Prologue - Finding the Integrating Factor

A/N - Hi, this is just something I've been working on for a while, and never really felt complete enough to publish. At the moment, I'm just putting the prologue up, in order to gauge people's responses. If people like it, then I'll continue with the story, if not, then this'll remain a one shot, and this message will still be here.

I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to ask any questions, especially if some of the references are a little too obscure. Thanks in advance, Midland 2541.

As for canon, this is it's own. It'll likely be based off Integral Factor, but with some differences, and my own inventions where no story is shown.

Now, I've talked enough, on with the story...

~August 29th 2022, somewhere in Naha, Okinawa~

''Link START!'' - after those words were uttered, the world around Michael exploded into beams of technicolour lights and sensations briefly, until he spawned inside a dungeon.

Virtual reality was one of those things that everyone described as '10 years away', but was more likely to be closer to 50 years away, if manageable within the same century, at all. Cue mass surprise, and scepticism, when a fairly small games developer in Japan, Argus, announced plans to have a full deep dive VR system on the market by 2022. Unsurprisingly, most people had reservations at putting what was functionally a microwave on their heads. Sam, one of Michael's friends back in England had summarised his theory of how it might be potentially plausible to kill someone, by quoting Doctor Who:

''You know what happens when you put a microwave lasagne in without pricking first?'' - Sam finished a fairly long winded summary of how he believed the NerveGear would work, whilst Michael carried on eating his pizza.
''It explodes?'' - Michael half asked, half answered, whilst picking up his pizza.
''Don't be lasagne.'' - Sam mimed an explosion with his hand. Michael just gave a look that implied he didn't fully believe his friend's idea, but was listening merely out of morbid curiosity.

Cue E3 in 2021, where the first couple of prototype systems were demonstrated by Argus... to mixed reviews. As it turned out, completely immersive VR is really disorienating, and many players of the demo game weren't all that impressed either. Apparently, many of the sensations felt unnatural and stilted, whilst the visuals suffered from the camera not being properly synced with movements, which induced motion sickness in many of the E3 players. All in all, Michael had taken to using the moniker ''Nervous APT'' when talking to Sam about it, the APT being a type of train that's most notable feature was the ability to induce motion sickness in people... by tilting suddenly at 125mph.

Despite all of this, and given Michael had moved to Japan only late in 2021, he was able to get his hands on a NerveGear on launch day, and apply for the beta test for the first proper game for it - Sword Art Online. Admittedly, it wasn't his sort of thing, too few airplanes for his liking, and the years of MMA training hadn't really helped develop any sword fighting skills, but he definitely wasn't missing a chance to lord this one over Sam. He still owed him for nearly dropping a model shop on his head, a few years back after all...

The dungeon was... well, exactly that, a dungeon. It was a dull structure, where a girl was currently fighting a boar, which Michael, now going by Jet, assumed was some form of on the spot tutorial. The girl was... Jet refused to say doing badly, but she certainly wasn't doing particularly well, by anyone's standards. ''Hey! You need a hand other there!?'' - Jet shouted to her... in English, completely forgetting he was in Japan. Luckily, she'd understood what he meant, and Jet leapt in, armed with just a crappy starting blade, aiming for the boar's legs, in order to slow it down, for the lass to actually hit it.

A strike later, and the boar lurched onto it's hind legs, as the girl's blade stabbed through it's stomach, turning the boar into a number of blue polygons, as a little pop up announced that they'd gained 'Col', which Jet assumed was the currency here. Swapping back to Japanese, Jet struck up a conversation with the girl. ''Thank you... umm?''
''Jet, you are?''
''Koharu. Sorry I needed help taking it down, I must look pretty useless right now.''
''Nah, I've seen really good gamers struggle against the most simple tasks before. You did pretty well once you got the chance, maybe that's all you need to shine, someone to, you know, make an opening.''
''You evidently know your way around games...''
''Games, yeah. RPGs like this, nah.''
''So this is your first time in this situation too?''
''Pretty much, just as much of a noob as you.''

The day carried on, and the duo made their way through Floor 1, beginning to level up, having finally made some progress against the demonic boars, or as Jet had taken to naming them, 'David Cameron's lovechild', much to the confusion of Koharu.
''So, you gonna get the actual game, or?'' - Jet asked, having had a decent day so far.
''You're joking, right? This is actually really fun!''
''Heh, you're not wrong. Oh, the fun I'm gonna have when a friend finds out I got into the beta...'' - Jet just gave a knowing smirk.
''They're a proper gamer, full super spec PC with all the bells and whistles. They're royally pissed off that it's only available in Japan, so this is gonna be quite funny.''
''Seems a bit unfair.'' - Koharu looked disapprovingly at her partner.
''I still owe him for nearly dropping an entire shop on my head a while back.''
''How did... you know what, never mind. So, you want to work together when we get the game?''
''Yeah, you've got potential, I can tell that for naught. Meet at the big teleport monument thing?''
''I look forward to it, good night Jet.''
''Night, Koharu...'' - Jet mock saluted, as he logged himself out too.

~November 6th, 2022 - also somewhere in Naha, Okinawa~

''LINK START!'' - As per last time, the world exploded. Unlike last time, Jet was offered a chance to port his beta data over, which he did. After the data had ported over, Jet spawned into the Town of Beginnings, only to be surrounded by a fair number of people. On dead reckoning alone, there were at least a thousand people here, and probably considerably more outside the gates, in the plains. The upside to this, he only had a short walk to the teleport gate, to meet the girl he'd encountered in the beta.

''Jet?''
''Koharu?''
''Glad you made it, I still have no idea what I'm doing though.''
''Eh, join the club. Do what we did in the beta, level up and... uhhh, that's not good.'' - The pair looked to the sky, and it didn't take a meteorologist to know something wasn't right. The sky had been covered by a load of hexagons, before a bloody red substance ran from the sky, forming a cloaked avatar.

''Welcome players, to this world. I am Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of Sword Art Online, and now the sole person with control over this world.''

''Uh oh, this can't be good.''

''As many of you may have noticed, the logout button is absent from your menus. I assure you, this is not a bug. This is how this world was intentionally designed.'' - A chorus of screams, louder than any concert Jet had ever been to, filled the town, and had it not been for sound not causing HP to drop, Jet was fairly sure it would've ruptured his eardrums. ''For players to exit Sword Art Online, you must defeat the final boss, on Floor 100. In addition, if your HP drops to zero, you will die permanently.''

''I was right, this isn't good. Still, can't get worse, can it?''
''You will also find no help from outside the game. If your friends or families attempt to remove the headset, it will disable the safety switch on the NerveGear. As of now, 213 players did not heed my advice, and are now erased from the world.''
''It did... wait, so what is he saying?'' - Jet asked, towards no one in particular
''Clear the game, and make sure no one takes your headset off, or else...'' - Someone else commented.
''Don't be lasagne...'' - Jet gulped, and looked at the sky, realising the dire situation he was now in.

''I have also equipped a little present for you all.'' - Jet pulled a hand mirror from his inventory, as multiple bright flashes filled up his field of view. ''Oww...'' - Jet rubbed his eyes, and looked in his mirror... only to find nothing had particularly changed. He still looked like he had when he started the game, mainly as he'd pretty much modelled his virtual avatar off himself, only a little bit taller. Jet figured the same was true for Koharu, as she'd barely changed either. The same however, could not be said for the vast majority of players... many of whom looked absolutely nothing like their avatars. That was one hell of a trick, using the data that the NerveGear gathered on setup, to override whatever system the game used for avatar generation. One way to make it feel more realistic he supposed, albeit not one he approved of.

''You alright? I mean, as well as can be, considering...''
''We're... we're gonna die here.''
''I... No. No, we are not.'' - Jet steeled himself, realising that right now? Every single player in this game, beta tester or not, was likely in the same state. With the whole world pulled out from underneath their feet, and downright terrified. - ''Koharu, I don't know if we'll make it. I can't see the future or anything, but right now, I do know one thing. We have to push on. If not for ourselves, then for 9785 other people in this game, for those who can't be on the front of the spear for whatever reason. For those who we care for, for everyone outside who we want to get back to.'' - Jet spoke, with the confidence of a general on the front lines.
''You sound like a commander...'' - Koharu looked at Jet, with a look that said she hadn't fully bought into his ideas, but was willing to follow him anyway.
''Eh, was one in another game. Well, Squadron Leader, anyway.''
''So, what now?''
''We push on...'' - Jet raised a smirk, as he began to walk out towards the plains.