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

Chapter 9: Programmer

We trained within the outskirts of the Beginning City for a few hours, managing to get our levels up to level three, yet I couldn't help but wonder how much training we would need to survive in this world, I suppose I'll just have to train harder.

As we entered the city once again, there was something that seemed to catch my eye, an argument. I seemed to frown a little, slowly grasping just what was happening. It was a group of players, about four or five, against a single person, one who seemed to be rather startled, panicked.
Sighing, I took a few steps forward, getting closer to the argument, growing even more curious as to what was going on.

"You... You're worse than a beta tester! I bet you knew that we were all going to get trapped inside this game!" Someone shouted in the crowd.

"N-No! I swear, I knew nothing about it! The only thing I knew about was this place!" She exclaimed, slowly taking a step backwards. As the fight escalated, I decided that it was time to step in. Forming fists with my hands, I marched right over to the group, placing myself in between the girl and the others.

"I think I've seen enough of this, how about you guys just shut up and leave this girl alone. Can't you see how frightened she is? I don't care if she's a beta tester or whatever else, you're bullying her and that's not on." I muttered. They stopped shouting for a few moments, surprised with my interruption, yet it seemed that I only made it worse.

"And who the hell are you?! Why should we listen to you?!" One of them shouted, causing me to scowl a little in anger. Just as I reached for my sword, prepared to lash out at them, someone seemed to suddenly jump into the argument, armed with a sword slightly larger than my own, of course, I could tell it was a one-handed sword, instead of two-handed.

"I'd suggest that you stop harassing my friend, now." He muttered, glaring at the group. I could hear the girl behind me move a little, did she know this guy?

"W-Wait a second, you're that guy... The first person to clear all the gyms in Kalos, within a matter of hours! W-We're incredibly sorry, we'll leave right away!" One of them exclaimed, instantly turning around to push the others away. I let out a sigh of relief, hearing Hiro make his way over to me. I turned around to face the girl, I was pretty worried about her, since, after all, she seemed to be younger than me.

"Are you alright?" I asked. She nodded a little, a slight smile forming.

"Yes, thank you." She responded.

"...What exactly were those idiots screaming about? They said something about you... Being worse than a Beta Tester, which is something I find a little idiotic. I don't see how a Beta Tester would be bad, but anyway." I muttered, sighing a little. I guess, with people being rather uneasy with the situation we were all in, they'd probably blame anyone and everyone for it.

"Um, I don't really... Do you think we could go somewhere private to talk? I'd rather not have more people screaming at me, I kinda have this feeling... That you won't do that too." She explained.

As I nodded in agreement, the four of us made our way to a small inn within the starting city, which she showed us to, apparently it was the cheapest and best inn on the 1st floor of this tower, according to her. Paying for a small room, recieving the key for it, we stepped inside. The room held a single bed, as well as a table with two chairs. There was a bookcase in one corner, with a chest of drawers next to it. Cosy was the single word I could think of to explain it.

"Okay... How do I explain this... I'm sure you two have heard of the original creators of this game, right?" She asked, taking a seat on the bed. Myself and Hiro took the two seats, while the girl's friend sat next to her.

"Original creators? Wasn't it Argus who made the game? No, wait. They purchased it from someone, another company, one that didn't have the funds, nor technology, to achieve a VR game of this level. Lacking those things, they handed it over to another company, Argus. Is that right?" I asked. She nodded a little, placing her hands in her lap.

"Yeah, that's it. When Argus purchased the original game, it was still in an incomplete state, most of the regions hadn't been finished. They invited several people to help make the regions, then numerous others were hired to build the second part of the game, this tower known as Aincrad, myself being one of them." She explained.

"Ah, I see... It was originally by Nintendo, but then Argus purchased it, I think I remember hearing of it... No, I remember seeing both names on the game box, yet I really only payed attention to the first." I muttered.

"But... Wait, you've gotta be younger than us, how old are you?" Hiro asked.

"Thirteen, but that's beside the point." She explained.

"A programmer for a video game at thirteen? Wow, that's amazing!" I exclaimed, unintentionally raising my voice. I covered my mouth, sliding down my seat in embarassment.

"Anyway, since I assisted with creating this portion of the game, I remember a good majority of the levels I assisted with, however, the single main head of the project, he was the only one who worked with designing the final level, even I don't know what's up there..." She explained.

"As we both worked with testing the game, neither of us have gotten even close to the final level, but then again, Aincrad was unacessible to us, although she had told me of its existance. The same goes for the rest of the beta testers, they never got access, they've probably gone into hiding, 'cause of all the hate they're probably recieving. Sheesh, their anger is misjudged..." Her friend explained. I listened to what the duo had been saying, nodding every so often. The fact that she helped make this game, I wasn't particularly angry with her, as I saw no need to me. What did bother me, however, was who this main creator person was.

"I think I understand what's going on... If I may ask, what are your names? My name's Amika, this is Hiro." I explained.

"Oh, sorry. I'm Haruka and this is Cayden. It's nice to meet someone who isn't screaming at me so much for no valid reason..." Haruka explained. A thought came to mind, perhaps if we all banded together, it would be easier for this game to be cleared, however, with so much distrust, I doubted that such a thing would happen. But then again, there was no harm in trying.