This is one story I know I'll be able to read over and over again, without ever feeling bored. I'm proud to say that I figured out Verdana's identity the moment she mentioned she had a family. Damn, I felt smart after that.

Anyway, this is some really brilliant writing. I really feel it for all of them of the SAO Case Victims Rescue Unit, especially Namiko. Poor girl. When Fuzeki said what happened to her brother, I was tearing up. Either way, this is some brilliant characterization and I'm not even angry with Fuzeki, which is something I normally would be. He really loves his niece a lot and I could see exactly where he was coming from.

Kikuoka's portrayal stood out the most, in my opinion. You caught the vibe he gives off and portrayed it in the light that makes his character somewhat bittersweet. I can't help but love him, but the way he functions is sometimes quite bothering. He should've told Verdana-san about Kirito's idea long before he'd actually gone and returned into the game.

Still, the technical parts, the details... everything was amazing. I'm not exactly qualified to say it, but you made the whole extracting process sound both difficult, possible and plausible. I just wish I understood a bit more of the technical jargon. I know the basics, but most of my English comes from watching TV, reading and school, plus I'm not that well educated when it comes to IT stuff. And I'm actually planning to take the course in University. Meh.

Anyway, personally, I think this was great. A part of me wishes it were longer, but I can't see how. And I loved Kikuoka's line at the end. It's good to know Midori now has a pretty awesome, but also stressful job. :D

Very good story.

However the "tamper-proofing" manufacturing process would never get made that way. It'd be too expensive and too suspiciously paranoid to get past the approval process. After all someone could bang up their NervGear and crack that shell.

OH! Just realized another way. Surge protectors in the emitter gear, that won't let through the kill pulse.
Also, totally bypassing the protected CPU with a NON-Protected CPU.

a very good oneshot.
maybe a rehabilitation of SAO victims piece should follow it?

Ah such a good story, and a well thought out method. I always thought on a different line of attack myself though it would make for a terrible story.

Insert a thin metal sheet between the player and the microwave emitter. At the instant it interferes with the connection it will would also prevent the Nerve gear from harming the player. Also it would be simple to make a small machine to do it for every player at once. Only make for a 500 word story though, and a boring one at that.

Excellent story, very well written, Kayaba's crazy preparedness was written well and the last attempt to stop them was handled very nicely. Thanks for a great story.

Awesome! Kirito's mom just completely derailed every future plotline of SAO!
Stuff Changed in SAO Itself:
- If it's been less than seven months it's doubtful Sugou is in any position to pull any stunts with brainwashing research (though he may still have the technology to attempt experiments later on; possible future complication there since no one will be in any position to stop him).
- Even better, near seven months might still have been enough time for Asuna to develop the spine needed to tell her parents to shove the arranged marriage to Mr. McRape-Pants up their butts.
- Sachi is definitely alive as she died on June 22nd and everyone became trapped on November 6th (near seven months means they avoided the date of her death by just a few weeks; in fact, going by the dates, Kirito has been a member of the Black Cats of the Full Moon for about a month by the time they freed him).
- Kirito never meets Silica or Lisbeth. Sorry Team "More DeBan"!
- Laughing Coffin is never formed.

Changes Made to the Rest of the Timeline:
- No Fairy Dance means "The Seed" isn't released, which means no GGO, Mother's Rosary, or Alicization (well, Alicization's plot might still happen, but it'll probably be years, if not decades, later without The Seed for the military to build their virtual world off of).

Kirito will probably date Sachi in real life, hang out with the rest of the Black Cats in his spare time, and grow up to work with computers. Asuna will hopefully grow up to be more than capable of running her father's company or just seeking her own way in the world. Without The Seed being released, Kayaba will likely remain a 'ghost in the machine' for the rest of his days, even if Alfheim Online still gets made.

It'd be interesting to see a one-shot based on your own interpretations of how this changes the rest of the timeline.

Really looking forward to checking out Fairy Dance of Death now!

"Actually," Kikuoka said, "He volunteered.

See there's this thing called parental consent and even then it might not be legal if she had said yes.

It's a nice AU; I actually expected failure and player death, along with Verdana being Midori to be revealed at the end.

Hey, Catsy,

I read this a week or so ago, when it came out, but I've been swamped.

I just wanted to say that this was a brilliant piece of writing and I really enjoyed it. I'm glad to see you're writing again.

Interesting story! I enjoyed the bit of drama with Fuzeki and the Microwave towers. It was interesting to have Midori be the hero here.

Looking forward to more FDD.

Great victory to the SAO rescuers!

This is a very fun and well written story. I enjoy just how much detail you went into in the how's and why's of getting into the nerve gear getting it off, the problems with Kayaba and all his various security arangements.

Good stuff.

Very, very neat piece.

I like.

Very interesting AU. It was very enthralling and I couldn't get enough of it until the end. I also liked how you left Kayaba's death ambiguous. Made the extraction teams situation that much more believable.

Great one-shot! As always, it's a pleasure reading your work :)

-EV

Marvelously done. Great to see someone who knows how computers work write something like this. ;)

It's a pity about Yui but, well, shut up and multiply. Though if you wanted to, you could have had things go very wrong due to the presence of human-level AGI in that game.

Well. I suppose you still could.