"A 3v3?" Trever jumped like aed puppy. "t me i's teach these kids a lesson or two or twenty!"

  "Hey, who ya calling a kid?" Lars grinned. "Bring it on, dude! I gonna make sure this floor looks all sparkly after I'm done mopping it with ya!"

  "Heh, cheeky brat. Want a piee, eh!?"

  "Bring it on, dude!"

  They stared each other down like two peacocks about to leap on each other. They were rearing to go at a moment's notice. pared to them...

  "A 3v3?" Alex scratched the back of his head. "What a drag. I thought we only came here to greet your juniors before we go to Proter."

  "Sorry about that," Aron apologized. "But, you 't let that pass either, you? These clueless brats cim they bring the weakest team in the region and all the way to the top like it’s nothing. Somebody has to teach them how the real world works, don't you agree?"

  "Yeah, whatever," Alex shrugged. "Let's it up in five minutes a going."

  "Heh!" Trever snickered. "Five minutes is too long for these kids."

  "Yeah, ya got that right," Lars nodded. "We only wo mio whoop yo asses, yo!"

  "The idiots are rearing to go as always," Aron turo Yuel . "What do you say?"

  "Gdly," Yuel accepted right away. "It’s not every day we get to practice against pyers of this caliber. We even got enough people for a 5v5 if you want."

  "No, let's keep it at a 3v3. No offense, but I don't waivated soldiers on my team. Your clubmates will be rooting for you."

  "Fair enough."

  "Let's set things up then," Aron walked toward his camp.

  "Let's do it, yo!" Lars jumped high iement, almost grazing the ceiling with his fingers. "Been a while since we got ourselves some good ass challenge!"

  "Yes, that's true," Yuel his was going to be their first high-level match ever sihey transferred here. Unfortunately, it won’t be a proper 5v5 but the 3v3 mode had its owh and was sidered petitive enough for people to hold tours with cash prizes. It’ll be great practice either way.

  "Who's your third pyer?" Kai asked while giving him a look. She clearly wao py.

  "I wouldn't mind fag such legendary pyers," Vi smiled meaningfully.

  "Lemme at these guys!" Luke pumped a fist. "I'll show 'em what's up."

  Ben was also there, silently affirming how his fighting spirit.

  Well, I'm gd they're all so eager. Yuel smiled wryly. But, there only be one. Who do I pick?

  The 3v3 mode had a map with only two he usual formation was 1-1-1: Oop, o, and one Jungler. Lars will definitely be a ner. As for Yuel, he could either jungle or ne.

  If I want to py it safe, Kai is the best option. Acc to his evaluation, Kai was indisputably the best pyer oeam after Yuel and Lars. She was at least one league above the rest. No matter whether she nes or jungles, she'll be the stro pick for this team.

  At the same time, this was a rare opportunity to get some experience against high-level pyers. Pying such a match will greatly be a freshman like Nia. In addition, it was a great opportunity to test her "Vanishing Phantom" against real petitive pyers and see whether it had any footing to stand on.

  But, I 't do that now, I? Yuel smiled wryly. After making such a grandiose spee front of Aron, Yuel couldn't possibly let the club suffer an embarrassi. He had to go for the win here.

  “Kai, you’re up,” Yuel said.

  “Good choice,” Kai nodded. “Let’s show these pompous bastards we got this.”

  “As expected from Chessmaster,” Vi nodded. “Pig the most secure path to victory. Too bad I wasn’t chosen to bee a warrior of Valhal, but I’m sure Kai will do a better job anyway. Go catch them, tiger.”

  “Meh, y’all sleeping on the power of memes,” Luke shrugged. “Welp, I’ll leave this oo you, cap. Make us proud!”

  “Okay!” Lars thrust a fist. “Let’s do this thing!”

  “Sure,” Yuel locked his fist with Lars’s.

  “Is that what we’re doing?” Kai gnced aside with an awkward expression. “Fine.” She sighed and locked her fists with the boys.

  With the team decided, match preparations began.

  "Hey, Lars," Trever called out before departing. "I'll be taking Bot, so seeya there! That is, unless you scared, haha."

  "The only one here who got a reason to be scared is you, dude," Lars poi Trever. "Bot it is! Let's have a good one, yo!"

  "You got it."

  Both teams parted ways a up their tablets on different ends of the room. There were only two puters in the room, so they agreed that everybody will be pying on tablets.

  "Just to make it clear," Aron said. "We don’t go easy. This isn’t a friendly match. Yuel and Lars aren't the types to pull any punches, so treat it like a tour match."

  "Ya got it, fam," Trever gave a thumbs up.

  "What a drag," Alex sighed. "Why are we doing this, again? I thought you only came here to che your juniors before we go to practice."

  "an," Trever shook his head. "Ya thought we'd e all the way here and not even py a round with the kids? I betcha Aron pnned all of this from the start, am I right?"

  "Perhaps," Aron maintained a poker face.

  "Well, that's cute and all," Alex said. "But, y me into this?"

  "Apologies, that wasn't in pns," Aron admitted. "I had a 2v2 in mind. But, after hearing Yuel's little speech of fidehings ged."

  "Heh," Trever chuckled. "Little Yuel sure grew up, huh. Who would have thought he'd be able to speak up and vouch for his pals like that?"

  "It was indeed a surprise," Aron frowned. "And, I'm not sure it's entirely a pleasant one."

  "Huh? Why not?"

  "We'll see," Aron turo Alex again. "Anyway, sorry fing you into this. Just think of it as a warm-up for today's practice. These brats might be middle-schoolers but they pack a punch."

  "Whatever," Alex shrugged. "Let's just get this over with."

  Maybe this a ce to redeem myself for that scrimmage. Alex smiled wryly. The st time he pyed against Chessmaster and Gunz, he put on a shabby performance. His Warlock was det but the moment it was banned, Alex crumbled and performed as good as a Bronze pyer; it was a disaster. So, this time, he'll show these kids what he really packed.

  To speed up the setup process, both teams agreed to blind drafting.

  "A Trickshooter is ing," Aron said. "With all csses avaible, there's no way they won't go for their best csses. For Lars, it doesn't get aer than Trickshooter."

  "Yep, no question about that," Trever agreed.

  "I hope you remember with which csses you had the most success against his Shooter."

  "Sure do. My Ranger and Pirate gave the kid the most trouble."

  "Is that so," Aron stroked his . "Go for Pirate, then. It's the safer out of the two."

  ", you worry about me? We're pying some middle schoolers, remember? I handle myself. Ranger is da way!"

  "I know you like yer, but it's not as useful in Csh. There won't be as many opportuo clear camps on such a small map, ser's passive is wasted."

  "Hmm, guess you got a point."

  The map of Csh, the 3v3 mode, only had two nes. In esse was almost like the regur MOBA map but without the middle was as if Top Jungle and Bot Jugnoe were bined into one and shrunk in size. And, the smaller the juhe fewer camps it had. Thus, there was no much point for Aron and Trever to employ their trademark “Two Junglers” tactic this game. Aron alone will suffice.

  "Okay, Pirate it is," Trever said. "I think it had a higher win ratio anyway."

  "I assumed as much," Aron nodded. Both csses had a way to stump a wild Trickshooter, but Pirate was the safer css and the ohat came online faster. So, even though Ranger was Trever's favorite, his Pirate performed better in most situations.

  "Keep in mind," Aron advised Alex. "Yuel will decide their csses ahe calg type. He’ll use any data in his disposal to ter pick."

  "You mean Chessmaster, right?"

  "Yes."

  "I remember something to that effect. He was the shot-caller during that scrimmage, wasn't he?"

  "I'm surprised you figured that out." After all, her team was directly told who was the other’s shot-caller.

  "Just a hunch," Alex said.

  "Heh, this guy and his 'hunches'," Trever smacked Alex on the back. "A finna mind reader, I tell ya."

  "Anyway," Aron tinued. "Keep that in mind. Yuel loves using data and he will never NOT ter pick you when he ."

  "Never... Not ter..." Trever ted on his fingers. "Aha! So, ya saying he always ters everybody, right?"

  "Indeed."

  "Haha, totally figured that o!"

  "Oh look, we got a genius here," Alex rolled his eyes. "Well, that's a idbit but how are you gonna make use of it?"

  "I won't, unfortunately," Aron said. "Since all csses are go, it'd be dumb to not pick my best. Yuel knows I fancy Lion and I'm sure he'll try to ter pick, but that's fi's not like Lion got any hard ters, so the most Yuel do is prioritize csses that get out of the ult. Besides, they'll pick Trickshooter either way so at least one of them will be vulnerable to my ult."

  "Reasonable," Alex said. "Though, it sounds like none of us is going to ter-pick the ter-picker at this rate. I mean, I only pyed a couple of matches against them so we don't know each other."

  "Fair enough. Just keep in mind that if you gave Yuel any information at all during that scrimmage, he'll use it to ter pick you this match."

  "Seriously? You say he gonna remember whatever dirt he gathered on me all the way back then?"

  "Most certainly. His memory is impeccable when it es to things like that."

  "No kidding," Trever added. "I swear that brat remembers literally every millised of his life from the moment he was born. I've even seen him reproduce full chess matches from memory. Kid's a genius, no joke."

  I believe many chess pyers reproduce matches from memory, but it sure sounds impressive. Alex thought. "Alright, I hear you. I was sure Warlock is a no-brainer pick here but Yuel saw me py it." Even worse, he probably thinks that's the only css I py.

  Back during the Leopards vs. StormBlitz scrimmage, Alex was far from his top shape. He barely practiced during club activity and mostly pyed Warlock because of how easy it was to perform with it. So, back then, Warlock could indeed be sidered Alex's one and only viable css.

  The moment Warlock was banned and Alex switched to Eleancer, he started messing up all over the pce. The enemy picked up on that and took advantage of this weakness. Franky, it robably Alex's most embarrassing performance ever.

  But, it was an important experiehanks to being thhly destroyed back then, Alex realized where he stood and that he became a shell of his former self. That was the wake-up sp he needed. Siheuro his daily practi the hope aining his form.

  Unfortunately, he didn't make it in time for the regionals. He improved a lot but it wasn't enough to make him t among the first-string. If only he kept w hard like that throughout the ey of middle school...

  Either way, all of that was in the past. Alex has regained his form sihen. In fact, he was better than ever, if he might say so himself. Warlock remained his best css, it was like a buddy who supported him during his darkest hours. However, Alex made to polish his skill with other csses thly the same level; he was no longer a orick pony.

  "When you say the guy likes ter pig," Alex inquired. "How much are we talking about? Does he like it enough to pick Lumimancer as a ner against a Warlock?"

  "Possible," Aron answered. "Against a Support Warlock, you'll see a Support Lumi every siime. Against Mid Warlock, it depends. Mid Lumi isly high-tier pid Yuel generally prefers stig to high tier, so it depends on the rest of the lineup. If you ask me, he's much more likely to go for it in a 3v3 if he believes you'll pick Warlock."

  "Figured," Alex said. “Alright, I’ll go with Sorcerer then. It’ll kill any funny ideas like tering with Lumi or Pyro.”

  “Sounds good,” Aron nodded.

  With that, the seniors’ team was decided:

  Aron (Frown): Lionfolk

  Trever (WildDragon): Pirate

  Alex (Freezer): Sorcerer

  DarkestCymore