The day of the Stratus vs. Leopards scrimmage has e. This was going to be Stratus’ biggest hurdle to date.

  Of course, nobody was expeg a lowly team like Stratus to even tickle a giant like the Leopards. However, Yuel and Lars, along with the rest of the team, were pnning to prove everybody wrong.

  "Let's go over their profiles one more time," Yuel scrolled through his tablet as he addressed everybody on the bus. "First, TheTheorist. What do you remember about this pyer?"

  "Oh, I shall tell you!" Vi jumped. "She is-"

  "Somebody other than Vi, please."

  "Aww, rejected..." Vi preteo mop, but he quickly accepted the discrimination. Intel was Vi's specialty, after all.

  He probably researched the Leopards’ members more than anybody else oeam, so of course he khe answers. He was almost at paparazzi level in his research!

  Though, uhe paparazzi, he did respect the pyers’ privacy. Vi only researched them as “pyers”, not so much as individuals.

  For example, he kheorist’s pystyle and favorite csses, but not her real hat’s where Vi drew the line for his paparazzi activities.

  Why didn’t he also look into the pyers’ personal lives? For o was a lot more work. It required him to actually dig up info on a real person, which felt like an invasion of privacy.

  Still, Vi was the son of a journalist. So, if he truly desired to know, then nothing and nobody would have been able to stand in his way! The ever-expanding Bckhole of Information shall e all!

  heless, Vi decided against it. Why?

  Doing so shall ruin the immersion! Such was Vi’s stance. He preferred to see the Leopards’ members as “petitive pyers”, nothing more and nothing less. That created the illusion of distahe same distance people felt when they watched pro pyers.

  As long as Theorist was just Theorist, it was easier to detach her image from the fact she was a fellow middle schooler like the rest of them. This turned her into a far more fearsome existence, for she was nothing else but a member of the renowned Leopards!

  So yes, Vi couldn’t answer anything too specific about Theorist’s personal life, except for her gender which was visible within the game anyways. However, on any topic reted to Theorist and Cssmaers - Vi was a walking trivia mae!

  That’s why Yuel sealed this forbidden book of knowledge. And so, Vi was dehe opportunity to answer any questions.

  "I'm most ied in hearing what the Junglers have to say." Yuel turo Nia and Luke. "Theorist’s pystyle has some importaails to keep in mind."

  "Eeeeh..." Luke scratched his head. "Theorist is the chick, right?"

  “She is a female pyer, yes,” Yuel answered.

  “Huh.” Kai made a face. “Is her gehe only thing that matters to you?”

  “Nah, man. It’s just easier to remember girls because there aren’t that many of them peting.”

  “Sus.”

  “Ho, man! I remember they have only one chick, so that makes it easier to attae details to her, ya know?”

  “If you say so...”

  “For real!”

  “Anyway,” Yuel tinued. “What you tell us about her besides her gender?”

  “Eeeeh, she’s kinda there, I guess?”

  “Why yes, she is, indeed, a member of the Leopards. Thank you for reminding us.”

  “Always wele!” Luke gave a thumbs up.

  “And, seriously, now?” Yuel demanded. “What do you remember about her? As the Jungler, how are you pnning to gank her?”

  “Eeeeh, I’ll just kinda wing it?” Luke shrugged. “Look, I dunno, man. I’ll be real, she didn’t really stand out that much.”

  “Yes, she’s not the kind of pyer who stands out, that much is true. But, as the Jungler, you still have to pay close attention to every oppo, to know what’s the most effit way to deal with them.”

  “Yeaaaaaah, welp. If she got nothing special that es to mind, then it means I don’t have to do anything special when I gank her, right?”

  “Did somebody say ‘special’!?” Vi jumped again. “Indeed, indeed! At a g might seem as if Theorist doesn’t have any outstanding talents. However, that is entirely false! In truth, she is the-”

  “Something something,” Yuel sored the spoilers. “I believe I asked you to let others answer.”

  “Oh, that is right. My bad.” Vi quietly retreated. He was ag like that one kid in css who knew all the answers and was eager to show that to everybody.

  "So, you really don't remember anything specific?" Yuel verified again, just in case Luke was messing around.

  "Aside from her being a chiah, not really. I focused more on the dudes, like the ABSOLUTE FREAKIN' CHALLENGER. And, there's also the ABSOLUTE FLIPPIN' WINNER. Man, the names of these guys are crag me up, haha."

  So says the LEGENDARY MEMER himself. Yuel made a face. "It's true that those two stood out a lot more, but as a Jungler, you have to know Theorist's quirks as well."

  "She is... an adaptive... defensive... pyer..." A mumble resounded in the air. It sounded as if a ghost was whispering the answer from another dimension.

  "I thought you were asleep," Yuel addressed Nia.

  "I'm... sleeping..." Nia responded with her eyes closed. She looked pletely detached from reality, yet she still somehow respoo the se around her.

  "Dang," Luke said. "The girl is straight up answering from her sleep. Look how hard you made us study all that crap, haha."

  "I did make you study a lot, I admit,” Yuel said. “But, we must know all these details if we want to have a shot at winning.”

  Indeed, Yuel drilled the matchup knowledge into the team over the past two weeks. He held review sessions on a daily basis, discussing the Leopards' pyers and sharing any new insights discovered by him or Vi.

  Uh the Taurus scrimmage, for which the team couldn't properly prepare, there lenty of footage about this year’s Leopards. After all, the Leopards already had two scrimmages this year. So, there was a lot of data to analyze.

  With that said, their first-string didn't py in all 10 games. After getting three wins with ease, the Leopards always altered their lineup, most likely filling it up with sed-string pyers.

  Iingly, AbsoluteChallenger remained oeam even after these alterations. Perhaps it unishment for perf a little “poorly”, at least pared to how solid the rest of the team was.

  Regardless, footage from six games lenty of data to work with. Yuel and Vi cooperated once again to create aensive review video, fog on the Leopards' best pys and tactics.

  Overall, the Leopards this year were a defense-orieeam. Their shot-caller prioritized defense over offense for most situations, evehe team had an overwhelming lead.

  Though, maybe they just wao py with their food. Yuel took everything with a grain of salt. It's unfortunate, but both of their oppos were rather weak. So, I don't think these matches gave us an accurate representation of how the Leopards py when they're 100% serious.

  With that said, the footage of these “easy games” was the best material Stratus had at hand, so Yuel made everybody study it extensively. But unfortunately, some goofs didn't do their homework properly, like Luke.

  Oher hand, there was a certain sleepyhead who normally didn’t take things too seriously. A, right now, she was answering all Yuel’s questions...

  "Merlin is... a baiter... he lures people in... zzz..." Nia answered with a mumble as if she was really in the middle of sleeping.

  "She really studied, huh." Kai nodded in approval. "That's how a dedicated Jungler should look like. Take notes.."

  "Yeah, yeah." Luke shrugged. "I’m REAL sorry for not being a walking encyclopedia. But yeah, this girl sure crammed all that stuff, huh. I bet she stayed up te at night, reg all this crap. I bet that's why she's so sleepy right now, haha."

  "I didn't... cram... that much... zzz..."

  sidering she bothered to defend herself, I have a feeling she crammed a lot st night. Yuel deduced. He has spent plenty of time coag this troublesome girl, so he learned her quirks by now.

  Nia always got defensive whenever somebody exposed an embarrassing quirk or secret of hers. So, the girl definitely crammed st night. Her denial pretty much firmed it.

  Maybe that's really the reason she's so sleepy today, more than usual.

  Nia's sleepiness usually struck ter iernoon, but today she dragged herself like a zombie to the bus. It was clear she missed sleep over something, but what was the cause? Yuel has been w that ever sihey boarded the bus.

  But now, the mystery was finally unraveling itself: Nia was studying. And, judging by how defensive she got over Luke’s ent, the girl probably stayed very te into the night to go over Yuel’s notes.

  Is it my fault? Yuel frowned. I did tell them over and over how important it is to be ready for today. Maybe Nia took it a little too far...

  Then again, Nia being Nia, she robably very nervous about today’s matyway. After all, she mentioned tless times how "scary" it was to go up against the regional champions.

  So, she probably would have had a hard time sleepiher erhaps, she only went over Yuel's notes because she couldn't fall asleep.

  Yeah, let's go with that. Yuel deflected the bme for now. I sure hope it doesn’t cause any trouble for us...

  While the bus was on its way to Proter, Yuel tihe final review session before the big match. This year's lineup was looking as strong as ever, living up to the reputation of a champion. The scrimmage was going to be an uphill battle, that’s for sure.

  Judging by the team’s responses, Kai and Vi learhe matchups well. They were at the top of things, familiar enough with every member of the Leopards. So, for them, this was a simple review session.

  The same applied to Ben, whose diligence finally got an opportunity to shine. He properly studied all the notes Yuel and Vi prepared. So, even though he was quiet and didn’t look for opportuo loudly boast about his knowledge, Ben usually khe correswer when directly asked.

  And, there was also Nia who somehow quoted notes from her sleep. So, overall, the majority of the team took the studying seriously and prepared their the uping scrimmage.

  The only troublemakers were Lars and Luke, who had a bad case of selective memory. Lars only remembered the pyers who pyed in Bot, whereas Luke only focused on the Leopards’ aggressive pyers: AbsoluteWinner and AbsoluteChallenger.

  So, the st-moment cramming during the bus ride rimarily meant to educate these goofs. Of course, Yuel didn’t delude himself into thinking this would make a huge difference, but even a small difference was better than nothing. Stratus needed every adva could get for this scrimmage, no matter how tiny.

  While the team was busy reviewing the details, the bus arrived at its destination.

  "Nia, let's go." Kai he sleepyhead. "Are you alive? Hey, earth to Nia."

  "Gufu..." Nia stood up, with her eyes still closed.

  ", let's go."

  "Gufu..." Nia wobbled out of the bus, almost tripping a few times in the process. Then, once she was finally outside, she y down on the sidewalk.

  "What do you think you're doing?"

  "Sleeping..."

  ", get up." Kai pulled Nia up, f the sleepyhead up on her feet. However, the sleepy girl had nth. Nia’s body tilted from side to side, threatening to colpse on the road once again.

  "Dude looks totally wasted, haha." Lars ughed. "Should I carry her?"

  "I'm sure she walk by herself," Kai insisted as she shook Nia. ", girl. Wakey wakey."

  "No."

  "What the-!? , stand up already...!" Kai pulled the jellyfish off the ground once more and made the creature stand on its ow. But, Nia's legs had nth to them and she immediately buckled ain.

  "Just carry her," Yuel said. "We need her to be ready for the first game, so it’s best to let her rest as much as possible before the match begins.”

  "Okey-dokey!" Lars approached the knocked-out girl. "Leave the carrying to me. That's my specialty, yo!"

  Lars loaded Nia on his bad gave her a ride to Proter.

  Pn... successful... Scattered thoughts crossed Nia's mind as she was riding her mount. If she REALLY wao, she probably could muster what little strength she had left in order to walk by herself. But, it was so mufier to be carried like this...

  And so, with Nia riding on Lars's back, the team reached Proter.

  "What took you so long?" Ms. Stohe club supervisor, showed them a scowl. "Let’s go, you have tister that you’ve arrived."

  This entire event was clearly a hassle for the woman, that much was obvious from her businesslike attitude. She had zero i in anything that was going to transpire here today. Or, so everybody thought.

  "I'll be in the cafeteria if you need anything," Ms. Stone said. "By the way, they sell good coffee there. It looks like one of you might need just that." She eyed the sleepy girl on Lars's back.

  "Oh, that's an awesome idea!" Luke excimed. "Make her chug on that caffeine so she wakes up! Ez solution."

  "Indeed, indeed." Vi nodded. "The Caffeine of Ultimate Awakening shall instantly bring anybody ba their feet!"

  "I wish it was that easy." Yuel sighed. "I actually made her drink coffee once so she wouldn’t fall asleep during practice. The result was... not quite what I expected."

  "Oh, I think I remember something like that," Kai said. “She was ag kinda weird, right?”

  "Yes, she got... drunk. That’s the best way I describe it."

  "That's wild, yo!" Lars ughed. “Did you mix coffee with vodka or some such?”

  “Of course not. It was regur coffee.”

  "Pft!” Luke joined in on the ughter. “How do you eve drunk on coffee???"

  "I don't have the slightest idea," Yuel admitted. "But, she definitely started ag strangely after drinking it. Like, strahan she usually is."

  "Strange how, tho?"

  "It's hard to describe." Yuel shuddered as he recalled it. "She was all fidgety and her gamepy was far more proactive than usual. It was a mess. It’s as if somebody ied her with hyperactivity drugs."

  "Haha, that's sure some shit." Luke ughed his ass off as he imagined Nia as a hyperactive zombie.

  "So, she's weak to caffeine?" Ben asked.

  "Apparently?" Yuel shrugged. "Either way, the experiment didn't end successfully. I haven’t tried giving her coffee ever since, and looks like she’s not too keen on drinking it herself."

  "Man, I totally gotta try giving her some." Luke snickered like a child preparing a prank.

  “Just make sure you don’t do it on a day when we have a scrim.”

  “Yeah yeah, of course.”

  After registering at the ter and receiving a key, the team proceeded to their waiting room. It was their sed time here in Proter as partits, so none of them was too awe-struck by the sery anymore, except for Ben who missed the previous visit.

  Along the way, the team passed by a few men in bck.

  Is that the security? Or, bodyguards? Yuel noticed how the men stood at a calcuted distance from each other as if f an invisible blockade. They wore the typical attire often seen in movies, with bck sungsses and an earphone on one ear.

  "Hey, look." Luke poi one of the bck suits. "You think they’re filming a movie or something?"

  "Yo, it sure looks like some 007 stuff!" Lars's eyes lit up as he surveyed the area. As, there were no cameras in sight.

  They're probably the real deal. Yuel thought. But, I don't remember seeing security like this before. Did something happen here? Or, maybe they’re esc someone important?

  The answer soon revealed itself. Iween the bodyguards' careful positions, there stood a tall, blonde girl. Her beautiful galnt form would make it easy to mistake her for a supermodel.

  But, Yuel knew better than that. Why? Because, unfortunately, he reized that majestic figure...

  DarkestCymore