Two weeks have passed since the Leopards' scrim. During all that time, Luke had been frequently skipping club practice. And, even when he swung by, he usually went home early. That couldn't go on.
Alas, Yuel wasn't a smooth talker who could fix something like this on his own. Not to mention, he was practically Luke's "number one enemy", a so-called "meta slave". That dropped Yuel's already-low chance of success down to the negative numbers. Basically, he was far more likely to make things worse by trying
With all that in mind, there was no choice but to ask the goofs for help.
"I'd like you to do something about Luke's situation," Yuel addressed Lars and Vincent.
"So, the time of retribution has come!" Vincent covered his face in a dramatic fashion for some reason. "At long last, Chessmaster plans to vanquish the Meme Sith! What will happen next!?"
"Yo, sounds cool!" Lars exclaimed. "Are ya gonna duel him and stuff!?"
"Yes, I'm sure that's how it'd turn out if I tried to talk to him myself," Yuel said. " I won't be able to hold myself from lecturing him about memeing, which isn't what he needs to hear right now."
"Indeed." Vincent nodded. "That will only push him further into the pits of despair. He will most assuredly quit Classmancers altogether at that point!"
"Yes," Yuel agreed. "That's why I'd like you guys to talk to him. Unlike me, you're fine with his memeing, so I'm sure you won't say anything unnecessary."
"Heh, I'mma tell him to keep at it, yo!" Lars asserted. "His memeing are sick! He even mopped the Leopards with it!"
"Indeed, it was a historic event!" Vincent made noise. "Our dark horse team stole a game from the Leopards by using the super unconventional Dark Knight Jungler! It's a tale of legends!"
"Unfortunately, that's not how I see that win," Yuel said. "To me, it was a total fluke. We won thanks to a combination of unlikely factors that will probably never align for us again."
"Indeed, that might be so," Vincent conceded. "In Game 3, the Leopards were having none of it. They crushed us thoroughly without giving the Meme Jedi a single chance."
"But, ya never know how things are gonna go next time, yo!" Lars argued. "We won once and lost once. It's a tie, dude. Maybe Luke's sick DK will get that W in the third round!"
"Highly unlikely," Yuel insisted. "He practiced DK well, I will give him that much. But the class is fundamentally unsuitable for jungling, or for any other role, for that matter. It's too fickle."
"As expected, Chessmaster's evaluation is as harsh as ever." Vincent nodded. "Nonetheless, I sincerely believe that Luke is unleashing 120% of his potential with this super, super rare class!"
"Yeah, 200%, yo!" Lars exclaimed. "Ain't nobody better than him at playing all these irregular picks! Dude is a legend!"
"Unfortunately, that much is true," Yuel said. "As it stands, Luke is at his strongest when he's memeing. I doubt he'd be able to immediately achieve better results if he half-heartedly switches to a meta class. But, there's still time until the regionals, so he must make this transition."
"Alternatively, he could take his memeing arts to new heights!" Vincent argued. "He could polish his Dark Knight further, as well as train other hyper-aggressive Jungler memes!"
"Please don't encourage him to do that," Yuel begged. "We want to win the regionals, remember?"
"Indeed, I do." Vincent nodded. "However! Simply winning the regionals is a cliché story!"
"… excuse me?"
"There are countless series out there where the underdog team overcomes all odds and defeats the champions," Vincent said. "Therefore, we must spice it up! We will not only win, we will also use an unexpected non-meta formation to do so!"
"I feel like you're crossing the fine line between dreaming big and being delusional," Yuel criticized. "Beating Leo and Storm is going to be hard enough on its own, so we don't need any other handicaps. Besides, our non-memer Jungler is already problematic enough as she is."
"Indeed, indeed, both our Junglers have their own share of peculiarities," Vincent agreed. "But, in the case of the Meme Jedi, he converts his so-called 'problem' into strength!"
"Yeah, for sure!" Lars exclaimed. "Like, seriously, Luke is godlike. I also like playing some classes that aren't meta, but I can't make them work nearly as well as he does, especially not against top-tier opponents. But, Luke used the spiciest meme and won with it! Crazy stuff!"
"I have to admit," Yuel said. "This isn't how I was expecting this conversation to go down when I came to ask for your help..."
Instead of being on Yuel's side here, it almost felt as if the two goofs were ganging up on Yuel! They were ready to defend Luke's memeing to the bitter end!
Well, at least it shows that they're the right people for the job. Yuel thought. And, it also shows how impactful Luke's memeing has been.
Simpletons like Lars and Vincent always hyped up Luke's memeing to some extent, but right now they were acting like fanatics. Apparently, that's how impressive his DK performance was.
Even I have to admit it's impressive. Yuel thought. Sure, I had to work extra hard behind the scenes to help that awkward pick do its job, but the bottom line is that the meme worked. At least, for one game.
"Alright, I concede," Yuel said. "You can tell Luke whatever you want. The important part is to convince him to attend practice properly."
"It should be done, my liege." Vincent bowed elegantly for some reason. "Let us go, Gunz! Together, we shall rescue the Meme Sith from the dark side of the meme!"
"Heck yeah, let's gooooo!" Lars pumped a fist. "So, do ya have like a plan and stuff?"
"Huhuhu! Of course I don't!" Vincent declared boldly. "Nonetheless, this is a task issued by the Chessmaster himself. Therefore, we must ace it! So, let us put our heads together and come up with the ultimate plan!"
"Heck yeah!" Lars put his head against Vincent's. "Okay, they're together now! So, what's next, dude?"
It was just a figure of speech! Yuel didn't have the energy anymore. The two goofs drained everything from him.
Is it really fine to leave the job to these two? Yuel could only pray that any of this would be a success...