A/n for the few people that read my stuff, i wish to say thank you. my other story is on hold do to massive writers block. the words just are not forming the way i want. Draco38 introduced me to SAO and well the muse sorta woke up. like dislike hate, leave a reveiw.
One hour after the launch of Sword Art Online:
He walked through the Town of Beginnings casually, happy to finally be here. After missing his chance to be a beta tester due to his time in the hospital, he had been very anxious about even making the launch today.
Standing six foot tall and over two hundred pounds. He was a sight and it was clear he was an American. Wearing his beginner armor, hand axe and shield strapped over his back, the man had just finished selling the items he had collected during his first hour of level grinding.
"Hey, big dude?!" another player shouted and waved at him. "Not many Americans here, where you live?"
"Hokkaido," he replied simply as he tuned to walk away.
He was not trying to be rude but he was not here on this day to socialize, he was here to hunt.
"Cool. So want to come questing with us?" the guy asked running quickly to catch up.
It was not the rudest way he had been asked to party with someone, he Stoped and turned to see not only the kid that was talking but three others, two boys and a girl, the boys moved and acted like, as a guess, like they were teens maybe 14 or 15 despite their avatars' looking older. The woman was in fact that, a woman. As a guess he figured mid 20's.
"If we travel together I must know something, what are your ages?" he looked at all four of them his face booked no argument.
"I am Toma," the one that first called him started "I'm 15 and these are my brothers Kiba" he pointed to the next that had sandy brown hair.
The boy waved and smiled "I'm 14"
Toma turned to the other. "This is Roku he is 12 and the baby."
"I am not a baby," Roku whined and tried to kick his brother.
The woman stepped between the two boys to end the fight. "I am Ryoko I'm 24 and I guess you can call me these boys... Nanny."
He just nodded and started to invite them into a group, "I'm Rob and I'm 35."
He smiled at the kids avatar names; Toma was 'Slasher' Kiba was 'Basher' and little Roku was 'Smasher'. Ryoko just used her real name Ryoko Light-blade.
"Cool name," Toma said as they started to walk out of the town. "Beast, simple yet makes people think when they see it."
Beast smiled "It is a nickname I earned when I was your age, guess I never got over it."
Heading east to a hidden hog spawning ground he had found Beast looked at the woman.
"Nanny?" he asked raisin one eyebrow causing her to smile.
"Yes I have worked for their parents since I was 17, they were not 100% sure about letting the boys play this game, so I helped convince them that I would go along as a chaperon."
"You just wanted to play the game too?" Beast smirked as she smiled.
"And they even spent the money to buy the game and the Nerve Gear! If all I have to do is keep these three out of trouble for a few hours a day I say it was a good deal for me."
They reached the spawning grounds quickly and when they spotted the Hogs everyone got ready. Toma favored a one-handed sword and wooden shield, Kiba had a one-handed mace and shield where Roku had a two-handed hammer and no shield,
'At least they are playing to their names' Beast thought as he smiled and looked at Ryoko, she favored a Katana and with the way she moved he knew she had real world training with that style of weapon
It did not take long and the five of them were working well together. They attacked the pigs covering each other and was turning into a well-oiled machine.
Hours passed, and each one of them had gained several levels just from pilling up the pork.
Then there was a loud Bell from the Town, and thinking it was some great opening event they each rushed back to the town square. That is when all hell broke loose with Akihiko Kayaba grim announcement
The mirror revealed what each person looked like, Toma Kiba and Roku looked like what he thought, kids. Roku was smaller than his brothers for a brief second Beast laughed thinking how funny it will look with him swinging his hammer. Ryoko was very pretty dark black hair that went to her waist deep brown eyes and well-formed body.
Beast looked at himself a little, the scars on his left hand pretty much told him that the rest of his scars were probably visible as well and Ryoko's gasp was not a shock, he was indeed not easy on the eyes.
Thinking quickly before the stampede over took the group he grabbed all four of them and pulled them into a building, closing and locking the door. The screams outside were hard to listen to, as far as everyone knew the world had just changed and everything they had known a few minutes before was in fact gone.
"What does this mean?" Toma started to ask, tears slowly running down his face.
"That Akihiko was telling the truth," Beast replied. "We are stuck here till the game is beaten and if we die we die for real." It was hard for him to say it, especially to three young boys, but he knew it was fact.
The boys started to cry loudly begging for their mothers scared about dying. Ryoko didn't speak she stood up and went to another room.
"Hey, hey, HEY!" Beast shouted. "Now is not the time, pull it together, everyone up stairs." and he grabbed each boy and pushed pulled and in Kiba's case carried them up the stair to the next floor.
"Listen, we will be alright, all we have to do is survive till the game is won, there are 9000 hardcore gamers in SAO right now and I am sure many of them planned to beat this game before this happened."
As he spoke he was praying that the kids parents did not miss the message about not unplugging them, he knew he did not have to worry about it himself.
"All this means is we just do what we have already done, we grind levels make money get new weapons and armor and survive, and it's what we wanted to do to begin with all we have to do is just play the game."
After about an hour of talking with the boys, each fell asleep, Beast stood and went to the room Ryoko had hidden herself in. Knocking on the door he just let himself in after there was no reply. On the bed he found her lying face down, he watched her for a minute before she lifted her head and looked at him. Her face was stained with her tears but at the moment none were falling.
"Play the game?" she asked in a weak voice.
He nodded. "We just play the game, stay alive and use our heads; It's been a few hours so I'm guessing your employer got the message about unplugging."
"I guess so, but how can we get home, I enjoy gamming but I'm casual I've never been interested in actually beating this game."
"We don't have to, I'm like you I want to play the game, but I'm not really the kind of guy that tries to win It." he tried to assure her. "But we have 9000 players and I am sure many of them were planning to beat this game even before this. All this does is give them more reason to do so."
"Do you believe that?" she asked hope clearly trying to find its way into her mind.
"Did you ever play a game like this where there was not hundreds of crazy hardcore morons doing nothing but trying to beat the game first just to have bragging rights?"
That did it; she burst out laughing and finally smiled breaking her melancholy. She got up and followed him back to where the boys were sleeping. She smiled as she watched them.
"Thank you." she whispered.
"Don't thank me yet it is only day one." was his reply as he looked out the open window at the chaos below.
A/N thanks to draco38 for the editing.