Mikoto stood in the sky.. clouds scattered around her as she watched giant floating castle of Aincrad.

Next to her, stood Kayaba Akihiko.

"By the way.." said Kayaba. "Congratulations for beating Sword Art Online."

Suddenly, the giant floating castle opened up a massive mouth filled with rows of shark teeth. It roared at Mikoto before chomping her up, and swallowing her..

Mikoto woke with a start, sweating and shivering.

"You okay?" Sinon sat next to Mikoto in the swaying bumpy carriage, stroking Mikoto's head with gentle concern.

"N-Nightmare." Mikoto said. "It's the same one every time. Aincrad comes alive and then swallows me. I've been having the same dream for over a year now.. you and Kuroko know that.."

"Right." said Sinon. "But.. sometimes you wouldn't have the nightmare.. like that time we woke up so excited to play DSO (Dead Space Online). And I'd be so happy.."

"As I remember, you woke me up." said Mikoto. "Sorry Sinon.. I wish the nightmare would go away.. but.."

"Don't be sorry.." said Sinon, giving Mikoto a reassuring hug. "Some hurts don't go away."

"Or maybe it isn't a hurt." Nox slunk over, her paws making no sound. "I have dwelled in your mind for a while now Mikoto.. and I've experienced the same nightmare.. perhaps it is more then a dream.."

"What do you mean?" Mikoto asked.

"Your heart and old hurts from SAO might have not completely gone away." said Nox. "But you came to terms with most of your demons upon meeting Yui and defeating Death Gun. These dreams shouldn't continue.. then there's the fact that you momentarily had the same dream within Death Gun Online which wasn't one of the Marker Hallucinations created by the game."

"It's a bit early to start discussing this." said Sinon hurriedly.

"I know you don't want your cousin hurt." said Nox. "But the sooner we get this mystery out of the way, the better. Besides.. it's not like you haven't been having similar dreams..."

"What!?" said Mikoto. "Nee-chan.. you've been having nightmares?"

Sinon glared at Nox. "How did you find out?"

"I wander around Zattaria sometimes, and I snuck into your room to look for some of those fried bean buns you had leftover." said Nox. "Even Merged Viros have the ability to eat and feel satisfied. Anyways, you talk in your sleep."

"I didn't want you to worry." said Sinon, directing her attention back to Mikoto. "I don't remember much of the dream to be honest.. it's the same one every time.. I'm fighting a Viros..I don't remember what he's called.. but he's got this terrifying red eye. I'm.. angry because.. because he says you're dead. And it ends in me throwing down a plasma grenade.. and ... I wake up.."

"It's not going to happen." said Mikoto. "After all, there are no plasma grenades in the Underworld.."

"I know it's not real." said Sinon. "But still, I'm scared for you... for Kirito.. for all of us.. none of us are sure about what this Underworld place really is.. or if we're ever going to get back home.."

"We will." said Mikoto.

Kirito sat up, yawning as Eugeo did the same, rubbing his eyes.

"Are we there yet?" said Kirito groggily. "I barely got any sleep with all this bumping around.

"My.. back.." Eugeo groaned. "How did you girls sleep?"

"Well.. dreams aside.. we did fine." said Sinon. "Me and Imouto-chan used to go overnight hiking near Kyoto when Summer Break was going on and we were visiting Auntie Misuzu ." (Mikoto's mother.)

"Dreams aside?" said Kirito. "Did one of you have a nightmare? Wait.. it was the Aincrad eating you nightmare wasn't it?"

"Yeah.." Mikoto muttered.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"NO TIME TO TALK ABOUT ANYTHING!!" Yuniko pushed her head through the front curtain of the carriage. "We're making a nice stop for some food and fun!!"

"Say.." said Mikoto. "You were Scarlet Rain for around 3 hours last night as you drove.. how did you do that?"

"Oh that?" said Yuniko. "That's just Symbiont Half form.. it's a lesser version of Symbiont Assault where you enter your form, only with part of your powers, with the bonus of staying in the form for hours on end. See, I can't summon my Immobile Fortress, but I still got some of my other abilities.. like my gun.. "

"Another quick question." Mikoto said. "Why are you in a swimsuit?"

Yuniko was wearing a pink striped two piece bathing suit, she grinned cutely and pulled open the curtain to the carriage to reveal they had stopped at the beach of a large lake.

Yuuki was already splashing around in the water, wearing a bathing suit as well. "Hey sleepy heads! What are you waiting for!?"

"Well I figured since it was a 3 day journey and all, we might as well stop some place fun.." said Yuniko. "I've got swimwear in the back.."

"You planned on stopping at the beach?" said Nox. "Leave it to you to actually plan on having fun during an investigation quest."

"I see no harm in refreshing one's self in water and sun." said Tempo from where he sat on Yuniko's shoulder.

Eugeo shrugged and grinned. "Well, I'll get a fire going and get us some food."

"I'll find the grub to actually put on the fire." said Kirito, raising a hand.

"And I'll help!" said Mikoto. "Say Sinon, can I borrow your bow?"

"Knock yourself out."

Soon, Mikoto and Sinon were splashing around in the water of the beach laughing along with Yuniko and Yuuki as Eugeo tended to some meat on a makeshift grill over a fire, meat that Mikoto and Kirito had retrieved on a short hunt.

Kirito in the meantime was sitting on a rocky ledge with his fishing pole, waiting patiently for a bite.

"God Damn it Mclane!" Sinon shouted. "You are out of order!"

Mikoto pretended to put on the surly glare of a fictional police officier. "Sorry chief! But I need to follow my gut and make four or maybe five unneeded sequels which were nowhere near as good as the first Die Hard!! I'm GOING FOR IT!!"

Mikoto imitated blowing up, throwing her hands out and making a sound effect as she fell into the water laughing!"

"It's funny because it's true!!" said Yuuki, laughing along with her friends.

"Hey!! Mule!!" said Yuniko. "Go ask the boys if the food is ready yet!"

Mikoto glared a bit at Yuniko. "Do you really have to be like that now?"

"A student doesn't question her master!! Now! Go!" said Yuniko.

Apparently they didn't have to go ask, because Eugeo waved at everyone. "Hey! Grub's done!!"

It took a little bit of doing to get Kirito to abandon his currently unfruitful fishing session, but before long, everyone was eating some delicious grilled meat on the sandy shores.

"So." said Mikoto. "How are we going to begin this investigation anyways? We need some sort of plan here if we're not going to end up walking straight into a trap."

"Alright.. here's what we do!" said Yuniko. "We walk straight in.. knock on their door.. and say.. Hello.. and Good Bye.. then we blow them up.."

Everyone stared at Yuniko.

"Aaahhhh.. no." said Kirito. "First of all, we don't know what we're dealing with, secondly we don't have dynamite... we have swords, a bow, and maybe a gun.."

"Correction, I'll blow em up with my fortress, you cheer me on." said Yuniko.

"We're investigating, not blowing up a fort." said Sinon.

"Doesn't mean we can't try." said Yuniko.

"It's in the northern mountains." said Eugeo readily. "So we know we will probably have plenty of cover, but at the same time we might encounter some monsters from the Dark Territory if we're not careful. Mikoto-chan, you're the fastest out of all of us, you think you can go in without being seen?"

"Go in quickly.. yes.. without being seen, I don't know." said Mikoto uneasily. "It would depend on what we're dealing with."

Everybody frowned, not sure on how to proceed.

That's when they heard the sound of voices. The two men wearing dark hoods and cloaks trekked out of the forest from the direction of where the carriage and horses were parked, carrying armfuls of supplies and some of the team's weapons.

"Awe man, just wait till the bosses see these Divine Intruments we managed to snag." said one of the guys.

"Yeah, it's going to be so freaking good!"

The men then stopped dead when they saw the three girls and two guys sitting around a fire eating grilled meat.. all of them wearing swimsuits..

"I-Is that my sword!?" Mikoto raged.

"Oh crap!!" said one of the men. "RUN!!"

The men attempted to run away, carrying the stolen goods with them. But Mikoto, Kirito, Eugeo and Yuuki caught up with them, easily outpacing them.

The men dropped the goods and each picked a sword from the things they had stolen. One of them took Mikoto's Master Sword, the other took Kirito's black sword.

"YAAHHH!!" The two of them activated sword combos and came launching themselves at the friends.

As they scattered, Yuuki gritted her teeth. "They were able to activate combos on high priority weapons!! They aren't ordinary thieves!!"

"This isn't good!!" Eugeo shouted as a sword came dangerously close to slicing his head off. "We're unarmed.

"Leave it to me!" Mikoto growled, electricity rippling out of her body, I'll take care of these posers!

Suddenly, Mikoto tripped over a rock behind her while she was leaping back, and ended up falling on her bottom.

"GOT YOU!!" The man using Mikoto's Master Sword charged at her, slicing the blade down at her head.

Suddenly the blade stopped midair, becoming stationary and refusing to finish it's blow.

"WHAT THE HECK!!?" The man roared. "Why.. won't.. it.. BUDGE!?"

The sword wrenched itself out of the man's head and flung itself at the man's head, it's hilt smacking the thief straight between the eyes.. knocking him into the sand as Mikoto caught her blade.

"Wow." said Mikoto in amazement. "H-how did that happen!?"

Mikoto parried a blow from the other man and easily disarmed him, grabbing the black blade and throwing it to Kirito

Kirito also caught his black sword and grinned. "Well well well.. the tables have turned.. haven't they?"

"RUN!!" The men again attempted to run away.

"Aw jeez." said Mikoto. "They never learn.. Kirito.. you want this one?"

"Sure." said Kirito.

Kirito leapt up and jumped off a tree, propelling himself from the tree and shoulder ramming one man, slamming him down before slamming the flat of his blade right into the other guy's head and sending him flying into the sand.

"And you're done.." said Kirito.

"Wh-whoah!!" said one of the men. "L-look.. we're just a bunch of hoodlum thieves.. "

"Doubt it.." said Nox, slinking up next to Mikoto's ankles. "Remember.. the Taboo Index program doesn't allow Fluctlights to physically break the law.. either these two are players, or they were freed.."

"I think I can make a guess." said Kirito pointing his sword at the Laughing Coffin guild marks on the side of each of the men's faces.

Mikoto stabbed her sword into the ground and used both hands to grab the collar of one of the first men's clothes, pulling him close. "What the hell are you doing in these parts!? Start talking!!"

"Look.. listen girl, you scare me, I'll admit." said the guy. "But honestly, our boss scares us way more."

"Really?" said Mikoto, sparks running through her hair. "Let me try and change your mind.."

"Y-you're her aren't you?" said the guy. "The Railgun... heheheheh.. Alright.. you want to know why we were out here? Well.. we were looking for you.."

"Looking for her!?" said Sinon, walking over and grabbing the man away from Mikoto, looking unusually furious. "Why!? What about her is so special to you!?"

"Hell if I know." said the man. "We were just told to find her, we haven't the slightest clue what we're supposed to do wh-.. agggh.. ahh.."

The man began to sweat profusely, his eyes bulging.. so did the other man..

"Wh-what the heck is up with you!?" said Sinon.

"That man.. he's rigged with some sort of triggered detonation program!!" Tempo exclaimed.

"SINON NO!!!" Mikoto screamed pushing her cousin away right as the man turned into purple liquid, splashing all over Mikoto.

Mikoto screamed as the other man turned into liquid and sank into the ground. She fell down, convulsing in pain.

"What's happened!?" Sinon yelled.

Eugeo ran over and conjured up a Stacia Window on Mikoto. "Oh no.. no. oh no.. this is really bad! She's been poisoned, and very seriously too!!"

"W-we need something to cure it fast!" said Kirito. "How close is the nearest town!!?"

"A few hours by foot!" said Yuuki, who had already retrieved her weapon and armor and was quickly getting dressed. "But if I fly I can get there in seconds!"

As everyone there continued to talk frantically, Mikoto could slowly feel herself losing all rhyme or reason in her head.

She felt Yuuki holding her in her arms as she rose to the air.. and soon, she blacked out...

__________________________

New Program Initiated: Code 110780-67-000987456902. Priority, 7000.

Program: Temporal Fracture..

Username: Railgun

Receiving Username: Silver Crow.

Temporal Fracture uploaded: 10 %

40%

80%

98%

100 %

Temporary mind travel complete

________________________

Haruyuki Arita awoke from his bed with a yawn.. once more, as usual, his mother wasn't home.. not that she ever was home. She never really cared about Haru much, something which Haru was used to.

Haru was a short pudgy boy in appearance, he would probably be defined as overweight if he wasn't already short and small for his age. The appearance of every person who would definitely be bullied.

He fidgeted with the device around his neck for a minute. A Neuro Linker.. a collar-like device that allowed one's mind to link with the internet, plus it allowed one to Full Dive from any location in the world, or at least from any place that allowed a wireless uplink.

Haru waved a hand in front of himself, and several holographic computer windows appeared in front of him.

He pressed a few options.. and then saw in the corner of his vision that he had a new message.

Haru read the message.

"Get on your computer.. speak to nobody... signed, Viros of Mystery."

Haru frowned. That was a weird username. He looked around, feeling a little forboding about the message. People rarely used computers nowadays.. not since the Neurolinker was invented.

Haru pulled out a laptop from under his bed, it looked extremely dusty, as if it hadn't been used in ages. He booted it.. and as soon as he connected to the internet... the screen turned black.. and numbers and random segments of code and data began flitting across the screen.

A tentative voice spoke out.. the voice of a girl.. sounding scared and confused. "W-who are you? Where am I?"

Haru blinked with surprise. Was this some sort of recording? Some sort of virus?

"H-hey! Why aren't you answering me!?" said the voice. "Come on.. er.. you.. I don't know who you are.. but.. seriously!! HEY! C-can you hear me!? Is this just a dream!?"

"Are you talking to me?" Haru said, still believing it to be a recording, and just musing to himself.

"Yes!! Thank goodness you CAN hear me!"

Haru's jaw dropped. "Wh-whoah! Okay! Who the heck are you!? And how did you get into my laptop!? This thing is old!"

"I-I'm on your laptop?" said the voice. "L-listen.. all I know is one moment I was poisoned, and then I passed out.. now I can't feel my arms, my legs, heck I can't feel my body, all I can do is stare at you from.. er.. wherever I'm staring at you from!"

Haru took a hand mirror from his bedside table and pointed it at his computer. "Does this tell you anything?"

"Oh my gosh.." the girl's voice cried out. "DID I TURN INTO A LAPTOP!? Wait.. or did my avatar's Fluctlight somehow transfer to another device?... hmmm.. but how? Oh.. I'm Mikoto Misaka by the way.. and usually I look more human then this.."

"Haruyuki Arita." said Haru. "It's nice to meet you Misaka-san... wait.. Misaka, why does that name sound familiar?"

"I'm a Level 5 Esper from Academy City." said Mikoto. "Maybe you've heard of me?"

"Oh!" said Haru. "Yeah.. now that I think on it more, that sounds even more familiar now. But I don't remember much.. there are plenty of Level 5s in Academy City.. 8 I think."

"No.. I'm pretty sure it's just 7 if you include me.." said Mikoto.

"Right.." said Haru. "Okay. So.. you don't know how your mind ended up in my computer? Maybe it's a full dive gone wrong?"

"You don't know the half of it!" said Mikoto. "Meeting you.. however odd it might be.. might be the best thing that's ever happened. Listen.. as far as I know, me and my friends Kazuto Kirigaya and Shino Asada are being kept in a special Full Dive device called a Soul Translator to have our minds repaired after an accident. I expect that even with the short time we've been gone IRL, I know for a fact that my friends are going to be extremely worried about us.."

"They don't know what happened to you?" said Haru. "Wow, what kind of accident was it?"

"It's complicated. " said Mikoto. "I was just wondering if you can help me find my friends."

Haru nodded. "Well.. you don't seem to be any kind of Malware.. or this would be unusually elaborate for an AI design. Okay.. hold on a sec.."

Haru jumped off his bed and shuffled around in his drawers, before pulling out a flash drive-like device and plugging it into the USB of his computer. "This should allow the computer to remain on the World Net.. so I don't lose you.."

"Y-you're taking me with you?"

"Well if you're stuck in a computer.. then it would be kind of stupid to leave you alone all by yourself to stare at the wall." said Haru.

"Th-thank you Arita-san." said Mikoto. "You're kind to be helping a strange disembodied voice on a laptop.."

Haru picked up the laptop and closed it, "Can you still see?"

"Yes.. I think I can see through all the web cams on the computer.."

"That's good." said Haru. "Alright.. we're in Tokyo right now.. just direct me where I need to go, and we'll be finding your friends in no time."

___________________

"H...Haru...yuki.. arita.." Mikoto murmured in her sleep as a young nun from the Axiom church examined her on the bed.

"She's cold.." said the nun. "I'll use some Sacred Arts to create some potions to slow the progress of the posion. But if we're going to cure her.. we'll need a certain element from the mountains up north.."

Yuuki nodded. "Right.. can you give me the name of the element? I'll let my friends know when they get here shortly."

The nun bowed to Yuuki. "I shall retrieve the list. It shouldn't be too difficult, the element is rare, but it is highly exposed and easy to spot, and only required in small quantities."

As the nun walked off, Yuuki clutched Mikoto's hand. "Just hold on Mikoto-sempai. You're going to be fine..."