Taking The Stage

The rest of the game was a walk in the park. With all of the Chimera buffs, the Tyrant minions, and the resurrection Nobody Cares simply ran over the invading enemy team with mobs and then marched all the way down the bot lane to end the game before all the enemy team could respawn.

"Well that worked out. Somehow." Kelly was the only left with energy left to cheer. Everyone else on the team just collapsed in their seats in relief.

"So we're playing tomorrow?"

"Yup. Best of five. In front of everybody."

"Aw man. Ugh. Couldn't they have given us a week break?"

"Do you know who we're playing against?"

"We'll find out at five."

That night Miranda didn't do any practice. She didn't do any studying. She didn't even touch her computer. All she did was stretch and relax to her heart's content. Rest right now was more important.

The four teams left were Nobody Cares, 1mm0rt4l, Team Rocket, and Godmode. That Saturday all the students and their families gathered on the sports field to watch the semifinals. The teams did not sit with the others but waited off to the side while the principal gave a speech about the "revolution in the sports world" and "ushering in the new era" with "promising young talents". The excellent speech inspired everyone.

… or it would have had the principal actually tried to give it instead of droning in a clearly uninterested tone like television static. Listening to the speech, Miranda felt her excitement rising slightly and incredibly sorry for whoever wrote it.

Those who actually actually listened to the speech applauded enthusiastically upon its conclusion. Others applauded politely. Those that fell asleep woke up.

After the speech, the principal introduced each of teams and invited them up to the stage. 1mm0rt4l got the loudest cheer. Most of their players were popular among the student body and even included the student council president. Godmode also received a roar from the crowd as the favorites to win the entire tournament. Team Rocket was received warmly. Some of their players were popular even though they didn't quite reach the level of those on 1mm0rt4l.

Nobody Cares received the most lukewarm response. The name sucked, even those on the team would admit that without a second thought. It was after all, a complete joke. On top of that they were relatively unknown since none of them really went out of their way to have lots of friends. Kelly was the exception and she received a small cheer when she waved enthusiastically at the crowd.

While they did not receive the most applause they did cause the most whispering among the audience. Many people were wondering about the name. More were interested in the fact that their team was mostly female. Among the other three teams the only other girl was on 1mm0rt4l. Quite a few speculated if they were any good and how they got so far.

The first match of the day was Godmode versus Nobody Cares. Neither of the teams were surprised, they had been informed of the pairings yesterday. Both teams took their seats behind the row of computers cobbled atop the hastily constructed stage to prepare.

"Is everybody ready?" asked Miranda.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Yes."

"No."

Everybody looked at Jacob. He was already sweating. The day would probably become hot later but right now it wasn't hot yet. "I'm going to do horribly. I've been practicing all yesterday but I'm just not getting any better."

"Chin up hon." Rina grinned at him from the other end of their side. "Just do whatever you can."

"If you play badly, you play badly." Miranda shrugged. "But you won't play your best if you don't calm down."

"True." Jacob took a deep breath and wiped his forehead.

"Now let me hear your warcries!" shouted Kelly.

After several seconds of silence they all burst out laughing. They settled back into seriousness only to realize someone was still chuckling in their voice channel.

"Who's laughing?" asked Archie in confusion.

"Oh." The voice stopped chuckling. "Ahem. It's me the ref. Sorry, I didn't realize voice was on. Don't mind me." Everyone on the team turned and gave him a look to the teacher standing behind them before focusing on finishing setup. Miranda gave the ref a thumbs up as he found the button to toggle his mic off.

"Right, time to draft. Who's in charge this time?"

"Can I do it again? I promise not to mess up this time."

No one had any objections, so Kelly once again led the draft. This time though she actually asked people what they wanted and talked about possible choices instead of just doing it all in her head.

"Everybody is comfortable right?"

In this game Rina was once again on Slicer, but she would be taking the class mid lane against Ninja. This was an entirely skill based matchup that could go either way, her favorite scenario. She was happy with her role.

In the top lane, Archie would be playing his Mute against Paladin, the same matchup he'd shown before when they were playing against WolfGang. In this matchup he wouldn't really win, but he wouldn't really lose either.

Down in bot lane, Jacob had Gatling which perfectly suited his playstyle of not moving much while Kelly brought out her Gelisorcerer. With wide area of effect ice and snow based spells that inhibited enemy movement, it would be her job to protect him and lock down the enemy team in fights.

Miranda would be using her first actual meta jungler class of the entire tournament, Rhino Rider.