Pokémon World Online [Pokémon and Sword Art Online Crossover Fanfiction.]

Side Story: Mute

It was the first thing she noticed upon setting foot in this world, an abnormality- of course, it wasn't going to be the last abnormality discovered. A single icon was underneath her name, depicting a speaker with a line slashed through, a mute status. Was it an error in the system? Or something else? She instantly ruled out an error, she knew how the game worked, that was unlikely.

She opened her mouth, trying to speak, yet the status prevented her, causing a wave of panic to wash over her. After navigating the menus quickly, she noticed that the status effect seemed to have no timer, as if it was permanent, which it most likely was. A thought formed in her mind, what if the creator of this game himself placed this status effect on her, after all, she knew him, she worked with him, she knew a wealth of information about this game, about that tower especially, it was the single part of the game that she helped to create, while the other part was premade, before purchased by that company.

A mass of confusion filled the area, with a cloaked figure appearing in the courtyard. As he spoke, she checked to see if the Log Out button was present, it was exactly what he was talking about anyway. Her eyes widened in shock with the discovery, the log out button was indeed gone. Just perfect! She couldn't speak and she was trapped inside this game, what else could go wrong!

"Kayaba-sensei... Why would you trap thousands of people in this game? Do you understand the consequences that may occur because of this...?" She mouthed, trembling in fear. She had been lied to, horribly lied to. She felt as if she would be equally to blame for this, she assisted with creating the game, after all. Yet it's terrible secret, that had been blown wide open, she was just as in the dark as everyone else was. The status made sense now, it was there to keep that single secret she held, his ultimate creation, as well as main addition to this game.
Aincrad.

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With the Piplup she recieved, she was in little rush to clear the gyms, focusing more on training her Pokemon, as well as figuring out a loophole for the mute status. Within three days, she had only obtained three badges, primarily due to her fear of dying. She was going to survive, yet she wasn't going to rush into things without a plan.
The sudden shaking came so suddenly, that she would have screamed if she could- which she did. The sound escaping from her lips startled her so much that she nearly screamed as a result.
A shaky hand to her throat, she checked her status bar, seeing that the mute status was indeed gone. She screamed once again, not out of shock, but out of happiness. She was so happy, she felt like she was going to cry.

Taking advantage of the fact that she could speak again, she sprinted to the nearest town, which was Hearthome City in the Sinnoh Region, running to the centre of the city, taking a deep breath.

"There is another, massive area to explore in this game! A tower that will appear in the sky called Aincrad! The true exit to the game is at the very top of that tower!" She screamed, pointing upwards as she did so. Without checking her notifications, she had a feeling that it was there, being fairly spot on with her assumption.
"You can't stop me now, Kayaba-sensei." She muttered the last part under her breath, so no one could hear her- she would be the most hated player in the game if people discovered that she helped make this game, after all. Her warning seemed to confuse everyone in the area, except for a single individual, who slowly approached her.

"You... Weren't you that girl who kept pointing at the sky on launch day? I remember you having the mute status. You had prior knowledge of this, didn't you?! You're a beta tester!" He shouted. Her eyes widened in surprise, the crowd falling silent for a moment. Sure, she did help test the game, yet she was worse than a beta tester, she was a programmer. She felt like she had to clear up this particular mistake, despite the cost it would bring...

"No, I'm not, I'm... A programmer, I helped to design this game, namely Aincrad," She explained, bowing her head after she spoke.

"I swear on my life when I say this, I was unaware of the whole death game thing that this game was for, I feel horrible for being apart of it because of it. I'm really, truely, sorry for this. Hate me if you want, hate the other beta testers, but I will say that your hatred is misjudged. If you want to hate someone, hate the one who put this death game into place." After she spoke, she lifted her head up, making her way to the Teleport Gate in front of the Pokemon Centre, opening her menu to read her notifications, before teleporting to Aincrad.

The Programmer's name was- or rather is- Haruka. She felt responsible for everything that had been done, yet she had found her resolve, she was going to clear the game.

A/N: For those who had read my Code Lyoko fanfic, which I might not ever finish due to lack of inspiration, Haruka is a character from that, along with another who, although he didn't appear in the first few chapters, I would have if I continued.
Next chapter is being posted straight after this... Hopefully.