A 20-year-old young male with brown skin, grey eyes, black cargo pants, and an orange and brown loose stripe-pattered sweater. His hair was very curly.
"Hah! Hahaha! HAHAHAHA!" Jonathan burst out laughing in front of his laptop. He was messaging back and forth with his best friend.
He hasn't met Kenny in person yet, but they talked every day and they've known each other since Johnathan was a freshman in high school. Even though they've never met, they've seen each other's faces and talked through voice chat. They always planned on meeting up, but it was difficult considering they both live in two different states.
"Jon, come here!" A women's voice could he heard shouting out to him.
"Is that Mama Shikau I hear?" Kenny said to him with a smirk.
"Stop calling her that." Jonathan looks annoyed before he stands up.
Kenny looks at him while typing on his keyboard. "It's your fault. Your username was always Joshikau when we played games. Do you know how I felt when I realized your real name wasn't Josh?"
"Jon, Jonathan, Jonathan, come here!" His mother is shouting his name out over and over again.
"I'm coming mommy!" Johnathan shouted back as he was putting on blue socks on his feet.
Kenny squint his eyes. "Bro, you're 20, and you call your mommy?"
"Yeah? What's the issue." Johnathan quickly took off his headset and muted his mic. Before dashing out of his room.
"Wait tell her that I said HI!" Kenny tried to shout it right as soon as he muted his mic. "Darn it, he didn't hear me." He sighed and just clocked back onto the video he was watching.
Johnathan opened up the door to his mother's room. "I'm here mommy."
"Am I bothering you?" She was lying down in bed with a worried expression on her face.
"You never bother me. I told you to stop asking that." Johnathan stepped inside and he closed the door behind him. "Just tell me whatever you need, mommy; helping you is never a bother. That's what Ya'oh put me here to do, to help."
His mother smiles warmly at her sons words. "Can you go downstairs for me and get my dried mango?"
Johnathan gives a thumbs up. "Sure, no problem!" He made his way downstairs quickly and just as quickly began looking around for the dried mango package. He scratched the side of his head putting his hands on his cheek. As he's speaking to himself, he wondered where his mom left the dried mango. But, after looking around for twenty seconds, he saw them right beside the microwave. Smirking, he picked it up before heading upstairs. But, while Johnathan was making his way back to his mother's room he stopped at the top of the stairs. Today was special. He couldn't explain it, but he instinctively smiled. He felt an overwhelming sense of joy and appreciation.
"Here you go mommy." Johnathan hands the dried mango package to her.
"What's wrong?" She immediately asked.
"Nothing." Johnathan shakes his head laughing.
"Did you do something to my fruits?!" She slightly raised her voice and raised a brow in a concerning tone.
"No!" Johnathan raised his hands defensively. "I would never do that!" He chuckled. "What the heck? Mommy why would you say that?!"
"Because you are just smiling at me like you did something." His mother couldn't help but feel he was up to something.
"I'm just happy." Johnathan nods his head. "I can't explain why, but I feel really happy, and I thank God. I feel like today's just going to be a good day, like a blessing is going to happen. Even if nothing changes, I just feel happy. I'm here with you, mom."
His mother wrapped her arms around him, and she gave her son a big hug. Johnathan doesn't hold back and hugs his mother, embracing her lovingly while she gives him a pat on the back.
"My big ol' son." She shakes her head. "I can't believe it; he's not a little bit of something, no more."
"What?!" Johnathan looked confused what his mom meant.
"You grew up so fast. I never thought I would hear you talking like this at 20 years old." His mother releases the hug and pats him on the chest.
Johnathan crouches down and takes out a water bottle from the case beside the dresser, handing it over to his mother.
She took bottle. "How'd you know I was about to ask for water next?" She asked.
"Lucky guess." Johnathan stands back up. "Mommy, do you need anything else?"
"No, baby, that's it. You can go on now, back on your computer. Are you playing games with your friend?"
Johnathan walked over to the door. "We don't always play games."
She rolled her eyes not believing that. "That's all you boys do on there all day."
"I almost forgot to say that Ken told me to tell you hi." Johnathan has his hand on the doorknob.
"Well, tell him that I said hi back, and he better be behaving himself. Just because I'm not in Wyoming doesn't mean I won't reach my hand through the computer, and give him a smack right across the face." She playfully slaps the air, before she smiles and laughs.
Johnathan chuckled. "Mommy?"
"Yes?" She had a dried mango in her mouth dying of hunger.
"I love you." Johnathan tells her.
The mango was already crunched up and finished. "I love you too sweetie." She said smiling with a little bit of the mango on her lips.
Johnathan closed her door for her, and as he started to walk back to his room. He yawned and stretched, feeling a little tired, but he was still feeling happy. So he closed his bedroom door, and sat down in his plain black computer chair, which is missing an armrest. He puts back on his headset and unmutes his mic. "Bro, I'm back."
"I was wondering what was taking you so long." Kenny kept typing on his keyboard.
"I was just talking to my mom for a little bit. She told me to tell you hi, by the way." Johnathan could hear him typing on his keyboard on the other end.
Kenny smiles. "That's what's up. I thought you didn't hear me because you walked away right when I was telling you to tell her hi for me."
"You always say hi so I just assumed that you did." Johnathan opens up his Internet browser.
"I just thought that you got lucky." Kenny said while looking for another video to watch.
"What does that mean?" Johnathan asked, wanting to know what he meant by that.
"You know exactly what that means, because Diovin is unlucky." Kenny said while grinning ear to ear.
"No!" Johnathan shakes his head. "Come on, man. Stop that right there! You're so weird!"
"I'm WEIRD?!" Kenny exclaimed. "Nick kept talking about how unlucky you are and how hard Diovin has it. But I swear, throughout that entire campaign, I never saw you roll anything below a 10. There were no unlucky situations for you, and just when things seemed to be getting bad, Guess what?" He grabbed his can of soda beside him and take a sip.
"What?" Johnathan is eagerly wanting to know what he's about to say next. But he's smiling and shaking his head.
"YOU END UP ROLLING EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEEDED! EVERY TIME!" Kenny shouted as he slams down his can.
"We both know that's not true. There's been plenty of situations where I rolled terribly." Johnathan tried to plead his case. He didn't believe that he had gotten that lucky.
"YOU DON'T GET TO SAY THAT! I ROLLED FOUR NAT 1'S IN A FUCKING ROW!" Kenny turned as he heard a voice after he cussed out loud.
"Kenny watch your language and lower your voice up there!" It was a man's voice. "I SWEAR, IF YOU SAY FUCK IN MY HOUSE AGAIN, I'M GOING TO COME UP THERE AND FUCK YOU UP!"
Johnathan leaned back in his chair, and Kenny held his face in embarrassment. Kenny's father was so loud that Johnathan heard him from the other end. There was a pause with neither of them saying anything for twenty seconds before Johnathan went ahead and broke the ice.
"Your dad..." Johnathan clears his throat. "H-He can hear you?"
"Yeah." Kenny goans. "My doors open."
"I didn't know..." Johnathan was surprised to hear that.
"That's my dad... No closed doors, no going out late, no spending the night at anybody's house unless it's my cousins, always yelling at me. My mom's not much better; she's always by his side. My older brother is amazing, and my sister? Sometimes I forget I even have one. Remember how I used to be unable to even voice chat? I had to sneak in or just type in chat." Kenny has his elbow on the chair's armrest lying his head down into his hand. He sighed. Frustrated thinking about everything that he'd had to go through.
"Before I turned on my camera, your mom thought I was a grown man pretending to be a high schooler." Johnathan laughs.
"That was so stupid." Kenny smiles. "God don't remind me."
"But our moms got to hit it off and that was nice." Johnathan said smiling at the memory.
"No, that wasn't nice at all." Kenny said as he was frowning at the memory. "They took over our call, talking about all sorts of stuff. I'm still shocked myself; she even spoke to your mom. I thought my parents would definitely not let us talk to each other."
"I couldn't imagine that... Not being able to talk to you anymore or if we had never met. You're part of the reason I had fun going through highschool." Johnathan says with a tone of serenity.
"And you're the reason I haven't ran away from this madhouse." Kenny responded back with a tone of serenity. "You're my best friend, and I wish that you were my brother. I would have much preferred living with you and your mom."
"I'm happy you're my best friend." Johnathan smiles. "But you shouldn't say that. I know your people are hard, but at least you live in a nice place and are well-off; you even have an older brother. I wish I had a brother. They would have to be the oldest; heh, I don't think I would want to be."
"Bro, this is a well-off prison. I'm twenty years old, and I don't get any freedom... I'm taking more classes that I don't want to take. If I couldn't have a brother like you, then it's best you just stay as an only child. If you are in the middle, like me, you just end up forgotten or mistreated." Kenny looks off to the side and picks up his soda to drink some more.
"I thought that was just memes?" Johnathan said with some confusion in his voice.
"I wish it was... Just like how I wish life was more exciting. Why can't life just be a game? Or something like a movie. I wish we could train or get superpowers to explore the world. Fight dragons and other monsters. Become a hero. Get the prettiest girl and get laid. I wish things were just simple and more interesting. School, work, or more school. Then you have to work, or else you'll be homeless. That's not even getting into taxes and other things you need to be keeping track of. Right now, I'm just so annoyed and bored. I don't even know what I want to do with myself. I'm taking communication and journalism courses; I don't even want to be in that field. It's so boring, man. I just sometimes... GAH!" Kenny suddenly shouted out as he looked up at the ceiling. He thought he was going to burst; his heart was beating, and he looked like he was going to cry. But he closed his eyes to suppress the tears. He was trying his best not to give in to his emotions, but the stress he was feeling just had a heavy weight on him. Not being able to bear it, things just slipped out.
"I..." Johnathan felt it for his best friend. He was going to cry hearing what Kenny had been going through and putting up with. But instead, he decided to share some of his struggles. "I didn't have a job until recently. Before I was working at the grocery store, everything had been on my mommy. I couldn't always help out, but I tried to help out when I could. Back when I was in high school, I used to make these logos for people. I had my work on this website. Anyone could hire me to make a logo or banner for their web channel or business. I would sell them for 10–20 dollars. That was the only real skill I had, and I would save up and sometimes order food for my mom. Or those times I would ask you or the guys to borrow money. I was using it either to help out with food or to get stuff to help with my side hustle. Well, at the time, it was my only hustle. She's been the only one working, but then she got sick from the factory. She couldn't work anymore. So we've been surviving on what she managed to save and her disability. I can't go to college... She isn't pushy about it, but it eats me up a little. I don't have a choice because I can't financially afford it, and I don't support the idea of putting her in debt."
Kenny looked back at his screen. "Dude... I had no idea it was that rough."
"Heh. I didn't want to tell you that." Johnathan laughs it off.
"If you need anything-"
Johnathan cuts him off. "You have given me more than enough, bro. It's my turn to do something for you."
"You being here is all I need, dude. Talking with you always makes my day better. You have no- I guess you have a pretty good idea now."
"I love you bro." Johnathan said immediately.
"I love you too man." Kenny responded with a smile and a thumbs up. "Let's just always be friends."
Before Johnathan could give his response, he heard screaming, and there were a ton of people with him. He couldn't even keep track or count; he was looking around from left to right in utter bewilderment. Standing in a blank, dark void.
"Kenny?" Johnathan called out his name as he began hyperventilating and then continued to shout. "MOMMY?!" Then he takes a sharp turn.
"Please, could you all stop being so dramatic?" A calm but unfamiliar voice echoed throughout the entire void. Everybody turned to look straight ahead.
"Now that I have your attention, I can say, Welcome everyone and everything to the COMPETITION COMBATANT!"