A/N: So when we last left Aaron. He had just logged into the virtual world known as Aincrad. After some misadventures around the Town of Beginnings, he met up with his friends, and some grinding later they were teleported back to the Town of Beginnings alongside every other player in the server. Where a mysterious figure appeared.
Chapter 3 - Call To Action
"My name is Kayaba Akihiko, and as of right now I am in control of this world," The giant floating figure said. I could feel chills running down my back. There is something that is just giving absolutely horrendous vibes. I don't know if it was the entrance by blood, or the fact that he was the creator of the Nervegear, and the Game Master of Sword Art Online: Infinite.
"Now I am sure that many of you noticed that you were missing one setting in the game. The log-out button, I assure you that this is not a bug. I repeat this is not a bug," Kayaba calmly stated as he demonstrated the lack of a log-out button. There is one of two ways, I can see this going. Either there is some easy way to log-out, or the more likely of the two. We have to beat this game.
"This is how I intended Sword Art Online: Infinite to be experienced," Kayaba continued. He said the word, 'experienced.' This is giving me little hope that the former is correct.
"There is now no way to log-out of SAOI now, and no one outside can help. If anyone tries to tamper with your Nervegear, then a microwave signal will be unleashed onto your skull destroying your brain and ending your life."
"Aaron? This guy has to be bs-ing us right now," Eli said while trembling a little. As much as I want to tell him that Kayaba is bullshitting us, I know for a fact he isn't. FullDive VR kind of relays on concentrated microwaves affecting your brain signals. Honestly though I would have thought the FCC and any other associated government agency would've put this thing through the ringer, but I guess I underestimate the power of politics.
"I am afraid so, Eli," Ryan blankly said, almost like his soul had been sucked out of him. I could hear gulps coming all around us.
"I mean couldn't someone just let the battery drain on the Nervegear?" Luke asked in desperation of hope.
"That won't do at all," I said in hopelessness, "The Nervegear has an internal battery, and I am pretty damn sure we all plug ours in before we dived into the game."
"Despite my warning, the family and friends of some of the players attempted to remove the Nervegear. A rather unfortunate decision, as a result the game has 5,210 less players then when the game started. They have been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world."
"5,210 players," Thomas muttered in fear. 5,210 people who will never see the light of day ago. It is this type of statistic that can frighten any sort of person to their core.
"International media coverage has around coverage of everything, including the deaths. It is safe to say the likelihood of having your Nervegear removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a bit of comfort as you try to clear the game."
It is clear that he is probably taking to his home region of Japan. For one the voice obviously sounds dubbed, and two he is referring to people being informed about what is going on. Which is much easier to do during the day then it is in the middle of the night. I just hope my parents know about this and tell my brother and sister not to take off my helmet. Also, I think this outright confirms what I feared, we have to clear the game in order to get out of this place.
"It is important to remember the following. There is no longer anyway to revive anybody within the game, and if your hp is to hit 0. Your avatar will be permanently deleted, and the Nervegear will fry your brain. There is only one way for a player to escape now. You must clear the game."
This outright confirms my suspicious. Damn it off all times I wished I was wrong. I was really really hoping it would be now.
"You are on floor one right now. If you manage to defeat the boss in the dungeon of floor one, then you will advance to floor two, and so on. If you beat the floor one-hundred boss, then you will clear the game."
"Well, that sounds easy. The original Sword Art Online player base were able to clear it within a year. There should be no reason why we can't clear it faster," I said trying to provide hope to myself.
"Aaron, the difference is they weren't trapped in a videogame with their lives at risk. We are," Eli said.
"Sorry for trying to give myself hope," I said, "at least things can't get any worse." There are some words that you should never say.
"I forgot to mention one thing. There are 20 different servers around the world with roughly 10,000 – 15,000 players each. Each server is in a competition to beat Aincrad first. Whichever server clears the game first survives. The other 19 servers will all be erased as well as the players within them."
My friends were all glaring daggers at me. I can't blame them I would do the exact same thing if I was in their shoes. Even though I am pretty sure Kayaba planned this out beforehand. I said those words at a piss poor timing. Not only is it a race to the top, but it's a race against time as well.
"Last but not least, I placed a little present in the item storage of every player. Please have a look."
Maybe its something to help us out a bit, I hope. Every player in Aincrad immediately went to search for this item, and this item was a lousy…
"Mirror?" I said in disbelief. I wonder if this is some sort of trap. So, I tapped on the thing and out came the [Mirror]. It was a simple mirror, almost like the ones the band forces you to get. Four corners, and the glass. Though what happens afterwards was far from simple.
"Guys," Thomas said as a blue light started to cover him. This became the case for all of us, even the ones who refused to check out the mirror. The person I saw, I didn't expect to see in front of me.
Like before there were four teenagers, but instead of the artificial perfection of the character creator. There were four teenagers in front of me, one with brown hair, two with blond hair, and one with black hair. They were looking at me like I was some sort of familiar stranger, and I looked into the mirror.
Instead of the beard, blue eyes, and viking physique body frame. There was the mild plump body of a sixteen-year-old Hispanic teenager straight out of good ole' Schertz, Texas. Combine that with the straight jet-black hair, and brown eyes, and muscle on my arms, and legs. Yep, the person I am looking at right now is a perfect digital recreation of yours truly.
"H-h-how?" Luke asked as he examined his body. Every inch of it was exactly like it was in real life. The messy dirty blond hair, the blue eyes, and the slim body type to finish it off. Even the squirt gun was there in full force.
"It is probably because the Nervegear has a high-density scanning device that more then likely scanned our faces," Ryan said as he felt around his body. The semi long brown hair, and the brown eyes. He even seemed to have shrunk a little bit too.
"Then how did the game figure out our body proportions," Eli questioned as he felt ever section of his body. His short black hair, and the dark brown skin color that is prevalent throughout his body. As well as his slender body build, that slowly evolves into several toned muscles.
"Do y'all remember the calibrations that we had to do when we put on the Nervegear?" Thomas said as he checked out his newly revealed body. Complete with the frame of a German, blond hair, and blue eyes to boot too.
"You're not saying."
"It still is a theory but…"
"It's the best we have, and I have a feeling we're about to get an explanation on why someone would trap 200,000 – 300,000 people in a video game," I said trying to get our attention back to Kayaba.
"Right now, you're probably wondering why I, Kayaba Akihiko developer of Sword Art Online: Infinite and Nervegear do this? Ultimately the reason, why I pushed to be the lead developer of Sword Art Online: Infinite and why I created the Nervegear was to be in control of a world I created.
"Kayaba," I muttered really really really pissed off at this guy. He has the nerve to trap in here and play God. There are many of us who have loved ones waiting for us back home. Loved ones that we never speak to again. I have to keep myself from making rash decisions. I have to keep myself from making rash decisions.
"Aaron?" Ryan asked in a soothing manner.
"What… what is it?" I asked trying to keep my anger in check.
"Everything is going to be alright," Eli said. I can tell everyone is trying to keep their emotions in check. That or they are very damn confused right now.
"This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Sword Art Online: Infinite. Players, I wish you good luck," Kayaba finished before his entire mage avatar faded away.
As soon as everything returned to normal, we all processed everything that was going on right now. For a few moments, everyone stood quiet until people started to realize that they were trapped in here then all hell broke loose.
I had researched a little bit on this Kayaba fellow a little beforehand, and I should've followed my instinct when it came to whether I would play this, or Sonic Frontiers. I knew I should've picked Sonic Frontiers, but that was my decision at the end of the day, and I have to live with it.
"Luke, Ryan, Thomas, Eli. Follow me!" I exclaimed as I did what felt natural in the moment. Everyone was out panicking in the streets, and honestly if I was alone I would too, but I am not alone. I have the best four people that I could be with in this situation, and I know that together we can get the hell out of this game. No, it's no longer a game, we can get ourselves out of this nightmare. Mark my words Kayaba, you messed with the wrong people.
They quickly followed my lead, and we escaped to one of the back alleys in the Town of Beginnings.
"That should give us some time to think," I calmly said though the involuntary twitches tell a different tale. Any sane person would be really scared after hearing and seeing what I have just seen, but I have to keep a calm facet to keep those I care about safe.
"I am not sure what to think," Ryan said clearly as freaked out about what is going on as the rest of us, "the fact I know that Kayaba wasn't capping. It just scares me."
"Yeah, it scares me too," Thomas added, "I can't believe 5,210 people are already dead due to his game."
"I know, but now is not the time to think about that. We need to come up with a plan of action," Eli said trying to keep himself together.
"Right, how much health does everyone have left?" I asked trying to get a census on what we need to do next.
"230," Thomas said.
"210," Ryan added.
"176."
"149."
"89," Luke said as he came to the realization of how close he is to death.
"Take my [Healing Crystal]," I said to Luke. I materialized the crystal and realized how in the world do I transfer an item. Think Aaron, think. There must be some sort of button to transfer that item, or…
I chucked the [Healing Crystal] at Luke, and to my surprise that worked. Green sparkles surrounded Luke as I presumed, he healed.
"It worked," Luke said as he looked around, "At least we know how to heal each other."
"Now where to go, where to go?" I asked wondering what our next course of action should be. I haven't got a clue as to where any of the good grinding spots would be. It is nature in games like these that there is some good area when it comes to the grind.
"How about we go back south?" Eli suggested knowing that there seems to be at least some level of tough creatures there.
"Why not?" Ryan added throwing support behind Eli's proposition. The rest of us had no reason to not go with Eli's suggestion since we have no knowledge of this game besides its past history as Sword Art Online.
"Then its settled will make our way down south," I concluded before adding, "come on vamos! We don't got time to lose."
With that matter settled we started making our way south. Any little action we make from here on out may determine the difference between life and death. I have a family that loves me, despite me asking for them not to care about me. So, I can't afford to die, and I am sure that holds true with my friends as well. Hell Thomas has a girlfriend in real life.
Running through town I could still see a lot of depressed people. Kids left alone to fend for themselves, families that were split, and men who decided to play as girls. To be fair that last part left a bit of humor for an otherwise depressing environment. As for the other sights it made me sick to my stomach, there are kids who might never see their family or friends again. For what? Playing a fricking video game that was rated T for teen.
Finally, we made to the southern entrance of the Town of Beginnings. We stopped and took in the sight ahead of us. An open trail leading to a semi open field which leads to who knows where. There were no other players in sight, and if the squirrels and rabbits were any indication. Then we must be alert because absolutely everything from here on out will try to kill us. We all looked at each other knowing what must be done. Never in our wildest imaginations did we think we were actually going to be trapped in a video game like that one Fairly Oddparents episode, but as they say reality could be quite weird.
With one last look we bolted off on the dirt trail that leads to places unknown in the hopes that we chose the right path. The night sky seemed really scenic considering the circumstances. The only guide we have the trail and the moonlight that shines upon it.
"Hah!" I yelled as I used my [Small Sword] to slice through an unsuspecting pig.
"Oink!" the pig screamed as it broke into pieces. That pig was light work. If the world was willing to do us in. Then we might as well have a little fun getting killed. If not for the convenient distraction this provides from our newly confined death jail. Ryan had originally suggested this as understandably we were all getting tried and there were no towns in sight. Really bad for morale if I do say so myself.
"Pig twelve for Aaron," Thomas said keeping count of my kill streak, "I refuse to be outdone!" With his [Axe] in hand, he went charging towards a beaver. Said beaver was chewing one of the trees in the area, and Thomas went in for the attack.
"Aggrhh!" Thomas yelled throwing himself and his [Axe] towards the beaver. Beaver likewise responded by spiting out the piece of wood it just so happened to be chewing. Accuracy doesn't mean much at point-blank range, and Thomas ended up with several small pieces of wood being pelted into his face, and an angry beaver chewing at him.
"Thomas, I didn't you were cheating with a beaver," Luke laughed as he used his [Small Dagger] to stab the beaver.
"very funny, Luke," Thomas embarrassingly said at both a beaver trying to make out with him, and Luke making fun of his situation.
"Beaver four for Luke. Rip Thomas' true love," Eli chuckled. In fact, we all laughed at Thomas' misfortunate much like the unwilling crossdressers in the Town of Beginnings.
"Hey, the beaver wasn't as rough as the flying squirrels," Thomas said trying to cover up this.
"Bestially? Didn't know you were into those things," I said quickly catching on to Thomas' mistake.
"No, it's not like!" Thomas said trying to do damage control. He then tried looking around to see what he could do to change course. Fortunately for Thomas there was a rather mysterious cave.
"Guys do you see that?" Thomas asked pointing towards the cave.
"See what?" Ryan asked, "Trees?"
"No, the cave behind the trees," Thomas pointed out, "let me show y'all." With that we followed Thomas past several trees, a cave was waiting for us just like what Thomas claimed. I was very conflicted about whether it would be a good idea to explore the cave or leave it for later. On one hand, I thrive on exploration, and on the other I know this could very well be the thing that kills us given the stakes of this game.
"Let's enter it," Luke said as he causally started strutting into the cave.
"Don't you think that is a little dangerous?" Eli inquired, "we are barely level 3."
"All the more reason why we should go in," Luke stated, "We need to grind out, and caves are perfect places to grind out."
"I agree with Luke," Ryan said. "We're trapped in a video game, and we have no idea what may get thrown at us. So, it would be best if we go get a taste of what might get thrown at us."
"I have to disagree with that sentiment, Ryan. I think we need to get a far footing in the game before we attempt to do something reckless. Besides we aren't adequately prepared to face whatever may lay in the dungeon. What do you say, Aaron?" Thomas explained before throwing this matter onto my hand. My choice could either determine life or death, and in the case of maybe seeing my loved ones another day. I knew which decision I had to make.
"We should go to the nearest town," I decided, "for starters we do not know what type of mobs lay ahead of us inside the cave, and like Eli said most of us are barely level 3. Had we had the chance to be revived then I would've said yes, but for now we need to prioritize our survival chances. That includes minimizing the stupid choices that could get us killed. Besides the nearest town can't be all too far away, and if this is structured like any other halfway decent game. The town should have a decent number of quests that we can do to experience grind."
"That's a valid point, it may be too early to throw ourselves at everything," Ryan said having come to the realization of the stupid decision he may have almost made.
"Your right, we should probably play it a bit safer. At least for right now," Luke said as he saw the reasoning behind my thoughts, "so the town it is."
"To the end of the brown dirt path we go!" I exclaimed as we started to march back onto the dirt road we have been traveling on for a while.
"A part of me wonders what the town could be like?" Ryan inquired.
"Honestly me too, judge by all the forests, and the rivers we've seen. I am willing to bet its some sort of fishing town," I speculated.
"I believe it's a hidden town in the forest," Thomas said throwing in his two cents, "I mean it seems like this forest is going on forever."
"Eh, I am going with Aaron when it comes to port town. Out of all things in the game, I suspect that most of the towns would be gated in one way or another," Eli said having logically thought through what he thinks is most likely given how this game presents itself.
"As cool as a hidden town in the forest sounds, port town sounds more likely," Luke added.
"I am with everyone else on this one, team port town," Ryan said hopping on port town boat.
"There is only one way to tell," I said smirking, "Last one to make it to town, pays for the inn!"
"Wait Aaron? What happened to no brash actions?" Eli asked as everyone else started to run.
"This isn't that brash," I claimed as Eli started to run and catch up, "Am I running headfirst into danger?"
"No."
"Then it ain't brash or suicidal. I hope you still have enough cor to pay for our inn rooms," I said before breaking out into a mad sprint.
"Don't think I will pay for the inn," Eli yelled.
"Oh no you don't," Thomas said as he realized that he was about to get passed by Eli.
"Bet," Ryan said using his [Plain Maul] as a pole vault.
"Don't think you're the only one who can do that Ryan," Eli said as he then used his [Sharp Spear] to propel himself forward.
"No fair!" I yelled because neither, me, Luke, or Thomas had a weapon we could use as a speed boost, but mainly me.
"Tough," Eli said as he continued along the path with his [Sharp Spear].
"Well, I guess it's just the three of us," I said smiling, "and you two don't got nothing on this state of the art, Aaron Ortiz."
"Sorry, Aaron. I Luke Williams, have improved since you last saw me," Luke said as he started to pull ahead.
"Not on my watch, Luke. Don't count me out just yet," I said as I started to push myself to the limits. Having played high-school football you learn one thing, and that is that limits are just an excuse.
"You guys already counted me out didn't ya," Thomas said keeping pace with the both of us, "There is advantages to marching band after all."
"March on little drummer boy," I said as I started to push them.
"You don't have the strength or stamina to keep up with me," Thomas retorted.
"Bruh. I am literally an offensive lineman. Both strength and stamina are my forte."
"Oh yeah…"
"Thanks for the lead boys, I'll be seeing you," Luke said as he took me and Thomas bickering as an opportunity to get ahead.
"Oh no you don't," both me and Thomas yelled as we collectively put all of effort into trying to pass Luke, and absolutely nothing we going to stop us.
Meanwhile, Eli and Ryan had finally reached the next town, a town called Doltrus. As it turned out, Doltrus is a port town at the edge of the map. They decided to wait for the rest of us near the town sign.
"I wonder when the others are going to arrive?" Ryan pondered.
"I would assume soon, we were a lot closer to this place then we thought, but then again it did take us two hours to get here," Eli said.
"To be fair we were causally walking and fighting for most of that time."
"But still I can't believe it took that long from the Town of Beginnings. This map is expansive."
"True that," Ryan replied as they could hear the sounds of footsteps coming, "speaking of which I believe our friends are around the coroner." The three of us were in a deadlock. Each of us aggressively giving it our all. I refuse to be the one who will cough up the money.
"ARRGHHHHHHHH!" I yelled as all three of us made a mad dash for the sign with the town's name on it.
"Slow down, guys," Eli said before realizing how futile it was due to our deadlock.
"Just move out of the way, Eli," Ryan said as Eli did just that. It was then when we crashed into the signpost.
Two of us won, and one of us has to cough off some money. With all the dust around us, I can't tell a thing. I just hope that I ain't the one who has to provide the cor.
#To Be Continued
A/N: Sorry for the chapter delay. Tonight is the final game of the season for my university football team, and well they are playing as I write this afternote. Well its half-time right now. I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter and I hope I can finish Chapter 4 by next Saturday. Please feel free to review!