Author's Note: These specific OC belongs to ShadowWolf223, Lighting2T, and SeanCityNavy
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Holding her knees close to her chest, Xena looked down at her leather boots, while crouched in an abandoned alley. Breathing in and out from her mouth heavily, her breaths were shaky and violent. It was even a miracle that she was even still awake with how hard she was breathing. But even when her heartbeat was beating louder than her thoughts, Kayaba's voice was a bit louder as it rang with a greater ferocity than her mind could handle.
"Shut up…shut up…shut…up…" Xena began to say to herself like a curse as she held her hand to her ears as tears began to flow from her eyes once more. "Please…just…shut…up…"
"Who are you?" Makoto said as he got into a defensive stance.
"You're…Argo, right?" Shirou spoke up as he lifted his arm to stop Makoto from doing anything.
"Oh, if you know me, that must mean you were a beta tester, huh?" Argo spoke up as she emerged from the shadows.
"I am." Shirou answered as he crossed him arms. "So, what does the infamous rat want with us?"
"Hahaha." Argo chuckled embarrassingly. "Yup, you're a beta tester, alright."
"How is that all it took?" Hinata spoke up, wondering just what in the world was going on.
"Back in the Beta Test, Argo did a quest on Floor 2 that gave her whisker marks, she was made fun of pretty bad, since she didn't know how to solve the quest until the last day of the test." Shirou gave a brief summary of Argo the Rat's nickname.
"Hahaha, yup that just about sums it up." Argo kept looking at Shirou. "So what was your name again?"
"Shirou." Shirou introduced himself.
"Don't recognize that name." Argo answered honestly as she thought long and hard of every person she came across in the Beta Test.
"That's not surprising since…" Shirou pointed towards Shimizu. "I gave my Nerve Gear to her since I wasn't planning on playing the official launch."
"And yet here you are." Argo then turned her attention to Shimizu. "So, you using this guy's account?"
"That's right. The name's Shimizu." Shimizu introduced herself, before rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. "I actually didn't know what I was doing so, I just kept his name the same as it was in the beta, just switched the genders."
"Alright then." Argo nodded, as if to show she finally knew who she was talking to. "You were just the person I was looking for, old man." Argo spoke with a smug grin.
"Don't call me that." Shirou grunted at the title Argo gave him.
"Old…" Makoto started.
"Man?" Hinata finished.
"So…" Shirou changed the subject before it got anymore awkward. "You needed something?"
"OH, right." Argo, now realizing why she spoke up, began to explain her reasoning for approaching. "Since we're seemingly stuck in this death game, there's going to be a ton of hate against the beta tester. So…would you mind helping me make a guidebook to the monsters on this floor. I'll pay you all for the trouble."
Looking back to the twins and Shimizu, all three nodded as their response.
"Alright, you've got yourself a deal." Shirou answered.
"Great, now let's get you started." Argo answered with a proud smile.
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Chapter 1- Day 1…
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As Xena remained in the alley while hugging her legs, she tried her best to hold herself together by holding back her tears, but no matter how hard she tried, the tears began to flow faster and faster. After what felt like an eternity, Xena noticed her shadowing stretching a bit, indicating that the Sun was setting beyond the horizon. Looking up through her tear-filled eyes, Xena noticed how dark the sky had become, and decided to get up for the first time in hours. Struggling to walk in a straight line, Xena held onto the wall that was on her side for support as she made her way to the nearest inn there was.
"Thank you for your purchase." An NPC spoke as it bowed. "I do hope you enjoy your stay." Not even waiting for the NPC to finish its sentence, Xena took the key to her room and practically bolted up the stairs, or at least she tried.
As their body slammed into another's, Xena fell onto her back, while the woman she ran into fell to her side. As they both grunted in pain, Xena looked to her right to see a girl, possibly a few years older than her, with shoulder length auburn hair that was clipped to the right side of her face held by a black hair clip. Her pale complexion only emphasized her deep blue eyes and the mole that sat under her right eye. As Ember pushed herself off the ground, she looked at Xena with the same expression that Xena held in her eyes. With both women just staring at each other, their breathing was ragged, their bodies shivered hard as they realized that the person before them was just as scared as they were.
Not wanting to spare another second, Xena ran up the stairs, while Ember ran out of the inn. As Xena looked back, the only thing she saw was the white scarf as it fluttered out the door. Shaking her head, Xena rushed to her room, opened the door, and shut it closed. Pulling the cover over her head, the young girl jumped into the bed and began to shiver and shake from fear as she tried to hold her tears back. Within a few minutes, Xena, without realizing, cried herself to sleep.
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Several Hours Prior…
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Scrolling through the new SAO Forum that was put up just a month before the release date of the actual SAO, Xena was going through it seeing everyone's excitement for SAO's release.
"I can't' believe it's almost here"
"Yeah, me neither"
"OH, what should we do when we get on?"
"I don't know, and I don't care! I just want to play!"
Seeing their excitement, Xena could help but giggle. Without realizing it, Xena began to type herself.
"I hope you guys enjoy it too, I enjoyed it when played as its Beta Tester."
"Wait you were a beta tester. Sick!"
"I hope you could help me when the official game is released!"
"I'll try…"
Embarrassed at the amount of attention she was getting just by mentioning she was a beta tester was shocking to say the least.
"Akira!" A voice mumbled from below her room.
"Coming!" Xena called out as she rose from her chair and rushed downstairs. "Yes, mama?"
"Would you mind helping me a bit?" Xena's mother spoke up as she pulled some sweet, delicious smelling bagel bread from the oven, which Xena couldn't help but take a big whiff of.
"Sure." Xena spoke as she practically floated towards the freshly baked bread.
"And don't eat them." Xena's mother spoke up before she left to wash her hands.
"Aw." Disappointed, Xena placed on cooking mittens before picking up the tray and placed the bagels in a clear container for display. Looking out, she notice a lot more patron in her family's bakery, "Bean There Barista" as they chatted the morning away. Seeing this, Xena couldn't help but smile.
As the young girl began to wrap up her day by cleaning the tables for new patrons to sit at and dine on, she looked out to see several people running with what looked to be a box in hand. Realizing what that was, Xena turned around to look at the clock that sat on the counter to see the clock display the time 12:55, rushing to the back, Xena practically pounced on her mother.
"Can I go play?!" Xena spoke out of breath.
"Wait, what?!" Taking a moment to collect herself, the older woman, patted her daughter's head. "Have fun."
Embracing her mother one last time before rushing up the stairs, Xena looked back to see her mother talking with the older patrons who always came since the bakery's opening.
"If I hadn't rushed to play this game, I'd probably still be able to speak with mama. Hear papa's groans as he spoke about his day and how SAO is putting his company in its shadow. I'd probably just laugh at it, as will my older brothers. Mama, papa…I'm scared. Please…save me."
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Day 2…
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Opening his eyes, a Caucasian man with light brown hair and clouded blue eyes looked around to see the players around him either on the ground or propped up against the wall.
"Ow, my head." The bearded man spoke as he tried to get himself up but failed to do so many times over. "What happened?" The man spoke to himself as he finally managed to get himself sitting on his butt. Looking over to his right, he noticed another player, a woman, Caucasian as well, with dark brown hair, laying right next to the man who had just awakened. "Sayori." The man spoke the name of the woman as he placed two of his fingers on her neck. Realizing his actions, he removed his hands and smiled embarrassingly. "Old habits die hard I guess." Sitting back down, the man looked up towards the sky and realized that not even a few minutes passed since he had awoken. "I wonder what going on IRL?"
"Oww…my head." Another man spoke up as he tried to push himself up.
"Thinker." The man spoke as he rushed to Thinker's side.
"Huh? Sean? What happened?" Thinker, a man of umber-brown, wavy hair and brown eyes, spoke as his eyes began to readjust to the midday in-game sunlight.
"I don't know. Maybe something is happening on the outside." Sean answered as he scratched his beard. "I was just about to head towards the Teleport Plaza, can you walk?"
"I believe so." Thinker answered as he rose to his feet, with the help from Sean.
As both men walked slowly and sluggishly towards the Teleport Plaza, with an arm wrapped around each other's shoulders, walked in to see people spewed across the floor of the Plaza.
"What happened here?" Sean asked as he heard the sound of a teleport happening all around him. "Did someone wake up before us?"
"I don't know." Now fully awake, Thinker began to move, indicating that Sean should move as well. "If I were to guess, maybe Kayaba is teleporting anyone who was outside the Town of Beginnings?"
"You might be right." Sean answered as he looked around.
After another hour or so, all other players had begun to wake up one after another. They were just as confused as everyone else as they had woken up. Not knowing what was going on, nor what just happened when they were sleeping.
"Now after seeing all this, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Thinker asked as he walked backed to the Shopping District with Sean right by his side.
"Yeah, if anything, Kayaba allowed people from the outside to take our bodies and placed us in hospital care so they can monitor and watch us for any anomalies." Sean answered as he began to look around
"Is that so?" Thinker answered, still thinking about the situation before him.
"Hey!" Sayori yelled as she struggle to run to the two men. "There you are. I was wondering where you both went."
Opening her eyes, Ember noticed herself in the Shopping District, not truly understanding the situation, the auburn-haired girl began to blink her eyes to try and force them to adjust to the midday sunlight that shined down on her. She then began to wonder how much time had passed, as the last thing she remembered was buying supplies to move onto the next town over, Tolbana, before blacking out.
Opening her menu, Ember recalled the last time she saw, which was 10:27, and now the time seemed to be 12:10, which meant she was out for about 2 hours, and still on the 2nd day of this death game. Sighing in defeat, the young girl tugged on her white scarf as she pulled it up to just below her nose. Holding her hand together and holding them against her face, Ember tried her best to calm herself down.
"I have only been out for about 2 hours, it would seem that whatever happened to me, happened to others. I don't know what's going on outside, but from the chatter I've been hearing, it would be best to believe that we are being moved. Why they didn't decide to remove our Nerve Gears during the move, I have no idea…"
Stopping herself from typing anymore, Ember sighed and looked up towards the sky. She had begun to write this journal out of fear that her death would have been meaningless, and she wanted to leave something behind to have people remember her by, but now it had just become a means for her to keep calm.
Ember then began to hear chatter coming from a certain stall in the Shopping District. Curious as to what was going on, the young woman approached. Looking over the shoulders of the players in front of her, she noticed that they were leaving with what looked to be a booklet. Arriving to the front, Ember tapped the Buy Item? Button, and what was given to her was called Guidebook.
"A guidebook?" Realizing what it may be, and not wanting to waste this opportunity, Ember rushed out of the Town of Beginnings and onto the fields.
Opening the guidebook, she began to read its contents. They were so simplified and easy to follow that even a child could do what a professional gamer could in no time flat. Seeing a blue furred boar, Ember flipped through the guidebook and found the mob she was looking at.
"Frenzy Boar. Main attack, bash. Runs headlong into the target and bashes its head into its prey… best way to attack is to move out of its way or slash it before it attacks." Seeing other ways to attack it, such as with a rapier or spear, and even a dagger, Ember found the info helpful and began to try what the contents said.
Sure enough, once Ember approached the boar, dragging its right front foot across the ground, the boar rushed towards Ember, but just before impact, the young girl moved out of the way causing the boar to be confused for a few moments, but those moments were all Ember needed as she readied her attack and slashed the boar across its right side, killing it instantly. Seeing as how easy it was, Ember pulled out the guidebook again, and turned to the skill section it had and noticed all the listed skills the info brokers knew.
Following the guidebooks info, one after another, Ember began to defeat mob after mob as she progressed. After 2 hours, Ember opened her menu to notice she had gone up a few levels without realizing it and decided to turn in for the day.
"This guidebooks contents…their impressive to say the least. It would seem that whoever fought these monster had their work cut out for them. I could never hope to be like these people."
Sneezing quite loudly, Shirou ended up startling his entire group as they traveled the quiet path towards Horunka Village
"You okay?" Makoto asked as he began to slow his pace to match Shirou's.
"I think someone's talking about me." Shirou answered as he rubbed the bottom of his nose. After a few moments of silence, Hinata spoke up.
"I have a question." The young girl asked.
"I probably don't have an answer." Shirou replied, possibly sarcastically.
"Shirou!" Shimizu called Shirou out.
"Sorry." Shirou apologized as he looked towards Hinata. "What's up?"
"Why are we headed to Horunka Village? Why not just go straight towards Tolbana?" Smiling at her question, Shirou began to take big steps to catch up to Hinata.
"Because there's a quest there I want to do." Shirou answered as he continued forward.
"A quest?" Hinata repeated.
"Yeah, it's called «Secret Medicine of the Forest»." Shirou answered.
"What does the quest give?" Hinata pressed further.
"When completed it give a rare sword called the Anneal Blade." Shirou answered and continued. "It's one of the strongest blades you can get on Floor 1 since you can only get it from a Little Nepenthes with a flower on its head."
"Is it that difficult?" Hinata asked, not knowing that her twin brother was making faces at what he just heard.
"Let's just say that the Flower Nepenthes is a dangerous mob that, when threatened, will call a horde of Little Nepenthes." Shirou answered as he walked forward.
"How much is the horde?" Hinata asked, afraid of the answer.
"Let's say…an army's worth." Shirou smiled rather smugly as he looked over his shoulder to Hinata, who was frozen from shock to say the least. "But don't worry, that's why I asked you to buy teleport crystals."
"Oh." Hinata, now realizing why she spent half of her Col just to buy just one crystal. "Now I get it."
After arriving in Horunka Village, Shirou entered a small pub and exited after a few minutes.
"Alright, let's get going." Shirou answered as he walked past his group. "Remember, if it gets too dangerous, use the crystals, don't hesitate." Shirou pointed towards both Hinata and Makoto.
"Right." The twins both answered simultaneously.
Entering Horunka Forest, Shimizu, Hinata and Makoto hid from the Little Nepenthes while Shirou ran around to try and find the Nepenthes that had the flower on its head. Spotting it, Shirou messaged the three and began the quest.
"Here we go." Shirou said to himself as he rushed from behind the Flower Nepenthes and began his attack, which signaled everyone else to attack as well.
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10 minutes later…
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Falling onto the ground from pure exhaustion, everyone tried their best to catch their breaths from their sudden close encounter with death. But despite that, they felt quite relieved.
"That was more difficult than I thought." Makoto answered through his labored breath as he struggled to get up.
"I…agree…" Shimizu answered. "How are your guy's health?"
"I'm in the red." Hinata answered. "I'll be fine…for now."
"How you guy's holding up?" Shirou answered as he walked towards his party.
"Hinata's health is in the red." Shimizu answered as she sat up.
"Here." Shirou knelt by Hinata's side, helped her sit up and offered her a red health potion bottle. "Drink."
"Thanks." Hinata opened her mouth and began drinking the red liquid, slowly watching her health rise from the red to the redish yellow. "Much better."
"Thanks for your guy's help. I truly mean it." Shirou smiled as he thanked the twins for their help. "Once your feeling up for it, let's start heading back."
"Right." Everyone answered as they all managed to sit up.
Arriving back at Horunka Village, Shirou entered the pub once again and began speaking to the NPC woman behind the counter. As everyone looked in, they noticed the NPC woman crying and bowing profusely to Shirou, who was begging the woman to not bow so much as his hands were moving everywhere in the air.
Hearing the quest clearing signal and seeing a message board appear in front of him, Shirou once again thanked the NPC and walked out.
"Did you get it?" Hinata asked as Shirou closed the door behind him.
Let's see." Opening his menu, Shirou began to scroll through his menu and found the Anneal Blade. But upon seeing it, his face went from joyous to depressed in an instant. Falling to his knees, everyone got scared.
"Shirou, what's wrong?!" Shimizu asked as she wasn't sure what she should do in that moment.
"I got the blade…" Shirou began to speak as his voice began to crack. "But I didn't get the one I wanted!"
"HUH?" Everyone was stunned that they just looked at each other in disbelief that a grown man was crying.