Author's Note
Alright sorry for the boring intro. A lot of explaining to do. Some parts will also be boring in some parts of this story, but things will look up in the next chapter, so please bear with me.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Sword Art Online.
*Shin's PoV*
"Hello, welcome to Sword Art Online. I am Cardinal. Would you like to use your Beta Account?
Account Name: Kai
Gender: M
Yes/No
Well why the hell not?
I didn't want to go through the whole avatar thing again so I just selected "Yes"
After I did, I felt my appearance starting to change. I was a couple of inches taller, hair a bit long to cover my eyes, just because I think it's cool. Deal with it.
Welcome Back Kai. As a beta tester, you are given the privilege to select 2 items from your previous inventory. However, weapons and items with special powers will be restricted. Please select the items of your choice.
"Wow Really? I get to choose 2 items? That's awesome!" I thought to myself. I decided to keep one of my old weapons from the beta. It's one of the swords that I had from the start of the beta. It was powerful, but not strong enough to be considered too strong. The sword was a player-made one-handed sword called "Cobalt Striker". It was cobalt blue (You don't say) and was pretty heavy, but just right for me. I also selected a teleport crystal, since they don't come cheap in this game.
As a former beta tester, you also get 2000 points to upgrade a skill of your choice.
My mouth gaped at the screen in shock. That was enough to max out 2 skills! I quickly selected "acrobatics" and "sprinting", bringing both skills to the maximum extent.
Thank You, and Welcome to Aincrad
Light quickly blurred my vision, and the next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of the Town of Beginnings. I quickly saw my brother and went to meet him. His Avatar was the exact same as mine, with the only difference was his shirt color (his was black and mine was blue) and hairstyle, which was made slightly longer, almost reaching his shoulders. His avatar's face was more masculine than his original one, yet still recognizable.
"We're back Shin!" he said happily.
"Shh! It's Kai in here!" I hissed.
"Right, right, sorry about that." He said while grinning.
Kazuto's in-game name is Kirito, taken from Kirigaya Kazuto. It seemed that he also had gained the privileges of a former beta tester, because he had a pitch black one-handed longsword strapped on his back.
As they walked through the streets, a man ran over to them. "Hey, you guys were from the beta right?" he asked. When the two boys nodded, he continued "Can out help me out here? This is my first VRMMORPG and I need help learning the basics." He said. Kirito looked at Kai questioningly, and he nodded.
"Alright we'll help. My name is Kirito and he's my twin brother Kai." Kirito said.
"Well, that explained why you two look so alike. I thought I was seeing things. I'm Klein! So why don't we start by killing some monsters?" Klein offered. Both boys agreed, and they headed off to the fields near the town.
*Kirito's PoV, A few moments later*
"STAY STILL YOU STUPID PIG!" Klein screamed as he missed hitting a Wild Boar for the twentieth time. Seriously it's the easiest mob in the whole freakin game! The boar just grunted and charged him in the groin.
Ouch. If this was real life, that would have hurt a lot.
"AAAAAAIIIIIEEEEE" Klein screamed as his most sensitive part was crushed. He crumpled to the ground, groveling in pain. I just sighed. Really?
"Man, that's stupid. You do realize you can't feel pain in this game right?" Kai asked as I face-palmed. Klein realized this and stood up, embarrassed and muttered "Sorry… force of habit." Wait, force of habit?
"You mean that happened IRL before? Like, multiple times?" I asked, a grin slowly spreading on my face. "No! I mean, maybe yes… I mean…" He trailed of as Kai chuckled and i snickered.
"Yeah alright laugh all you want." He said, turning back to the boar. "So how do you activate these 'sword skills' you were talking about?"
"All you need to do is just getting to the right position, and then let the system do the work." I explained, and then i walked over to a boar near the first one while drawing my sword, Dark Destroyer. "For instance," I said, sliding into a battle stance, and then I performed a 'Vertical' then continued with a 'Horizontal', killing the boar.
Klein got the idea and slid into his own stance. As the boar charged, he used a 'Horizontal' and hit the boar. Squealing in pain, the boar charged again, only to meet its end on Klein's katana, as he performed a simple 'Thrust'.
"WOOOO! I DID IT!" he yelled in triumph as the pig exploded to a thousand blue polygons. "Not bad. But you do know that was one of the most common mobs on this floor right?" Kai stated. Klein's expression fell. "What?!" he complained. "I thought it was a field boss or something…" At this, both I and Kai burst out laughing. Klein frowned. After a while, I and Kai stopped laughing. "Why would I make you fight a field boss as your first opponent? Anyway, want to continue grinding?" I asked, and Klein nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah! Let's keep going!"
*3 and a half hours later*
We took a short break, sitting on a hill nearby, watching the sun set in the horizon.
"It's Amazing. No matter how many times I remind myself, I keep forgetting that I'm in a video game." Klein said, shaking his head appreciatively. "Whoever made this game is a genius, for sure. I'm really glad I was born in this time!"
"You're so pumped up over these little things…" Kai remarked, shaking his head in amusement at their companion's energetic attitude.
"Hey! This is my first time in full-dive, you know!"
Say what now?
"Then…this is your first time using the NerveGear?" I asked, and he nodded.
"Yeah, I rushed out and bought all the gear and stuff for SAO. I was really lucky to get one of the ten thousand copies. You two are ten times luckier though, since you guys got into the beta test. Only a thousand got accepted."
"Yeah, I guess so." I muttered. I admit, I felt a little embarrassed. It felt kinda awkward.
"How far did you get in the beta?" Klein asked, curious. I glanced at Kai (Who glanced at me) and shrugged. "We made it to the 10th floor in two months, but this time, it'll definitely take less than one." Kai answered.
"That's pretty impressive. You two really seem to be into this." I nodded in agreement. I drew my sword, holding it in the light. Even though this world was virtual, it seems so real. "To be honest, during the beta test, SAO was all I thought about, day and night. In this world, one sword can take you anywhere you want to go. It's a virtual world, but I feel more alive and more at home here than I do in reality." I felt this way, because of my whole 'family situation' in real life.
"Well, that explains why you asked me to finish your homework from time to time." Kai muttered. I pretended not to hear. Instead, I sheathed my sword and turned to Klein. "Well, should we grind some more?"
"Of course!" he said eagerly. Then his face fell. "I mean, I'd love to…" his stomach grumbled, and he held a hand to his stomach. "But I'm really hungry. So… I'm going to eat."
"You know eating food here only makes you think you're not hungry right?" Kai pointed out.
Klein just smiled. "Nah don't worry. I've already ordered a hot pizza to be delivered to my house around 5.30!" he declared.
I laughed. "Prepared are you?" Klein nodded. "Yup! I'll log out, eat, and then come back!"
"I see…" I said. I trailed off, but Klein must've noticed, because he started talking again. "Hey, I'm going be meeting friends from another game when I get back. Do you want to friend them too, and join us?" he offered. I shuffled awkwardly. I was more of a solo player, or duo player with Kai. I don't really want to meet a lot of other people, since they could hold me back. Having one like Klein is fine, but if we take more…
"Hey, if you don't want to, that's fine! I can introduce you another time." Klein hastened, and I looked down. "Yeah, sorry…thanks." I felt bad, saying no, but meeting so many new faces at once would be too much.
"Yeah, thanks for offering, Klein." Kai said, more louder than I said it. I didn't pay attention, he's always been more… social than I have been.
"Hey, that's my line!" Klein grinned, walking up to them and putting a hand on our shoulders. "I owe you guys for all this. I'll find a way to pay you back! Virtually, of course. I'm broke in the real world, paying for all of this." Kai and I laughed along with him a bit. "If you need to know anything else, just ask us. Beta testers are here to help newbies, anyway. Without us, you would've probably ended up losing to wild boars." Kai joked, and Klein pouted mockingly.
"I'll do that!" See you guys around… oh, and before I forget…" He agreed, waving, before turning away and opening his menu. Suddenly he sent a friend request for me and my brother. Both of us accepted it. "Okay then, Kai and I will go grind more." I nodded and Kai waved, then we turned to leave. "Uh guys, this might sound really noob, but where's the log out button? Klein asked.
"Really? It's at the bottom of the menu." Kai sighed.
"No the icon is there, but there's no button to press."
Wait… what?
I sighed. Then I opened my own menu and pointed. "It's over-what the…" It WAS blacked out. Why the hell was it blacked out? Hmm... I've got a bad feeling about this.
"What the actual ****?" Kai muttered as he checked his own menu.
"I don't understand… is it a bug?" I murmured, staring at the menu.
"Well, it is the first day, so there's bound to be a few bugs right?" Klein said, a little annoyed. Then he grinned. "Heh, I bet the server people are freaking out right now."
"Uh-huh, and you will too." Kai said. I looked at him questioningly, and Klein stared, confused.
He grinned, pointing at his menu. "It's 5:25 now."
Aaah. His pizza.
I turned to see Klein, his face frozen in an expression of disbelief. Then his eyes widened comically, horrified. Throwing his head back and grabbing his hair with both hands, ha screamed to the heavens.
"NOOOO! MY TERIYAKI MAYO PIZZA AND GINGER ALE!" Kirito stared at him and sighed, while Kai clutched his stomach, laughing hard. "I need to get out of here! Return! Log out! Escape! Control-Alt-Delete!" Kai laughed harder. "Oh god, my stomach." He choked out. "This is NerveGear! You can't Alt-F4 this s***!"
"Hey Klein, calm down and contact the GM!"
"I did, but they're not answering! What's going on here?" Klein muttered, confused. "Hey, is there another way to log out?"
I thought for a moment. "Hmm, no. if a player wants to log themselves out, they have to use the menu." Kai shook his head, finally recovering from his laughing fit, frowning. "And there wasn't an emergency log-out in the manual either." Klein groaned. "That's nuts. There's gotta be another way out. I know! I can just rip the NerveGear off my head!"
…he's an idiot.
Reaching up to his head, he made lifting motions a few inches away from his skull. When it didn't work, he repeated his actions over and over again. "Oi, don't waste the effort. We can't move our real bodies while we're linked in. The NerveGear intercepts our brain signals remember? That's how we move in game." I said, and Klein stopped. "So we have to wait till they fix the bug?" he asked, and I shrugged. "Either that or someone has to unplug in the real world."
"I live alone so there goes that idea. How about you two?" Klein sighed.
"Our mom and sister should be back soon. They'll probably notice by dinner time." I said. Dashing forward, Klein grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me slightly.
"You have a sister? How old is she?" Oh. He wants to hit on her. There's no way I can let that happen. "She's on the sports team, and she doesn't really like gaming.
"That doesn't matter! I want a girlf-KYAAAAA!" I had enough. I rammed my knee at his crotch, and he flew backwards, screaming girlishly. He bounced on the grass and clutched it and writhed on the ground before blinking and nodding. Oh right, it doesn't hurt…"
"Uh guys? Doesn't seem a little weird to you?" Kai spoke up.
"Well, yeah, but it's just a bug right?" Klein asked. I stiffened, realizing our situation. "It can't be just a bug. If we can't log out, it could pose a very serious problem for SAO. If it really was a bug…"
"They'd already force-log out the players." Kai confirmed. "Plus, there hasn't been any GM announcements or anything, either."
Somewhere in the distance, we heard the sound of a ringing bell, echoing across the entire floor. Turing to the source of sound, we saw the Town of Beginnings. Suddenly, a light enveloped all three of us. When it subsided, we were standing in the middle of the Town of Beginnings' city square, and it seemed that every other player has too. Now I'm seriously feeling about this.
"A forced teleport?" I muttered. Suddenly a red warning sign showed up and formed a dome around us, sealing our way out. "What's going on?" Klein yelled. "I don't know, but I don't like it." Kai replied.
As soon as he said that, blood started pouring down from the top of the dome, until a whole ball of the substance hovered in mid-air. Then it formed to a fully cloaked man, face covered by his hood.
Wow 10/10 on that dramatic entrance.
[Attention All players. I Welcome You To My World]
