58The Death Game
Chapter 1: The World of Swords
I Don't Own Sword Art Online/ソードアート・オンラインor Any of Characters, All Rights Go To Reki Kawahara and ASCII Media Works
Author's Note:
* Hello and welcome to the first chapter of my first Sword Art Online Fanfiction!
* I don't usually write fanfiction based off of Anime, the only other fanfiction based off of Anime that I wrote was based off of Corpse Party, a game/manga franchise created by Team Gris Gris. That story really needs some work done, in terms of grammar and paragraphing, so I wouldn't look into it. But anyway, that's not the point.
* I haven't been watching Sword Art Online for all that long, but I've been enjoying it more than any other Anime that I've ever watched. So, I had an idea for how I would tell the story of Sword Art Online, so I decided to give it a shot.
* So, if you've watched the Anime, basically nothing changes in this chapter, which is an adaptation of episode one. That being said, you should easily know what's going on. It's only at the end of this chapter, that I start to tell the story the way I would have told it. So, most of, if not the entire story will be from Kirito's point of view, just so you know. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
Kirito
My name is Kazuto Kirigaya. But my friends call me Kirito. So, just call me Kirito. And where is this you may ask? Welcome to the world of Sword Art Online. Aincrad, one hundred floors of punishment and torment. Thousands upon thousands of players were trapped in Sword Art Online, a virtual reality game.
Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, the Virtual Reality interface required to play SAO were both created by Akihiko Kayaba, who also developed the Cardinal System, a sort of security system for SAO. As many as four thousand players died within Aincrad, the giant floating castle that SAO took place in.
So, this is the entire story of SAO, from start to finish. I'm going to tell you the entire story of how I, Kazuto Kirigaya, (almost single-handedly) beat SAO and freed the remaining players from their torment. But why am I doing this you may ask? I'm doing this to share my experience in the world of SAO with you. Because no matter what you think, when you find yourself playing a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, nothing is what it seems.
…
Before I get in to detail about the worst, as well as the best two years of my life, let me just describe a few things about myself and the circumstances, as well as some history behind the nightmare that was Sword Art Online. You may notice as I tell my story that I will switch back and forth from calling Sword Art Online by its full name or by its acronym: SAO. Usually I'll call it by its full name if I haven't referenced it in a while.
Okay, so my real name is Kazuto Kirigaya and my Avatar's name is Kirito. Seeing as players rarely call each other by their real names, you'll find that I will usually refer to myself as Kirito and that's what people will call me. I have black hair and brown eyes, and if it matters, I'm 172 cm tall. I have the average body type for a guy my age, I guess?
My birthday is October 7th, 2008 and I'm fourteen years old. My birth name was Kazuto Narusaka. I was adopted a year after I was born, by my aunt and uncle, after my birth parents died in an accident. When I was ten years old, I discovered that I was adopted and had ever since been distancing myself from my little sister Suguha, who is obviously my cousin, but she doesn't know that.
She still believes that we're brother and sister. I was originally forced to train with Suguha in the neighborhood kendo dojo, but after a couple years of training, I quit because I had gained interest in computers, do to my aunt being an editor for a computer systems magazine. That's what started me on my path to form a passion for Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (VRMMORPGs for short).
A while back, I was lucky enough to be one of the few thousand players that got to beta test SAO. And at one o'clock on November 6th, the game launched for the public. And that's how the nightmare began. Anyway, SAO was created and developed Akihiko Kayaba, the same guy who created the NerveGear. You could also say that he's the guy who caused this whole mess. He trapped all of the players, ten thousand of us started, in SAO for two years. And not all of us made it out.
I'm just glad I wasn't alone the whole time. I had friends, acquaintances to help me along the way. There's Asuna, first off. Asuna and I had a very interesting relationship. We hated each other, yet we liked each other at the same time. I guess you could say that we were best frenemies? There's Klein, the guy I first interacted with the most and also the guy I traveled with the most, besides Asuna and Sachi, more on her later.
There's Lisbeth, a local blacksmith and sword maker who occasionally provides me with gear. Silica, a female player that Sachi and I helped out. And next, there's Yui. She was a special case. Yui was an NPC type, I think that's the best way I could put it. And that brings us to Agil. Agil had a nice set-up; his own shop in the game. Agil was a really nice, I don't think he would hurt a fly. Or at least let me put it this way: I don't think he'd intentionally kill another player.
I think if he could avoid killing other players, that he would. Well, that's pretty much all the pre-story details that I can bother to tell you. So, without anything else on my mind, our story begins.
November 6th, 2022 – First Floor: Town of Beginnings
"Link start!" I had said as I laid on my bed, with my NerveGear on my head.
I had bypassed all the menus that came before Sword Art Online started. I set the language to Japanese, I put in my account information to log in, you know, all that good stuff. Before I knew it, I found myself standing in a garden area, the walls and floor made up of stone brick, controlling my Avatar. All the players that ever play a VR game like SAO would create their own Avatar before playing for the first time. My Avatar had longer black hair than I had in real life and I was a bit taller, I think.
I blinked several times as I got used to being an Avatar again. I looked down at my body and breathed. Eventually I made a fist and smiled.
"Hello, world!" I said. "I'm back!"
All around me, more players began logging into SAO. I had begun running through the streets of the Town of Beginnings, the first level in Aincrad where all players started. I was eager to begin playing the game again, the private beta still fresh in my mind. That's when I heard a voice calling from behind me.
"Hey, bro!" a male voice called. "Wait up!"
A look of surprise and confusion came onto my face as I stopped in my tracks. A player's Avatar wearing brown pants, a white shirt with brown armor pieces and red hair with a bandanna tied around his forehead stopped running once he got to me, taking a second to catch his breath.
"What's up?" I asked.
He continued panting before he spoke.
"You act like you know your way around here." He said. "You were in the beta test, weren't you?"
I don't know why, but I acted surprised when he said that.
"Uh, yeah." I said.
"Cool!" he said as he stood up straight. "Today's my first day. So, could you give me some tips on the lower floors?"
He walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder as he spoke.
"Uh, I don't know if…" I tried to speak, but he didn't let me finish.
"Oh, please, I'm begging you!" he said as he put his hands together, before smiling at me. "Look, my name's Klein. Good to meet you!"
Eventually I smiled and stood up a little straighter.
"Alright, I'm Kirito." I said, introducing myself.
Sometime Later – First Floor: Town of Beginnings: West Field
I watched as Klein got pushed backwards by one of the boars and fell onto his back, as I tried showing him the ropes.
"Right in the nuts…" he whimpered as he laid on the ground, holding the named spot.
"Oh, come on. Seriously?" I asked as I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "You can't feel any pain."
Suddenly, Klein stopped rolling around in the grass.
"Oh, yeah. You're right." He said. "Sorry, habit."
"Remember what I said?" I asked as he got up from the ground. "The first move is the most important."
He sighed.
"Yeah, that's easy for you to say!" he replied. "They won't stand still!"
I bent down to pick up pebble that sat in the field.
"If you do your initial motion right and activate a sword skill at the right time," I spoke, getting into a stance as I did so.
I threw the pebble and it hit the boar on its hind quarters.
"The system guarantees that you'll always hit your target." I finished my sentence.
"Initial motion." Klein whispered to himself, as he raised his sword.
"Here's an easier way to look at it." I said, raising my sword as the boar charged at me.
I sidestepped as the boar got close to me and he missed me entirely. He charged me again and this time I used my sword to block his tusks.
"Right after you start your move, wait a little bit and when you feel the skill start to activate," I spoke, continuing to block the pig bull. "Drive it home!"
"Drive it home." Klein whispered to himself, not moving from where he was.
Eventually he took his stance and he put his sword on his shoulder, so the blade was pointing away from him. Seeing that, I redirected the boar into his direction. Klein got ready and when the time was right, actually struck the boar. And after that, the boar exploded into thousands of glittering pieces, just as everything in the game would do upon death. Klein looked back behind him, to see that he had killed the boar and a smile appeared on his face.
"Yeah!" he exclaimed in an excited tone.
I stood there with a smile on my face.
"Congratulations." I said as I stepped towards him.
He chuckled as we high fived one another.
"That was nice." I said as I sheathed my sword. "But that boar's about as weak as slimes in other games are."
The happy look on Klein's face disappeared.
"Holy crap, you've got to be kidding!" he said. "I thought that thing was a mid-level boss!"
"Yeah, as if." I scoffed as a couple more boars spawned not too far away from us.
"Whoa!" Klein said as he drew his sword.
"Addictive, isn't it?" I asked.
"I'll say!" he said, before jabbing his sword forward. "So, these skills, there's a ton of them, like blacksmithing and stuff, right?"
"Uh-huh." I said. "I've heard that the game has an unlimited number of them. All except for magic, though."
"An RPG without magic? That's a pretty bold decision, man!" he said as he continued practicing with his sword.
He started chuckling with excitement as he stopped training.
"So, what do you think?" I asked. "It's kind of fun to move your body while you fight, isn't it?"
He looked back at me with a grin on his face.
"Oh, hells yeah!" he said.
I nodded, the smile still on my face.
"You ready to move on?" I asked.
"Yeah, man!" he said. "Let's keep going!"
Later That Day
"When I look around, I can't believe it. We're inside a game, bro!" Klein said. "Whoever made it is a genius. This thing's amazing. I mean, I'm just glad that I was born when I was, you know?"
"It's not that big of a deal." I said.
"Hey, cut me some slack!" Klein said. "It's my first full dive!"
"You've never used the NerveGear before today?" I asked. "This is your first time ever?"
"Uh-huh. As soon as I got the money together, I rushed out and got all the hardware to play SAO." Klein said. "I stood in line and scored one of the 10,000 hard copies. Guess you could say I was pretty lucky. Although, you sir were ten times as lucky getting to beta test it."
I turned my head to face him.
"Dude, only a thousand people got the chance!" he said.
"Yeah, I guess I was lucky." I said as I began scratching my neck.
In all honesty, I had never really thought about it. A thousand people is really a lot less than what it seems.
"Hey, mind if I ask you how far you got in the beta?" he asked.
"Eh, two months and I couldn't get further than floor eight." I said, before a smile appeared on my face. "But now, I think I can get there within a month, easy."
"Sounds to me like you're pretty in to this." Klein said.
"Yeah, you could say that." I said as I unsheathed my sword and held it in my hands. "During the beta test, SAO was the only thing on my mind. 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 in here than I do in the real one."
I closed my eyes and chuckled. I sheathed my sword before speaking again.
"Anyway, you want to go do some more hunting?" I asked.
"Well, you know it!" Klein said with enthusiasm, turning in the grass to face me. "But the thing is, I'm really hungry. I have to log out."
"Too bad the food here only satisfies your hunger virtually." I said.
"Yeah, for reals! That's why I ordered a pizza for five thirty!" he said as he pointed at me with grin on his face.
"Wow, you're so prepared." I said.
"You know it! Besides, the game can wait until I get my pizza on!" Klein said.
I turned my head to look at the virtual sunset.
"I guess." I said.
Klein got up from the ground next to me.
"Hey, I was going to go meet up with some people I know from another game." He said. "I don't know what you're up to after this, though if you want you can friend 'em and hang with us?"
I raised an eyebrow as I made a light gasp of surprise. I looked down at the ground with a glum look on my face.
"No, it's cool if you don't want to, no pressure! I can always introduce you to them another time or something." He said.
"Yeah, sorry." I said as I looked down. "Thanks, anyway."
"No way! I should be doing all the thanking!" he said as he stepped closer. "Hey, one of these days I promise I'll pay you back for all your help. Virtually, that is."
"Yeah, right." I said as I closed my eyes and smiled.
"Thanks for everything man, really." Klein replied as he stuck out his hand. "Guess I'll see you around, then."
"If there's anything else you want to know, message me." I said as I stuck out my hand.
"Oh, sweet!" Klein said as he grabbed my hand and we shook. "I'll do that!"
Klein waved at me, before turning around and opening his menu. I watched him from over my shoulder as I continued to smile. I began to walk away, when Klein spoke, causing me to turn back around with confusion.
"Huh?" he asked. "Where'd the logout button go?"
"It should be there." I reassured him.
"Hmm. No, it's not there." He said.
I walked over to him out of confusion.
"It should be at the bottom of the main menu." I said as I opened my menu as well.
But he was right. The logout button was gone! I felt a faint chill run down my spine.
"See, not there." Klein said.
"You're right." I said. "It's not."
"Oh, well. Today's what? The first day out of beta?" Klein asked. "There's got to be some bugs. I bet the server people are freaking out right now."
"You will, too." I said.
"Huh?" Klein asked.
I pointed at my clock on my menu.
"Look: It's 5:25." I said.
A look of shock and fear appeared on Klein's face. He held his head as he began to scream.
"Oh my God! My teriyaki-mayo pizza and ginger ale!" he exclaimed.
"Why don't you just contact the Game Master?" I asked in a calm tone.
Klein calmed down.
"Yeah, I did that but nothing's happening." He said. "He's not picking up. Do you if there's another way to log out of this thing?"
I thought about it for a second.
"No." I said at last. "Whenever a player wants to log out of SAO, the only way they can do it is by going through the menu."
"That can't be right!" Klein said. "There's got to be some other way out. Return! Log out! Escape!"
He jumped up into the air while saying that last one. A few minutes passed of us standing there with no change.
"Told you so." I said. "And there wasn't any emergency logout in the manual either."
"No way, you're kidding!" Klein said with disbelief. "I know! I'll just rip the NerveGear off my head…"
He stopped talking as he grabbed his head and started pulling upwards.
"Don't bother. Once you're hooked in, you can't move your body in the real world anymore." I said. "The NerveGear intercepts all commands you give from inside the game using an interface built into the rig."
"Seriously?" Klein asked after a few seconds of silence. "So, now we got to wait until someone gets around to fixing the bug?"
"That, or until someone in the real world comes along and takes the NerveGear off us." I said. "That's it."
"Oh, but I live alone." Klein said. "You?"
I almost hesitated before I spoke.
"I got a mom and a sister." I said. "And I think they'll notice by dinner…"
I didn't have time to finish, as Klein charged me exclaiming my name.
"You got a sister?" he asked with his hands on my shoulders. "How old is your sister? What's she like?"
I let out a nervous sigh as he continued staring at me intently.
"She's into sports and hates games and totally not your type man!" I said. "She wouldn't date a gamer if he…"
"Who cares, I…" Klein interrupted me and to shut him up, I kneed him in the groin.
He let out a yell of pain as he flew backwards and landed on his behind in the grass. That's when he sat up straight.
"Oh, right. Getting kicked in the balls doesn't hurt." He said.
"Be serious. Don't you think this is weird?" I asked.
"Yeah, totally." He said. "But it's just a bug."
I looked to my right.
"This isn't just a bug. If we can't log out, it's going to cause some serious problems for the game." I said.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Klein said.
"I wonder if the developers even know what's happening." I said. "Because they could just shut down the server and log everyone out. But why haven't they made an announcement?"
Klein grunted in response and looked as though he were thinking himself. That's when we heard the bells starting to ring. Klein got up to look in the direction of the ringing. We kept staring in the direction of the bells and before we knew it, both I and Klein were teleported against our own will. From the looks of it, Klein and I had been transported back to the plaza within The Town of Beginnings.
And that wasn't all. The Town of Beginnings was rapidly being filled up by other players being teleported in.
"Someone forced a teleport?" I asked myself.
Other players were chattering all around us, all of them most likely just as confused as Klein and I were. That's when I noticed something happening up in the sky.
"Look," I said as I approached Klein. "Up there."
He did as I said and looked up. There was a red block flashing up in the sky, labeled "Warning".
"Now what?" I asked in a nervous tone.
As I looked up at the sky, as the red block began to be surrounded by other red blocks, this time being labeled "System Announcement". They kept appearing, until as far as the eye could see, the entire sky was made up of red blocks. Eventually, from the cracks in between every red block, a substance that looked like blood began to drip out. It began to accumulate into a giant mass of red, and electricity began to spark around the top of it.
"What the hell is that thing?" Klein asked with shock.
I didn't have an answer; I just continued looking at it. Eventually the mass took shape, taking the form of a giant man wearing a red cloak, with gold trim and it's hood up, so you couldn't see his face.
"Is that the game master?" one player asked.
"Why doesn't he have a face?" another player asked.
One other player asked if this was an event, but I doubted that. This was too weird and too sudden to be an event. I had a strange feeling that something bad was coming.
"I'm scared." A female player said.
"Don't worry." A male player reassured her. "It's just part of the opening ceremony."
I was scared myself in all honesty, but I didn't show it.
"Attention, players." The man in the cloak spoke in a loud and clear voice as his arms rose on either side of him. "I welcome you to my world."
"What's he mean by that?" I asked myself.
"My name is Akihiko Kayaba." He said. "And as of this moment, I am in control of this world."
I let out a gasp of shock. My mind flashed to all of Kayaba's books that I had at home. He was the inventor of the NerveGear and created Sword Art Online! A chorus of "Wow is that really him"s and "Wow, that's some entrance"s erupted all around us.
"I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item is missing from your main menus." He said as he opened his menu. "The logout button. Let me assure you, this isn't a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be."
A chorus of gasps of shock erupted around Klein and I.
"He's kidding, right?" Klein asked.
"You cannot log yourselves out in SAO." Kayaba said, confirming that he was being serious. "And no one from the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal to your skull, destroying your brain, and ending your life."
A mixture of shocked responses erupted among the group of thousands of players. Someone tried to leave the area, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier.
"Heh, are you listening to this crap?" Klein asked from beside me. "He's gotta be nuts, right? Right, Kirito?"
He turned to face me as he said my name.
"He's not. The transmitter's signals in the headgear works just like microwaves." I said. "If the safety's turned off, they could fry your brain."
"Couldn't someone cut the power or…?" he asked.
"That won't work." I said, interrupting him. "The NerveGear's got an internal battery."
Klein just looked at me for a second or so, before letting out a grunt of frustration.
"This is crazy." He said. "It's totally crazy!"
"Despite my warning, family and friends of some of the players have attempted in removing the NerveGear." Kayaba continued. "An unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, the game now has 213 less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world."
"Two hundred and thirteen?" I asked with shock.
"No way." Klein said. "I don't believe it!"
"As you can see, international media outlets have around the clock coverage of everything," Kayaba spoke. "Including the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game."
I let out a gasp of shock once again, before gritting my teeth in anger.
"It's important to remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your Avatar will be deleted from the system, forever." Kayaba continued. "And the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain."
I let out another gasp of shock. Suddenly, I envisioned myself being charged by a boar and being killed because of it. I clenched my fist out of fear and anger.
"There's only one way for a player to escape now." Kayaba spoke once more. "You must clear the game. Right now, you're gathered on Floor One, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can make it through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on Floor One Hundred, and you will clear the game."
A chorus of confused murmurs erupted all around us.
"Why should we believe any of the crap you're saying?!" one player exclaimed.
"We can't clear all one hundred floors. It's freaking impossible." Klein said, before speaking in a higher tone. "The beta testers never made it that high!"
"Last but not least, I've placed a present in the item storage of every player." He said. "Please, have a look."
I nervously opened my menu and scrolled down to my item storage menu. Once I looked in the item storage, what I saw surprised me.
"A mirror?" I asked with disbelief.
Why would Kayaba want us to have mirrors?
Nonetheless, I clicked on the mirror, causing it to appear in midair and I grabbed it to inspect it. Just as I was looking into the mirror, Klein let out a surprised yell next to me.
"Klein!" I exclaimed as I looked at him, only to see him disappear into a flash of white light.
And he wasn't the only one. All around us, other screaming players were disappearing into flashes of white light. And eventually, the same thing happened to me. Eventually, I appeared back in the same place that I had been in before I had been taken by that flash of white light. I heard someone's footsteps behind me.
"You okay, Kirito?" I heard Klein ask from behind me.
"Y-Yeah." I stammered as I turned to face him and realized that there was something different about Klein.
Klein had an entirely different face!
"Wait, who are you?" I asked.
"I'm me." He said. "And who are you?"
I lifted the mirror, looked into it and was given a startling revelation. I was looking at my real life face! My entire body had changed! And I wasn't the only one. All around us, people were commenting "why did my face change?" and "who are you?". Two players nearby got into an argument about one of them lying about being a girl and the other lying about being seventeen. I turned back to look at Klein.
"Wait a second… You're Klein?" I asked, as he asked me: "You're Kirito?"
He stood there, looking as shocked as I was.
"But, how?" he asked with disbelief.
I thought about for a second.
"The scan…" I said as I figured it out. "There's a high density signal device inside the NerveGear rig. It can see what my face looks like. But how's it know my height and body type?"
"When you first put the NerveGear on, it had you do this calibration thing." Klein said after a few seconds of silence. "It asked you to touch your body all over like this."
He demonstrated and started patting down his arms.
"Remember?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah, you're right! That's where it got our physical data." I said.
"But, this is… What's the point?" he asked in an irritated tone. "Why would anyone do this to us?"
I pointed towards Kayaba's floating form.
"I think he's about to tell us." I said.
"Right now, you're probably wondering, "why?" "Why would Akihiko Kayaba developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do this?" Kayaba started speaking again. "Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online, was to control the fate of a world of my design."
"Kayaba…" I muttered with anger.
"As you can see, I have achieved my goal." he continued.
My fists trembled from the anger that was radiating off my body.
"This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online." He said. "Players, I wish you the best of luck."
Kayaba's form began to glitch out, until he dissipated into puffs of red smoke. The ceiling flickered for a second as well, before the red tiles disappeared completely, once again revealing the brilliant sunset. Everyone stayed silent, due to shock for what seemed like several seconds. Something dripped onto the stone floor beneath me. I looked down, and I saw a small red puddle on the bricks.
I looked for the source of the red puddle and I found it: the blood from the cut on my thumb, where I had accidentally gotten a papercut hours earlier, before I logged into the game. The blood ran down my thumb and into my gloved palm.
It's not a game, I thought as I clenched my right hand into a fist. It's real. Akihiko Kayaba created a virtual world. He designed the NerveGear rig. The man's a genius. I've been a fan of his for a long time, so I know… everything he just said, is the truth. If I die in the game, I'll die in real life!
Someone nearby dropped their mirror and it shattered against the ground. That's when the mass panic began. After a minute or two of standing there, listening to the other players begin to panic, I couldn't take it anymore.
"Come on, Klein." I said as I tapped his shoulder.
I grabbed hold on his hand and ran off, dragging him along before he could protest. After a few minutes of running, we were now in an alley, that was far enough from the other players, so I could explain my plan to him.
"Okay, listen. I'm heading out right now for the next village." I said. "I want you to come."
"Huh?" he asked in a surprised tone.
"If what he said is true, and I think it is, the only way we're going to survive in here is making ourselves as strong as possible." I said as I opened my menu and searched for my map. "In an MMORPG, the money you can earn, XP, once the game starts up, there's only so much of that stuff to go around."
A map had popped up of the first floor of Aincrad, with red dots scattered all across the grid, representing villages and monster spawning locations.
"Look, the fields surrounding The Town of Beginnings are going to be hunted clean soon." I said. "If we head to the next village now, we'll have an easier time collecting cash and points. Don't worry, I know all the paths and places we should avoid. Even if I'm level one, I can get there easy."
I closed my map, as well as my menu and looked back at Klein.
"Well, thanks, but… You know those friends of mine I was telling you about?" he asked. "They stood in line for a whole night to buy this and they're back at the plaza. Somewhere, and I can't leave them."
I looked at Klein's health bar and level, and then at mine. I looked down at the ground.
If it were just Klein, but two more, or even one more, I thought.
"Sorry." He said.
I let out a grunt of surprise as I looked back up at Klein.
"Can't ask a guy I just met to risk his life for a bunch of strangers, can I?" he asked. "So, don't worry about me. Get your ass to the next village. I'll be fine."
He gave he a thumbs up as he continued talking.
"Last game I played, I ran a Guild. So, I'm more than prepared." He said, before putting his hands on his hips. "And with all the stuff you've taught me, I'll get by, no sweat!"
"Okay." I said in a shaky voice. "If that's what you want. But if you ever need help, don't hesitate to contact me."
Klein nodded, a smile still present on his face. I turned around.
"I'll get going." I said. "Be seeing you, Klein. Take care of yourself."
I began walking down the alley. I had been walking for maybe ten seconds or so, when Klein called out to me.
"Kirito, wait up!" he exclaimed as I heard his thundering footsteps.
I came to a sudden stop and turned to see that Klein had been running after me and had come to a stop.
"Klein?" I asked. "What is it?"
He had bent over, clutching his knees as he caught his breath, which when you thought about it, he hadn't run for long, so it was kind of pathetic. He let out a few more breaths before he looked up at me.
"I changed my mind!" he said.
"Huh?" I asked with surprise.
"I've changed my mind, man!" he said. "I can't let you walk off by yourself!"
"Um, okay…" I said in a confused tone. "But you just said…"
"Yeah, I know what I said!" he exclaimed. "But something just occurred to me!"
"Okay…" I said, still very confused. "And that is?"
"Look man, I get that you may not want to travel with more than one other person, but think about it for just a moment." He said.
So, I did. And he was right. I didn't like the idea of travelling with more than one other player.
"You're right." I said at last. "But what has that got to do with anything?"
"Kirito, I can't let you walk away by yourself." He said. "So, I won't. Don't be a dummy and just think for a moment. You can't beat this game going at it alone."
"Um, yes I can." I said. "And I was planning on it."
Klein stomped his foot in frustration.
"Damn it, Kirito!" he said. "Don't be stupid!"
A red blush appeared on my cheeks.
"Hey, come on man!" I said. "That's not necessary!"
"Just let me explain myself, okay?" he asked.
I let out a sigh as I closed my eyes. Once I had calmed down, I opened my eyes and nodded at him.
"Look, I get it if you may not want to travel with more than one other person, but think about it. I mean it when I say that you can't beat this game by yourself. So, I changed my mind. Let's travel together. We can head back to the plaza and gather up my friends, then we could head to the next village, even if it takes a while."
I was skeptical of what he was saying, but I let him continue nonetheless.
"Think about it. You'd be much more likely not to die if you run with others. If you travel by yourself, you could easily find yourself in a pinch and you may not be able to get yourself out of it. If you travel with others, you could teach them what you taught me, and you'd make them stronger fighters. Not only could they depend on you, but you could learn to depend on them. And even if it ends up just us travelling together, you could watch by back and now knowing what you taught me, I could watch yours."
He stuck out his hand.
"So, what do you say, partner?" he asked.
I hesitated. I wanted to refuse his offer, but there was this: Everything he had told me made complete sense. He was right; I couldn't go at this game alone. If I were to run with a party and if that eventually evolved into joining a Guild, I would have other players backing my every move.
Instead of just me, I would have other players to rely on in a boss fight. With other players, it would be much easier to defeat a boss, opposed to if I ran alone. Sure, I was a strong player, but that didn't mean I had to rely on only myself. I hesitated once again, before I smiled. I took Klein's hand and we shook.
"Okay, partner." I said as we shook.
We shook hands for about five seconds or so and then we let go of one another's hands. He nodded at me, with a smile on his face, and I nodded back at him.
"Alright." I said as I turned in the direction of the Plaza. "Let's go, buddy."
And so, Klein and I walked down the alley, ready to take the game on.
Author's Note:
* And so that's the end of the first chapter. I hope you all enjoyed. Let me know if there's anything missing, how I did in rewriting episode one, all of that good stuff.
* And I'll be reacting to your reviews from here on out at the end of every chapter. So, if you want to receive a shout out from me, post a review!
* Anyway, the following chapters will focus on being adaptations of the coming episodes. And in the next chapter, the differences in my version will become apparent. So, as I said before, I hope you enjoyed. I'm going to go though, so have a fantastic day and bye.
Next Chapter: A month passes since the launch of SAO and the death toll continues to steadily rise. A group of players plan out a boss raid on the first floor of Aincrad. Klein and Kirito meet a player wearing a light brown cloak.
