The First Step Toward the Competitive Scene

After the 2v2 was over, everybody gathered at the center of the basement room.

"Good game," Vincent congratulated everybody with a smile that looked a little forced.

"Yeah, good game, my dudes." Lars followed up.

"Good game," Yuel followed the protocol even though that wasn't exactly what he'd call a "good game". He and Lars should've completely stomped their opponents to prove their skill but none of that happened this match.

"Bad game," Kai was the only one to speak her mind. "I got bodied pretty hard there. Good spacing and defense, bastards."

Nobody retorted to these words. Everybody shifted their eyes away to not deal with this statement. It pretty much summarized how everybody felt about this match. It was one-sided aggression from Kai and Vincent. Meanwhile, Yuel and Lars just played defense until the opponent made an obvious mistake which was easy to punish.

But, these were details. The fact was: Yuel and Lars won. They proved they were the stronger Bot duo. That should be enough to convince Kai.

"Considering we won," Yuel started. "Don't you think it's better if Lars and I play Bot on the team?"

"Not at all," Kai shrugged. "It was just one game. You were alright, but nothing outta this world. I'm sure I can get you next time."

"C'mon, dude," Lars objected. "We totally dominated that game. We're the best duo!"

"Not really. We just lost at the selection screen, that's all. You did a good job counter picking, I'll give you that."

"Hey, that's rude," Lars insisted. "We totally played better."

"Didn't feel that way to me," Kai stuck to her guns. "But yeah, you're not bad. If you can play other roles this well, you gonna get spots on the main team for sure."

"But, that's shit, yo!" Lars exploded. "We're one of the best Bot duos you'll ever see! We gotta be playing-"

"It's fine," Yuel placed a hand on Lars's shoulder. "We can also play Top and Mid, but Support and Carry are where we're at our best."

"Okay then," Kai nodded. "Then, our current formation will look something like this: Me and Vincent in Bot, you guys in Mid and Top and... I guess Luke will do as a Jungler." Kai had a difficult expression for a moment but then sighed like she accepted reality.

"Anyway," Kai continued. "Let's wrap it up for today."

"Yeah, I second that," Vincent nodded repeatedly. "Man, I'm done from all that cleaning. I'm telling you, the human race wasn't made for such labor. We're intellectuals, we're born to sit in comfy chairs all day. That's the destiny of our species!"

"That's just you being a lazy ass," Kai remarked.

Everybody left the basement clubroom and Kai locked up.

"Club activities only officially start next week," Vincent explained on the way to the surface. "So, we don't have a real schedule for now."

"How about we meet after school every day?" Yuel suggested.

"Every day? That may be a stretch for some..."

"I like that," Kai said. "We gotta train hard if we wanna get past the first round."

"Or to win the regionals," Yuel raised the bar. Passing the first round meant nothing. He didn't care Stratus was a low tier team with a weak history. Yuel had to win the regionals no matter what, or else his Classmancers career will be in danger.

"By the way," Kai said. "About the roles, I don't mind trying Yuel as Support."

"Huh?" Everybody replied with a puzzled expression.

"I mean, you saw how this clown plays Support, right?" Kai pointed at Vincent. "No initiative at all."

"Hey, hey, hey," Vincent objected. "I was playing it smart to not get us killed. It was the ultimate plan!"

"The ultimate defeat plan, yes."

"Geh, that's mean..." Vincent twisted his lips. "But honestly, you got a point. Yuel is the Elite Support here, so if you form a duo and practice I think you can make a better duo than we are right now. And, I'll get to play Top so I won't have to babysit anymore."

"Are you implying something?"

"Nothing, nothing," Vincent whistled innocently. "Okay, so it's decided then! Kai and Yuel will be the Bot duo."

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Yuel objected. It was undeniable that Yuel would contribute the team much more as a Support than as a Top Laner, regardless of whom he was paired with. But, if he just goes and accepts this offer...

"What?" Lars asked.

"No, nothing," Yuel shifted his eyes away. This was a sticky situation. Yuel wanted to play Bot with Lars more than with anything, but if push comes to shove and the captain refuses to hand over her precious Carry role...

"We need to test the various arrangements first," Yuel said. "After we play some Ranked, we'll get a better idea how to compose the main team."

"Sounds reasonable," Vincent nodded. "As expected from Chessmaster, always the logical one! I'll make sure to play like Bronze tier so I get switched out of Support, haha."

"I'll kill you," Kai shot a glare. Everybody laughed.

They parted ways with Kai at the gate but Vincent stuck around for a while longer.

"About that match," Vincent started. "You guys played fine, but I'll be honest: it wasn't that inspiring."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yuel raised an eyebrow.

"When I watched you play against the Leopards, you guys kicked some serious ass. You were the Golden Duo! The unstoppable force! The young athletes who'll change this town forever! But, in this game? You were just 'alright'. Like, still good, but not really amazing, know what I mean?"

"No idea," Yuel scoffed. "We played in a way that secured victory while minimizing risks. If you think that's not the right way to play, then you simply don't understand how the game works."

"That's not what I mean, but... Hmm..." Vincent produced some thinking noises. "Alright, let's leave it at that. I'm turning here, so see you guys tomorrow."

They parted ways with Vincent and headed toward the bus station. The entire time, the loud goof hasn't uttered a single word. Even now, that they were alone, there was nothing but silence.

"You okay?" Yuel asked.

"Yeah," Lars answered. "Except, I don't get it, dude. Why the heck did ya give up on our roles so easily? What was that shit?"

"I didn't give up on anything. I'm still going to push so that both of us play Bot together."

"Then, why not give it to them straight? We hafta make Kai change her mind and let us play."

"Yes, we'll do that. But, I figured there's no need to rush it," Yuel explained. "After today's match, Kai recognizes that our Challenger rank isn't for show. That earned us guaranteed spots on the team, which is already more than we had in StormBlitz."

"Yeah, but these spots ain't Bot roles."

"Yeah, for now," Yuel said. "Kai really wants to play Carry and she's a tough nut to crack. But, if we keep showing her what we can do, eventually she'll have to give in. She wants the team to win at the regionals, so we'll have to prove her it's absolutely necessary for the two us to play Bot if she wants the team to keep advancing."

"Oh, so we playing the long game here," Lars nodded. "Okay, gotcha. Basically, we gotta keep kicking butts and show off how good we are."

"Yeah, basically."

"This feels so unfair, tho," Lars pouted. "Why everybody wanna play Bot so much? Like, c'mon, there are five roles in the game, ya know?"

"Carry is a special role, it's all in the name," Yuel said. "In a way, Carry is like the ace of the team. Isn't that the reason you play it too?"

"Nah, I just like shooting stuff."

"You can 'shoot stuff' as Mid too."

"Yeah, but your shots don't do much. You can't just walk into somebody face and go like BANG BANG BANG in their face. Ya only got a couple of spells that deal super damage and those are savage, but the basics are kinda lame."

"I see," Yuel nodded. In other words, Lars liked playing marksmen the most because they made the game resemble a shooter. While there were some selfish players like Taison who were mesmerized by the "ace" status of Carry, Lars just wanted to have fun with the role that worked best for him.

"Not gonna lie, tho," Lars added. "Being able to quickly take down the towers and push for the win is hella cool too. So yeah, I love that feeling of powah too."

"Understandable," Yuel nodded. It was a similar but still very different from what Yuel was talking about. Lars probably didn't care as much about the social position that came with being the Carry because he was always in the center of attention anyway.

Lars used to be the ace of his basketball team too, so it's like he was born into playing such roles in every game. He always got that position without even going out of his way to pursue it. It's like being born into a rich family and never being concerned with earning money because it's always available.

On the other hand, Kai felt like a poor person who stumbled upon a treasure chest and wanted to keep it to herself no matter what. Her obsession with the Carry role reminded of Taison. But, hopefully, her motivation wasn't fueled by a cheap desire to show off.

Either way, the fact remained that Kai was standing in the way of Yuel and Lars's ambitions. She was the captain and she was hellbent on being the Carry.

The initial impression from the 2v2 was that Kai was a solid player without any glaring weaknesses. However, she wasn't as skilled as Lars. So, she might outdo the goof in terms of game knowledge and occasional decision-making, but she didn't have enough overwhelming strength to rival the wild beast.

In time, Kai will surely come to accept that. Once the team starts losing in official scrimmages, Kai will come to understand the extent of her skill and that Lars was better suited to be the team's Carry.

"But," Lars started. "What if Kai gonna insist on being Carry? Whatcha gonna do then? Play Support for her?"

"That's..." A question Yuel didn't want to deal with. Especially, because there was a possibility of that happening with how stubborn Kai was.

Objectively, Yuel should play Support regardless of whether his lane partner was Lars or Kai. He was confident he'll contribute to the team much more as a Support than as a Top Laner. Even Vincent, the current Support, agreed 100% with that sentiment.

However, subjectively, this was a nasty decision to make. It felt like betraying his partnership with Lars. They talked before about how each of them should always aim to be the best in his own role even when the other wasn't around, but this just felt wrong.

"I don't know," Yuel admitted. "We'll just have to make sure it doesn't reach that point."

"Yeah, sounds about right," Lars thrust a fist. "C'mon dude, let's do it! We gonna win our spots and win the revenge match against Athena and Aegis! After that, we gonna become da best in the world!"

"Shooting far, huh," Yuel smiled wryly and bumped fists.

They made a small step today but a very important one. The circumstances surrounding the transfer and the club were far from ideal, but at least their situation was far better than before. In StormBlitz, they would have spent this entire year being stuck on the bench. Meanwhile, in Stratus, they have already secured themselves spots on the first-string on day one.

All there was left to make this perfect was getting their Support and Carry roles. Then, they'll be in a position to win matches against other teams from the region and eventually reach the revenge match against StormBlitz. This time, Yuel and Lars will defeat Howard and Ellen!

At first, there was doubt about how far Yuel and Lars will be able to pull a weak team like Stratus. But, surprisingly, the team members Yuel met so far were rather competent.

Kai was a solid Diamond quality player who clearly didn't get to that rank from being carried by others. For the first half of their match, her positioning and decision making were airtight, to the point Yuel couldn't find a single weakness to exploit.

And, despite being a total clown, Vincent exhibited sharp judgment and careful planning. Such high quality was far from how Yuel imagined Stratus, the "lowly team" that always got eliminated during the first round of the regionals.

With Yuel and Lars added on top of these two, together they've already formed a solid four-man team. They needed just one more skilled member and their team will have a real chance of aiming to the top!