Writing OtakuBoards: Enter the Net [PG]

[Solo Tremaine]

[CENTER][IMG]http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/4713/briefcasekz5.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER]


[COLOR=#503F86]The title's mean tot be a play on 'Enter the Matrix', but I don't think it works well enough, heh.

Anyway, I've decided to write a series of OB fanfics. They're not to be taken seriously (generally- seeing as the storylines are fairly ludicrous it's almost impossible to anyway), so don't be offended if your character's wrong or you're not in it. There will be more than one, so don't think I've forgotten anyone. That said, I can only really include people I know, speak to and stalk, because I don't know everyone else's mannerisms.

The basic premise is that we're sucked into a Tron-like virtual environment, where pretty much everything is customisable. A slight twist on the general OB Island thing, but I hope it's fun anyway. It'd be hard for me to explain the rest of the other stories if I didn't have this first, and seeing as a lot of the in-jokes on OB are based on online encounters anyway, it's easier to incorporate them into a similar environment.

But enough waffle from me. Here's the fic ^_^

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[b]Chapter 1: Enter the Net[/b]

An unusually stormy night in Melbourne, Australia. Outside in the darkness, rain plummeted in heavy drips from the sky and hit already-overflowing gutters and drains. Lightning streaked across the sky, rumbling thunder shook the buildings. In a small house near the outskirts of the city, a computer screen beamed a blue-white light into a darkened room, a tall figure approaching the chair in front of it. He sits down, placing a much-needed cup of coffee next to the keyboard. Cracking his fingers in anticipation, he gives the mouse a small shake to eliminate the screensaver.

Greeting him was an AIM Away Message, reading ?be right back!? in bold purple lettering. Clicking the ?I?m Back? button, several windows zipped from the bottom of the screen and revealed a horde of private conversations. A Chat invitation, reading ?I TEH CHATT!!!!11!000! made him smile.

James: I think I?m ready for this now I have my coffee.

He invited himself in- hundreds of names zoomed down the side of the screen- he?d never seen so many people in one chatroom before. After a thousand greetings from everyone inside, he was free to speak.

JamesOtaku01: Hi everyone. And I think I do actually mean everyone. In the entire world, lol.

A purple-texted reply appeared underneath his. James knew this friend well.

Desbreko145: We thought it?d be interesting to gather every OB member we could into one chatroom.

Lady Liger: Which may or may not have been such a great idea ^_^;

DeathKnightV4: There are about 300 people in this conversation. Now I can finally recruit you all to my Army of the Doomed.

ShyGuy51185: A doomed army doesn?t sound too promising.

DeathKnightV4: You shall be our first mortal enemy.

James laughed and reached for his coffee. Taking a long, savouring sip he reached over to set it back on the side of the desk.

Suddenly, the mug slipped. The corner of the bottom fell hard on the keys, entering in a random assortment of letters and numbers. The hot coffee spattered the screen and flooded the keys- more letters and numbers began piling into the text window. As James frantically tried to clean it up, swearing under his breath, he brushed the ?Enter? key.

At exactly the same moment, a bolt of lightning shrieked into the house. The power socket sparked wildly. James reeled back as the image on the computer screen changed into a blinding white light. He closed his eyes, feeling a tingling sensation dance over his body...

* * *

Darkness. He must have passed out. He could feel a faint breeze blowing about him, and something almost wet behind his head. He tried opening his eyes.

An unfamiliar female voice greeted him:

?Thank you for logging in, James.?

?What??

Suddenly, the darkness disappeared, and he found himself staring up at a dark grey sky. White, shapeless clouds floated gently through the air and he felt a metallic sea lapping at his head. Above him, large red and grey squares floated over like clouds. Flocks of small black triangles fluttered across the sky. Every few seconds, a bright stream of HTML code would streak across the sky, illuminating everything in a bright green light.

He sat up and looked around. This had to be a dream, there was no other explanation. Or if there was, he wasn?t sure he was ready for it yet. There?s no way his house could be reduced to this after one lightning strike. Not even his entire neighbourhood would.

He felt the ground underneath him- it felt sandy. The shape of the ground reminded him of a beach, were it not coloured entirely in different shades of Gourad grey. The island spreading out in front of him was no different. It was definitely an island- it was solid and had rises and valleys in it. In the distance he could just about make out the shape of mountains against the grey sky.

Rubbing his eyes, he froze. His arms were no longer his own, home-grown arms. They had changed to a dull-grey robotic metal- the features of his skin and clothes had gone. He turned to the water?s edge and stared at his reflection in disbelief. He looked like an artist?s mannequin. As he reached forwards with his hand, he noticed a small button on his wrist. Hoping it would be able to explain at least some of this situation to him, he jabbed it.

A screen burst out in front of him, displaying the text ?User Control Panel?. A whole host of data fields appeared below the title and he immediately set about filling them in. Except?

?How am I going to fill these in without a keyboard??

As if by magic, a keyboard appeared below the User Control Panel screen.

?Ah.?

The selection screen was surprisingly limited. He couldn?t even fill in his real name on it, only his OtakuBoards username. Not that it mattered much, though- it was his real name anyway. After filling in various other details (including Age and Gender), he came to the final field: Choose Avatar. He clicked on ?Browse?

A huge gallery of faces appeared on screen. Film stars, anime and game characters? Bewildered by choice, he clicked on Mario.

Instantly, he felt his body changing shape. The metal robotic skin that was in front of him before disappeared and began changing into stubby, white-gloved hands with scarlet sleeves.

?Oh my??

The computer chirruped brightly and a new button appeared: ?Confirm Details.?

As much as James liked Mario, he didn?t want to look like him. Choosing a more neutral game character, his body shaped into that of the tall, slim, long white-haired male he used for his Kill Adam signup.

James? expression changed from that of mild shock to a slightly more relieved one.

He sat down heavily, trying to take this all in. ?Well, that?s a start anyway. Now I have to figure out what?s going on??

He began to lie down on the sand when he heard a voice calling to him.

?Hello??

He sat bolt upright and turned to the source of the voice. An old-style Disney character was running towards him- Bosko.

?I?m glad to finally find someone,? the Bosko said, wearing a smile of relief. ?Where am I??

James shrugged. ?Your guess is as good as mine,? he replied. ?I?ve only just arrived here, and I don?t even know how I did that.?

?Oh.? The Bosko sounded rather disappointed.

?What?s your name?? James asked, as a feeling of familiarity dawned over him.

?My name?s-? the Bosko seemed to pause for a moment. ?Shy.?

A wide smile cut across James? face. ?I thought it might be you, Josh. It?s me- James.?

Shy looked up at him, impressed with his appearance. ?You?re taller than I thought you would be.?

?Yeah, but you?re Bosko now.? James replied with a wink.

Shy looked thoughtful for a second, then jabbed the button on his wrist. ?I was thinking about either Kaworu or Shinji, but they?re too popular. If as many people are going to be here as I think there are, those two are going to pop up more than once. And I want to be unique.?

James shrugged. ?Fair enough. Have you seen anyone else yet??

?No-one I can tell for sure who they are- I?ve seen three different Links, Gohan, Tsukasa, a vampire and a Gundam running around. I didn?t want to take my chances with them until I knew who I was first.?

?This place is incredibly weird.? James? voice dropped slightly. The greyness appeared to stretch far into the distance. He couldn?t even make out where the horizon was. ?We need to find out what it is.?

Shy sighed, looking into the sky. ?The last thing I remember was the chat- it was your reply that was the last I saw; all kinds of strange code appeared, then everything turned white. I woke up here and was told to choose an appearance.? He spread his arms as if to say ?And here I am?.

A large sweatdrop appeared behind James? head. ?Somehow I figured it?d be my fault.? He looked out over the island and breathed in deeply. ?Okay, let?s see if there?s anyone else we know here.?

* * *

?This is probably the oddest bunch of Moderators I?ve ever seen.? Charles commented light-heartedly as he looked over the group in front of him.

And it certainly was an odd group, made all the more confusing by the fact that Shinmaru had somehow managed to take on Desbreko?s appearance, complete with sunglasses and long black leather coat. Needless to say, Desbreko was rather concerned that he couldn?t choose to look like his plain old self.

?But? that?s my face.? He said quietly as he watched himself grin back at him.

?You could use some moisturiser, you know.? Shinmaru said, poking his cheeks.

?Stop that!? Des folded his arms in irritation. ?It?s my face, I?ll do what I want to it.?

?MY face now!? Shin replied, sticking his tongue out. ?Besides, I thought you?d like being Link.?

Des looked down at his Kokiri Tunic, tilting his head. ?It is nice? but seeing my face not on my body is rather disconcerting.?

Shinmaru let out a big grin, then changed his appearance to that of Shin from Cowboy bebop. Des smiled approvingly.

?Don?t mess with my body.? He said slyly. ?There?s more than one place to stick a Master Sword.?

The huge gathering of people looked like almost like an anime cosplay convention, interspersed with other odd creatures and machines. The entire cast of Yu-Gi-Oh was scattered around the group, along with numerous others from Trigun, Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda and pretty much anything popular on OB at the time.

Everyone was being surprisingly well behaved for a group of two to three hundred teenagers. Although that might have been because the Moderators all looked rather formidable- Syk3 especially, who had changed into a full-sized Evangelion Unit 01. He could tell interactions with Mei were suddenly going to become a lot more complicated. He gave a worried look to Otakusennen. A skyscraper-tall Sachiel waved happily back.

Not everyone was too happy at the prospect of being stuck in what could only be interpreted as a virtual reality game. It was an alien prospect- no-one knew what had happened to their homes or if they?d ever be able to escape.

For some, however, it was a dream come true- being able to actually meet and properly interact with the friends they?d made over half a world away. Needless to say, the .hack//SIGN fanatics were very enthusiastic about it. And there was the added bonus of being able to change your appearance to whatever you liked. Most people seemed very happy with their new choices of bodies. Although some were already generating a fair bit of controversy- mostly due to bishounen being followed around by a large gathering of fans or fights erupting over which Shinji looked better. Although no two people could look the same, they could look incredibly similar. Hence, there were several Shinjis- some black and white, some colour, some in Eva plug suits. Asukas, Links, Sephiroths and Kenshins were the most prevalent of characters.

The choosing of appearances now gave new rise to the impracticalities of anime hair. Jinzouiningen17?s Yami Marik hairdo caught the wind like a sail and was dangerously close to blinding anyone standing next to him with the points of the spikes.

James, Charles (now Viewtiful Joe) and Adam (the same cartoon character featured in his avatar) stood ahead of the Moderators and got ready to address everyone.

?It?s hard to know where to start.? James muttered, scratching his neck apprehensively.

?Then I will.? Charles stepped forwards.

?Members of OtakuBoards!? he yelled. ?We have no idea where we are.?

He stopped as about twenty hands shot up from the crowd of members. He pointed to a Gohan in the front row.

?Where are we??

Charles raised an eyebrow at him. ?We don?t know. Most likely inside something, somwehere.? He replied.

Semjaza stepped forwards as David Bowie, gaining some frightened looks from the members at the front due to his glowing white eyes. ?My guess is?? he sighed. He didn?t seem too excited about the prospect. ??that some kind of anomaly sent us here from James? computer, and we?re now inside cyberspace.?

A wave of murmuring spread over the gathered crowd. Some of the Moderators looked at each other uneasily. Apart from Syk3, who dared not move in case he unintentionally crushed everyone.

?In that case,? Queen Asuka tapped Semjaza on the shoulder. ?do you think this place can be altered by HTML??

?It?s worth a try.? Adam mused. He brought up the computer screen and stared at it blankly for a few seconds. ?If I can figure out how this works.?

The Moderators and technical staff all gathered around their screens, trying to figure out how to work their computers and manifest the code into the real-virtual world.

Meanwhile, the Members began talking amongst themselves. The bishounen troop gathered themselves together, grabbing the ?safety in numbers? ideals. Domon and SuruBlu (God Gundam and Epyon) were happy to help police them around.

It took longer than they?d anticipated. Many people were beginning to get restless, and Raiha had already started leading an expedition over towards the grey mountains.

Adam, James, jblessing and Rikku stood up, holding their computers in front of them. Each pressed ?Enter? at the same time.

Everything went white for a few seconds. The island seemed to disappear, along with the sea, the sky and the shapes. Everyone looked around apprehensively.

Something appeared on the horizon. A blue-coloured bar stretched right across the horizon line. Another appeared immediately next to it, then another. At the same time the sea began to fade into view, first as a blurry mess of greeny-blue squares, then row by row their definition sharpened and a calm, gently waving sea appeared before them.

Once the entire island had been given its skin, the Administrators stood back to admire their work. It was a tropical paradise. A large building stood proudly in the distance, the sunlight glinting from its tinted glass windows. It was curved in shape, built into the base of the mountain. It was very modern in its design- stone pillars, electric doors. Inside was probably going to look just as kitch. Everyone was already twitching in anticipation of getting inside to have a look round.

James smiled brightly. ?Welcome to OtakuBoards.?

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And that's it for the beginning. What do you think?[/COLOR]

[Shinmaru]

Great work, Solo :)

I think it's a very, very funny story so far - made even better by the ridiculous (yet somehow believable in the context of OB o_O) premise. Of course, it helped that the fic was very well written, heh.

Like I told you a few minutes ago, that chat needs to be made as soon as possible lol. Especially if it's a chat with hundreds of people in it - I TEH CHATT!!!!11!000! would be a fitting name lol. Though, I probably wouldn't talk much in it because I'd be so overwhelmed by the other people in it o_o

I loved how James accidently caused everyone to be inserted into the computer, heh. Spilling coffee onto the keyboard and pressing the Enter key is just classic stuff, man. Reminds me of The Simpsons when Bart and Lisa pressed the Enter button on the television controller and got zapped into the television lol.

"Thank you for logging in, James." You even included the message! I'm so loving this so far hehe.

I also thought it was very clever of you to integrate people's avatars with their OB appearance - especially my big scene with Desbreko :toothy: I'm pretty sure everyone identifies Mario with James by now lol. And, if they didn't, they sure will after reading this ~_^

[quote][i]Originally posted by Solo Tremaine[/i]
Syk3 especially, who had changed into a full-sized Evangelion Unit 01. He could tell interactions with Mei were suddenly going to become a lot more complicated.[/quote]

I'm telling you, this line made me laugh so much. I can't wait until Syk3 sees that lol.

Syk3: O_O!

Me: XD

And, as I also told you, I loved it that when Charles told everyone that he didn't know where they were, the first person who asked a question asked where they were lol. That seems to happen more often than not here :p

And, usually, a line like "Welcome to OtakuBoards." would be cheesy but I think that it works very well here.

Very nice work, Solo. I can't wait for the next installment :D

[Kei]

[color=darkblue]Whoo! You posted it. ^^ *hugs*

Like I told you on AIM, I think it's great so far (though you didn't have that part after Syk3 and Mei added yet). It's like something that could actually happen, provided the level of supernatural occurences rises dramatically here soon. Oo;

I like the ideas you have with future installments (especially the one with Jeran ^_~), and I can't wait for the next one. ^^[/color]

[Muad'Dib]

Well what else can I say but good work? I don't know you personaly (duh) but you did a good job on this... hey, ya know you could make this into an adventure on the Adventure Arena!!!! I'm sure there'd be plenty of people willing to join! (me included) anyway, I only read half cause it was kinda long, so I'm gonna read the second half now ^^!!

[conpiracymonki]

[b][size=1]
Oooh.. now we finally know what Semjaza looks like, lol (director's cut/edit).

That was a brilliant beginning to it all, I thought. I liked the little humourous bits to it all, lol. Like the whole 'poor Mei- Syk's an Eva' thing, and Rai leading troops up mountains in the far distance. It's kinda what I was imagining it might be like.[/b]

Everyone's personalities feel spot on from what I know about them (which may be a little ¬.¬).[/size]

[KarmaOfChaos]

[color=deeppink]
Wonderful Solo, wonderful. You had me laughing like I haven't done in...quite some time. And I'm relatively new here, so I probably didn't even get half the jokes. I don't have any suggestions for this, except to continue it as soon as possible!

It certainly will be intresting, to see how you deal with all these characters...^^;

-Karma
[/color]

[terra]

Hahaha, that's hysterical. I only got to skim it because I'm off to class very soon but I really like the way it's started. I loved the bits of humor you put in like the bit about Syk's Evangelion suit and Mei ... Very nice working in of people :).

More, more!

[Dagger]

Solo, that was absolutely hilarious--and quite a pleasure to read, as well. Your writing is funny, fresh, and pleasantly concise.

[quote]Although that might have been because the Moderators all looked rather formidable- Syk3 especially, who had changed into a full-sized Evangelion Unit 01. He could tell interactions with Mei were suddenly going to become a lot more complicated. He gave a worried look to Otakusennen. A skyscraper-tall Sachiel waved happily back.[/quote]

Like terra said, hysterical describes it best. I can't wait to see more. From what I know of all the people present in the story, you've managed to capture their personalities perfectly. Great work! ^__^

~Dagger~

[Ben]

LOL, that's great. :D I can't wait to read more. :D :D :D

[Sara]

[size=1][b]ShyGuy51185: A doomed army doesn?t sound too promising.

[/b]

That was too classic, heh.

Solo, you have no idea (well, maybe you do) how fun that was to read. *grins* I'm actually laughing right now, heh, it's just a lot of fun.[/size]

[Desbreko]

[quote]"Don?t mess with my body." He said slyly. "There?s more than one place to stick a Master Sword."[/quote][color=indigo]Lol, that sounds [i]exactly[/i] like something I'd say. I love it. Everyone's dialogue sounds natural and fitting, like things we'd actually say. That, for me, was the most enjoyable part. You've pulled this off wonderfully so far -- keep up the good work. ^_^[/color]

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]*grins* I'm glad you like it.

I'm about a third of the way through Chapter 2 at the moment, but as I'm out today I might not get it finished until Wednesday. Still, I really appreciate all the feedback. I do accept criticism as well, hehe ^_~

By the way, if anyone has any issues with it, please PM me. I'd hate it if I'd offended anyone and wasn't told about it.[/COLOR]

[Mimmsicle]

[color=chocolate]Even if one is not familiar with the people in the story, you can still enjoy it. which is nice.
Good flow and easy to read. always a plus for me :p

Impatiently awaiting what will happen next !

- Mimmi [/color]

[Doukeshi]

Well, I can't really say anything original since i believe everyone else who's posted has expressed the exact same sentiments as I. This is brilliant. Possibly the funniest and most interesting fic I've read in ages. So far it looks to be a very very curious and unique tale, humerous and exciting. I look forward to seeing more instalments of this and I'll be keeping my eyes peel for other OBers I know in there *chuckles*.

Great job Solo and post soon ^_~.

[Patronus]

It's great!

[size=1]I wanna be in it...[/size]

[Nate]

[font=Croobie][color=red]Yea, it is nice. Even though i have no idea ho halv of the avatars they turned into are, i like it. Just say i'm not a complete anime otaku.
[size=1]i want to be in it, too...[/size][/font][/color]

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]What is sad is that I think I have used that line in a chat before.

Heh. I hope there is more of me later on.

[spoiler][ps. no one remind him of that string of female avatars I had at one time. It might give him ideas. Wait he can- oops. =P][/spoiler][/color]

[Desbreko]

[color=indigo]Lol, or how 'bout that one of Nikki (or however it's spelled) from Chrono Cross? He should have you look like him in the story. He's [i]technically[/i] a guy. :toothy:[/color]

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]Well, it didn't look like I was going to get this finished for today for various reasons, but here it is ^_^ I hate disappointing people, heh.

I apologise if it's not quite as good as chapter one- This is really an end to the introductory bit before leading onto the main stories. I need to ask some people about their avatars, too...

Anyway, here we go:

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[b]Chapter 2: Home from Home?[/b]

Adjusting to a new house is never easy. Adjusting to a whole new reality is considerably more difficult, especially if the usual, somewhat comforting laws of physics no longer apply to your new location.

As far as most people could tell, it was still the first day of their rather sudden departure from the real world. The digital clouds floated serenely overhead, streams of glittering HTML code parting through them every few minutes.

Approaching the OtakuBoards main entrance, the hoards of members were greeted by several pairs of glass doors, above which a stone plaque read [url]www.OtakuBoards.com[/url] in a New Century Gothic font. The doors swung open and the smell of new carpet wafted outside. Excitedly curious, the mass of characters bundled inside. Syk3, OtakuSennen and the Gundams peered inside through the upstairs windows, looking into a glass-walled corridor at what looked to be bedroom doors.

Gasps of awe and amazement (and perhaps one or two of disappointment) echoed around the massive foyer as they stepped inside. It was a large, round room with a marbled floor in a purple, pink and blue colour scheme. A large ?OB? was embossed in metal onto the ground.

Wide, carpeted corridors led off in three different directions- one signposted ?Arenas?, one ?Forums? and the other ?Lounges?. A balcony stretched around the upper part of the foyer, presumably attached to the upstairs part of the building.

The walls were painted a sky-blue with grey borders, reminiscent of the v6 skin created some time ago. Above them was a stained glass dome covered in anime and game characters from every franchise imaginable, the most prominent of which was Mario.

?Not too over the top, I see?? Sara said with a smile.

Leh strained his eyes to see try and identify the characters he could see above him, not really paying attention to which direction he was slowly shuffling towards. Suddenly, he felt something pressing against his stomach. He looked down to see a curved reception area. Hundreds of small PM boxes covered the walls, looking hungry for correspondence. To one side of the desk was a cork notice board labelled ?Announcements?, and printed on the wall in a big, bold font were the Site Rules.

Behind the desk sat a rather forlorn-looking OtakuBot, twiddling his thumbs and poking a post-count badge on his chest, reading 0. As soon he noticed Leh he leapt to his feet and beamed at him happily. Upon seeing the people behind him, he leapt onto the desk, throwing his arms out dramatically.

?Welcome to the OtakuBoards Information Center!? he chirruped as loudly as he could, as everyone began moving into the corridors to take a look at the other forums. He cast a steely glare to James. A massive sweat drop cascaded down the back of the Site Director?s head.

?Everyone, wait!? he bellowed.

Immediately, everyone stopped and turned to face him. Oddly bemused by his total command over everyone, he pointed at OtakuBot.

?This is OtakuBot,? he announced, nodding towards the aforementioned VHS tape with limbs. ?He?s, er? going to guide us round the building.?

OtakuBot?s chest swelled with pride. ?That?s right. I know everything about these forums- I know every single thread, every reply-? he paused to cast a threatening glare to Shy while making a point of flicking his ?OB Official Mascot? badge ?-and I have memorised everyone?s profiles.?

Everyone looked around nervously. There was a lot of blackmail potential in that thing. OtakuBot ignored everyone giving him slightly derisive looks as he strode to the front of the group, walking towards the corridor marked ?Forums?. ?Right. As I was saying, Welcome to OtakuBoards. A fantastic online community bursting with over 5,000 active??

He paused. No one seemed to be interested.

?Well, do you [i]want[/i] to know about this site?? he asked huffily.

?OtakuBot, most of us have already been here for a few months already. We just haven?t been [i]here[/i]-? James pointed all the way around the group, indicating the building. ?-at all. We?d like to know where everything is, if you wouldn?t mind.?

OtakuBot pouted for a second, then jumped round everyone to the Forum corridor.

?Any questions before we leave??

A massive shadow moved over the foyer as Syk3 raised a colossal hand into the air. ?How can I get inside??

OtakuBot tapped his foot on the ground impatiently. ?Resize your Avatar to something smaller.? He shouted.

The skyscraper-tall members outside fumbled with their computers for a few seconds, then seemed to vanish. A few seconds later a relieved looking troop of Mechas entered the room. Syk made a beeline for Mei and gave her an embarrassed smile.

?This way.? OtakuBot sighed.

* * *

The forums were breathtaking. A far cry from the screen of lists everyone was used to, the Music, Movies and Entertainment forum had become a vast cinema screen with more then enough room to hold all of the members present. Doors lined the lower half of the massive room, each leading to a soundproof room with a smaller TV screens in them.

For the music fans, an archway led to another chamber- this time completely covered in all sorts of music playing equipment- MP3 and CD players, cassette decks and (for good measure) a wind-up gramophone. A large stage with six-foot speakers either side of it stood at one end of the room, awaiting a performance by anyone brave enough to try.

AJeh immediately leapt onto centre stage and grabbed the microphone.

?Who?s up for a song?? he yelled.

Anxious looks darted around the room. A polite reply of ?No? came from every other member in the room. AJeh shrugged and rejoined the group.

The Poetry, Fan Fiction and Literature forum seemed to be an endless library of books and computers. Not many members ventured inside, slightly intimidated by the amount of books lining the walls. Most of them had actually encountered books before, just not this many. Although well lit, it stretched far into the distance, and smelt very strongly of old leather.

Next came the Anime Forums. Each had their own screen at one end of the room- the Anime Lounge had several sections each with their own TV and a massive selection of DVDs lining the walls. No one knew how they had managed to get there or even whether they were actually viewable in this world, but it was a hugely impressive collection anyway.

Lining each of the walls in the forums were discussion threads. Subject titles lined the walls- every time one was selected another window burst open in front of the reader, allowing them to read through what was inside. They also contained relevant DVDs, books, videos, soundtracks, action figures? it was a collector?s paradise.

The group marched past the DragonBall, Digimon, Gundam and .hack//SIGN forums. The door to the Yu-Gi-Oh section swung open, revealing four massive duelling arenas much like those seen in the series. The collective jaws of Solo, Jinzouningen17, Altron Gundam, Domon and various other duelling fans dropped to the floor.

Adam looked smug. ?We downloaded a lot of programs and incorporated the programming into the various forums- for this we used the Yu-Gi-Oh Virtual Desktop. This should make your online experience even more enjoyable.? He smiled.

Once everyone had finished being in awe, they moved on a bit further. OtakuBot reached for the door to the Yu-Yu-Hakusho forum, then stepped backwards, a sweatdrop appearing behind his head.

?Perhaps I?ll let you see that one for yourselves.? He murmured, before wandering in the direction of the Gaming section.

* * *

Some hours later, once OtakuBot had finished his exhausting tour of the forums and sat back down behind the OtakuBoards Information Centre desk, everyone migrated to the Otaku Lounge (near the kitchens, baths and bedrooms). The springy sofas were very welcome, and all the members sat down with a relieved sigh.

In the relaxed near-silence that followed, a cushion whirled across the room, hurtling into Raiha?s back. She slowly turned round with a wicked grin, grabbed a pillow, and?

In the OtakuBoards Moderators forum, James took his seat at the head end of a long black desk which stretched from one end of the room to the other. Various Moderating threads covered the walls, and to one side was a Member list and map of the OB Island showing where all of the members were situated.

Charles and Adam flanked the Site Director, the six SuperMods sat in the chairs down from them, then the regular Moderators and technical staff at the end.

?Right? now what do we do?? James asked no one in particular.

Everyone exchanged semi-blank looks. No one could have anticipated anything like this happening, so what to do next was somewhat of a mystery.

Adam looked at his cartoon watch. It flashed 12:20. ?I think we should get the admin out of the way first.?

Charles looked worried. ?You mean administration as opposed to Administrator, right??

Adam nodded.

Sara looked thoughtfully at the map of the building. The label reading ?Kitchen? caught her eye. ?Can we eat anything??

A Mexican Shrug made its way around the room, ending with Sara. Everyone began exploring their User Options. Several clues popped up, but no one dared select the ?Mass Prune? function in the Moderator panel.

Shy investigated his pockets idly. There was something inside one of them. Something crumbly. He cautiously removed it to find a rather ordinary-looking chocolate chip cookie staring back at him. He looked to everyone else for a prompt.

They nodded.

Slowly, he moved it towards his mouth and bit down on it.

It lacked the finesse of most cookies, but was certainly edible enough. He turned to smile at everyone approvingly, but suddenly noticed that they?d all disappeared. He was outside on the beach, staring at the OtakuBoards building way off in the distance. His body had reverted to the grey, mannequin state again. Starting to panic, he looked at the computer on his wrist.

?Already registered? Login here:? it read.

Hurriedly, Shy entered in his details.

?Thank you for logging in, Shy.?

His Bosko body zipped back into focus and he breathed a sigh of relief. The half-eaten cookie in his hand reformed from a crescent to a round again. Curious, he flipped it over. On the back was carved ?[url]www.otakuboards.com?.[/url]

?Aah? cookie.? He muttered, placing it back into his pocket.

He entered the building again, strode straight past OtakuBot (who threw him an evil glance) and made his way towards the Moderator room.

As he saw the door come into view, he heard a soft padding sound behind him- footsteps on the carpet. He glanced over his shoulder to catch who it was, then glanced over again.

No one was there. He quickened his pace, all the time watching what was behind him.

The footsteps began again- this time faster, matching his pace. As he bolted towards the door he slammed into an invisible shape in front of him. He landed on his back and listened to the shape groan as it lifted itself back to its feet.

?Who?s there?? Shy called, crawling backwards.

Not that he could see it, but the shape smiled. A ripple through the air travelled across to a small floating button, which depressed itself.

A six-foot bipedal wolf with long grey fur and red eyes appeared in front of him, grinning apologetically. ?Sorry about that, Shy.?

It held out a gloved hand to him. He grabbed it firmly and they jointly pulled him to his feet.

Shy brushed himself off. ?Solo, if I didn?t know you I?d have been incredibly scared.?

A sweatdrop dripped down Solo?s furry head. ?Heh. I went to find out where you?d disappeared to. On the way I found the ?Invisible Mode? in the User Control Panel.? His head dropped slightly and he gave Shy another apologetic look. ?I don?t think I?ll use it too often, though.?

Shy rubbed his neck in thought. ?Perhaps we should disable that feature.? He murmured as the two of them walked back inside the darkened room.

They came back to find everyone with various different objects in front of them. Queen Asuka (looking very fetching as Chii from Chobits) was standing opposite a large mirror, holding a Ruffly Dress against herself and smiling happily. Ken (sitting relatively comfortably in a suit of black and gold armour) was busy having a staring match with Mini-Ken and Break (a computer-animated version of Cloud of Final Fantasy VII) was poking some dumplings in a boiling pot on a stove.

Charles knocked a hammer on the table with the same amount of authority as a judge. ?Let?s not get too crazy here,? he said, watching Sara try to prevent her soot sprite from falling onto the floor.

?How?? Shy began to ask.

The Harlequin leant back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head in a relaxed position, while Mini-Ken made frantic gestures to jump onto his vulnerable stomach. ?We put it in asterisks on our computers," he explained. "And for some inexplicable reason, it works." He deftly typed ?*Harlequin picks up frying pan*? on the keypad and as soon as he did, a frying pan appeared from out of nowhere and placed itself in The Harlequin?s outstretched hand.

?How do we get rid of them?? Lady Katana inquired, watching Mini-Ken storm around the table. Asuka whirled her Plushie Wand through her fingers, its business end leaving a trail of glitter in the air.

No one seemed to know or be particularly bothered by what happened to the items that they conjured up. At least now they?d be able to recover all of their own creature comforts from home. And, even better, they could eat.

Break looked disappointed that not everything that he put into asterisks actually happened, as he found out trying to force-feed himself to Desbreko.

Charles knocked his hammer on the table again, enjoying the sharp rapping sound that pierced the air. ?There?s something else we need to discuss??

Small poles appeared in front of each of the moderators. They were sleek, black, and looked rather like truncheons the police carried.

"A Benny Hill show?" Transtic asked, eying the rod carefully.

"ModRods!" Charles said ecstastically, grabbing his. A small 'Admin' badge appeared on his outfit, gleaming brightly in the light.

Everyone else followed suit and grabbed the shiny batons. Badges appeared on all of them, depicting their unique statuses.

"To the Modmobile!" Chaos cried, pointing his ModRod at the door.

* * *

Once everything had been decided on (and the minority coerced to agree on things not fully decided on), the Mods made their way back to Otaku Lounge.

Feathers covered the floor. Members were lying in heaped piles on the floor, having been thoroughly beaten into submission by cushions. Raiha stood victoriously over the dazed and bruised forms of doukeshi03 and Leh. As soon as she noticed them arrive, she tossed the cushion away. Timid members emerged from underneath other members and makeshift bunkers constructed from sofas.

?What the Boom Boom Da-Donka Da Donk happened here?? Charles exclaimed.

?Drix, Transtic; I believe this is your job?? James sighed.

Drix cracked his knuckles and straightened himself up. ?Right, then.? Transtic cleared his throat and stood next to him.

They each produced their ModRods and pointed them at the floor. The feathers began to move- they shifted across the floor to a large pile in the centre, then completely vanished in a flash of light.

Another Rod-point at the sofas whirled them through the air and back into their original positions, cushions landing on them in perfect order.

When everything was finally cleared Drix gave a triumphant nod of his head to rapturous applause from the members in front of him. Transtic couldn?t help but smile either. He rubbed his hands together, feeling very smug.

?I could definitely get used to this,? he beamed. [/COLOR]

[terra]

Bwee, I'm the first to post! (... Did I just say "bwee"?)

Nevertheless. Nice chapter. I got a little confused at some parts because I'd just skimmed it at first, but looking back it pretty much all made sense again. :p Except I'm not sure how Adam, etc.'s HTML from the last chapter fit in, as they didn't seem to know their way around the OB building. I would've thought that since they were doing the HTML modifying, they would've known where everything was instead of needing OtakuBot to show them around ... but whatever.

Speaking of OtakuBot, he appeared! ... Not like I was here the first time he did or did not appear. But yes. I still appreciate the reference.

I was looking back to the first chapter and I was impressed by the bit of conversation in the first part. I don't know Ken all that well, but the "army of the doomed" bit sounds just like something he'd say. And the "you'll be our first mortal enemy" was hilarious. Good job at both getting the personalities of your "characters" (I think, sorry if I'm wrong DeathKnight, agh I'm getting all mixed up) and making it funny. :)

The cookie reference in this chapter was quite hilarious.

I'm dying to know what admin decisions they made/needed to be made, but I suppose I'll have to wait for the next chapter for that. I'm also very curious as to how the A. Arena will be ... :p That could be fun.

Anyway, nice job again. You're really creative with this thing and are very good at working in the personalities of the people you know. Sweet! (... Did I just say "sweet"??? Time to go to bed.)

[Solo Tremaine]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by terra [/i]
[B]Except I'm not sure how Adam, etc.'s HTML from the last chapter fit in, as they didn't seem to know their way around the OB building. I would've thought that since they were doing the HTML modifying, they would've known where everything was instead of needing OtakuBot to show them around ... but whatever.[/B][/QUOTE]

[COLOR=#503F86]^_^; Yeah, I see what you mean. I'll probably edit that when I get back home this afternoon. But they'd go round on a tour anyway, to see how everything looked. You have to admire your work once it's finished, after all.

I'll add in some more Mod bits also- I felt some bits needed a bit more explaining. I know it seems like I only write about the Mod Squad, but I personally don't have a huge amount of interaction with anyone else so it's hard to properly justify the characters.

The Adventure Arena comes in the next Chapter, heh. I just need to figure out how to work it.[/COLOR]

[DeathKnight]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by terra [/i]
[B]I don't know Ken all that well, but the "army of the doomed" bit sounds just like something he'd say. And the "you'll be our first mortal enemy" was hilarious. Good job at both getting the personalities of your "characters" (I think, sorry if I'm wrong DeathKnight, agh I'm getting all mixed up) and making it funny. :)
[/B][/QUOTE]

[color=crimson]That is pretty on the dot for when my humor is more morose.

Heh. It is pretty good, so far. I enjoy Charles lines immensely, lol.[/color]

[James]

[color=#707875]By the way, OtakuBot is actually a Japanese Famicom disk from the 1980's. Japanese pop culture icon? You bet. ~_^

Very good stuff, Solo. Now if only I could get an OBuilding produced...[/color]

[Patronus]

[size=1][color=green]...I got beat up by Raiha... that's not a good thing. :'(

Anyways, it was very good![/size] AND I WAS IN IT! GO ME![/COLOR]

[Baron Samedi]

Eh. What a good story. I lvoe it. Thanks to Whoever was reading this in the 'Who is Online' Forum, coz I followed the link!

This is funny. Hopefully you'll post up Chapter 2 soon. The characters seem to fit with the general impressions I get of them, and the idea... is. Well, far-fetched, but at the same time, not so far-fetched if you get what I'm saying. A very good idea, nice work. A rating presents itself...

9/10. Highly humourous and well done.

EDIT***

My god. There is a new page here. Haha, it is a miracle.

This one is very good too. Hopefully you'll continue with this idea...

[size=1]I would love to be in this.. eh. Dont' worry though. I'm insignificant and all that.[/size]

Heh. God, I need a spine.

[size=1][b]Second Edit[/b]: Dear God, here I am reading back through the thread and I see this post. Please, don't hold it against me. It was three years ago, damnit![/size]