//------------------------------// // Episode 1 - The First Day // Story: EQG: Sword Art Online - Aincrad // by Mindrop //------------------------------// The video below is the tutorial for the animated series. If you skipped it in the Pilot Episode, watching before reading is highly suggested. Floor 1 November 6 Sunset Shimmer stood there in shock as her vision came back to her from the mirror exploding. She immediatly noticed her hands. While they were still in the same red cotton gloves, they were smaller. They were her own hands, down to the the pigment of her skin. She wasn't in her Avatar's body either. She was back in her body, at least by looks. The NerveGear's calibration sequence when you first started it required touching and some basic movement so it could properly read what your nervous system signals were saying in relation to what you were doing. So it knew her body type and size. It knew how tall she was. And the inside of the helmet could see her face, so it knew what that looked like. The giant game master in the sky had declared they were trapped inside this game with no way to logout. If he made them look like themselves, then there was no way he was lying, and worse, her friends were trapped in the same way she was. That was all she could think about now; her friends. She could do this a lot easier if it wasn't for the risk on their lives. Her mind went into overdrive now that Kayaba was gone and she could think without being interrupted. 100 Floors was a lot. They had to get out of the game, but that shouldn’t be too hard, right? They had already taken down magical beasts before. Just a few months prior they had been at Camp Everfree and proven their worth once again. Surely they could overcome this. It might not be their real, physical bodies, but they were Wondercolts in mind and soul. And they were gifted with Equestrian magic. Sunset Shimmer’s heart stoped. Whatever she had been in real life, she realized that now, she truly was Bladescape. It was a game, coded together with words that boiled down to Binary Code of 0s and 1s. Equestrian magic wasn't made up of 0s and 1s. All they could rely on was their friendship. That wouldn’t crumble. New names or not, that friendship wouldn't crumble. “Come on!” Bladescape yelled. “Lets get back to the West Gate and plan there!” They began to make their way through the frightened crowd. Rainbow Dash, no, Thunderborne, was pulling Doombunny along with her. As she ran through the streets, Bladescape almost ran into a player who wore a red bandanna on his head and was trying to look like a samurai. She saw another figure darting the other way down a side street. She shrugged it off and continued to lead them to their rendezvous point. “Okay,” Bladescape said as they gathered around at the gate. “We need an action plan if we are to survive.” “I don’t think I can do this,” Doombunny squeaked. “Come on Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said with a slap on her shoulder. “Buck up. In here you are not the same as you are I.R.L.. In here, you get to remake yourself. Even if you are in the same body.” “Yes, Darling,” Diemond said. “You get to make yourself into Doombunny. The one that is in your heart. And you have the support of your friends to do it!” Diemond was holding it together well despite knowing that the 16 hours of work she put into making her avatar completely and utterly flawless was ruined. “Plan?” Bladescape asked. “Knightstar, you have the best information on this game. What do we need to do to survive?” “Umm,” Knightstar said, trying to nervously fiddle with her nonexistent glasses. “We need to hunt the monsters outside of town. Together, we can take the monsters around here easily. We need to gain experience and Col, the money, quickly if we are ever to get somewhere in this game. Our basic gear will be sufficient for a while so long as we work together. At least that is what the research I have done suggests.” “And what do you suggest?” Bladescape asked. “I have a few ways to balance the guild. With the eight of us, we can organize ourselves to be a strong fighting force that can work together. Of course, you don’t have to follow my suggestions.” “Lay it on us, Sugarcube,” Backbreaker said. “We trust you.” The others affirmed their support. Even Astro, who was now a girl and who had completely lost her swagger, agreed. Somehow seeing her in a female's body fit better than it did in her avatar, even without the confidence she once held. “Well,” Knightstar said, now fiddling with her hair. “Bladescape and AFCK, you both want two handed weapons. Focus on strength and your one handed weapon and you should be able to unlock the bigger ones. That means no shields for either of you. Just your sword or axe. You will be our main attackers, called Forwards. A lot of the actual damage dealt will probably come from you two, but in our teams, XP awards will be balanced between all party members. “Backbreaker, you want to be the strongest out of us. We need you to focus on your shield, defense, and strength. You're naturally strong minded and have plenty of willpower. You will make you the perfect Tank. You can soak up all the damage on your shield, allowing the Forwards and Damage Dealers to avoid attacks and then switch in for the kill. Same with you, Diemond. You already know how to make shields I.R.L., so focus on that whenever you have to block. You can look good as you also function as a Tank. Both of you want blunt weapons with your shield, which means strength for attacking, but that will be easy for you to get since you will be building it with your shield as well. War Hammer for Backbreaker and Mace for Diemond. That gives us one tank per party, a good number considering our position. “Thunderborne, you said you wanted to be the fastest out of every player. Agility and speed with that single blade is what you need until you can unlock something like a rapier. No shield for you because you need to focus on speed. That is the perfect for the role of Damage Dealer. You can switch in for a strong strike and knocking off a lot of an enemy’s HP. Doombunny, you want to focus on a knife. You can avoid the attacks as we take them on our shields and weapons and then you can go in with that dagger, as another damage dealer for us. Knife attacks can be super fast and deadly. Both of you will need to switch out with our Tanks to avoid taking too much damage. Doombunny, just stay close with either Backbreaker or Diemond and let them protect you. Strike and jump back to safety behind them. That is their job. Thunderborne, until you build up defense and skill level, you should do the same as well and not take any risks. “As for myself, I will focus on sword and shield, and play as duel role of either Forward or Damage Dealer. I can switch in and strike right after the monster attacks. And I can take a blow on my shield if I need to. It will depend on the situation. I will run all the stats so that we stay as safe as possible. “Now you, Astro. What is your choice weapon?” Astro smiled and pulled up her menu. A short spear materialized and she grabbed it with great reflexes for barely being in the game. “You have good instinct. I heard you were doing a lot of research. I’ll get a longer spear, or maybe a lance, later. I’ll be your fourth Damage Dealer, working closely with one of your Tanks to pop out and stab at every opportunity I can. Maybe at some point I’ll try adding a shield. “If we follow your suggestions, that gives us two Forwards, two Tanks, and four Damage Dealers. That is a good mix for a guild of eight. We can split our four man teams into a Forward, Tank, and two Damage Dealers, and we can switch up parties pretty well. Our Slash, Pierce, Hack, and Crush factors are on a good spread. And to top it off, our weapon reach is really well balanced. Plenty of close up weapons and longer striking ranges. “Right now, we can’t create a guild. We will need to figure out how, but we can still party up and play informally. They only question is, what is the name for our guild?” “Wondercolts,” Diemond declared. “We will be the Wondercolts.” “I like it,” Astro grinned. “School name, right?” “Yeah,” Thunderborne chuckled. “We are the Canterlot Wondercolts I.R.L.. To us, it holds a whole lot more than just a school mascot though. So, now what? I am a bit confused from all the technical talk.” “To start, we get two skills each,” Knightstar continued. “All of you need to equip your weapon skills as your first, except our Tanks. Our Tanks need to put their Shield Skill first, and their weapon second. The rest of us can set something we think will be useful. At Level 6, we will unlock a third skill slot. But we have to be careful, only skills in our slots can be trained, and removing them resets them. They max out at 1000. A very long way to go. “The more we use the skills, the more experience we gain. The higher the XP, the more things we can do with that skill. The more things we unlock, the stronger we will become. The stronger we are, the safer we are. We need to be as efficient as possible to stay as safe as possible. We don't have any room for error.” “We need to figure out good second skills for our forwards and damage dealers,” Astro said. “Everything will be happening quickly. We can’t afford to change up skills later on. We need every ounce of experience we can get to survive here. I’ll choose Purchase Negotiation as my second skill to give us an edge while buying supplies and such.” “I call sprint!” Thunderborne declared. “Speed will help your single handed sword,” Knightstar added. “Ohh,” AFCK exclaimed. “I like this one parry. It reminds me of Pear. I like pears. Pears are Nature’s candy!” “Focus AFCK,” Bladescape chuckled. “Parry means block, like block with your weapon. Its a good choice. As for me, I think Search is a good idea. I’ll be able to see monsters further out, an advantage to all of us.” “Um, I guess, um,” Fluttershy stuttered. “I should choose, um, what should I choose?” “Agility?” Astro suggested. “Hey,” Diemond said as she scrolled through the list of skills. “What about First Aid. You could support us by healing any of us in battle.” “That’s a perfect one,” Knightstar said. “When we get our third skill slot, we should look at supportive skills like weapons making, cooking, and such to keep our gear and guild working better.” “Lets hunt!” Bladescape declared. “There are 10,000 players here who are going to be hitting these fields soon. Let’s go!” “Teams!” Knightstar yelled. “Bladescape, take Diemond, Doombunny, and AFCK. And with me will be Backbreaker, Thunderborne, and Astro.” Bladescape set up the party, and then they were on the run again. Outside the city was ample fields, populated with frenzied boars and wolves. Both were low level monsters. But both held their own dangers. With four attacking a single creature, they safely learned how to activate the assisted attacks known as Sword Skills. Knightstar had done plenty of research, but explaining how to and doing it were two different things. After a skill was finished, there was a slight delay period where they couldn’t move, so timing was everything. The higher the sword skill, the more delay. Not long after, they split so that it was two against a boar. “Deeper into the fields!” Astro soon yelled. “We need to separate ourselves from the others. Its gotten crowded. We are waiting for respawns too much now.” “Lets move out towards the next town,” Knightstar suggested. “It’s going to be a long night and day, but we can push and win this.” They fought hard to get to the next town. There was no rest since they were exposed in the field and anything could attack them. The only safe places were in towns. The closer they got, the more they had to work in their parties of four. “AARGGGH!” Bladescape yelled as she activated the sword skill, Horizontal. It sliced through the stalk of the monster she was fighting, causing it to pop in a burst of polygons. It was called a Little Nepenthes, but it was a large walking plant thing. They were Level 3, one level above all of them. But the XP yield was greater and they were relatively safe in their parties. “There are six coming at us,” Bladescape yelled. “We need to move! Back to the road.” They got back to the road and Thunderborne sprinted ahead of them to scout. It boosted her Skill XP, just like Bladescape’s Search was being bolstered slowly since it was more of a passive skill. Thunderborne was soon back. “It’s just ahead. We can get there in ten minutes if we can avoid a fight!” “Let’s go!” Astro ordered, leading the charge. “We need sleep and food!” They followed after Astro and ran to safety. The town was barely a town. Only a few thatch roofed houses scattered about. “My gear is still good,” Astro said as she checked her menu. “We need to secure a bed, but we also need to get food. Our equipment can last us for a bit. Repairs are smarter than buying new equipment right now. Plus, those things are corrosive. We should stick to our gear right now unless we know its going to better protect us. Our money is better spent on health potions and things that directly save our lives, like food.” “I agree,” Knightstar yawned. “Astro is probably correct. And she has the most experience out of all of us when it comes to MMORPGs.” They bought two inn rooms that they could cram themselves into. Then they ate plain bread from the general store, bought as many potions as they could afford, and went to slept. Bladescape (SS): Lvl 2 – One-Handed Sword - Search Knightstar (TS): Lvl 2 – One-Handed Sword - Shield Thunderborne (RBD): Lvl 2 – One-Handed Sword - Sprint Backbreaker (AJ): Lvl 2 – Shield – One-Handed War Hammer AFCK (PP): Lvl 2 – One-Handed Axe - Parry Diemond (R): Lvl 2 – Shield - Mace Doombunny (FS): Lvl 2 – Knife – First Aid Astro (PS): Lvl 2 – Short Spear - Purchase Negotiation