Episode 1: A new Day, A new student

Aincrad walked through the gates of his school, day one as usual for ever year, but this year was special; it was his first day at college. Much like a high school, this college was set around the basic curriculum; so it would prove to be easy for him. Aincrad Excelled in all his classes throughout high school and even excelled in the entrance Exam for the college. As he walked up to the building, he looked up to see a shadow that appeared to be looking from the rooftop of the school, looking for someone or something in particular.

Aincrad stepped through the sliding front doors that led to the main common room, or lounge in a proper sense of the term. There were several students speaking incoherently to one another, others listening to music as they studied or played games upon the computer consoles within the left of the building. There sat a woman who seemed to be managing the front desk, a scrawny lady with red, curled hair and a thin pair of glasses rested upon her nose as she looked upon the computer screen and typed ferociously onto the keyboard. He lazily approached her as she continued to type.

Instantly she stopped and clicked the mouse once only to smile and greet him with a connection of the eyes.

"good morning" she greeted him with a sweet voice and smile.
Clearing his throat Aincrad responded and looked around before responding back and pulling out an earphone from his right ear; music blaring out loudly. "Where is the Nuclear Engineering department?" He asked bluntly.
She looked astounded and smiled, responded "one moment please" as she began to type quickly only to stop several moments later and pull out a pen and paper and jotted down a set of instructions for him to get to his class with time to spare. Holding out the paper, she smiled and looked up, waiting for him to grab the paper. Grabbing the paper, he smiled and winked at her as he put the earphone back into his ear and turn to walk to his class.

Several minutes Later...

Approaching his classroom door, he walked in to the class room and looked with awe as he looked around to see nuclear reactors and lab testing tables throughout the classroom. Behind a set of windows sat a testing room, along with computers that lined up across the end of the classroom. The only student that sat in the classroom was a girl, quiet and complaisant as she sat reading a book in her lonesome. Raising his hand, he greeted her.

Today was the first day for another young man as well, Arthur, though he preferred Art, took his first steps up the long pathway from the gates to the campus; he was a tad anxious but managed to keep a calm outward appearance. Art was used to school, in fact academics were one of his strongest points, what was bothering him was the though of walking in and having to deal with people again after taking a long break from school to pursue a few personal goals.

As he approached the front entrance he hesitated for a second before opting to check a sign and make his way to the engineering building on his own. There were only a few other students headed to the classes this early and most of them were busy chatting with one another so they didn't bother him much.

After a few minutes of walking he managed to locate the building without too much trouble; however, once inside the signs became much less straightforward, he regretted not double checking what room number he needed to find but his pride wouldn't allow him to go back now. He wander the floors for several minutes trying to distinguish which room he was supposed to be in from the others, but most looked the same and almost all of the doors were still locked.

After turning a corner he noticed a door that was already open, he walked over and peered inside only to be greeted with the sight of a bright white head of hair, the room was clearly not what he was looking for based on the equipment so he gathered his spirit and asked,

"Excuse me but might you be able to point me to the computer engineering room"

Aincrad looked behind him to hear a voice speaking outward to him. He gave a light smile as he walked over and held out his hand; waiting for him to shake it, only to withdraw and asking what the man's question was again.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat your question?" he asked again in respect so he could help before hearing the girl speak.
"Its down the hall, next door to the left, you will be in the right classroom, correct young Mr. Art?" She smiled as Aincrad gave her a sour look at her response.

On her first day at her new school, Rebecca got to the campus early and found her classroom easily, a Nuclear Engineering class. She sat at a desk in the middle of the classroom and pulled out one of her textbooks, the one for that class. She sat reading for a while before a boy came in and waved at her. She looked at him, adjusting her glasses as another boy approached the door.

She smiled sardonically at the white haired boy, then said, "Hi, I'm Rebecca."

Turning around, Aincrad smiled as he introduced himself.
"I'm Aincrad, or Ain, up to you; btw, if you don't mind me analyzing, aren't you a little young to be in this class or even at this school?" he spoke outward in his analysis as he examined Rebecca up and down like a vulture examining its next prey. He turned around quickly looking at his shoulder to see if the younger guy was there.

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "I'm a," she did quotey fingers, "genius, so they sent me here to study all different types of engineering and stuff, they say I'm a prodigy. All I know is it's interesting. That's the only reason I agreed to come, engineering is cool." She smiled at him. "I hope that answers your question..."

Looking quite taken aback Art managed to stammer, "N-Nice to meet you um I'm Art... well you just said that um..." Gaining some of his composure he finished, "Thank you miss Rebecca, and um... Ain was it? Thank you for trying I suppose."

He chuckles as he puts his earbuds out of his ears and smiled while he placed a bag upon a set closest to him. "As I stated, no offense ment, just was inquiring about the ability that you had to be in a school for basic classes as well as combat tactics." He smiled as he sat down and crossed his feat upon a desk, moving a keyboard away from him.

"Right..." Rebecca looked back down to her textbook, putting her feet up on her desk and leaning back precariously in her chair.

"I suppose I should get to class then..." Thanks for the help, Art leaves, and walks to the next door to the left, tries it only to find it locked. He lets out a heavy sigh and walks back over to the others, "The door was locked... How much longer till classes start?"

'I wonder what text she is reading' Aincrad thought to himself as he yawned and looked at the door, than his watch as he sat up and walked over to the mainframe computer and started it up as a large bullet proof glass was revealed from behind the steel shield that arose, causing a loud noise to sound off in the room.
"hmm" he said as he walked over and looked at the nuclear reactor that sat at the bottom in a seperate room.
"they expect us to work on something that could be fatal, huh?," he spoke outwardly, "sounds like fun." he smirked.

Aincrad looked back "They don't start till noon, and its still roughly 9:30." He smiled. "so looks like you're stuck with us for a while longer."

"Pff, fatal. All you have to do is," Rebecca goes off on a schpeal about nuclear things and how they work, and then looks up at Art. "He's right. Why not come sit?" She closes her textbook and puts it away, then waves her hand and a pathway forms through the middle of the desks as they scrape apart, opening in front of her.

He sighs heavily again... "Nothing else to do I suppose, and why argue with a psychic teenager" He walks into the room, ignoring the path Rebecca made and takes a seat in the back corner next to the window. After a few moments of quiet he says "So you two are both into this Nuclear stuff?"

Rebecca shrugs. "Only because the epitomal 'they' told me to come and do it..."

Aincrad chuckles as he walks over to a desk across from him.
"Its not so much as i'm into it, its more It was the hardest class I could find." He smiled as he leaned back on the chair.
"I would've done military arts, but I'm not into being told what to do when I can learn it my self, I am more of a leader of a single wolf pack than with a group of mindless goblins, ya know?" He laughed at his own joke.

Rebecca snorts at Aincrad's comment.

Looking over at rebecca he smiles as he hears her snort at the comment.
"think its stupid?" Aincrad smirks as he looks at ms. knowitall.

"Ah, makes sense I suppose... I went with computers for a similar reason, and Rebecca, am I to assume "them" is your parents?"

"Wolves travel in packs of three to ten. A single wolf would die on its own. A bear or a fox would be a better example. That's all." She smirks back at Aincrad, then turns to Art. "My parents, the government, potential employers. Mostly I think my parents just went along with it to get me out of the house... I don't go out much." She smiles contentedly at him.

Aincrad yawns as he stretches.
"Becky, I don't care if I'm a bear, fox, wolf, or even the president; I like being on my own in projects; not being ordered like a robot." He said as he stood up and took out two handles that resembled sword handles without the blade.
"I'm going to the practice ring, anyone wanna join?" He smirked confidentially.

Rebecca's lip twitches when he calls her 'Becky', and she says, "I prefer Rebecca" icily. Then she seems to consider, and shrugs, saying, "Sure, why not?" and gets up, shouldering her bag.

He looks over to Rebecca, "Try making some choices on your own it makes me a little bit sick to see intelligence like yours going to waste.' And Ain I don't really care what you are, I do agree with you on not wanting to be led." After thinking for a moment Art stands, "and yes I do think some exercise would help pass the time"

As Rebecca begins to walk out the door, she turns back to look at Art. "I do make my own choices, when I can. But remember, I'm fifteen. I can't even drive. It's kind of hard to be independent with your mom checking up on you every twenty minutes and asking if you need a ride..."