177 Senior Visitors

"Excuse me, is this the Classmancers club?" A tall boy entered the basement, followed by two other boys who were just as big. They didn't look like middle schoolers. Maybe high schoolers?

"Yeah, who's asking?" Kai confronted the unfamiliar invaders.

"Hey, what's up?" A different boy flashed his teeth toward Kai. "We came to check on our wild juniors. Heard they wound up here."

"Yo, Trever!" Lars jumped. "What's up, dude!? Haven't seen ya in ages!"

"Same here," Trever bumped fists with Lars. "I see ya two are still brats as always."

"Hey, we're already second-year, yo! Totally adults and all that."

"Haha, yeah, right. Y'all just a bunch of kids for me." Trever raffled Lar's hair like an older brother in control of the situation. It was quite the feat. Not many could stand their ground like that against Lars.

[Wait, Aron and Trever?] Yuel blinked in confusion.

"Long time no see," Aron strode through the room and stretched a hand toward Yuel.

"Yeah..." Yuel accepted the handshake. [Ugh, he's sure gripping it.] Yuel tried to maintain a smile but he didn't enjoy this greeting even one bit. There was something behind it. Aron's eyes pierced Yuel from above like those of a hawk.

There was another guy with them, a familiar face. Who was that, again?

"That's Alex," Aron introduced. "You may remember him as Freezer. You fought him in the scrimmage with the Leopards."

"Right," Yuel nodded. He vaguely remembered that player. Freezer was a strong Warlock player who fared poorly as an Electromancer, which suggested he might have been a one-trick pony. That's about all the interaction Yuel had with the guy.

"He's with us, fighting honorably for the Knights!" Trever added.

"Oh, sick!" Lars exclaimed. "It's like old rivals join hands to form the ultimate team!"

"Right? Right!?" Trever nodded repeatedly.

"So," Kai turned to Yuel. "Who are these guys?"

"Ha!" Vincent pulled out his tablet. "Let me educate you, o lost lamb!"

"Who's a lost lamb?" Kai jabbed.

"Geh. Anyway, behold! The power of my Information Blackhole!" Vincent flipped through the data on his tablet. "First, I present you Frown, the Late-Game Terminator! He's the former leader of StormBlitz!"

"They're from StormBlitz?" Kai frowned. "So, spies?"

"No need to worry," Aron assured. "We've already graduated so we're not associated with StormBlitz."

"Nothing stops you from feeding them information," Kai gave him a look.

"True," Aron retorted calmly. "That is, if there's anything worthwhile to even say about this team."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Aron glanced away.

"May I continue the presentation?" Vincent asked.

"Yeah, go on, kid," Trever nodded. "Tell 'em all about how awesome I am!"

"Alrighty. In this corner, we got Wild Dragon, the Momentum Surfer!" Vincent presented with his hand. "He's the same year as Frown. He didn't get to play on the main team last year, but he performed splendidly on the second string against the Leopards! At least, for the most part."

"Wow, wow. What's that 'for the most part' crap supposed to mean?" Trever wrapped his arm around Vincent's shoulder in a (not really) friendly gesture. "Got something to tell me, eh?"

"A-Ahaha, my apologies," Vincent was quick to back away. "Wild Dragon was also the captain of the second-string and the team prevailed against the Leopards' hard-boiled second string! It was quite a sight to behold!"

"Yeah, that's more like it!" Trever grinned and smacked Vincent on the back, this time with a friendly intention. Probably.

"Guh! I-I'm glad the presentation was to your liking," Vincent almost tripped from the impact but found his footing in the last moment.

[Did these "friendly gestures" of his level up?] Yuel broke out in cold sweat. His back started to ache in memory of all the "friendly smacks" he received over the last year.

It was like this: "Good job, kid!" Smack. "Nice call there, kid!" Smack! "We did it, kid!" SMACK.

[Brrr.] Yuel shuddered and naturally backed away from Trever.

"And, for our last guest," Vincent scrolled for a few moments on his tablet. His expression grew visually nervous. "Ahem, from the Leopards, you said? Let's see... Oh, right! Of course! He is none other than Freezer! He played on the Leopards' second string last year and performed splendidly as... Um, let's see," Vincent scanned the tablet quickly. "Right, as a Warlock! He aided his teammates in team fights and all that!"

"Such a forced introduction," Alex rolled his eyes. "Just admit I didn't leave much of an impression and move on."

"Ah, no, no!" Vincent was quick to object for no reason. "It just slipped my mind for a moment, that's all."

"It's fine," Alex said. "I know I played like a total noob back there. Mark my word, it won't happen again."

"Yes, of course! I believe in you!" Vincent kept hamming it, most likely to cover up for the pretty obvious fact he barely remembered anything about Freezer.

"That's an impressive rundown," Aron commented and turned to Yuel. "What's up with that guy?"

"You could say he's a fanboy, I guess," Yuel had no idea how to describe it better. "He watched our scrimmage last year and jotted down some notes."

"Is that so. Impressive."

"Oh, you like my Information Blackhole?" Vincent turned to Aron like an excited kid. "It has the powers to unveil all the secrets of this world!"

"If you say so," Aron subtly shot down Vincent's theatrics.

[Slick.] Yuel thought. [I better take a page or two from Vincent's book.]

"Alright, I get the picture," Kai said. "So, we're being visited by three competitive high-schoolers. What's the occasion?"

"Straight to the point, aren't we? I like it," Aron nodded in approval. "We came to check on our foolish juniors." He glanced at Lars for a moment, then gave Yuel a long judging look.

["Foolish"?] Yuel gulped. [Had a feeling this wasn't exactly a "friendly visit"...]

The fact Aron was here, in this rundown clubroom, meant he knew everything. He knew how Yuel abandoned his responsibilities as StormBlitz's vice-captain and defected to this godforsaken basement club. There was no chance Aron will think favorably of this decision.

"Imagine my surprise," Aron continued. "I was paying a visit to the club I left in your and Howard's care, only to discover you were no longer there. Instead, you transferred to another team and Gregory was assigned vice-captain."

[So, Howard picked Gregory.] Yuel sighed. It was indeed an unfortunate turn of events for StormBlitz. On paper, Gregory had the skills to be a decent vice-captain. However, as for his attitude...

"I just had to confirm it for myself," Aron approached Yuel and towered over him. Gulp. "Did you really transfer here just because you didn't get a spot on the first-string?"

"Y-Yes. We didn't want to warm the bench for another-"

"Foolish," Aron frowned. "Honestly, I'm disappointed. I expected more from you. I thought you had a head on your shoulders."

"Well, I..." Yuel caved in. He expected something to this effect but Aron's words were harsh beyond measure. Deep down, Yuel knew how extreme, borderline stupid, their transfer was. But, he wanted to believe it was the right choice. He really did...

"You were already a vice-captain on a strong team," Aron continued. "You only had to wait one year before you could become its captain and play on the first string."

"Yeah..."

"I was hoping to see you bring the team all the way to the finals and finally destroy the Leopards' unbeatable record. Instead, you threw everything away and abandoned your responsibilities. For what?"

"I..." Yuel lowered his head. He didn't have a retort for any of this. Truly, if taken at face value, his actions were beyond asinine. Agreeing to an extreme idea like transferring schools was very much unlike him.

But, he and Lars had their convictions. They had their reasons for going through with this idea; reasons that Aron won't be able to comprehend.

"Hey," Lars wrapped an arm around Yuel's shoulder and grinned at Aron. "No need to be so harsh on my dude. I'm the one who came up with this idea."

"You?" Aron frowned. "Actually, why am I surprised. Only a fool would think of pulling something dumb like that."

"Ouch, haha," Lars laughed. "Ya just don't understand my brilliant idea, yo!"

"Brilliant, you say?"

"Yeah, it's da best! We joined an underdog team and we gonna beat all the top dogs! It gonna be like in the movies, yo!"

"Hey, sounds rad!" Trever chuckled. "It's like 'the team that gonna change the town forever' and shit!"

"Yep, totally!"

"Haha, you two are mad lads, I'm tellin' ya."

"I wasn't aware we came here to encourage them," Aron shot a glare at Trever.

"O-Oh, haha," Trever scratched his head with an awkward grin. "Right, so, bad decision, you two. Shouldn't have tried playing the heroes and all that." Despite saying so, he snuck in a playful wink for Lars.

"I don't understand the point behind this gig," Aron continued. "I know you and Howard got some rivalry going on, but what is this transfer supposed to prove, exactly?" He looked around the basement clubroom and grimaced. "You left one of the best teams in the region to join... [this]. A team that has never passed the first round at the regionals and is tucked away in the basement in shame. What part of this idea is 'brilliant'?"

"Yes, I know all that," Yuel put away Lars's encouraging hand. "Thanks. I'll be fine." He whispered.

Yuel took a deep breath and clenched his fists. He couldn't hide behind Lars here. He had to stand his ground against Aron on his own. Otherwise, he might really start regretting this decision.

"I admit, this was a huge gamble," Yuel said. "As you say, I had an important position on one of the best teams in the region. And, I abandoned all of that to defect to a low tier team that's infamous for losing. It does sound rather absurd, doesn't it?"

"It does indeed," Aron nodded. "I expected more from you. I thought you were a realist. Do you really believe you can take on Howard's StormBlitz with this team?"

"Yes, I do," Yuel met Aron's piercing gaze without flinching. "I'm well aware it'll be an uphill battle, but I believe this team has what it takes to beat Howard's StormBlitz. This year, Stratus got Lars and me. And, there are two competent seniors as well." He presented Kai and Vincent.

"Oh?" Aron raised a questioning brow.

"As you saw, Vincent here is great at collecting intel and figuring out players' specialties. Why do you think he called you a 'Late-Game Terminator'?"

"Hm, I see," Aron nodded in approval. Truly, it was impressive that a random kid he never played against knew about Aron's strong late-game. He had to give credit where credit was due.

"And, our captain, Kai, is also an impressive player," Yuel continued. "She got solid fundamentals and she's great at adapting to her opponents. Fight her long enough and she'll learn to dodge everything you throw her way."

"Is that so," Aron was at a loss. [Is this really the same Yuel...?]

"The other juniors..." Yuel paused. [Well, one is a memer and the other skips practice half of the time, but...] "They're serious about the game and improve every day. I'm sure that by the time the tournament comes, they'll be on par with players from the best teams in the region." [At least, I hope so.]

"Hm, I see," Aron pursed his lips.

"And, there's our promising freshman," Yuel presented Nia, who was sitting in the corner like a kitten hiding from unfamiliar humans.

"Who?" Aron looked puzzled for a moment. "Oh, that girl over there."

"If she keeps developing her talent, she might become one of the players to look out for this year."

"Hm," Aron didn't retort to Yuel's bold statements. How could he even say anything? All of this came out of left field. To think that Yuel, of all people, would...

"Wow, is this real life?" Vincent blinked. "Did Chessmaster actually just praise all of us?"

"So it seems..." Kai was at a loss for a moment as well.

"Bro totally vouched for all of us like a champ!" Luke gave a thumbs up. "Don't worry, man. I got your back covered this year!"

"Me too," Ben mumbled with a smile.

"Ya showed 'em, dude!" Lars smacked Yuel on the back. "How ya like that, Aron? We totally gonna take the regionals this year!"

"You seriously believe all this nonsense?" Aron asked.

"Yes, I do," Yuel affirmed.

"Interesting. Then, how about you show me how strong your team really is? There are three of us here, so how about we hold a little 3v3 to see if you're as good as you claim to be?" [That should wake you up from your daydreaming.]

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