Hello there! I am Sakura Hyuga, and this is my first time writing in this fandom~ Although I have been lurking around in here. Anyways, I bring to you a story that involves MMOs! Yes, completely inspired by stuff like Sword Art Online and ½ Prince. XD Anyhow, I hope you guys enjoy this!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, unfortunately. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to. XD

-(*+*)-

It is the year 2100 AD. As a result of technological advancements – such as the advent of virtual reality, and the creation of sleep-based game machines – online gaming has rapidly developed over the years.

Thus, the realism of online games has increased from 40%...50%…60%…70%…to 80%. The current market is dominated by two MMO giants – Living and Your Life – both of which have achieved a realism level of 86%.

However, things have begun to change. The world's largest technology company has caused a huge stir with its revelation: after ten years of research, they have created Super Smash Bros, the latest game with a realism level of 99%.

And now the entire world waits with bated breath…

-(*+*)-

"It really is amazing, Marth! It's said that you can even feel the wind blowing on your face and hear the soft chirp of insects, to the point where it feels like you're in the real world! Can you believe it?!"

I nodded distractedly, flipping my blue coloured bangs out of my eyes. My older sister Elice was beside me, ranting about the newest game that was coming out. I didn't really like games that much, plus, I was even more distracted at the moment due to a science test I had that morning. I was a junior in high school, and my parents had high expectations. I needed to make sure I got high grades.

"…arth…Hey Marth! Are you listening to me?!"

Startled out of my thoughts, I looked up to see my sister staring at me, her hands on her hips. She sighed at my lost expression.

"Really, Marth, you could listen to me for a full 2 minutes before you nod off?" I immediately felt guilty.

"No, Elice, I'm sorry. I have a science test today, so I guess I was a bit distracted…but I was listening! Really!"

My older sister smiled ruefully before muttering softly. "Nothing could get you away from your beloved studies, huh?" Suddenly, she reached forward and clasped her hands around mine. Her blue eyes twinkled. "But since you were listening, Marth, you'll promise me, right?"

I blinked as the words slipped out before I could stop them. "Of course, Elice."

My sister gave a delighted laugh as she stepped back. "Great! We'll go to the video game store beside our house on our way back after school today!"

…Just what in the world did I agree to now?

-(*+*)-

Turns out, Elice wanted to get the 2 game consoles for the new game Super Smash Bros. for herself and me. No, let me reword that. Elice wanted to get the two game consoles she had preordered. I was a bit mystified. Did I accidentally agree to something before, or was she counting on me promising her today? Either way, Elice is very cunning…

Anyways, I had found out that I had promised my sister that I'll play the game. I was a bit depressed at the thought of carelessly wasting time like that, but a promise was a promise. Plus, Elice is nose-deep in video games and any source of entertainment, but she still has the highest mark in her class. Perhaps some games would do me some good.

Elice stopped in front of the store and turned to face me. "I'll be back in a few, okay?" After seeing my nod, she made her way into the store.

I sighed, leaning onto the wall. Suddenly, the door opened and a boy around my age walked out holding a console. He had blond hair and blue eyes. He gave me a smile as he walked away. I nodded at him and he turned around the corner.

After what seemed like eternity, my sister walked out with two shopping bags and a huge smile. She ushered me to the sidewalk.

"I got it! Oh, I'm so excited!" She started rambling about the apparent amazing-ness of the game. I listened absent-mindedly, not daring to drift off again. After all, who knows what I would promise her next time!

Plus, although I had no interests in games, I was determined to excel at whatever I decided to do. So even playing a game counted, and the extra information would be useful. Anyways, as my sister started to ramble about cool weapons, we finally reached our house. Without pausing in her speech about the importance of a weapon, my sister fished out her keys and opened the door. And promptly dashed to my bedroom.

I sighed, a bemused smile tugging at my lips. Even if Elice was itching to try out something, she would always let me go first. She was extremely considerate. In fact, I had a feeling that she was making me play this game because she wanted me to lighten up a bit.

I locked our front door and started to follow her. It was already 5PM. My parents weren't home yet though. Actually, they were never really home.

I walked into my bedroom and blinked. Elice was sitting on my bed, apparently waiting for me. The game was already set up. Whoa. One can never underestimate my sister…

Shoving the game helmet at me, Elice pushed me onto the bed. "Go on, Marth! I got you all set up! Plus, you look tired, so I bet you could use a nap!"

I stared at my helmet before looking at my sister's hopeful face. Repressing the urge to sigh, I gave a nod. "Thank you Elice. I'll start playing then."

My sister brightened up to the point of hugging me (read: strangling me) before she happily skipped out of the room. "Have fun Marth!"

The door closed.

I finally let out a sigh before putting on the helmet. I didn't need to read the instructions; Elice had already recited them to me a few times. Finally resigning to my fate, I lie down and put on the helmet.

I never knew how much the future changed with that one move.

-(*+*)-

Why is it pitch black? Just as my head was bursting with questions, a bright light flooded in before my eyes and a NPC appeared before me. It…looked like a mushroom-person with pigtails. Huh.

"Hello, and welcome to Super Smash Bros. This is your first time playing, so please give us a moment to scan your body and record your vocal frequency. That way, you will be able to immediately enter the game once you put the game helmet on."

I waited silently for the scanning process to complete.

"Right, now you may begin to create your character. Before you proceed, I must remind you that you will only have one chance to create a character. Once created, your race, name, and appearance cannot be changed."

"Then I can't recreate my character?" I blinked. Aren't they overdoing it with such strict rules? I didn't remember that in the instructions Elice had read out loud to me.

"In order to preserve the realism of Super Smash Bros, each person may only have one account and one character, without exception."

"Then what happens if my character dies?" I felt a bit worried. Don't tell me that I'll never be able to play again…? Then, all of Elice's hard work would be wasted…

"If your character dies, you will be returned to the rebirth point. As a penalty, you will be demoted a level."

What bizarre rules, I thought, dazed.

"Would you like to begin creating your character?"

"Oh, sure. Begin!"

"Please select a race." The NPC had barely finished speaking when the originally empty scene was suddenly filled with tons of seemingly living characters, all posing in front of me. The races ranged from humans, elves, dark elves, dwarves, demons, holymen, beastmen (sub-species included wolves, birds, wildcats, etc) to spirits (with ten sub-categories, including tree spirits, flower spirits, etc). My eyes began to spin. Good grief, what am I to do! And why is there such a wide variety of races?

Seeing my overwhelmed expression, the NPC kindly offered, "Pick whichever race you like first; I will explain it to you. And take your time, since you won't get to reroll!"

I looked at the toadstool girl gratefully; she suddenly seemed even sweeter than before…

"What are the racial characteristics for humans?"

"Humans' racial characteristic is their all-roundedness. For example, their physique may not compare to beastmen and their agility may not compare to elves, but their agility is higher than beastmen and their physique is stronger than that of elves."

"I see…"

I was about to ask for the characteristics for something else when suddenly, the NPC froze. Everything started to shake.

"What's going on?!" I yelled as I hunched down, my hands over my ears. Hey, in my defense, it felt like a gigantic earthquake!

Suddenly, everything stopped. I gingerly took my hands away from my head and looked up. I gasped.

In front of me, was, well, me. But I was garbed in princely armor, and I even had a little crown nestled in my long locks of hair. The NPC girl smiled.

"Prince Marth, your are ready to be born! Your home place will be Phrae, but you will be born in the first town, Mushroom Kingdom."

As she finished her sentence, the young man in front of me suddenly lunged towards me. As soon as we merged together, I felt myself falling…

What?! "Wait a sec, what's going on!?" I yelled.

The toadstool girl smiled, waving at me. She no longer looked like a NPC, but almost…human. "Good luck, Prince Marth! I hope your adventures bring you happiness and friendship!"

And then everything went black.

-(*+*)-

How was it? Please review! I warn you now that I update completely on the amount of attention and reviews this get. I have a lot of other stories that need an update, so the ones with more reviews get updated first. (And some of my stories have more than 10 reviews per chapter…) Anyways, click that review button!

Sakura-chan, out!