Problem Kids

The club activity went on. Ben continued playing Top for three more games so that gave Yuel more insight. It didn't change the fact Yuel will have to go over replays as well. But, at least, playing alongside Ben gave him a rough idea of Ben's level.

As Vincent implied, Ben was very good at freezing lanes. In every match, Top lane was locked in a status quo during the early-game. Sometimes, even during the mid-game.

Even ganks didn't take place in Top because the situation was never inviting. Junglers from both sides occasionally tried to set something but that rarely went anywhere. Truly, Ben had the Eternal Peacemaker ability!

[Ugh, I feel like I'm losing brain cells from thinking in these terms.] Yuel shuddered. Why did Vincent's analysis always have to be so accurate and yet so dumb at the same time? Sigh.

Of course, it wasn't like Ben had any superpowers the way the clown suggested. From what Yuel could tell, Ben just played carefully and peacefully, so it established a comfortable status quo in the lane. Neither side wanted to commit to any risky plays so they maintained the stalemate. As a result, the lane remained frozen.

As expected, this playstyle didn't work against every type of opponent. During the third match, Ben faced an extremely aggressive lane opponent. It was clear the guy was out for blood because he picked Dark Knight. There was no chance a Dark Knight player would ever agree to a truce on the lane during the early-game because that'd be equivalent to losing.

Therefore, the Dark Knight didn't play nice. He aggressed on Ben at every opportunity and fished for a kill.

"Ah, oh!" Ben flinched as the Dark Knight pushed him back to the Turret. It took Ben a while to react to the Dark Knight's sudden aggression, so he lost a lot of HP before getting away. It seemed like the thought of fighting back didn't even cross Ben's mind, which made sense in a Vanguard vs. Dark Knight matchup. So, Ben did well to retreat.

Unfortunately, his retreat was too slow and he lost unnecessary HP in the process. On top of that, he was forced into defending under his Turret and the enemy was about to invade it.

Ben had to make a difficult decision: should he stay to defend the lane with just 30% HP and risk getting killed? Or, should he recall to base and let the Dark Knight push the Turret for free?

"Um, I," Ben mumbled something but Yuel couldn't make it from across the room. They weren't playing with headphones like in a tournament, so Yuel couldn't pick up that low voice.

"I see, I see," Vincent nodded repeatedly as he approached Ben's seat. "You need some help over here, right?"

"Um, yes," Ben nodded. "A gank could help. Or, maybe someone could defend the lane while I recall. Oh, but only if you're free, of course. Don't want to bother you..." His voice went from quiet to complete silence. However, Vincent was going to make up for it with his loudness.

"Everybody, you heard the man!" Vincent's voice boomed. "Ben's Eternal Peacemaker was shattered! The opponent is wielding the Dark Anti-Peace Sword of Doom! He's going ham on the lane and plans to pressure Ben into submission! So, what will Chessmaster's call be!?" He stretched a hand toward Yuel as if shoving a microphone in Yuel's face..

"A gank won't work here," Yuel said. Since Luke was sticking to his Druid Jungler meme, he was still a "set-up" type of Jungler who could only set up a kill for the laner. So, Luke didn't have the strength to scare away the Dark Knight. On top of that, Ben played a defensive class, so he won't get a kill even with Luke's setup.

"Luke, can you defend Top for a bit?" Yuel asked.

"No problemo," Luke gave a thumbs up. "On it, pal."

"Then, I...?" Ben asked sheepishly with a glance. He probably had the right idea in mind but didn't voice it for some reason.

"You should recall to base," Yuel said clearly to avoid any random misunderstandings.

"Alright, will do," Ben began recalling as soon as Luke approached the lane.

[Do I really have to say every little thing out loud?] Yuel wondered.

Ben didn't come across like a dumb player so he must have understood what Yuel had in mind when asking Luke to defend Top. Nevertheless, Ben waited for extra confirmation. Why?

Frankly, this indecisiveness was a tad annoying. Ben couldn't even properly ask for help when the enemy overwhelmed him in the lane. Instead, Vincent ended up doing all the communication work for Ben.

It felt like Ben became a high-maintenance player once the enemy interrupted his "peaceful" game plan. In other words, he felt at home while the lane was frozen and played well in this climate. However, once aggression came from the enemy side, Ben started losing himself. He'll definitely have to work on this if he wants to become a competitive player.

For now, Yuel had to think of Ben as a timid player who didn't always speak his mind even when the situation was rough. Yuel played with some kids like that back in grade school, so he had some experience dealing with that. He simply had to pay extra attention to Ben and make the right calls in Ben's stead as needed. Not exactly fun but it was what it was.

"Ben, you're been pressured again," Yuel pointed out. The Dark Knight aggressed again and pushed Ben back to the tower.

"Um, sorry," Ben shrank.

"You need help, right?" Yuel asked.

"It'd be great, but it's my fault it came to this, so..."

"That's irrelevant," Yuel stated. "You should request help when you need help."

"But, I don't want to bother you with my problem..."

"Let us decide for ourselves whether it's a bother or not. Somebody may be available to help you out. If not, they'll just decline the request. But, if you never inform us you need help, we'll definitely not be able to help on time."

"You're right..." Ben nodded but then fell silent like a statue. He still wasn't going to call for help? Sigh.

"Luke," Yuel called out. "Can you defend Top again?"

"On it, chief," Luke rotated to Top and defended it in Ben's stead again.

"Thank you very much," Ben threw a glance at Yuel and then averted his eyes again.

"Rather than thanking me," Yuel said. "It'd be great if you start calling for help yourself."

"You're right. I..." Ben paused and his voice became quiet like a mumble. "I'll try my best."

"Please do." There was no way Yuel would be able to pay attention to the Top Laner the whole time during the early-game. It'd be like remote babysitting.

No, that won't work. Ben had to step up his game and start asking for help of his own accord. The guy was blaming himself too much for everything as if he was carrying the entire world on his shoulders. This had to stop.

Yuel also had confidence issues at times regarding his plays but he felt like the most confident person in the world compared to Ben. It was unfortunate because Ben gave the impression of a promising player aside from that

Though, at the same time, Ben's IGN sounded uncharacteristically bold: Fatty. There was a good chance some kids made fun of him for being obese, yet the guy went ahead and plugged that into his IGN. What an absolute mad lad. It was so odd.

Either way, Ben was quite the handful as a teammate at the moment. He had the right mindset of putting himself on the line as a tank and his playstyle of freezing lanes was quite impressive, but the rest of his game plan felt average at best and unpolished at worst. So, overall, he was alright but not amazing. There were still many areas Ben had to polish before he'd be ready to be a competitive player.

Hopefully, Vincent was better prepared as Top for the competitive scene. He switched places with Ben after three matches so it was time to see him in action. Will this loud clown do a better job? He was dumb but also surprisingly sharp. It was hard to tell what to expect from him.

"Hey, Chessmaster," Vincent called out during the drafting phase.

"I've been meaning to ask, why are you always using nicknames?" Yuel raised an eyebrow.

"Because it's cooler!" Vincent pumped a fist. "When we enter a serious match, we transcend our outer selves and become one with our virtual selves!"

"Oooooooh!" Lars exclaimed. "Yeah, I'm feelin' it! When I play, I become one with my guns!"

"Yeah," Luke nodded. "And I become one with my memes! We transcend humanity itself!"

"You got it, dude! Evolution, yo!"

"Science, bruh!"

[Is it too late to transfer schools again?] Yuel felt like facepalming into a wall.

"Anyway," Yuel turned to Vincent. "What did you need?"

"Huh? Oh, I forgot."

"You did, huh."

"No, wait! I remember now!" Vincent raised his voice again. "It was a request of utmost importance with the balance of the universe at stake!"

"Just spit it out already."

"Right. So, I want to pick Spellblade first, if you don't mind."

[All that noise for something small like that!?] Yuel felt like choking the guy. "Sure, Spellblade is good for an early pick."

"Marvelous! Then, I'm locking in"

Contrary to the entire spectacle surrounding it, Vincent's Spellblade pick was very normal. In fact, picking Spellblade early was one of the class's few strong points. It wasn't a particularly strong class in the current meta but it was a versatile pick that could be played as either Top or Mid, so it gave the enemy team very little information when picked first.

The rest of the drafting phase proceeded according to schedule. Lars picked Electromancer because that's the class he was practicing today. Luke picked Druid again because that was his "meme of the day".

Kai picked Pirate, a solid tier A class. Thinking of it, she has been picking a different class for every single match. Impaler, Trickshooter, Elf and now Pirate. She was a versatile Carry and she played all these classes at roughly the same level. That was a great quality for a competitive player.

[I wish Lars could play this many classes with his full power.] Yuel thought.

Right now, Lars could only play Trickshooter and Gunslinger at an insane level. He was so good with these two that he probably could rival some pros. However, the rest of his classes weren't nearly as intimidating. The day Lars brings most of his Carry classes to that level, he'll transform into a real monster. But, that day was still far away.

For now, Kai's consistent performance with so many different classes was one of the few advantages she had over Lars as a Carry. On average, across all Carry classes in the game, she might even be better than Lars. Unfortunately for her, being consistently good with many classes didn't make her a superior Carry. Her flexibility was great but it had nothing on Lars's explosive strength that carried games.

[Am I playing favorites too much?] Yuel wondered. The Lars vs. Kai debate could wait for later. Right now, he was Kai's Support so he had to play alongside her. [What will go along with her Pirate pick?]

Yuel found himself asking this question every game. Even though Kai started cooperating more with Yuel and even let him initiate from time to time, their teamwork was far from perfect. Heck, far from decent even. Kai still acted independently way too often and forced Yuel to adapt to her in the last moment. Honestly, it was a pain.

Like this Pirate pick, for example. Kai didn't exchange a single word about it with Yuel. She went ahead and picked it just because. Worst of all, it wasn't even a bad pick or anything. Pirate indeed had decent options against Gunslinger so Yuel couldn't say anything.

[Is this how they always played Bot in this club?] Yuel threw a glance at Kai and Vincent. These two seemed to have experience as a Bot duo, yet Kai has been playing selfishly the entire time. Has Vincent never brought this to her attention? If so, he wasn't a dedicated Support player.

[I give up.] Yuel sighed. This wasn't his business anyway. He didn't join this club to work on his supporting skills for a new Carry. Even though he wanted to win matches and improve the club's teamwork, there was no point in stressing over one troublemaker.

Thus, Yuel picked Paladin. It was a solid class he liked so he was comfortable with it and that's all that mattered. Kai was no longer part of the equation for him. Not at all.

[Justice Strike combos well with Kraken, though.] Yuel smiled wryly. No matter what he told himself, he still sought the option that complemented the Carry. After all, as the Support, he couldn't carry the team to victory himself. Therefore, he had to do everything in his power to help out his teammates instead, especially the Carry. This mentality was so deeply rooted in his mind that it became as natural as breathing.

But, he wasn't going to stress over combo plays anymore. They'll pull those off if they manage but he wasn't going to work hard with that blockhead to make every play count.

"If I stun the Carry with Justice Strike," Yuel said. "You may want to follow up with Kraken to make sure we stun him long enough to seal the deal."

"Sure," Kai replied. As always, it was hard to tell much from her blank expression. Did she agree with this suggestion? Did she think it was a good combo? Was she going to cooperate to make it happen? Who knew.

"In general," Yuel continued. "If I initiate with Justice Strike, you should follow up on it."

"Who died and made you boss?"

"I'm just stating the obvious. If I successfully initiate, we have to capitalize on that. You got a bad habit of not participating sometimes for no reason."

"Yeah, when the initiation is ass. I'm not gonna follow up on a crappy initiation that may lead nowhere."

"It'll definitely lead nowhere if you don't follow up on it."

"I'll follow up on whatever looks good to me. It's my follow-up so I can do whatever I want with it."

"I see," Yuel made a face. "So, if it's not some amazing initiation with a thousand percent success chance, you won't even bother."

"Wouldn't go that far but, basically, yeah. It better look promising or I don't care for it."

"Gotta say, you're one heck of a spoiled princess."

"Excuse me?" Kai turned around. "What did you just call me?"

"Spoiled?" Yuel answered with a question.

"A spoiled what?"

"... princess?" Yuel said reluctantly.

"Is that so," Kai returned to her tablet. "Please don't talk to me ever again, ktnx." She took out her earplugs and replaced them with huge headphones. These headphones were so big she probably wouldn't even hear an atom bomb going off right beside her.

"Um," Yuel found himself gaping like a fish. [Okay, this was sudden. Did she find it THAT insulting?]

Was it the word "spoiled"? Or, the word "princess"? Or, something about the combination? Yuel couldn't even begin to tell.

"Hey, Chessmaster," Vincent called out with a wry smile. "It's not cool to bully the cap."

"I wasn't bullying anybody."

"Well, you made her activate her Soundproof Reality Marble, so you must have said something. She can be difficult like that sometimes."

"You don't say," Yuel sighed. If Kai were a class in Classmancers, her difficulty would definitely be rated "Difficult". No, probably even "Challenging", the rare difficulty that only a select few classes had.

"She won't pay any attention to you while she's in her Soundproof Reality Marble," Vincent explained. "Just do what you can to support her."

[How about I just quit and go home?] Yuel really wanted to throw the match but that'd be bad sportsmanship. No matter what problems his teammates posed, he was a competitive player and he had a role to fill on the team. Therefore, even if Kai was going to treat him like air, he'll play to the best of his ability until the bitter end.

"I'll give you some pointers about her later," Vincent said. "So, just bear with her for now."

"No need to worry so much. I've dealt with worse." This reminded Yuel of the time he paired up with Trever in the scrimmage against the Leopards. Back then, he had to bear through a lot of bullshit. It was a terrible experience but it toughened him up. Therefore, Yuel was only mildly irritated with Kai's entire conduct. Yeah, only mildly. No problem at all. None at all...

[Why are girls always so difficult to deal with?] Yuel sighed. Seriously, every girl he ever dealt with has been a handful. Julia, Ellen, Ignis and now Kai. It's like he had the worst possible affinity with females. Vincent could've easily given him an ability like "Zero Pheromone Affinity" and it'd be hard to laugh it off.

[Well, it is what it is.] Yuel will just have to get this over with. He was more interested in observing Vincent's performance in Top anyway, so Kai's sulky attitude only gave him more incentive to focus on that.

On this note, the fourth match the day began.