Railgun Online, Accelerated World: Book 1, Awakening

Prologue: Midna

Haruyuki Arita  walked into the Internet café, feeling rather silly, and suspicious at the same time. Supposedly, he was here to meet somebody who claimed to be a VR program of some sort.

Considering his experiences, it actually wasn't that far fetched. A God Class AI from the Unlimited Field just so happened to be a member of Nega Nebulous. AIs weren't a subject of debate anymore. Intelligences capable of thinking for themselves and choosing their own kind of freedom.

But, this could easily just be a prank. Somebody pretending to be an AI and using their Full Dive Avatar to play a trick..

But then again, there was also the fact that this individual seemed to know things that she couldn't possibly know..

Haru looked around the café, looking for somebody to wink at him, or give him a sign. But he saw nobody.

"Now now.." A voice issued in his head, obviously from his Neurolinker. Somebody had hacked in and was speaking to him. "I'm not there... heeheehee.. Dive in already!"

Haru sighed and walked over to one of the private small rooms meant for Full Divers. After shutting the door behind him, he sat down and closed his eyes.

There was a  burst of light, And Haru opened his eyes again, this time.. he was in a small cute-looking pig avatar that was standing in a large virtual café room, full of other different looking avatars. Some of them looked like cosplayers, others like animals, and pretty much various other avatars either customized by the users or bought from AI stores.

Haru's little pig form trotted in, looking around.

"Over here, over here."

A little imp like creature, was floating near the bar. She had a small female body with a rather large head, with shadowy black clothing covering parts of her body. her skin was pale and her hair was a fiery orange, glowing and tied in a pony tail. She wore what seemed to be some sort of large stone broken relic as a mask, the broken part of the mask revealing one of her bright orange eyes, which was, large, curious, and spoke of much mischief. A small fang could be seen in her mouth.

Her pony tail extended out as the tiny imp floated up further into the air, and it turned into a large clawed hand which beckoned at Haru. (kind of like how she does it when Link's about to leave a boss room via teleportation.)"Come come now.. don't be shy.. "

Haru trotted over and hopped onto a seat at the bar. An alligator avatar wearing a suit and a hat, cleaning a glass walked over. "What'll it be? No age limit here right now.. our programs that make the alcohol get you drunk are kind of glitched right now.. anything goes."

"I don't need anything.." said Midna with a chuckle. "But maybe you could do me a favor and.. get lost?"

"Excuse me!?" said the alligator, looking angry at Midna's rudeness.

Midna's eye roved over to the alligator and she grinned widely, displaying her fangs. "I said.. get lost.. this doesn't concern you.."

While Midna's small body made her seem harmless... there was sort of a dangerous aura coming from her, that made whoever operated the alligator avatar feel it was probably best just not to pursue this, so he did what Midna said and left..

"Y-you didn't have to be that rude!" Haru stammered.

"Oh? I was under the impression that Haruyuki Arita was some sort of indecisive shy chicken." said Midna with amusement. "But I guess the Accelerated World has changed you.. Silver Crow."

"Don't use that name in public!" Haru said with a hushed whisper.

"Don't be so paranoid." said Midna. "There aren't any Burst Linkers here. The closest one to this area is probably that Ash Roller fellow, but he's miles away.."

"Who are you? What do you want?" Haru asked.

Midna sighed. "I feel like we've been through this already. I told you.. I'm an AI.. and you could probably say I've gone rogue from the VRMMO I originally belong to.. "

Midna giggled and floated so that she was looking at Haru upside-down her hands resting on her cheeks. "As for what I want.. I feel like we can both help each other out.."

"How?"

"Well.. I've heard stories.. after surfing through the internet for the longest while.." said Midna. "And.. do you know what it's like to know the world you live in.. is a complete fake? To know that all the world you dwell in is nothing but a mass of ones and zeros in a data base? That you can be deleted from existence with a  single click? I DESPISE it!! It makes me SICK!!"

Midna's expression became that of pure rage, which scared Haru. Those fangs made it look quite frightening.

"So.. I heard the rumors.. that an AI world.. in a project known as Alicization.. somehow became real.. using some sort of program or power.. that something called a Fluctlight could be installed.. into an artificially made organic body.." Midna said.

"That's.. not possible.. that's completely impossible!" Haru exclaimed.

"Don't tell me what's possible or impossible!" said Midna. "I want that.. I will have it.. I want to be human! I want to actually exist.. in the REAL world.. and if you do everything  I say.. if you obey me, in my quest.. I will grant you a little of my power.. what do you say?"

"Why would I need your power?" Haru asked.

"Firstly.. I can be useful to Nega Nebulous." said Midna. "I just so happen to be able to travel into the Brain Burst program, any VR really.. I'm quite flexible.. secondly.. I know where Mikoto Misaka is.. and I also wish to retrieve her.."

Haru perked up, his eyes widening.

"Oh.. THAT got your attention.. little rotund boy... heeheeheeheeheeheehee.. what fun.." Midna floated down so that she was sitting on the chair across from Haru. "So.. little rotund pig. Care to be my minion for a while?"

"I would have to tell Kuroyukihime-sama.." said Haru carefully.

"Tell the world if you like." said Midna lazily. "I'm not going anywhere.. your Neuro Linker is so cozy.."

Midna put a hand to one of her pointed ears, as if somebody were suddenly whispering to her. "Yeah yeah.. yes Yui, I'm doing it.. "

Midna put her hand down and folded her arms. "Alright.. now.. I'm going to tell you an address.."

15 minutes later, Haru had logged out of the server, and was walking out of the Internet Café. In the vision of his Neuro Linker, Midna could be seen floating around with him, as if she were actually there. But it was really just the Neuro Linker projecting a mental image, allowing Midna to feel and look like she was actually flying around in the physical world.

"Now.." said Midna. "This is fun.. I love how Neuro Linkers can do this... anyways, only you can see me right now.. since I'm uploaded into your device.. Are you ready to head to the lab?"

"Yeah.. just lead the way." said Haru.

Midna grinned in a sort of evil way, though it really didn't seem ACTUALLY evil in Haru's opinion. "Well then.. come along.. lots to see."