One day after the scrimmage with the Apples, the Leopards already met up to discuss their oppos. There was for the champions. Such was the packed schedule Ruez prepared for them. It almost felt like a world tour, with a match scheduled every other week.

  "Alright, so everybody is here." Cato nodded in satisfa.

  "Isn't the 'Emperor' missing?" William asked.

  "He'll not be attending."

  "Is that so." William frowned. "That's a first. Usually, he at least attends the meetings."

  "He promised to look over the data ter ahe summary."

  "Yo!" Ronald raised a hand. "Where do I sign up for that deal?"

  “My, my. Is that the right attitude for a captain-wannabe?” Cato criticized. “I have the feeling the Leopards will struggle HARD year.”

  “Meh.” Ronald made a face. “I’ll hahese meetings way better once I’m the captain. Yours put me to sleep half the time.”

  “Well, I’m very sorry about that.” Cato gred at the brat, and the brat gred back at him. They were at odds about anything and everything, as usual.

  “Anyway,” oved on. “I trust the Emperor to go over the details once he’s free. You all know how serious he is about these things. That’s one of the few things I appreciate about that rascal.”

  “Fair enough,” William agreed with that se. The others shared a simir se.

  “Emperor” was the niame Ronald ed for the team’s sixth phantom pyer. Though, teically speaking, it was more accurate to say that the Emperor was the “fifth pyer” while Ronald was his temporary sub.

  But, in practice, Ronald was scheduled to py in most of the team’s scrimmages this year. The Emperor will only make an appearance when he deemed it absolutely necessary.

  It eculiar arra, but everybody had no choice but to accept it. In fact, most of them preferred it when the Emperor was away. Between Ronald and the Emperor, even Cato wasn’t sure which troublemaker he’d rather have oeam.

  “What is that dude up to, anyway?” Ronald asked.

  “He has a practice match today against pros,” Cato expined.

  “With pros?” William frowned. “A team from the region?”

  “Yeah, the Sweepers.”

  It was a well-known name around these parts. It even made a certain smartphone addiglue his eyes from his precious phone for a moment.

  “Oh.” Matthew raised his head. It was only natural for him to be curious. After all, the Sweepers was Esmeralda’s team.

  “It’s an odd arra,” Cato said. “From what Coae, StormBlitz has a practice match against the Sweepers today. And, our Emperor will be taking a part in that.”

  “StormBlitz is practig with the Sweepers?” William frowned further.

  “Yep, that’s a thing, apparently,” Cato said. “Not the most legal arra, I’m sure. You remember Aegis from StormBlitz, right? Ignis from the Sweepers is his older sister, so they get special opportunities like that. An awesome deal, I gotta say.”

  “It sure is.” William grumped. He’d also rather spend his time practig against pros instead of pying Ranked or preparing for these b middle satches.

  From the two scrimmages so far, it was clear that most of the region was nowhere he Leopards’ level. Fighting these guys was a waste of time. It was always one-sided stomping that didn’t be either side.

  “My, is somebody jealous~?” iled impishly.

  “A little, I suppose.” William didn’t deny it. “I’d gdly trade Ron away to get a brother on a pro team who arrange games for me.”

  “Say what!?” Ronald jumped. “Bro, that’s just pin cruel! You gonna forsaken me just like that!?”

  “Maybe.”

  “I ’t believe it… sob.”

  “Oh, no! You broke his fragile little heart!” Cato preteo care. “Anyway, this is what’s happening today. I get the jealousy, I really do. It’s a huge privilege to be able to face off against pros. But, then again, we also get the same deals, don’t we?”

  “Fair enough.” William nodded.

  Thanks to Ruez’s es, the Leopards also got to experience a handful of practice matches against C-League and B-League pros. They stopped doing that retly in order to trate on the uping scrimmages, but they definitely gained lots of experiences from these difficult fights.

  "So," Ronald started. "Lemme get this straight, the Emperets to skip this entire meeting in order to py with pros? Dang freakin’ lucky! How do I sign up for that deal?”

  “By getting three 10/10 scores on my pyer ranking list, for starters,” Sonya ented.

  “Dang, that’s harsh!” Ronald held his head. “How far am I, again?”

  “Quite far, I’d say.”

  “Gaaaaah!” Ronald’s head dropped for a moment, then jumped right up. “But, I’mma get there, mark my words!”

  “Sure.”

  Everybody expressed it in different ways, but all of them were rather unsatisfied with this arra. It was always the Emperor who got special treatment on topics like this.

  "All in all," William started. "I say it’s a good thing. The pros will trash him hard enough to kick him off the high horse."

  "My, quite harsh, aren't we?" iled ily even though he was of the same mind.

  In fact, it wasn't just Cato and William. Pretty much everybody in the room thought the exact same thing. The only exception was Matthew, who already returo his phone games and refused to spare a single nanosed of his attention on this trite topic.

  "Anyway." Cato cpped oo get everybody's attention. "The Emperor went to do what the Emperor o do, that’s not today’s topic. We've gathered here to discuss Stratus, so let's get started. I trust you all watched the repys?"

  "Yep," Ronald replied. "That was some ued fiesta."

  "It’s definitely not what I expected to see in this match." William nodded.

  “It defied many expectations, yes.” Sonya agreed as she pushed her gsses

  “Mhm.” Matthew merely nodded in affirmation, with his eyes still glued to his phone. Even as the meeting started, he was still absorbed in his games.

  But, I know he's listening. Cato performed attention checks from time to time and Matthew alassed them with flying colors. The guy was a multi-tasking mae.

  “So,” Cato tinued. “I assume that means you also watched the repys from st year's scrimmage. Chessmaster and Gunz pyed on StormBlitz’s sed-string there, as ued as it is.”

  "They sure pulled a number on Jenny's team st year." Ronald ughed.

  "It was a atch," Sonya objected. "Jennifer did a good job leading the team. They only lost because Alex didn’t bother to try."

  “Yes, Jennifer pyed well overall,” Cato agreed. “But, she wasn’t perfect. For one, her bo pystyle was a big drawback.”

  “I… agree, I suppose.” Sonya bit her lip. “That scrimmage made me discover a couple of fws with the game theory I provided her, so part of the responsibility lies with me.”

  “My, always so quick to defend yirlfriend~”

  "Ugh." Sonya pressed the thick-framed gsses up her nose. "Are you pig a fight?"

  “I would never.” Cato preteo be shocked at the mere prospect of somebody suggesting he ig a fight, even though in actuality he did that on an hourly basis.

  "History aside,” Cato tinued. “It's clear that Chess & Gunz are two oppos we have to be scious of. It's also worth mentioning they were just freshmen st year, yet they were good enough to pete against some of our best seniors."

  "Man," Ronald said. "'t believe Jenny was mopped by some greenhorns."

  "Nobody wasn't mopped." Sonya gave him the evil eye. "It was a atch."

  "Anyway," Cato tinued. “With pyers like Chess & Gunz on board, even a team like Stratus bee a threat."

  ", you're exaggerating." Ronald waved his hand. "They seem alright, but they're no match for us. Am I right, bro?"

  "I hope they'll serve as a good warm-up practice, at least," William said evenly. "The st two scrims were plete disappois, so I’m not expeg much."

  "Yeah, I feel ya." Ronald nodded. "But hey, Gunz sounds like a fun oppo. Let's see who gets to kill him first!"

  "You're on."

  The killing maes have already decided on a new killing race before the scrimmage even began. As always, they didn't have a shred of doubt regarding their victory.

  "My, I'm gd you're so pumped for the scrim," Cato said. "With that said, we’ll be leaving the topic Chess & Gunz to the end of the meeting. Let’s discuss the rest of their team first.”

  “Whaaaaaat?” Ronald excimed. “an. They’re the only ohat matter, right? The rest are just scrubs.”

  “The fact you say that is the very reason I’m leaving the big fish to the end. If we cover them first, it’ll give you an excuse to stop paying attention for the rest of the meeting.”

  “Nah, I would never.” Ronald smiled ily and shifted his eyes away. It was clear this rascal was only ied in talking about Chessmaster and Gunz. He didn’t register anybody else because they didn’t have a shiny title like “The guys who defeated Jeniffer’s team”.

  “Anyway, let’s get started. Sonya, if you will."

  "Right." Sonya gave one final go the summary paper in her hand, then turo the audience. "As usual, there are printouts that go along with the presentation. Flip through them as the presentation goes on.”

  "Geh." Ronald flipped through a couple of pages from the huge stack befiving up. "Just give us the presentation, man."

  "On it," Cato informed. He tinkered with the projector's settings until the image showed up just right.

  "Nice!" Ronald pumped a fist. "The presentation is the only thing that matters, to be ho. Do we also have some videos to go along with it?”

  “Yes,” Cato said. “The Filmmaking Club didn’t have the time to finish all our requests, but we already received most of the videos. As always, they have great quality.”

  “Hell yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about. Nobody got time to read all this stuff. Just show us a presentation and some videos. That’s the good stuff."

  "The printouts are mostly for referenyway," Sonya pointed out.

  "Well, I'm not reading any of that." Ronald shrugged. "Just hit me with that PowerPoint and some nice videos, that's all I need in life. It's way easier on the eyes than this Bible you printed here."

  "I hope you’re aware that this ‘Bible’ I printed actually has the notes I used for making the presentation. This presentation couldn’t possibly exist without the notes."

  “Well, good job adapting that b stuff into a way better format!” Ronald gave a thumbs up.

  Is he making fun of me? Sonya pushed her gsses.

  "Don't pay too much attention to that idiot," Cato whispered. "He says whatever es to mind."

  "That's true." Sonya sighed. Still, it'd be nicer if he praised me for my hard work instead of calling it ‘b’. The presentation is more like a summary of what I did. The notes are the main part I’ve spent many hours writing and revising. Oh well.

  "You did a great job putting all these ogether!" Cato showed her with praise out of the blue as if he read her mind. "You're doing outstanding work as my secretary."

  "Who are you calling a ‘secretary’?" Sonya made a face.

  "It's a prestigious position, you know? You’re the right hand of the man who'll one day rule the world. It’s a great honor."

  "Sounds like I'm the right hand of a kid with childish dreams."

  "BUUUURN!" Ronald ughed out loud. "Man, she just TRAMPLED all over your sorry ass."

  "Oh, didn’t you know?" iled impishly. "This is how our dear Sonya shows her affe toward others~"

  These two tire me out. Sonya sighed i. What was the thing that annoyed her a moment ago? She already fot. Cato's nonsense washed all of it away.

  As the chit-chat died out, it was time to discuss the actual topic at hand: their oppo, Stratus.

  DarkestCymore