Alright, I've been working on chapter 2, and here it is.

Last year, I've learned of a revival season of Johnny Test, and I was surprised. I did heard that rumour but I did not expect it to be true. And I also found the webisode. So to commemorate the revival season, and the new movie, I present to you this long awaiting chapter.

And I would like to add; I have a confession.

I haven't watched the movie, Ordinal Scale, and season 3, Alicization. Yeah, pretty embarrassing. Long story, when I learned that the movie was aired, I decided to wait until I'm able to watch it online. After a long time, it finally downloaded and I had many opportunities to watch… but I wasn't in any mood and I was busy and was into other things. But I have read some spoilers of the plot, still I want to watch the movie. The same could be said for season 3; I haven't started watching the first episode because I thought to myself, I should wait until a couple more episodes would be aired before watching. I mean, isn't waiting for a new episode a pain to anyone? Of course, because I decided to wait for more episodes to pop out, I ended up going on with my daily life as more episodes kept coming up. And there's the infamous episode 10, I took a glance (muted it) and was utterly shocked, I thought Asuna's assault was bad but that's another level, so after that I've decided to wait a bit longer. Of course I ended up waiting too long as the first part ended, on top of all it left with a cliffhanger, and because of that I've made another decision; to wait for the next part of the season to come out. And~ to make it long story short, all the long wait paids off as season 3 is completed. But despite all that, I've yet to watch them, awkward~.

But I have learned a tiny bit of Alicization, and then I started to wonder how Johnny would play it? Sure I've learned that the bad guys tricked American players by telling them that it is a beta test, and perhaps the area 51.1 may play a role. But for the time being, I'll leave it aside.

One last thing; I also have an idea in store, an original arc featuring Johnny/Flamer and his friends involving in an original VR game. The Seed allows people to create VRs and I've seen shots of several of them in GGO: Alternative and Yuuki's story of the insect VR.

Now then, let's get into the story.

Don't own Johnny Test and Sword Art Online.

It has been three hours.

It has been exactly three hours since Akihiko Kayaba's announcement. It was utter chaos amongst the players.

Everybody who purchased the game and started playing used to have great fun in their lifetime has been shattered and replaced with fear and despair. After Kayaba left, many players panicked and tried to process the new reality. Some even shout out to the creator, demanding him to let them out, and few even beg. It took some time before they all calmed down, many decided that the best thing to do right now was to go to Inns for the night and decide what to do next.

Even one player, one particular with flaming hair.

In one of the many rooms of one of the many inns in Town of Beginnings, sitting on the bed is none other than Johnny Test, A.K.A Flamer as his in-game name.

"Okay, keep calm. Everything's cool, everything's cool." Johnny said to himself. It has been several hours since the chaos, after he shouted out about wanting to play the game, he spent most of that hour just standing in place in frustration, though it soon became horror after witnessing the reactions from the other players. They were rioting in a complete rage, breaking down in total insanity, and a much greater horror; he had heard a selective few players committed suicide, it was complete chaos. It wasn't until minutes ago that Johnny calmed enough to decide that the best thing to do right now is getting a room at some Inn for the night, and spend long minutes to calm himself down.

"There's no reason to freak out. It won't take long, I have two super genius sisters who are gonna find a way to get me, and the rest of the players, out of this Death Game. Yeah, they'll definitely find a way." Johnny told himself. "This whole nightmare will be over, and that no-good creator is gonna get his."

It's no surprise that Johnny strongly believes that his sisters, Susan and Mary Test, would find a way to get him and the other players out of the game. The twins are gifted super-geniuses with incredible intelligence, capable of creating inventions that exceed expectations and fulfilling a boy's crazy dreams, to the point that they are only thirteen years of age making them prodigies. It wasn't the first time that Johnny was trapped in video games to the point that his sisters managed to get him and Dukey out several times, and right now he strongly believes that his sisters are in the middle of thinking and working on it.

"All I have to do is stay calm, and wait. No reason for me to get all worked up." Johnny said. Last time he was trapped in a game, in Island Craft, he and Dukey had been fighting for their lives when facing Beach Bra 241 (A.K.A Bumper) with his army and upgrading gears while his sisters were trying to get them out. But right now, he may be trapped in another game with helmets that can frying people's brains if dying in the game. He's in Starting City and according to the game trope rules; no monsters will come to town and attack, since the mobs are technically programmed to attack players outside of the city. And all he has to do is just chill and wait for his sisters to do their work.

Johnny looks at the bottom left of his field of vision where the time was displayed, it was 22: 48, which he had no idea what that translated to, but judging by the fact that it became nighttime, he knew it was late.

"I probably should get some sleep. Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up in the real world." He said, normally he shouldn't be tired since it was still morning (or later) in Porkbelly since he logged in and only been a few hours he played and after the panic, but the shock he got from Kayaba's "Tutorial" and witnessing people going nuts had completely sucked the life out of him.

He dropped himself to the bed, laying there as he tries to fall asleep but finds it difficult. He soon realized something. "Oh right, I still got my gear on… Ah! Who cares!" He wouldn't bother to take them off since he'll wake up in the real world, not like he's gonna be sore from sleeping with gears on.

Johnny wakes up as soon as the morning sunlight hits his face, he rubs his eyes to get the sleepiness off. He then looks at what's in front of him, to his surprise, he wasn't in the room of the Inn he was staying at.

"Hey, this is… my room!" Johnny exclaimed. True to be told, he is back in his room, back to the real world.

"Wahoo! Yes! I knew Susan and Mary would get me out of the game! Haha!" He jumped off the bed and gleefully danced, glad to be out of the nightmare.

"Yo, Dukey, I-" He called out to his best friend/pet but when he turned around he saw that he wasn't in his room. Which is strange, he usually sleeps in his room every night and they wake up every morning.

"Eh, he must be in the kitchen having coffee." He concluded. Shrugged it off, he has other plans. "Well, time to surprise the family!"

He quickly changes into his signature clothes and quickly goes downstairs, when he approaches the kitchen entrance he sees his family sitting around the table. Smiling, he decided to make an entrance to make an impact, he took a few feet backwards before dashing forward and slid his feet on the floor until he stopped in front of his family.

"Hello, family! Guess who woke up after getting out of the game?" He announced. He waits for a response but nothing.

Confused, Johnny stares at his family, they all have very depressed expressions. No, more like sadden and they looked like they were crying.

"Oh, Johnny… how we missed you so." Lila Test, his mother, sniffed.

"I always told him he shouldn't waste his time on video games, I should have told him not to play virtual-whatever games as well!" Hugh Test, his father, sadly exclaimed, he rested his head on his arms.

"What the?" Johnny wondered. What are they talking about?

"It's not your fault, honey." Lila placed her hand on her husband's back.

"If only we were much smarter, we would have saved him!" Mary exclaimed.

"Kayaba's intellect was far greater than ours." Susan added.

"Girls, it is not your fault. Nobodies perfect, you know." Lila said, she then wipes a tear.

"Still...!" Both Susan and Mary retorted but could not find anything to add.

"Why's everybody acting like I'm not here? I'm right here!" Johnny exclaimed as he waved his arms.

"And we certainly couldn't blame Johnny for wanting to play a game. He didn't know it would turn out this way..." Lila said.

"Okay, if this is your way to teach me a lesson not to play a game so early in the morning, to which I should have waited, that would give much time for the news of the players trapped in the game to announce so I may not fulldive. I get it!" Johnny retorted. He believes that his family is pretending that he isn't here as a lesson for making them worried. "So, could you all please stop!"

However, his plea was not heard as Hugh lifted himself and said. "This family won't be the same without him."

Johnny groaned in annoyance. He then hears weeping, he turns to see Dukey laying down on the floor, looking sad. He goes to the dog.

"Dukey, tell me. Are they pretending that I'm not here just to teach me a lesson?" Johnny asked. He waits for a response. To normal people, dogs don't talk, but Dukey is different… although he hasn't said anything. "Well?"

Still no response, Johnny reaches for him, in an attempt to shake him.

"Come on, dog, not you too- Eh?" As soon as his hand reaches his dog, it phases through him. In fact, his hand turned into zeros and ones, like the digital numbers in computers, when it phases through.

"What the…?!" Johnny recoiled by the strange action. He looks at his hand.

"We should pray so he may rest in peace." Hugh said, as the family agreed, holding each other's hands.

"No way, don't tell me..." Johnny then walks towards his family, when he stops beside his dad, he brings his hand in an attempt to touch him, but like with Dukey; his hand turns zeros and ones as it phases through his father's arm. He then waves his hand a couple of times as it phases through Hugh's arm. Recoiled, taking a few steps back, that was until he finally noticed a picture frame on the table with his photo. A single sweat slid on his face, starting to be afraid of what he thought was going on. He shook the idea off, but then has a new idea. "Hold on, maybe I could do stuff to the girls' computer to tell them that I'm here."

He had the idea that he may be in some sort of condition that made him digital that is invincible to the naked eyes of people, judged by his hand-turning-zeros-and-ones thing, he thought that something may have happened in the attempt to get him out of the game. Well, that's what he thought.

"To the lab!"

As soon as he said that well-known phrase, he dashed out from the kitchen. But when he left the kitchen, everything around him quickly turned into zeros and ones. It was only for a moment he soon noticed the weird phenomena until he hit something hard and fell on his butt.

"Ouch! What hit me-" His words were cut as he saw what's in front of him; it was a gravestone, not only that he was at the cemetery, and what's shocking is the name engraved on it;

Jonathan 'Johnny' Test.

So young, full of life.

Lived an adventurous life.

"No way, that can't be true…!" Johnny wanted to deny it, but when he read the date of his 'death' his eyes widened in shock.

Suddenly, from neck to toe, his entire attire quickly changes into zeros and ones again before turning into his in-game attire with gears. He looked surprised when he saw himself. Then the whole cemetery suddenly changes, from zeros and ones to a frightening dark cave. Flashes of light appear from the ground before revealing various monsters.

Johnny quickly stands up, he notices that he was surrounded. One of the monsters, a smaller one, went charging towards the flaming-headed boy and struck him. Johnny stumbled, then noticed the HP bar on his field vision, it went down by a good portion. The young boy soon realized; he is still trapped in the game and if his HP went down to zero, he will die both in the virtual AND real world.

Unsheathing his sword, he parries an incoming monster that tries to strike him.

"Back! Back I say!" He exclaimed, holding his sword with both hands. He wanted to be brave but his entire body shakes in fear.

One after another, the monsters went towards the boy and attacked him. While Johnny fights back, either blocking or parrying their attacks, he does manage to slice a couple of them. Though he was struck and hit, each attack made him lose more HP and just by looking at it made him worry and desperate.

After slashing another monster, Johnny failed to see an incoming dire wolf as it took a bite on his arm holding his sword, before long his arm was ripped off. He stumbles back, even though he doesn't feel the pain he still screams out of fear and the sigh of his missing hand. Suddenly, he got hit on the back by a lizardman, he fell on the floor, soon other monsters wielding weapons came to him and struck him on the back a couple of times. Johnny screams at each hit, he can feel them and strongly believes that they hurt, to the point that tears start to form in his eyes. He then sees his HP that was already in orange.

"No… No, no, no, no!" He cried in despair and fear, and soon enough his HP went red growing more afraid. "No, no, no no no no!"

Suddenly, the hits on his back stopped, he turned his head and his eyes widened to what he saw; it was Akihiko Kayaba in his red robe from the day he announced, and he was holding a scythe, raising it. Johnny notices something under Kayaba's hood, it reveals to be a skull and just by looking at him, he looks like the grim reaper. The boy became more frightening. And saw that his HP was already at a small fracture, 7% at least, there he swore that he felt that his heart stopped.

Kayaba then brought down the scythe, aiming at the boy as he screamed.

"NO-!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!" Johnny screamed as he suddenly woke up. Seated on the bed panting, he looked around; it was the room of the Inn he was staying in. He wipes a sweat off his cheek, even though it's virtual it was out of habit.

"It was just a dream…" He sighed. He nervously chuckles. "Boy, yesterday's craziness has made me freaked out if I had that kind of nightmare…"

He wanted to brush it off but finds it difficult since the memory is still fresh.

He looks at the window, seeing the light, meaning that it's morning. He looks at the time, and it says 7:08. Seeing no reason to go back to sleep, he gets off the bed and he feels a discomfort sensation all over his body.

"Arg… does my body actually feel sore? Should probably have taken off my equipment. Lesson learned." He complained. He was sure he wouldn't feel any sort of aches, considering that this is virtually made of zeros and ones, and adding the fact that he was so sure that his sisters would get him out while he was asleep.

"I guess they must be monitoring me, to see if I went along the whole clearing the game thing. Maybe that's why they're buying their time." Johnny concluded. The last time he was trapped in virtuals, his sisters would manage to get him and Dukey out only when their lives were on the line. Like in The Quickest and the Monkiest movie, they nearly fall to their deaths, then when they were in Tinymon world and prison of No Escape, they were nearly trapped in those worlds forever, and when they were transported to Island Craft they were almost wiped out by Bumper. All those things have motivated Susan and Mary to act fast, but this time Johnny was just resting in a room without leaving.

"And also the fact that the NerveGear could fry my brain if someone tries to remove it, so they must be working on a way to maybe shut it off or hack it." Johnny remembered what Kayaba had explained regarding any attempts to remove the NerveGear would cause a microwave that would destroy their brains. He believes that his sisters must be working on an attempt to take off the one he wears without activating the microwave.

He walks towards the window, he stares through the glass looking at the city's building and the sky. Then he wondered out loud. "I mean, how hard can it be for them?"

Aincrad; 1st Floor: Town of Beginnings - November 7th

3 Days later - November 10th

In one of the streets of the Town of Beginnings, several players were shopping. After the whole chaos, many players decided to go along with the grand quest of clearing the game, so they all went ahead and grinding their levels, all the while buying new equipment to help them further, thus the reason for them to shop. While some just take a breather by enjoying eating good food and drinks, even though they are virtual but they satisfy their virtual hunger and their taste buds.

One certain young player, a flaming-headed boy, is also enjoying a treat. He was sitting on a chair in front of a table beside a tavern, he had a piece of apple pie with milk tea, both half-finished. He had his chin resting on his right palm with his right elbow on the table for support, tapping on a table with his left-hand fingers, he had a bored expression on his face like he was waiting for a long time. Then his expression turns to annoyance as his eyebrows frown.

"Okay… this has been long enough!" Johnny exclaimed, placing both hands on the table and straightening his sitting posture. "I knew they weren't smart enough to realize there's one Gil and two of them, and they both can't have him. But man, just what exactly are they doing? Usually, they can pull it off like the whole Island Craft and Tinymon in just one day. It has been three days now!"

As mentioned before, his sisters have saved him multiple times whenever he's trapped and they did it in under a few hours in one day…

but it has been three days.

From his perception, he strongly believes that his sisters would get him out without problems since usually, they can work on their sciency stuff fast and in a short time, of course, he has to cooperate as well. But now, he has to wonder what was taking them so long to figure out.

"Unless Eugene crashed into the lab and messed up something... or they were too distracted by Gil." He complained, knowing full well of his sisters' crush on their neighbour, they would also get distracted by the mere appearance of the boy passing by. And Eugene, A.K.A Bling-Bling Boy, who has a huge crush on Susan would often crash through the lab to get a date with her, sometimes he would accidentally mess up when appearing.

"Now that I think about it, usually whenever these things happen, they would like to send something to help me or transport themselves here to give me some instructions." The times that his sisters helped him involved them getting transported, like in Tinymon and The Quickest and The Monkeyest, where they helped him from the inside, and in No Escape, they sent him items to help him escape (but he used them the wrong way). But these past three days he didn't receive anything, and he couldn't blame them to fulldive themselves considering that this has turned into a Death Game. Though, he did expect that his best friend, Dukey, would try harder to fulldive himself in to help, knowing his loyalty. "But just what exactly is taking them?"

Johnny turns his head to see a couple of players staring at him oddly. Realizing that he was talking out loud to himself that people managed to hear him, he felt awkward. "I've got to stop talking to myself."

Feeling awkward, he pulls himself off the chair and starts walking, not bothering to finish his pie and drink. As he walks, doesn't care where he's going, he turns his head right and left to see the other players. He admitted that he is impressed that the people have got a grip and are already working on this big quest despite the chaos that occurred several days ago. He has seen the people of Porkbelly getting all panicked over attacks that they run all over, and the only time they calm down is when a crisis is over. He wasn't used to seeing people getting over the panic, slowly, and moving on, especially when they went along with Kayaba's mad game.

Although he has to admit, he knew better than wandering around aimlessly and waiting for help wouldn't do at all.

Johnny had wandered out of the Town of Beginnings and back into West Field, and eventually to the exact same spot that he had watched the sunset, and discovered his inability to logout. He sat down and just blankly stared out at the calm, afternoon landscape. Despite its deadly usage, the world of Aincrad was still a beautiful sight to behold, though no matter how hard he tried, he still couldn't forget that this breathtaking world was still a prison, one of which he had no means of escape.

The only means to escape is to clear the game by going to each floor before reaching the last one and beating the final boss. Under the condition of avoiding the HP reaching down to zero.

Other than that, during the three days that he's been waiting, for three nights he had nightmares. The same kind he had on the first night but different and still fresh in his memory. On the second night, he dreamed that he was in one of the districts of Pork Belly with no living soul that was like a ghost town, that is until he met with various monsters from his first nightmare chasing after him. On the third night, he was in his backyard until monsters crashed into and Johnny did his best to fend them off. Lastly on the third night, although hesitant to sleep, he dreamed that he was in the field of Aincrad this time, and instead of monsters a giant robed Kayaba appeared and gave chase after the boy. Johnny did his best to chase off the game creator, even slashing his huge hand after he got him, right before Kayaba brought him closer to his hidden face and ate the boy, as Johnny was falling into a pit of flames that reminded him of one world that he can't say it out loud. The flame-haired boy shivered at the reminder, and ever since the first day he's been getting those nightmares all the while awaiting his sisters to help.

All Johnny ever wanted is to play the game and have fun, but now the whole thing turns out this way.

He gets off from his sitting spot, then he begins to speak. "Alright, I've made up my mind. If Kayaba wants me and every player to play this crazy death game, then so be it!" Johnny declared with confidence. He couldn't lay around and do nothing, expecting something to happen, it wasn't in his nature.

He may be a selfish and a troublemaker kid, but one thing for sure is that he is also kind and helpful to others. Thus, is why he's gonna save every player trapped in this doomed game.

And he's gonna do what he's best in; playing video games.

He stares at the Health bar of his field of vision and looks at the LV 2, indicating that he's level 2. Then he began to speak. "Well… no doubt that many players have already levelled up so much."

He turns to see a couple of Frenzy Boars far away, he draws his sword. "I'm gonna need a LOT of Exps to catch up." He said with a grin.

"Okay, I know I said I need a lot of Exps, but with all the level ups I got, it's starting to get slow." Johnny complained, looking at his status.

He is currently in his inn room after coming back from grinding. He had spent the whole afternoon farming Exps from the Frenzy Boars and he is currently level 8. It should be a good thing that he levelled up so much, but now he's facing two problems. He has forgotten about the important thing when playing a video game with a level-base system; the more you raise your level, the bigger the number of Exps required it gets. SAO is a VRMMORPG, after all, and Johnny had it easy with raising small numbers but he found it harder as the demand of Exps expanded the more he raised his level higher. The Frenzy Boars were only able to give small among of Exps, to which Johnny complain that he had more the first time he killed the first one but he found out soon that killing one Frenzy Boar awards a level 1 player with a higher Exps, much to his chagrin, but he did come across new kind of monster known as Dire Wolf and has killed a couple that provided medium Exps.

Now, as for the second problem; his equipment. It all started after he finally reached level 8, his current progress, and as soon as a couple of Frenzy Boars respawned, Johnny charged ahead and struck one, but then… his sword broke! No, really, his sword broke as soon as he slashed one Frenzy Boar, and like the defeated enemy mobs, the remains of the sword turned into pixels. The flame-headed boy had to turn tail from the Frenzy Boars as soon he realized that he was unarmed, thankfully the mobs lost interest in the boy as he was a couple of feet away and continued to do so until he got back to the town. He has been complaining about how his sword sinks and got broken right in the middle of farming, he then got an explanation from a player, who had heard him ranting out loud (I really need to stop talking to myself). He learned that a wide variety of weapons possess limited durability, meaning if using one weapon for too long causes the durability to go down and break, it's the same as a player's health if being attacked the HP will go down. Johnny slapped his forehead as he learned it, he has played games with those kinds of durabilities and it never occurred to him to even take a look at the weapon's status or whatever he could look into.

"And I really need new equipment. I should get a better sword that has higher durability." Johnny said, making a mental note of a list to shop. He had learned from the player that he could look up to his equipment's stats on his status window, and as it turns out the armour he was wearing also has durability and it already went down due to the attacks of the mobs (Frenzy Boars' tackles and Dire Wolves' bites).

"Well, I do have the money, and I can earn extra when I sell the drops. That takes care of that." Johnny said, he had earned quite a fair sum of money as rewards for killing mobs, he even has drops that he could sell, most of them are food type or monster parts. "Now as for the Exp…"

Johnny's other challenge is Exp farming. Now that he has raised his level high, he needs a lot more Exp, he could still go out and kill mobs again, though he'll face difficulties. 1; Since the game is virtually realistic he can feel exhausted, he experienced it while grinding, and mobs well take advantage. 2; other players need grinding, he spotted two groups that were taking on monsters, and he knows the rules of the games pretty well, do not steal prey. 3; Time expansion, the more he raises his level, the bigger the Exp demand, the more time expands to grind, meaning once he reaches a higher level he'll have too much time on weaker mobs until he levels up. Oh, he knows it, he once spent four hours on weaker mobs to level up in a different game.

A lightbulb appeared hovering over Johnny. "Wait. I should go on Quests, that'll provide a large sum of Exps!"

True be told, Sword Art Online does have quests that provide rewards such as experience points, like any other typical RPG game. He had read about it online before.

Johnny nodded to himself. "Alright, starting tomorrow, I'll go find a quest, complete it, and get my reward!" With a plan in mind, he decided to go to bed right now without any reluctance or worries for a possible nightmare as he is positive for tomorrow.

Aincrad; 1st Floor - November 11th

Johnny, also known as Flamer, was walking on a trail heading towards his destination, wearing his new equipment. The first thing he did in the morning, he ate breakfast to satisfy his virtual hunger, then he went shopping by selling the item drops and his old equipment before buying new ones. He had purchased a metal chestplate strapped on him, to replace the leather one, called {Swordsman's Chest Armour} that add plus 10 defence, new black fingerless gloves {Apprentice's Gloves} that add plus 2 for attack stat, and he acquired new shoes called {Black Smooth Shoes} that raise 5 agility.

"Why does this game have so many shoes that don't have cool names?" It was what he said when he went shopping for shoes. He could have purchased armoured shoes or boots, a lot looked like they came from middle age, but he needed something to add more speed.

He even bought a new sword, to replace the broken one, and acquired a {Light Iron Sword}, that has a higher attack and durability.

Needless to say, he is ready to go… and blowing his budget. But he'll reclaim, and GROW after completing quests!

He asked around the city for info on finding quests, needless to say, he had a hard time when half of the players refused out of mockery or concern, but in the end, he got what he wanted. From what he learned, there are several villages on the 1st Floor that have quests that can be triggered, he even got suggested in looking into the Guide Book since it has information on the 1st Floor. He also learned that every quest can be completed repeatedly as many times as players want, meaning if he finds one he could repeat it as many times he wants, meaning more Exps and money! And it certainly helps other players as well.

Though, finding your own quest will prove difficult. Ever since day 1, every player took it upon themselves as they all went to raise their levels and earn money in order to beat this game, so a lot went to find quests. And to raise the difficulty, many players would have to result in finding hunting grounds and farm Exps. And Johnny had wasted four days without doing any of those, but luckily he went hunting yesterday, but he'll have to work hard in order to catch up with the other players' current levels.

Other than that, Johnny has discovered that every former Beta Tester had gone and taken away the best quests before anybody could, considering that they were beta testing the game before the release so they knew where the quests were and hogging them all, leaving him and the rest of the newbs. Rumour has it that they started it right after Kayaba's Death Game announcement, to which everybody began to hate them and criticize them, labelling the Beta Testers as selfish jerks for thinking for themselves and not bothering to help anyone. Every man and woman for themselves, it seems they took it at heart.

As Johnny walks, wearing a bored expression until his eyes catch something from the distance, from afar it looks like a village.

"Yes, I've made it!" The flame-haired boy excitedly exclaimed before dashing towards the village. It didn't take him long before he reached the village, he left a sigh in relief.

"Man, three long hours of walking." The flame-haired boy said. He had walked for three hours since leaving the Town of Beginnings. At first, he expected that going to another place wouldn't take that long, but boy was he wrong, another thing about this game is the open world. Johnny had played open-world games before, and he knew that travelling by foot would be time-consuming, and he spent a whole hour to reach the destination. He may not be physically exhausted, but he is mentally exhausted, with the constant of questioning himself for how long, asking himself if he's there yet or he should have gotten transportation. But of course, he encountered monsters along the way that lessen his boredom.

Deciding to forget his tormenting experience, he turns his head to look at the village around. The place does look like those old medieval-aged ones but not so bad, it has stone houses and he also spotted a few stalls. "So, this is Medai Village, huh? Okay, let's do a quest!"

For the first minutes, Johnny goes around the village, in search of a quest. He walks in every direction and turns on every corner, looking at every spot, and he even tries touching or stumping at some random places, or talking to NPC villagers in hopes to trigger a quest. He had read in the Guide Book that certain quests required conditions to be triggered. Needless to say, he has a hard time searching for one.

"Come on, there's got to be ONE quest around here." Johnny complained after getting out of a barrel and returning in his search. "It's gonna take me forever to find one, and by the time other players will take it. Help me out Dog!"

As soon as Johnny says that, he stops and turns around, expecting a response but none. He soon realized what he had said before looking down. "Oh yeah, I'm on my own now."

Back in the IRL, Johnny and Dukey usually hang out and always stick to each other. Whenever Johnny has social problems, or the two are caught in some situations, the boy would always go to his best friend/pet, and some other time Dukey willingly gives advice when not asking. Johnny was so used to having Dukey around and his advice that he forgot that he was on his own.

Johnny lifted his head and proclaimed. "But still! I can manage this with my own wits!"

"So… what would Dukey say in this predicament?"

Johnny then takes small steps as he thinks. "Hmm… He would probably say; 'Why not look over the facts, like checking the book. That player back then did suggest it. I mean, when was the last time you ever read a game guide?'" He said, mimicking Dukey's voice and his way of talking. He stops taking steps before he digs out the Guide Book. "Yup, I can clearly imagine hearing him saying that. Then I would say to him; Nobody reads a manual these days, you'll learn how to play at the beginning with all the tutorials. But then he would retort; But right now this is not a game anymore, and we'll need all we know, in order, to get the heck out of this nightmarish world. Then I would say; Good point."

After Johnny finished, he soon realized that he had been talking to himself the whole time. He pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, muttering. "I've got to stop doing that."

Johnny quickly opens the Guidebook and looks through a few pages, hoping to spot the keyword 'quest'. He slammed his index finger on a page. "Aha!" He found what he was looking for and started to read the instructions as he mumbled. Before long, he closed the book shut. "Duh! That is so obvious!"

With the new knowledge, Johnny went back on his search, running around as he paid close attention to the NPCs. After several minutes, as he runs through the southeast, just then something catches his eyes; there was a man (an NPC) who looked middle-aged, clothes that made him look shepherd, but what stands out the most was the gold «!» symbol above his head.

Johnny stops his tracks, pointing at the man. "Found it!" He then quickly runs towards the man.

The flame-headed boy stops in front of the shepherd, he stares at the man before he asks. "Hi there, are you in trouble or something?"

What Johnny learned from the Guide Book, is that NPCs can give quests if they have the «!» symbol above them, he should have known, then asked those NPCs like "Is something troubling you?" that triggered the quest.

The NPC stares back at the boy and says. "Are you… perhaps a swordsman? If so, please help me!"

As soon as he asked that question, a window appeared in of him as Johnny reads it;

Would you like to start the quest "The Livestock Problem?"

"Alright, a quest! Yes, baby!" Johnny exclaimed as he pressed the circle button, accepting the quest.

Quest Accepted

"Oh thank you, swordsman!" The NPCs grasp both his hands together. He began to explain. "As you can tell, I raise sheep and sell their wool and meat for a living."

Johnny bent a bit to his right side and saw a wooden fence that kept several sheep behind the man, yup, he is a shepherd.

"Like all shepherds." Johnny sarcastically muttered.

"But alas, a terror has plagued in this farm. Few of my sheep went missing a couple of days ago, one by one they are up and vanish, sometimes two to three." The NPC said with worry in his voice, he continued. "I went to investigate to get the bottom of this, and to my greatest horror…"

The NPC shepherd stops as he looks down with a terrified expression.

"What? What happened?" Johnny asked. He doesn't know if he should say something during the explanation, but he was so drawn by the shepherd's story that he couldn't help but ask.

The NPC looks at him and claims. "It was those wrenched Dire Wolves! Those beastly dogs devoured my precious sheep! I've tried to fend them off on my own, with a little help from my fellow villagers. But despite that, few of my sheep got eaten anyway! The next thing they'll do is go after the poor lambs! Oh, what shall I do? I'm losing my sheep and sooner or later I won't have anything else for a living! Please, swordsman, please slay those wrenched wolves"

Johnny has been attentionally listening to the NPC's dramatic scene. Part of him is impressed by the realistic nature of the NPC's personality, like a real person. And part of him is too eager to get started with the quest, but according to the Guide Book, a player has to listen to the NPC's explanation since they will give instructions or locations for the quest.

"Sure, no sweat. I'll take care of those mutts, I've dealt with a few of them before." Johnny exclaimed, he had killed wolf mobs so dealing with them in the quest would be a piece of cake.

"Oh, thank you so much!" NPC exclaimed in joy. "They formed a large pack, about 15 of them, and they're sighted in the East, right there. I and a few villagers have found their den." Johnny's eyes follow where the NPC points and sees trees far away, a long distance between the village and the woods, most likely 1 kilometre.

"Once you have slain them, bring their pelts as proof." The NPC finished.

Quest Progress

Just then, a window appears and Johnny reads it, apparently, it is a quest log window. From what he can see and figured out, it must be a section on his menu that lets him see the information of quests, and right now he has only one.

"Okay. My first quest for my progress. Gonna do what I have to do." Johnny declared. He turned his attention to the south, he smirked. "Is wolf season time."

After a quick jog, Johnny is in the woods, searching for the Dire Wolves' den. He had encountered a few Dire Wolves along the way, and when he was done with them he noticed that not only did he acquire quite a few experience points and money, he also got new items called {Dire Wolf Pelts}. The NPC did request their pelts as proof, so these must be the so-called Quest items, he did say there were 10 of them and he slew three of them, meaning he'll know exactly how many there are left and return once he finished the quest.

"I think I read the pelt part somewhere in the Guide Book about Dire Wolves." Johnny said, sheathing his sword.

The Flame-headed player went back in exploration. During the time, he's been going left and right in hopes to find any leads that would lend him to the den, even using tips he learned from that adventurous zoologist guy's show. And along the way, he slew more Dire Wolves and a thought occurred to him, the more he kills the more he reduces their numbers in the den, it'll be suicide to face a large pack alone. He considered himself lucky that a couple of wolves were outdoors and separated.

"There it is." Said Johnny as he spotted the den hiding between bushes. "Took me a while, finding clues and killing off those mutts, but I finally found it."

Johnny has also spotted a few Dire Wolves, 4 in total, outside of the den, two of them were sleeping while the other two stood.

"Either they just want to be outside or they're guard dogs." Johnny unsheathes his {Light Iron Sword}. "But that doesn't matter; I'm about to complete the quest."

He had already killed 6 Dire Wolves on the way, he just needed to kill 4 more to make it 10.

He picks a nearby rock, positions himself and activates the Skill System as the object in hand glows in bluish light, he then throws it leaving a bluish light stream. The rock headed fast towards a tree before hitting it, the sound alerting the Dire Wolves and waking the two, paying attention to where the source was, moving away from the den.

Seeing that the wolves are distracted, gripping his sword, Johnny activates the Skill System again for a Sword Skill, the blade turns bluish light. Johnny kicks off the dirt as he makes a mad dash towards the mobs, raising the sword to the side. The sounds of bushes rustling and footsteps caught the Dire Wolves' ears, one turned around and before it could do anything the sword sliced through, leaving a red line. The wolf burst into polygons.

Johnny fixes his eyes on the remaining Dire Wolves who got caught up to the boy's sudden appearance and assault. The digital wolves growl, they begin to walk towards and circle him, showing their fangs. Johnny keeps his ground, taking a stance ready for a Sword Skill against the first attacker.

The Dire Wolves surrounded the young player, much like the real wolves who surround their prey, looking for an opening to assault him. One Dire Wolf was at his blindside before it moved towards him and opened his jaws to bite him. Johnny heard the growling, quickly, he turned 360 degrees and swung his {Light Iron Sword} diagonal, slashing it, leaving a red line, and fell to the ground, before long the wolf raised itself. Johnny looks at the wolf, noticing its HP bar that dropped to a half and turn orange, the flame-head boy learns that if he swings his sword ordinary it only takes a portion of HP but a Sword Skill can do a lot more damage, hence why he one-hit killed the previous wolf. Johnny quickly runs towards the wolf and thrusts his sword to the wolf, stabbing it as it runs through, the wolf howling in pain as its remaining HP dropped to zero before finally dying and exploding in polygons.

Sensing the other wolves approaching, Johnny turns his attention and quickly parries and dodges their assault. Keeping his feet on the ground, he positions himself and activates the System again, he horizontally slashes at the incoming wolf, explodes in polygons.

Finally, only one remains, the last Dire Wolf growls at the young boy who slew its comrades. Both the wolf and boy stand still and stare at each other, two individuals in a final standoff. The wolf licks its fangs. The player adjusted his grip on the sword.

After what felt like an hour, the two steps up and charge towards one another, the wolf opens its mouth while Johnny thrust his sword, activating the Skill. They both run past each other while the player leaves a stream of light, both were behind a few feet before the last Dire Wolf burst in polygons. The victory for this standoff goes to the flaming-headed kid.

"Well, that takes care of it!" Johnny declared, twirling his sword before sheathing it. "Now, I just need to go back to that NPC and give these pelts to him!"

Feeling accomplished and one step towards his progress, after Johnny took three steps he came to a stop when he heard a growl. He turns around and sees the unexpected; another wolf coming out of the den.

Unlike the other Dire Wolves, it was larger, twice their size, and its fur is darker in colour. When the young player stares at it attentively the name appears above, it says Alpha Dire Wolf.

"Of course." Johnny sarcastically scoffed. All packs of wolves have one leader that is known as an alpha. He learned that from his dog. "And I did not expect there'll be another."

The Alpha Dire Wolf growls at the young player, approaching the boy. Johnny unsheathed his sword and held it in front as the mob was getting closer.

"Alright Johnny, you can do this. This may be a tougher version of those mutts, but you're a lot tougher with your level and new equipment." Johnny said to himself. "It's only gonna take one hit and- WOW!"

Johnny cried out as the Alpha charged in but he quickly dodge, he rolled on the ground before going on his knees. The Alpha turns and attends to assault the boy, the young player swung his sword in front only for the mob to take a step back and Johnny then points it as the digital wolf growls.

Meanwhile, Johnny admitted that he got carried away believing that he could defeat it. The Alpha was a lot quicker than the regular wolves, three times if he saw it right, and he was used to the Dire Wolves' speed that he's able to see them coming, but the big on the other hand is a different story. Johnny would have to stay focused and pay attention to the Alpha's attack pattern.

Slowly, Johnny brings his sword in a pre-thrust position, allowing the Skill System to activate. The small motion allowed the Alpha to approach the boy, opening its jaws to bite him but the player quickly lets the System take over as the sword thrust at the wolf. The blade slashes the Alpha's right side of its face, from the lip to the ear, making the wolf yelp in pain and separate from the boy.

Johnny quickly stood on his feet and stared at the Alpha, he noticed its HP bar, it only took a small portion, 20% mostly.

"I knew I should have gotten a heavier sword." Johnny muttered. The weapon that he bought was more a speed-type but with a 15 percent sharpness. But the Alpha is a lot tougher, he thought that if he had a heavier sword, power-type, he could have done a lot more damage.

The Alpha Dire Wolf turns its attention back to the player, with a red line on its right side of the face, growling again, and slowly taking steps prompting the flame-headed boy to position himself. After a sixth step the Alpha charged again, the player's blade glows and before long swings his sword diagonal, bottom right to top left, slashing across the wolf. Yelping again, the mob falls to the ground but stands up immediately with a diagonal red line across its chest to closer to the neck with its HP dropped.

Breathing, Johnny stares at the Alpha before crossing his arm, with the sword in hand, positioning himself again. Angry, Alpha charges again in an attempt to attack the boy as the blade glows again. Johnny charges in and swings his sword, the blade slashes the left side. As both are taking distances, Johnny stares back at the wolf whose HP dropped again but before long he noticed his HP bar on his vision, he saw that a portion dropped, 16%.

"What?! But why did my HP drop?!" Johnny cried in confusion. It may not be a big deal since he only lost a small amount but he can't get careless if he was being attacked, he then noticed his left arm that has red lines on the forearm, most likely the Alpha managed to bite him.

The flaming-headed player stares back at the wolf, growling again, showing its fangs and tongue runs through. Johnny frowned, he prepared himself for another attack.

"Alright you mangy mutt boss, you're hungry? Then I hope you like skewers." Johnny taunted, though programmed mobs can't possibly understand.

Both charged ahead to one another, it may seem reckless to see Johnny charging at the same time towards a tougher opponent but he has to end it quickly. Activating the Sword Skill, Johnny thrusts his sword towards the Alpha Dire Wolf's opening mouth and stabs it as the blade comes out of the back of the wolf's head. The two opponents standstill before the mob's HP drops quickly and the entire body explodes in polygons.

Rewards;

EXP: 40

Col: 70

Items: 3

"Aaah, I did it." Johnny drops to the ground. He was glad that he defeated the Alpha, even though it still had more health but Johnny managed to quickly put an end to it by stabbing it through the mouth. It was a gamble since he thought of it out of the blue and who knows if it works in the game.

"Man, if I knew there was a miniboss-like monster, I would have gone prepared!" Johnny complained. Despite achieving his objective, he still couldn't help being mad that there was a hard part in the quest and if this wasn't a Death Game he would be alright to die and restart so he could know what he may face.

"Ah well. No point complaining now." Johnny gets on his feet. And out of habit, dusting himself off. "I slew ten Dire Wolves, plus an alpha, and got the pelts plus one, now it's time to go back to see the NPC!"

Johnny comes back to Medai Village safely after leaving the woods, he goes to the Shepherd NPC to report his quest.

The flame-headed player runs through the village and comes to a stop in front of the NPC, he speaks to him. "Hey Shepherd, I took care of those wolves."

"Really? Have you?" The Shepherd asked, there was a mix of hope and doubt.

"Yup!" Johnny opens his menu, going through the Item section, he then pokes at the {Dire Wolf Pelt (x10)} and they manifest on his arms. He then pokes the {Alpha Dire Wolf pelt} as it too manifests, he figures he should also show it to the NPC.

"Here ya go." Johnny presents them to the Shepherd.

The NPC stares at the pelts, running his finger through the furred hides of the deceased wolves. The NPC looks at the boy and smiles. "You've done it! And you even slew an Alpha, I can't possibly imagine the difficulty you have when dealing with the dreaded beast! They are known for being fearful for one warrior to face off alone, especially if it's with other Dire Wolves, they are intelligent beasts."

'If it is intelligent, how come it didn't see that I aimed for its mouth?' Johnny jokes in his head.

"And yet, you've defeated it alone, along with the Wolves. Oh, If I knew, I would have suggested you bring companions. Please, allow me to repay you extra for your trouble, I'll even give you the Alpha's hide." The Shepherd said. Soon then later, the pelts on Johnny's arms disappear in a flash of light.

Congratulations!

Quest Clear

The sudden letters appeared above the NPC, from the looks of it it seems Johnny has completed the quest.

Rewards;

EXP: 85

Col: 160

Item: 2

Congratulations!

You Leveled Up

Level 8 to Level 9

Johnny fist pump seeing the number of rewards, it's a lot more than when he gets from slaying monsters, quests are much better to get rewards. Plus, he levelled up, these were just the number of experience points he needed. Just then, a smaller window appeared in front of the window, the title says 'Quest Bonus' and on the space says.

Bonus Quest;

50 Col

Alpha Wolf Hide

"Alright, extra money… and a hide." Johnny cheered enthusiastically until it turned into confusion. Why a hide though, and why did it change from pelt to hide? He opens his Menu, looking through it until he finds it and reads the description.

Alpha Wolf Hide.

From a ferocious leader of the Dire Wolves, can be used from an accessory or having it craft as equipment or furniture. Can be sold for a high price.

"Sweet." Johnny said, getting a pretty good idea what to do with it.

"Thanks for the reward, Mister Sheep Caretaker. So long!" Johnny thanks and says goodbye to the Shepherd as he walks away with the feeling of accomplishment.

Now that he knows that he also needs to complete quests to gain extra Exps, with the addition of money and items, he'll have to do whatever it takes to raise his level. He will beat the game and escape from this reality, and save everyone!

A boy was staring at the NPC shepherd tending his herd of sheep from the wooden fences, the boy in question was a young teenager, most likely 14, and Japanese, with slightly long but neat black hair and black eyes, not only that he has a delicate face with lack of masculinity that would make him mistake for a girl. He wears a blue tunic with a steel chest plate, black gloves, brown pants with boots, he has a sword in a scab tied on his back. His eyes frown when he sees the NPC with a happy smile.

"Someone beat me to it." The boy said in disappointment. His reason for coming to Medai Village was to trigger and do the Livestock Problem quest, but unfortunately, it was already completed.

It came as no surprise that the boy knows of that quest, considering that he's done it a couple of times, some of the quests in SAO can be done repeatedly despite being completed once, although such quests have cooldown time before they can be available.

The boy completed it 6 six times, once during the first days of the Death Game and five… during his Beta Testing days. Yes, this teen was a Beta Tester for Sword Art Online before it was officially launched. He knows the locations of the monster spawn area, dungeons area, quests locations, and memorized the attack patterns of mobs.

He was one of the luckiest to become a Beta Tester and allowed to get a sneak peek at the very first VRMMORPG, the first time he Fulldive and played he had the most fun and exciting experience of his life, he felt more alive than he was in the real world. In fact; he had been craving it more and felt like forever for the new game to finish and become available. He wanted to come back, to feel free in this world, and you only need a sword and gut to do the talking, he felt like he didn't want to leave.

Now… he didn't have a choice but to stay.

Ever since the game master, Akihiko Kayaba, made his announcement of the Death Game and explained the rules, many players have had no choice but to stay and work towards to beat this game. And that boy quickly took one step further. There were going to be a lot of them who were going to try and grow stronger so they could take on the Dungeon and win, reaching the second floor. The problem was that they weren't going to stray very far from the city unless they were good and ready and only so many resources and mobs to grind for experience were available in the area surrounding the city. The boy hated doing it this way, even regretted leaving a new friend and his gang behind, but with so few resources he had to make progress in advance. Going to areas to level up even faster and grab some of the quests around to get himself ready to advance that much sooner.

He already took many quests from that one village and advanced very well, so he came to this village to take, and repeat, a quest he's familiar with since he finished it two days ago. Unfortunately, someone already took it.

The black-haired boy sighed in resignation. "Guess I'll just have to do other quests until it's available again. Too bad." He turns away from the fences and walks, he continues to speak to himself. "Chances are whoever the players are may not have gotten the Alpha Wolf Hide. That Bonus Quest money and item have a 4 out of 10 chance when doing it solo."

He knows of that quest, the bonus item would only be available when doing it solo and it's a gamble, you'll have to be lucky.

And boy, was that player lucky.

Chapter 2; Off to a Journey

And there you have it!

I hope I've done well with it, and hopefully, I didn't mess up with Johnny. I wanted to bring out Johnny's gamer part, considering how he plays so much and many video games, I wanted to make him have knowledge of all different mechanisms, genres and systems to use them to help him grow.

To be honest with you all: I've been working on this chapter like last June-August until I stopped when I went on a family trip, but then there were major events that happened last year which made me anxious and unable to write anything. But when I came back to writing I had no motivation so I tried writing new ones, such as a new story that I published with two chapters, part of it is to help me out to get the hang of it. And I even had a method that helped me.

Again, I have to be honest: I normally go for anime and manga where I learned the terminologies in the series, so I haven't read LN. So I went to another source that has information about canon SAO, such as the Quests system. I may have to ask for expertise to help me out and confirmations for what I found.

And I recently learned that the revival got an ongoing season 2, and there was a game. That gave me an Old Joseph impression. Hopefully, I may be able to watch season 2.

Another thing; has anyone heard of the production of a live-action adaptation of Sword Art Online? And anyone who are disappointed by the recent live-action adaptations, don't lose hope for this one, with so many criticisms they'll have to think twice before doing what they were about to do. And I'm hype for it.

As Uncle Chan would always say: One more thing: I'll leave a poll to ask if you like to see an opening scene of this story.

One more thing: I may go to watch the rest of SAO, both the movie and season 3, but I may have to start by rewatching the beginning to get the feeling. Though, to me sitting and watching may be considered a hassle, so I'll just listen in audio while doing my things.

One more thing: I had an idea for a story, it takes place after SAO and ALO and before the Ordinal Scale and Aliziciation, Johnny and Dukey went to convert their avatars to different VR games to play and explore new VR worlds. The story tells each chapter about a different VR game and what kind of gameplay they have, and what opinion Johnny and Dukey will give. Well, yeah, this is sort of a time skip and would have spoilers from the main story. Considering that thinking about gameplay, original VR worlds and systems is kinda fun, so I'll do what I like to do.

Now, with that said, I'll be off. I'm gonna go, and trying, to write my other stories.

And Happy ST. Patrick's Day!