33 || White Mountain vs Blueriver! Clash Of The Youngest Generation

Tara looks even more embarrassed as her date looks at a wall of pictures filled with celebrities and important figures, ranging from professional gamers to world leaders.

'That's why my moms' didn't push for her to pick me up at home!' Tara realizes in horror. They would get a great photo from her godmother!

Only after a grueling photoshoot with her godmother, they were finally led to a private booth usually reserved for special guests. This catches the attention of the other patrons.

Tara watches with humor as Kristen braves a new pallet. She's only ever witnessed Kristen's looks of prideful challenge or disdainful loss. So Tara can't help but laugh at how her date is navigating the food. First Kristen would take several pictures of what was in front of her before trying it. Tara's delighted to find that Kristen is pretty open minded when it comes to new dishes.

"Are you going to take a photo of every plate?"

"Your idea of a first date is to take me to the 5 star restaurant where the Western and Eastern presidents of America ate together. But updating my food blog is out of the question?"

"You run a food blog?"

"I also cook and post my own creations. I'll make you something." Kristen doesn't wait for a reply before chowing down some more.

Tara's expression softens as she rests her hand in her chin. "That'd be nice."

They fall into a comfortable silence before eventually paying. Or at least attempting to pay as Kristen feels it was her duty not to slight Tara's family on their date. Aahaana kindly puts her foot down with a well meaning smile which dissuades Kristen, the teenager getting the message as chills run down her spine. The two begin to amble through the afternoon crowd towards the movie theater, their hands brushing against each other.

"Why'd you single me out as your rival?" Tara asks as they walk

"Other than having the beauty and brains equal to my own? People trust you because of your kindness and charisma. Even when we were babies, you were always a leader. I admired that quality as much as I envied it and thought that if I win--I don't know, I thought I'd understand it better? Not that this date or, um, future ones change anything in that regard."

Tara wasn't expecting such honesty to her question, so she's blushing and speechless.

"Krissy is that you?" A male voice cuts through before Tara can respond. Though they aren't standing beside each other, Tara can feel Kristen shudder at the voice. Kristen let's out an annoyed groan before they turn around.

A tall, handsome blond guy, probably a year older than them, approaches in peach linen shorts and a white polo with the collar popped. Behind him were five other boys in similar attire.

"And what do I owe the displeasure of running into you, Roger." Kristen's voice is cordial but infused with venom.

"Is that a way to talk to an old friend?" Roger tuts at her, eyes leering at Kristen before they flicker over to Tara. "And who might you be?"

His attention is turned on her. Good because she can sense Kristen's growing discomfort at the whole situation. With a cool smile, she slides her arm around Kristen's waist protectively. "Tara Prakash, Kristen's girlfriend."

Roger's cocky grin cracks slightly as his eyes narrow. He had never imagined he'd run into his family's rival here of all places. Worse yet she was dating his childhood crush!

"Roger Whitmount." He finally introduces himself, as if to match her.

"The eldest grandson of Stephen Whitmount, founder of White Mountain Industry. Eastern America's second ranked gaming organization and, oh what was it again, sixth internationally?" Tara recalls. The two organizations had basically been at war with each other since their creation. Bad blood ran between them but, though they had attempted to keep the children out of the feud, it seemed some things were fated.

Roger's hands clenched into fists. He refuses to believe his White Mountain is truly the weaker of the two in Eastern America! They only had an advantage because of their collaboration with Starshine, he's certain of it.

"What would you ladies say to a sparring match? There's a famous arcade called Rock Point spot nearby." He suggests. It was a well known fact that Rock Point was White Mountain territory and is currently in Roger's control as he guides the newest recruits.

"Why not add some stakes?" Kristen challenges with a snap. Tara covers her face with her hands at that moment.

Anyone who came in contact with Kristen, even marginally, knew she wouldn't back down from a confrontation.Whitmount had been planning this the moment he showed up. So much for their movie date.

"If I win you have to accompany me to my father's party next month as my date. And if I lose you can borrow one of my boys for a week's worth of sessions in Renovel."

"Charles it is then," Kristen nods at one of the boys without hesitation.

Roger leads them to Rock Point Arcade, where inside are three floors of gaming rooms. The bottom has gaming consoles and machines, prizes, even a snack and juice bar at the center. The second and third floor are for gaming organizations to rent helmets supposedly. Since White Mountain owned this place not many outsiders visited this place for their virtual reality gaming.

One of his team members, a short kid, was the new team gopher and had been sent to get snacks. At the sight of Roger, he almost drops the load he was carrying as he spoke into his watch. "The boss is here!" He cries to his surprise Roger helps him with his snacks.

"I told you, Donnie, just call me Roger." He says sincerely. A clamor can be heard upstairs even above the noise of the arcade games, as many rush downstairs to greet Roger. Both girls are caught off guard as the sixty or so teens and young adults of all genders look genuinely happy to see him. "Hi guys! Head to the colosseum if you want to see a show!"

Roger is the only Novelist in the whole establishment with his close crew being the highest level among the Explorers here. He leads Kristen and Tara up to the third floor to where sleek white gaming helmets are lined up. Tara can tell they were of a high quality as it comfortably fit her head.

[I want this recorded from every side. Title the video: White Mountain vs Blue River! Clash of the Youngest Generation!] Roger messages all of his underlings as he steps out onto the arena stage. He feels he is sure to win as he's clad in white heavy armor. Hefting a great shield in one hand and a lance in the other, beside him stood one of his bandana-wearing friends with two shortswords at his hips as he wore leather armor.

"Roger's class is Forefend-based? And Bryan's an Infantry! We've got a bad matchup, Prakash." Kristen points out as she steps in beside Tara.

Kristen's attire had evolved with a crimson red robe, blackwood rod with a silver crystal pommel at the top, and a white mage's hat. Tara, who was wearing her Dark Saber uniform, still hadn't looked up the other classes offered to Explorers.

"What makes you say that?" She asks as she checks her equipment. To her surprise both Wolyung and Oorun seem to be present. `Hello, you two.' she thinks and is greeted with mewls.

"Forefends have a high physical Defense which makes them very hard to take down. I'd have no problem fighting him because his magical defenses shouldn't be that high yet. The problem is Bryan. Infantries are more varied in their weapon choices but dagger wielders are usually Dexterity focused and deal higher damage. He might even be able to kill me in one hit!" Kristen's voice is panicked. She had seen demonstration videos between a group of experts to show a little bit of the match ups between classes and had begun to fear speed based Infantries since then.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of both of them." Tara speaks confidently as an idea comes to mind. In front of the crowd and their opponents, Tara lifts one of Kristen's hands. Pressing her lips against it softly, she got a private notification!

[Transfer Guardians To Ally? They Shall Return When The Match Is Over. Y/N]

Smirking inwardly, she selects yes and uses her aura to transfer Oorun and Wolyung over to Kristen. Kristen had been about to argue that it was impossible for Tara to take them both on herself, but the words got stuck in her throat at the romantic action.

Glancing over to Roger, who is visibly shaking with anger, Kristen then notices something different about her stats. Usually when doing player vs player situations like this, both their Vitality and Spirit bars would be balanced out, this time matched Roger's 500 Health Points, but Kristen's were clearly 20% higher than they should be! What was going on?!

[3...2...1! Battle Start!]

Bryan disappears the moment the fight begins. If daggers are chosen as the main weapon for Infantry during character creation, a basic Stealth skill is given. Certain that a Pugilist class can't keep up with him, he dashes straight towards Kristen. Just as he's about to strike from her right side, a flying side kick nearly smashes into him.

He quickly retreats at the last second as Tara cuts him off. It had to have been a fluke, he thinks, but then he sees Tara take off after him! The crowd watches as Tara darts around after Bryan, putting him on the defensive despite not having dispelled his Stealth skill. How could she sense where he is? The other Pugilist players in the crowd are at a loss and even Roger is stunned. He had sparred with Bryan frequently but never once caught wind of the class's location.

Tara is using her psychic and lunar awareness to keep tabs on him. Despite Bryan not being visible to the eye, he couldn't evade her extra senses. As for his so-called speed, she wasn't even breaking a sweat at a matching pace. Leiana, Yaoyang, and Neijin were all faster than this guy.

Roger stops hesitating once he realizes Tara is also a Novelist! That was the only way she could possibly be exceeding everyone's notion of the Pugilist class! If he took care of Kristen then they could team up and take out Tara together. He charges forward, pulling back his lance to strike her only for the blow to be stopped by a cyan barrier! Wolyung's innate ability Bubble Shield was activated! It would take some time before a Forefend's damage broke through!

"Aggh!" A throbbing pain suddenly shoots through Roger's head as [-74] floats overhead. He takes several steps back.The damage value over his head in white was what he had just doled out. It seems that this shield reflected any physical damage and turned it into magical, in this case psychic, damage! Roger had never heard of such a spell or skill like this shield!

Turquoise energy swirls among the cyan throughout the shield, barely noticeable unless you know what to look for. Kristen hadn't expected this either. She had readied a Repel just to give her enough time to fire off a Fire Arrow. After Kristen had lost to Tara previously, she had come to the realization that ability and forethought were just as important as Equipment. Since then she had earnestly begun to practice and increase her casting time manually.

Bryan is tired of being chased, finally going on the offensive. His blade strikes air before his face is connected to a crescent kick. Tara combines Ember Gather with the blow to send him flying through the air. He doesn't even touch the ground before his empty Health bar turns him into motes of tri-colored energy.