A/N : Happy Sword Art Online day! As anyone who is reading this knows, the day the original Sword Art Online took place in the Light Novels was November 6th, 2022. Well we are there and what is better then to start a fanfiction that occurs on that day.

Italics - designate literature

[Skills or Items]

"Dialogue"

'Inner Thoughts'

Disclamer:

I don't own anything but the OCs that are in this story, everything else belongs to their rightful owners, that being Reki Kawahara, and maybe A-1 Pictures depending on the charatchers and settings. Addtionally this is not going to be a story based around Kirito and co. which is why this is called Sword Art Online: An American Tale. With that out of the way, I hope you all enjoy this story, and don't to forget to review. I want to know how I can make this story better. No without further let's a go!


Chapter 1 - Countdown


November 5th, 2022 – Texas, United States

Sword Art Online, is a MMORPG that was initially released on Friday, November 9th, 2001, on PC. Released by Argus, a video game company based in Japan, or so says Wikipedia. It became a hit upon release due to its rather unique mechanics. Most MMORPG's usually have some sort of class, or magic, but this was one that didn't. As the name implies, it had an unhealthy obsession with swords with that being the main weapon after all. Honestly, I can't see why it was that popular since the only three weapons were swords (duh), bows, and axes. Even then swords made up most of the weapon selections, but I digress. I wasn't alive at the time, and this is the same era where Sonic Adventure 2 was released on the NINTENDO GAMECUBE.

Either way the basis of the main story was to clear all 100 floors of the floating castle the game is set on, Aincrad. So of course, the players finished the main campaign within the year since it was either being a fighter or being a merchant. Really bland the more I think about it, there wasn't really that many MMORPG options back in the days, but to fair I don't really care for MMOs. All I really care about are standard old RPGs and Platformers. Those are the greatest types of games that you could play.

Ultimately Sword Art Online closed its servers on July 22nd, 2022, but this game didn't close down without reason. Advancements in technology lead to virtual reality gaming. Something of which sounds pretty damn cool. Pioneered by a dude named Akihiko Kayaba, this new VR technology, called FullDive, redirects the player's brain signals to become inputs. Thus, really becoming true virtual reality as the body can't do anything else. Much better then whatever Meta is doing with their own little Metaverse.

As such, Kayaba and his team were recreating the original Sword Art Online game to be the headliner of the next generation of gaming. With Argus funding this new iteration of the game, and a FullDive console for it to be released on.

Sword Art Online: Infinite and the Argus Nervegear quickly became the hottest talked about subject in the gaming sphere, and the world as a whole. Many were optimistic about the forefront of the future of gaming, and honestly the whole idea does sound cool in my head. Imagine being fully immersed in a fricking video game. It is every gamer's dream to be in an actual video game. A dream that is about to be fulfilled.

Though I am hesitant to the whole VR game idea. To me playing video games on the couch with friends, and just enjoying ourselves is truly the best way to play video games. I remember spending hours with my friends playing through Super Mario 3D World, and Lego Marvel Superheroes while not giving a care in the world. Odd that it's those same friends that convinced me to buy a Nervegear, and a copy of Sword Art Online: Infinite, or SAOI for short.

Anyways I should probably explain who I am, my name is Aaron Ortiz, I am 16 years old, and I live in the great state of Texas, somewhere close to San Antonio. Well what else can I say, I work at the local McDonalds, I attend high school, and well something else. I yearn to be some sort of artisan one of these days. The type? I don't really know; I just really love using my hands to do things. I have a fair number of friends though, and a little sister, and a little brother. That is me in a nutshell.

I am really glad that this game came out on a Saturday, especially due to the time difference. This game is going to have one synchronous launch all over the world, and the way time zones work…

I am lucky that this game comes out at like 11:00pm for me, for starters its 10:58pm for me right now, and I am patiently waiting for this game to start.

"Aaron!" two voices cried out in the night. Two voices I could recognize on a dime.

"What? What are you two doing here? Aren't you supposed to be asleep?" I asked in shock, or rather pretend shock. My little brother, and sister waltzed into my room like it was nothing.

"Aaron, can you read us a story?" the little girl asked holding her pink blanket, and stuffed animal bunny close to her.

"Rebeca…" I started to say.

"Please, Aaron," the little boy added in the sweetest voice ever. I sighed since it's only a bedtime story, and as their much older brother in a modernish Hispanic household, I am honored to obliged.

"Fine, I will tell you two a story," I sighed knowing that my time entering the game will be delayed. I was supposed to meet my friends in it, and I am sure they will understand given how often my brother and sister does this to me.

"Yay!" The two said excitedly, "thank you."

"You're welcome," I said, "but you two better go to sleep after this."

"We will!" They said as they dragged me into their bedroom. What a pair of rascals, but as I said it is my duty to do this. Especially since we are pretty much the only family they've got. They aren't really my brother and sister, rather they are my cousins. My father's younger sister, and brother-in-law died in a horrible accident when the kiddos where less than a year old, and my parents being the only family members who both were able and willing to take them in. Well took them in, my father did say this is what family does. So, I rolled with it and acted like the awesome amazing, big brother that any one would be jealous of.

"Now what story do you want?" I asked with the biggest grin, I knew whatever story I said was going to be crap, but it is something that is going to make them shut up fast.

"The one with the kitten, and the moon!" Rebeca requested.

"No, the one with the cool spaceship, and the space warrior," Reyes, my little brother said.

"Alright I got a perfect one!" I exclaimed, "Now be quiet."

"Ok," the two said, as they snuggled underneath their covers.

"Once upon a time, there was this kitty cat, whose name was…"

"Precious," Rebeca inserted.

"And Precious lived her life on the streets, adored by every little girl who walked by her."

"This story is boring," Reyes bemoaned.

"Hold on a second, I haven't got to the best part," I said with a smirk, "One day, some cool dude with a spacesuit walked by Precious, and Precious thought the dude looked like a bowl of milk. So Precious followed the space man, and…"

"The spaceman teleported onto his rocket ship, and that stupid cat followed him into it," Reyes added with the last word setting Rebeca off.

"Stupid cat?!" Rebeca said starting to get mad, "how dare you call Precious, stupid!" Oh, shit they started arguing, looks like SAOI is going to take a little bit more time to log in. Good frickin grief.

"Because that cat is stupid," Reyes said.

"No tan estúpida como tú," Rebeca said in Spanish. Oh, great this is where the fun begins, for some reason the men in this family can't speak in Spanish to save our skin, and Reyes is no exception.

"I ain't that stupid sis," Reyes fired back, but in Reyes' defense, Rebeca has used that line to both me, and Reyes to the point where we both automatically understand what it means.

"Yes, you are," Rebeca hissed towards Reyes. If they keep this up, mom, and pa will know what's up, and that will not be good for any of us.

"Both of you cut it, or else you will not get a bedtime story tonight," I said in a convincing manner, getting up from their bedside to add credibility to my threat.

"No," the both of them said in unison as they pipped down, and that folks is how you get your younger siblings to quiet down.

"Before I was so rudely interrupted, the spaceman hopped into his spaceship, and Precious followed. Then they flew around the stars. They are super-duper sparkly in the night sky. Then evil space aliens from the Sun came, and shot at Precious and the spaceman," I exclaimed in a whimsical fashion. I have caught my audience in a trap.

"Oh no!" The twins cried in suspense.

"The spaceman took out his blaster, and he started shooting at dem aliens, while Precious started scratching them. The aliens fled as they were scared at the combined power of the spaceman, and Precious. Then the spaceman took Precious to the moon as a reward for being a good cat, and they took off into space searching for new adventures, the end," I finished as the twins started to fall asleep.

"Goodnight love you," the twins sleepily said as they quickly fell asleep.

"Love you too," I said with a smile as I snuck my way back to my room to get onto other pressing matters. Thinking about it, I have wished I have spent a little more time with them. Though I am glad that at least I got to spend time with them.

Checking my phone, the time read 11:15pm, and though I was 15 minutes after launch it didn't matter. I would be playing with my friends soon anyways. I took a look at the machine that I was about to use. There were two magic words that I would say to activate the neuro link that connects my brain to the Nervegear. I took two deep breaths and laid down on my bed as according to the instructions that would be the best way to use the Nervegear, with my digital copy of Sword Art Online: Infinite installed. I put the Nervegear on my head, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.

"Link Start!"

#TO BE CONTIUNED