Caged in (S.A.O. Fanfic, OC. On Hold)

Beginnings (chap. 1 )

A/N

Well, I finally uploaded this SAO chapter, woohoo!

Hopefully, this will be enough for one chapter. (Has 1000+ words </3)

And hooray for GGO? I'm waiting for it :3

If you're already bored of this A/N then go away and read. =-=

JK JK JK JK JK love you all <3!

~ Bellz.

**

*Akari's POV* (Ah-kah-ri)

August 20 2022.

It was a Monday afternoon, school had been cancelled for an unknown reason, and I was relaxing by looking at my own reflection on a full length mirror, just to see how I looked in the morning. I saw my short black hair frizzed up and below my blue eyes were small dark bags. Today was finally the day a new game called Sword Art Online, the beta, would come out and I couldn't wait for that day to come when I first heard about it! I don't even know how an VRMMORPG would work in such a tiny head device called a Nervegear, it somehow didn't make sense, for a game like Sword Art Online, or SAO, to work.

I walked to the bathroom just to wash my face and prepare what's in-store today! I turned the faucet handle to the right and splashed some water into my face then I changed into a white three-fourth's with black sleeves, and I wore house shorts.

I was already 12 years old, but I didn't think I was old enough to play that SAO game, nor was I fit to play it at all! I heard it would have a really hardcore gaming system that I couldn't handle, from what the rumours have said. Of course, my parents wouldn't get me and game and the device, even though I've studied really hard on my exams and tests.

Although today was a exciting game for gamers, I only had my pencil, paper, and my computer, not much to do today because I doubt that my parents would even buy that game for me. I, then, decided to head downstairs only for the breakfast. As I went down the stairs, I saw a wrapped gift on the dining table, and I sped up my pace. I stood by the side of the gift, looking at it with much curiosity.

Whose birthday could it be? Could it have been a celebration for me? I might have been a package for someone else. I have to give it back to whoever it was addressed to.

I saw a tag pinned into the ribbon. I unfolded the tag and saw it addressed to me, which was strange because I rarely got packages. Once I saw that it was for me, I started ripping it to shreds. The only thing left between me and the unknown gift is now the sealed white box, just a plain white box. I couldn't contain my excitement, so I started scratching the box tape with my semi-long nails, and I managed to open the package.

The package contained a disk labeled SAO beta and something that looked very similar to a helmet. Wait, this is how the device, the Nervegear, looked like! Oh, and the SAO disk too!

I, Akari, had the game that most gamers would die for. I had the game that could change the gaming system forever!

My thought made me jump a little in the inside, although guilty at the same time since I didn't have much gaming experience. I felt excited and impatient, so I ran upstairs and placed the disk into the helmet. I wore the helmet then shouted 'Link start' as it said on the website, I saw when I researched about this game.

Colorful beams started flying past me, then it got fewer by the second. Suddenly, there were big blue circles testing the sense of touch, sight, sound, taste, and smell. The circles turned to green and went of into different directions. I, then, saw the language selection. I, obviously, had to choose English since I was more fluent in English than in Japanese, although I think there are translations all through out the game.

The login screen popped up, I entered my account name and password then I saw the character creation, just a second after I logged in

There was a big selection of faces, but there was an option to choose a face a bit similar to your face in real life, instead of wasting my time in selecting faces, I just chose that option. As for the hair, I picked a half up-half down pigtail with some bangs, the hair was brown, nothing really special since I wasn't the extravagant type of girl. As for the player name, I just used Ari, just to be simple.

I selected the done button at the bottom of the whole character selection. Next thing I know, I was standing on light gray stone ground. I wanted to feel the ground, just because I thought it had to be really realistic as it really said on the forums. So, I did touch the ground. My fingers felt the roughness of the stone as if it was actually real, even though all of this is not real. I was really shocked when it felt really real, so this probably took ages to develop and plan, which was genius!

I walked around the and saw a marketplace filled with merchants and people. The wood used for the stalls were dark brown, and there were so many sword in different shapes and sizes! The swords were even more than the manga books I had at home! This was truly amazing!

But, my fascination ended when someone bumped into me so suddenly.

"So-sorry!" The pink haired girl bowed to me.

"It's okay... umm...?"

"Sayuri. Yuri, Yui, or Sari, if you want it shorter." She stopped bowing, and she looked up to me.

"It's okay, Yui. So, umm, I'm Akari, you can call me Ari if you like. Nice to meet you." I gently smiled at her as I introduced myself.

"Nice to meet you too! So, um, again.... sorry for the incident. You know.... with the bumping." She nervously said, as she rubbed her left arm awkwardly.

"You can stop saying sorry, you know?" I laughed a bit at her awkwardness, which reminded me of myself. "So.... why don't you hang around with me? I mean, I have no company around sooo...?"

"Sure! I'd love you join you since I'll need help with the basics too!" She gleefully said.

**

We were out in the field, where the grass green and the boars were being boars. Well, evil boars. So, we planned to learn the basics better, since we just saw the tutorial on the internet, posted by the game's creator, which was not very clear.

"Okay, so... the tutorial said that if you place your sword over your right shoulder and prolong it, it will glow, shimmer, or whatever?" She tried to remember. But, I barely finished the video tutorial. It was 20 minutes, and I was lazy.

"Uh huh..."

"So, if I try that..." She held her sword a bit tightly then held it over her shoulder. She closed her eyes tightly, while the blade was changing color, from gray to orange. She opened her eyes, with a fierce look on her face and charged at the boar, the blade turning a slightly darker orange. "Hyaaaa!" She yelled, while running towards the boar. The sword slicing at one side of the fierce boar, making the boar bloat a little bit then exploding into little shards that were different shades of blue.

She smiled, as she turned back and saw the boar was defeated. Suddenly, there was a display of the EXP she has gotten and also the Col she got. She got 24 EXP and 30 Col from defeating that boar. "That... was... so... COOL!" She jumped. She dropped down on the grass and sighed happily. "Ari, you have to try it!"

"Well... easy for you to say. That was just like child's play for you. I probably can't do that yet." I put my right hand to my hip, looking at the different boars respawning in different areas, and the sun that was going down. I looked to Yui, who had her eyes closed. She looked so complete and carefree, while I was still trying to figure things out, making me confused since I'm not used to games all that much.

"Hey, Ari?"

"Yes?"

"Can we be friends? I mean, you don't have to if you don't want it's okay I-"

"Sure. Why not? You went with me to explore, right? So, I guess it would be fine if we would be friends." I sat beside her, my legs stretched out on the grass.

"Pinky promise?" She held her pinky finger at me.

"Pinky promise." I intertwined my pinky with hers. She had a big smile on her face when I promised, then she hugged me. I laughed and hugged her back.

Maybe I can actually do this! I can actually play this game with Yui's help. We'll to this together. I won't regret this. I promise I won't ever regret this!