1st Floor · Starting Town

The streets of first floor were buzzing with life as Izuku—Zuzu now, it's Zuzu. no more Deku—ran past the various stalls selling equipment and food (of course just in-game food, what a shame NerveGear couldn't just feed him). Technically he was here before as a beta tester but with only 1000 players the game seemed quieter and gray, now though? It was vibrant.

He ducked under an arm of some player gesticulating vividly, probably trying to bargain a sale. Good luck talking to AI, though if he did that for long enough he would finally gain charisma points and—

"Hey, you there!" someone screamed loud enough to startle him. Fortunately he didn't trip and continued to run, this time turning left to go in alley, it was deserted. Much quieter, but still the chatter of merchants and buyers could reach him so it didn't feel sinister. "Hey! You broccoli head, wait!" Broccoli head? Wait…

"Me?" Zuzu faltered in his steps until he stopped and turned around, some blond guy was sprinting after him, breathing heavily.

"Yes you! Oh wait, I didn't mean to insult you, it's just your hair really looks like that, dude, nice styling!" the person finally come closer and bowed down, trying to catch his breath. Their breath? To be honest it was never sure with who you were talking to in VRMMORPGs, you could style your avatar however you wanted and when he looked closely Izuku noticed the more feminine features that could be implemented with non-binary character model. It was a cool option, sometimes. Some people used it to pretend to be 14 yo girls while being 70 yo dudes and then claim that they weren't because it wasn't a female model. But then again, it was common knowledge, so catfishes had almost no power there.

IzukuZuzu's inner tangent ended perfectly when the player finally caught his breath. Lucky, he would have missed it otherwise.

"Well, I better explain why I was chasing you! I'm looking for someone who could teach me basics and that duck you did a minute ago was pretty fluid! This arguing giant has been at it for a few minutes and he slapped at least 4 people by accident, you were the first one who managed to duck in time! So, naturally, I thought 'hey, if anyone here knows how to move it will be this guy'. Would you help me!?"

IZuzu blinked slowly. Huh. It was that noticeable?
True, NerveGear takes a little bit of time to get a hang of, but if this player could run after him and not end up running into a wall then he should be mostly fine…

"I have no idea how I could help you but if you have one, then sure!" Apparently Zuzu's answer was satisfactory because the person brightened noticeably.

"Man, thank you so much!" they said dramatically, before swinging at him with an arm. His first instinct was to freeze, not duck, and thank god because the player just patted his shoulder excitedly. Zuzu forced his heart to calm down, that wouldn't be ideal first impression… "I just started this game, mind showing me the basics?"

"Uh, um…" he tried to force the 'yes' out of his mouth but the adrenaline was still cursing through his bloodstream and this wasn't ideal. The player jumped away from him and bowed deeply with their palms pressed tightly against each other, just like their closed eyelids.

"I'm begging you!" man, they were pretty serious about that, huh? The stranger straightened pretty fast and pointed at themself with a cheeky grin, "The name's Chargebolt. Nice to meet'cha!" Oh well, not anymore stranger.

"I'm Zuzu," he replied in kind. "Nice to meet you as well!"

"Zuzu? That's cutesy!" Chargebolt said immediately with a mischievous smile on their face.

"Wha—No!"

1st Floor · Starting Town · West Field

The boar charged and hit the mark perfectly, making Chargebolt fall to the ground. Okay, maybe, just maybe learning through doing wasn't their best front. Or maybe the instruction Zuzu gave them was too long and complicated. Oh well.

"My balls!" they screamed. So probably assigned male at birth. Information catalogued for future use.

"You're making it look worse than it actually is." Zuzu had a feeling Chargebolt was a drama queen. "You can't actually feel the pain." That seemed to startle them.

"Oh, yeah," they rose from the ground. "I just did that out of reflex. Man, I must look so stupid to you…" they rubbed their neck, clearly ashamed.

"Phantom pain happens sometimes too, it's normal with NerveGear, don't sweat it," he waved a hand to emphasize his point. He really didn't want to make this nice person feel bad!

"Really? You seem to know a lot about that thing!" Chargebolt smiled and poked his head, as if to touch the helmet. "You must be like, super intelligent dude!"

"Ah, you really think so? I just read up about this subject because it's so interesting! Like, did you know that NerveGear uses microwaves? With high enough dosage it could fry your brain, but since it passed various tests I think they created some sort of prevention system for that!" Aaaaaaaand he rambled. Great. Now Chargebolt would realize how lame he is and leave him and—

"Woah, you can talk fast. And, really? Man, that's scary." Their face didn't show annoyance or anything like that. Zuzu wanted to cry from happiness. But instead he went back to explaining the mechanics.

"Haha yeah, but let's get back to training, shall we? Like I said, the key is your first action." He spared a glance towards Chargebolt's healthbar. Those boars really weren't worth anything, the damage was so small…

"I know," they whined gesturing with a knife towards the enemy, "but it won't stay put!" The boar dignified them with a shake of it's rump.

Zuzu allowed himself to think for a moment. Maybe demonstration would work better than explaining it with words? He looked around until he found a decent sized pebble and took it. He didn't want to use the sword and show the skill with it because he had a peculiar way of activation that didn't suit most of players. The rock trick would do with teaching basics.

"If you get your first action right and activate a swords skill…" he tossed the pebble and caught it, preparing, took the right position… and then threw it at the boar, the projectile instantly powered up by game. It left a nasty but quickly fading red mark on its rear and did a decent job of angering it. Uh-oh. "The system will correct your aim and ensure a hit." Actually there was a miss chance, but it was only 5%. "How should I put it…" He took out his sword and skirted around the charging boar, before it could connect. It immediately circled back so he countered a hit with the shaft. This boar was Chargebolt's kill. A sudden bout of inspiration let him find the words he was looking for when he started explaining the concept. "Just pause for a second and once the skill activates just let it rip."

"Let it rip?" for a hot second Zuzu was scared that they still didn't get it but then their eyes focused on the target in full seriousness and they put their falchion behind their head.
Zuzu kicked the boar their way and waited. With a cry Chargebolt charged (oh, oh there's pun potential there) and soon enough the boar was dead, giving them 24 exp, 30 col and 2 items. Nice. Good enough for the first kill.

Chargebolt turned around, dazed, and smiling brightly, and cheered, excitement practically radiating in waves from them.

"Congrats," Zuzu smiled, a proud feeling blooming in his chest. He kinda wanted to go for a high-five but what if they didn't want to? What if—

"Aw man, thank you!" they raised their hand. Well, high-five it is.

"Well, that was a low-level fodder, are you ready for something more advanced?"

"Wha—!? You kidding me?" their face fell abruptly. Did he, did he say something wrong? "I thought it was some sort of mini-boss…" they whined, overreacting. Ah.

"Nah, that was like… slime level of threat. You really thought that was a mini-boss?"

"Boo-hoo this is bullying. I'm being bullied." they whined, fiddling with their falchion, activating the skill a few times.

"Easy to get the hand of, right?"

"Yeah… but you can't tell anyone about this," they said deadly serious. "Jirō and Sero won't let me live if they get to know."

That made Zuzu chuckle. Wow, he made a friend.

"Hey, Mr Knowledge, there is a ton of other skills, like blacksmithing and stuff, right?" Mr Knowledge?

"Well, supposedly there's an unlimited number of them," he recalled, from what he read in player's handbook. "No quirks or even magic though."

"I understand no quirks, it would be helluva hard to replicate some of those in game, but an RPG without magic skills? They're normally given!"

"Isn't it more fun to use your own body to fight?" For Izuku Zuzu it was freeing, no quirks, no anything, just reaction time and gaming skills. He could succeed. He wasn't useless. Hell, he was good at those games!

"Sure it is! Gosh, I'm thrilled!"

"Great, let's try another area then!"

"Yeah, I'm more than ready!" Chargebolt was on their feet before Zuzu could blink. "Race ya!" they took off running.

"Wait! You don't know where to go!" Zuzu followed laughing.

1st Floor · Starting Town · Northern Waterfalls

"This place never ceases to amaze me…" blondie whispered looking wistfully at the sky where dragon-like creatures were drifting in loose formation. "I still can't believe it's all just a game…"

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Zuzu couldn't agree more.

"The guy who made it is a genius. Puts me at a loss for words…"

For a minute they sat in silence, just absorbing the setting sun and imaginary wind. The sky was the beautiful colour of orange. Zuzu thought he could stay there forever, just relaxing until monsters respawned.

"Honestly, I'm glad that I was born in this generation," sighed Chargebolt, making themself more comfortable on the grass. It was so soft it was hard to believe it was all artificial.

"You're so melodramatic," Zuzu couldn't help but laugh at his friend's words. The blonde was like a walking definition of melodrama.

"But this is my first full-dive experience!" they protested, feigning offense.

"Then it's your first time playing a NerveGear game?"

"Truth is, I rushed to get the hardware just because of SAO." Well, that wasn't that uncommon… "I'm pretty fortunate, considering I was able to get my hands on one of only 100000 copies… Like, I think I cried when I got home, no kidding."

"Hah, I understand. Honestly, I felt the same when I received the confirmation that I'm accepted as beta-tester."

"Whaat? You participated in the beta? That's so cool!"

"Most people don't like beta testers…"

"Well I'm not most people! Most people also hate quirkless or scoff at those 'evil' quirks, like, no thanks dude, I would rather mind my own business and be good. I want to become a hero when I'll be older!"

If he could cry Zuzu would be right now making a goddamn river with his tears. Thankfully NerveGear didn't account for such things.

"I— Where have you been all my life?"

Chargebolt laughed, probably thinking he was joking. He wasn't. He really wasn't.

"So, how far did you get in the beta?" Well, at least this was something he could (hopefully) answer without breaking down.

"It took two months to get to the eighth floor," he admitted. The blonde looked at him with confusion. "But now, I should be able to do it in half the time." It was true, he really felt like it. Here he was powerful. Here he wasn't Deku.

"You're pretty absorbed in this game," the blonde teased with a playful smirk. Ha, if they only knew.

"To be honest, during the beta, whether I was asleep or awake, SAO was all I could think about," it felt oddly vulnerable to say things like that to someone he met a few hours prior, but the words tumbled out of his mouth. "In this world, a single blade is your ticked to the entire world." The world that so viciously denied him the access in real life. "It might just be a virtual world… but I feel more alive here than I ever did in real life." Sadly all of it was true. He felt anxiety and self-depreciation leave him whenever he put NerveGear on his head. Here he was strong, he was skilled, he was better than Kacchan, he was sometimes even needed.

It was beautiful. It was the perfect world.

And Chargebolt deserved to learn more about it instead of listening to him rambling about his emotional situation.

"Now then, how about we get back to hunting?" he proposed with a smile. It always did wonders to his emotional control, just slay slay slay the monsters.

"Count me in! … is what I'd like to say…" Huh? "But I'm starving, so I'm gonna log out for a bit." Ah. Understandable.

"Eating food in this world only tricks you into not feeling hungry." Good mechanic for users' mental stability, but it also had its danger of players not realizing how long the game kept them inside. Oh well.

"I ordered a piping hot pizza for 5:30 ahead of time!" they exclaimed with excitement. Nice.

"Looks like you had it all planned out. My mother is probably waiting for me with dinner too." Zuzu really didn't want to keep her waiting.

"Yup! Oh, that's nice! Anyway, I'll log back in after I finish eating."

"Alright, let me just send you a friend request so I can find you later!" He opened the menu, quickly finding the option and sending the request out.

"Yeah!" blondie cheered accepting it. "Hey," they rose from the ground. "Later on I'll be meeting with some friends from another game. How about it? Want to be friends with them too?"

"Eh?"

"Ooooh of course it's completely up to you! There'll be plenty of chances for socializing." Chargebolt completely misunderstood his silence. There was a blaring siren in his head going NEW FRIENDS NEW FRIENDS NEW FRIENDS

"Of course I would like that!" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA NEW FRIENDS NEW FRIENDS NEW FRIENDS NEW FRIENDS NE— "Thanks."

"Hey, that's my line!" The blonde swung an arm over his shoulders and half-hugged him. Was it bad that it was the most skin contact he's got in past few years..? Probably. "I'll make sure to return this favour sometime in this world," they finished with a wink. "Well, thanks a bunch. I'll be looking forward to seeing you on."

"If you have any more questions, feel free to message me whenever." At this point Zuzu was sure that the smile he had on his face was a permanent fixture by now. He just couldn't stop grinning. He made a new friend! Openly quirkless-accepting! And there will be more probably! He couldn't believe it.

"Yeah, I'll be counting on it!" Chargebolt sent him a last cheeky grin of the night and opened his menu. "Huh?"

Admittedly it took Zuzu a hot second to notice what was wrong.

"The logout button," they whispered at the same time.

Then they looked at each other because what.

"Open and close again, maybe it's a temporary bug."

Chargebolt did. Nothing changed.

There was a button, just not a logout button. Blonde touched it but nothing happened. They did it again, still nothing.

Zuzu opened his menu and lo and behold, same issue.

"That's weird…"

"Well, it's the first day of official service," Chargebolt proposed with enthusiasm. "It's only natural for there to be a bug or two. I'm sure the management's freaking out."

Zuzu took a look at the clock. 5:30 huh..?

"The same should go for you. It's 5:25."

Chargebolt's eyes went incredibly wide, leaving Zuzu to wonder just how much did the NerveGear's programming translate into their avatars.

"My teriyaki may pizza!" the blonde cried out, grabbing their head. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

"Hurry and call the GMs," this was frankly a little amusing.

"Oh, right. It's in help, right?"

"Yeah."

Both of them watched as the call got unanswered. Huh. The blonde slowly looked at him.

"Isn't there another way to log out?"

Zuzu stopped for a second trying to recall if it has ever came up in beta testing, player's handbook or online discussions. He came up empty.

"No, the only way for a player to log out on their own is through the logout button on the main menu…" Something was very very wrong. All games had some kind of the second exit.

"That's impossible!" Yeah, that's weird. "There has to be another way!" Yeah, there should be. "Return! Log out! Escape!" Chargebolt tried to find some kind of hidden verbal command, making little jumps and jabs in air.

Nothing happened.

Something was very very wrong.

"There wasn't anything written in the manual about emergency logouts… I read that thing page by page."

"Wha… You're kidding, right?" At this point he wasn't sure if they were surprised by his meticulousness or the info. "Oh, I know! I'll just pull the NerveGear off my head…" They tried to pull off his head.

"You can't," Zuzu told them, beginning to feel numb. "We can't move our bodies in the real world. A component in the NerveGear is designed to intercept all brain signals concerning movement, translating it into our gestures here."

"Seriously?" He felt that the question was more out of general disbelief then one directed at him. "Then the only option is to wait for the bug fix?"

"Either that, or until someone in the real world takes the NerveGear off for you," he confirmed, a pit of anxiety starting to form in his stomach.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, something is very wrong.

"My mother won't be coming home tonight, father is abroad and little bro is in his friend's house… Shit, I'm alone in the house. What about you?"

"I live with my mom." He refused to elaborate further. So distraction it is. "Do you think it's weird?"

"Of course I do. It's a bug after all. And you scared me with this microwave talk earlier."

"It can't be that simple…" Oh, that is wrong. "Inability to let players log off is a major flaw that would heavily impact the game…" The announcement. Why was no one talking about that?

"I see what you're getting at…"

"This situation could easily be resolved by rebooting the server, which would forcibly disconnect everyone. Why wasn't it done already? There wasn't a single announcement about this. Not a single GM message, no billboards in the air, nothing."

As if the coincidence was playing jokes on him a huge bell started sounding out loudly. Before he could even comment on that he was teleported somewhere. He instantly recognized the place as the main plaza of the game, the spawning point. It looked like all players were teleported in from whatever they were doing.

Thank gods Chargebolt was teleported near him, so he wouldn't lose him in the growing crowd. Looking around he recognized the chopping-bargain boy, mostly because of his height. Near him there was a red-haired girl with an annoyed expression.

Further people-watching was broken by something appearing on the ceiling. A blaring "WARNING" panel was creating a low thumping sound, before spreading all over the plaza until it covered it from all sides as a big sphere. Every piece had either "WARNING" or "System Announcement" on it.

What was happening?

OH, OH GOD. He was ready to throw up.

A red, slimey, blood-looking liquid started dripping from a ceiling creating something akin to a pulsing heart before becoming… a figure, accompanied by electricity discharges.

"What is that?" whispered Chargebolt clearly distressed and man, Zuzu couldn't blame him at all.

"A GM?"
"Why is he hiding his face?"
"Is this an event?"

Whispers went through the crowd, some barely a murmur, some screamed at the top of someone's lungs.

"Attention, players." The figure spoke slowly. "Welcome to my world."

Zuzu echoed the last words and— Kayaba Akihiko?

"My name is Kayaba Akihiko," the figure—or rather the creator—continued. Oh god. "I am currently the one and only person who can control this world."

"Is that really him?"
"He must've invested a lot of time into this."

"I'm sure that you've all already noticed that the logout button on the main menu has been removed." Don't tell me it was deliberate. Please don't tell me it was deliberate. "However, this is by no means a mistake." WHAT DID I JUST ASKED FOR? "I repeat… It is not a mistake, but a feature of the true Sword Art Online."

"A feature?" Bullshit. No, this was some bad dream. They were trapped there?

"You are all unable to log out of SAO, and nobody in the real world can remove the Nerve Gear or interrupt its operation," the figure explained calmly. "Should it be attempted, a powerful burst of microwave radiation emitted from a transmitter in the NerveGear will destroy your brain, thus ending your life." BUT THE TESTS. THIS MUST BE BULLSHIT.

"What is he saying!?"
"I'm sure it's an act to get us excited."
"Come on, enough already."

"Wait… so you were right?" Chargebolt asked, swallowing heavily. "He's out of his mind…"

"The signals emitted by the NerveGear's transmitter are really the same as microwaves… If the safety was faked or disabled, frying a brain wouldn't be impossible…"

"What about if we cut off the power..? I mean, it's on cable."

"No, the NerveGear has an internal battery," Oh god this was horrifying, this was seriously horrifying. His anxiety and numbness started spreading further and further stopping him from thinking clearly.

"But that's ridiculous! What's going on?"

"Unfortunately," the figure apparently wasn't done. "It's certainly possible that a player's family or friends would ignore this warning and attempt to forcibly remove the NerveGear. As a proof of this, 1427 players have retired from both this world and the real one. Some of you might know their names."

On the ceiling bloomed an announcement with a sickeningly long list. Zuzu skipped over it, hoping that all the usernames will be unknown to him but then—Rabbitco7 They didn't talk much but he was a decent beta-tester and they teamed up a few times. He had him in friends. Without wasting time he opened the menu and called him. No answer. But maybe he was just offline, maybe he didn't log in today. There was a shred of hope, he was safe, he wasn't dead, he was safe—

He wouldn't miss the official release.

"No way, I can't believe it!" Chargebolt took a hold of their head again.

"As you can see, news of my warning and the numerous victims are being spread worldwide." A few floating screens started circling the figure, mocking them with barely seeable text and flashing pictures. "Thus, it should be safe to say that the danger of removal attempts has become minimal. I hope you will all be at ease and focus on completing the game." WHAT? He expects them to complete this game? "But I'd like you all to keep this in mind— From this point on, all methods of revival in the game will no longer function. If your HP hits zero, your avatar will perish for eternity, and at that moment the NerveGear will destroy your brain."

The last words boomed in the silence. There wasn't a single whisper, a single murmur. The silence was so deafening that he could hear his heartbeat going faster and faster—

"There is only one condition you must meet to be free: the completion of this game." No, no he must be kidding. "You are all currently on the first floor, the lowest point in Aincrad. If you conquer a floor's dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may continue up to the next one. Assuming you manage to defeat the final boss on the 100th floor, the game will be considered cleared."

"Cleared?"
"What's he saying?"
"You gotta be kidding me!"

"Clear all 100 floors?" Chargebolt whispered right beside him, snapping him to reality. "How the hell can we do that!? The beta testers couldn't make it anywhere near that high!" Their screams fell deaf on creator's ears.

"And lastly, I've prepared a present for all of you in your item storages. Take a look."

It took Zuzu a second to move, but he still was one of the first ones to do so. His inventory showed… A mirror?
When he clicked on it a regular mirror appeared in his hand, showing his artificially created face, no regular freckles, no baby fat, no embarrassing curls… And suddenly his avatar was covered in light and what stared back from the mirror he was holding was his regular real-world face.

What? No!

"You alright, Zuzu?" Chargebolt's voice asked from his right so he turned around… only to see someone different.

"Who— Chargebolt?"

"Zuzu!?"

"Then that means…"

"Hey is that dude in the dress?"
"Holy shit, a crossdresser? HA!"

He spared the distraction a single look, the choppy-bargain guy was currently shielding another guy who really was wearing a female costume. Ah, he must have been this angry red-hair. He had blueish hair though and somehow he looked even more tired and disgruntled than when Izuku first looked at him.

No, no Izuku, Zuzu.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait—" Chargebolt snapped him back to reality. "How did that happen?" Zuzu spared it a second to think.

"The scan. The NerveGear covers your entire head with a high-density transmitter, so it can calculate what your face looks like," he started mumbling, miraculously aware of that. "About height and body though…"

"When we first put on the NerveGear, it mad us touch all over our body for "calibration", remember?" Oh yeah, that made sense.

"I see, so it was collecting data at that time…" This was freaky.

"But… this is…"

"Madness," he unhelpfully supplied. "This is insanity."

"Why? Why's all this happening?"

Zuzu pointed at the looming figure. "This fucker better answer that soon."

"Right now, you're probably all wondering, 'Why?'," Oh, great timing. Please do explain. "Why would I, Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do such a thing?" Yeah, this is exactly what we're asking. "I have already achieved my goal." What? "I created the world of Sword Art Online solely for my personal enjoyment."

Zuzu had to fight an almost uncontrollable urge to yell the fucker's name and demand to fist-fight him.

"And now, the preparations are complete. This concludes the tutorial for the official launch of Swords Art Online.
"Players, I wish you the best of luck."

With that he dissolved in thin air and a bunch of glitches.

For a few seconds no one dared to move or to even breath louder. And then someone shattered a mirror crying.

"Don't screw with me!"
"I want out! Log me out already!"
"I can't stay here… I have to provide for my family!"
"Are you trying to kill us!?"
"Let us go!"
"Tell us you're kidding!"
"Someone! Can't anybody save us!?"

They couldn't stay here. The chaos was spreading.

"Come with me, Chargebolt!" he dragged the blondie behind him. He only stopped once they were in a secluded alley. "Listen up, I'll be heading to the next town as soon as possible. You should come too." His brain was in full planning mode. He had to take so many things into consideration, holly hell this was hard. "If everything he said was true, if we want to survive in this world, it's vital that we get stronger," he opened a map, to visualize what he was saying better. "The resources available in a MMORPG are limited in number. The field around the Starting Town will soon be wiped clean of mobs and respawns will be sparse or non-existent. The best course of action would be to quickly move to the next town," he concluded, tone grave. Now time for the offer. "I know the way there and any dangers we might encounter, so even if I'm only level 1, we'll make it there safely."

"But… you know…" Oh what now!? Their lives were on the line! "I was in a line all night to buy SAO with friends that I met in another game. I'm sure they're over there in the plaza. I can't just leave them…" Oh. Oh well…

"Did you send out friends requests?"

"Uh, not in this game…"

"But did you send it from this account?" Chargebolt blinked at him without understanding. "You can import the contacts from another game. Let me show you quickly. We can go together. If they're high enough on your friend list that you're willing to risk your life for them then you can haul them to another town so they can survive," Zuzu quickly opened his own menu and showed the blonde how to do this.

His friends answered the call quicker than he thought it was possible.
Before the chaos in the main plaza calmed down, they were already travelling towards their next goal.