『DEFEAT』
"Noooooo!" Lars held his head. "It was so close, yo!"
"Yeah," Luke agreed. "We almost had them."
"Indeed!" Vincent nodded. "It was a fine performance on our end, considering our foes were the Bermuda Triangle of Certain Doom."
Alas, as the name implied, the Triangle brought doom to any enemy it trapped. Despite Lars's magnificent performance, it proved impossible for the Stratus trio to win this game from behind.
"Good game, you bastards!" Nash laughed. "Dang, Lars, how the hell did you mop all three of us all by yourself!?"
"Wut? 'Mop' you?" Lars blinked. "I don't remember ever mopping you, dude. It was a hella tough fight, yo! I had to use like 2000% of my power to pull it off."
Jaiden chuckled at that. "Heh, I'm glad we at least made it a little challenging for you. Your skill is just crazy, man."
"But only when he plays Shooter," Rio pointed out. "He's not nearly as good with other classes."
"Gah!" Lars clenched his chest in pain. "Right in the feels, dude!"
Nash snorted. "Haha, no wonder everybody and their moms ban your Shooter and Slinger. Ain't nobody wants that smoke."
"Yes," Rio said. "Which means every opponent with half a brain cell would ban these classes."
Lars grinned. "Don't write me off just yet, dude! I'm already working on a third class to add to the mix."
"Oh, that's interesting," Rio said. "Which class is it?"
"Wow, wow, wow!" Luke intervened. "It's a trick question! Send no reply!"
Vincent nodded. "Indeed, the enemy is fishing for confidential info! I must say, you snuck in that question quite efficiently. Alas, we shall not fall for such base trickery!"
"Tch." Rio clicked his tongue.
Lars shrugged. "Um, it's just Elf, tho."
"Nooooooooooo!" Luke raised his arms dramatically.
"What a blunder!" Vincent collapsed on the floor as if the world had just ended.
"Well, that was anticlimactic," Rio said. "It was pretty obvious from the Leo scrim that he's working on Elf."
Luke chuckled. "Yep, it was obvious. I was just trying to stir up drama for the lulz. Git jebaited, haha!"
"I had a hidden agenda as well," Vincent admitted. "By being mysterious about it, I was hoping to obfuscate the obvious truth and seed doubt in the hearts of our competitors! Alas, that didn't come to pass."
"You dudes be crazy, haha." Lars laughed. "It's just Elf. It's that simple, yo."
"Elf, huh." Jaiden pondered. "Pretty different from your other classes."
"Tell me about it, dude." Lars sighed. "It's real hard to master this defensive class."
Nash shook his head to that. "I mean, even if you 'master' it, I don't see it ever beating the three of us in a fight like you did with Shooter."
"Dang, a 1v3 with Elf? Yeah, that's gonna be super rough, haha." Lars laughed. "Heck, I'm not sure my Slinger could pull it off. Shooter's ult is just epic for team fights, yo! Slinger and Elf are better in 1v1 tho."
"Yeah, true that," Nash agreed. "Speaking of team fights, that DK almost spooked us in the early-game, too."
"Oh yeah, definitely," Jaiden said. "I would've been dead meat if I rolled just a second too late."
"Ugh, it was so infuriating!" Luke ranted. "I almost got you, man! So close, so damn close! Sick roll, dammit."
"Thanks. It was a very critical roll, too," Jaiden said. "If I got killed there, I feel like the game would've turned out very differently."
"Indeed!" Vincent proclaimed. "If the Meme Jedi could score that fateful kill, it would've turned the entire situation around! Most likely, we could've snowballed to victory from there!"
"Now, now, that's taking it too far, doncha think?" Nash asked. "We wouldn't have lost because of something small like that."
"Nah, you totally would've, bro," Luke insisted. "There's no stopping DK once it's on a roll. I would've ganked your asses nonstop if I had an early advantage. Mark my words, I'm totally gonna do it to you at the regionals!"
"Heh, you'll try." Nash grinned in response, but the smile didn't last for long. After all, he knew all too well that the "regionals" might not actually happen for the three of them this year…
The group bantered some more after that. But eventually, it was time to part ways and head home.
"So," Vincent addressed Luke. "I take it you'll go back to attending club practice regularly again?"
"Who knows~" Luke smiled evasively. "But anyway, tell Yuel his little scheme failed, okay? Make him sweat, haha."
"Oh, so devious!"
"Dude just gets on my nerves sometimes, so I really wanna get back at him. Can't blame me, can you?"
"Very well." Vincent nodded. "I shall keep the mastermind in the dark regarding the success of his operation."
"Hey, hey, I never said it was a 'success'," Luke insisted. "Who knows? Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and decide I don't wanna do this shit anymore."
"Nah, dude." Lars shook his head. "Ya were totally absorbed in the game back there, trying to do whatever ya could to score that W. So, no way ya ain't gonna keep working hard to improve."
"Indeed!" Vincent agreed. "You even switched to a defensive build after your first death despite how much you hate the idea."
"Well, what can I say? Modern problems require modern solutions." Luke shrugged. "I knew things would only keep getting worse, so I had to do something."
Lars grinned. "That right there is what makes ya a real competitive gamer, dude! You went as far as using a strat you don't like to improve the team's chances."
"Indeed," Vincent agreed. "Some may ridicule you for your memeing tendencies, but those people fail to notice the competitive player lying underneath."
"Damn, you guys…" Luke awkwardly looked away. "That's too many embarrassing one-liners in a row, don't you think?"
"We merely state the truth, nothing more," Vincent said.
"Heck yeah!" Lars nodded. "Anyway, welcome back to the club, dude! Let's kick butt together in Ranked again, yo!"
"Heh." Luke smiled wryly and joined the hype. "Hell yeah!"
And so, Luke stepped into the den of competitive players once again. In part, he was still as lost as before. It was unclear where on the scale a player like him belonged. Was he a memer or a tryhard? Or, a tryhard memer? Did that even make any sense?
Meh, whatever. It'll be fine! He was a walking paradox, but he'll manage. Probably.
I mean, I've been making progress over the year, right? For example, Yuel was nagging me to pick an aggressive class at the start of the year, and now here I am, playing the most aggressive class on earth!
Despite how it looked, Luke was definitely moving forward. His DK was a game-changer compared to the previous setup classes he's been picking. Progress!
Now, I just need to figure out what I do when things start off on the wrong foot with DK. It's just another challenge I've gotta overcome, that's all.
Playing sports was all about overcoming oneself to reach higher heights. So, any setback in Luke's path was just like a puzzle to figure out.
Gonna solve this one ezpz. So watch out, Nia! I'm coming for that Jungler spot!
Brimming with determination, Luke sought to further refine his memeing. He was gonna cause the biggest meta upset in the history of competitive Classmancers!
Meanwhile, the team's other Jungler was struggling with hardships of her own...