Beater

Game Start...?

I entered my room, excited to finally play the official version of SAO. The nerve gear, in all its glory, sat expectantly on my desk. The desk was fairly organized, holding several notebooks, two mini pride flags, my computer, and many supplies. I walked over to the NG and lifted it up from the smooth surface. I held it in my hands, admiring it; I will never get over how much I love this design. Unconsciously, I walked to my bed, sitting down on the forest green comforter. My back hit the bed with a soft thud as I laid down; the bulky gaming device still grasped in my hand. I shifted my body to where my head was laying on the pillow, as I place the NG on my head. Two words could be heard coming out of my mouth: Link start.

Immediately, an array of colors appeared, taking me to the the world of Aincrad. I was at the teleport gate next to the Black Iron Palace. All of my stats were erased, meaning it's time to begin a new journey. Even though the official launch of the game began less than five minutes ago, the plaza was bustling with players. I recognized a few of them as beta testers. Before I knew it, my legs walked me over to the entrance of the Origin Plains. It was exactly like it was in the beta test, but with some changes. I was about to enter, but a person stopped me. It was a man with reddish, spiky hair, and a bandana tied to his head. "Hey, you seem like you know how this game works! I was wondering if you could teach me the basics. I'm Klein by the way," the player said with a smile. I was a bit taken aback. What? When you're a solo player, you'd be hesitant when someone asks to join you. I guess I could help him out. It's not like he'll want to play with me once I'm finished showing him the ropes. "Oh, um, sure! I'm not a very good teacher, so I'm sorry about that," I replied; my voice had a hint of hesitance. "Hell yeah! So where to first?" Klein asked. I guess it's time to start.

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For the next thirty minutes, I showed him what he could do regarding the basics. "Ah! I ordered pizza! I need to get going. Thanks again Midomi!" Klein said enthusiastically. A smile made its way onto my face; I was happy that I was able to help. I watched him as he brought up his menu, searching for the log out button. A frown appeared on his face, before he began to speak, "Huh, I can't find the log out button!" That's really surprising. But, the devs will probably fix it soon. "I think it's probably a bug. This'll look awful for the developers though," I responded, trying to ease his worry. "Alright, but what about my pizza?!" he yelled in anguish. I was about to answer, but Klein disappeared in an array of blue pixels. And before I could could even think about what happened, I started to disappear as well.

I ended up being teleported to the plaza. There were a lot of players around me, with really confused expressions. To my left was Klein, looking just as befuddled. "What the hell is happening?" the red haired man asked. A thought popped into my head. What if they're having a service announcement about the log out button? That's probably it. "I think they're going to announce about the log out button dilemma," I answered with a sigh. I really wanted to grind a bit more, but I guess they needed everyone to hear this. Not a moment later, a warning popped up as a liquid drained from the top of the area, forming a spherical shape. It morphed into a large hooded figure with a flowing robe of red and gold. The only part of their body that could be seen, were hands protruding from each sleeve. Silence covered the crowd of players, as their murmurs ceased. Akihiko Kayaba went on to explain that everything regarding the logout button, was intentional.

"For this occasion, I've given you a little gift." As soon as he said that, I went to look into my inventory. There, in all its glory, was an object named the Hand Mirror. As the name suggests, it's a small hand mirror that has a rectangular shape and frame. My face appeared in the mirror as I took it out. The mirrors from SAO always fascinated me. The mirrors here aren't negatively affected by distance, thus it is possible to see distant objects in high-detail on the mirror, despite this being impossible in the real world. Not a moment later, lights and pixels surrounded each individual player, myself included.