DEFEAT

  "Well, that was an attempt," Kai shook her head in resig. "Would have gone way better if we didn't get ter-picked so hard."

  "Perhaps," Yuel had to admit he pyed it a little too safe during the drafting phase. Especially, the way he made Lars pick Elf over Trickshooter unslinger.

  Elf was effective at getting away, which kept Aron at bay as pnned. However, the cost was too big. Yuel khe statistics, he khat Lars could only reliably beat Trever with his top csses. A, he chose the safe option and it cost him dearly.

  "It lendid match!" Viried to i positivity into the air. "It may have looked one-sided at times, but I’m sure you made these high-schoolers sweat! With just a few tweaks here and there, you could've takeire thing! Your names would have gone down in history!"

  "You said it," Kai nodded. "If not for the terrible matchup, I would have destroyed that guy."

  "Oh? You sure sound fident." The high school team approached the group. "You got some spank, I'll give you that much."

  "So,” Kai shot the boy a gre. “You were that cocky bastard with the annoying spag, weren't you?"

  "I was the Sorcerer, if that's what you’re asking," Alex answered.

  "Dammit. I’d beat you no problem if the matchup wasn't literal dogshit."

  "fident, aren't we," Alex gnced aside in disi. "You got meical skill, I'll give you that much. I see you givirouble in 1v1."

  "I'd whoop your ass in a duel."

  "Maybe. But, your teamwork is a shitshow. Who just goes ahead and suicides like that?"

  "That was..." Kai bit her lip and averted her eyes. There was no doubt Alex was referring to that oime Kai got frustrated with the uation and charged in for the kill. Looking ba it now, that was su embarrassing performahat deaking was on the level of a Bronze pyer.

  "T-That was just a slip. I got a little angsty there," Kai said.

  "You make one dumb mispy like that and GG the tour," Alex said.

  "Yeah, I know that much," Kai muttered. "It won't happen again. Fight me one more time and see for yourself."

  "Nah, sounds like a drag," Alex shrugged. "Besides, it won't prove anything. It doesn't matter how good you are in 1v1 when ning, it's all about teamwork. In fact, I don't remember beating you even once by myself. I always borrowed Aron's services for that. I mean, it es free of charge, so why not."

  "You know," Aron frowned. "It'd be great if you tried to establish ne trol yourself sometimes."

  "Why bother? You're the Jungler, you do it for me. My only job is to keep the ne in good dition."

  "This guy..." Aron sighed.

  "Wait, you don't fight for ne trol?" Kai raised an eyebrow. "What kind of dumb pystyle is that?"

  "Of course I fight for ne trol," Alex said. "But, if I see my oppo is going to be a pain, I rather leave it to the Jungler. Gotta make the guy feel important sometimes too, you know."

  "I'm more than satisfied with handling other things, you know," Aroed. "But, I'll admit the way you do it usually works."

  "Of course it does. I set up the ne for you, so you have an easy life."

  "So, you rely on the Juo win the ne for you?" Kai asked.

  "You put it that way," Alex nodded. "That's why I picked this niame. ‘Freezer’, because I freeze nes. , right?"

  "Indeed, it is art in the making!" Vi joihe versation out of nowhere. "I must apologize, for I failed tnize your talent right away, even though it was right under my nose! I ’t even begin to describe my shame"

  "Um, sure?" Alex was visibly fused.

  "Haha, what's with this guy?" Trever ughed.

  "Ignore him. He just likes making noise," Kai awkwardly averted her eyes. As the captain of the club, it was a little embarrassing when people asked what the heck was wrong with Vi. "Pipe down already,” she demanded.

  "But, don’t you think Freezer is amazing!?" Viyped furiously on his tablet like a madman.

  "Amazing? Aaaah..." Kai wasn't sure how to react to this ohe idea that somebody could be so proud of his "ability" to freeze nes was beyond her.

  Also, he apparently trusted others to win the ne for him. Kai knew she had to increase her faith ieammates, but dumping her responsibility on others? That was just me. She’d much rather seize the h her own two hands. That's how she alroved her worth as a strong pyer who could pete with any boy.

  But, as Alex said, this was a team game; Kai couldn't win it all by herself. The pystyle of endlessly freezing the ne and trusting somebody else to win it was too extreme to her taste, but it had the correct mi its core. Freezer relied on his allies and made them split the burden. It's something Kai almost never did. She’ll have to work on that.

  "Seems like you've achieved enlighte," Alex said. "Atta girl."

  This asshole is totally looking down on me. Kai made a face. "Yeah, I learned a thing or two. Things won't turn out the same ime."

  "It better not. Your oppos will eat you alive at the regional if you keep this up."

  "Well then," Aron took over the versation. "I believe Alex covered everything I had to say about your performahe's move on to the arget."

  "Oh!" Trever grinned. "We gonna shame the kids one by one and stuff?"

  "I call it structive criticism. If it happens to be unpleasant to listen to, that's their fault."

  "Haha, you ain’t wrong," Trever darted toward Lars and body locked that kid. "Well then, I got a lot to say about this damn brat over here."

  "Ya ain't got nothin' on me, yo!" Lars slipped through Trever's arms.

  "Let settle this like men!" Trever assumed a fake boxing stance.

  "You're on, dude!" Lars did the same.

  What is even...? Kai made a face.

  The goofs and their usual nonsense. Yuel sighed. This sudden development didn't faze him in the slightest, which said a lot about the enviro he was exposed to on a daily basis ba StormBlitz.

  "In the left er, we got Gunz!" Vi became the annou some point. "In the right er, we got WildDragon! The two fighters go a long way back, I'm sure they used to spar a lot. Old friends turned foes! Who will take the national championship!?"

  "Haha, this kid is hirious!" Trever ughed. "Love it."

  "I knht?" Lars nodded in agreement. "He almost got dat entator voice too. I betcha he gonna bee da best Mancers entator in the world, yo!"

  "Heh, we'll see about that," Vi wore a plex expression for a moment, then snapped out of it and tihe hype. "Alright!. Ready. Set. Fight!"

  "I gonna start off with a heavy blow, better prepare your deferever started shadow boxing. "So, tell me. What in the bloody hell was that turtling? Who raised you that way!?"

  "Not my fault," Lars stepped bad dodged a swift uppercut. "That's how you gotta py Elf." He thrust a slow punch, directly at Trever's face.

  "Defense ain’t your pystyle, kid!" Trever sidestepped and unched a hook ter. "You py mgressive!"

  "Different pystyles for different csses, yo!" Lars didn't dodge. Instead, he drew closer and stuck to Trever like glue. This made the hook whiff.

  "Different, shmifferent," Trever created some space again and lunched a straight punch. "You really think you beat anybody with this so-called 'pystyle' you used? I mopped the floor with you, boy!"

  Lars didn't dodge. He didn't block either. But, the punch was heading straight toward his face! Wham! It ected!

  "Ah, I think I put too much power on that one..." Trever got carried away in the heat of the moment. The fake boxing puurned real at some point. "You okay there?"

  "......." Lars didn't answer. He just stood there.

  "Hello? Did I knock you out? '

  "Heh, you wish," Lars said. He successfully intercepted the punch... with his forehead! "Ya right. I pyed like a Bronze scrub back there. Also, gotta admit, you're a pro Elf killer, no question."

  "You bet I am. This broken css sucks ass and I hate it with everything I’ve got. It ge and escapes for days. Freakin' turtling galore."

  "Haha, I feel ya," Lars smiled wryly. "Turtles are the worst."

  "Look who's talking, the freakin' Turtle Godfather himself!"

  "Haha, harsh. , I didn't turtle that hard. I just maintained my distand shot ya from afar."

  "That's, like, the 101 of turtling. You were a damn turtle, bro. Admit it."

  "Maybe a little," Lars gnced away. "But hey, that's how ya make the most outta Elf."

  "So, the most you do with Elf is get your ass whooped?" Trever smirked. "That's some rad payht there, haha! Should've picked a css you actually py."

  "Welp, you're a guest here and all. Didn't wanhe crap outta ya with Shooter, haha."

  "Heh, you sure learned how to talk back" Trever's eyes glinted dangerously. "I'd eat your Shooter for breakfast any time! 1v1 me, bro!"

  "You're on!"

  The two goofs ran off and picked up their tablets. The show was on!

  “Are they seriously going to do it now?” Kai narrowed her eyes.

  “Just let them be,” Yuel said. “That’s how these two always are.”

  “Huh, boys,” Kai rolled her eyes. Then, her eyes id on Alex. “How about it? Think you take me on?”

  “I’m sure I ,” Alex shrugged. “But, not feeling it right now. Too much of a hassle.”

  “Huh, all talk and no bae.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Alex dismissed the antagonism. He clearly had zero motivation to duke it out with Kai. It seemed like duels weren’t his idea of a fun time.

  “Let’s ighem and move on,” Aron id his eyes on Yuel. Harsh judgment was ining...

  “Let’s hear it,” Aron said. “What do you think were ygest mistakes?”

  “Well...” Yuel wasn’t sure where to start. Everythi wrong in that match. He couldn’t even tell what was a real mistake and what was merely a case of bad luck.

  “Don’t tell me you ’t figure out what you did wrong.”

  “Of course I , it’s just...” Yuel pursed his lips. He had a lot of things on his mind, but he didn’t want to say anything unnecessary. “To start off, I got outpyed by the ter-picks.”

  “More like,” Aron corrected. “You drafted too safe by fog on ter pig my Lion.”

  “So, you figured that one,” Yuel smiled wryly.

  “Seems like you also tried to ter my Warlock,” Alex shook his head. “That would have been a smart move a few months ago. But, I’m not the same orick pony you saw ba that scrimmage. Sorry, couldn’t let that one fly. Nothing personal.”

  “Yeah, I messed that up,” Yuel admitted. He uimated Alex. All the information he had about Alex’s pystyle and weaknesses was based on that one scrimmage they had months ago. So, Yuel should’ve taken this outdated data with a grain of salt.

  “Though, I would have won the her way,” Alex cimed.

  “You wish,” Kai hissed. “I’d kick your ass if I wasn’t stuck with Lumi.”

  “Keep dreaming, girl,” Alex ignored her sharp gre.

  "Frankly, I'm very surprised by some of your picks," Aron said. "You chose Elf over Trickshooter for Lars, even though you know his win rate against Trever. ’t say I agree with that o's true this pick made my life harder as far as ganking is ed, but you paid for it with ne advantage."

  "You might be right," Yuel admitted. "I didn't expect Trever to overwhelm Lars so hard. That one is on me."

  "I ain't got overwhelmed, yo!" Lars shouted in their dire in the middle of an intense 1v1 against Trever. "My Elf is just ain't good enough yet, that's all. Just watch y'all, I'mma turn it into one of my best csses! Gonna wreck everybody, yo!"

  "So, you gonna bee a high-level turtle?" Trever sneered. "You disgust me, kid. Take that!"

  "Ya ain't hitting me while the show is on, yo!"

  "Gah, stop moving all around the damn s!"

  The two went bad forth, making enough o fill up the room. Vi and Luke gathered around them and added to the loudness with some cheers.

  "Putting these guys aside," Arouro the topic. "In short, you pyed it too safe with that Elf pick.”

  "Yes, that's how it turned out, unfortunately," Yuel nodded.

  "In general, many of your decisiooo safe. You started the game on the left foot and didn't do anything to turuation around. I was expeg you to make one of your infamous gambles. Say, to give up on Top and focus all your forces on Bot."

  "So, you anticipated that," Yuel smiled wryly. "I sidered that but deemed it too risky. Sounds like you were prepared for it, so good thing I gave up."

  "I wouldn't be so sure about that," Aron objected. "Just because I was aware of the possibility doesn't mean I had a strong terpy at hand. I thought about it a lot throughout the match but never quite found an effective respoo such a py. It would have made things hard for us, that's for sure."

  "You're overestimating this py. Or, maybe you’re thinking about a higher-level version of what I had in mind. Acc to my estimation, it had a very real ce of backfiring and leading us to immediate defeat."

  "Is that so," Aron frowned. "pared to your usual high-risk pys, it didn't seem that much riskier."

  "It's thanks to these high-risk pys that we ended up here,” Yuel lowered his eyes.

  "I see," Aron nodded. It seemed like Yuel learned some harsh lessons during the seleatch against Howard. Aron received a repy of those games from Howard, so he watched the ehing. There were indeed multiple occasions in which Yuel's shot-callio disaster.

  However, there were also many other sarios in which Yuel's ballsy calls allowed the team to establish an ued advantage. But, Yuel must have found it easier to dwell oimes things went wrong, such was human nature. Ead every small defeat he suffered that match hurt a lot, for it pushed him a step away from the petitive se.

  On top of that, Hoyed safe and pact. It was hard to deliver a fatal blow to his team, even with a high-risk attack. And, every time he foiled the enemy’s high-risk assault, Howard mounted a swift aating ter, shattering the attackers’ fidenbsp;

  So, it was hard to bme Yuel for the clusions he reached. Indeed, high-risk pys weren't the best approach for taking Howard out. heless, it has been Yuel's greatest tool until now. Was he going to give up on it? Aside from fighting Howard, it should serve him well in many future matches. It was too useful of a skill to throw away like this.

  Is he that hellbent oing Howard? Aron frowned. Hmm, yes, I suppose he is. He even transferred schools for that. But, is abandoning his forte really the right thing for him to do? I 't tell.

  "The's move on to the worst thing I saw," Aron tinued.

  "That defensive gank when I tried to save the Lumimancer, right?” Yuel delivered the blow before Aron had the ce. “That was a mistake. 100%. I deserve every piece of criticism you want to shoot my way."

  "I'm gd you're aware. That’s not like you. What made you gh with it?'

  "It's hard to expin," Yuel shifted his eyes away. "I guess I wao be an optimist for a ge, sidering how bad our situation was."

  "Is that so," Aro it at that. Overall, it seemed like Yuel was well-aware of his faults. He was still in the middle of molding his new risk-less approach to shot-callings, so that's why things turned out the way they did.

  But, were things really alright like this? The way this match pyed out irked Vi. Yuel should've been able to achieve much more, but he remaioo passive a defeat cim him.

  "Is pying safe your idea of winning the regionals?" Aron asked. "Fortifying your defense and preventing unnecessary risks is good. But, that alone isn't going to win you games. I think you’re not fully applying all the lessons from your match with Howard."

  "You watched it?"

  "Howard sehe repys, so I dissected them in my free time."

  "And, what did you see?"

  "I saw one chaotic team fighting another well-aeam."

  "My shot-calling was that bad?" Yuel bit his lip. He knew he made a lot of mistakes,,s but he didn't think it was THAT bad.

  "The shot-calling itself was fi worked well most of the time, but still failed a few times. That’s par for the course with you. But, I also had the feeling your team didn't quite mesh well. You pyed like a group of cogs that didn't fit together."

  "You're saying our teamwork was bad?"

  "You and Lars worked together well, as always. But, the rest of the team seemed sluggish. Roi and Dan made a lot of mistakes, the kind I normally wouldn't expect to see from them. I dare say, it almost looked like they were throwing the game."

  "They were?" Yuel was taken aback. "But, they pyed detly overall. True, a little worse than I would have liked them to, but they did their part."

  "The fact you didn’t even notice that attests to how unanized your team was. You ahem with shot-calls, but you didn't keep them united as the captain. Pyers easily grow frustrated when pying in a ive enviro," he turo Kai ."Isn't that the kind of thing that made you charge in with that desperate attack?"

  "Yeah," Kai admitted. "I felt Yuel's game pn was going nowhere, so I took matters into my own hands."

  "So, it's my fault you became reckless?" Yuel frowned.

  "I'm n to pass the bme or anything. That py was still dumb and that’s all on me. But, if you're asking what led me there..."

  "I see," Yuel didn't know what to say to this. Somewhere at the back of his head, he knew his unication with the team wasn't stelr in this 3v3. Apparently, the same issue occurred during the seleatch as well, without Yuel even notig. He was too busy thinking about pys and ter pys that he didn't have time to spare for his teammates.

  "It's a problem you've had since day 1," Aron said. "You always distance yourself too much with your shot-calling. It's like you're a robot giving orders. The orders might be good, but they're worthless if there's nobody to execute them"

  "So, I have to work on teamwork and unication," Yuel summarized.

  "Yes, that's the gist of it," Aron nodded. "Deg whether you want to ge your pystyle to something more defensive is your call, but there’s no doubt you have to work on your ability to keep the team united. You have to make your teammates run like oiled cogs."

  "I uand." At least, I think I do. Yuel will have to check the repys of the seleatch again. He has dissected these videos so many times by now, but he never saw the things Aron was talking about. Perhaps the errors he itted that day were greater thahought.

  "Are we done here?" Alex asked.

  "Yes, that's all I had to say," Aron said. "As it stands, I don't think you'll get far at the regionals. But, the year has just started and you have scrimmages ahead of you. You still have time to shapen up. If you improve enough before the regionals, let's have another bout."

  "Deal," Yuel said.

  "Hey," Kai excimed. "I'm the cap, so I'm supposed to accept the challenge."

  "Sure," Yuel rolled his eyes.

  "Mark my words," Kai gred at Alex. "ime, we'll bst you to bits."

  "You know what they say," Alex shrugged. "A dog that barks never bites."

  "You little...!"

  "Leave that for the rematch," Aron stopped the two. ", Trever. Let's go."

  "Just a sec! I'm about to wreck this kid!"

  "I think ya mean you’re about to get wrecked by this kid!" Lars unched a swift shot that decided the duel.

  "Shit, your Shooter packs a punch like always,” Trever jumped off the chair and waved angry fists. “You should've e at me with this fair css, instead of pig that broken turtle."

  "Don't worry, I'mma kick yo butt with Elf ime."

  "Ain't happening, kid. And mark my words, by then I gonna bee good enough to mop the floor even with your Shooter."

  "Heh, no ce!"

  On that he high schoolers left. Yuel, Lars, and Kai all received their fair share of criticism and got things to work on. They’ll learn from their mistakes and turn Stratus into the stro middle school team in the region by the time the regionals e around!

  DarkestCymore