Hello one and all. I have been planning to write this story for such a long time now and I finally bought a new computer! I'll be sure to upload new chapters of this story every few days. Disclaimer: I don't own Sword art online, Rwby, or any other games, anime, books, shows, cartoons, etc. that I mention in this story.

In 2022, mankind finally built a full virtual environment. The gaming company Argus created the first VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). The game was played using the NerveGear, a special virtual reality helmet which allows players to enter a complex virtual world that feels like the real thing. On the Sunday of November sixth, Hunter Art Online was released in all the kingdoms of Remnant. The game was based off of the hunters/huntresses from all over. It allowed hunters, huntresses, and even those that had never picked up a weapon before to experience the everyday life of a hunter against the grimm. At least ten thousand copies of the game had already sold out, and long lines to get the game had formed at game shops almost everywhere days before the official release. It seemed clear that the game was already going to be a hit.

At 3:00 p.m., a 14 year old young man by the name of Kazuto Kirigaya was reading over an article in the new magazine going over the technology that is the nerve gear by Hunter Art Online's director Akihiko Kayaba. While reading, he watched a news report of the new MMO stream on the new game.

'Hi there! Time for this week's MMO stream, you just watched a promo for today's featured game! And this is what last week's launch day looked like. Can you guess what everyone's waiting in line for? Hunter Art Online! The first person in line said he camped out for three days! Hey, but if you're a hardcore gamer, that's what you do. On today's episode of the MMO stream, we'll be covering the internationally famous Hunter Art Online, A.K.A. HAO. Up to now, none of the nerve gear software's have taken the advantage of the possibilities of the hardware!'

As the report continued on, Kazuto decided to shut it off and prepared to enter the game himself. He quickly placed the new game in his computer and placed the NerveGear helmet on his head and laid down in his bed.

"Link Start!" The world around him vanished and he felt himself flying through a color stream. He was transported into the NerveGear's login screen. He signed in to his account that he used when he beta tested this game 'Kirito'. Soon after he was standing in the middle of the town of beginnings in the form of his in-game avatar, Kirito. His avatar was a bit taller than his original self, and he looked a lot older, too. The town itself was like a city from the middle ages, and was already packed with all the new players appearing. He walked through the shopping stalls where tons of new players gathered around. He saw a variety of people around. Many of the people he saw where smiling and cheering that they bought this game, some, he saw, where confused on how to even open a menu. But the thing he saw most was everyone joining in parties. He stayed around for a while, handing out the guide books that he and the other Beta testers created for the short time they had in the game. Once he was out, he took off through the crowd.

As Kirito made his way through the crowd of players, he heard someone yell behind him. "Hey bro! Wait up!" he slowed himself to a stop and turned around to see a man with long red hair and a bit of beard on his chin running towards him. He had on a red and yellow headband with a long-sleeved white shirt, brown leather chest armor and brown pants.

"What's up?" Kirito asked. The man stopped to catch his breath for a moment, "Whew, you look like you knew your way around here. You were in the beta test, weren't you?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Cool! Today's my first day playing this game. Sooo, could you give me some tips on the lower floors?" He quickly asked

Kirito was a bit hesitant with helping out a new player. He just got back into the game and wanted to already make his way to the first boss. "Yea, I don't know if-"

"Aw please! I'm begging ya!" The man cut him off. "Look, my name's Klein, good to meet ya." Kirito thought for a moment 'eh, it's not like I have anything better to do at the moment.'

"Alright, I'm Kirito."

"You guys wouldn't mind if i joined you as well, right?" Kirito turned around and recognized the voice from someone he handed one of the manuals to.

"Oh, hey Ruby."

Ruby Rose couldn't believe it. One of the world's greatest games ever made was released to the public only a few hours ago, and only 10,000 copies were sold... And she couldn't get one. She waited in line for so long, only for the guy in front of her to get the last game. Her older sister Yang Xiao Long had come by to give her a ride back to beacon when she heard the news. She saw her younger on the corner with hundreds of others weeping for the fact that it was sold out. She got off her motorcycle and patted Ruby on the back.

"Come on," she said, "I'll take you home and we can have some cookies." Ruby dramatically flopped onto her back and groaned.

"It's not fair! How could they only have 10,000 copies of one of the best games ever made!?"

Yang sighed. Of course she wanted the game as well. Both she and Ruby saved up money for months to buy a NerveGear system and for the game. It was not only supposed to be a game about being a hunter/huntress, a dream they both strived to become, but also a place to meet new friends from across the globe. The game sold 2,500 copies in the kingdoms of Vale, Atlas, Mistral, and Vacou. She got her sister up on her feet and they started to head back to beacon until Ruby's scroll started to ring. She opened it to find that she received a message from the headmaster himself, Professor Ozpin.

'Ms. Rose. Meet me in my office when you have returned to beacon.'

"Ooh, Ruby's in trouble!" Yang teased.

"Shut up! You don't even know what he's going to say."

"Let's get going, you don't want Ozpin angry." Ruby nodded and they both got on Yang's bike.

-15 minutes later-

Ruby arrived in Ozpin's office soon after they returned. It was a large room, filled with book cases and a dark green wall.

"Ah, Miss Rose, thank you for meeting here." she turned to see Ozpin walking around one of the bookshelves with a book and a cup of coffee in his hand.

"If you don't mind Professor, why did you ask me to come here?" she asked nervously.

"As you may already know, your grades in Professor Ports class have been dropping recently, care to tell me why?" Ozpin asked. Ruby was embarrassed, she didn't want to tell him, but she had to.

"Well, I guess I've been zoning out a lot, a new game was recently released and-"

"You must be referring to this game, HAO. I believed they called it." he pulled out a copy of the game from his coat pocket. Ruby was stunned, to say the least. 'Why would the professor have the game?' she thought.

"I bet your wondering why i bought the game. Recently, I learned that the other academies from Vacou, Mistral, and Atlas have sent in their best students to play the game as a representative. I thought it would help also be a simulation for those who want to become a hunter or huntress. I would have chosen one of the seniors for this project, but seeing as you need the extra credit, and your talent as a huntress, would you like to be the representative for beacon academy?" He smirked.

Ruby's jaw hit the floor and she was speechless. 'Extra credit for playing a video game!?' she quickly nodded yes. "Well alright." He handed her the game and a NerveGear and she shot off to her room, using her semblance to pick up speed. She plugged the helmet into Weiss' expensive looking new computer. "I'm sure she won't mind if I play on it for an hour." she thought out loud. She put the game in the disk tray and put the helmet on. When she turned on the NerveGear, she saw a message appear on the screen.

[HELLO, AND WELCOME TO THE NERVEGEAR. PLEASE PAT AROUND YOURSELF SO THE NERVEGEAR CAN GET YOUR MEASUREMENTS]

She was a bit confused, but saw no harm in it.

[THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. TO ACTIVATE YOUR GAME 'Hunter Art Online' ALL YOU NEED TO SAY IS THE COMMAND "LINK START"]

"Link start!" The world around her vanished as she flew through a color stream to be transported into the NerveGear's login screen and she saw 3 options.

[LOGIN]

[CREATE ACCOUNT]

[EXIT]

She clicked on the [CREATE ACCOUNT] button and was brought to the character creation screen. There wasn't much to choose from, but she ended up making a taller version of herself with a black shirt, red leather armor, and a combat skirt.

{ARE YOU SURE YOU'VE FINISHED YOUR CHARACTER?}

[YES]

[NO]

She clicked the [YES] button.

{CREAT YOUR USERNAME}

She thought about it for a minute, and decided to try her own name. To her surprise, it wasn't taken yet.

[THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING HUNTER ART ONLINE, PLEASE WAIT]

Soon after, the game loaded up and she was transported into the town square. She looked down at her hands and felt them. 'This feels so real! It's so... So...'

"AWESOME" she shouted.

"Excuse me." she heard from behind her.
She turned around to see a young man with black hair, a blue shirt and brown leather armor with a sword strapped to his back.

"Yes?" she asked. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small leather book and handed to her.

"My names Kirito. I was one of the beta testers for this game. We created these books as guides for all the newer players in the game so they can start right away."

"Thanks! My name is Ruby." she replied "So you got to beta test this game?"

"Yea, its pretty fun once you get the hang of it. Listen, I have to go, so good luck with the game!" He said before he took off.

"Thank you! ... Hey wait! How do I open the menu!?" She tried but to no avail. He couldn't hear her. She decided to look into the guide he gave her.

(Page one: opening the menu)

"Well that was convenient." she smiled.

(Raise your right arm and pull it back down)

She followed the instructions and was surprised to see the menu pop up in front of her face. Even more to her shock, she already had a message. She clicked on it.

Dear Miss Rose, i hope you like the new game! Oh and don't worry about a weapon. I had something sent to your account from Argus. It should come with a large number of upgrades, so you could use it throughout the game.

Sincerely, Ozpin

She closed the message and opened up her inventory to find one item unselected.

/Crescent Rose\

"No way!" She exclaimed. She clicked on it and felt a familiar weight on her back. She reached back and pulled out a black and red scythe from her back. She was in awe on how Ozpin managed to get the measurements of crescent rose completely right. It even had the sniper rifle form! She saw that she was gathering some weird looks from the crowd, some were in awe of the weapon, some were jealous. She didn't want to make a scene so she took off. She found some sort of downside to the game; they didn't have any aura, so she couldn't use her semblance. Once she was clear of the crowd, she opened up the manual again.

(Page 2: Hunting)

She read through on how there was various amounts of grimm in this game. There apparently was a spot nearby the Town of Beginnings to hunt boarbatusk and decided to go there. She turned the corner and saw a couple of people talking.

"Aw please! I'm begging ya!" The man with Red hair said. "Look, my name's Klein, good to meet ya." She looked at the other guy and recognized him as the beta tester from earlier.

"Alright, I'm Kirito."

"You guys wouldn't mind if i joined you as well, right?" Kirito turned around and recognized the voice from someone he handed one of the manuals to.

"Oh, hey Ruby."

Kirito decided to bring Klein and Ruby out the nearby field to practice. Soon after their arrival, they were attacked by one of the game's low-level monsters. It was a grimm called a boarbatusk. Kirito asked Ruby if she wanted to go first but she asked if she could watch. Klein decided to step in attacked the beast by wildly swinging his curved sword, but his attack plan was off. The grimm on the other hand was doing quite well. It tackled Klein to the ground and caused his HP gauge to drop slightly. Klein dramatically dropped to the ground, hunching over while holding his stomach and groaning. Ruby giggled as she knew they couldn't feel any pain.

"Oh come on, seriously? You can't feel any pain" Kirito told him.

"Oh yeah, your right. Sorry, habit." he apologized.

"Remember what I said? The first move is the most important."

"Yeah, that's easy for you to say. He won't stand still!" Klein was frustrated. If he couldn't beat this monster, how could he progress through the game?

Kirito was thinking of a way he could teach Klein how to fight. He looked down and saw a pebble and grabbed it. Ruby and Klein watched intently. "If you do your initial motion right," Kirito brought back the pebble as it started to hum and glow, "and activate a sword skill at the right time," He chucked the pebble at the boarbatusk and it rocketed forward and it smacked the grimm in the back. It didn't do much damage, but it seemed to make the boar angry. "The system pretty much guarantees you'll always hit your target."

"Initial...motion?" Klein asked. The boar started to try and attack Kirito, only for him to keep dodging its attacks.

"Here's an easier way to look at it. Right after you start your move, wait for a little bit. Once you feel the skill start to activate, drive it home!" He blocked the boars attack and held it back as Klein imitated the pose Kirito made and held his sword up to his shoulder. The blade began to glow and hum, and Kirito pushed the grimm away and kicked its backside, causing it to turn to its previous target. The boar charged at the Klein just as he had fully powered up his sword skill. With a single slash, the creature was cut in half and shattered apart into polygons made of blue light.

"Yeaaaa!" Klein enthusiastically screamed. He finally did it! He beat the monster and felt pride in his accomplishment. He turned to see Ruby clapping and Kirito with a smile on his face.

"Congratulations." Kirito walked over and high-fived Klein. "That was nice, but that grimm was about as weak as slimes in minecraft."

"Holy crap you've got to be kidding! I thought that thing was a mid-level boss!"

Kirito smirked and pointed to a nearby hill. Many more boarbatusks started to spawn. He looked back at Klein and Ruby, who was training with some of the sword and scythe skills.

"Hey Ruby, where did you get that scythe anyways? It's not like anything I've seen in this game." Kirito was curious the first time he saw it, but he felt that it would be better to ask now. "Yea man, where did you get that thing" Klein asked.

Ruby realized why now that she was getting those looks from earlier. "Oh yea, I guess I forgot." she said nervously and scratched the back of her head. "I'm a huntress in training attending beacon academy. Professor Ozpin wanted me here to represent the skills of my school. He had Argus design my weapon exactly how my real weapon is IRL." Now it was Kirito and Klein's turn to be shocked. They've heard about beacon, it is one of the most prestigious hunting academies across the globe! And she was a student there.

"That's amazing!" Klein shouted. "But why the scythe? Isn't that considered one of the most dangerous melee weapons you could use?"

She smiled and twirled the scythe around in her hand until it turned into its compact form. "My uncle trained me since i was little. Only few people know what it takes to master wielding a scythe." she showed them its sniper rifle form as well, easily killing the nearby boars with one shot. The only thing the two of them could do was watch in awe as she quickly leveled up to level 2.

The afternoon continued on as Kirito showed his new friends around. By the time the sun had begun to set, the three of them had made it to level 5 and reached top of a hill overlooking a vast valley below.

"When I look around, I can't believe it. We're inside a game! Whoever made it's a genius." Klein said.

"I know what you mean," Said Ruby, "This is by far the coolest game I've ever played! The Elder Scrolls series doesn't even come near to this!"

Kirito chuckled at both of their antics. "It's not that big a deal." They both scowled at him.

"Cut me some slack, it's my first full dive!"
Klein informed him.

"Don't be such a downer." Ruby said.

"You guys have never used a nerve gear before?" He asked. They both shook their heads.

"Nope"

"Nah, as soon as i got the money, I bought the NerveGear and waited in line for days. I scored one of the 10,000 copies. I guess you could say i was pretty lucky. Although, you sir were 10x as lucky getting to beta test it. Only 1,000 people got the chance."

Kirito never really thought about it until now. "Yeah, I guess I was lucky, huh?"

Ruby shot up from where she was laying down. "Extremely lucky! I never even was able to get the game! The only reason I'm playing right now is because my professor gave one of these to me."

Kirito smiled "Anyway, you guys want to do some more hunting?"

"You know it!" Klein stood up. "But the thing is, I'm really hungry, I need to log out."

"I kind of need to log out as well, I borrowed my friend's computer for this and she is probably yelling at me right now." Ruby smiled nervously. Klein gave her a look, a look that Ruby was a little familiar with at the guys at her school.

"So, i was thinking, you want to tell me where you live? We could go hang out IRL if you'd like." Klein asked.

"I'm flattered Klein. But i don't really know you that well. Plus, you're probably a lot older than me." She replied

"But you said you were attending beacon, right? That makes you, what, 17?"

She shook her head "Nope. I'm sort of a special case. I skipped two years because of my skills with a scythe. If you would like to meet someone, you could ask my sister-"

"Whoa, you have a sister? What's she like? How old is she? How big are her boo-" His questions were cut short as Ruby kicked him in the balls. Kirito laughed at Klein as he dramatically went down and held his crotch until realization dawned on him.

"Oh yeah, getting kicked in the balls doesn't hurt."

"Sorry, but you weren't giving me any space and asking too many personal questions." Ruby apologized.

Klein held up his hand, signaling it was alright. "It's fine, I was being a bit of a perv anyway. Sorry about that."

"If you really want to meet her, i was going to see if she wanted to log on in a minute." Klein's mood brightened a bit.

"Well, it's probably about time that I logged out anyway." Klein decided. "I ordered a pizza earlier. It should be at my place any minute now."

"I guess I'll see you guys around then." Kirito replied.

"Yea man. Thanks again for showing me the ropes." Klein told him.

"I'll be sure to add you guys to my friends list." Ruby said. She opened up her menu and sent both of them a friend request. They both clicked [ACCEPT]

"See ya later, Kirito." With that, both Klein and Ruby waved their hands to open the holographic menu screen. But as they scrolled down to the bottom, a look of distress appeared on his face.

"Hey Kirito, total noob question but, where's the logout button?" Klein asked.

"I can't find it either"

"What?" Kirito responded.

"Hey, are you able to log out?" Klein asked.

Kirito checked his own menu screen. Just like theirs, the logout button was gone. He was frozen in a moment of fear.

"Looks like it's the same with me too." Kirito admitted.

"Oh what, today's the first day out of beta? There's bound to be some bugs. I bet the server people are freaking out right now." Klein joked. Kirito looked at the time.

"You will too. Look, its 5:25" Realization dawned upon Klein.

"Oh my god! My teriyaki meal pizza and ginger ale!" Klein was freaking out, he would miss pizza time!

"Why don't you try calling the game master and see what's up?" Kirito asked.

"Already tried," said Ruby, "Nothing's happening, he's not picking up. Do you know if there's another easy to log out of this thing?"

Kirito thought back to the beta test. The only time he ever logged out was when he used the logout button or when his mother pulled it off his head for when he had to eat dinner. The felt anxiety as he realized they couldn't log out.

"No, whenever a player wants to log out of HAO, the only way they can do it is by going through the menu." Both Ruby and Klein were shocked.

"That can't be right!" Klein exclaimed, "There's got to be some other way out. Return, logout, escape!" he tried many different motions, but none of them worked.

"Told you so. And there was no emergency logout in the beta test either."

"No way! You're kidding, right Kirito?" Ruby asked. Kirito shook his head.

"I know! I'll just rip the nerve gear off my head!" Klein tried effortlessly to remove the helmet but to no evail.

"Don't bother. The NerveGear disables your body functions in the real world. It recepts all the commands you give from inside the game using an interface built into the rig." he pointed at the back of his neck.

"Seriously? So we have to wait around until someone fixes the bug?" Kirito nodded.

"Either that, or someone from the outside takes the helmet off."

Klein started to panic. "I live alone… what about you?"

"I've got my mom and my sister, and I'm pretty sure they'll notice by dinner time that something's wrong."

Ruby calmed down a bit. If Yang pulls the NerveGear off, she should be fine.

"Don't panic though. If we get out, I'll notify wherever kingdom you live in that you're stuck with the NerveGear on." Kirito suggested.

Klein felt at ease. "Thanks man, I live in Mistral."

"I'm still wondering why the GM's haven't made an announcement yet. They could just log everyone off and shut down the servers."

The air was suddenly filled with the sound of chiming bells. Soon after, Kirito, Klein, and Ruby were transported away in flashes of blue light and materialized back in the Town of Beginnings. They were not alone though. It seemed that every other player in the game had been teleported there as well.

"Kirito, what's going on?" Ruby asked worried.

"Someone forced a teleport." Kirito had a bad feeling in his stomach as he looked towards the sky. Hovering in the sky above were several holographic screens. All of them had |WARNING| and |SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT| written on them.

"The sky is… bleeding?" Ruby asked. Red liquid poured out the lines between the hexagons and was forming into a giant mass. Once it stopped, there was a giant man in a hooded cloak with seemingly no face looking down on all of them. Many people started asking questions throughout the crowd.

"Is that the game master?"

"Why doesn't he have a face?"

"Is this an event?"

"Attention players. I welcome you to my world." the figure announces.

"What does he mean by that?" Kirito asked aloud

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba. And as of this moment, I am in control of this world."
Kirito gasped. That was Kayaba? The man who had developed one of the greatest gaming devices?

"I'm sure most of you have noticed something missing from you main menus, the logout button. Let me assure you that this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how Hunter Art Online was designed to be."

"He's kidding, right?" Klein asked.

"You cannot log yourselves out of HAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the NerveGear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerverGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain, and ending your life."

The crowd was filled with shock and awe. Nobody knew what to say. Some of them tried to leave, only for them to be stuck behind a force field.

"Huh, are you guys listening to this crap? He's got to be nuts, right Kirito?" Klein asked. Both he and Ruby hoped Kirito would say otherwise until he shook his head.

"He's not. The transmitter signals in the helmet work like microwaves, if the safety's disabled, it could fry your brain!"

"Couldn't someone cut the power?" Ruby asked, only for her answer to get another no.

"That won't work. The NerveGear has an internal battery" Kirito explained.

"This is crazy! This is totally crazy!" Klein yelled.

"Despite my warnings, the friends and family members of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGear, an unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, the game has 213 less players than when it began, both from the real world and from Aincrad."

"213?!"

"No way! I don't believe it!"

Many screens started to appear and float around Kayaba. "As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything including the deaths." Kayaba explained. Ruby looked and saw many of the screens and where the deaths took place. She was glad to see that a lot of them didn't happen in Vale. "At this point, it's safe to assume that the likelihood of another NerveGear is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important to remember the following"

1. There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game

2. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system. Forever.

3. The NerveGear will destroy your brain of you are to die in this game.

Kirito gasped as he remembered the first time he tried to kill a boarbatusk in this game, causing himself to die easily.

"There is only one way for a player to escape now. You must clear the game." Kayaba touched the /Map\ on his intory and brought up a full scale version of castle Aincrad. "Right now, you are all gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get 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."

"Why should we believe any of the crap your saying!?" one of the other players asked.

"No way. Clear the game? Even the beta testers never made it that far!" Klein exclaimed.

"Last, but not least, I've sent a little present in each of your inventories. Please, take a look."

Kirito opened his menu to find a /mirror\ placed in his inventory. He clicked on it and began to ser Ruby and Klein engulfed in a bright blue light. He was about to say something until his body was covered in the light as well. When everyone appeared again, they all looked… different.

"You guys ok?" he heard Ruby ask behind him. As soon as he looked back at himself in this mirror, the image of the dark-haired young man that was his avatar changed into his fourteen year old actual appearance. He had even changed to his actual height. Though he still had on his avatar's outfit of a blue and white long-sleeved shirt with brown leather chest armor and long dark pants.
Kirito looked over the mirror and saw a young man who had somewhat wild reddish-brown hair and the beginnings of a beard on his chin. He also saw a girl with black hair with bright red highlights looking at him.

"Klein? Ruby?" Kirito asked.

"Yeah." The young man confirmed. "How the heck is this even possible?"

"The scan. There's a high-density camera placed inside the NerveGear rig." Kirito answered. "But I don't know how it could've gotten our height and body type."

"Hey, remember when you put the thing on it asked you to calibrate it by touching your body?" Ruby recalled as she did a small demonstration. "You know like this? Remember."

"Yeah, that's how it got our physical data."

"What's the point!? Why would anyone do this?" Klein asked. Kirito pointed back at Kayaba.

"I think he's about to tell us."

"Right now, I'm sure many of you are wondering why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of Hunter Art Online and the NerveGear, do all of this?" Kayaba continued. "Ultimately, my goal was simple. The reason i created Hunter Art Online was so that i could control the fate of a world of my own design. As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial, and the official launch of Hunter Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

With that, the hooded figure of Kayaba and his holographic screens vanished. There was silence for a moment, and Kirito looked down at his hand to see where his paper cut was from earlier. The silence soon turned into a mass panic that erupted in the Town of Beginnings. Kirito, Ruby and Klein quickly ran into a nearby alley as things started to go out of control.

"I'm headed out into the next village; I want you and Ruby to join me. If what he said is true, and i think it is, the only way we are going to survive in this game is by making ourselves as strong as possible. In a MMORPG the money you make, the xp, once the game starts up there is only so much of that stuff that can go around. The fields in the town of beginnings are going to be hunted clean soon of the grimm. If we head to the next village, we'll have an easier time collecting cash and points. And don't worry, i know all the paths and places we should avoid, Even if I'm level one, i can get there easy."

"Well thanks Kirito but," Klein started, "I've got friends in this game from the real world. They are probably back at the plaza somewhere. I can't leave them."

Kirito didn't like the idea of bringing more than two players with him. As it was, he knew he could protect at least one person. But protecting a group was more than he could manage at the moment. It would be his fault if Klein or any of his friends died.

"Don't worry about me; I use to run a guild! I'm grateful for you showing me the ropes, but I can't ask you guys to risk your lives protecting a group of strangers. Don't worry about me and get your asses to the next village without me when you can."

"You sure?" Kirito asked.

"I'll be just fine." Klein insisted. "Just do me a favor and don't die, okay?"

"Okay. But you better not die on me either." Kirito told him before Klein ran back up the alley.

"Hey Kirito!" Klein called, causing him to turn. "I gotta say your real face is a better fit on you than that old avatar you had. And you look a lot cuter, Ruby, with your real look."

"Yeah? Well I think that scruffy face of yours suits you a lot better than that other face you had." Kirito told him. "See ya around."

With that, Kirito and Ruby were left alone in the alley.

"So you're not coming, too huh?" Kirito asked sadly. Ruby was sad too. She didn't want to leave her new friend, but she had a job to do. "It's my duty as a huntress to protect those in need. Don't worry about me. I am the team leader of my own team at Beacon. Once I've shown people how to fight the grimm, I'll be sure to come and find you, ok?" Kirito couldn't help but smile, he couldn't say no to Ruby's cute face. "Alright, message me when you're ready and we can join up." He waived her goodbye and continued out of the alley. It wasn't long before he was out of the city. As he ran down the dirt path, images of his younger sister flashed through his mind.

'If I die in this game… I die in real life!' Kirito mentally realized.

Suddenly a wolf with black fur and bone-like armor materialized on the path and began to run towards him. Kirito recognized the creature as a beowolf, a fairly low-level monster. With a few tears in his eyes, Kirito unsheathed his sword. The blade began to glow as he charged at the creature.

'I will… survive this world!' Kirito declared as he sliced the grimm in half.

Well, there's chapter one. I hope you guys and girls liked it. Message me if you have any ideas for this story. I'm always happy to hear some corrections that I may have messed up on and suggestions to make this story better, so you can put them in the comment. Also, sorry to all the WhiteRose fans or the lesbian Ruby fans, no Yuri or Yaoi in this. It will be following the SAO episodes and I will see where it goes from there. Also, the reason I didn't have aura in the game was that it would make hunters who play this overpowered, so it would give everyone a fair chance at survival. I also gave ruby her scythe because, well, she's not Ruby without it. I will though give her a new weapon to hide Crescent Rose later so nobody could find out if she was a huntress. Hunters, huntresses, and beta testers are going to have a hard time in the next chapters coming up. She will have a sniper rifle and a halberd as her weapons until the other players have caught up to her skill somewhat. I'm also thinking of ideas of a ranged weapon for Klein and Kirito. Well, that's all I have to say for now. Hope you enjoy HAO!