In many stories, there has been something of an interesting ideal surrounding rivalry.
What is a rivalry, you may ask?
Well... to one who has had a rival, a rival is a certain someone against whom you test your mettle.
A person against whom you compare yourself.
A person with whom you may battle.
Be it combat, popularity, video games or even looking good.
Rivalries are a common part of the human experience, and at times, a necessary one.
To the untrained eye, a rivalry is a terrible thing, breeding hatred, fear, anxiety and loss.
But, to the wise, a rivalry is what builds a person.
Be it in his or her craft or in his or her own personality.
A rival grows you, whether you like it or not.
And how does a rival grow you? Well... because a rival forces you to test yourself.
Your rival is someone against whom you can test your mettle. After all, how else do you know how good you are?
For all you know, you have it all wrong. And your rival is proof of what you know.
But that explanation, is for another day.
What is truly incredible about a rival, especially if they know about each other.. (some people secretly have rivals without even knowing it.) ... is just how well your rival knows you.
It is an odd thing that happens. After you test your mettle, you and your rival compare notes, in a sense, looking at each other for weaknesses they can exploit, ways to defeat the other, learning everything about your life.
There is an odd thing that happens when you care for someone.
All people are different, like different shades of yellow and purple paint. Maybe its stripes, maybe its polka dots, maybe its random splashes.
And one can say that to love something is to love something for what it is.
So, in a sense, to love someone, you need to love them for who they truly are.
In a similar vein, if you love purple paint with yellow polka dots, you won't love it the same way you'd love yellow paint with purple polka dots, even if you love both.
There is, of course, a lot more to love. Quite a bit, really.
However, as you may have now realised, only those who really know you, can love you.
Only those who really understand you, can love you. Every single yellow or purple polka dot of you.
And given all that, it would make sense, as many stories say, that the person who you have a rivalry with, has the highest potential to become a good, no, maybe even best friend.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
After all, who knows you better, than the person obsessed with bringing you down. The same, of course, can be said of you.
Because, if you're being honest with yourself, there is at least one thing about your rival that you would never underestimate.
Something you would maybe even call exceptional, unless you maybe hate yourself.
The reason being, he or she is your rival after all. You wouldn't pick a bad one, would you? That's just self hate.
In this case, with Max and Ken playing in silence, the two boys hadn't known each other nearly long enough to genuinely be good friends.
However, they had played this game together long enough, and in the real world, actually fought.
Needless to say, they'd both seen and experienced a lot of each others tactics and thought patterns.
They'd competed, battled together and even fought against each other.
And even with that, there was something else.
If there was one thing that they would both agree on, albeit not that readily, especially in Max's case, it was that they had gained a certain sense of respect for the other.
Max, for Ken's planning and intellect.
Ken, for Max's out of the box thinking and constant surprises.
Neither side could refute that their opponent was talented.
And so, in every fight they'd had, they'd made sure to take a few precautions to guard against the others' tactics.
That was true in every battle they'd had in Warring Dimensia 2.
But... that was even more true when they worked together.
A rival just seems to know, sometimes....
Max: I got 47 with the sniper.
Ken: Hmph. We are... probably the only collaborates left.
Max: Yeah...
T'was a somber moment.
That realisation that it was just you and the enemy with no one to save you.
Max: That just means more for us, right?
Ken: Hmph.
But even with that statement, both sides remained silent. They were so close.
Tiffany: (thinking: This is starting to get really tense.)
Even the calm Tiffany suddenly found herself questioning what could happen next.
While, in Warring Dimensia 2, it was possible to figure out how many players were left in the game on your side, it was impossible from the enemy side. So... they walked in the dark.
Unless there was an exception, the scanner showed just those two.
But, as to how many of the enemy were left, they had no idea.
Ken: Let's go check up North.
Max: Hmph.
And the pair of characters walked together.
Rose put her hand on her mouth, almost as though even she could feel that something big was about to happen.
Julianne remained silent.
Julianne: (thinking: Who would've thought that a game could be this tense?)
Luke himself was also anticipating the end of this match. He was a guy, after all.
And then... it happened.
The pair was walking into a massive room filled with, well... nothing.
It looked to be completely empty.
Max: Awww... man. Another dead e....
And before he could finish, Ken spoke.
Ken: Max! Retreat! Now!
Without skipping a beat, Max backtracked, following Ken, and before he could even say a word, a vicious spray of bullets flew in Max's direction.
His player character took heavy damage, going all the way to less than 5%. Had he been even a second later, he would have been destroyed.
Ken: Dang it.
Max: What the...!? How the...!?
He turned to Ken in shock.
In that brief moment, the tensity decreased enough that the others felt able to speak.
Rose: Oh my gosh, that was... that was...
Ken: Close....
Max: Tch...
Luke: Mmm....
The player characters hid behind a wall, out of sight of the enemy.
Max: How did you....
Ken: The fight has been going on for quite a while. It would, therefore, make sense that someone would make a trap. Most especially, in a place where a player wouldn't think to keep their guard up.
Max: In a place where no deaths have occurred. Dang it. That's the oldest trick in the book.
Ken: And we almost fell for it.
Max: Mmmm....
Ken: Fly too close to the sun, and you may just fall.
Max: Huh....!?
Ken: We got cocky.
Max: Oh...
Ken: And our enemy... now knows our location.
Max: Mmmmmm....
Ken: So, we need a plan.
Max: Yeah....
And the two boys at that point became silent.
If any one person had never seen two rivals fight, they'd be shocked to see that the pair at that very moment became silent.
Had they just not discussed needing a plan?
The answer to that question was, yes, obviously.
But, at this point, there was something of an odd resonace between them.
A resonance that can only be felt by those that shared feelings.
Those feelings being of.... a hurt pride.
Being beaten by a trick is always a nasty thing, no matter the case.
And in this case, the pair, having been so close and then having almost fallen for a trick, had fully and completely decided, whoever did this was going down... hard!
And after a few moments...
Ken: I'll distract them. You go get them.
Max: Huh?
Ken: It's been a while since they last shot.
Max: Tch...
Ken: And that means...
Max: Yeah...
They had no choice. One of them had to see if it was true.
Was their enemy truly incapable of hitting them? Or, was their enemy trying to get to them?
Not a footstep was heard, not a bullet was heard, no.
The enemy had most certainly decided to wait. Even if the enemy had changed position, the enemy was still waiting. Most definitely for something.
And that meant one more thing.
The enemy was too scared to leave that position.
Whick meant another thing.
Just like Max and Ken were stuck, so was the enemy.
And this realisation, given their many experiences, was not lost on either player.
