DEFEAT

  This message cluded the fame of the scrimmage. Stratus lost again. Utterly crushed.

  Ohe eeam seized momentum, they became unstoppable. And, the trigger for all of it was Kai's stubbornness. Surely, she uood it too.

  "So," Yuel started. “Did this game vince you enough?”

  "Yeah, sure..." Kai mumbled. Her head was hung. She didn't even raise it to look at Yuel. "Go ahead. Py Bot. I don't care."

  What was the point of holding onto Bot if she couldn’t win the ne? Why keep pying Carry if she couldn't carry the team to victory? There was no reason to tih any of this. Kai only brought ruin oeam by insisting to py Bot.

  I'm not good enough. I'm just not... Kai gritted her teeth. To the very end, she couldn't defeat Renegade. Not the first time, and not the sed time.

  To make things worse, both attempts ended in huge failures that gave the eremendous momentum. It wasn't a stret that Kai was responsible for the team losing twi a row.

  Heh. Kai s herself Look at me, thinking I'm hot stuff just because my first oppo was weak.

  Kai trashed TheLegend pretty vingly, so she thought she was at the top of the petition today. But then, Renegade swept in and kicked her off the high horse.

  The guy was strong, there was no point denying it. Renegade was strong enough to duel Kai on equal ground and e on top.

  Just as Yuel warned, challenging Renegade to a 1v1 was a folly. A dumb decision. A mispy. It pletely backfired in Kai’s face.

  And, in addition tade, then there was also the damn StormMonster nobody could escape from. He caused a lot of trouble as well.

  Seriously, aren’t these new subs kinda OP? Kai ranted internally. They all should be nerfed in the patch.

  Against such strong oppos, Yuel and Lars were the team's st hope. Kai would never admit it out loud, but she knew Lars was the stronger Carry. And, when teamed with Yuel, they turned into an unstoppable duo. Kai pyed enough games with them to uand that much.

  Looks like I’m just not good enough. Kai hung her head. Against these petitive oppos, she couldn’t bris. But, why?

  Even though she fought hard to get into the club, even though she trained so much, even though she became the captain... she wasn't good enough. Why? What was she g? What was she missing?

  Perhaps she couldn't reach the same level as the boys because she was a girl? No, that's silly talk. Kai could give a hard fight to any of these guys.

  heless, she was g something decisive. Meical skill? Experience? Matchup knowledge? It was most likely some bination of those three.

  Whatever it might be, Kai was clearly not prepared enough. She believed she worked hard to get to this point, but she was naive. As it stood, she was trash. Taurus squashed her like a bug. Even in Mid, she’ll probably fuething up ahe team to its doom.

  "Hey, don't be like that, dude." Lars patted her shoulder. "Everybody messes up here and there. Look, even I got owned by those dudes. They're rea somethin'. This match became serious business for real after they joined."

  "Yeah..." Kai answered absentmindedly. Lars's words barely registered in her brain. She wasn’t a fan of being pitied, and she didn't want to listen to any fake encement. I fucked up twi a row. o sugarcoat it.

  "I hope she'll be okay," Vi whispered to Yuel.

  "Hmm." Yuel knotted his brows.

  It was difficult to read Kai's state of mind. The girl often wore an even expression when she wasn’t attag anybody, so she was looking rather stht now. It was always hard to tell whats he was really thinking underh that mask.

  "Shouldn't you talk to her?" Yuel asked.

  "Lil' ol' me?" Vi poi himself.

  "Yes, you. You're the closest to her in the club."

  "’Closest', you say." Vi scratched his head. For him, Kai was a close friend. But, did Kai ever see him in the same light? Usually, she treated Vi as nothing more than an eyesore. "I do not believe my words will reach her."

  "I see," Yuel said. "The's leave this oo Lars. He be surprisingly good with pep talks."

  "I cur."

  I'm sure Kai will ba her feet by the match. Yuel vinced himself. For now, we have to focus on the uping match.

  There was much to analyze and discuss regarding the previous game, but they didn’t have much time at their disposal. Therefore, Yuel had to quickly sort out the data and bring up the most important topics.

  The most immediate topic of discussion was undoubtedly the infamous “triahe trio ade, StormMonster, and Lapce. The moment these guys subbed in, they leveled up Taurus as a team by at least ten levels. Their performance single-handedly decided the oute of the st two games.

  "Aside from Bot Lane," Yuel said. "Everybody else should pick csses with good escape tools. In case something goes wrong in Bot, the enemy will surely rotate to Mid or Top like before. You have to be able to get away if that happens."

  "Escape tools, eh.” Luke poi himself. “Does that include me?"

  "Yes, you too." Yuel nodded. "Everybody who should have good escape tools if they ."

  "Hmm. Good escape, ya say." Luke crossed his arms and fell deep in thought, as uncharacteristic as it was.

  Right. Yuel uood the problem. It wasn't so easy to pick a Jungler meme that had good escapes.

  When it came tur Junglers, the possibilities were endless: Lionfolk, Lancer, Vampire, Ninja, Drow, and so forth. Almost all the meta csses had det escape options.

  However, this troublemaker won't piy of these. No, he’ll insist to py a meme, even during this clutch situation.

  I'd like to give him a piey mind, but... Yuel ched his fists, but he ultimately held back the urge to sh at Luke. There was the mental state of the team to sider.

  Kai seemed to be in shambles, and the rest were dejected as well. The two devastatis took their toll on everybody’s spirits. If Yuel starts arguing with somebody now, he’ll only add more ivity to this already-heavy atmosphere.

  If he were his old self, Yuel would definitely start shing at Luke here and force the guy to pick a meta css. Logically, that was the "correct" course of a. As, theory and practice were two different things.

  Some factors were more important than simply pig the right vehicle for the right job. Above all else, there was the human driver to sider. He’ll be the one driving, so he’ll determine how well the vehicle will perform in practice.

  If the driver didn’t like that vehicle, or he didn't possess the necessary skill to ha, thehing ointless. No matter how good the vehicle was, this driver will simply crash and burn. Therefore...

  "How about Knight?" Yuel suggested something that'd definitely sound silly to any bystander, but not to the memer in front of him.

  "Jungle Knight? Alright, I'm in!" Luke gave a thumbs up.

  "As for Vi," Yuel tinued. "I suggest Viking."

  "I was about to suggest that myself." Vi nodded. "As expected from Chessmaster! It's the Mystic Eyes of Mind Reading!"

  Holy, I wish their csses were reversed. Yuel sighed. Viking was the css with a great ganking potential, whereas Knight was best suited for Top. But, precisely because of that, Luke agreed to piight and would never agree to pick Viking. Sigh.

  "As for Kai," Yuel turo the zombie in the er. "I suggest Eleancer. You okay with that?"

  "Sure..." Kai answered weakly. ly the most reassuring response, but she shouldn’t have any problem pyiromancer. Kai pyed the css rather skillfully wherained with Yuel and Lars, so she definitely had the necessary experieo pilot it. In fact, she even seemed quite fond of the css. So, everything should be fine on that end.

  At this point, the entire lineup retty much decided. Lars will be Trickshooter, no question about that.

  As for Yuel, it was a little tricky. The best Support options he had in mind didn't excel at running away.

  Padin would be a great ter to Cleric, thanks to the silence effect of Justice Strike. However, it was a heavy css with no way to shake off pursuers. Besides, with Viking and Knight in the lineup, the team had more than enough tanks.

  Therefore, Yuel settled on Aquamancer. It was another css without proper escape tools, but at least it had multiple ways to slow down pursuers. On top of that, Geyser Eruption was about as good as Justice Strike at tering Cleric's ult.

  And so, the team was about to head into the game with a firm grasp of their uping lineup: Trickshooter, Aquamancer, Eleancer, Knight, and Viking.

  At least, that was the pn. Naturally, adaptation will be in order if the enemy bans or picks some of these csses first. Yuel had to brainstorm some repts in case that happens.

  However, just then, a knog sound interrupted his thought process...

  DarkestCymore