"Real courage is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. Doing the unpopular thing because it's what you believe, and to hell with everybody."
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As the sky turned a dark red, everyone's eyes only stared at the figure that emerged from the sky. Horror, fear, hatred, every possible emotion had begun to fill the large center as the figure just stared at the crowd below. The figure draped in a red coat of gold trims and lines extended its white gloved hands outwards. Then everyone waited in anticipation for the words that the cloaked, faceless figure was going to speak.
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"Everyone, I welcome you to my world." The figure spoke as its voice boomed over the land.
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And there, standing in disbelief, was a certain young boy. His character's age looked to be in its mid-teens to his early 20s, the advantage of playing an online game. His hair being that of a blue-black that seemed to be messily combed as it parted just above both his eyebrows with two strands in between his silvery-gray eyes. The largest of the two strands hanging closely to his right eye. Physically, he seemed fit, but it was unidentifiable with the metal breastplate that hung over his turquoise colored shirt. He also wore black pants that had a sea green trim running straight through the middle, as well as black fingerless gloves, and light gray boots with the same sea green color on the tips of the shoes.
As he stood there, just staring at the figure as it spoke, the woman next to him…
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"No…this can't be!" A young woman, who looked to be about in her mid-teens to early 20s as well, screamed internally, which caused her to loose strength in her legs and fall to the ground. As she stared at it, the boy next to her began to yell at her, but couldn't hear him, due to all the screaming being caused by the other players who were around. "We…we just wanted to play a game…how did our lives turn to this?!" She yelled to herself as she began to hold her head in frustration, not once being able to get a clear thought in. But as her face was pulled upward and was forced to look into the boy's eyes. His eyes, they weren't filled with fear or anger…no they were filled with hope. "Shirou." She said while her voice cracked, and tears began to stream down her face. "We're stuck in this game, aren't we?"
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December 3rd, 2022
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Waking up with a sudden fury, and breathing heavily, a young woman held her head in shock as she began to remember the beginning of her never-ending nightmare.
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"Again. That same damn nightmare again." She spoke to herself as she looked out the window of her room. "I guess it's time to start the day." And without delay she began to place on her armor and walked out of her room.
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The woman's avatar stood at about 5 feet, 4 inches, has a bit of slim build and a fairly attractive body, but is usually hidden under her dark brown cloak. Her face was slightly pale, but closer to a tan. Her hair color was of a dark brown held back in a ponytail, with her eyes being a mix of purple and blue.
Her amor consisted of leather breast plate and a leather arm cover that covered her entire forearm. She also wore a dark red long-sleeved shirt and a black skirt that reached her ankles, with black knee high boots.
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In the main part of Tolbana…
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Walking out and grabbing a piece of black bread, the woman was seen wearing a brown cloak that reached just above her ankles. As she continued to break the bread into small pieces and consumed it, almost as if she wasn't aware of her surrounding, paid no heed to the man creeping up behind her.
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"You got to stay on high alert, otherwise you would've died right where you were standing, Shimizu." A male voice spoke, scaring the woman known as Shimizu, which nearly caused her to scream.
"Shirou!" Shimizu yelled grabbing everyone's attention. "Ah…I'm sorry!" Shimizu began to apologize profusely.
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As the man known as Shirou began to laugh without restraint, Shimizu began to comically pound at his chest.
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"Alright, I'm sorry. But it's better than being gloomy all the time." Shirou spoke as he grabbed both of Shimizu's arms and pulled her close. "But I'm glad to see you still have some fight in you." Shirou smiled genuinely which caused the young woman before him to begin blushing.
"I'm not the type who gives up easily, you know." Shimizu huffed as she pulled her arms out of Shirou's grasp. "So, what did you learn?" Shimizu tried to change to topic.
"Nothing much, only that this 'Assault Team' seems to be meeting in the Amphitheater. You wanna join?" Shirou asked.
"Let's see what we can learn, then maybe help in some way or another." Shimizu answered, as she turned around, before remembering something. "Oh, what about those two?"
"Those two?" Shirou began to think. "Oh! Those two. The two of them are already at the Amphitheater."
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As the two began to walk towards the theater, Shirou remember his first encounter with the two people during the start of the game.
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2 Weeks earlier…
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Fighting and leveling up as best as he can, Shirou was seen fighting what looked to be a giant wasp. After a few minutes of fighting the large insect, he began to hear arguing in the distance. Taking interest in the arguing, Shirou placed his sword back in his sheath that hung from his shoulders and rushed off. As the sound of the arguing began to increase, he noticed two people, teen who looked to be 15, fighting a mob of boars, all while arguing to each other. Impressed by the display, Shirou sat down and watched the duo.
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"Hinata! You have to watch your back." A boy with dark brown hair with thin, rectangular glasses yelled out as he swung his large hammer down on a boar's head as it began to approach the girl in front of it.
"You don't need to tell me, Makoto!" The girl Hinata yelled back as her shoulder-length dark mahogany hair swung with her heavy head movement. The without warning, Hinata sped past Makoto and cut another boar that nearly rammed into him. "You're the one who has to watch their back." Hinata answered as she got up and held her dagger over her shoulder.
"Whatever!" And so the two continued to fight.
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Watching with curiosity, Shirou just watched as these two players, continued to argue, but also at the same time, continued to fight like they were one person. Where one failed in defense, the other covered, and vice versa. There was almost no opening for their enemies to enter.
As his curiosity and interest were being pulled in by the duo before him, Shirou wrapped his right arm around a mob wolf that approached him as it tried to attack. Pointing and talking to the wolf as it struggled to get free of his grip, Shirou couldn't help but show his excitement.
Then after several minutes of fighting, the mobs no longer began to spawn, and the two players sat down, completely exhausted. Seeing the two stop, Shirou rose to his feet and began to approach, but not before looking towards the wolf who's life was already depleted and shattered into a million pieces.
Hearing the sound of grass crunching under someone's step caused Makoto to look towards Shirou. Seeing him approached caused the young boy to sit up and wait for the man's arrival.
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"Yo!" Was the first thing Shirou said. "I couldn't help but noticed your team play."
"Is that so?" Makoto answered, still trying his best to catch his breath. "So, did you need something?"
"Yeah, I was wondering if you'd like to join me and my partner. We've been trying to increase our numbers for a while, but sadly everyone wants to do their own thing." Shirou gave a quick response to his sudden approach. "But if you don't want to that's fine."
"What will we get in return?" Hinata answered as she looked at Shirou through the breaks in her hair.
"Any reward you gain through quests or missions will be yours, no need for bargaining. Will that suffice?" Shirou answered as he looked at the two twins.
"Are you making a guild?" Makoto asked.
"No, I'm not responsible enough to make a guild. But a party should suffice, no?" Shirou stated as he began to chuckle embarrassingly. Then as the two twins looked at each other, they nodded.
"Alright, we'll join you. As long as you keep your promise of whatever we gain, we keep." Makoto answered.
"No problem. The same goes for us." Extending his hand out, Shirou offered it to Makoto, who accepted. Then Hinata. "Oh, by the way? What are your names? I'm Shirou."
"Makoto. And this is my sister, Hinata." Makoto spoke on behalf of his sister, who just bowed. "As you can tell, we're twins." Then without warning, a menu popped up asking the twins if they wished to form a party, to which they accepted.
"I guess I'll be depending on you guys from now on." Shirou added as he began to lead the two teens back to the Town of Beginnings.
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In the Amphitheater…
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Looking around, both Shimizu and Shirou noticed Hinata waving frivolously. Walking up to the young girl, Shirou spoke.
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"You saved us a spot?" He asked.
"I did. Come on. It's about to start." Hinata answered, as she ran back to where Makoto was currently seated.
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Sitting to Makoto's right, Shirou began to look down at the people in the Amphitheater. As he began to look around, Makoto spoke up.
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"Why are you looking around? Does something look out of place?" He asked his elder.
"No, not that. I would've expected there to be more people, but I'm guessing not a lot of people wish to fight?" Shirou wasn't confident with his answer.
"Not sure." Makoto answered as he looked towards the front of the theater. "Oh, looks like its starting."
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The first meeting of the Assault Team of Aincrad went underway without much interference, with the exception of one person who began to rant that the situation they see themselves in is the Beta Testers fault.
Other than that, nothing worth remembering. As the meeting finished, Shirou's group was about to leave when a certain man came to them.
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"I saw you were sitting pretty far from the other's; I take it you four are a party?" The sky blue haired man named Diavel asked.
"We are." Shirou answered as he stepped in front of Hinata, who was the closest to Diavel. "This may take a while. Go on ahead, I'll catch up later." Shirou ordered.
"Are you sure?" Shimizu asked as she got close to Shirou and placed a worried hand on his arm.
"I'll be fine. It's not like he's going to kill me." Shirou jokingly said. "Get going."
"Alright." Shimizu nodded and rushed to catch up to the twins.
"She's a handful, huh?" Diavel spoke as the two men saw the brunette leave their sight.
"Not as much as the handful I see before me." Shirou answered. "So, from one beta tester to another, how can I help?" Shirou asked, getting a surprised look from Diavel.
"So, you saw through me?" Diavel answered. "That makes things easier. Let's chat for a bit." He asked.
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As the two men began to walk down the steps of the Amphitheater they began to converse.
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"Ever since Kibaou spoke his mind, I couldn't help but think of what he said." Diavel started the conversation.
"You should just ignore someone like him." Shirou followed by stating his own thoughts on the matter. "People like him are just power hungry fiends."
"But what he said wasn't all a lie." Diavel added. "What he said about us Beta Testers leaving the newbs behind, is in a sense, true. At least for me, anyways." Shirou just remained silent through all of Diavel's speech. "I couldn't help but think that, even if I do help one, another will die. Thinking about something like that, has…prevented me from doing anything."
"Don't stress about it." Shirou finally spoke up. "Whether you're able to do something or not, is not up to you. But up to the people you saved." Looking out of the theater, Shirou sighed heavily before continuing. "Despite out best efforts into assisting those who are new to the game, 2000 people still died. It's not our fault they died, it's their negligence that got them killed. That's the way I see things. And while it may seem mean and coldhearted, it's the best way to get through these dire times." Then placing his hand on Diavel's shoulder, Shirou lightly smiled. "Don't let it eat you up."
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Waving his hand as he walked away, Diavel called out before Shirou was out of earshot.
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"Hey, do you know what Diavel means?!" Diavel asked.
"Doesn't it mean 'devil'?" Shirou asked.
"And doesn't Shirou mean 'Hope'?" Diavel questioned. Then seeing where Diavel was going with this small talk of theirs Shirou pulled his sword out and pointed it towards Diavel.
"I'll be sure to keep you in your place, and just make sure you don't die before we get the chance to fight each other, got it?!" Without answering, Diavel pulled his sword out and pointed it to Shirou.
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As the two men smiled, they both placed down their swords and sheathed them and went their separate ways.
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Author's Note: This is my first SYOC. I wanted to try one of these because I've been reading many fanfictions, and stories with these types of theme and it always looked interesting. Especially when even I don't know where the story will go. Anyways, if you wish to be part of this, you can use the OC template below or, use your own. Thank you for reading this far.
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Sword Art Online OC Template
Screen Name:
Sex: (Male/Female)
Level:
Guild: (Is your character a part of a guild? If so state the name of that guild.)
Armor:
Head: (Is your character wearing a helmet/hat/etc?)
Neck: (Is your character wearing any necklace type objects?)
Shoulders: (Is your character wearing shoulder guards?)
Chest: (What is your character wearing? This includes things like shirts, tabards, and armor plating.)
Hands: (Is your character wearing gloves or gauntlets?)
Waist: (Is your character wearing a belt/sash?)
Legs: (Is your character wearing pants/shorts/skirt/etc?)
Feet: (Is your character wearing boots/shoes/sandals/etc?)
Trinkets: (Does your character have any 'lucky' trinkets that they carry? Max is 2.)
Main Hand: (What does your character carry as their main weapon?)
Off Hand: (Does your character carry a secondary weapon or shield? This doesn't apply if your character is carrying a two-handed weapon.)
Skills: (List the Sword skills and extra skills that your character knows here, and a brief explanation of how well they can do the skill.)