The day was finally here.

On any other day, he would've tucked himself into his corner of the school bus, and done his best to shut out the world around him. But today? Aaron couldn't help the massive grin that was plastered onto his face. Other people were probably just getting home from the massive launch events, racing to get their systems set up in time. But his was already set up, waiting for him in his PC. The beta test was over. The caps were removed.

It was Sword Art Online Launch Day.

It was a very rare occasion, indeed. His sister, actually smiling? Sean couldn't help but be happy for her. Even if he didn't care much for video games, you could be sure as hell that he would play the shit out of this game with his sister, especially if it made her this happy. After everything that their family had been through, it was almost a shock to see Kat like this. For once, her face was worry free. She was genuinely excited.

Now, they just had to get home in time for launch.

Tori and Zack were already in Tori's room, ready to boot up for the launch extravaganza. Both of their parents were rich snobs, and rarely paid any attention to their children, but they were more than happy to spoil their kids rotten. It was only Iroh, Zack's uncle, who kept them in shape.

For both friends, this was an incredible occasion. For Tori, well, the NerveGear opened a whole new world for her. According to some research that Zack told her about, she would likely be able to see in this virtual world. Her. Seeing. She was born blind, so she really couldn't even process the idea of vision. Now, she would likely be able to experience it herself.

As for Zack, this felt like a second chance at life. He wouldn't be the scarred son, the national symbol of looking the other way at rich child abuse. He would be just another kid. It was all he had ever wished for. He knew, in the back of his head, that it wouldn't be reality, that he would still be the family's great disappointment, but he couldn't help that.

Only a short distance away, Alice also began prepping herself for launch. Unlike Zack, who was over at some friend's house, she resided in her own bedroom. Thanks to a little blackmail, she had managed to become a beta tester for the game, and she had progressed as far as one could in the pre-launch activities. She had never taken much of an interest in video games, but she wasn't doing this for herself. This was for Zack.

In this virtual world, that fateful night had never happened. Her despicable cowardice never occurred, and it had never cost her brother his face. In this world, she wouldn't live in constant fear of her father, forced to fulfill his every wish, all to try to protect her brother, just like he had for her. She was going to make his virtual life perfect. God knows that he deserved it.

A short time later, Aaron sprinted through the front door. His caretaker, Gyatso, tried to get his adopted son's attention, but Aaron shrugged it off.

"No time, Gyatso! Launch is in 2 minutes! I'll talk to you later." Gyatso chuckled and rolled his eyes. He would never understand the appeal of video games, but the buzzy kid liked them, so he didn't mind the boy's slight rudeness. The boy sprinted up the steps, nearly taking out the coffee table at the top, and skidded into his room, shutting the door behind. He found his NerveGear, laid down, and looked at the timer he had set on his phone. It was officially time. He flipped the switch, said the magical words, and felt the familiar feeling whisk him into a new virtual reality.

He opened his eyes to one of the most wonderful sights imaginable. The City of Beginnings was nearly completely packed. The one major flaw of the beta was the player cap. It just wasn't as fun to play without that many people online. Now, the scale was massive. This truly was a virtual world. Aaron reached back, instinctually reaching for his favorite sword, but ended up grabbing thin air. A couple people around him gave him a confused look, and Aaron, or, well, his digital counterpart, blushed in embarrassment. He had forgotten about the post-beta reset. He reached over to his standard hip sheath and tried to get a feel for the crappy default sword. Just like last time, it was too lightweight for his taste, and it wasn't quite long enough. It would have to be good enough, though. Once the launch proceedings ended in the City, he had to be quick to get the best grinding spots that he took note of throughout the beta. He was never much of a "tryhard", but he missed his old gear, and he wanted it back as quickly as possible. Besides, Aaron had resolved during the beta that this game was going to be different. He was actually going to be good, and popular, and powerful. Aang, his avatar, would be everything that Aaron wasn't.

Just down the street from Aang, Sean and Kat entered the virtual world for the first time.

"THIS IS AMAZING! KATRINA, IT'S LIKE WE'RE ACTUALLY HERE! SIS, THIS IS INCREDI…" He stopped as soon as he saw the "I told you so" look that his sister was giving him. He groaned but couldn't quite hold back the smile on his face as he pulled out his sword. At first, he held it like a lightsaber, then began pretending to throw it.

"Um… Sean? What are you doing?"

"I'm just imagining how awesome a weaponized boomerang would be. Plus, you gotta call me by my account name. I'm not Sean anymore."

Katara couldn't help but facepalm. Her brother was still her brother, even in this world.

"That's not a half bad idea!"

'Sokka' and Kat both looked over to see a grinning stranger.

"See, I told ya so." Sokka said while sticking his tongue out at Kat. After a few moments of teasing, with some appreciated help from the stranger, he began to hound Kat about her uncreative name. "Why did you pick Katara? It's literally just your name with a few extra letters."

"Well, why did you pick Sokka? It makes no sense to me."

"I picked Sokka because it sounds badass!"

Katara rolled her eyes, then shifted her focus to the newcomer. "So, what should we call you?"

"I'm Aang!" the stranger replied with a toothy, lobsided grin. His avatar was completely bald, and he had a blue arrow painted onto his head. He was a couple inches shorter than Katara, and built like a toothpick. Still, his smile was contagious, and she could help but return his grin.

"I'm Katara, and this idiot is Sokka. Nice to meet you," she paused for a moment. Was it rude to ask about the arrow thing on his head? She didn't know. In real life it would be, but were the rules different here?

"So what's up with the arrow?" Sokka asked, oblivious to Katara's internal debate.

"Oh, um," Aang rubbed the back of his neck, "It's a tattoo I picked up in the beta. I didn't know that it carried over."

Sokka raised his eyebrow, but then straighten up. "You were a beta tester? That's awesome, man! Could you show us a few things?"

"Sure! I'll take you guys out to the fields after the opening stuff is done. There are some good grinding spots out there anyway."

Katara looked at the clock in her HUD and decided to break up the guy-gamey talk.

"Don't we have to get to Center City in like 2 minutes?"

Aang glanced at his HUD and nodded in agreement. They all began sprinting to the fountain, hoping to get a decent spot to watch the GameMaster speak.

Tori and Zack, or as they were now called, Toph and Zuko, found themselves in a similar situation. They had spent the last 10 minutes ecstatically utilizing their new bodies. Toph had nearly started a skirmish by staring at a random girl for too long, and Zuko couldn't stop looking at himself in a mirror. Eventually, Alice, or Azula, as she now called herself, found them and began dragging them towards the GameMaster's podium.

"Come on, you idiots. Rumor is that the GameMaster is giving out a special item to everybody who shows up on time. Everyone else is going to be teleported there anyway, so we might as well show up early and get some free stuff."

She might have come off as snarky, but she was glad to see her brother in a good mood.

A few moments after everyone converged at Center City, a massive, mysterious knight appeared over the fountain in the middle of the area. It's armor was menacing and intimidating, and it's flowing red cape gave off some eerie vibes.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to Sword Art Online! The biggest revolution in gaming history!" The knight paused for the great cheers of the crowd. "Now, I fear, the mood may fall a bit. Some of you may have noticed by now that the log out option has disappeared from the menus. This is not a glitch. There is only one way to log out of SAO, and that is to die."

In just a moment, the crowd from from gleeful cheers to worried murmurs. Was this guy serious? Aang skimmed through his menus, and solemnly nodded toward his newfound friends. No logout button in sight.

"Now, before some of you fall on your own swords to go eat some pizza, in-game suicide has some consequences. Namely, real life death. That's right. If you die in game, the NerveGear will overload it's internal microwave emitters, frying your brain as your microwave would cook a Hot Pocket. The same thing will occur if somebody removes the NerveGear from your body."

Now, the crowd was in a panic. If this guy was speaking the truth, then they were permanently stuck in this game.

"As of now, 213 people have had their NerveGears removed, and 213 people have died. This is being reported over all international news sources, and I expect the deaths to begin to slow down as more of you are transferred to hospitals."

"There is only one way out of this game, and that's to beat it. Aincrad has 100 floors, each with their own dungeon and boss. Once the game is cleared, you can all return home."

Katara looked over to her brother, then to her new friend, looking for some evidence that this was all a big joke, that it was some giant prank, but they both wore horrified masks.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Everybody should check their inventories. I just placed a surprise item in each one."

Aang opened his inventory menu, and an item called "The Mirror" was there. He activated the item, and the whole world flashed.

He opened his eyes again, and everybody's avatars had changed. Aang looked into the mirror, and saw his normal, real life face looking back at him. He looked over to Katara, and couldn't help but let his jaw hang.

She looked incredible. Her avatar had been pretty standard looking fare, but now, she looked absolutely incredible. She had darkish skin, and had a beautiful face framed by dark chocolate colored hair. It took him a moment, but he snapped out of it and looked over to his other new friend. His appearance hadn't changed one bit.

"Why do you look the same?"

Sokka smiled. "Why would I change perfection?"

Katara slapped her brother, bringing them all back to the situation at hand. "What do we do?"

Sokka and Katara both looked at Aang, waiting for an answer. Aang gulped, and felt some sweat drip down his back. His baldness was gone, replaced by his messy black hair, and the arrow tattoo had moved back to its real home on his arm, but his tiny frame felt just as pathetic.

"We gotta move. Now. Get out of the city and away from as many people as possible. Level up and beat the game as quickly as we can."

Sokka nodded. "The kid is right. This is our life now. We're lucky enough to have a beta tester here, someone who knows this game more than most. We need take advantage of that." He then darkly smirked. "I always wanted to save the world. Never thought it wouldn't be Earth, though."

Katara grimly nodded, similarly accepting her fate. She didn't know about the whole saving the world thing, but they had to survive, first and foremost. Aang's plan was as good as any.

"Let's get going then."

(A/N) So there it is. Another new, crude story from yours truly. In next chapter, we'll find out what the others are up to, and what their plan is. Got any advice? Criticisms? Want to give a lonely writer some feedback? Throw me a review. Please. I beg you :P

Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed, and stay tuned for the next one!