The Meme's Victory

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! Thunderous applause wrapped the entire stadium shortly after the second game ended.

"Yo, this is sick!" Lars pumped a fist high in the air in response to the audience's cheers. "It's like we're heroes!"

"Indeed, indeed!" Vincent nodded repeatedly. "This unlikely victory makes for a splendid underdog story! This is a tale of the 'weakest' team triumphing over the regional champions while using an unconventional lineup to boot!"

"So, you're saying this is like a TV show for them, huh." Kai shook her head a little but she still smiled like the others. After all, it was impossible to stay indifferent to the fact of this thunderous applause.

Technically, the audience was just enjoying a good show as they watched Stratus struggle through blood, sweat, and tears. Nonetheless, it felt good to be acknowledged so much. It really drove home the fact that Stratus had just defeated the regional champions.

In fact, this result probably earned Stratus a spot among the "strongest in the region". After all, thus far, not a single team was able to win a game off the Leopards this year.

"We have made history today," Vincent proclaimed dramatically. "From this day forth, the name Stratus shall instill fear in the hearts of our foes!"

"That's not necessarily a good thing," Yuel pointed out. "It means they'll start putting effort into researching us. This will make all our future matches that much harder."

"Man, you always gotta put a damper on anything good that happened, doncha?" Luke sighed. "I mean, look at all these dudes in the audience. Do they look like a bunch of enemies who are planning to eat ya alive? Nah, they be clapping to celebrate our victory, man. They're saying we're awesome!"

"Yes, they're saying that [for now] because they're a neutral party in all of this right now," Yuel said. "But, once they return to their clubs, they'll thoroughly analyze everything about today's scrimmage. They'll check out not only the Leopards but us as well. I'm sure we'll feel the consequences of this in the next scrimmage."

"Meh, what a serial party popper." Luke shrugged.

Admittedly, he was getting a little salty about how Yuel downplayed this huge achievement. Of course, the guy's argument made perfect sense, but there was a time and a place for saying stuff like this and now ain't it, chief.

[Welp, better ignore this dolt and bask in the glory while it's here.]

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! The clapping went on for longer than usual. It's probably because the whole thing started off as an awkward unorganized mess, so nobody was sure when was the right time to stop. But, this was gud, [very] gud.

[Keep them coming, bois!] Luke stood up and stretched his arms, striking a victorious pose. He was like a pro wrestler showing off his strength.

Of course, this game was won by Stratus as a whole, not just by Luke. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but feel like the applause was directed mainly at him and that he was at the center of it all.

But, why did he feel like Mr. Universe all of a sudden? Why, because this whole game was one giant meme! And, the biggest meme of them all was run by none other than the LegendaryMemer!

[Heck yeah, I showed ya all!] Luke grinned. [Did you see that? I can actually beat the strongest dudes around with memes! I'm that good, man.]

This gotta be the pinnacle of self-expression as far as Classmancers was concerned. Luke was using the most non-meta stuff out there and yet he emerged victorious. And, he achieved that not just against some plebs but against the Leopards, the ultimate opponents!

[Gotta say, I'm glad I left soccer for this.] Luke thought. [Mancers is a hella tight game!]

As hard as he tried, he could never reach this level of self-expression in soccer. Seriously, soccer just wasn't as wild as Classmancers.

For example, in soccer, he couldn't pick a risky meme like Dark Knight and steamroll in the early game. There weren't any over-the-top things like that in soccer.

On the other hand, in Classmancers, Luke did just that and it was awesome! What's more, the crowd's undying applause was praising him for his creative work.

[It's like I was born for this moment, word!] Luke almost shivered from excitement.

After enduring the long and thorny road of being ridiculed and criticized as a memer to no end, at long last, Luke grasped glory! [We sent these meta slaves packing, haha!]

Just by looking at the Leopards, it was clear that this game ruined their lives and crushed their souls. It was almost possible to see a dark cloud hovering over their heads. It was a total Depression City over there.

But, their depression didn't last forever. Eventually, one of the guys rose on his feet. It seemed he was the only one with enough willpower to leave his chair while everybody else was glued to their seats.

Clap. Clap. Clap. The guy suddenly started clapping along with the crowd.

"Say wut?" Luke cocked his head. [Look at this guy trying to act like a tough nut, haha.]

It was clear the dude was putting on an act in front of the audience.

[He's the captain, right?] Luke thought. [So, he's trying to act strong for his homies, huh.]

Nobody else from the Leopards had the strength to stand up by themselves, so the captain had to pull them back on their feet via tricks like this.

[Mad respect for that mental fortitude, man. Though, your smile looks kinda fake, not gonna lie.]

But, it was understandable. There was no way the Leopards' captain would be able to genuinely smile in this situation, not when the crowd was indirectly booing them to oblivion for losing to memes.

The mental shock was surely pretty dang devastating. It wouldn't be too strange for the Leopards to simply ragequit here.

[Getting dunked on by memes can do that to a man, I know from experience.] Luke smirked. [So many people ragequit on me in lower ranks when I killed their teammates with memes.]

These mofos probably flamed their teammates to no end for "getting killed by memes". And eventually, they just ragequit like the toxic trash they were.

That's the kind of power memes had over people, and Luke was one of the few masters who knew how to harness this legendary power. He was simultaneously at the top and the bottom of the food chain, both at once! Basically, an absolute mad lad through and through.

[Welp, it looks like they're finally leaving.] Luke noticed.

After being glued to their seats for like a minute, the members of the Leopards finally left their chairs and dragged their feet away. It looked like their captain gave some sort of pep talk that lifted their spirits. It was probably something along the lines of ["Meh, we only lost because we let our guard down against that meme."]

[The typical excuses, smh.] Luke thought. [I hope you chumps ain't gonna act like this was some kind of fluke. I mean, we won this game through and through! Ez game. And, we'll do it again next round, just you watch!]

"Hey Luke, are ya coming?" Lars called from afar.

It turned out that the entire team has already departed from the stage. Only Luke stayed there like a scarecrow, still drunk from the applause that already ended.

"Ah, right! Coming!" Luke dashed backstage to join the others.

A triumphant grin stayed on his face all the way back to their waiting room. But, it might not last for as long as he thought...