Authors note:
Speaking: "..."
Thinking: '…..'
__________
As soon as those words left his lips, Izuku felt a surge through his entire body, starting from his toes all the way to the tip of his head. As he looked down at his body to see what was happening, he noticed that his body was rapidly disintegrating into small holographic blue triangles.
"Ah, Kaachan, what's happ…" But before he could finish, his body was already fully gone.
After a few seconds, the young boy found himself floating in an endless white void devoid of any color. "Ugh, what the hell happened? Where is this place? Kaachan?" he questioned the nothingness; however, there was no answer. "Mom," again, no reaction. "Auntie Mitsuki," no reaction as well.
[ Touch ok ]
[ Smell ok ]
[ Sight ok ]
[ Taste ok ]
[ Hearing ok ]
'Huh, what's all that about?' he thought to himself before he heard a robotic-sounding female voice echoing in the nothingness.
"Hello, adventurer. You have now entered the world of Sword Art Online, a world of sword and sorcery where your wildest dreams will come true and desires become reality. Now, please enter your avatar's name."
After the voice finished explaining, a new screen appeared in front of Izuku. This time, it came with a blank space and a keyboard.
"A name… I guess Izuku will suffice," he stated while typing his name into the blank space. After he was finished, the screen disappeared, and in its place was a three-dimensional image of what appeared to be a teenage version of himself in a set of simple leather armor.
"Dear adventurer, due to insufficient bodily development, your avatar has been aged to better complement your adventure. Please make any changes you deem necessary."
"Wait, is this an older me? I kind of look exactly the same, just taller and more muscular," he exclaimed, slightly annoyed at the fact he didn't change much. "But wait, didn't she say I could change everything I want about this avatar? Let's see: height, physique, hair color, eye color, face shape… yeah, let's make him look a bit sharper." After saying that, he tapped the regulator and adjusted it to his liking, making his face less chubby with a more noticeable jawline.
"Alright, I kind of like this look. So, how do I lock it in?" After he looked around a bit, he noticed the big yellow "Confirm Avatar" button below the 3D replica of his body. He then looked around the void one last time before pressing the big yellow button.
"Player has confirmed all necessary changes and settings. Transfer to Aincrad will commence now."
After finishing that sentence, Izuku suddenly noticed the blue light building up at his feet and thought to himself, 'Aw shit, not that again, please.'
After a bit of time passed, Izuku opened his eyes to find himself in what looked like a medieval town square with a big stone pillar in the middle that had a small statue of an angel at the top. As he looked down, no longer was he a little kid who was just playing pretend with his best friend; he now more accurately resembled the avatar he had just created.
"Wow, I really do look like a teenager." After looking at his body a bit more, he noticed two more things. The first was the forearm-length short sword on his back, and the second was his new clothes. The attire he wore consisted of simple black leather boots, brown leather pants, a simple black shirt with dark green accents, and a dark green shoulder guard on the opposite side of where he could draw the sword.
But before he could further examine everything around him, a message appeared in front of him.
[ Dear adventurer, welcome to Aincrad, the floating castle in the sky. In order to complete this adventure, you must reach the 100th floor. You can advance by clearing the dungeon and beating the floor boss on each floor. Note: to enter the menu, swipe your right hand downwards. If you wish to leave Aincrad, press the logout button. You will retain all of your stats, as well as your inventory. To re-enter, say the phrase "Link Start." Note: if your HP drops to 0, you will automatically be logged out of SAO and receive a penalty of 6 months without access to Aincrad, the menu, or your inventory. Have fun, brave adventurer.]
After he finished reading everything the message said, he was about to flip out due to the fact he could die here and lose access to his super awesome Quirk, before a blue vortex appeared beside him, seemingly forming into the shape of a human.
After it finished forming, there stood a teenage boy with closed eyes about the same height as him, with spiky silver hair. He had the same gear, aside from the fact that instead of the accent on his shirt and the shoulder guard being dark green, they were grey.
After a while of simply looking at him, the silver-haired boy opened his eyelids to reveal two fierce crimson red eyes. After looking himself over, he spoke. "Oh hell yeah, goodbye little kid body, say hello to teenage me."
Izuku pondered for a few seconds before a realization hit him. "Wait, Kaachan, is that you in there?" Izuku inquired of the other boy, who seemed to just now notice his presence. "That you, Izuku?" the silver-haired boy questioned.
"It is you! But how did you get here? Isn't this supposed to be my Quirk? And why did you make your hair silver?" The green-haired boy questioned him while walking around him, looking for any other changes on his body.
The boy in question scoffed before saying, "I could ask you the same thing, you know. I don't think your face was naturally this sharp. And I have no idea how I got here. After you said those words, I kinda just disappeared with you, I guess." After finishing his sentence, a message popped up in front of his face.
"Oh, I got that as well. It just tells you about the functioning of this game." But as Izuku read the message a bit more clearly, he noticed something different about it. "Huh, yours is a bit different from mine."
"What do you mean, different?" the now silver-haired boy questioned him, looking visibly intrigued to hear what Izuku had to say.
"Well, for starters, look here. It says to re-enter Aincrad, you have to touch me and then say 'Link Start.' I can just say it whenever I want. And also, you don't get to keep your inventory and access to the menu; you only keep your stats," the green-haired teen analyzed while looking at the message.
After a short pause, Katsuki then said in an annoyed tone, "So you're telling me you get to keep everything you get in here and come here whenever you want," he paused before looking up at Izuku with eyes that screamed anger, before bursting out yelling, "And I only get to keep my goddamned stats!"
"Hey, calm down, Kaachan," Izuku said, holding up his hands defensively, "It's my Quirk, so don't you think it's only right for me to get some more features?" backing a step away with each word.
"I swear to you, if I get out of here and you don't let me in again, I'm gonna murder you once I get my own awesome Quirk." He said with closed eyes and a grin while putting a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Are we clear?"
After hearing Katsuki's declaration, Izuku let out a relieved sigh before saying, "Sure, we're gamer besties. I wouldn't want to clear this game without my bestest friend," with a smile that could even make All Might proud.
"Good, well, now that that's settled, where do we start beating this game?" he replied with excitement in his voice and his fists balled. After hearing this, Izuku immediately got to thinking, and the first thing he wanted to check out were his stats. So he looked at his right hand before swiping it downwards. After doing that, a menu with five different categories appeared. From bottom up, these categories were: Map, Social, Inventory, Self, and System.
"Let's take a look at our stats first, Kaachan," he stated before clicking the Self menu, where a greyed-out version of his player model was surrounded with a circle of six numbers representing the six stats. These were as follows: Strength, Speed, Agility, HP, Object Control Authority, and System Control Authority, which was strangely the only greyed-out stat that was at zero.
The silver-haired boy then replicated the movements and said disappointedly, "Huh, so all of our stats are at 1 except for System Control Authority, which is greyed out and at zero. I wonder what happens if I click on it?" After he finished examining his other stats, Katsuki pressed the grey zero, only for a message to appear.
[ The Sacred Arts will be unlocked after defeating the Floor 20 boss, Archmage Vexx ]
"So I guess we only get magic after beating Floor 20," Izuku deduced after reading the message. "Guess so," replied a slightly annoyed Bakugo. 'Damn, I was really excited to try some magic,' he thought before turning to Izuku and saying excitedly, "Well then, let's go outside this stupid village—whatever it's called—and go hunt some monsters and level up. I wanna beat the floor boss as soon as possible."
After looking at the map in his menu, Izuku excitedly said, "Yeah, let's go outside. I saw a good spot to hunt with beginner monsters "C'mon, follow me, Kaachan. Oh, and this is a town, not a village. It's called the Town of Beginnings."
"Who gives a shit? Let's go kill some monsters," the crimson-eyed boy stated while running right beside his best friend, with the most genuine smile he had ever made on his face. As they ran through the town, starting their new journey, both felt truly alive for the first time.