Alright here we go... the story is starting. :D Again, thank you for everyone who has submitted, and thank you all for the support. Now the moment you've all been waiting for, the story!~ Oh and a quick heads up here, in the start of the anime, remember how they all had avatars that they customized? Well, if your character is introduced before the 'big shocker' of the game, they will have an avatar slightly different look then their real look. Don't worry, they won't be like that for long. And everyone (unless they where a beta tester) is starting off with the newbie gear.

Jesse stared blankly at the nerve gear that sat in her hands, the faint sunlight the escaped the blinds catching the metallic texture of the helmet, and creating a glare. It seemed to be staring back at her, questioning her if she would just put it on already and stop glaring at it. She raised it above her head, but then a thought clicked in her head. "Destanie, did you feed the dog?!" She screamed from her room, the Nerve Gear still hovering above her head. Suddenly a light brunette popped her head in, glaring daggers at the younger girl inside the room. "Oh my gosh, you're so annoying Jesse. Of course I fed the dog. Now play your dumb ass game and stop bugging me." The door slammed, and Jesse rolled her blue eyes, slipping the nerve gear over her head.

The blonde flopped down, closing her eyes and taking a deep breathe. It would be the first time she entered the virtual world, and she could say she was more than excited. Even a little nervous. What if something went wrong.. ? Jesse just laughed at her own stupidity. They wouldn't release a helmet that could cause you harm! Duh! Slowly she closed her eyes, taking a deep breathe. "System, start!" She said, and suddenly a vision of many colors and pixels entered her head in a quick blur.

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There was another blur of colors, and suddenly she was now in a crowded town. But it did not look like the towns she was used to. In fact, the complete opposite. Everything looked old, the stuff she would see in history books at school. And it looked so... realistic! Looking down at her arms, she carefully poked her flesh. "Holy crap!" She gasped. It even felt realistic! This was so cool! Walking through the town, the girl managed to catch her reflection in a shop window. She had straight dark auburn hair that fell to her mid-back, with white tips. And piercing yellow eyes, as she had customized her avatar to look like. Her height was about to the same, an average medium height for a girl, but her body was a bit more.. curvy than in real life. As she had customized. She wore the average newbie clothing for a female player, which was a grey skirt, grey shirt and simple silver breast plate and simple boots. Not much of an eye popper, but she'd learn to make her own clothes.

Jesse, or as her new name was Jessalynn, made a few faces in the window, probably creeping out some people inside. But who cared! It wasn't the real world! No one knew who she was, only by her player name. Not that she would go and PK people or whatever, she would just be as foolish and silly as she wanted. She didn't have to worry about people talking about her at school, and in a way, this was a whole new life! With a simple hop in her step, Jessalynn went off to explore the town.

She had been humming a tune to herself happily, that was, until she bumped into someone. Falling backwards on her butt, she hit the ground with a hard thud. "Ey! Watch where you're going, you ass!" Jessalynn groaned, sitting upright. She was met with a pair of big brown eyes and short, light blue hair. "Maybe you should watch where you where going, instead of being off in your own little world there skippy." And she was not as innocent as her character looked. Looking at her player name tag, she stood upright, glaring at the girl. The other stood up too, crossing her arms, mocking Jessalynn's own stance. "Listen here, Jessalynn- That's a stupid name- you bumped into me." The blue hair girl said matter-of-factly, her tone flat and sarcastic. Jessalynn groaned again, throwing her arms up in frustration. "Nuh-uh, you're the one who crashed into me! If you where looking where you were going, we wouldn't have this problem, now would we... Stella?" She yelled, catching the attention of the people passing.

"No! While you where daydreaming about who knows what, you crashed into me!" Stella shouted back.

"You wanna go?!-" Jessalynn was about ready to deck the smart ass girl in the face until someone interrupted her.

"Shut up already! Just say sorry and move on!" Someone shouted from the crowd in a frustrated tone.

"How about you shut up before I hang you from your underwear-" Both girls said in sync, and then looked back at each other in surprise.

And then they laughed. Someone groaned "Finally!" From within the crowd, but the two girls didn't hear them.

Finally they caught their breath, and looked at each other with matching smirks. Jessalynn dusted herself off, while Stella pulled a loose strand of blue hair out of her face. "Heh... sorry about.. yeah." Stella held a hand out for Jessalynn to shake. The other girl did so, saying her own sorry, and then the two began to walk down the dusty street of the town, chit-chatting about stupid things.

They had traveled to a stand and bought some snacks. Jessalynn bit into an apple, getting a satisfying crunch out of it. Stella dug her teeth into an orange, the juice squirting up and hitting her in the cheek. She pulled away instantly, whipping the orange juice off her cheek with the back of her hand. Jessalynn snickered, receiving a glare from Stella instantly. She stopped, awkwardly biting into the apple again and looking up into the darkening sky. "This is pretty cool, don't you think?" The auburn haired girl said between chews.

"You shouldn't talk with your mouth full." Stella pointed out, pulling back the peel of a second orange. "And what's pretty cool. The game?"

Nodding, Jesse waited to swallow her food before speaking again. "Yeah. I mean, even the apples taste better than real life." She rolled the apple stem between her fingers, before letting it drop to floor. It shattered into pixels as it hit the floor, and she watched with amusement. "Oh, that's pretty. Hey, give me another apple." Stella did so, rolling her eyes and plopping it into the other's hand. Jessalynn recoiled her arm as if she was throwing a baseball, and chucked it full force at the wall opposite to them. It smashed into the wall, and shattered instantly into sparkling blue pixels.

Stella smiled. "Yeah. That does look pretty cool." She said, chewing the last of her orange. The sky was now completely dark, and they both looked in awe at the clear sky. Suddenly Jesse raised her arm, opening the menu. "Crap! My dad is gonna kill me! I forgot to clean my room and he should be getting home from work soon!" Stella just laughed, opening her own menu. "I should probably log out too. I have some homework to do. I'll add you." She said, and about two seconds later a friend request popped up. Jesse accepted, and her first friend on SAO was in her friend's list.

"Hey... wait a second." Stella frowned, squinting at the menu. "There's no log out option."

Jessalynn snorted. "Haha. Very funny. Of course there's a log out option-" She stared in complete shock as Stella was right. The log out option was completely gone.

"That's weird- Jessalynn, calm down!" The blue haired girl looked over to the now spazzed out girl to her right, who was acting like she was about to have a heart attack. "Breathe, girl! It's probably a glitch or something! It'll be fixed soon! Stop being a chicken shit!" Stella laughed teasingly, patting the other girl on the back. Of course, this only helped slightly. "What if we get stuck here and we can't get out and the game explodes and we all die. Every single one of us and then everyone in the real world is like: whaaaaat and they don't even know we're dead so they just leave our dead bodies alone until they realize that we're actually dead and then we turn into zombies and eat everyone-"

"Okay, now you're just being plain stupid. Take a deep breathe."

Jessalynn did so, finally getting her thoughts together like a normal person. "Or it's just a glitch and we're all actually perfectly fine and we can all go back the real world tomorrow perfectly fine, if not a little hungry."

Stella just facepalmed.

"Now that you're talking sense, let's just go check in at an inn and get some sleep while we wait for this stupid glitch to be fixed." She said, rolling her brown eyes once again. Leading the way, they walked to the nearest inn, checking in. Stella grabbed the room key, and walked into the rather comfy looking room. It wasn't big, just a simple one bedroom inn with a bathroom, two beds, and a nice glow coming from a lamp in between the two beds. Instantly Jessalynn ran in a jumped on the bed, her arms and legs out as she landed on her stomach with an 'oof.' Stella laughed, and ran to the other bed, flipping her back to it last minute and landing flat on her back. They laughed again.

Slipping off her shoes, Jesselynn buried herself in the covers. Stella did the same, but had gotten frustrated with the laces and ended up rage kicking them across the room. They landed with a thud, and knocked something over, although she didn't really care to check what it was. And Jesse didn't bother asking, since she'd probably find a broken object in the morning.

Once she had finally gotten her shoes off, Stella leaned over and blew the lamp out, the scent of smoke and oil now hanging in the air. The only light in the now darkened room was the soft glow of the lights outside, the silver light of the moon that managed to slip past the curtains. "Goodnight." Stella yawned, though she did not get a reply. Jessalynn had fallen asleep already, her face unseen and protected by the covers.

Stella rolled over, staring blankly at the wall. Her brown eyes moved to her hand, which hung limply from the side of the bed. She flexed it, wiggled her fingers, and clenched it in a ball. A small smile appeared over her face, and she made a motion like she was swinging a sword. And then she turned her palm over, and just stared at her hand. Maybe... just maybe.. she could still make him proud...

Sunlight poured through the windows, the faint sound of birds chirping and people shouting and laughing from the city below. Stella was already awake, and was impatient for the other to finally wake up. Slowly the time ticked, and it began to near noon. Finally the girl lost her patience. Stella walked to the edge of Jessalynn's bed, and grabbed her by the ankles. She yanked the girl off the bed, and received a satisfying yelp from her lazy counterpart as her face collided with the edge of the bed and her stomach hit the floor with a loud thud. "OW! What the hell?!" She groaned, rubbing her knees, which had been the first to hit the hard wood floor.

"You can't feel pain." Stella reminded her, tossing the her boots at her. She caught them, but not without fumbling a bit.

"Yeah, but that was still an ass thing to do." She slipped the plain silver boots on, standing upright and fixing her skirt. "I wonder if the glitch was fixed yet." Jessalynn raised her arm and opened the menu, and at the bottom, the log out option was still missing. "...It's still missing."

"Very funny." She said, leaning over, and peering at her friend's menu. But as she said, it was still missing. "Weird, it should have been fixed already... " Jessalynn was chewing the inside of her cheek, and soon tasted the metallic taste of blood. "Don't worry. It will be fixed." Stella said, and Jessalynn just nodded, half paying attention. Suddenly, she snapped out of it, and looked up. "Yeah.. you're right. Come on, let's go outside and get some fresh air!" She ran out of the room suddenly, and Stella just blinked, and followed after her. Soon they where outside, with the clear blue sky above them and the chatter of people. Though, it wasn't as happy as it usually was. It was full of concerned voices, and wide eyed players. The two caught glimpses of conversations.

"...no log out button... "

"...stuck here.."

"...I'm scared..."

"...just a glitch..."

And suddenly, a notification popped up. All at once. Everyone got the same message: To meet at the town square. As people read the message, there was a mixture of sighs of relief and concerned cries. Every face seemed to have a reaction of some sort, you could just read them. Jessalynn bit the inside of her cheek, looking over at Stella. They caught one another's gaze, both with a curious look gracing their features. "Perhaps they're only going to calm our nerves about this whole... mess." said Jesse, though she felt odd about this. Maybe it was just paranoia. Stella didn't seemed concerned in the least. Maybe even a bit hopeful at this notification. Finally, taking a deep breath, Stella raised her brown eyed gaze to meet Jesse's golden ones. "Alright, town square isn't to far from here. Let's go!" She grabbed Jesse's wrist, and they where off into the crowd.

As they pushed their way through the crowd, and earning their share of annoyed glances and grumbling voices. Once they where finally at the center of the crowd, and able to see a good view of the front. "I wonder how this works.. " Stella said, looking at the center with expecting eyes. "They probably just announce it over a speaker or something." Jesse though, looking around, for she too was curious about the event. As was everyone else, waiting impatiently for the creator to announce himself. And they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Until, finally, something happened. The sky began to.. change color. However, it did not turn into a magnificent show of colors for the announcement, it turned the hue of red. Deep crimson. The sky began to turn into pixels, all blurring together and shooting across the once blue sky. A collection of screams and terrified gasps all filled the air, friends clung to one another. Lovers dived into each other's arms, seeking comfort. Lone players took steps back, hiding among the crowd. Jesse felt her neck crane to take a look at the sky, her mouth parted into an 'o' shape, hanging open. Stella stumbled back a bit, staring at the sky with wide brown eyes. And then it began to bleed. Sick looking crimson goop fell from in between the pixels. Jesse couldn't think of another name to call it but blood. The sky was bleeding. A drop hit her shoulder, though she didn't turn her gaze towards it. She just watched.

A red glow filled them, turning everything a dull pink or a dark red. And then he appeared. He looked as of a god, large enough to fill half of the sky above the terrified players. They all once again gasped and screamed, although they couldn't take their eyes off of him. After the screams died down, he spoke, voice booming.

"Hello, players of SAO," He spoke, his voice echoing from the walls of the village. "As most of you have noticed, there is no log out button in your menus," There where some nods. "Well, I'm here to tell you this is no glitch." More gasps. More screams.

"You see, I want a world in which I control. A world that is utterly mine. You are now in this game- permanently. Until you clear all of the floors, or you die. For once your die in the game, you die in real life. We have made an announcement to everyone in the real world, telling them of your... current situation. You cannot be removed or unplugged from the nervgear. It will send shocks to your brain, frying it instantly. Some families have already tried to free some players from the Nervgear, as those players are now dead. "

"I welcome you, to my world." His arms swept outwards, making a welcoming gesture. Although it didn't look too welcoming.

"I have put an item in your storage, I suggest you look there now. This is the last you will be seeing of me."

He was gone. Just like that. The sky was again blue, and the glow was now gone.

And everyone did so, bursts of color began to happen. Everyone changed from their avatars all at once, now taking their true looks. Jesse found a mirror in her storage, and as she selected it, it appeared like magic in her hand. She looked at herself in the mirror, seeing her own face, not a fake avatar's. She turned to where Stella was, and she looked slightly different, though not by much. She was a bit shorter, at Jesse's height. Her hair was now a different shade of blue, longer, and pulled into two front pigtails, darker blue on the ends. Her once dark brown eyes where now hazel. She was a rather pretty girl, and though she did not change much, Jesse doubted she would've recognized her in the real world based off her avatar. Stella looked away from the mirror and met Jesse's eyes. "Whoah." She gasped, looking Jesse head to toe. "You changed a lot! Are you Jesse still?!" She gasped, her mouth forming an 'o'.

"Yeah I'm still Jesse, you idiot." Stella examined her. She once had dark hair, long and perfectly straight, but it was now replaced by curly, short golden locks that ended a little above her shoulders. What was once yellow eyes where now replaced by blue ones, and what was once paler skin was now tanned. Freckles dotted her cheeks.

And then the shock began to set in. Some people fell to their knees. A single cry broke the silence. Jesse and Stella, stunned into silence, could only stare at one another.

"We're gonna die here!"

"I'm so dead!"

"I'm to young to die!"

"I'm scared!"

The screams began, and people began running like ants. Swept up with the crowd, Stella and Jesse could only follow the crowd. The two found themselves in a small street, catching their breathes as the crowd began to thin out and head for other villages in hopes of starting the game and getting out. And all around the safe zone people began to die out.

"What.. What are we gonna do?" Stella asked, her voice hushed. The shock still lingered in the air, they still couldn't quite grasp what had just happened. Suddenly, despite what was happening, Jessalynn smirked. Her smirk was sly, even a bit happy. She held out her hand, it hovering in the air between them. "It's better to travel in numbers. Less of a chance of getting killed." She said simply, and Stella could only blink.

And then she, too, smiled. Her hand reached out and grasped the blonde's, pulling her elbow down to do what looked like a hand shake sort of thing. "Partners?" She asked, and the blonde nodded.

"Partners."

Heh, sorry that took so long to post. I was grounded for a bit, and didn't get to post the first chapter. Sorry for the wait! Second will be coming up shortly.~ (If I don't get grounded again.) ^-^'