Hello, readers. My name is Be an 1an, and I welcome you to my world. This is my second fanfiction, with my first being Red vs Blue: Reach, a successful story. Please review the stories and point any errors out so I can fix them, and please answer any questions I ask through the afternotes. Thank you for reading this!

Becker Residence, Florida

United States, Real World

May 12, 2022

Ian Becker

A nasty thunderstorm raged on over the residency of the Becker family, drenching the house and the land under it with water. Entire branches were blown off of the trees as the heavy winds coursed through the spring air, while the equally-heavy rainfall pounded on the roof and yard of the house with no stop to it and the thunder shook the ground.

Despite this, the fifteen year old boy within the house paid no mind to the frightening weather, having been through it for his whole life. Without anything else to do, he lay in his room, examining the various photographs he had stored in his dark green photo album by lamplight, thoroughly combing through every page.

After two minutes of searching, the boy had found what he was looking for; a picture of himself, and wanting to compare his current self to the photo he had, he pulled the photo out and sat up, using the medium-sized mirror that came with the dresser that was in his room by default.

His slightly long hair was a dark brown, with moderate bangs and a strangely glossy/rough texture, and it seemed to curl just a little. His innocent-looking eyes had been brown in his youth, but as a teenager, they turned into a nearly emerald-like green, a pleasing change, as he disliked the brown color his eyes once were. He easily stood at five foot nine with a thin build, and his roundish face screamed 'nerd.'

Ian Becker was indeed a nerd, and a very big one at that, and if one needed advice on a game encounter or information on an item, chances were he had it. Despite being the information trove he is, however, Ian is very socially awkward, and this trait, combined with his mother's absolute honesty that was instilled into him, has resulted in him only having one good friend, a redheaded girl named Sophia Autumn.

Before her family had to move away, Sophia was a very close friend of Ian's, and they spent so much time together that other people teased them of or mistook them for being in a relationship, which never failed to infuriate Ian.

Sophia had silky dark-red hair that hung to her shoulder blades, gorgeous grey eyes, a soft, heart-shaped face, and she had a slim frame not unlike Ian's, but also had a bit of an hourglass figure and decent curves. She loved to wear violet clothing and she was always graceful in her movements and speech.

She was also a very skilled PvP player in Halo and Destiny, and she even surpassed Ian's older brother Allan in skill, ending his 1v1 win streaks multiple times. Thanks to this notorious feat, Ian felt that he could hardly compare to her in skill, even if he tried.

Carefully Ian replaced the photo he pulled out and put the photo album away in a shelf, sighing as he remembered their last encounter on Xbox, the only place they could see each other at, which took place before the storm. He vividly remembered all of it, where they successfully beat a LASO playlist on Halo and went flawless in Destiny 2's Trials of Osiris with Ian's brother, Allan, building up a ton of bragging points in the process), but out of the whole encounter, what he remembered the most was hearing about a revolutionary piece of gaming technology called the NerveGear, developed in Japan...

A few hours ago...

Ian sat in the gaming chair in the game room, playing Trial of Osiris and chatting away with Sophia and Allan in a party while they mopped the floors with the enemy team. While Ian kept the enemy team pinned with a Scout Rifle, his teammates flanked them and finished them off with aggressive tactics and CQC weapons, giving them no chance to mount an offensive.

A few seconds later, the signature "Victory" badge appeared on the screen, as well as the match's spoils and a flawless Trials Passage on the side. Ian nearly spat out his water when he saw the passage; they had never gone flawless before.

"Wait, we actually won?" Ian asked, hoping he wasn't hallucinating.

"Yeah, didn't you get the memo? We won, big guy!" Allan and Sophia said in unison.

As the revelation swept over him, Ian let out a cry of ecstacy.

"We did it! We won! We really won! If you were here, Soph, then I'd kiss you!"

Sohpia didn't say anything for thirty seconds (likely out of embarrassment), then she quietly asked him if he meant it.

"Maybe not romantically, but as a spur of the moment, victory kind of thing." he hastily corrected.

"Ooooookay..." she said, relieved. "Finally. We did it."

"Yeah. We did it."

Ian whooped again as the game gave them access to the Lighthouse, a reward space that only the best of Trials players could access.

"I gotta go to the bathroom." Allan said suddenly.

"Ummm, okay." the other players said, hearing him leave the chair and walk off, silence reigning supreme for the next minute.

"Hey, Ian." Sophia spoke after Allan left, breaking the silence.

"What?" Ian asked.

"Can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"I don't know if you've heard yet, but they've just revealed a new gaming platform."

"A new platform? Like a brand new concept?"

I bet it involves VR, though. Ian thought bitterly.

"It's a 'FullDive' virtual reality headset called the NerveGear."

"I don't really do VR, and it's got a lot of health risks associated with it." he told her.

"The NerveGear's different from conventional VR stuff. It's a revolutionary piece of hardware from Japan that lets you control your avatar in the game world by intercepting your body's signals to your brain and replacing them with false ones." Sophia explained.

"That might help reduce the health risks, but it could still cause some kind of harm if they're not careful."

"It's the Japanese, Ian. If anyone can pull it off, it's them."

"Yeah, they could. When will it be released?"

"Umm, in Japan, it gets released a week from now, but the only games that can be played on it right now are edjucation or tutorial games and the closed beta for Sword Art Online, which is available on August. For the rest of the world, it gets released on November 6th so it coincides with Sword Art Online's launch."

"Tell me about Sword Art Online." Ian said automatically, his curiosity piqued.

"It's a VRMMORPG designed specifically for the NerveGear, first of its kind. The game revolves around a floating castle called Aincrad, and magic can't be used by players, but other than that, I don't know too much about it."

"Oh. Sounds interesting though."

"Yeah. Honestly, I'm hooked."

"I bet it's got a hefty price tag." Ian commented sadly; the Beckers were far from rich, even if they were running a pretty nice maintenance business.

"Dad's got a friend over there, and he's been planning to move to Japan for a while, but it might still be tough to get one."

"Yeah." Ian agreed, a sad undertone in his voice; not only did this thing sound very expensive, but he would be even farther away from Sophia than before.

"Alright, guys I'm back." Allan said, cutting the conversation short as he sat back down and launched to the Lighthouse in-game.

"Okay. Let's see what all that effort led to. If the reward isn't satisfatory, I'm ripping Bungie a new one."

"Agreed."

Present day

Ian now sat down on the bed, thinking about the NerveGear, a marvel of technological genius designed by a man named Akihiko Kayaba. Honestly, he could hardly believe that such technology was even possible, but its upcoming release was just announced, right before the storm hit. Of course, under normal circumstances, he'd want to wait for the kinks to be worked out before getting it, but for some reason, he wanted to get his hands on the NerveGear as soon as he could.

"What the hell is going on in my head?" he asked himself suddenly. "Why am I wanting a VR platform so bad?

Maybe it's because I could actually see Sophia again, in a manner of speaking.

That answer seemed much more practical than the others, seeing how he wanted to see his childhood friend again more than anything else. Then, suddenly, a question entered his head.

How am I even going to get there?

Ian thought long and hard about it, endless plans being formed and scrapped ranging from convincing his parents to let him go or sneaking onto a cargo ship heading for Japan, each plan more convoluted than the last. After about an hour of endless thought, though, the answer finally came to him.

"Wait, I'll ask Al if he can take me there! He's old enough!"

Now with a plan to get to Japan, Ian felt as though he could actually do it. He could actually get his hands on the NerveGear and see what all the hype was about. Above all, because she was moving there, to Japan, he could finally see Sophia's radiant smile again.

Sorry if this chapter was bad. I'm not functioning at full capacity and I don't think I thought this out real well, but I promise you that the chapters and stories that follow will be better. Also, if you haven't already, check out my Halo/Red vs Blue crossover, Red vs Blue Reach. See you at Origin Story, Chapter Two or Red vs Blue: Reach Chapter Six!