4
DeusRex

"And on the pedestal these words appear: 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains." Percy Bysshe Shelley

A roaring crowd held up placards with insignias and messages written with markers. Well into the back of the room, hands waved ecstatically. Fists struck the air as voices chanted in unison "FFG! FFG! FFG!"

Rays of red and blue lights from above surfed around the crowd of people standing on their seats.

"FFG! FFG! FFG!"

Confetti fell from nowhere, camera crews followed reporters onto the stage and camera lights flashed from all directions.

"FFG! FFG! FFG!"

He ignored it all as he embraced the team. NeoTokyo moved closer holding his fist forward.

Bzzt, his pillow rumbled. Bzzt.

He tapped his phone and the alarm stopped. With burning eyes and mucus in his throat, he lifted himself up and strolled towards the bathroom, his hands acting as his eyes for the moment. A cold breeze snuck in through the tiniest space between the walls and window.

"George?" asked a calm voice with a knock. Continuing to brush his teeth, he unlocked and opened the door.

"I'm going now to see Madelyn, are you coming?"

He spit the toothpaste out, looking at her through the mirror, "I'm gonna be goin' later with Geoff'n Erica."

"Okay, any idea what time?"

He pointed at his left wrist with his right hand.

"Uh," she took out her phone, "12:50."

He showed two fingers. Three, and seesawed his hand.

"Okay, I'll let her know. Oh, and I left some eggs and sausages on a plate if you want any. I'm on my way now, though. Tell Geoffrey and Erica I said hi. I love you, George."

"Love you, mom." Breakfast had become cold, but it was still food. He ate with one hand, checked his phone with the other.

(12:52) Erica: puerta! D:

A knock. "Your mom opened the door for me," she said as she hugging him and leaning in to kiss him on the cheek.

"Want some?" he asked holding the plate to her.

"Mmm, I think I'll just wait to eat with Geoff," she said inspecting the plate.

"Were you watching us stream yesterday?"

"Mhm," she quickly nodded twice.

"When 'e asked about that email from Shel—well, lemme just show you."

She read from his phone, her eyes slowly opening wide, silently she gasped.

"Ohmygosh!" she burst out with embracing arms.

"Waitwaitwait, nothin's final yet, still not quite on a stable salary, or even in the official League. But I may have to disappear for a bit to dedicate my time to practice with the team and make sure we're actually a quality team. I'm not even sure if I'll be staying in New York for this since Shelly mentioned travel will be paid. I'm assuming there's a gaming house. I also have to let Madelyn know, she'd've been the first person I told, but I'd really rather tell her in person."

"So let's go tell her!"

"Gotta call Tokyo, though, see if he's up,"

The line rang three, four, five times. No answer.

"Let's head over ta his place if he's not picking up. Keep calling him while I get ready."

As they left the apartment she hit the call button again. She kept her phone to her ear as they walked down eight, nine, ten street tiles.

"Oh. Tokyo, ¡levántate! We're coming over…No seas bebé, it's like one o'clock. Get up…Geoff says hi."

"I bet he did."

They walked down the street, fingers locked together, discussing their week, this person and that video, this game and that episode. The streets were empty and quiet compared to the crowds and honking of the day prior.

At the curb of a major intersection a group of people sat on chairs, with a mountain of books piled on a table. Above them, on streetlights and tree branches, hung pairs of boots and sneakers that had always been there.

Nearby posters read "Prepare To Meet Thy God! Amos 4:12." A man with a megaphone shouted such and such things about a "Jesu' Crito" and a "Dios" and a "Rey." There would be no point in asking her to translate.

Atop a distant building a large billboard read "3 Million!" They walked past abandoned stores and derelict plots of land that had become a home for stray cats and plastic boxes and wooden boxes and smashed CRT monitors and bulky VCRs. This land would not sell, it was far too filthy to clean and turn into profit. Other areas were boarded off with plywood to keep the junk and the strays and the destitute out.

There were more window shoppers tapping at their pockets than there were actual shoppers within the doors.

They continued past broken, littered, and tarnished homes with letters sprayed on them. Cars outside the occupied homes were cars with numbers scribbled on them, cars recently cleaned and washed.

She called again, no answer. They sat on the steps outside, laughing, joking, talking.

"Last I checked, ten minutes wasn't twenty, Geoff."

"Fuck you," their fists met.

The girl hugged him and they quickly kissed each other on the right cheek.

"A'ight, so where we goin'?"

"Don't care, man, up to you."

"I know, let's just get whatever at the deli."

"A'ight."

"So, dude, we gotta play our asses off if we want FFG in the series. Oh, does Erica know?"

"Yap, he showed me the email."

"I think we can duo 'n' play some serious games for a while to see what we can do best before getting together with the rest of the team."

"Puedo ser coach y give you guys pointers cuando hagan tonterías."

"Might be worth a shot. Have you spoken with anyone else from the team since you got the email, George?"

"Nah, but I think I saw Zodiac on while we were in-game. He din't message me or anything. Maybe he was AFK or didn't wanna say anythin' in case it showed up on stream."

"Maybe we should talk with them, like set up a Skype call and set up some practice games. You already have everyone added, right?"

"Yeah, I'm sure we've both played enough games with and against 'em to be on each other's friends list. Ya thinkin' this'll be the actual team, or you think someone'll decline?"

"Uh…I don't know. To be honest, though, I'm not too sure what to think of Crescendo. No one's seen him competing at any competitive LANs and all we know is he's good at winning games with solo queue teams if they listen to his calls. I don't think that'll translate well into competitive play against practiced and coordinated teams with months or years of experience and structure."

"I can kinda see that making an impact in competitive play. What d'you know about Zodiac or WildCat?"

"Zodiac? Uh, well I know he played with a makeshift team at an MLG a while ago. He was playing with some other players we see in queue from time to time like Daze and…Shuriken, before she was picked up by Royale. And well, you know WildCat: king of solo queue with his god damn three accounts in Challenger. Kid's insanely good. If he were to join the team, I'd be extremely surprised since I'd imagine existing teams would be fighting with every penny just to have him on their starting lineup. Anyway, then there's this other dude who goes by the name DeusRex. He's so shit, I don't even think he belongs in Diamond, he's like some high Gold, low Plat, if you ask me."

"I've heard this NeoTokyo guy is pretty bad, too. That nigga ain't anythin' special…at all."

They ordered their sandwiches and ate up further discussing whatever crossed their minds, with their newfound opportunity the focal point of conversations.

"Holy shit, though, can't believe we actually made it to the top. And now this."

"Ha, and to think you fuckin' hated the game when I introduced you to it."

"Well yeah, but it was like a completely different game back then. New patches and content and shit resulted in a game that plays way differently and has some more competitive depth to it."

"It's a'most like you owe me for showin' you the game, now,"

"Mmm, well. Oh, I got it, I found FFG first, so Shellshock knows about you through me. I think we're even."

"By the way, d'you know what happened to…damn, what was her name?…that first grade teacher we had…"

"Oh yeah, hah! Fuckin'…god damn, what was her name. Why in the fuck can't I remember?"

"You got us caught playin' Pokemon and she took our Gameboys."

"Dude, I had like no health on Croconaw, he was my last Pokemon and I somehow beat Whitney. And then she wouldn't give me the badge. I'm pretty sure you would've reacted the same way."

"You remember what she said after?" he asked withholding a snicker.

"Oh yeah. I fuckin' remember. That sonovabitch had the god damn audacity to lecture us, the entire class, that video games were a waste of time and would get us nowhere. 'One day you'll be working in an office' she said, 'and you'll have to fill out paperwork all day and you'll have no time for toys and computers and your Pókemans and your playboys. One day you'll thank me.'"

"Ella no dijo playboys. She didn't, did she, George?"

"She actu'lly did."

"Ah, so you remember she said that because a few years later you two found out what playboys really were, verdad?...Hombres."

"Well, first of all, we remember her exact words because we then set out to prove 'er wrong…so mission accomplished on that front. Second, you may not have heard of it, Erica, but we have this thing called el internet, now. Don't need no magazines."

"Oh god, why did I even say anything."

"Yo, George, you still have the Playboy Advance SP search in your history?"

"Nah, I'm not that advanced yet, I can't Google that until I find some good search results for Playboy Color."

"Okay, voy a escuchar my music y ustedes pueden seguir caminando down the street talking about your playboys so everyone else can hear."

"But dude, you haven't heard about the magic of the PlayCube, yet."

"Y ella? Mirala, que guapa. Y blancita como tu."

"No, dude. Would you react positively if some random guy walked up to you randomly on the street or bus and complimented you or asked you out? Don't fucking lie, you'd think he was a creep, wouldn't you?"

"Pues, depende how he looks."

"Something tells me you're just saying that because you can't bring yourself to admit it's weird. Besides, you pretty much just said it's all about looks. If you'll talk to him because he looks cute or whatever, doesn't that just mean the only reason he's talking to you is because he thinks you're cute or hot or whatever?"

"Mira, solo estas overcomplicating something that's easy. You'll probably never see her again y ni te va concer if you bump into each other on the street. Just go talk to her."

"Where do you stand on this George?"

"I think I'm stickin' with Geoff on this one. Look at it this way, if I had just randomly asked you out an' you din't know me, you woulda probably looked at me all weird. Yeah like that. But since we went to school together, there's kinda already a reason for me to talk to you, like to ask what the homework was or whatever."

"C'mon, Erica, don't look so sad face…if I go talk to her, then will you be satisfied?"

"I think you should just go find out. Doesn't look like she's gonna say anything for a while. While you go over there I'll poke her cheeks until I make 'er smile. Look, see, he's goin' over ta her. You should be his official wingwoman for talkin'a strangers. Look at 'er, he hasn't said anything and already she's turnin'…ro-ho."

"Roja. Rosada."

"Oh, right. Yeah, that. See look, she's all coy now and she's makin' 'er body smaller. She must feel uncomfortable as fuck right now. The hell, why'd he point at you? Well, look at that, clearly a no. Happy now?"

"Well, ahi te va, Erica."

"Probably ni trataste."

"Well, if that's how you think it went down…Maybe we can try again later, preferably with something on the line. Like a lunch or a few dollars."

"Okay, enough bantering, you two. Let's get inside."

"How about next time you just go talk to some guy and see if he doesn't react the same way? I'm telling you, hardly anyone expects to be bothered when they're staring at their phone or just standing around. I'll buy you lunch if you try it."

"Fine, proxima vez we get the chance."

"Good afternoon. How may I help you?"

"Hi, here to see King, Madelyn."

"…305, left as you get off the elevator."

"Thanks. Kay, I'm goin' up the stairs."

"Why? Si los elevators estan right here."

"Well, if you wanna be trapped close quarters with people here, go right ahead."

"Let me jog up the stairs with you, Rex."

"Wait! Por lo menos hold the door for me!"

"A'ight, left off th'elevators Uh…should be…this…way?"

"What if it turns out she trolled us and the room's actually right?"

"There! There's 305!" she sighed, relieved.

"Well, ladies first," he swayed both arms toward the door.

"Aww, aren't you just the most adorable, George?"

"Maddy!" she exclaimed rushing into the room.

"After you, Geoff."

"¿Cómo estás?" she asked as their hug ended.

"Muy bien. Thanks so much for coming, Erica. Geoff! Haven't seen you in a while, I was glad when I heard you would be coming."

"Yeah I finally had a weekend off from work. M'glad to see you're doing well, dude."

"Heyo, Sis."

"Hey, George. Hah! What the fuck? Flowers?"

"That's not all. Cup your hands."

"Aww, it's so cute. I didn't know they made Metroid plushies."

"They don't. I got it custom made, jus' for you, Sis."

"Thanks, George. He shall be named…Squishy."

"Estos asientos are really comfortable! It's like they want tu cuarto to be a lounge or something."

"So, George, mom told me you and Geoff had something big come up?"

"Hah, god damn it, ma. Yeah, let me pull up the email."

She flicked her thumb upward on the screen and the permanent smirk on her face turned into a wide grin.

"No, nono, this is horrible. This is like the worst thing possible…I won't be able to watch your games from here. I highly doubt anyone could hook up a computer to the big monitor so I can see you in your glorious moments."

"Fuckin' Madelyn! Such a troll. You learnin' from Geoff?"

"Haha! Relax, I saw an opportunity so I took it. I can't believe you're both going to be fighting for a spot in the LCS. I feel like I should ask you both for autographs and strictly start referring to you as NeoTokyo and DeusRex."

"¿Sabes qué, Maddy? I think I should get autographs now too…while they're rare. Then tal vez I can make some good dough online when the time is right."

"Sign me up for that, Erica. Once you're in the LCS you should fly us over to Riot to see you guys play in person."

"Soon's you get better. How long the doctors thinkin' you'll have to stay for chemo?"

"Well, they're not exactly saying so I think they can't even determine how long I'll have to be here. They're just trying to be cautious is all."

"Then iremos when they play in Worlds."

"How about we just worry about you gettin' healthy for the time being?"

"That's sweet of you, George, but I'm sure I'll be fine. Right now you've a chance to do something good, something you enjoy doing…and you'll have Geoff with you the whole way. Stop worrying about your little sis for a bit and focus on doing the best you can. Please? For me? Could you forget about my problems? Let me work on getting better, and I'll let you focus on playing your best. Sound like a plan?"

"…well a'right, if you're givin' me permission to clear my mind, I'll do just that. And this nigga right here, he's gonna keep me distracted so I won't go on tilt."

"I'll do my best. I'm probably better at that than I am on Rainbow Roa—god damn red shell!"

His phone rumbled. "Gimmie a minute, I'll be right back."