminded Kal that despite the 1s and 0s, some things never changed. The weight of a reliable weapon in your hands could provide quite the morale boost, and the fresh early morning raid could do wonders for the mind. However, that was (quite literally, here) a double-edged sword in some instances. Namely, the sensation of pain.

The pain system in SAO was an odd one indeed. When you slid across a rough surface on your face, you knew your body was getting beat up, but it wasn't quite the same. It was merely enough to see that you were in trouble.

Speaking from experience, sliding across grass was not fun. More so from the fact that something caused you to do so in the first place….huh.

'I must be in mortal peril. What's new?'

Ignoring the cacophony in his head, he hauled himself to his feet, checking his surroundings. 'Other people?' Check. 'Monstrous wolf charging me?' Check. 'Spear in my hand?'

….'Not the case, it seems.'

Instinctively, he rolled to the side. The Dire Wolf howled in frustration, blood red eyes flashing. Really, it didn't need to be so loud…

"Kal, get up. I've got a few potions in my satchel!" called a familiar voice. "Yunkers, cover him, I've got the girl!" The voice belonged to Sazuki, who was currently bashing a dire wolf with his kite shield. "There's only two left-" A sound of broken glass rang through the air. "Scratch that, one left. Yunkers and I have it."

Kal, barely able to understand the sights and noises, slowly stood up.

'I need to stop getting concussions, or whatever replaces them in this world; it's not good for my health when death is on the line.'

Shaking his head, he rolled forward again, just avoiding the set of claws slashing the air where he had been. Dashing to the top of the hill his team was on, he was nearly ready for the purple blur that was Mochi. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I don't remember feeling better!" Kal slurred, taking a goofy grin. 'Maybe he could get away with some teasing?' Mochi proceeded to slap him, confirming his suspicions that women do not, indeed, take almost dying lightly. Really, what's the point of hugging, then hitting, then healing him?

He chugged the potion he had swiped from her bag and searched for his spear. "Has anyone seen..." Kal cut off, just noticing the look on his friends' faces. "Well, that's why I should have gotten a spare. It's my fault, I guess. Speaking of which, what happened?"

"Only someone like you would say that at times like this. Idiot."

Sazuki cut in. "What Mochi is trying to say is this: when wolves surround us, it is not a good idea to solo them while holding a girl. And yes, said girl is right here. She would be okay, if not unconscious. Nice streak in the ground, by the way, I think it's your new record."

Kal ignored the jabbing remark as his gaze settled on the mystery girl that had started the whole mess. Her equipment was a sundress; indeed, not standard beginner clothing of SAO. No weapons or armor, asides from tall leather boots. He didn't think much about that. The real jaw-dropper was, well, her actual looks.

Even in the low level of ambient night lights, she was beautiful. Waist length hair the color of coral brown was tied together with a large white bow, ponytail. Two bangs slightly covered her face, and despite her shut eyes, her face seemed to have a knowing smirk.

Kal didn't know how long he was staring, but a cough forced him to tear his eyes away. Mochi had an unreadable expression on her face as placed a hand on his shoulder. She pointed over the hill, where Kal could see pinpricks of lights.

"Let's go Kal. We aren't in the Safe Zone yet, and I want to sleep in an actual bed this time~." She stretched her arms above her head, groaning. "It's strange, how it's impossible for my body to be sore, and yet it is. I want a warm soak, even if it's virtual."

The others nodded their head in sync, something out of a comedic anime. Off in the distance, several howls were heard, barely louder than the BGM of pianos and harps.

Cresting another of the many hills typical to the Floor, they spotted a handful of boars, some of the weakest monsters in the game. They continued walking, still tense from their 'surprise' encounters. So far, there were no more enemies in their path, but that again raised a question…

It was Sazuki who broke the silence. "Hey, why do you think those monsters spawned when we found this girl?"

"In all likelihood, she is a quest NPC. Think about it; you find the object to start a quest after defeating strong enemies, right? That Midnight Greatwolf was most definitely some mini-boss, spawning to prevent us from reaching this girl. Certainly was difficult, with even more appearing when we found her."

"Normally I would agree, but why are we able to pick her up? If it were anything like beta, the system would warn us of violations. Unless…" Mochi paused, hesitantly.

Yunkers beat Mochi to the punch. "Unless she is a unique quest NPC, giving us the authorization to carry her. That, though, is against even the data from the Beta Test."

"Well, that might be the case, but it's only floor one, barring what we learned from the Beta test. But...this game has, by all accounts, been proven to be fair, be it in drop rates or anti-cheats. Why would we get access to a quest, with a removable NPC?"

"Perhaps she could be a player, but in either case, nothing happens until she wakes up. Besides, Kal, shouldn't complain about picking up girls, NPC or player!" Sazuki and Kal bumped fists, eyes glinting madly, only for Mochi to double slap the duo.

"That's twice I've had to finish your Manzai Acts, idiots! There can't be two Boke's when there's only one Tsukkomi. Hmph!"

"Oi Oi, can't you just relax a bit? We're only having fun! What's the harm in picking up random girls you find in the middle of nowhere?" This brought about a round of sweat drops as they collectively realized just how bad that sounded.

Yunkers could only shake his head, marveling at the emote system; glinting eyes, steam from the ears, random bouts of Tsundere-ism, and even the sweat drops, like this was some cheap anime. He just hoped that his glasses didn't glint when he pushed on them. 'A perverted Tank player, and a little Ninja/knife-wielder who beats the crap out of him. That seems familiar…"

"Pervert!" A dull thud resounded through the air, Yunkers, and Kal not entirely tracking Mochi as she put a knee to Sazuki's face.

Yunkers caught Kal's eyes, and stage whispered. "I think this is becoming much too familiar for comfort; it would be bad if God plagiarized characters."

"Yeah, that would be bad…" Raising his voice, Kal faux exclaimed. "Oh look at the time, it's almost time to wake up. What do you all say about sprinting to town? Last one there treats Mochi to whatever dessert she wants!"

An icy chill swept over the boys as Mochi drooled. "I….I think it's best we hurry then if I had a wallet it would be trying to strangle me."

"But...what about the girl we found? Who's strong enough to run with her?" Yunker's voice, usually calm and collected, was disobeying it's master's will and rose an octave high enough to make Mozart proud. By now, a demon-like specter was rising from behind Mochi, and malicious chanting could be heard in the background.

"O, Fortuna!"

"Velut Luna!"

"Statu Variabilis..."

Mochi grinned. Sazuki whimpered. The wind blew as tumbleweeds rolled. Somewhere, a wolf howled. Then... Mochi was gone in an instant, with Sazuki not far behind her.

"Wow, I have never seen him, or any other tank, move that fast."

"A~yup."

"Hey Kal, I've always looked up to you, 'my man.'" The words came out awkwardly, Yunker's face twitching as he spoke. "Not only are you skilled, but you are also a gentleman. And NO, I don't swing that way…" He coughed at that last part.

"Yunkers...thanks. That means a lot to me, man." Kal was tearing up at this point. Yunkers, the ever stoic half-blood Austrian, was finally showing human emotions. In all the six months that they had known each other, this was the most emotion he had gotten from him!

"O-of course, mein d...my Dude." He coughed to clear his throat. "What I'm trying to say, you being the hero of this story, is this: CATCH!"

Before he could do anything, the mystery girl collided with poor Kal, knocking him to the ground once again. Yunkers was already gone, giving a Teutonic laugh, "Höhöhö!"

The dust cleared, revealing a deep gash in the dirt, with Kal at the end. Scowling, he glared daggers at his running teammate. "Oh, that's how it is, huh?"

Dusting himself off, he took the time to study the girl in his arms. She was pretty light, with an average frame. Her face had a gentleness to it, almost like an older sister. That was nothing to speak of her...curves.

He grinned. "Me and you, alone in the middle of nowhere for who knows how long. Sign me up!" With that, he trudged down the hill in the direction of the nearest village. Not, of course, that his resident Princess Peach could answer him.

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Author's Note: *Glances at the date* Please don't kill me.

I've been wanting to get this out for a looong time, but College/Army/Misery decided to have a tea party with me. I'm finally feeling relaxed enough to enjoy writing, so...knock on wood.

You know, this story started out as A) my broken heart upon finishing a certain game called *redacted*, and Two) my response to reading a bunch of wonderful fanfics, most of which are SAO. Shoutout to SaintInfernalNeos for his inspirational story, SAO: The Eroge. That is a blast to read. In addition, "Apparently Video games are bad for your health" gave me ideas about to how to handle just what exactly Kayaba was thinking with SAO, and I like their interpretation that it's all a test to give AIs sentient consciousness. This is by Nemesis 13.

Well, this chapter was short, but I needed to get it out there. See you next time!