Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Digimon Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Moon Online: Gaiden ❯ Little White Valkyrie ( Chapter 1 )

Hello, everyone! If you are reading this, then you have just started to read the latest story…or should I say, STORIES from the Sailor Moon Online fanfiction universe. And what I mean is that this is a series of one-shot to short stories that weren’t told in the ‘main’ Sailor Moon Online series of stories namely Sailor Moon Online, Sailor Moon Online: Shadow of Aincrad, SAO Shippuden, and the ‘movie’ story that takes place in-between Arc II and Arc III of SAO Shippuden: Alternating Scales, which is in-development. This ‘group of tales’ also have stories from the Hollow Fragment series of stories AKA Sailor Moon Online: Hollow Fragment, World’s Song, and the in-development and upcoming SAO Beyond.

 

Next, what do I mean by ‘short stories’? I think that it explains itself, but to be more detailed, these are stories that fill more than one chapter, but they don’t go beyond three chapters at the most…at least I hope to keep it that way. Now, just to let you know, I won’t be putting them in any kind of order. Let’s say that I tell a story that’s connected with the timeline of Sailor Moon Online story and then I might move onto a story that takes place somewhere in the story timeframe of World’s Song. However, I will be giving notes on when in the Sailor Moon Online ‘timeline’ that these stories are going to be taking place.

 

Finally, I have a lot of ideas for short stories to put in this and as you may already know, I’ve put up a pole to ask on which story ideas I should do for this ‘series’. Remember to vote and tell me what you want to see, everyone! Also, send me ideas on what you want to see, but please make them reasonable, okay?

 

Now, one more thing in which I have to give thanks and credit to Belletiger and Kanius as well as Kanius’ YuYuGiDigiMoon fanfiction series, especially his The Invasion of the Rajita story, for giving me permission to use the idea of Valkyrie Sailor Soldiers and everything that’s a part of them in my fanfiction. I would like to give thanks and credit to Kanius and his YuYuGiDigiMoon series, including this author’s Dawn of Chaos story, and LazerWulf for giving me permission to use the idea for their version of Sailor Charon, namely the fact that she is Sailor Pluto’s sister among other things. I would also like to give thanks and credit to Matty G91 and this author’s story of Kamen Rider Lunar for giving me permission to use Kamen Rider Lunar, his looks, and everything about him as well as the UNI-SHOCKER organization.

 

Now, with that out of the way, as they say on SAO: Link Start!

 

I DO NOT OWN Sailor Moon, Sword Art Online, Naruto, Accel World, Digimon series, Yu-Gi-Oh R/GX/5Ds/Zexal/Arc-V, Kingdom Hearts, Hyperdimensional Neptunia series, Gundam series, especially Gundam Build Fighters, Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, Mortal Kombat, Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed, Maken-Ki, Tenchi Muyo series, Ronin Warriors, Pretty Cure, Queen’s Blade/Gate, Dragonball Z/GT, Star Trek series, Star Wars, Log Horizon, Sonic the Hedgehog, DC universe, Marvel universe, Assassin’s Creed, Senran Kagura, Sekirei, Monster Musume, Karin/Chibi Vampire, 12 Beast, Stargate series, One Piece, Final Fantasy, Rave Master, Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, Avatar: The Last Airbender/Legend of Korra, Code Lyoko, Transformers, and anything/anyone that comes from these and other stories that end up in this fanfiction! Sailor Moon is owned/licensed by Naoko Takeuchi and its various studios and publishers, Sword Art Online is owned/licensed by ASCII Media Works, A-1 Pictures Inc., and its various directors/publishers including Reki Kawahara and Tomohiko Itō, Naruto is owned/licensed by Masashi Kishimoto, Yuuto Date, Jump Comics, and Studio Pierrot, Digimon is owned/licensed by Toei Animation and its various directors, including Hiroyuki Kakudo, Yu-Gi-Oh is owned/licensed by Kazuki Takahashi, Toei Animation, and Studio Gallop, Yu-Gi-Oh GX is owned/licensed by Naoyuki Kageyama, Studio Gallop and its various directors, Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds is owned/licensed by Katsumi Ono and Studio Gallop, and Sword Art Online is owned/licensed by ASCII Media Works, A-1 Pictures Inc., and its various directors/publishers including Reki Kawahara and Tomohiko Itō!

 

Warning: These stories may and will contain mature level intense violence, blood, gore, death, mild to explicit suggestive themes, including mind-control and brainwashing, mild to explicit bad language, and mature adult themes/situations!

 

Second Warning: Some to a lot of OOC (Out of Character) actions and mannerisms in these series of stories!

 

Prelude: A castle of stone and metal floating in the sky that consist of one hundred floors. Within this massive structure, there are countless cities, villages, towns, forests, plains, lakes, and whatever you can imagine. There is only one staircase that connects one floor with another and these staircases are located within dangerous mazes filled with monsters. The players with navigate through these floors to the top with nothing than the weapons in their hands. And yes, I said players.

 

This is the world of Aincrad, a floating castle in a virtual sky, and yes, I said VIRTUAL sky. This world and this floating castle world are in a realm made of digital information…the world of Sword Art Online. A world that was supposed to be game, but because a nightmare prison when its creator, Akihiko Kayaba, trapped the ten thousand players within this virtual world and if they die here, they will die in real life. The ten thousand players struggle in this ‘game death’ to reach the top of the floating castle where the final boss and the key to their freedom waits.

 

You may know this story and the stories that come after it, but do you know all of the stories? All of the tales that happened within the floating castle? What about the tales that happened after the floating castle was conquered? There are stories connected to the ‘tale’ of this floating castle, its ‘history’, and its ‘aftermath’, but they weren’t told…until now. These are those stories…

 

Sailor Moon Online: Gaiden

 

Story 1: Little White Valkyrie

 

Note: This story takes place after the end of Chapter 1, but before the start of Chapter 2 of Sailor Moon Online.

 

November 9, 2022, Aincrad, Floor 1

 

Usagi’s POV

 

As I race through the fields of the first floor of this castle, which now has become my virtual prison along with whoever is left of the ten thousand people that have been trapped in here, I keep thinking back to that day…That horrible day three days ago when we found out that this has become our ‘new reality’...

 

Flashback; November 6, 2022

 

Third Person’s/Narrator’s POV

 

Right now, Usagi is on a balcony of a building in the Town of Beginnings looking up at the virtual ‘sky’, which is the roof of this floor of the massive floating virtual castle of Aincrad, as it has become filled panels that either say ‘Warning’ or ‘System Announcement’ in which she witnesses a massive red robe figure without a face in the hood of the robe come down from the virtual skies. Usagi says, “Hold on! That’s… That’s the clothing of a SAO GM! Sammy told me about them!”

 

Just then the massive avatar says, in a male voice, “Attention players! I, welcome you, to my world!”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, recognizing the voice, “Wait! Uncle Kayaba?!”

 

The massive avatar says, “My name is Akihiko Kayaba and as of this moment, I am in control of this world.” Usagi wanted to call out to the avatar, but something in her gut told her not to and the massive avatar says, “I’m sure that most of you have noticed something missing from your main menus: The Logout button.” The massive avatar creates a player menu in front of him and he says, “Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat: This is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be.”

 

Usagi gasps in shock and she thinks, stunned, “Uncle Kayaba, what are you saying?!”

 

The massive avatar says, “You cannot log yourselves and no one from the outside will be able to remove the NervGear from your head. If anyone attempts to, your NervGear will discharge a microwave signal into your brain, destroying it, and ending your life.”

 

Usagi becomes completely horrified and she thinks, shocked, “No! No, uncle! What are you saying? What are you doing?!”

 

The massive avatar then says, “Despite my warning, the friends and family of some players attempted to remove the NervGear and as a result, the game has two hundred and thirteen less players. They have been deleted from both Aincard and the real world.” Usagi gives a look of pure horror and the massive avatar says, creating dozens of holographic images of news reports from television, internet, and print showing reports about what’s unfolding in the ‘real world’, “As you can see, there is round the clock news coverage including the deaths. At this point, the likely hood of a NervGear being removed is minimum at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you complete the game. It is important to remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive anyone in the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted… and your NervGear will simultaneously destroy your brain.”

 

Usagi stumbles backwards, shakes her head in disbelief, and she thinks, completely horrified, “No… No! Uncle Kayaba, what have you done? Why are you doing this?!”

 

The massive avatar, supposed Akihiko Kayaba, then says, “There is only one way to escape now. You must clear the game.” The massive avatar then displays a hologram of the floating castle of Aincard and it says, “Right now, you are gathered on floor one, the lowest level of Aincard. If you get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you will be allowed to advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss at one hundredth floor and you clear the game!”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “But… But how?! Sammy told me himself! The beta testers only managed to get to the sixth to tenth floors! I’m not sure with his bragging and teasing me during the beta testing, but I know that they didn’t even clear the first tenth of this game!”

 

The massive avatar then says, “And last, but not least. I have placed in the item storage of every player. Have a look.” Usagi goes through her player menu and she finds in her item area, there is an item that says ‘mirror’ in it. She gives it form and a small mirror takes form in her hand in which she looks inside to see her avatar’s face. Just then she gasps and yelps as she is glowing and the light is bright that she is unable to see for a few moments. When she opens her eyes and she looks in the mirror, she gasps to see her face in real life reflected in the mirror with her long blond hair flowing since she couldn’t keep it in her classic pigtails while using the NervGear. Usagi says, “That’s my face! What I look like in real life! But how?! I don’t get…!!” Usagi then gasps as she remembers a while ago when Ami explained about the NervGear and about how it has a powerful scanning feature which she didn’t play close attention, but she still remembers. Usagi says, “Okay, it explains how it knows my face.” When Usagi looks over herself and she sees that her body, under her current clothing, looks exactly like it does in real life, she asks, “But how can it get my body exactly as it does?” Usagi then remembers about when she used the NervGear for the first time and how the other Sailor Scouts, who also got NervGears before SAO came, also talked about ‘calibration’ and she thinks, “Does it means that when we touched our bodies, it got our physical data?! Uncle Kayaba is a genius, so, I wouldn’t put it by him to figure out a way to get every bit of physical data about the users of his NervGear!” Usagi shakes her head and she thinks, in complete disbelief, “But why? Why is Uncle Kayaba doing this?!”

 

As if to answer Usagi’s question, the massive avatar says, “Right now, you must be thinking: Why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and the NervGear do this? An act of terrorism? An elaborate kidnapping to exact ransom money? I can assure you that this is nothing of the sort. The answer is simple: I created Sword Art Online was control of a fate of a world of my design.”

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, completely horrified, “Do you how insane that sounds, Uncle Kayaba?!”

 

The massive avatar then says, “As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This concludes the tutorial phase of Sword Art Online. I wish you the best of luck dear players.” Soon after, the massive avatar turns into virtual smoke and fades into the virtual sky which returns to its original form soon after and Usagi and all of the players in the main plaza stay their silent in disbelief, but Usagi knew that this was no joke and no gag. She was no technological genius to say the least, but she knew that her uncle, Akihiko Kayaba, was a genius of a level to do such a thing and she knew that everything that this avatar that was said to be her uncle is the completely and utter truth. She completely realizes that if she dies here, she will die in real life! Just then Usagi can hear massive screams and yells of horror, fear, anger, and disbelief in which she falls to her knees and her avatar’s eyes now flow with virtual tears.

 

Usagi says, weakly, “How could you? How could you, Uncle Kayaba?” Usagi then starts to cry and wail in which she screams out, “How could you do this?! How could you?! This was a wonderful dream that we were supposed to share with everyone! A new world for everyone to love and enjoy! A new frontier! And now… Now, you have turned it into a nightmare!” Usagi holds herself and she thinks, in complete disbelief and horror, “This has to be a horrible dream! A nightmare!” However, Usagi knows that this is happening for real despite it being a virtual world. She is trapped in a virtual world with close to ten thousand other people and over two hundred are already dead because her uncle, Akihiko Kayaba, who had turned this, the first VRMMO, into a ‘death game’. She collapses to her knees and she thinks in her mind, pure fear and horror on her face, “Mom… dad… Ami-chan… Mina-chan… Raye-chan… Lita-chan… Amara-chan… Hotaru-chan… Michelle-chan… Trista-chan… DARIEN-KUN!!! Someone help me! Save me! Please! Someone save us! Help us, please!” Usagi then falls into a fetal position and cries her virtual eyes out as she can’t believe that someone that she has loved and trusted like a second father has committed such a heinous and senseless act of pure horror.

 

End Flashback; Return to the Present

 

Usagi’s POV

 

For three days, I was like a ghost or something. I felt numb and my heart been torn to shreds. I had hoped and prayed that this was some kind of horrible nightmare or prank, but it wasn’t. Despite it being virtual, this was a cold, hard reality. This was supposed to be a game…A GAME! A place where people have fun and enjoy themselves in which this kind of game was supposed to be a ‘new frontier’ or something like that, but now…Now, it is a living nightmare prison. And it has become more clear at what happened at Blackiron Palace. From what I know, that was the area where players that ‘died’ were supposed to be ‘revived’, but now, there is a giant stone monument known as the Monument of Life there and there are all of our names on it. When a person dies, his or her name is crossed out and the player’s time of death and cause is printed on it. The first person, three hours after the official start of this ‘death game’, came when a person, unbelieving of what my uncle said, jumped off the edge of Aincrad where he vanished into the world below. His name was crossed off and the words ‘fell from a great height’ were etched by his crossed out name.

 

The other players might have a hard time believing that he is dead, but I know better. I know that he is dead. I know the horrible genius that’s my uncle: Akihiko Kayaba, the inventor of the first household Full-Dive VR system, the NervGear. I was the one to get the very first one ever and I cherished it with all of my heart. Now, it has become the blade around my neck.

 

I hoped that Ami-chan, Trista-chan, or both of them could have figured a way out of this, but I knew…I knew that it wouldn’t be easy for them. My uncle was that level of genius that could stump even Ami-chan and she is the Sailor Scout of Wisdom for crying out loud! Ami-chan and Trista-chan told me about the complexities of the NervGear and I…um…followed the best that I could, but I kind of leave that…technical stuff to people like my uncle, Ami-chan, and Trista-chan. However, I’m not even close to completely like that ‘dumb blond’ that you see on television. No, I know enough what my uncle…What Kayaba said is the truth and the absolute truth: If we die in here, we die in real life!

 

I don’t get it! I just don’t get it at all! What is the point of all this? Is someone forcing him to do this?! Was he taken over by an evil entity like Hotaru’s dead, Doctor Tomoe? This just doesn’t make sense at all! I just don’t understand and I keep getting that horrible feeling…that awful feeling that my uncle did this of his own volition without ‘influence’ from anyone. Part of me hopes and prays that I’m horribly wrong! Uncle Kayaba, the one that I know, is so gentle and calm that he wouldn’t hurt a fly! Sure, he didn’t get along in ‘social circles’, but plenty of the greatest genius in the world throughout history had ‘social problems’ or were ‘misunderstood’! I just can’t see him doing this horrible thing!

 

Well, right now, it doesn’t matter. I’m trapped in here and if I’m going to find out what’s going on as well as help everyone left get out of this prison, I’ve got to step up! I don’t have the girls or my darling Darien-kun here! They are back with my body in the real world! They are praying for my return! I can ‘feel’ them! Somehow, they were able to ‘connect’ to me briefly through my body in whatever hospital it is in and I know that I just lie around feeling sorry for myself! People are dying and I’m Sailor Moon for crying out loud! True, I don’t have access to my power since this isn’t my real body after all. I’m in here and I don’t have access to my broach and my Silver Crystal which means that I don’t have powers. I don’t think that it is even with my body right now which is a good thing. Since I’m stuck in here, we can’t take the chance that someone will try to take the Silver Crystal…It has happened so many times before in the past that if I had a yen for every attempt at my ‘family treasure’, I would be quite rich right now.

 

It means that the rules of this world are the rules that I have to follow and the only ‘power’ that I can obtain has to be through my virtual hands and virtual sweat…if you can sweat in a virtual world. And that means if I want to protect people and find a way out of this nightmare, I need to get stronger which means increasing my levels and powering up my skills. And right now, I really don’t have much of either. I’m starting at level one and I only have two skill slots at this moment in which one of them is being used for One-Handed Swords. In this game, you don’t have magic and the only thing that you can do in combating monster is to use the weapons and their Sword Skills, special ‘attacks’ that can be used, in which the player is assisted by the game system to move at speeds that no player could ever achieve and inflict more damage than when you use your weapon in a ‘normal manner’ like slashing, thrusting, etc. I had wondered which kind of weapon I should use and I thought about using a rapier, but it seemed too…fancy and stuff like what I saw on television. Daggers seemed a little too short for my tastes and maces and axes seemed too…blunt if you get my meaning. So, I had settled on One-Handed Swords since I could use either hand and I could use a shield…when I get one.

 

Right now, I’m after a ‘shield’ of sorts. It is something that I remembered my squirt of a brother told me about…

 

Flashback; August 2022

 

Third Person’s/Narrator’s POV

 

Inside of the Tsukino family household in the Juuban District of Tokyo, Serena Tsukino, Usagi’s ‘real life persona’ and age 16, and Sammy Tsukino, Serena’s younger brother and current SAO beta tester, age 13, are in the room with Sammy gloating about his time in the SAO beta.

 

Serena says, with a pout, “Oh, man! It isn’t fair! You are having a blast!”

 

Sammy says, with a grin, “You win some and you lose something, Meatball Head. Don’t blame me for not applying, but then again, there were only a thousand spots and with your kind of luck…!!”

 

Serena responds, annoyed, “Ooh, I can’t wait until the retail version comes out and I’m going to kick your butt!”

 

Sammy retorts, with a smirk, “In your dreams! I doubt that you would be able to get out of the Town of Beginnings without getting clobbered!”

 

Serena says, “Says you twerp! Despite all of the edge that you will have with the beta, I’m still going to beat you to the top! Remember, a beta doesn’t end up like the final product you know!”

 

Sammy says, with a grin, “While that’s true, Meatball Head, there is plenty that stays the same! In fact, I’ll be nice and give you a tip about something that not even the other betas know about!”

 

Serena asks, with a glare, “What?”

 

Sammy responds, “A rare equipment item that can give you quite an edge.”

 

Serena asks, curiously, “What kind of item?”

 

Sammy replies, “A one of kind item that allows you to hide your facial features from other players even you are looking directly in front of them and it also give you a good hiding bonus.”

 

Serena asks, confused, “Why are you telling me this?”

 

Sammy retorts, with a grin, “I’m telling you all about so I can rub in your face when I get it first despite telling you exactly all about it!”

 

Serena responds, with a glare, “We’ll see about shrimp!”

 

End Flashback; Return to the Present

 

Usagi’s POV

 

Afterwards, my squirt of a brother told about the one of a kind cloak and the one-off quest that you can get it from. During the beta, Sammy managed to stumble on it and complete the quest in which the rare cloak that he got he only used sparingly for its hide bonus. He told me that it wasn’t ‘his style’, so, he kept in his storage a lot and used it only when necessary…for him anyway. Sammy…To be honest, I’m torn. Part of me wishes that he was here to help and the other part…the ‘bigger part’ is glad as heck that he isn’t trapped in this nightmare. Mom and dad must be going out of their minds…especially mom. Mom must be frantic knowing that I’m trapped in here and my body is lying helpless in a hospital not to mention that it was her own brother that did this to me. Yeah, my mom, Ikuko Tsukino, is Kayaba’s sister and despite being a housewife, my mom is really smart, but she always said that Kayaba was the real brains of the family. I never thought that those brains could come up with such a horror.

 

However, I shake my head or should I say my avatar’s head, but then again…Argh! Never mind! I focus on the task at hand. Despite being newbie to the game, I still have inside information since Sammy played in the beta and he told me about it some through it was to just gloat in my face as well as I…I also helped create this prison that I and the other victims of Kayaba’s actions. When I was little, he told me about this and I was the first to do a Full-Dive with a NervGear. It was so awesome and a dream come true! And when he told me about Sword Art Online…Aincrad…My head was so full of fantasy…and I helped create this since it was my idea to have this game have no magic and Sword Skills. Plenty of people, especially my friends and loved ones, would say that it wasn’t my fault and I was just a child back then. Even if through that’s true, my uncle…Kayaba used my ideas to create this nightmare that I and the other players are trapped in and since a member of my family is responsible, I can’t help to feel obligated to do what it takes to find out why he did this and stop him. However, in order to do that, I need to survive and grow stronger and this quest will help me.

 

As I continue along, I remember something that my squirt of a brother told me about this quest. He said that in order to beat the quest ‘you have to be like the cloak’. I don’t get what did he mean. Be like the cloak? All that I know is that it cloaks my face and…Hiding bonus. So, you need a Hiding Skill in order to complete the beat the quest. I look around to make sure that I won’t get ambushed and open up my menu. Since I’m starting out, I only have two skill slots and I won’t get more until I level up. And based on what Sammy told me, I don’t get my next skill slot until I’m level six. And I already have One-Handed Sword Skills fit in, so, there goes half of my currently available slots. And if I remove a skill from its slot, its ‘level’ goes down to zero.

 

Basically, with all sorts of skills in this game, they have ‘levels’ from zero to one thousand and you increase the level of your skills by using them constantly. This is different from your level as a player in which you level up by gaining experience and every level that you go up, you get more HP and increase stats like strength, agility, etc. With your skills, the more that you use your skills, the better that you get at them, but your skills have to be equipped to skill slots in order to use them. With me, I put in Hiding, that’s it. I can’t add any more skills to improve until I get another skill slot and if I take off Hiding, I lose all of the work that I put into it.

 

Plus, there is one more thing…What if what the squirt told me wasn’t true? I mean, he wouldn’t do anything to really harm me, but we were just a typical big sister and younger brother goofing around when he told me and he could have told me the wrong information just to make sure that I fail the quest because he never knew that SAO would turn out like this…That it would turn into this horrible ‘death game’! Both of us never suspected a thing and…No, wait. No. No, for once, the brat didn’t give me wrong information. Sammy did give me the right information at the time because he felt that even though I knew about it, he would get it first. At the time, he didn’t know that he would have a doctor’s appointment that would thankfully keep him from getting trapped in this prison like I am now.

 

As I put Hiding into my final free skill slot, I thanked Sammy from the bottom of my heart because his bratty actions are going to help me this time. This one is for you squirt. I’m going to complete this quest for you and for everyone. I hope that one day, I will get home to tell you all about it. With that thought, I take off back on my mission going to one of the far sides of this floor out of the way. Along the way, I fight more enemy monsters and at first, they were a mixture of monsters like the weak boars and others, but as I get closer to my destination, I’m starting to fight more and more wolf-like monsters.

 

After a while, when I defeated my next wolf, I heard a pleasant fanfare and my ‘body’ was surrounded in a glow. It had meant that I had leveled up and I was now at level two. If this was a ‘normal game’, I would have been excited, but this isn’t a game…not anymore. My increased level was now just a means of survival and a means to help others survive this nightmare. It also helped me realize how alone I truly am now. When I played games before, like with my squirt of a brother or Mina-chan, we would get excited at each level up of our characters and talk about, but now, all I hear is the virtual breeze. Girls…Darien-kun…I know that you are with my body…but to me…you are so far away. I wipe the virtual tear that came from my virtual eye and run off to do what I need to do.

 

In what seems like forever, I finally arrive at my destination in which a simple log cabin far away from the main towns and villages of this floor of this death trap that this game has become exactly as my brother described. Quickly I go over to the door and I knock on it. After a few seconds, a beautiful woman in a simple red dress with a red hood and cape come over to the door. She looked so real that you would be hard pressed to think that she is just virtual, but my experience in VR already and the yellow cursor over her reminds me that she is an NPC, a non-player character and resident of this ‘world’. There is also an icon that looks like an exclamation mark and it is sign of a quest NPC.

 

“Yes?” the woman asks me. Wow! It feels like I’m talking to a real person, but I’ve got to remember that they will only response to set words and I struggle to get them out.

 

“I’m an adventurer and I’m lost. Can you direct me to the next town?” I say. Nothing seems to happen for a moment and I wonder if I got it wrong, but then the icon over her turns into a question mark.

 

“If you are lost, you should be wary of these woods. They are full of wolves that have been turned into man-eaters by evil spirits.” The woman tells me.

 

“Evil spirits?” I reply forgetting that I’m talking to an NPC for a moment.

 

“Yes, young adventurer. The spirits have been long sealed away, but their work remains.” The woman tells me. However, she then says, “However, my mother had managed to survive in these woods for so long and knows how to handle them which is why I sent my daughter to her. You see, the wolves have become restless as of late and I fear that they would leave the woods. I made sure to send my daughter along the route that would completely avoid those monsters, but I fear for her safety.” The woman asks, looking at me, “Adventurer, can I ask a favor? Would you go look for my daughter and make sure that she arrives at her grandmother’s safely?”

 

“Sure.” I reply. Then I realize that she might not understand, but the woman nods her head and my quest log updated telling me to follow the path to find the woman’s daughter. Soon after, I head off to find the NPC’s daughter and continue the quest. Immediately, I come to a wooded area and find a path, but then I find myself tangling with more wolves and I find that if I don’t take care of them quick enough, they will call for reinforcements. At one point, I had to take a potion break and then I found a good use for the Hiding Skill. The Hiding Skill doesn’t exactly make you invisible. It helps you escape detection as long as you are ‘under cover’ and by detection, it means that ‘sensory abilities’ of players and monsters, but with monsters, it only works with monsters, if they use sight to find their target. If it something like bat-monsters that uses echo location or whatever, you are done. Thankfully, these are wolves and they use sight as well as they don’t focus on one place making it easier to take it to these overgrown virtual canines without getting swarmed by them. Thanks again, squirt.

 

Just then I hear a female scream and I think, “Could that be…?” Immediately, I rush out and immediately found a young girl, maybe around 17-18 years of age with long blond hair, jade green eyes, and lush ruby red colored lips, and wearing a similar outfit to Red Riding Hood, quivering in fear of a real ‘monster wolf’ which ironically its ‘title’ on its HP bar said ‘Monster Wolf’…real original. The massive wolf bares its jaws and fangs at the young lady.

 

“No…” The Red Riding Hood knockoff says in fear.

 

I leap out and shout out, “Hey, fur ball!” The massive wolf turns to me and I felt that I must be out of my mind! Why did I just do that? Well, no turning back now. Immediately, the Monster Wolf leaps at me and I yelp as I barely duck under it in which I also slash at its waist causing it to howl in pain. I immediately leap to my feet and yelp again as Monster Wolf glares at me in anger. Can a virtual monster get pissed? I didn’t have time to think on that as it came at me again and slashing it with claws causing me to yelp as I barely dodged out of the way again. For what seems like forever, I continue this ‘dance’ with this fur rug with teeth and finally, with one Slant at its weak point, the Monster Wolf shatters into pieces of data or whatever. I give a sigh of relief and I found that with this victory, I managed to get to the next level and after I put the ‘upgrades’ in my stats in, I turn NPC that looks like an adult version of Red Riding Hood which also makes me wonder if my uncle was a bit of a…you know. I ask, “Are you okay?”

 

The NPC woman nods her head and she responds, “Thank you.”

 

I tell her, “Your mom sent me because she was worried about you.”

 

The NPC girl retorts, with a weak smile, “Mom is right to be worried about me. I can’t fight like her and my grandma. Grandma is so tough and strong. I wish that I could be like her.” The NPC girl tells me, “I’m Zola.”

 

I respond, with a smile, “Nice to meet you, Zola.” But then I remember that I’m talking to an NPC, but Zola gets to her feet.

 

The Red Riding Hood ‘doppelganger’ NPC, Zola, asks, “Can you escort me to my grandma?”

 

I reply, “Lead the way…but let’s make sure that we don’t run into any wolves.” Zola giggles at my statement and she leads the way. After short a while and thankfully, no more fur balls, we arrive at another cabin where there is a woman waiting. She is an elderly lady in which her long flowing hair is grey, but then again, you can’t exactly tell since she looks younger than any grandma that I know. Her face isn’t sagging and I can’t see a wrinkle on her face in which she has violet lips and violet-red lips in which she is quite lovely. She is wearing an armored corset and armored clothing that female warriors from anime that I would see.

 

The younger looking elderly NPC says, seeing Zola, “Zola!”

 

Zola responds, “Grandma!”

 

“That’s her grandma?!” I think in which I can also tell that she must be a real tough grandmother, but then again, what I heard from Zola’s mother, I shouldn’t be surprised. However, I should also remember that Zola and her family are also NPCs and this is just their backstory made by the programmers for the game.

 

Zola’s grandmother says, hugging Zola, “Thank goodness that you are safe.”

 

Zola tells her grandmother, with a smile and a nod, “It was thanks to this adventures that mom sent after me.”

 

Zola’s grandmother tells me, “Thank you for helping my grandmother and answering my daughter’s call for help.”

 

“It was no problem.” I reply.

 

After Zola tells her grandmother about what happened, Zola’s grandmother says, “I see.” Zola’s grandmother then tells me, “Adventurer, you have done much for my family, but I need your help once more.”

 

I respond, “What’s wrong?”

 

Zola’s grandmother says, “Based on what my grandmother said, it seems like the wicked spirits that mutated the wolves long ago may be escaping.” I flinch internally at that…Let’s just say that I don’t do ghosts despite all my adventures as Sailor Moon. Zola’s grandmother tells me, continuing on, “The seal might be weakened or damaged and I need your help in fixing the seal.” Zola’s grandmother goes into her cabin home and after a second or two, she comes out with some kind of weird stone and Zola’s grandmother says, “This stone was made just in case to fix the seal. I would go myself, but I need to take care of my granddaughter in case something happens. Can I trust you with this task?” When the quest mark appears over Zola’s grandmother, I knew that this was a continuation of the question.

 

I reply, “Yes, I will.” Zola’s grandmother nods and hands me the stone in which the quest mark vanishes.

 

Zola’s grandmother says, “Thank you adventurer.” After Zola’s grandmother gives directions on where I need to go, I head off with Zola wishing me luck and goodbye in which I can’t help to see myself with my family back home and shed another tear.

 

I say, “Mom…dad…Sammy…” I shake my head to stop myself from crying and I promised that I would find my way home as well as, as much as he annoys me, thank the squirt for helping me this day. What I didn’t know is how much his ‘advice’ would help me in this next part. Later on, I’m going through the woods and it is a real pain in the butt! There are more of these wolves everywhere! Not only that, there is a new enemy called ‘Feral Werewolves’ which are basically like they say that they are. They aren’t any stronger than the enemies that I faced on this floor, but they have this nasty ability to ‘sniff’ that there is an enemy around. However, while their noses can tell them that someone unlike them is near, they still use sight to find their enemies which makes Hiding Skill VERY useful. It doesn’t mean that I could avoid all fights, but it allows me to fight when it is right or necessary for me. Finally, after what seems forever, I arrive at the shrine for the seal and it looks like a simple stone hut and like one of those horror flicks, it was giving off a slight sickly violet aura giving off that ‘bad vibe’. “Here we go.” I say to myself. I come out and then the sickly aura transforms into another stronger looking werewolf in which I see a darker red icon, showing that he is pretty touch, as well as the name ‘Werewolf Guardian’, if that wasn’t so obvious.

 

The Werewolf Guardian turns towards me and without hesitation, he lashes out with his massive claws in which I barley manage to block with my sword in which I strain a bit to hold back. I manage to leap back and start a counterattack, but he uses his claws to block every one of my blows! Oh, man! I should have known that it would be tougher than the rest! It strikes so fast that I barely manage to avoid a nasty strike in which I get nicked and my HP goes down quite a bit. Yipe! I didn’t want to think about what would have happened if I had gotten a major hit. I barely avoid getting hit by usual klutziness and suffer a fumble stat which would have been the end of me. Okay! Okay! Remember that these guys are virtual monsters and ‘boss monsters’ always have a pattern to their attacks. Man, I wish that Ami-chan was here! She would figure it out! I shake my head and I remember that while Ami-chan may be with my real body, she isn’t here and this is my fight now, but deep down, I hope that Ami-chan’s ‘spirit’ is with me or something.

 

The battle continues on in earnest and I barely make a dent against this walking carpet, but somehow, maybe I did ‘channel’ Ami-chan or something, I began to see a pattern and quickly, I figured out a way to win. When this fur ball strikes with a certain attack, I counter with a Sword Skill and I managed to stun him or something leaving him wide open allowing me to counterattack in which I do so, but while I gain an edge, this virtual shag rug won’t go down easily. After some minutes, which felt like forever, I finally strike him with a final Slant and Werewolf Guardian howls as he shatters into virtual pieces. Breathing more heavily than I ever done before, which is surprising since I’m in a data body right now, I go over and take the stone out of my inventory in which it starts to glow. The stone floats out of my hand and goes over to the stone hut causing the violet aura to recede until it is gone where the stone attaches itself to the top. Soon after, I found that my quest log updated and telling me to go back to home of Zola’s grandmother.

 

“Glad that’s over.” I said to myself. I started to head back and along the way, I couldn’t help to think that I managed to survive that big fight on my own. No…I didn’t do it on my own. In some weird way, my friends, the Sailor Scouts, were helping me even if it was in ‘spirit’. But then again, you can also say that my experience as Sailor Moon also helped me. If this happened before I became Sailor Moon, personally, I think that I would be stuck in some inn in the Town of Beginnings and screaming at my uncle at why he is doing this. I would be too afraid to even step outdoors and in fact, I’m freaking still afraid. Who wouldn’t be in this situation? But my adventures as Sailor Moon, like it or not, has taught me many lessons through I doubt that they prepared me for this messed up situation! However, I learned that it doesn’t matter if you are in ‘other world’, if your life is in danger, it is real, virtual or not, and when it is real life and death, not matter what kind of world you are in, you have got to treat this seriously as life and death especially when you have the whole world on the line. While the whole world isn’t in danger, at least I don’t think, this is life or death situation for all of us trapped in this nightmare and the only way that it is going to get solved is moving forward. I know that well from the battles that I fought as Sailor Moon with my Darien-kun and my friends, the Scouts. Yes, they were with me with that overgrown fur rug and they are with me now. “Thank you, girls.” I say to myself with a smile and fighting back another virtual tear from my virtual eye in which I wipe away. The lesson that I learned from those battles and with them will help me survive and find out what the heck is going on here.

 

After I revitalize my HP with another potion, I go through the woods once more, which was easier since the wolf population seemed to drop suddenly, I get in sight of cabin home of Zola’s grandmother and I expected to hear a ‘well done’ from her and get my reward from the quest, but then again, I get a ‘bad feeling’ and it seems to be confirmed when cabin of Zola’s grandmother seems to explode and out of the smoke and rubble, a massive fiendish wolf comes out.

 

The fiendish wolf says, in a dark voice, “What is this? An adventurer? Come to save the tasty thing and her grandmother?”

 

I gasp realizing what that ‘monster wolf’ meant and I yell out, “What do you mean? What have you done with Zola and her grandmother?”

 

The fiendish wolf responds, “She was so tasty…her grandmother looked tasty…but she was tough and hard…but she was so tender and yummy that I couldn’t help to swallow whole…” I gasp in shock and horror and I felt so angry, forgetting that Zola and her grandmother were NPCs, in which I wiped out my sword.

 

I yell out, “You…You…You monster!” Yeah, nice one. But before anything else could happen, the fiendish wolf gives a loud grunt of pain and then howls of agony as his waist area starts to move around literally before he roars as he explodes and shatters into pieces of data shards. What the heck just happened? I got my answer as a figure comes out of the smoke and I find that it was Zola, but she is different in which despite her retaining her Red Riding Hood style clothing, she looks more adult and womanly in her appearance…Not to mention having a strange ‘fanged’ sword in her hands. I ask, “Zola?” But just then I see that her cursor isn’t yellow for a NPC, but a dark crimson red for an enemy and the words ‘Possessed Zola’ by her HP bar. “No way…” I say, but then Zola, her eyes slit-like just like wolf’s eyes, looks at them and with incredible speed, she is on me in an instant and I barely manage to block. “Stop, Zola!” I scream out, but she doesn’t listen to me and she lashes out like a wild animal with that strange sword. I barely manage to block the whole bunch of them, but she manages to nick me, however, those ‘nicks’ take a good chunk out of my HP. If I take a direct hit, I’m finished! As this is happened, I noticed something weird in which there is a strange glow from her waist. However, I don’t have time to dwell on this and I quickly get a plan and quick another Slant exactly when she is going to strike and…YES! She’s off-balance and I take to the woods as fast as I can. Zola rushes at top speed after me. However, I manage to get out of her sight long enough to get some cover and use my Hiding Skill. Soon enough, she is right in the area and she is looking frantically for me. She starts to sniff the air and she snarls like an animal in which she knows that she is in the area, but she can’t find it. It looks like the same situation with those werewolf monsters from earlier. They can sniff me, but they have to see me to find me.

 

As I try to figure out a way out of this mess, I then notice the strange glow from her waistline and I see Zola cringe and growl as her body starts to move erratically like…Wait! I get it! Well, I hope that I do because if I’m wrong, I’m one cooked princess literally! I stay as Zola starts to move around and move her head frantically in which since she isn’t focusing, my Hiding Skill won’t be broken. I got only one shot and when Zola gets just right…Now! I scream as I leap out with a Slant and…Bingo! I hit her right in that spot! She howls in pain and in which she throws me off where I land on the ground, but despite not suffering a fumble stat, I may not get up in time to defend myself. But when I look, Zola stabs herself with a claw-like left hand at that spot I hit.

 

She grunts out, “Get…Get out! Get out of me!” She howls as she rips some kind of violet ‘mist’ or whatever in which her cursors go from dark crimson red back to its friendly NPC yellow in which the ‘mist’ takes the shape of wolf, gains a red cursor, and the words ‘Wicked Wolf Spirit’ appear by its health bar.

 

I say, with a snarl, “You must be the one that did that to her!” Immediately, I attack the Wicked Wolf Spirit with another Slant and causing it major damage in which a few more attacks takes it out. With it gone, I turn to Zola and asks, “Are you okay?” Zola doesn’t say a thing until she starts to bawl and cry in front of me. I know that she is an NPC and all, but she is so real that I can’t help myself to comfort her. After a while, I help her return to her mother and explain what happened. Zola’s mother sheds tears of sorrow with the death of her mother.

 

Zola’s mother says, “You have done all that you can, adventurer. I am horrified at the death of my mother, but I am glad that my dear Zola is safe. Thank you for saving her of the evil that infected her.”

 

I reply, with a happy smile, “It was no trouble at all.”

 

Zola’s mother then presents me a white cloak with a hood and cape and she says, “This is our family treasure. This scared cape and hood has aided us in hiding us from our enemies. I wish for you to have it.”

 

I tell her, “Thank you.”

 

Just then Zola’s mother brings out a treasure chest from seemly nowhere and she says, “I also wish to give you these scared crystals. They have been our family for much time as well, but we never had a use for them.” I give a confused look since Sammy never mentioned this part, but then again, they could have changed the rewards slightly since the beta, so, I take a look and give a flabbergasted look at seeing a pair of pink crystals and a pair of blue crystals! They are healing crystals and teleportation crystals! What the heck?! These are only available on the higher floors! What are they doing here on the first floor of the game?! Is this a bug? Or is it something else?!

 

I reply, trying to keep myself calm, “T-Thank you very much. I will treasure them.” Zola’s mother and Zola herself nod at me.

 

Zola tells me, with a smile and her voice deeper than before, “I hope to become truly as strong as you.” I rub my head nervously. If she only knew…Anyway, the prompt shows that the quest is complete and the experience from the quest has gotten me to level four! Whoa! Four levels in a day! If this was a normal game, I would be jumping for joy, but I don’t. I quickly put the crystals in my inventory. They are seriously going to be useful one day and I equip my new cloak, the Prism Cloak as it is called, to me. When I look at Zola and her mother, Zola is hugging her mother and I remember being with my mother, my family, my friends…Darien-kun…And I realize how alone I am in this world. They have been taken away from me. I’m trapped in this place and in my heart, I knew that it wouldn’t be like those other times as Sailor Moon. I’ve been completely cut off from the people that I love so much and it was done by a man that I loved like a second father. Not only to me, but around ten thousand other people in which every day more and more of them are dying and they don’t even get to say goodbye in which their loved ones don’t get to say goodbye to them until after they are fried like an egg! I struggle to hold back the tears and can’t help to wonder if my real self is also crying as well. I shake my head and take off to leave Zola and her mother before they can notice me crying.

 

However, this doesn’t discourage me! No way! In fact, it makes me more determined than ever before to save my fellow players and get us out of here! I fought long and hard against other foes from Beryl to Chaos itself! I’m freaking Sailor Moon for crying out! I won’t this beat me! I can’t let this beat me! Mom…Dad…Sammy…Girls…Darien-kun…I wil l survive…and not only I will survive, I will get out of here and I will return to you! I promise you! And Uncle Kayaba…I will find you and I will find out why you did this…And if necessary, in the name of the moon, I will stop you! As I put on the hood to cover my head and face in which my long pigtailed hair ‘magically vanishes’ within the hood, I head determined to kick this death game in the butt and win. By the way, thanks again, squirt. One day, I will repay for this information and the information for the next quest that I need to do in order to get stronger. The quest for one of the best one-handed swords for the first three floors.

 

November 11, 2022, Aincrad Floor 1, Outside of the village of Horunka

 

Third Person’s/Narrator’s POV

 

Right now, we find a male player within a forest outside of the village of Horunka, one of the villages on the first floor of Aincrad, fighting against a horde of large eyeless five feet tall carnivorous yellow plant monster known as Little Nepenthes. He dodges corrosive liquid that it spews from its mouth as one of its attacks, but he slips and falls getting hit with a fumble stats and he looks to see the monster plant looming over him in which he feels that he is going to die. However, the Little Nepenthes is then cut down and the player looks to see Usagi, with head and facial features covered by the cloak, grabbing him and forcing him back to his feet.

 

Usagi asks, “Are you all right?” Usagi looks and she yells out, “Dodge!” She and the player dodge another corrosive liquid attack in which Usagi manages to strike down Little Nepenthes allowing the other player to get his sword.

 

The player says, “Thank you!”

 

Usagi asks, “Are you on the quest for the Anneal Blade?”

 

The player responds, “You must be.”

 

Usagi tells the player, “You have to be careful! This isn’t a game anymore!” Usagi and the player fight off the other Little Nepenthes until a faintly glowing orb lands at Usagi’s feet in which she picks up the orb and throws it to the player in which she says, “Here you go!”

 

The player asks, surprised, “Huh?”

 

Usagi responds, “Just take it and go!”

 

The player responds, confused, “What?”

 

Usagi tells him, in a strong tone, “Just do it!” Surprised by her strong tone, the player takes off, but he couldn’t help to look as Usagi takes on the few remaining Little Nepenthes, however, he decides that he got what he needed to complete the quest and she would be fine through he can’t help to wonder who this player is as well as giving up an important item for a quest like that. Later on, Usagi also gets her own fainting glowing orb, the Little Nepenthes Ovule, which is the item for this quest and she takes off out of there as fast as her avatar’s legs can take her.

 

November 11, 2022, Aincrad Floor 1, Horunka Village

 

Within the village, Usagi exits the home where the NPC woman lives and she swing her new Anneal Blade around before returning it to its sheath and straps it onto her body.

 

Usagi thinks in her mind, “Well, that wasn’t so hard.” Usagi looks over her stats and finds that completing the quest has moved her to level seven in which she looks over her skills. Ever since making it to level six, she had put the Search Skill into her newest slot for her skills that she had gained when she reached that level. Usagi thinks in her mind, “Well, I’m ready as I will ever be.” Taking a deep breath, Usagi runs off into the distance to start her ‘mission’ of surviving and beat the ‘death game’ of Sword Art Online as a group of players including the player that she just saved talks about the ‘mysterious white cloaked player’ that saved him during Anneal Blade quest. Usagi doesn’t know what she is in for, but something tells her that she is in for a major adventure through she hopes and prays that it ends soon for obvious reasons. As she runs, she passes by another female player wearing a dark red leather tunic with matching hood and this player looks at Usagi with her brown eyes as she passes by not knowing what fate has stored for them and another…

 

(Sword Art Online opening music ‘Crossing Fields’ starts)

 

The scene starts with Usagi first meeting with red hooded female player, Asuna, and Kirito within the first floor labyrinth against the Ruin Kobold Troopers.

 

The next scene shows them in the floor boss fight with Illfang the Kobold Lord and Kirito and Usagi going to Diabel before he dies and the two of them with Asuna unite together to defeat the boss. And then the aftermath of the battle with the raid group finding out that Usagi is Kayaba’s niece.

 

The next group of scenes shows Asuna’s, Kirito’s, and Usagi’s adventures together throughout Aincrad.

 

The final scene shows Kirito and Asuna watching as Eternal Sailor Moon prepares to fight Heathcliff AKA Kayaba himself in the boss room of Floor 75 of Aincrad after Heathcliff was exposed as Kayaba and with a mighty yell, Sailor Moon charges in with her two swords, Elucidator and Dark Repulser, to fight Kayaba/Heathcliff and the scene stops with Kirito and Asuna looking at the looming fight as the shadow of Sailor Celestial, the Sailor Scout form of Kirito’s sister, Suguha, looms over them all.

 

(Sword Art Online opening music ‘Crossing Fields’ ends)

 

The End…For Now

 

So, this is it! The first of the short stories in the series of stories that make up this! So, what do you think? Anyway, I’m sure that you noticed that a lot of this story was told by Usagi’s POV. I wanted to try that kind of ‘writing style’ and I hope that I got it right. Anyway, I had mentioned in Chapter 2 of Sailor Moon Online that Usagi/Serena used a healing crystal during that fight with Illfang and in literature of Sword Art Online that I read, the crystals were not supposed to be available until higher floors, so, I felt that I had to explain that in which I hope that I did a good job of that. Anyway, tell me what you think and please no flames! I hope that you like this one-shot and by the way, there is a poll in my profile about what the next two stories are going to be told in this, but so far, there is a four-way tie! The poll is going to end when I start posting the next arc of World’s Song, so, getting voting people! Tell me what you want to see next or I’m going to choose the next two stories that I like everyone! Later and best wishes, Crossover Fans!