Disclaimer: I don't own the movie Gamer.

Author's note: I wanted to write Simon and I didn't want to have to use some lame OC to do it. So I stuck to cannon and the movie script and just went into his thoughts a bit more. This fic is completely true to the movie (except the epilogue).

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What It Takes to be a Gamer

Prologue

~.~

Simon liked to play video games. You would think that that didn't make him very different from the rest of the stay-at-home teens with wealthy parents in the world and up until a few months ago you'd be right. Slayers; Ken Castle's latest innovation and the world's first shooter game with full-scale flesh and blood human beings. Basically cons on death row volunteered as icons whose motor controls are operated by players or 'gamers' and if they made it through thirty battles they'd be set free, non-combat icons (basically living props) only needed to make it through one. It didn't make much of a difference for them, the chances of success were so little that they're as good as dead whether they participated or not but it created a whole new world of gaming possibilities- one that people like Simon were eager to explore.

He chose his avatar wisely, having a wide range of selection due to the considerable amount of money at his disposal, and that choice has been well reflected ever since. He had a gut instinct about Kable, and the high price tag hinted at good capability. When he got his slayer through ten consecutive games alive, he became world famous overnight. The press attention, the girls throwing themselves at him and all the fans gave him a taste of what the good life felt like. It was the best thing that ever happened to him, it was kind of cool how through Kable he was one of the most popular people in the world. Everyone was rooting for him every session. Even his father was proud of him!

That was when he proved he was different. He was Simon, not a no-name rich kid but the gamer who played Kable. He was the best in the game and that wasn't all. He was determined to be the first one to win the whole damn thing and go down in history for doing it. That way, even after he didn't have Kable anymore, no one would be forgetting him.

He didn't have many hobbies; he surfed the net, bought what he liked, ate nut-butter and grape jelly sandwiches (with no crust) and played Slayers. He liked talking to cool people but didn't really have any close friends. The fact that he preferred to be alone in his room with his tech rather than at a play-date with some snobby kids had something to do with it. Besides after he got famous, people only talked to him because of Slayers or to flirt with him. That made it kind of hard to find real friends but Simon never really cared about that. Besides it was entertaining how people tried to get his attention or buy Kable from him.

Before the game came along, he just wanted to have a good time. Now he wanted to win, badly. He could never live it down if he got this far to end up with nothing. Twenty eight battles- it was un-freaking-believable until he had made it happen. All he had to do was keep his cool and he could do this. He could achieve the 'impossible' and after he did, it'd be the happiest moment of his life. There'd be nothing left to prove.

No one would question that Simon Silverton was the world's greatest gamer. That would be his legacy.

~.~

TBC

~Terra banks