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Chacho was excited, the game was finally released. She had already logged into the game, and nothing seemed out of place. The cait was meandering the town, watching as hundreds of character began logging in and looking around excitedly. She could see groups of friends logging in at a time, laughing at each others armor and looks, she saw individuals who logged in and began racing for the hunting grounds, looking to level as fast as possible. The girl giggled, flicking her hand in front of her and looking at her menu. She selected her gear, and looked through it, she had nothing she had acquired in the beta test and all of her stats were set back to level one. Closing her menu, she shrugged, she expected as much, but it was a still a bit of a bummer.

Chacho looked around. She was looking for her two companions, who had apparently not logged in yet. Or, if they had, they were lost in the ever growing throng of players. They were the ones who had convinced her to be a beta tester with them, she was not much of a gamer; the first time she had ever played a MMORPG was with them. Now, without her two companions, she seemed lost, shouldering through excited new players.

Chacho was done screaming. Being swooped up off the ground had startled her into a loud shriek, and it trailed away as she received her hug and realized who her 'kidnapper' was. Her tail twitched in embarrassment and amusement as her best friend began to ramble, then she realized what he was rambling about. The cait's mouth dropped open as she stared wondrously at Teddy. Teddy Bear...you did this?! She turned to look around at her environment with new-found appreciation. She knew he was capable of doing this, she never in a million years though he would. The noisy drone of the crowd below them had gotten louder; hundreds were still logging on, running around, exploring, making parties, shopping with what little starter Col they had. She turned back to Teddy. It's beautiful...absolutely beautiful She murmered, But why did you take away the logout button? She had known before logging in, but unfortunately, a lot of people had not read the box at all, much less the warnings. Chacho didn't care, she had always wanted an escape, but many were only looking for one temporarily. People are excited, they arn't going to try to log out now, but give it an hour, and they realize they can't. Then what. A gentle breeze carried her thigh-length hair up and swirling around her slight features. She looked like a child, with a baby face, large eyes, and a small frame. But her otherwise charming features were laced with concern as she looked up at her friend.

With a swipe of her hand, a simple rapier appeared, strapped to Chacho's side. She remained quiet. She really didn't want to ask the next question. She remembered SAO all too well. She had seen many of her friends die, just from being killed inside a game. She really didn't want to ask what would happened if they died in game here. What he said made sense, people who couldn't handle it would be removed. That wasn't terrible. It wasn't being completely locked in. Wordlessly, she jumped back into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, waiting for him to lift off. What if...What'll happen if I get killed this time...She asked herself. Unconsciously her ears flattened and her face was buried in Teddy's chest. Then suddenly a little ping interrupted her thoughts. She opened her eyes and flicked her menu open from behind her companions head, still hanging on. A new skill had popped up, one she didn't recognize or see in the manual. Resurrection? She mumbled to herself. Was this a unique skill? She cocked her head, reading the details on the skill. Able to resurrect any player within 10 seconds of dying. Can only be used 3 times every 24 hours. She looked up at Teddy, curiosity written across her features.

Chacho cocked her head, flipping her hair over her shoulder. I want to grab a bite honestly. I didn't eat before I logged in. The thought of death still plagued her mind, but she shoved it away, deciding to enjoy herself why she was here. Back in the beta, she was an expert flier, it was the first thing she had set out to learn, and she knew the controls by heart. Her slight frame gave her an extra one up, being so light, she was able to flit around quickly and efficiently. Without warning, her shimmery gold wings appeared from her back and she zipped off, weaving between buildings and new fliers. She was making a beeline for her favorite in-game restaurant. In a dual, Teddy would win, no questions asked. Flying however, was her forte.

XXXOnce she rocketed off, a large smile spread across his face. The fact that she was light gave her a speed advantage, but the fact that he had memorized the flight algorithms gave him knowledge of the maximum speed that could be reached during flight. He gave her a ten second head start, his wings moving restlessly in preparation. They moved upward and then downward before he seemed to disappear, a giant wind gust causing the players below to scream in surprise. He quickly caught up to her and lowered his speed to match hers, laughing joyously beside her. "Since I created the flight module, i have access to the fastest speed setting physically possible in this world. And i've been testing this version for months now, and i spent a week on mastering extremely fast flight patterns." He taunted, sticking his tongue out in jest. His wings disappeared as he hit the ground, performing acrobatics in order to land safely on his feet at the door of the restaurant, other players gazing at him in awe. One bystander asked the player beside him if it was an event. He hadn't realized how fast they were going, but Chacho had just landed beside him. He looked down the stretch of road that extended toward the restaurant, and he had narrowly avoided knocking over a multitude of people with his handsprings and whatnot. He waved nervously, and entered the tavern with Chacho. While she took a seat at a booth, we went up to the counter and ordered food and two pints of water. Returning with the food and beverages, he placed them down on the table and began to eat with her. "As soon as we clear this floor and the cooking skill is unlocked, i'm going to spam the s**t out of cooking some grub so i can master it in no time." He said, laughing as he took a bite of the plain looking sandwich infront of him. It still tasted delicious, even for a D-class meal. "Oh yeah, and i also enhanced the flavor module so everything tastes better than it would in the real world. If this is a D-class meal, imagine what an S-class meal would taste like." He said, imagining the dish whilst eating the sandwich. Once they got to a high enough level, he would have to scour the hunting grounds for S-class ingredients.

XXXAlso scarfing down his sandwich, he nodded before standing up. When she mentioned the skill, the other players in the tavern turned to look at her, he grabbed her wrist and led her out. "Most people get one unique skill, some none, some two. But most people won't be getting theirs until the appropriate levels, so as of right now only the people who i physically touch get their unique skills right off the bat. And some players who are selected at random." He whispered, walking briskly with the Cait Sith down the street. He was constantly checking their 6 o'clock, making sure no one from the tavern was trying to follow them. He got to the nearest area of the Town that was the closest place to launch from to reach the floating island that they called theirs. He had rigged the floating islands to have low level monsters that had a relatively high respawn rate, meant to the the hunting grounds for him and his close friends to bulk up before the boss fight. This game was monumentally harder than SAO, and unexperienced fighters had rushed into the field without a second thought. Before take off, he opened his menu when no one was looking and pulled up his GM tab; already, 12 players had been killed. Not a lot, but all of these players had no registry on either the old SAO database not on the ALO database. He sighed lightly before he took off, a large gust of wind blowing through the nearby streets and he launched towards their secret island.

((Exit, Hunting Grounds))

Markus just got home from a little trip to the grocery store. Jogging into the kitchen he instantly began to work. He was in a rush putting away all the food in the correct places they needed to be. Mother would be pleased to see there was some food in the house when she got home. She wouldn't be home for awhile though. The rush wasn't for her sake, it was for his. Today a game he had been looking into was released. He wanted all the time in the world to play it. After all it was going to be a mix between a favorite of his and one game he never got a chance with. All the food was now stored away and the young man scurried up stairs. Bashing open the door he ran into his own room smashing the door behind him. He was excited to say the least. Instantly he began to get things prepared. Everything started to run properly which was good. If a technical issue would prevent him from playing it would of destroyed his whole night. Jumping onto the bed he quickly grabbed his NerveGear helmet putting it on. Within moments he was transferred into the new world.

What seemed like in just a blink of an eye he wasn't in his room no more. Instead what lay before him was a plaza full of many other plays just like him. A smile appeared on his face at the peer eagerness he felt. Out of curiosity he made his way over to the nearest building. Looking into the window he attempted to look at his own reflection. His lips curled to a satisfied grin. Though in this new world he was no longer Markus. Instead his new persona was Gregory Benzin. It wasn't exactly a new persona. In truth it was the same name he used while playing ALO. Even his own avatar looked exactly the same as his old one. The appearance transfer was a success. He even took a moment to open up his menus checking to see if anything else was transferred. Unfortunately for him he was back down to level one and his stats with it. With a shrug he continued to flip through the menus with a flick of his hand. Looking into his inventory he saw that he had nothing at all. Not even a weapon. Peering over his shoulder he was able to see other players handling all kinds of basic swords. Why did they all get a weapon and not him? Just then a notification showed up for him which got his attention back to the menus. A new skill had appeared in his skill section.

"...Lancer?" Gregory whispered to himself just before another notification popped up. Going to it he saw that a new item appeared in his inventory. It was a weapon. The title of the weapon was just called 'Standard Issue'. Equipping it quickly he realized it wasn't even a sword. Unlike the other players his starting weapon was a spear. He took a moment to swing the pole arm around a little. The weight on this thing was perfect for him. Like it was intentionally made for him. With a smile he said to himself, "Not bad. Not bad at all. I am liking this already. " He spouted out a cheerful laugh before placing the weapon on his back. It was nice that it came with a strap too. Carrying a long weapon in hand for long periods did get tiring. Now wasn't the time to sit around though. Many of the other players were taking off leaving the town. Some by foot and others by air. He himself wasn't exactly fond of flying to much. Mainly he would forget about it most of the time. Other people thought he was an idiot for that but he considered himself a ground person anyways. Today though he decided to break his usual mind set. Gold mechanical looking wings sprouted out of his back. Using a little push from his legs he boosted himself up into the air. Quickly adjusting to the controls he headed towards a beautiful field in the distance. It was time to begin his adventure.