"Emu, we have a situation! Please come down to CR as soon as possible!"

Emu reread the message as he raced down to CR, wondering what could possibly be so urgent that he would be called down to CR for the first time in years. He burst through the doors to the lab to see Director Kagami, Hiiro, Taiga, Kiriya, Kuroto, and Asuna sitting at the table, clearly having been waiting for him.

"What's the emergency?" Emu asked as he took the empty seat for himself.

"This is big, Emu." Asuna started. "You know that new VRMMORPG that just came out for the Nervegear?"

"Yeah, Sword Art Online, right? I have the game at home, I'm just waiting to get off of work to play it."

Immediately after he said those words he could see a look of fear come across Asuna's face, and a look of concern across the others.

"What is it? Did something go wrong with the launch?"

"Something like that…" Asuna brought out her tablet and brought up a strip of news reports. "Emu… people are dying because of this game…"

A look of horror came across Emu's face as he read through the reports, seeing what had happened to those who tried to get out of the game.

"Somehow, between the beta and the full release of the game, the creator, Kayaba Akihiko, removed the logout function. Not only this, but if you either die in game, or try to remove the Nervegear from your head, you will die in real life."

"How?!" Emu dropped the tablet onto the table, frightened by what he had just seen. "How can you-"

He answered his own question internally as he asked it.

"The Nervegear… it must transmit some kind of frequency that fries the brain… The microwave radiation! That's it!"

"But knowing that doesn't solve the issue at hand." Hiiro interjected. "People are already being sent off to hospitals to keep their bodies alive while they are in the game. Kayaba Akihiko has disappeared, with the only clue he left behind was that the only way those people are getting out of that game is if they beat it."

"And that puts us in a tricky situation." Director Kagami said. "We are powerless as is. Besides the 10,000 copies that were distributed, there are no other ways to get into the game to help. And Emu, as it happens, you happen to be one of the 10,000 people who were lucky enough to get their hands on a copy. So you're the only one able to help these people."

"You also happen to have a Bugster in you which could help once you're in the game." Taiga added.

"And thanks to my godly skills, I could have you go in equipped with a Gamer Driver and all your Gashats!" Kuroto exclaimed.

Emu was stunned that they were placing so much faith in him again. "You really think I could save all those people?"

"We know you can Emu." Asuna said. "After all, you are Genius Gamer M!"

A couple days later they had Emu set up in the CR lab just as a normal patient would be, except he was also hooked up to life support since they didn't know how long he would have to be in there. Emu had the Nervegear all set up next to him, of course with some extra wiring provided by Kuroto to allow him to use his Gamer Driver in-game.

"Are you sure you want to do this Emu?" Asuna asked. "Once you go in, there's no coming out until you beat it."
"Yeah… I can't leave all those people trapped in there knowing I could do something. Let's do it."

"Alright Emu," Kuroto interjected. "Good luck."

"Huh, it's funny hearing those words from you. Alright then, Link Start!"

Emu shut his eyes, bracing himself for this new world that he was about to enter.

Emu woke up, eyes snapping open to a bright new world. Aincrad. From what he could tell he was on the first floor in the starting town.

I guess that was to be expected… Emu thought to himself.

He started by opening his inventory to see if he had his Gamer Driver with him, which thankfully he did.

So what's my next move? Try to level up by myself or test my limits and go straight to where people already have cleared to? Emu decided to go to where people cleared to, and proceeded to ask around the town for where to go. After getting a few quizzical looks he got his answer. He started to head to the next floor up, through the dungeon to meet with the so called 'Clearing Group'.

Parad, you should come out now. I might need you to get through this dungeon.

Emu's Bugster, Parad, seperated from Emu, fully forming in this game world.

"Ah it's good to be out again!" Parad exclaimed. "Although this is quite an interesting world. Aincrad, was it?"

"Yeah. This is the first floors dungeon. The only reason I might need your help here is because Kuroto knows my play style a bit too well. He locked away all my Gashat's except Mighty Action X behind EXP walls. Meaning I'll need to level up to use any others." Mighty Action X materialized in his hand, and his Gamer Driver materialized on his waist. "You ready, partner?"

"You know it, Emu." Parad replied.

Emu hit the button on his Gashat, activating it.

Mighty Action- X!

"Henshin!"

Emu placed the Gashat into the Driver, transforming into Kamen Rider Ex-Aid once more.

LET'S GAME! METCHA GAME! MUTCHA GAME! WATCHA NAME? I'M A KAMEN RIDER!

"Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, Action Gamer Level 1!" Emu proclaimed as he sprinted into the dungeon.

"Hmph. I don't even need to transform for this low level trash." Parad sprinted after him into the darkness

A/N: Hey guys I'm back finally. I've been gone a while(mostly due to no ideas/lack of interest in writing), but I got inspired recently and decided to try a new crossover, this one between Ex-Aid and SAO. I also wanted to see how far I've come in writing ability since I stopped writing the other stories.

Chronologically this takes place exactly when SAO arc 1 does, meaning it's been 7 years since the events of Ex-Aid.

I hope you guys enjoy this story, I'll be posting more chapters soon hopefully. This was a relatively short one, but I'm honestly not sure how much longer the following ones will be just due to time constraints. As always, leave any thoughts/suggestions in the comments and I'll see ya next chapter!