Sword Art Online (On Hold)

Chapter 1: World of Swords

Narrator's POV:
We find ourselves at the house of a young man who is listening to a broadcast about the newest hit VRMMORPG known as Sword Art Online while reading about the creator of the game Akihio Kayaba.

???'s POV:
I was reading about the creator of the newest game of VRMMORPG, Akihio Kayaba, and listening to the new MMO Stream broadcast covering the whole thing. "All right, we're under way! It's time for this week's MMO Stream. First, we had you watch a promotional video. Are we looking at the day of last week's launch? What could all these people waiting in line be after? Sword Art Online!" the reporter said and as I continued to read about the creator of SAO I got a paper cut and a little blood started to flow. "Hey, I'm off to practice now. See you later okay." Said the girl who knocked on my door, once she was gone I looked at the clock and it read 12:59:54 so I turned off the broadcast and put my book away and set up my nerve gear and loaded the SAO cartridge into the game port and laid down on my bed. I smiled once it hit 13:00:00, "Link start!" I said and immediately the game started up. The system settings booted up and I entered my username and password then my avatar name showed up 'Are you Kirito?' it asked I selected yes and the game started up with the intro scene. 'Welcome to Sword Art!' it read and immediately virtual data went flying by and I was standing in a town but it was called, the town of beginnings. I looked around and gripped my hand making sure everything was functioning properly, "Hello world, I'm back!" I said excitedly and I saw other players logging in as well and figured they were the ones who just got the game and the gear for it. I started running through town and tried to get to the open fields to try and level up some. Then, someone stopped me, "Hey, bro! Wait up!" they said and I stopped and turned around to see a scrawny guy with pink hair and a red and yellow bandana on his head as well, "What's up?" I asked him, "You act like you know your way around here? You must have been one of the beta testers weren't you?" he asked, "Um, y-yeah." I said, "Cool, today's my first day. So, could you give me some tips about the lower floors?" he asked, "Yeah, I don't know if..." I said, "Oh, please, I'm begging you! Look, my name's Klein. Nice to meet you." he said, "Alright, I'm Kirito." I said.

???'S POV:
I was watching Kirito and Klein from the shadows of the top of the buildings making sure that everything is on track for the future and I overheard them thanks to my heightened hearing and I watched as they went to the open fields of this floor of the game. But, I'm not an avatar nor am I an NPC, I used my powers to get me to this universe mainly because I was coming here to find a criminal who also happens to have been able to travel here like I did. 'Better keep an eye on them, Guardian.' A voice said in my head, "That's putting it simply Dragonia." I said to the dragon spirit that lives within me, "But, I can't talk to them. Not yet anyways." I said as I got up and started jumping from one roof to another to start my search for the criminal known as Fire Fang.

Kirito's POV:
Once Klein and I made it to the open fields I saw a boar that would help me teach Klein about the basics of SAO since this was his first day here. But, when he charged it he got knocked back and thought that he was in pain, "Oh, come on, seriously. You can't feel any pain." I told him and he realized it and got back up, "Huh, oh, yeah. That's right. Sorry, habit." Klein said. I looked at his hp and saw that he didn't take that much damage from the boar's attack, "Remember what I said. What's important is your initial motion input." I said, "Yeah, that's easy for you to say. But he won't stay still." Klein said then I picked up a rock "If you do your initial motion right, and activate a sword skill at the right time..." I focused my initial motion and the stone in my hand glowed red then I tossed it at the boar and hit it's behind dealing a good amount of damage to it, "... the system pretty much guarantees you'll always hit your target." I said. "Initial motion?" Klein said, "Here's another way to look at it. Right after you start your move, wait a little bit when you feel your skill start to activate drive it home!" I said, "Drive it home?" Klein said then he took a fighting stance and placed his blade over his right shoulder and it started to charge up. I smiled and kicked the boar towards Klein and he screamed and charged the boar and sliced it and its hp went down to zero giving Klein the finishing bonus and the experience while the boar turned into digital pixels. Klein was excited, "All right!" he said, "Congratulations." I said, and gave him a high five, "That was nice, but that boar is as weak as a slime in any other game." I said, "Holy crap, you've got to be kidding me? I thought that thing was a mid-level boss." Klein said, "Yeah, as if." I said. Klein then used his sword skill again, "Addictive, isn't it?" I asked, "I'll say!" Klein said with excitement, "So, these skills... there are lots of them, like forging weapons and stuff, right?" he asked, "I guess so. I've heard the game has an infinite variety of skills. All except for magic." I said, "An RPG without magic? That's a bold decision man." Klein said as he used his sword skill once more. "What do you think? It's fun to move your body as you fight." I said, "Hell yeah!" Klein said, and we both ended up working on our experience levels and collecting loot from the mobs that we took down for the next few hours. Before we knew it the sky started to turn dark and Klein and I were resting on a ledge close to the town of beginnings, "I still can't believe it, no matter how many times I see it... We're inside a game. Whoever made it is a genius. This is amazing... Makes me glad I was born when I was, you know." Klein said, "It's not that big a deal." I said, "Cut me some slack, it's my first full dive." Klein said, "You've never used the nerve gear before today, huh? This is your first time ever." I asked, "Well, it's more like I rushed out to buy the hardware so that I could play SAO. As soon as I got the money together I went and got everything needed to play. I stood and line and was really lucky to get one of the ten thousand copies. Although, you were ten times as lucky, getting into the beta test. Dude, only one thousand people got to do it." Klein said. He was right, "Yeah, well, I guess so." I said, "Hey, mind if I ask how far you got in the beta?" Klein asked me, "Two months, and I was only able to get as far as floor eight. But now, I think I can get there within a month." I said, "Sounds to me like you're really into this." Klein said, "To be honest, during the beta test, SAO was all I thought about, day and night. In this world, a single blade can take you anywhere you want to go. And even though it's a virtual world, I feel more alive here than I do in the real world. Anyway, want to hunt some more?" I asked, "You'd know it. But the thing is, I'm really hungry." Klein said as he hugged his growling stomach. "Too bad that the food in here only replenishes your hunger virtually." I said, "Yeah, for real's. That's why I ordered a pizza for 5:30 am." Klein said with a thumb up, "You're totally prepared, aren't you?" I asked, "You know it, once I've eaten I'll log back in." Klein said with a smile, "I guess." I said and looked towards the setting sun. "Hey, after this, I'm meeting up with some people I know from another game. I don't know what you're up too after this. So, if you know, you'd want you can friend them and hang with us." Klein said and I looked down and had a grim expression on my face, "No, it's cool if you don't want too, no pressure. I can always introduce you to them another time or something." Klein said, "Yeah, sorry. Thanks anyways." I said looking away from Klein, "No way. I should be thanking you. Hey, one of these days I promise I'm going to pay you back for all of your help, virtually that is." Klein said as he placed his left hand on my shoulder, "Yeah right." I said, "Thanks for everything man, really. Guess, I'll see you around then." Klein said. "If there's anything else you want to know, message me." I said and we shook hands, "Sweet! I'll do that." Klein said. Afterwards, Klein waved goodbye to me and opened his character menu to log out. I was about to leave when, "Huh? Where's the log out button?" Klein asked. "It should be there." I said, "Hmm, nope don't see it." Klein said, "It should be at the bottom of the main menu." I said as I opened the main menu as well and was shocked to see that the log out button was missing from my menu as well. "See, not there." Klein said, "You're right it isn't." I said, "Oh well, what today's the first day out of beta testing? Bound to be some bugs. I'd bet the server people are freaking out." Klein said, I then noticed the clock, "You will be too. It's already 5:25 pm." I said. Klein gasped, "Oh my god, my teriyaki-mayo pizza and ginger ale!" Klein exclaimed, "Why don't you just contact the Game Master." I suggested, "Yeah, I did that but nothing's happening. He's not picking up." Klein said. If I'm to be honest, I didn't like where this was going at all. This was never in the beta test when I was playing the game so why is it happening now. "Do you know if there's another way to log out of the game?" Klein asked I thought for a moment "No if a player wants to log themselves out, they have to go through the menu." I said. "That can't be right. There's got to be some way out of here. Return! Log out! Escape!" Klein said but nothing happened. "Told you so. And there was no emergency log out in the manual either." I said, "You've got to be kidding. I know, I'll just rip the nerve gear off my head..." Klein said as he tried to take off the helmet. "Don't bother; once you're hooked in you can't move your real body anymore. The nerve gear intercepts any command issued from our brains using an interface module built into the rig." I said.