A/N: If you're still reading after the first chapter, Yay! Thanks for continuing to stroke my ego in my first attempt at a story. I appreciate the reviews left for me, and have taken them into account. There were two main concerns brought up.

1: RNG stands for "Random Number Generator", or at least it does to me.

2: Unique Skills were not given at random. I can agree to an extent. The wiki says they were to be unlocked after the 90th floor, with the exception of Holy Sword and Dual Blade. I offer two explanations. One, We don't know exactly if some of the skills were given out to certain players and if they had a prerequisite of "fastest reaction time" like Dual Blade. Two, it's a story that follows canon, but isn't. Therefore, I reserve the right to change things within the realm of possibility.

Lastly, I do not own nor claim to own Sword Art Online, and make no monetary gains while writing the story.

Please R/R and tell me what you think!

"Come on Tarok! You're falling behind!" Eldra called out, laughing as she decimated another boar.

"So not fair." Tarok muttered under his breath in annoyance. The two friends had begun a competition, to see who could kill the most mobs within a half an hour. In the beginning, it had seemed like a good idea. But it was obvious that he hadn't thought it through all the way. The beta tester he had befriended was absolutely destroying him in kill count, and taking on two or three boars at a time, seemingly without even trying.

"Serves you right, Talon… This is what you get for being cocky." The muttering continued into something unintelligible, as he slashed furiously with his sword at the boar he was currently dealing with. His annoyance only grew when he saw that the boars health only dropped by about a fourth, indicating that he simply wasn't outputting enough damage with his unempowered strikes.

"That's time!" Eldra said, coming up behind him as he used Horizontal to end the fight. "What was your count?" She said, hands behind her back with a look so innocent on her face that anyone looking knew it was anything but.

"Nine…" Tarok said, knowing what was about to happen.

"Ha! I got fifteen. Pay up!" She said, laughing. Tarok sighed, opening the menu to begin the trade with Eldra, muttering something about overconfidence, and was about to send the gift of one hundred col, when suddenly they were both enveloped in blinding blue light that was incredibly disorienting.

When he could see again, Tarok found himself in a huge group of people all speaking Japanese. There were confused and angry voices all around him, but he couldn't understand a single thing that they were saying. He looked around frantically, looking for Eldra in the sea of faces as more blue lights appeared, bringing more players into what he realized was the starting plaza. The plaza looked… sinister in the setting sun. With the distressed players around him bathed in a dark red light, something felt off about the entire situation. Why were so many people freaking out? Surely it was just an opening day ceremony, right?

"Tarok!" He heard the familiar voice behind him, and he turned around gratefully to see Eldra in her red shirt moving through the crowd towards him.

"Eldra! What's going on?" Tarok said, getting a sinking feeling in his stomach as he saw the expression on her face. It was one of despair and confusion. In the relatively short time that Tarok had known her, she had never had any expression that could be considered anywhere close to negative, and suddenly Tarok knew something had to be very, very wrong.

"Have you tried to log out?" Eldra asked him searchingly, almost desperately.

"No, I haven't. What's wrong-" Tarok cut himself off as a red hexagon appeared in the sky with Japanese characters on it. The conversation around him stopped, as everyone looked up into the air at what he assumed was a warning message. The hexagons quickly multiplied in the air, two different sets of characters alternated as they moved across the sky, deepening the red that washed over the plaza into a color that resembled blood.

What in the hell is going on…

As soon as that thought was had, a red goo dripped from the edges of the hexagon, coalescing into a large blob suspended from the edges of the hexagons that grew and grew until it started to take shape into something else. A humanoid figure appeared from the blob, slowly gaining details, until it became a floating figure covered in a red cloak. Upon closer inspection, Tarok noticed that there truly was nothing in the cloak, seeing the disconnected gloves. It was just held together by a black and red mist. His stomach dropped, his sixth sense letting him know that something was not right.

Suddenly, there was a loud voice that seemed to be emanating from the empty cloak, and the only thing that Tarok understood in the opening speech was Akihiko Kayaba.

Is this Kayaba? Is this just an opening gimmick? Somehow, Tarok didn't think that was even a possibility. Something definitely wasn't right.

Then, there was a weight on his side, and Tarok glanced over. Eldra had leaned closer to him, almost unconsciously, as she stared up at the figure with an expression of horror. By instinct Tarok put his arm around her, hugging her closer to his body in an attempt to comfort her. And the next statement out of Kayaba's mouth made him glad he did, because it caused Eldra to gasp and almost fall over, and Tarok found himself holding her up. Around him, there were gasps of horror and shouts of anger directed at the floating figure. The pressure of the emotions around him was almost physical, and it seemed like a better and better idea to get the hell out of here.

Holding Eldra to his side, he guided her through the crowd, towards the west gate. He slid through tiny gaps between people, gently nudging some of them out of the way. Any response they might have had at a normal time was null, their attentions drawn to the floating figure speaking Japanese. Eldra offered little resistance, her feet dragging alongside him as she continued to stare at the figure in the center of the Plaza.

Suddenly, everyone around him began to open their menus, including Eldra, which surprised him. She was supposedly in shock. Must've been because of something the figure had said. Tarok didn't follow suit, however, because of his attempts at guiding her through the crowd. So, when she materialized the mirror from her inventory, he was still moving. Then, light enveloped them once more, forcing Tarok into a panic, holding Eldra closer thinking that they were being teleported again. Once the light faded and Tarok realized they were in the same spot, Tarok realized that he was holding someone at least a foot shorter, in a place that… wasn't the most appropriate. He quickly moved his hand away, back down to her side where he felt much more comfortable. Thankfully, Eldra didn't seem to even notice in her current state, and Tarok took a quick look at his companion in her new form.

As he had noted earlier, Eldra stood about a foot lower than his six foot frame, and was noticeably slimmer than her previous avatar. Whereas the old Eldra was muscular, this one was almost dainty, and her olive skin tone darkened slightly. Her breasts were a bit on the small side, but it matched her curvy figure nicely. All of this analysis took place in the span of a few seconds, and quickly Tarok redirected his attention to himself to see if he had changed, and indeed he slight changes he had made to himself had been reverted, his small amount of belly fat back, and he assumed his hair had gone back to it's close cropped look. This combination of facts sent Tarok's stomach even further into the floor. Something was very, very wrong here.

The protective instincts that had been running his mind nudged him to keep moving towards the exit of the plaza as the figure floating in the center faded away, leaving behind final words that he didn't understand. He'd really need to figure out what was going on. But, the duo had reached the gate, and he decided that he had the space he needed to pick Eldra up in his arms and carry her, so that's what he did, placing one arm behind her knees and the other across her back, and lifting her in a bridal carry with a larger amount of effort than he expected.

"Shouldn't have to try so hard…" He muttered to himself, shifting her weight in his arms to try and get her in a more comfortable position.

If he had a hand to facepalm with, he would have, when he figured out the reason why as he staggered down the street. "Numbers. Not real life ability. Numbers." His strength skill was just barely above average for his level, and carrying the weight of an in game person was almost exceeding his limit to move. But it was faster than her shuffling feet, so Tarok kept strong and went towards one of the inn's closest to the plaza that he had noted on his mad rush through the city earlier in the day. Reaching the door, he set Eldra on her feet, and opened it, leading her into the building and starting the NPC interaction.

"I need a room, please." Tarok said tiredly.

"Gladly sir. That will be 15 Col. Right down there, room three." The innkeeper said cheerfully, pointing. Tarok couldn't help but be annoyed at the cheery disposition he had even if, logically, he knew it was an AI and didn't know any better. But logic wasn't at the front of his mind at the moment.

Pressing the button to finalize the transaction, he led Eldra towards the hallway where the rooms were, staggering from mental fatigue. It was almost three in the morning in the real world, and the consequences of staying up this lane paying a video game all about your brain were easily felt, especially with the concerns that Tarok had about the game.

Reaching the door to the room, Tarok opened it, and his heart quickly sank with despair. One bed. Other boys would have been eager to take the opportunity to sleep in the same bed with a beautiful young woman, but this wasn't the case with Tarok. While he did have a bit of a habit with swearing, he grew up in an LDS family, where respect for women was one of the most important values that was taught to him. Sighing, knowing what he had to do, he led Eldra to the bed and helped her lay down. She was still staring at nothing with her blank eyes, drilling holes in the ceiling

"Shock…" Tarok muttered to himself. What was going on? He looked back on their last interaction, about how she asked if he had tried to log out. Right before that man, Kayaba, appeared in the sky.

Tarok opened his menu with a swipe, and scrolled down to the bottom. He stared. According to the manual, it was supposed to be right there. But all he saw was an empty box. Absolutely nothing. His mind whirled.

"Was this what he was announcing? That we can't log out? If it was a bug, the square wouldn't have been as angry as it was, and she…" He looked over the top of his menu at Eldra, the sinking feeling he had increasing in intensity.

"I'll need to ask tomorrow… If she's up for it." Tarok said to himself, watching as her eyes slowly closed. There was nothing more to be done today, so he went and grabbed the chair by the desk, leaning it against the wall next to the bed and sitting down.

He rolled his shoulders, attempting to get comfortable on the wooden chair, and he almost closed his menu when he recalled seeing something odd earlier in the day. Going through his skill menu, he scanned each name until he found what had stood out before.

Dragon Rage: The user of this skill is capable of harnessing the anger of the dragon, and as such they can attack with the power of sword skills without any delays, scaling with player level and the amount of skill points they have in equipped weapon type.

Note: All other combat skills are deactivated while this skill is equipped.

Also causes special interaction with some parts of Aincraid.

Type: Unique

Weapon Qualification: All

Level: (Determined based on equipped weapon)/1000

Current level: 8/1000

If he hadn't been sitting down, Tarok would have fallen over at the description of the ability. The power this ability could give if used correctly was almost insane. But it was balanced in a way, requiring you to raise your weapon skill before you could unleash the full potential.

"Why did I… Why did I get this?" Tarok asked himself, pondering why exactly he had received this powerful ability, but almost immediately stopped worrying over it, knowing he wasn't going to get an answer any time soon. With that in mind, he leaned back against the wall, closed his eyes, and tried to sleep.

A/N: Thanks for reading this far, and I'd like to say, I now know why some authors have a difficult time getting stories out there in a timely manner. The last section alone took me probably two weeks to get it the way I wanted it. That said, please let me know some things I can improve on in my writing.

Agent 92, if you're still around and reading this, I did get your advice about focusing on something new and different to set this story apart from some others, I just kept getting stuck in the implementation of it, and the plan is, after I get a good way into this story, I'm going to start another one with a special interaction with guns. But, I'll need to plan that out. I'm just making sure you know that I took your advice into consideration, and please keep giving it. The same goes to you, ThisIsTheGreatestUsername. Thanks for the advice on fixing up some of my writing.