Opening his eyes, a silver-haired youth standing next to one in black hair looked around the world they had just arrived in. They turned to each other and nodded in silent agreement. Then took off running, with a blonde elven girl in green clothes struggling to catch up. Their names? Depends on if you're talking about this brand new game world or the real world. In the real world they were Ryou Misaki, Kirigaya Kazuto, and Suguha Kazuto but here they were known as Haseo, Kirito, and Leafa. "Com'n Suguha, you're slow leakin'!" Haseo called. "I'm a girl, I'm supposed to leak slowly!" she shouted back. All 3 had a good laugh from that. "Com'n you 2 cut it out... Stop with the flirting, I'm standing right here..." Kirito teased. "Jerks...!" Leafa huffed. "Why thank you Suguha, you just made my day..." Haseo quipped in response. "Um, Haseo... We're not supposed to use our real names here..." Kirito corrected. "I don't see the harm in it... We grew up together..." he replied with a shrug. "I'm going shopping...! I still have my leftover cash from the Beta test...!" Leafa declared confidently. And shortly after found her brother and childhood friend walking away. "Hey...!" she shouted. "Have fun...!" Haseo called. "Yeah, see ya' later!" Kirito replied. "You guys are JERKS, you hear me!? J-E-R-K-S!" she shouted after them feeling flustered.
Haseo and Kirito ran through Mac Anu, mostly just taking in the sights of the city. When they decided that they'd had enough goofing around they decided to make for the Chaos Gate. On their way to it, they were stopped by a guy with long brown hair and a red bandana around his head. "Hey! Hey wait up you 2...!" he called. "Uh, sorry are we supposed to know you...?" Haseo asked. "No, nothing like that, my name's Klien-..." he began. "Your screen name says BallsDeep69..." Kirito pointed out. "Wha-what the fuck!?" Klien cried as he opened his menu. Kirito and Haseo busted out laughing at the expression on Klien's face. "Yeah, yeah, very funny assholes..." Klien replied trying not to laugh himself. "We ARE assholes and it's GREAT! What's your point?" Haseo replied with a chuckle. "Let's help him out, Ryou..." Kirito replied. "Seriously? We're just gonna' help out some random guy...?" Haseo quipped. "If we don't help him, he's just gonna' run around helplessly and end up as lunch for a random monster or a target for some jackass PKer..." Kirito responded. "Fine... But I won't be held responsible if he turns out to be some psychotic stalker..." Haseo relented. The 3 head to the Chaos Gate. "So, how do we get to an area?" Klien asked. Haseo sighed heavily. "Delta Courageous Engaging Daydream..." Kirito said to the Gate. With that the 3 were warped to a field area. "Twenty gil says he gets his ass kicked by one of these boars..." Haseo quipped. "Shut up, Ryou..." Kirito quipped back. "Um, did I miss something?" Klien asked. "We're childhood friends..." Kirito explained. Klien started trying to kill the boar but it mostly just knocked him around. "Smooth, real smooth..." Haseo commented sarcastically while helping him up. "Screw you man, that's like the pig from hell!" Klien half-shouted. Kirito picked up a rock, charged it and threw it. The number 943 flashed over the pig in red and it died. "My god...!" Kirito started in sarcastic glee. "Ah fucking hell...!" Haseo sighed. "I have discovered the most powerful weapon in the game...!" Kirito continued with his sarcastic glee. "Fuck, shut the hell up, Kirigaya!" Haseo yelled. "The Mythril Pebble of Pig-Smiting!" Kirito declared in his sarcastic glee. "Please make him stop..." Klien begged while in a state of utter shame. "I'm trying..." Haseo cried desperately. "For you see, long ago-..." Kirito began. But a quick punch in the gut from Haseo put a stop to Kirito's long story about rocks.
After a while longer of training, Klien decided it was time to log out for his pizza dinner. "Huh? Hey Haseo, total noob question but how do I log out...?" Klien asked. "Are you fucking serious...?!" Haseo huffed. "Hey, it's NerveGear! I can't Alt+F4 this shit man...!" Klien defended. Haseo opened his menu but was shocked to find his log out button was disabled. "What the hell!?" he asked in disbelief. Kirito checked his and sure enough, no log out. A bell chimed in the distance and they were teleported to Mac Anu's plaza (AN: this is the plaza from SAO). A mysterious and robed figure appeared in a waterfall of what appeared to be blood coming from the now reddened sky. "Welcome players of World of Blades to my Opening Ceremonies! I am the creator, Yasuhiko Kayaba...! Over the next couple months and perhaps years, you may come to hate me..." he began. There was some confusion and babbling in the croud. "Everyone... Everyone, your attention please..." he called. With an upraised arm his character went mute. A few minutes later it came back on. "Ok, I just realized what happened there, it's very funny but right now serious time... Like in the now obsolete World of Warcraft, you are no longer here by choice... Unlike WoW however, it is not your desire to escape your dull, grey little lives keeping you here..." he explains, "You are now my prisoners within this world. If you want to escape, you must make it to the hundredth floor and defeat the last boss... While your healing items and spells still work, if your health drops to 0 and no one revives you within 10 minutes, you die in real life... One final thing, examine your inventories, you will notice a special item I have placed there..." Eveyone looked and were surprised to find hand-mirrors. At first glace, there seemed to be nothing special about them but soon the entire crowd was glowing. When the individual's glow was gone, their character was their real, actual age and gender. "As you can see, I have stripped you of your petty fascades and shown you as you really are..." Kayaba explained, "And now, I leave you to your devices..."
Amidst the panic and confusion, Kirito and Haseo were separated. All either could do was hope the other and Leafa hadn't died from being trampled in the crowd's panic. Kirito managed to pull Klien away and explained to him a bold plan. "So this is the deal, we need to take an early advantage before the fields are picked clean of wild game... I could use a teammate, are you in...?" Kirito asked. "As tempting as that sounds, my friends are back there... I can't just leave them..." Klien replied. Kirito looked at him helplessly. "Alright, I don't like it but I respect your loyalties... Best of luck, my friend..." Kirito replied offering him a hand. "Thanks, you too..." Klien responded shaking Kirito's hand, "If I see Haseo, I'll send him to you..." "If you see Haseo, just let him know I'm ok... And listen, tell him to find and look after Leafa for me..." Kirito replied. "Will do!" Klien answered. With that Kirito ran off.