Many thanks to treneka for her beta. Again. Any mistakes are mine, not hers. Enjoy.
Points for spotting the references to Optimooses's fanfiction board.
Goku typed in his own name as the gamer name - he saw no harm in it, it wasn't his ID or address or anything. There were hundreds of Goku’s floating around on the net. His latest movie 'Under the Basement' had been quite a hit. The girls in his school loved it, but he wasn't interested. His friends envied him, asking what was wrong with his sixteen year old hormones. He had all his film posters on the wall, from 'Under the Basement' to his first movie at ten years old 'Wait till i'm Big'. His favourite was 'biobot blunder', a film with a biobot best friend making a tiny mistake setting of a chain reaction of dynamic proportions.
On his Commpute®, he was immediately bombarded with welcomes from Goku fans.
Iluvgoku: hiya
Gokufan: we luv goku
gokuishot:he is soo hot. Dun u just wanna run yr hands tro his hair
gookuu: yeah
Goku55: Howd u get his name?i got denied wen i tried
The screen name was reserved for him, but he wasn't about to admit his identity.
Goku: Lucky, I guess
Getting bored of the one-track minds the chatters seemed to have, and their atrocious use of the English language, he switched to the next box, room 35, tapping the Comm®pen impatiently.
Bakabokken: Gotcha.
Wildelamassu: I'll win next time.
Iapetus: I bet on Wildelamassu
Gojyo: who wants to game?
Now this was more like it. Goku attached the holo visor to his headset, forgetting how opaque it was. The red plastic was almost impossible to see through, so Goku pushed the eyepiece up to his forehead. Some people even wore them as accessories now. It had been a present from his co-star Moonstar66. No surname; the man had gotten rid of it to add more mystery to his reputation. The VR was custom made, with an inscription that read, 'To Goku, had gr8 times, frm Moonstar66'.
Dokugakuji: I'm in
Gojyo: Figures
Goku glanced about his room, wincing slightly at the Coca Cola poster with him gulping down the drink thirstily. 200th year anniversary! it screamed tastelessly. Worst decision he had ever made, his friends had made so much fun of him, teasing mercilessly at every billboard, shoving Pepsi at him and asking whether he'd prefer Coke. That was before the Coke-Pepsi merger, the latter company had taken on the other's name. Goku smiled faintly; his peers brought him back to reality when his head started to swell. And, he thought a little ruefully, they had sharp needles to do it.
"Goku... Goku..." a slightly whiny voice moaned "I'm hungry..." it was his skinny little brother, Ma®©. Goku couldn't quite see the point of the ® and ©, put his parents had thought that an unique name would put their second child even further in the entertainment industry. It hadn't worked, but the name had stuck.
Goku rummaged in his drawer (his untidiness was legendary) and found a chocolate bar not past its ‘best by date‘! He was genuinely surprised and passed it over to the ten-year-old mutely. Not before taking a 'tax' though, a large bite with an accompanying blissful smile. The pair’s appetites, too, were legendary, with many directors despairing when all the snacks for the rest of the crew had been eaten.
"Goku..." Oh no. He wasn't satisfied after the food. More demands were forthcoming. Goku gave an inward sigh.
"Can I watch?" the minute version of himself pleaded, "Pretty please?"
"You can't see what I play," Goku explained patiently, "I've told you that before."
"But-" The ultimate weapon was unleashed. The quivering lip with wet eyes. It got him every time.
"Look, I tell you what. I'll record it so you can watch it later, okay?" The brunette hoped Ma®© would notice the desperation in his voice.
"Promise?"
"I promise. Now get outta here ya little squirt." The ten-year-old squealed happily at Goku's promise and skipped contentedly out of the bedroom. It was kind of a pun. Ma®©'s middle name was Squirt, and the two had a private joke; using the phrase like a fond insult from about one hundred years ago. Goku inserted a memory chip into the slot on his headset, and turned back to his PC to see whether he could join any games.
Gojyo: max of 8 ppl
fartherxmas: what about?
Gojyo: Ultimate quest
fartherxmas:nah
Sanzo: I'll play
Good, the game wasn't gone yet. He typed in his affirmative, then clicked on Gojyo's name, disappearing from the chatroom into the private box where they could decide on the rules and characteristics of the people they would play.
Sanzo:hi
Fiftq:asl? (age, sex, location?)
Goku:516, m, mars
Fiftq:g2g hv nic gm
Fiftq's name disappeared off the bar on the right hand side and only he and Sanzo were playing. Dokugakuji's name flashed into it's place a second later. Waiting for the other players, he switched on the Media player and started listening to the latest band, Proboards29. They were actually pretty good, and a friend of a friend knew them. Maybe he would invite them to play a gig at his next party - his producers would always acquiesce to his requests for that sort of thing. He made idle chat with his fellow gamers, asking non-probe questions such as whether they were experienced gamers or not.
He made it a policy to ask non-probe questions, because some chat rooms would kick you out for delving too deeply. And he also hated being asked probe questions himself. What Fiftq had asked could be considered awfully rude, as giving one’s age, gender and home was one of the first steps to identity theft, but it was also impolite not to answer. So he made up ridiculous answers, no one had lived to five hundred and sixteen yet. And he lived on Earth, not Mars. But he would never pass himself off as a girl, there was no need; half of the gamers were boys, half girls. He didn't need to hide his gender.
Sanzo: Where's the game set?
Dokugakuji: Post-war America?
Sanzo: Ancient civilizations have more choice...
Goku liked the idea of an ancient civilization more, so he added his vote to Sanzo's. Four more names flashed in, and finally the hoster (Gojyo) logged in.
Gojyo: So the setting is ancient what?
Hakkai: China?
Gojyo: aff?
Everyone 'aff'ed as Gojyo put it, the shortened form of affirmative. He - as the hoster - typed in the required information and once done, all players were taken to the character creation page.
a/n: For any grammar freaks out there, probe is a bit of internet jargon, not just a mistake.
