Prologue - Finding the Integrating Factor

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 skepticism, 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 was really disorientating, 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. Not one of British Rail's finer ideas, but then again, this was the same organisation that also patented a nuclear fusion powered flying saucer for space travel... so madcap ideas were pretty common in that era.

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 year 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?'' It felt weird not introducing himself by his birth name, but he'd have to get used to it, he supposed.

''Koharu. Sorry I needed help taking it down, I must look pretty useless right now.'' The girl, Koharu, looked deflated as she spoke.

''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...'' She wondered, the guy in front of her sounding as if he'd actually been analysing as he fought.

''Games, yeah. RPGs like this, nah.'' Jet shrugged.

''So this is your first time in this situation too?'' Koharu seemed a little surprised at that. He hadn't been anywhere near as useless at fighting as she had, and yet he was new too?

''Pretty much, just as much of a noob as you.'' Jet found himself laughing at that. For once, he'd been learning all of this stuff alongside someone, rather than reading through a massive swathe of information, and binge watching Youtube videos on how to do things...

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. Admittedly, neither of them could be described as very good by this point... but it was a game, it didn't matter about being the best, rather, it was a way to blow off steam, and see a new world...

''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 grin. ''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.''

''Doesn't that seem a bit unfair.'' - Koharu looked disapprovingly at her partner, who shrugged back at her.

''I still owe him for nearly dropping an entire shop on my head a while back.'' Jet accepted his reasoning was petty, but at the end of the day, it still made for a good story, and really, that was all that mattered.

''How did... you know what, never mind. So, you want to work together when we get the game?'' Koharu thought twice about asking about that story, but had decided that Jet was a fairly dependable choice as a partner, and unlike a number of the other beta testers, he hadn't looked down on her for her poor showings in combat.

''Yeah, you've got potential, I can tell that for naught. Meet at the big teleport monument thing in the town?'' He asked, pointing towards the fountain instead.

''I look forward to it, good night Jet.'' Koharu said, as she disappeared back into the real world.

''Night, Koharu...'' - Jet mock saluted, as he logged himself out too. He still had to prepare tea, after all, and no one wants that job at 9pm.

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.'' Koharu admitted,

''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.'' Jet understated, as he watched Koharu begin to tremble. Jet had to admit, that whatever Kayaba was playing at... the man was not exactly what would've been considered of sound mind...

''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?'' Jet asked, evidently unaware of how bad of an idea it was to tempt fate...

''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, as a shiver found its way through Jet's body. ''Don't be lasagne...'' - Jet gulped, and looked at the sky, realising the dire situation he was now in.

''I have also provided a little present for you all.'' - The cloaked avatar continued, and 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. As Koharu glanced at the slightly shorter Jet, then at all the players around her, she felt as if the world was starting to rotate... faster, faster... until eventually, the spinning stopped, and so did she, her balance lost, and falling onto Jet, who helped her to a nearby set of steps.

Eventually, the remaining dizziness had worn off, and Koharu was able to talk without feeling sick again. Not that Jet would blame her. She had every right to feel sick right now, especially as, chances were, her entire world had just collapsed out from underneath her. Jet took a seat next to her, deciding that towering over her probably wasn't the best course of action right now. ''You alright? I mean, as well as can be, considering...'' Almost immediately after those words exited his mouth, he realised exactly how stupid they were. Of course she wasn't okay, none of them were! They'd only signed up to play a damn game, not wage a concerted campaign for their freedom, and that ignored the other thousands of elephants in the room...

''We're... we're gonna die here.'' Whatever light had been in Koharu's eyes earlier, was rapidly fading, and Jet knew that was a bad place to be in. It was bad enough to be trapped in this damn game, but trapped inside your own fear and neuroses... that was a far worse threat, and if Jet put any thought into it, he didn't reckon that there were any therapists amongst the remaining 9787 people...

''I... No. No, we are not.'' - That thought had passed into his head too. He'd never get to see his baby sister grow up, or hell, even get his first date... but that hadn't shook him as much as the thought that replaced it - that him being in this situation was due to his own pettiness. If he hadn't tried to get bragging rights, he'd be cooking tea as per usual right now, not... well, this. 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, channeling the speeches he'd been so fond of when he was younger. Maybe, if nothing else, he could bring hope to the hopeless... which, as he thought about it, may have been the single most self centered thing he'd ever thought.

''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.'' Jet remembered, a twang of guilt as he did. He'd told them he'd be online with them tomorrow... that wasn't happening anymore.

''So, what now?'' Koharu asked, looking out over the sea of desperate people. A decent number outright refused to believe that this was anything but a practical joke. It had to be, right? This sort of thing just didn't happen in real life... it was the stuff of fiction, for god's sake!

''We push on.'' - Jet raised a smirk, as he began to walk out towards the plains, hiding just how scared he really was...

{Author's Comments}

Hi, if you're reading this, this is a rewritten version of the original Prologue. I think this has addressed some issues I had with the original, which I'd always had some doubts about publishing in the first place.