"Putting all that ‘meme research’ talk aside," Kai said. "What are we gonna do about the game? It sounds like Luke doesn't have a strong alternative to DK and Yuel doesn't have any alternative pns for a DK. So, where do we go from here?"

  “ht.” Yuel shook his head and recollected his thoughts “This was the inal topic before the versation got derailed.".

  The whole meme talk threw him off band made him stray from the important topics at hand.

  "Since Luke doesn't have anything else,” Yuel said. “I was w whether subbing him for Vi or Ben would be a good idea."

  "Hey, hold it right there!" Luke excimed. "What do ya mean I don't have anything else? Bruh, I've got a billion memes under my belt!"

  "The quantity doesn't matter when their quality is so low."

  "Whoa, throwing shade, are we." Luke made a face. "I'd like to remind ya that my memes did just fine against Taurus. Remember that shit?"

  "Are we really going to go over this again?" Yuel sighed. “Against Taurus, the only thing you did right was avoid any big blunders. That’s the only reason why you did a 'passable' job there. It was still a far cry from what ae Jungler should be able to achieve."

  "There's just no pleasing this guy, is there?" Luke shook his head. "Like, I'm w my ass off t in the results, but this bruh be like 'Nah, it doesn't t cuz it’s memes'. What's with this shit treatment? Like, I'm still the best Jungler we’ve got, ain't I?"

  "That's... unforturue, I suppose." Yuel bit his lip. He couldn't believe he was giving his approval to a memer but he had to cede that this was the truth. Despite the suboptimal meme picks, Luke was still meically the best Juhey had oeam.

  "After Nia," Kai corrected.

  "That's just your opinion," Luke argued. "But well, it doesn't matter anyway because the girl knocked herself out. Who knows when she gonna be able to py."

  "Right." Kai ceded on that point. She was visibly displeased with Luke stig to his memes during this important match, but she couldn’t argue that Luke ultimately was the best Juhey had avaible on hand.

  "Y'all agree I’m the best tht?" Luke turo Vi ahe two “petitors” nomio repce him. "Like, you guys know I gonna do a better job out there as a Jungler, right?"

  "I cur," Vi said. "Even with more meta-oriented css picks, we mortals stand no ce against the Meme Jedi and his Meme Force."

  "Yeah." Ben nodded. "I don't think I'm good enough to sub in as Jungler..."

  "Hey, dude!" Lars interjected. "Don't say depressing stuff like that!"

  SMACK

  "Agh!" Ben's spine almost got dislocated from the "friendly" sm on the back. This was the infamous “Trever Special” that Lars eled every now and then.

  "Ya gotta believe in yourself, dude!” Lars said. “It's fio tell Luke that ya think he's a cool dude, but ya gotta make sure he knows there’s strong petition around. Tell him straight that you gonna repce his ass if he messes up.”

  “Whoa, whoa!” Luke excimed. “What’s with this betrayal, man!? I thought you were in my camp!”

  “I am,” Lars assured. “Your memes are sid all. But, this scrim we got here is no joke. Our oppos are pag a real punch, we all felt it real good in the first game. So, we ’t take this match lightly.”

  “I ain’t taking anything lightly if that’s what you’re implying.”

  “I’m not saying you are, dude. I’m just making sure that you stay on your toes,” Lars expined. “I mean, once you start thinking that you’re the team’s only option, then you gonna start getting zy and stuff. So, it’s better if ya feel like somebody is breathing down yo neck, somebody who is ready to step in and repce ya at any moment.”

  “Dang, that sounds like a lot of unnecessary pressure to me.” Luke ughed dryly. “Why do you hate me so much, man? I don’t deserve dis!”

  “I ain’t hatin’, dude. A rivalry like that is important” Lars insisted. “I saw dudes who got zy like that in the basketball club before. It wasn’t pretty, yo.”

  These pyers deflected all the criticism that came their way by using 200 IQ arguments such as “Well, if you think I’m not training hard enough, then find somebody who is better than me!”

  Their precious position on the first-string became an excuse for them to sck around, even though they surely worked so hard before to get this position in the first pce. It was one heck of a tragic downfall for these dudes.

  “To make things even worse,” Lars tinued. “Some of these dudes turned hel toxic toward anybody who dared who pete for the same position.”

  As the solitary kings of their positions, these dudes made sure to disce anybody from shooting for the same role. They kept spouting nonsense like “Clearly, I’m the best man for the job, so you go py a different position. Got it, dude? Don’t make me e over there.”

  “Dang, that’s one dowory,” Luke said. “So, that’s how you see me, huh. A toxic scker.”

  “Not at all, dude!” Lars reassured. “I know you’re way above that me stuff. But, I’mma be real: what you just said to Vind Ben to disce them fr Jungler sounded a little like what dudes often said, so it got me worried.”

  “Hey, I was just spitting facts there,” Luke said. “The fact is, these bros ’t jungle as well as I do.”

  “That may be true, but you shouldn’t assume that you’re irrepceable,” Lars insisted. “You're a super-duper important part of the team, dude. The Jungler is with everybody and their moms, so if you py badly it might screw the eeam. No pressure, haha."

  "Yeah, totally no pressure. all." Luke smiled wryly.

  "Anyway, the bottom line is, we're ting on ya, dude!" SMAbsp;

  "AGH!" Luke felt a whole damn tank rammed into his back at 300 kph, but he sucked it up like a man. Uhe weakos who pined about this friendly gesture, Luke’s spine developed resistao it… after being broken a few times, probably.

  Lars’s smack was heavy, but that's why it veyed Lars's feelier than words ever could. The guy packed all his thoughts into physical form and rammed everything into Luke. So, it made sense for it to hurt a little. After all, the topic at hand retty dang heavy.

  So, you say I might “screw the eeam” if I don’t py well, huh. Luke examined his own palms.

  ower did these hands possess? Not that much, usually. He wasn't a martial artist or anything like that, so his hands weren't that special.

  However, in Cssmancers, these hands trolled aire character. Movement, attacks, skills - Luke piloted all of these with his own two hands.

  Furthermore, he was the Juhe most dynamic role in the game. He had the ability, as well as the responsibility, to i with every ne and help everybody get closer to victory.

  They expect stuff from me. They depend on me. Luke gulped as he g the numerous eyes focused on him. All of them were pg responsibility on him, demanding he do his absolute best to secure the team's victory.

  "Lars is right," Kai said. "Do you remember what we promised at the beginning of the year as a team?"

  "I didn't promise anything," Luke said. "It's only you guys who talked about winning the regionals and other impossible shit like that. I didn't believe any of that for a moment, and I still don't."

  "Such bsphemous words!" Vi excimed. "I struggle to believe that these words are being uttered by the same master who had vanquished the Leopards just a few moments ago! If that's not proof enough of our ability to quer the regionals, then what is!?"

  "That's... true, I guess." Luke hasn’t given it enough thought until now, but it was really some srs bsns.

  Today, Stratus was peting against the highest rank of this region. They were up against the ed regional champions who went ued for so many years.

  And, they just smoked these guys. Luke's hirious meme mopped the floor with these scrubs. So yes, they actually won! They defeated the final boss!

  Well, not really. Luke stopped himself right there. I bet they’re gonna e back with a vengeance, so it ain't over yet. But still, we sure gave them the business. It's almost as if we got an actual shot at winning this year’s regionals...

  It was a scary thought. Stratus was supposed to be a casual club with barely any talent in it. The school even mistreated the club for how useless it was in petitions.

  But, this year was different. Unlike all previous seniors, Kai and Vi had their heads in the cloud, daydreaming about winning the regionals. Furthermore, two ultimate tryhards joihe club this year, too.

  Together, all of that transformed this pitiful team into something that vaguely resembled a powerhouse.

  Actually, maybe we already ARE a powerhouse at this point. Luke gulped. I mean, we mopped Taurus a a game off the Leopards. We're kinda on a roll! Haha...

  But, where was Luke's p all of this? Currently, he was walking the ent fine liween memeing and pying petitively. These were two roads that were never meant to intersect.

  I mean, there ARE a couple of memers in pro league. Luke thought. But, most of them are just popur with the crowd, not necessarily that good. Well, I guess DimensionShift is pretty good, but id isn't really a meme. It’s just a niche difficult pystyle.

  There were a few other exceptions as well, but at rge, it was clear that memers weren't at the top of the food . And, that was fihe whole point of memeing was to py by your own rules and look cool while doing so. Getting wins was just a bonus.

  But, I'm in an awkward spot here. Luke gulped. My team doesn’t care about any of that. They're a bunch of tryhards through and through. They wanna win no matter what, and they wao py an important role in all that. Yes, they want me, a memer, to tryhard. Funny that this shit is happening now, in this club of all pces...

  Ba grade school, when Luke was in the soccer club, he could only dream about reag the petitive stage. He took soccer super seriously and trained very hard, but he never made it into the first-string. There were always some other mofos who'd steal all the avaible spots. Pain.

  That’s the whole reason I’ve been trying to steer clear of all that petitive shit. Luke reminded himself. I joihis Mancers club because it was supposed to be a casual, chill club. There wasn't supposed to be any tryhard talk like winning the regionals in this club. Smh.

  Yet, the tryhard atmosphere engulfed the club at this point. Luke was surrounded by a bunch of lunatics who inteo transform this meme team into top tier. This gotta be the joke of the year, yet these guys were dead serious.

  Worst of all, they insisted t Luke into all that nonse was the kind of toxipetitivehat he has been desperately trying to get away from, yet here it was again, trying t him bato tryhard zone...

  DarkestCymore