The wind howled throughout the streets of downtown Tampa as the sun finally retreated under the horizon, shrouding the shining city in darkness. Rain assaulted those brave enough to leave their dwellings as the occasional car zoomed across the unusually empty streets.
For anyone else, going out in the rain alone at night would have been unwise. You could get mugged, accidentally run over by a drunk driver, or even catch a particularly strong cold that could keep you from playing Fortnite. Truly horrendous outcomes that anyone in their right mind would try to avoid at all costs.
For Jmak, however, it was worth the risk.
He had travelled far to reach his destination. Through mud, he crawled, and through hardship, he endured. His unwavering fortitude pushing through even the toughest of obstacles in order for him to achieve his lifelong goal. From the day he was born, he knew what his meaning on this Earth. Many ridiculed him, believing his dreams to be impossible. They talked down to him and mocked him for it, telling him to give up, To realize that what he was chasing was but a mere impossibility. He did admit that the odds were against him from the start, but that never stopped him, and it never will.
Especially now that he was so close.
Jmak gritted his teeth as he pushed against the combined forces of the wind and the rain. His trench coat completely soaked and his body shivering from the cold. It his calculations had been correct, the street up ahead should be his final destination.
Charlie's house.
'Charlie...' Jmak thought's drifted to the absolute unit of a man. He had met him long ago, and ever since he had grown to call him his friend. At first, Jmak wasn't quite sure if Charlie was the one. The rather... Strange nature of the man eluded him sometimes. From an edgy teen in high school to a mysterious anime man in college, he'd seen most phases Charlie had to offer. It wasn't until a few years ago that he realized that he was the chosen one.
On December 7th, 2016, Charlie created something beyond the scope of a normal Human. Something that transcended all eleven dimensions and shattered the very macrocosm they resided in and left all of Humanity in awe.
The Official Podcast.
Jmak was adamant at first, refusing to believe that it would be this easy for him to finally achieve his destiny. The ultimate goal of any being in existence. The privilege of being a guest on the Official Podcast.
Once he realized it was actually true, his self-esteem and enthusiasm skyrocketed. He was friends with Charlie and was acquainted with the other core members, he could easily get on and finally fulfil his destiny!
It didn't turn out as easily as he would have hoped for, however.
For two years, he had begged to be on the podcast so much it had practically become a meme. No one took him seriously anymore, not even Charlie himself! It left him with a feeling of hopelessness. To see his dreams so close, yet so far away at the same time nearly broke his heart into a million pieces and stomped on the remains.
But no more. He was finally getting to be in an episode of the Official Podcast. He had travelled all the way from his homeland to reach Charlie's house after he had received the invitation, and by god will he attend, no matter what came at him.
His boots rasped against the sidewalk as he neared his friends' house. He hadn't quite seen it in person before, but seeing it up close was something else.
'I guess that island nation thing they got going with the money is paying off.' He mused as he stopped out front and looked over at the door.
This was it, all that time spent persuading the Twitch chat to spam 'Jmak for podcast', all his jabs at Charlie and all the memes would finally pay off.
With a deep breath, he readied himself and began taking careful steps towards the door. It took him a full minute to reach it due to his slow pace, and another minute for him to gather up the courage to ring the doorbell.
Following the strange, froglike sound that the bell gave off as it went off, he heard shifting and voices coming from inside. His heart rate spiked as his muscles tensed up. This was it. His entire life had led up to this moment. He couldn't afford to mess it up.
After a few agonizingly slow seconds, the door finally groaned open, revealing the man himself.
Standing at five foot six, the gaming specimen known as Charlie stood tall. His nicely shaped beard glistening in the moonlight as his dark brown eyes surveyed the scene before him. His white and black 'Moist' T-Shirt hugged his nicely tuned frame nicely, as his biceps threatened to rip the sleeves in half from their sheer mass.
"Jmak." He started, his monotone voice shaking Jmak to his core. He was used to Charlie's voice, but it felt... Different now. He chalked it up to his nerves and stood up straight.
"Charlie." He responded as he attempted to make his voice deeper and more manly. He could never match his friend in manliness, but that didn't mean he couldn't try.
"Come in man, we're waiting for you." Charlie stepped aside and gestured for Jmak to step inside, to which he followed without hesitation.
Strangely, as soon as he did his soaked clothes were completely replaced with clean, Cr1tikal merch. His mind barely had time to process this as he felt Charlie slap him on the back.
"Come on, we finally got Jackson to wake up in time and he'll fall asleep at any moment if we don't hurry." Charlie urged Jmak as he moved past him and up the stairs, gesturing for Jmak to follow.
Jmak could only reply with a nod as he followed along, passing by Tiana and Tetra, the latter of which decided to follow them both to Charlie's room.
Charlie slammed the door shut right after Jmak and Tetra had entered the room. He quickly made his way over to his command centre and picked up a set of headphones, tossing them to Jmak.
"Quick, put these on!" Charlie commanded as he sat down in his chair and his massive, meat cleaver-like hands found the equally massive mouse. Tetra on the other hand just settled for ignoring them after she had finally been able to get into the room and laid down on the floor, staring at whatever managed to catch her attention.
Jmak's heart rate spiked for the second time in the span of less than a minute as he scrambled to put the headphones on and find a seat for himself. Once he did, the headphones came to life as the voices of three other men came through the comms.
"Are we ready? I'm about to fall asleep." He heard Jackson complain.
"Jesus Jackson, it's been five minutes. Splash some water on your face or something." The soothing voice of Andrew was the second to come through.
"Is Charlie back?" The third and final voice of the absolute unit known as Kaya came through.
"Yeah, I'm here. And guess what? I have Jmak here too!" Cheering filled Jmak's ears. He couldn't believe it. This was an actual dream come true.
"Alright, there's no time to waste then. We're starting in three..." This was it.
"Two..." It was actually happening.
"One..." Two years of pain had finally led up to this.
"Hello! And welcome to the podcast featuring everyone you love to hate. I'm sitting here with your favourite racist Charlie, everyone's absolutely despised opinionated man Kaya, the reddit joke stealer Jackson and myself. A man who has literally had various petitions to remove him from the show." That got a chuckle out of everyone in the call.
"And we're joined here today with a very special and highly requested guest for the podcast. A man who has not stopped in his quest for achieving greatness..."
This was actually it. No more sleepless nights, no more memes...
"J-"
_
Jmak gasped as he woke up, his alarm blaring in his ear as the sun peeked through the window, sending rays of light directly into his eyes.
He stood there motionless for a good while, not bothering to get up to close the curtains or stop the alarm clock.
If anyone was in the room with him at the moment, they would have noticed a tear slowly descend from his eye and over his cheek.