Chapter 119: Virtual Karting

For as much as Aiden and his buddies were ecstatic to have [Gothic Survivors] launched, it honestly paled in comparison to their initial launch of [Crashout: Sin City].

It was also why they were all seated around the living room with a handheld console in their respective hands whilst playing a familiar kart racing after having uploaded the game roughly an hour ago.

"Not the blue shell! Not the blue shell! Fuck! I was first place!" Casper cussed as his character respawned and he happened to find himself in fourth place.

"Hahaha! Sucks to be you, buddy!" Larry exclaimed in excitement, only for a heatseeking red shell to send him careening off the rainbow track!

"Shit!" he cussed as well, then whipped his head over to Theo whom was doing his best to suppress his laughter;

"Fuck you, Theo! I’m gonna get back at you for tha--"

"Hey!" Larry whipped his head over to a quietly cackling Clyde whom had purposely smited him with lightning the moment the respawn of Larry’s playable driver had settled.

Naturally, his vehicle turned into a midget and temporarily slowed down, allowing everyone else including the two CPU characters to whizz past him.

"Kiss my ass, molasses!" Benjamin’s playable racer who just happened to be his favorite animal--a panda--surged forward and took first place close to the track’s finish line.

But as was the case with the frustrating game that often ruined friendships--temporarily at least, Aiden’s playable plumber happened to not only bullet past, but promptly dropped a banana slip.

"Hey y’all come take a look at this," Aiden briefly gestured to his chubby friend with a thumb, his grin amusing as he took first place.

Benjamin’s racer spiraled out of control and off the track immediately after, only for the rest of the gang to send one devious attack after the other at him whilst cackling like the demons they were once he had properly respawned.

"Stop bullying my panda, you jerks!" he complained as he was once again sent of the already devious track.

"Nope." Theo replied as he zoomed past.

"GGs, bub." Clyde peace-signed briefly as he blitzed past him.

"Gonna cry?" Casper stuck out his lip, his eyes aflutter, as he claimed the fourth position.

"Or do we need to put some dirt in your eye?" Larry grinned as he secured the fifth position.

"I hate you guys! I fudgin’ hate all of you!" Benjamin declared in a mix of annoyed frustration, only to immediately cuss out the two CPU characters;

"And where the hell do you two clankers think you’re going, huh?!"

"Get some!" he immediately fired his red shells at both before they had him seating dead last.

As for the gang, they had honestly broken into a fit of laughter as Benjamin proudly claimed sixth position.

"You said that like it was a slur!" Aiden pointed at him as he fell to the ground from the couch, his eyes already misty as he continued laughing.

"I know, right?!" Casper affirmed in between another burst of laughter, having leaned backwards onto the plush carpet as he clutched at his belly.

"I can’t... I just... I just can’t..." Theo managed to let out in between fits of silent laughter, the youth gently pomfing the couch at intervals as he doubled down and leaned over his tummy.

The rest of the gang were in as much of a hearty fit as their buddies and soon enough, Benjamin found himself joining in, the chubby youth wiping a bead of tear from his eyelids.

After they’d all had their fill, Aiden soon rose up from the ground and headed over to the kitchen to grab himself a bottle of water.

As he did, Clyde casually called said;

"Come to think of it, I don’t think we’ve told you, but we have plans to make a music video for one of our more recent songs,"

"Yeah. We figured we might as well just push a bit further with Hi-Fi Radio if we really intend to make it a long running gig as independent artists." Larry casually shrugged whilst adding some context.

"And since we had the resources to invest, we thought; Hey, why not? If it goes bust, at least we’d have learnt a valuable lesson, eh?" Benjamin explained a bit more with a gesture of his palm.

"That’s cool!" Aiden replied, clearly surprised, as was Casper and Theo.

At the same time, his tone reflected that he was genuinely impressed as he followed up;

"When do you guys intend to film it?"

"Honestly, still pending," Clyde gestured with both arms to which Larry snapped his fingers with determination;

"But we’re working towards sometime next month."

"That’s really cool. I also intend to film all three adverts for Death Wish somewhere around that time as well," Aiden said as he walked out of the kitchen.

"Who knows? We might get to work together." he added after chugging some water, his smile supportive.

"Well since we’re all sharing our moves, I think it’s best you all know I’ve begun drafting out quite the epic fantasy," Casper proudly declared, his expression smug and his smile confident.

"But as you might know, I’m a heavy ass plotter, not a pantser. It’s gonna take me quite a while before I get around to starting anything, but uh... yeah, I’m confident I can write a really good book." he nodded self-assuredly, his arms folded across his chest.

"As long as we’re the first to read it." the gang simultaneously said, all five surprising one another.

"But of course! Who else can I expect to be utterly blunt yet honest with me asides you guys!" Casper theatrically gestured to everyone in the room, only for his eyes to brighten up in adoration as he snapped a finger with a wide grin immediately after;

"And Daisy, of course."

Larry, Benjamin and Clyde simply rolled their eyes in amusement, whilst Theo and Aiden shook their heads as well in the same gesture.

Soon enough, the curly-haired youth spoke;

"I started coding that engine I told you all about a couple days back. I mean it’s still barebones and is literally just a few lines of code at the moment, but I’ve gotta start somewhere and so I have."

From his tone, it was clear that the youth was naturally easing into his own element, becoming his own person and pursuing his dreams with conviction and determination.

In fact, all of Aiden’s buddies were doing just that, not a single one of them willing to simply be a footnote that didn’t make a difference in the sort of lives they were envisioning for themselves.

That alone, had Aiden feeling immensely proud of them.

And though he could never truly say if he had been the one to influence them this much given he only had scattered fragments of his own future and none else, it didn’t stop him from believing that his actions this past year had definitely paved the way for them to truly lean into that mentality.

"Guys, guys. He’s doing that proud father thing again..." Clyde audibly whispered to the gang, all of them bobbing their heads in agreement as they proceeded to continued.

"Don’t start!" Aiden’s reprimand came in drawl, his voice cutting them off before they could continue with their shenanigans as he made his way back into the living room.

As one would expect, the gang found themselves sharing a light chuckle... only for Benjamin to suddenly declare with pumped biceps;

"Alright! Time to beat the allegations!"

"Best of ten, rainbow road?" he offered and everyone promptly nodded in agreement, all of them grabbing their consoles and syncing up.

"Ready to lose again?" Larry competitively elbowed his buddy gently to which the chubby friend looked over to him, and said with a calm yet vindictive disposition;

"So, you have chosen death, eh Larry?"

"Besides, if memory serves me right--which it in fact does--you finished fifth, didn’t you?" he followed up with the very same disposition., one that Larry was about to counter when someone else interjected.

"Ah~. Would you look at those two pots, one slightly blacker than the other..." Casper rested his chin on his palms, his smile amused.

Immediately, Benjamin and Larry ganged up on the blonde-haired youth, their fingers pointed at him as they declared in unison;

"It’s on sight with you from now on, Casper."

"Spare me the villainous dialogue and put your money where your mouth is guys." Casper’s smiled widened into a competitive grin.

As for Clyde, Theo and Aiden, they were equally looking at the other trio like they were the most harmless things in the world.

Then they briefly looked to one another, then simultaneously decided to troll them as they stated in unified accordance;

"How cute~."

"Fuck you!" Casper, Benjamin and Larry suddenly united as one.

In response, Aiden simply yawned whilst covering his mouth, an action that instantly charged the competitive air in the room as a natural split happened between the gang.

A minute later, they began a new race, one that keyed into the next ten races that came after.

When all was said and done, both teams ended up in a tie.

But by then, they’d been having too much fun to care about their initial motivations.

After an extra hour of virtual karting though, the gang then decided to finally check in on how their newly released game was performing across both storefronts.