Level One: Trapped

General PoV- Level One: Base Town

Kirito wandered through town, searching for information. Why had no one been able to get to level 2? It had been a whole week, and yet somehow the first level boss was nowhere to be seen. He kept wandering when he felt someone watching him, just like he had the day before, and the day before that. He turned around, but he saw no one. He continued to walk, feeling as though he was being followed, so he ducked into an alley and waited for the person to come to him… but he felt a hand on his shoulder and whipped around with his sword, only to stop himself when he saw who it was. "Black Fox…?" he looked concerned. She was slightly tattered, her outfit still at the beginner level, but her signature mask still there. Her veil wasn't there, and her outfit looked like a plain black armor with kimono-like sleeves that left her shoulders exposed, her armor itself covering up to her neck all the way to her stomach, the skirt a simple pleated one and her boots just tall black ones, unlike her once fancy cross-motif boots from the beta.

"Kirito… sorry for sneaking up on you." She said, bowing her head to him. "I wasn't quite sure if it was you." She looked around in a paranoid manner, confusing Kirito even more. "You… haven't seen any other beta testers yet right?" she asked, looking worried.

"No…" he shook his head. "What's bothering you so much?" he asked, tilting his head. "And what happened to you, you're a mess." He added, making her flinch a little. She sighed a bit, as though trying to find the right words. But he noticed something… she was alone. During the beta she'd had a partner, White Fox… "Hey… wait, where's your partner?"

"She… went off on her own… at the end of day 1, she terminated the partnership." She said, shocking Kirito a bit. "That's when she started killing off the newbies…" But something she said worried him. Kill. She never used that term in the beta, she always said K.O. or knock out… never kill.

"What do you mean, kill?" he asked, sounding slightly concerned, but before he could get a response they heard a scream. Black Fox's head shot up and she headed for the main square, Kirito following closely. They arrived to see one of the newbie players HP bar fade out to 0, and then vanish into thin air. Everyone in the square panicked, seeing as no one ever vanished from the game like that in the past week when they lost all their HP. Black Fox's hand balled into a fist and she seemed on edge.

"Damn it all, White Fox…" he heard her murmur.

"And so another newbie bites the dust." Everyone looked up to see a woman in all white with a white fox-mask and a white and red cloak grinning. "Too bad, so sad… all you newbies are so weak~"

"Who the hell are you?!" one of the people in the square yelled.

"What did you do to my partner?!" the person who'd been closest to the person who vanished exclaimed. "Well?!" But White Fox just laughed, keeping her distance from the players.

"Don't waste your breath. Before you know it, anyone who fails to comply will face the same fate." She grinned. "See you, brats!" her cackle resonated as she disappeared to somewhere else, all the people in the square trying to figure things out.

"Black Fox… what happened?" Kirito asked her, following her as she turned heel to get out of the square. "Hey, don't walk away!" he managed to catch up with her once they were outside the town.

Grass Plain

"She's gone off her rocker… what is White Fox thinking?" she mumbled, sitting down on a hill overlooking the Grass Plain. Kirito sat down next to her, looking at her until she looked up. "Sorry… I've been trying to figure this out since she left, it's been making me crazy…" she rubbed her neck. "White Fox has been power-hungry… she's been collecting a party of both betas and newbies to do her fighting and dirty work for her as she works her level up to what it was during the beta… I've been trying to keep up but… it's been impossible to do alone." She sighed again.

"Do you have your Chi-User status?" he asked.

"Yeah, I do… I completed the level one quest, but I don't want to go into the level one dungeon on my own… I've seen at least 10 parties already of 3 or more people go in, most of them got stuck or couldn't make it past the boss."

"So what are you suggesting?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow. "You're gonna form a Raid Party?" she shook her head. "Then what?"

"I don't know… it just bothers me cause White-Fox already has her level 6 items back… and yet somehow no one has gotten past the level one boss… I think she's hacked the system somehow."

"Hacked? How?" he asked, wondering what was really bothering her.

"I wish I could tell you." She said. The sun began to set and Black Fox looked over her shoulder at the town. "I just don't get why she's messing around with newbies… if she was on a power hunt, she should be going after the beta testers…" They stayed there for a minute, both thinking about what was going on. Kirito stared at the sunset, then turned to Black Fox.

"Don't stress out. Maybe you should log out and think about it later?"

"… yeah." She managed a nod, pulling up her personal screen. But… "Hey. Where's my logout button?" she asked, going through her menu again, but not seeing it. Kirito looked concerned, opening his menu and finding that his button was also missing. "What's going on?" he heard her ask.

"Do you think it's a system glitch?" he asked, still looking for his logout button.

"If it were, I would think that the data team would have sent out a notice… and I've got nothing." She replied, closing her window and trying again, only to find that it was still not there. "This isn't good…" she mumbled. "C'mon, let's go see if anyone in town is having the same problem. It could just be an area glitch." She said, getting up and heading back to town, Kirito following her.

Base Town

Upon arriving in town, the pair realized that everyone was in a panic. No one seemed to be able to log out. Black Fox sighed again. "What's happening?"

"Didn't you hear?" one of the newbie players walked up to them. "Everyone's panicking cause no one can log out… and the news has been reporting deaths on forcibly removed nerve gears." He shared the article with them and as they read it over, everything was falling into place. "Apparently a beta tester named White Fox is responsible, claiming that she's the one who made this happen."

"What? She is?" Black Fox asked. They went around town, asking for more information, mostly hearing that White Fox was claiming responsibility. "She's gone completely insane…" she mumbled, sighing. "This is ridiculous… and if a character loses all of their HP, then does that mean they die in the real world too?"

"I think it might be possible." Kirito said, sitting down with her at the edge of the square, holding some bread. "You should eat… I heard that we actually get hungry here now too…"

"Ah… thanks…" she mumbled as he handed her half a loaf. "Oh, here…" she retrieved a bottle of vegetable spread from her inventory. "You liked this in the beta, right?"

"Oh, you got this already?" he asked, accepting some of the spread for his bread before eating. "You… remembered that I liked it?"

"You were pretty much the only one from the beta who stuck around for more than one mission… though you ran off right after we got past the 23rd boss…" she said, smiling a little as she ate. "I tend to remember things like that for the sake of keeping in touch…" she stopped herself, looking at Kirito. "So… what are we going to do about that level one boss?"

"I say you two stop sulking alone over here and come join the party!" the newbie who'd shown them the article earlier that day said, having snuck up on them. "We're all talking about getting a group together to eliminate the level one boss. Using our map-data and whatnot."

"That's a bold move." Black Fox said, shrugging. "Besides, the level one boss is a heavy hitter. One false move, and you get knocked out right?"

"How'd you know that?" Another newbie asked. But before anyone had time for accusations, she pulled out a guide book from her cloak.

"I got it on day one. The general store has them." She stated, opening it to the page about the level one boss, the basic description stated underneath the empty faceless picture that wouldn't fill until you fought the boss.

"Smart girl." Everyone turned to see a tall man with a broadsword on his back. "You were one of the first people to pick that up from us." He grinned.

"Oh, good evening Agil-san…" Black Fox said.

"Evening, Black Fox." He half-saluted her. "This your friend?" he asked, looking at Kirito. "He wasn't with you when you came in on day one."

"Ah, well…"

"We knew each other from a different game…" Kirito covered for her. "Our users were the same, so it was easy to find each other."

"Oh? That's cool." Agil nodded. "Anyway, come on. You two look like you could help us out." Kirito looked reluctant but eventually agreed, Black Fox going without a word.

"So it's decided?" Diabel asked as everyone sat around the fire. "We set out the day after tomorrow for the first boss." The group did a spirit-raising cheer… but Black Fox and Kirito sat back, looking concerned. Black Fox was over-thinking everything. Kirito didn't want to be in the middle of the chaotic and slightly drunk group.

"We pairing up then?" Black Fox broke the silence between herself and Kirito. "For the mission tomorrow? We have to form a party, after all…"

"Sure." Kirito mumbled half-heartedly, putting forth the connection for their team. She accepted the invitation and they just watched as the group carried on their festivities. "Should we do some practice tomorrow then?"

"I suppose we should…" she replied. The two got up to leave back to their lodgings for the night as the celebration died down in favor of a peaceful, albeit tense night.