Prologue


August 21st, 2022 - Naha, Japan

For all intents and purposes, Michael Edmondson was a normal British teenage boy.

It was everything around him that wasn't.

His mother and father had divorced only a few years back, in 2019, and his mother, for reasons he'd never figured out, had gotten the idea to move to Japan in her head. Luckily for him, her grandiose ideas were rarely ever followed through on, but this time... he'd tempted fate one too many times. The company she worked for were looking for someone to sell their newest products in Asia, and so, they'd chosen Japan as the launch region, and his mother had gotten the job in their Japan office. Given he was still in school, undertaking his GCSEs at this time, he'd figured he'd stay with his father until he'd got his GCSEs and A-Levels, then move to Japan in a few years time, hopefully with the grades to go to University there.

As with everything in his life, that wasn't how it was actually going to go.

Fast forward to July 2021, and he'd received his GCSEs, and as he'd passed with flying colours, he'd been accepted on some sort of exchange program, at a school in Okinawa. It was here that his geography knowledge had failed him - Okinawa is not the Japanese mainland, nor is it particularly close by. As a result, his mother had chosen to send him to live on the island on his own. Sometimes, he felt vaguely offended that they'd all agreed that was the best option... did they want rid of him that much?

The exchange program itself had been fine. That was all he could describe it as. Not amazing, but he couldn't say he hated it too much either. He'd met some interesting people, and that was always good. The American kid, Cody, a guy with far more confidence than he'd ever had or would have, had become one of his closest friends here. It took balls to ask the British kid if they were still annoyed at 1776, after all...

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One lunchtime, September 2021

''You heard about that Sword Art Online game?''

''Just a bit, yes.'' That was an understatement. Sam had been messaging him constantly for nearly two days fanboying over the idea, and never mind the actual NerveGear itself. He'd lost count of how many times it'd come up in conversation, but it was easily into the low hundreds...

''You gonna get it, or?''

''Maybe. I'll apply for the beta test, never know what it'll bring.'' Michael shrugged, poking at his food. He'd always been one to bring his own food, but that had usually been made by his mom... his attempt at a sausage and egg sandwich was something to behold, for the wrong reasons.

''Oh yeah, we've got a new girl in class today, she's-'' That was where Michael tuned out. Cody was an actually decent person, but by god, did he go on a bit about the fairer sex. He had to admit that some of the jokes he used as icebreakers were pretty good though. He quite enjoyed the one about a man named Mari Nade. So called, because he left his wife overnight.

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Despite all of this, he was able to get his hands on a NerveGear only a couple of days after launch, 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 Baritsu training... or at least what Gabby had described as Baritsu anyway. He'd have described it as having the snot kicked out of him with a brolly repeatedly, instead. Either way, it hadn't really helped develop any sword fighting skills, other than with an umbrella, 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...

Looking around his room, he checked to make sure nothing that could do any serious damage was left out. All clear, and he put on his newly acquired NerveGear. ''Ready or not... here I come! Link... START!'' He yelled, causing a small thump on the wall from a mildly annoyed neighbour.

The world around him soon disappeared, replaced by streams of lights, cacophonies of sounds and the sensations of his nervous system being toyed with, before he felt the weight of his body again. Or at least, 50% of it, anyway. Realising how much lighter he actually felt, he quickly checked all of his extremities, and thankfully, all were there. ''Okay... this is the best diet ever!'' He exclaimed, before realising his surroundings... he was in a void of almost nothingness.

After fawning over his new, much lighter, and as it turned out, slightly shorter frame, Michael looked around his new surroundings - a medieval town square, bustling with life, ranging from hunchbacks wielding scythes, to a variety of wooden stalls offering up their wears for sale.

''Holy crap...'' He muttered, as he looked around. Even just wafting his hand around, he felt the breeze generated by the movement. Clapping generated the same slight stinging sensation it did IRL, and turning around on the spot a little too fast gave the same feeling of light-headedness it should've. Other than his new lighter frame, it was realistic enough to pass as real, in his mind anyway.

With little hesitation after his few experiments, Mi -Jet, even- chose to go and explore the town first, before heading out into the Plains...

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Several hours later, and so far, Jet had learned a few things about Sword Art Online. The first was just how real everything felt, especially the grass beneath him. He'd tested that one out enough times to know exactly how the grass felt in both his hands, and rubbing against his clothes. He really did hate the stagger effect that the Frenzy Boars could inflict, but he'd gotten the hang of dealing with them after a while. If you could dodge whilst they charged... a single solid strike would take one out.

It turned out that reading the manual helped... a lot. Would it have killed Argus to put a tutorial in this game?

Which lead to the second thing - Sword Skills. Only two were available to him currently, Horizontal and Vertical, both of which were exactly as they sounded. Vertical was his less favoured option against the Frenzy Boars, as it meant he practically had to be stood in front of them whilst charging, whilst Horizontal allowed him to hit them in an arc as they swept past him. The biggest problem with this mechanic was simple - it had a cooldown time. Whilst using the two beginner skills, this was only around a second, but he had no doubts this would increase dramatically as the skills got increasingly complex.

The third, and currently most relevant thing... was that the lack of a map was a serious problem, or he thought that as he wandered through the Horunka Woods. Michael was already what could be considered as 'geographically challenged', and sticking him into a new world, one he was completely unfamiliar with, and without a map at that, had led to him wandering straight across the Plains, and into the Woods with little thought.

That had been nearly an hour ago, and he was starting to get just a bit fed up of walking in circles now, especially as he felt he'd passed the same tree fifteen times now. Either that, or SAO's flora generation wasn't very creative.

After a few more minutes, he'd found the type of monsters for the Horunka Woods, a type known as Little Nepenthes. Unlike the Boars he'd faced, this monster seemed to be an evolutionary dead end. With a narrow base for, well, legs, he guessed, and no obvious eyes, he wondered how this thing actually hunted... and then, he saw the tendrils it flailed around. Quick thinking allowed him to dodge the tendrils, and quick use of Horizontal bisected the plant monster before it got a second chance to attack.

Checking his inventory after the battle, his attention was soon turned elsewhere...

''ROOOOOARR'' Screamed something distinctly inhuman, sending shivers up his spine.

''AHHHHHHHHH!'' Screamed someone distinctly female, sending ill advised ideas to his head.

And with that, he cursed himself for tempting fate. Deciding to get himself out of the sheer boredom, he decided to follow the sound through the Woods. Before too long, he'd found the source of the screaming. A girl with shoulder length black hair, stood there, barely able to swing her mace, let alone mount an effective defence against the Little Nepenthes she'd attracted. How she'd attracted fifteen of the things, he did not know... although the smell was terrible!

''I've got you!'' Jet charged in, readying a Horizontal attack on one of the Nepenthes, but not before another had other plans with him. The Horizontal struck home, but not before his legs were tangled up, and the much larger 'Little' Nepenthes threw him skywards, and dropping him into it's jaw.

''This is gonna suck...'' was the last thought Jet had before the world went dark. Again.

YOU ARE DEAD.

RESPAWN IN 10... 9... 8

Over the day, the Blackiron Palace had become very familiar to Jet, having reappeared here numerous times earlier in the day, and so, being killed hadn't particularly concerned him. In fact, strange as it sounded, the dying made him feel more alive...

The same however, could not be said for the girl who'd been fighting alongside him, and was shaking as if she'd stood on a fault line. Momentarily, and without thinking, Jet walked over to her, and began to speak to her... ''Hey.''

''I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have dragged you into-''

''Yikes, it's just a game! You don't have to act like you got me killed, you know?'' The girl stared blankly at him.

''Huh?'' She voiced her confusion.

''I've died enough today that it's nothing new now. Besides, I screwed up too.''

''Sorry? I don't really understand you?'' It was that moment that Jet realised something... he wasn't speaking Japanese, he was speaking in English, and worse still, in his native accent. No wonder the poor girl seemed confused, he would've been too if some random guy came up to him, and started talking to him in a language he may not have fully understood, with an accent that was hard for native speakers to understand, too...

Realising the mistake, and making an effort to speak in Japanese, or RP English at worst, from now on, he reiterated his earlier point ''My apologies for that, I'm still learning Japanese, so I may slip into my native tongue at times. But it's just a game, you don't have to panic that I'm angry you got me killed.''

''Oh! I should apologise though, you tried your best to help me, and... well, I got us both killed.''

''Eh, I saw a pretty girl, and I raced into save her. Not your fault I'm an idiot.'' Jet winked, his flirting being considered so bad that the UN were considering adding it to a list of war crimes.

Koharu felt the blood rush into her face, as she looked away awkwardly. ''I-uhh, thanks... I didn't get your name?'' She asked, changing the subject before her face caught fire from the blush she now had on her cheeks.

''Oh, I'm Jet.'' That felt odd to say, he thought. He really wasn't used to introducing himself with a name that wasn't really his own.

''I'm Koharu.'' The black haired girl bowed down in front of Jet, unintentionally reminding Jet not to forget to do that again... ''Can I ask a question?''

''Go for it.''

''I kind of need someone to party up with. Pretty much everyone else just thinks I'm useless, and-''

''Koharu, just a question. Why did you pick a mace?'' - He asked, curious about her performance in the last battle.

''I thought that I'd be able to defeat monsters with it much easier. I guess I was wrong...'' Jet listened, and began to form a hypothesis in his head. This girl wasn't unskilled, but rather fighting against her own stats, and losing that battle badly...

''Hmm, where did you put your skill points, if you don't mind my asking?'' Jet asked, as Koharu opened her menu and showed him the stats page.

''My agility. I figured I'd be able to run away quicker if it got too bad...'' As she explained, it clicked as to why Koharu was struggling so much with her mace. Her stats and build were nowhere near correct for a mace user!

''I've got an idea then, follow me!'' Jet exclaimed, slightly startling Koharu.

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After some time, the pair were looking over weapons at the Weapons Cart, Jet was deep in analysis mode, as Beth had once called it. So focused on whatever he was doing, that a gunfight could break out behind him, and he'd still be focused on whatever it was. ''Okay Koharu, I want you to try this. It's an Iron Rapier, should make you a hell of a lot more agile, and a fair bit quicker with your hits.'' He spoke... I hope anyway, else I'm going to look a bit stupid went unsaid though.

''How can you be sure?'' She asked, more than a little hesitant.

''What was the biggest issue you had with that mace?''

''I could barely lift it?'' Koharu put her hand up as she answered, feeling as if she were back at school, and raising an eyebrow from her new teacher.

''Well, yeah, that too. It required a stupid amount of force to actually produce any meaningful damage, at least with your stats. This, on the other hand, is far lighter. Just give it a swing.'' Koharu began to swing her new rapier as if it were a magic wand, but finding it a considerable improvement over her mace.

''It's a lot better!'' Koharu swung, her new rapier slapping Jet in the face, and knocking him back slightly, onto the stall. Koharu dropped her blade and ran over to him, speaking at a thousand words per minute, her words coming out at a pace that made bullets look slow... ''Ohmygodi'msosorry!''

Jet, now back on his feet, started laughing slightly as he spoke, ''Just glad it wasn't your mace!'' He joked, as Koharu looked at him, slightly tense as she expected some kind of retaliation. ''We're in a safe zone, and there's no sense of pain here, so it didn't hurt.''

''I should've been more careful...'' She deflated slightly, her shoulders slumping and her voice becoming more mousy than before.

''Nah, it's a game, right? Games are for doing the stupid stuff you can't do IRL...'' Jet grinned, before looking over towards the shopkeeper NPC, who was now stood with a hand held out, expecting payment... ''Though, uhh, you may wanna pay for the rapier. I don't think the shopkeeper looks too happy...'' He advised, as Koharu looked around, and felt as if all eyes were now on her. Not for the first time, she wished to curl up into the foetal position at the attention she was getting...

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The day carried on, and the duo made their way through Floor 1, beginning to level up, having finally made some progress, having reached the town of Tolbana by around 7pm, before finding an inn.

''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 to the thin air around him, logging himself off too. He still had to prepare tea, after all, and no one wants that job at 9pm...

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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... uhh, 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, hovering above the plaza. A booming voice soon echoed from the sky, reflecting off the walls around the town to produce the most twisted amphitheatre seen.

''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...

Kayaba continued his speech, and all around, the new populace of Aincrad stood, barely able to process what was being said. Akihiko Kayaba, a man lauded as a genius, the man who'd bought true VR to fruition, was now almost certainly the most wanted man in Japan, alongside an internationally wanted terrorist, no doubt. Ten thousand people had joined this game of their own free will, and now, at least according to the bastard god of this world, only 9787 were left. 213 had died already, killed by this hell that masqueraded as a game. Things continued to go from bad to worse, and then take a running jump into horrific when Kayaba revealed his final stunt of the afternoon... ''A mirror?'' Jet muttered to himself, looking very confused as he did so. Why would Kayaba given them mirrors? Was it just to rub it in, to gloat in his own victory, or did he have-

''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 shorter. Jet figured the same was true for Koharu, as she'd barely changed either, other than shrinking slightly, a fact Jet had put down to his height changing, and not hers.

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 taller 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 gone, and she toppled onto Jet, who helped her to a nearby set of steps to sit down.

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, channelling 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 centred 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. To Jet, that comparison hurt slightly. It reminded him a little too much of his father, and whilst he certainly respected the man for his service... the less said about his parenting- or lack of- the better. Besides, he was no commander either, just an idiot trying to survive a new world...

''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!

It had been the stuff of fiction.

Not anymore. Now, it was reality to them.

''We push on.'' Jet raised an uncomfortable smirk, as he began to stand up, a vain attempt at hiding just how scared he really was...


{Author's Comments}

Hi! Midland 2541 here, from the future (well, I guess, this was written over a year after the first chapter of the first floor, so kind of.)

I wasn't particularly happy with either version of the Prologue written, and I felt as if it needed a more significant start to it, rather than just throwing the reader in at the deep end.

So this is what I came up with.

I hope this is considerably better than the previous attempts (at least it is to me, anyway.), and I hope anyone reading this has enjoyed it. If you have, please leave a review or drop me a PM, as it's always appreciated, and if you want to see what happens as soon as I update (or as soon as FFN decides to send the notification), drop me a follow and/or favourite.

Last thing to note, I'm also on the SAO Fanfiction Central Discord, and we're all a welcoming bunch, so you're welcome to join here: discord . g g / SrsdNgJPVR

That's all from me, for now, so...

Signing off,

Midland 2541