"Aw yeah, dis is da shtuff!" Lars stuffed his mouth with a hamburger. The trio settled in a restaurant after the bowling workout.
Apparently, Luke also ordered something at some point, but he was too distracted by random thoughts. Ugh, I'm tired of thinking so hard about all this complex shit. Let's just enjoy this borger that I totally remember ordering.
Eating a thicc burger was a great way to get his mind off the difficult stuff. So, he indulged himself in the fast food as he laughed about random shit with his friends.
But, eventually, the laughs had to come to an end. After all, it was clear these guys were here to talk with Luke about his delinquency.
I'm not stupid, you know. Luke thought. "Skipping practice to hang out"? No way Yuel would ever let ya, for real. If he gave the green light, it gotta be some sort of scheme.
It was very likely that Lars and Vincent were here at Yuel's command. These minions were trying to butter Luke up so he would return to slave away in the club. Heck, maybe they were even planning to convince him to abandon his memes! The gall of these scrubs.
Though, so far, it's been genuinely fun. Luke admitted. They haven't said anything against my memeing so far. On the contrary, it looks like they've been hyping it up?
Actually, that was nothing new. These bros have always been the only ones in the club who respected Luke's memeing.
In that sense, Yuel chose the wrong agents for the mission. Lars and Vincent were totally on Luke's side!
Or, wait, maybe that's the trap!? Luke realized. Maybe he planned to make me lower my guard around my bros! Then, outta nowhere, they gonna pull some shit like "You gotta drop memes, dude.". Crazy stuff. And, what's scary is that this sounds like a real strat Yuel would use.
Nobody was safe against Yuel's schemes. Bro always found the most disgusting ways to hit people where it hurt. It was all fun and games when these strats were aimed at the enemy, but right now, Luke was branded as the enemy!
So, he had to tread with caution here. There was no telling who was his ally and who was his foe.
"So, what's the deal, anyway?" Luke asked. "Did you come to convince me to return to regular practice or something?"
"Oh, how sharp!" Vincent exclaimed. "We were indeed hoping to talk about that, among other things."
"Yo, we got exposed!" Lars laughed. "Nah, just kidding. We've just been worried about your state in general, ya know? Ya've been looking hella grim the past week. This ain't like ya."
"Yeah, I'd be lying if I said I was feeling good," Luke admitted. "That scrim sure did a number on me."
"It's understandable," Vincent said. "You were at your peak during Game 2, but then the Leopards showed great adaptation and countered you in Game 3. It must have felt awful."
"Awful doesn't even begin to describe it," Luke said. "Imagine experiencing the best moment of your life, and then immediately the worst moment of your life. Going from 100 to minus 1000 real fast."
"Sounds rough, dude." Lars nodded. "Ain't nothing worse than thinking you've got the whole thing in the bag, only for the enemy to pull a fast one on ya when you least expect it."
"Sounds like you're talking from experience."
"Yep. There's a dude in StormBlitz who always pulled that shit on me. Like, I'd be totally winning, thinking I'm dominating the fight ezpz, but then NOPE! That stuff made me question all my life choices every time, haha. It's the worst feeling ever."
"For real, man," Luke said. "Like, I was memeing, right? I pulled one hell of a spicy meme on them, and in a competitive game, no less. And, it actually worked! I was totally dominating that game!"
"Heck yeah! The Leopards were shook!"
"Totally, they got schooled!" Luke grinned. "For a moment, I thought my meme was the shit, you know? It felt like I could take on the entire world! But, then they clapped me..."
"It was indeed an unfortunate turn of events," Vincent commented. "With that said, no offense, but it was a tad hasty of you to assume a single win was sufficient evidence to prove anything. Strong opponents like the Leopards were bound to adapt to any threat, meme or otherwise."
"Yeah, I guess that's fair," Luke conceded. "I might've overreacted there a little too much, honestly."
"Yep, you took it too seriously, dude," Lars said. "It ain't like ya. You always meme around and have fun, so what happened?"
"I guess went into a weird tryhard mode there, haha..." Luke stared at what was left of his half-eaten burger. Right now, this burger was him. Half full and half empty. Half memer and half tryhard.
"If you want my honest analysis," Vincent said. "A Dark Knight Jungler is fundamentally fickle. It will inevitably fall behind against a defensive team."
"Yeah, I know..."
"However, there is nothing wrong with that!" Vincent exclaimed. "Not all classes and strategies are balanced equally. Some are low-risk low-reward, and others are high-risk high-reward. Your Dark Knight simply belongs to the latter, that's all there is to it."
"Yeah, totally," Lars said. "Like, think about Yuel's strats for a moment. Ain't most of them hella dangerous and stuff? They often work out well, but I've seen cases when they fall flat on their faces."
"Really?" Luke blinked. "Yuel's strats? Failing that bad?"
"Yep, it happens. You're probably used to seeing 'em work most of the time, but some dudes out there can make them look real iffy, like StormBlitz's cap. Dude be countering them left and right, word."
"Wow, seriously?" Luke couldn't believe what he was hearing. "So, did you and Yuel lose badly to that fella or something?"
"Yeah, we totally blew it. So much that Yuel even started doubting whether he should keep using them risky strats."
"Oh, I kinda remember you guys arguing about something like that during the Taurus scrim. I was really out of the loop back then tho."
"Most of the club was, I presume," Vincent said. "I personally was aware of the finer details only I've seen Chessmaster's aggressive tactics in the previous year. They left quite the lasting impression. Therefore, it was odd to see him play so conservatively when he joined the club."
"Oh, right," Luke said. "He did kinda prioritize defense a lot back then, right? I totally forgot about that. I mean, for the past few months we've been doing almost nothing but offense."
"I believe that back when he joined the club, Yuel had an existential crisis of sorts," Vincent explained. "Similar to how you are right now, Yuel also questioned his playstyle."
"But, in the end, he stuck with it, huh." Luke smiled wryly. "I doubt I'm getting the full context here, but it sounds like he got punished hard for taking all these risks, yet he keeps doing it. He's got more balls than I gave him credit for, gotta be honest."
"That's not all there is to it, tho," Lars said. "Like, sure, he returned using his usual high-risk strats, but he still makes me practice defense, too. We didn't used to do it that much before, but now I'm working on mastering Elf of all classes, haha."
"Indeed," Vincent agreed. "I believe that even though Yuel returned to his usual schemes, he learned many valuable lessons along the way. He now better understands that even though offense is unquestionably his forte, he must also allocate sufficient attention to the team's defense to make his schemes come to life."
"Deep, yo." Lars nodded. "I actually kinda learned a similar lesson, too. There's this one dude in Storm who always baits people and stuff. Ya can't charge her just because it looks like an inviting opportunity. Nine times outta ten it's a trap, yo!"
"Wait, so how do you play around that then?" Luke asked. "Do you just avoid fighting her?"
"That's what I thought at first," Lars admitted. "But, then I figured that's dumb. Like, I'm stronger, ya know? I'm supposed to beat her ezpz! But, she's tricky, so I gotta be extra careful and not rush in like I usually do."
"I see," Vincent said. "So, you've also realized that you're better off on the offensive, but also that you sometimes need to take a step back and rethink the situation."
"Yep." Lars nodded. "I used to be all about charging in and kicking ass, but that doesn't work against everybody. There are some sneaky dudes out there who know how to play around that, which was a shocker at first.
"Like, you'd think you can beat anybody if you're stronger, right? But, it ain't always that simple. I learned that the hard way."
"In fact," Vincent added. "We encountered a similar situation this very year, except we were on the side of the defenders. The Bermuda Triangle of Certain Doom was nigh unbeatable, so our only option was to avoid fights and seek creative ways to counter them."
"Oh yeah, that was sick!" Lars nodded. "Dudes were literally godlike when they were together! I couldn't do anything against that. Had to keep a low profile and follow Yuel's instructions. I hated being so passive but that's what we had to do."
"Indeed, Classmancers is a deep game with many facets," Vincent said. "So, as you can see, Luke, running into struggles is par for the course for everybody. So, no need to feel like it's the end of the world."
"Yeah, I guess I was playing victim a bit too much," Luke admitted. "I'm just not used to this kinda tryhard shit, you know? Like, I'm a memer, I play for shits and giggles. I'm not supposed to care so badly about winning and losing, yet here I am."
"The competitive scene has the magical power to transform people," Vincent explained. "When you confront the pinnacle of the competition and manage to perform decently well, you naturally start thinking about how much further you can go, how much stronger you can become. It makes you thirst ever harder for victory!"
"So, basically, you become a tryhard."
"Haha, this is one way to put it." Vincent laughed. "How this manifests will differ from player to player. Nonetheless, ultimately, all of them will seek the thrills of the competitive scene!"
"Heck yeah!" Lars exclaimed. "Even Nia got on board after that scrim. She used to say official matches were 'scary' or whatever, but recently she's been working toward beating Apprentece. Gal is out for blood!"
"Damn, talk about a 180." Luke was lost for words. While he was mopping around, his rival was stepping up her game in a big way. That was some crazy shit.
"Ya also gotta dream big, dude!" Lars said. "Aim to dominate the competitive scene with memes, yo!"
"I wish it were that simple..." Luke sighed. "Like, I'll admit, hearing that even you and Yuel ran into these giant walls is a bit inspiring. You two are like the most elite players I know, so it's easy to assume you don't ever struggle with anything. But, that's clearly not true."
"Indeed, every athlete runs into a wall at some point," Vincent said. "Such is the nature of sports. It's an ever-challenging battlefield that pits you against yourself and forces you to seek self-improvement!"
"Heck yeah!" Lars pumped a fist. "Always aim for the top, yo!"
"You make it sound hype and all," Luke said. "But, it's far from fun and games when you actually run into that kind of wall. It's just depressing, man."
"True, it's a vicious challenge," Vincent admitted. "However! The reassuring part is that everybody tackles such problems. The players you see at the top of the competition also went through similar struggles and eventually came on top. So, you can do it, too!"
"Yeah, but how many competitive players out there are in my position?" Luke asked. "Like, sure, I can accept the fact my DK is a high roller pick. Sometimes it'll make a big buck, but most of the time it'll go bankrupt in the early game."
"Indeed, such is the unstable life of any Dark Knight."
"Okay, so where do we go from there?" Luke asked. "Do I just pretend this is fine and keep on rolling? That doesn't sound like a reliable way to get wins in competitive games, especially against these turtle teams."
"True, this approach is very volatile," Vincent admitted. "But, I do not think there is anything inherently wrong with that? You can simply keep polishing your skill to make it harder for the enemy to counter you."
"Yep!" Lars nodded. "Meme these dudes to death, yo!"
"... is that really going to work?" Luke dropped back on his chair and looked up. His chances of beating the Leopards again with memes seemed totally out of reach, just like that ceiling above his head...