SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

Partial credit to all the authors I have favorited (just to be safe because I am gonna take something or other from all their stories on accident because "inspiration").

Note: I don't know how to properly use honorifics and such because I don't speak Japanese but I will try my best I watch WAY to much anime so I have some clue, also I won't be using honorifics on in-game names 'cause that makes no sense.

Note: Never been to high school, never plan to go to high school (homeschoolin' for the win) so forgive me if (read: when) I mess up the party hopefully it will get better from here once it gets into SAO part.

Bold outside authors notes is a system announcement + a few other things like perspective: System Announcement

Bold, italic and single quotes is system messages displayed to a specific person such as duel requests and LA bonuses: 'Private System Announcement'

Italic in single quotes is thoughts: 'Thoughts'

Normal in double quotes is speech or when something is written down: "Speech"

Normal is narration: Narration

Single quotes means air quotes "'Something in air quotes'"

I did NOT make the cover image.

Please, just because you don't like the grammar and/or format of this chapter don't stop reading, it gets MUCH better starting from chapter 2.

Chapter 1: The Black Bored Swordsman

Kazuto Kirigaya in this story is very good at Kendo and is also a programming wiz.

Kazuto birthday: October 7, 2007 (one year older then canon)

(3rd person, end of July 2022, 1 day before SAO beta test launch)

Kazuto woke up at 7:30am to make Sugu and himself breakfast before heading off to the last day of school before the break (I believe there is no school in August in japan and then it starts again in September). Today was the day before the beta test of SAO, and tomorrow he would have his hands full with being an admin for that (he made most of combat system for SAO because he knew how to fight with a sword as well as some other parts), but right now he needed to get to school 'what a hassle he thought, I already know everything there anyway so why bother going, oh well best get it over with and go do something else' he thought as he went downstairs. After cooking breakfast and setting it on the table he checked his watch it read 7:45am, "Neechan, okaasan breakfast is ready" he called. Once they finished eating breakfast he left for school, which he went to for… 'why do I go there again? Ahh whatever I'll figure that out later, today's is the last day for now anyway' he thought, and with that he left to school.

He arrived about 15 minutes early as usual and headed for the first class, 'some sort of boring math class' he thought. He was one of the earlier people there as usual, he liked to leave early incase there was some thing that took time along the way so he wouldn't be late even if there was a problem. He waited for about 10 minutes for the rest of class to start show up. He was the student with consistent perfect scores and he passed all the final exams for the senior years with ease already and just came to school because… 'why was it again, maybe I will come up with a good reason before September.' Then for 5 minutes there was the usual chatter of people talking with their friends, he didn't really have friends, he was popular because he had top grades, great at kendo, and girls liked his looks.

But he didn't really have friends, he didn't want to be friends with all the fangirls who asked him out on dates and such or any of his fans. The few people he had tried talking to were boring, he knew he was the smartest in terms of math and programming and such in the school (the latter good enough for Kayaba to notice him and give him an important role in making SAO, which still amazed him) but he expected there to be some interesting people at least, but no… Anyway back to that point after 5 minutes of annoying chatter the teacher showed up and everyone stopped talking.

Class went as normal with a few exams and was over. On his way home he heard a scream come from an alley that was mostly hidden from view and went in, he saw three girls bullying one which looked like she was crying, though it was hard to tell.

He walked in and asked "What is going on here" "We were just asking to borrow some money from our friend Asada-san here" said the one in the middle, 'probably the leader' he thought.

"Really because that isn't what it looks like, it looks like you three are trying to mug her" He said. "She deserves it, she is a MURDERER!" answered the leader. "I think you should leave her alone" he said picking up a fairly long, straight, stick which was conveniently on the floor there.

"Didn't you hear me? She's a MURDERER!" said the leader.

"I said leave her alone." Kazuto said in a voice much unlike his normal, gentle voice, but instead one which was like barbed steel.

"Yeah fat chance" said the leader, pulling out a taser, 'probably from her irresponsible brother' Shino Asada thought. She charged at him with her taser, he simply sidestepped and hit her wrist with his stick, not hard enough to break it but hard enough to hurt her and much her drop the taser then brought her to the ground with a kick.

"YOU BASTARD!" yelled both the other bullies and charged him, he simply dropped the stick and grabbed each of their taser wielding wrists in a bone crushing grip so that they drop their tasers before punching in the stomaches and knocking them to the ground. Then he walked over to the girl 'looks like she is crying, what was her name? Asada, yeah that was it, but I would sound like a creep if I new her name so I will ask anyway' he thought. The boy walked over to her "Are you okay" he asked, rubbing her back gently in circles, just as he asked he heard the bullies getting up, he turned to loom to see them running off. "Yeah, thanks" muttered the girl.

"What is your name?" he asked her.

"Asada, Shino Asada" she answered "but why did you stop them, you heard what she said, I'm a murderer"

"I don't care" he answered.

"Why not" she asked "As far as I am concerned, if it is that easy to find out you are a 'murderer', then you are either innocent and had a good reason for it, or you would be in jail. Because you are not in jail I know you had a good reason for whatever you did." All the while they were talking he was rubbing her back calmingly and she seemed to be regaining color to her face and stopped crying a bit ago 'I wonder why he doesn't freak me out, normally it freaks me out when people touch me, especially boys, well he does look kinda girly, maybe that is part of it' she thought giggled ever so slightly.

"Well thats good, you are giggling for whatever reason" he said.

"So what happened?" he asked, quickly adding "I mean right now, not whenever people started calling you a murderer."

"Well, they wanted my money and when I didn't give it to them they used the fact that any guns, even things like finger guns" she paled slightly when she said the word gun "freak me out and make me want to vomit, to try to take it, and then you showed up" she answered.

"So you have PTSD from… Not going to say it but you know what I mean?" He asked 'How considerate' she thought half sarcastically 'we just met and he is trying to avoid triggering her PTSD in the slightest, well he is the nicest ANYONE has been to me after the incident'

"Yes." she finally answered deciding to be honest with this boy for some reason. "Oh by the way my name is Kazuto Kirigaya" said Kazuto.

"Do you want to escape from this reality" he asked,

Shino almost giggled again "You sound like some shady dealer man that gives the MC of an anime some drugs or something and then the mentor needs to rescue him" she said.

"No, I am serious. Have you heard of sword art online?" he asked.

"Yes, I have what about, it isn't like I can get into the beta test or something" she answered. "But if you could would you want to?" he asked.

"Yes, I guess" she answered.

"Perfect, I need to give this to someone before tomorrow but I didn't find anyone I wanted to give it to" he said giving her a coupon of some sort. It had an address and other then that, it read "the coupon for the 1001st beta tester, go to the address on the coupon to get your NerveGear and copy of the Sword Art Online beta test"

"Where did you get this?" she asked excitedly and he answered.

"I got it for being a major contributor to the creation of Sword Art Online, I made most of the combat and sword skill system, Kayaba gave me the ability to give one extra person the beta test, so do you want it?"

"Yeah, cool the beta test starts tomorrow at 1pm, lets meet up there, my username will be Kirito, it would be ideal if you could pick a name before we split up so I can look for you as well" he said.

"Sinon" she answered quickly"It just popped into my head and sounded nice" 'Why am I so excited about this? I have never really like video games or anything, maybe it is because it is a chance to escape reality but not into normal video games but into a new world.'

"Okay we need to head to the shop and get it before tomorrow" he said.

Once they arrived at the address it turned out it was a typical game store (those still exist in 2022 in the SAO universe apparently (this bit breaks the fourth wall (nested parentheses))) when they went inside the shop keeper looked like he was about to say some usual greeting but then noticed that it was Kazuto so instead said "Did you finally get a girlfriend or something, about time."

Shino did her best imitation of a cherry and said "He is not my boyfriend"

Then Kazuto whispered to Shino"Give him the coupon." and she whispered back "Okay" before walking forward and giving the shopkeeper the coupon. In return he gave her a box that said "Fragile" and "NerveGear"

"Well lets get you can go home, see you tomorrow, or virtually see you" he said, after we walked out of the store she asked very VERY shyly and quietly with a slight blush "Can you, uhh, walk me home?" "Sure, I wasn't planning on getting home till much later anyway because we left school early, so lead on" he said.

(1st person, Sinon/Shino A)

While I led him to my house, I found myself wondering why I had asked a boy I just met to walk me home, oh well, too late now, at least he seems nice enough. He was the closest person to a friend she had in 5 years, because of the incident. While we took a short cut someone tried to take the box I was carrying and Kirigaya-san beat him into the dirt, this was the route I normally take so I guess it was a good thing I asked him to walk me home and I said so "I guess it was a good idea to walk have you walk me home, because this is the route I normally take"

"Seems so, that box is pretty valuable after all, only a 1001 official copies plus the ones for development" he answered. Once we got to my apartment, I unlocked the door and went in.

"You should set it up and read the manual before tomorrow even though the servers only go up at 1pm" he said as he left. I wonder why I felt so much more depressed the moment he left… Oh well worry about that later, set up NerveGear now. Just as I was thinking that there was a knock on the door, I went over and made sure then chain was on and opened the door slightly, it was her overly goofy landlord who acted like 20 years younger then he was.

"Hi" I said, "How is it going" "Just wondering if that boy was that Kirigaya boy who won the nationals for kendo" asked the landlord.

"Yes he was" I answered rather simply "Oh, is he your boyfriend or something" he teased.

I once again imitated a cherry and said "He is not my boyfriend, I met him a few hours ago, he stopped some people from bullying me" "Oh" said the landlord and left. Once that was over I decided to go back to setting up for tomorrow. After I read the manual and set up the NerveGear, I decided to read a book until it was late enough to sleep.

(1st person, Kirito/Kazuto K)

Today was weird, first I go to school expecting class, and get a party which was annoying, then I meet a cute depressed girl (cute and depressed independently, not cute because she was depressed) who was getting bullied and give her a copy of the SAO Beta Test after stopping the bullies. Then she asked me to walk her home which is weird, then it turned out it was a good idea because someone tried to steal the NerveGear, and then I went home earlier then expected. Well what should I do during this time... I could add some unique stuff to SAO if I can still edit it right now... I put on my NerveGear (because typing on the virtual keyboard is cool and it means I can test stuff right away) and say "Link Start!" Lets finish adding bows to the game (I had been working on them for the past week or so), I guess there will need to be bow skills as well then. I guess there needs to be an Archery Skill, and you can get it by doing a quest on the, um, 3rd floor or so maybe? Yeah sounds good. After a little (the development system for this type of thing is really easy because of how high level a system it is) while I had added a bow template for Cardinal to make bows with certain effects.

Bows can also be equipped alongside other weapons meaning that anyone who finds the skill can use it, if they are good with it.

I added these skills and some others:

Rapid Fire; release a burst of 'arrows' (they look like energy blasts or something because of the sword skill glow effect), number of arrows is Archery Skill level divided by 100, rounding down, plus 3, so it starts with 3 arrows, then once you get Archery Skill 100 it is 4 arrows, 200 5 arrows, etc. Damage dealt is Bow Base Damage divided by 3 making the skill pretty bad at archery level of less then 100. Skill activates when draw the bow back approx. to your nose and and hold it there for 3 seconds.

Power Shot; This skill fires one powerful arrow that flies much farther and more accurately then normal and does Bow Base Damage multiplied by Archery Skill level divided by 100 plus 2 damage, so it starts at 2x, then 3x, etc. Skill activates when you draw the bow back to your ear, focus on on your enemy, and wait 2 seconds.

Bursting Rain; Fire 1 arrow (that deals Bow Base Damage) that splits into Archery Skill level divided by 10 arrows, arrow splits once it reaches the top of its arc, each does Bow Base Damage divided by 3, but if then each consecutive hit does the previous hit damage divided by 2, so if you hit the target with 1 arrow you get Bow Base Damage/3, 2 arrows is Bow Base Damage/3+Bow Base Damage/6, etc. capping out at 2/3 Bow Base Damage per target. This is not a single target skill, but a skill for clearing relatively weak hordes. Activates when the bow is help at at least 30 degrees above their current target and waits 3 seconds.

Ease Of Fire; This skill makes it seemingly much easier to draw back the bow and to keep it steady, effect scales linearly with Archery Skill level. It also decreases activation time for Power Shot if you can muster the focus fast enough. Activates when user fires 3 arrows accurately in rapid succession. For every arrow from there fired in rapid succession the effect increase, to a limit also based on your Archery Skill

Passive ability: Well Trained Archer ; Bow is steadier and if you concentrate on a target the system helps you aim, but if you use the system assist you suffer an up to 20% damage penalty (depending on how much you use it) to encourage accurate shooting. Both effects scale with Archery Skill level, the steadiness effect is smaller then the Ease of Fire one.

The quest for the Archery Skill is found on a random place in the 3rd floor, within the outer 3rd in terms of radius, the quest requires the person to shoot a bow accurately enough to hit a man sized target 8/10 shots from 30m without any system assist, you will find a hunter in the forest and he will agree to teach you with a bow if you can do the challenge, this will unlock the Archery Skill as well as give you a basic wooden bow, more bows will be found later on but will be unusable without doing this quest first, it is also the first bow.

Why I just monologued that in my head to no one I don't know but with that I logged out.

End chapter one, more coming up hopefully, I suck at writing so maybe not.

PS. I wrote this is like 3-4 hours starting at 11PM and going to like 2-3AM so there will be lots of typos.