Chương 56: Facing One's Shortcomings

The fifth game between StormBlitz and Leopards reached its final stage. After gaining momentum during mid game, StormBlitz maintained their lead and pushed the Leopards back in Bot and Mid. No matter how hard Jennifer tried to turn the tables around, her team was constantly overwhelmed.

The main culprit was Gunz who dominated for the second game in a row, largely thanks to the kill he scored on Jennifer. It gave him just enough lead to go on a wild hunt. Despite playing a defensive Carry, his super accurate super long snipes were the bane of existence for everybody.

Dude was legit aim-botting, no joke. Like, how the heck was he landing every shot from across the whole lane? Hax!

The enemy Chronomancer, Average, was also a huge pain in the butt. In term of skill, Average didn't seem like anything special, just like his name. Yet somehow, he managed to create trouble every time.

In the first game, Average did a crazy switcheroo with his finished build and pulled a kamikaze stunt on Jennifer. In the previous game, he played a very nasty Beastmaster who pushed lanes at the speed of light. And this game, his Chronomancer popped all over the map and burst players down, then quickly got out by rewinding time. That sneaky little...!

Despite all that, the Leopards fought relentlessly till the very end. Jennifer's performance was lackluster and she was aware of it, but that didn't stop her from trying. She kept trying and trying and trying, believing the Leopards can break through.

『DEFEAT』

[Damn.] Jennifer sighed. They couldn't do it, huh. Everybody must have seen this result from a mile away considering her underwhelming performance and how dominant Gunz and Average were, But, they all fought by her side to the bitter end.

"Good game, guys." Jennifer stood up, forcing herself to smile. "These scrubs were kinda better than what we expected, right? But make no mistake: any other day we'd mop the floor with them. Today was just a hiccup."

"We went, 1-4, though." Albert pointed out.

"Oh shush you." Jennifer made a face. "Every game today was hella close. If we subbed Alex earlier... " She paused. "Anyways! We were real close! No need to feel bad!" She wasn't entirely sure whose spirits she was trying to lift, the team's or her own. "Okay guys, let's go and get the formalities done with."

Both teams gathered in the center of the stage. There were some rules about how they were supposed to line up... probably. Jennifer couldn't be arsed to remember. She just secured the beginning of the line. She's the captain, so surely she gotta stand at the top, right?

"Good... Game..." The boy in front of her starched a shaky hand. Whoa, what's this guy? He's pale like a freakin' ghost and looked like he could collapse at any moment.

"Yeah, good game." Jennifer shook the ghost's hand. If memory served, this kid was the vice-captain of StormBlitz. At least, until these crazy guys decided to kick out their own captain.

So, did it mean this kid was the new captain? Like, he's just a freshman. Was Jennifer's team really done in by a bunch of greenhorns? Bloody hell. How did her team lose!? How!? To a bunch of rookies! Dang it.

But she had to admit, these guys played well today. They deserved at least some respect. Like, not TOO much respect but at least a little. Some of there were definitely worthy opponents to keep an eye on. Who knows, she may face some of them in high school.

"Who's Gunz?" Jennifer asked out loud.

"Yo," A blonde guy flashed his teeth and stretched his hand. "Breaker, right? Your combos were sick! Good game."

"Hm, thanks. Good game." Jennifer twisted her lips as she accepted the handshake. It almost sounded like he was making fun of Jennifer after beating her two games in a row, but there was something earnest about his smile and energetic handshake..

Well, at least there's no way this guy was a freshman, right? Like, he was pretty tall and all. It'd be the end of her if she learned she was beaten by a freshman in one of her main roles.

"What year are you?"

"First year."

"Wha-!? A freshman!?"

"Yep, freshly baked. Haha."

"You shitting me..." Jennifer facepalmed. What the hell was wrong with this team? A freshman captain and a freshman mechanical monster? Daaaamn, these guys gonna rock the middle school scene in a year or two. Too bad Jennifer wouldn't be there to see it.

"Two years," Jennifer declared. "Once you get to high school, I'mma kick yo ass for real."

"Looking forward to it." Gunz grinned, confident he'll mop the floor with Jennifer without any trouble. Cocky kid, heh.

Besides Gunz, there's one more guy who gave Jennifer a shitton of trouble today. [I swear, if this guy is also a rookie...]

"Who's the major leaguer wannabe?" Jennifer asked. "You know, the one with the parries."

"That's me, the one and only." A guy stepped forward. Tall, tanned and got some thick muscle on him. Looking hella fine. Ah, ahem! That's beside the point.

So this was CleaupHitter, huh. That pesky guy who pulled off miraculous parries, which put Jennifer's anti-parry practices to shame. Even though his overall impact on the games was incomparable with Gunz's, for Jennifer he was actually the greater mystery out of the two.

Nobody bothered to learn parry. Like, nobody. Seriously. In her entire club, not a single player challenged this beast of a mechanic. Many tried of course, because parrying was hella cool. It ended up as just a meme for them. A cool meme, but that's it.

Yet, the guy standing in front of her made it work. He tamed this beast of a mechanic and unleashed it on stage. His parries were even game changers on a few occasions. That's just amazing. Putting aside how he was some major leaguer wannabe, Hitter was a crazy guy.

He wasn't a freshman too, was he? Like, there's no way anybody can master parrying to this level on their first year. Besides, he's too tall and buff to be a freshman. Though, the same kinda applied to Gunz too. Geh, so hard to tell.

"Don't worry," Hitter chuckled. "I'm not a freshman, so no need to feel bad about losing to me, lol ."

"W-Wha!?" Jennifer felt her cheeks heating up. T-This freaking guy! She had to shoot something back! "Huh, using 'lol' in real life? That's like super lame. It's even more embarrassing to know I lost to a guy like that."

"Says the girl who named herself after a meme from the previous millennium."

"Geh," Jennifer clenched her fists. "Don't wanna hear that from a guy who pretends he's playing baseball."

"I actually played in Little League though. Was even the cleanup and everything. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Wait, seriously?" Jennifer blinked. Well, Hitter was really kinda buff, so it's possible. The cleanup, huh. The fourth batter, the team's best slugger. That's really cool. Ah, like, not THAT cool or anything. Hmph.

"So," Jennifer continued. "What the heck a 'cleanup' is doing playing Mancers?"

"Reasons." Hitter shrugged.

"Hmmmm." Sounded mysterious, but Jennifer didn't pry any further. Bottom line, this guy really played baseball before and he probably carried over his batting sense in the form of parrying. Not bad. "Hey," She pulled her phone. "Gimme your number."

"Lol, you hitting on me?"

"Wha, no!" Jennifer waved her phone in denial. I-It's not like that! And why was she even overreacting in the first place!? Dang it!. "I just wanna work on countering parries, and you're like the only guy in the whole world who uses them."

"Impressed by my skill?"

"Hmph, you're not too shabby, I guess." Jennifer crossed her arms and glanced away. "So c'mon, let's exchange numbers so we can arrange games."

"I dunno, though," Hitter rolled his eyes. "Sounds like you just gonna use me to improve yourself. What's in it for me?"

"Um," Jennifer knitted her eyebrows. Right. Welp. What was there? Err. "Well, look at it this way: you gonna get the number of a popular girl. How's that?"

"Oh, you gonna introduce me to some chick?"

"Wha, that's not what I..." Jennifer clenched her phone. [Yeah, my bad! Excuse for not being a "popular girl"! Nobody even treats me like a girl anyway, hmph! Dang it.]

"Okay," Hitter took out his phone. "I'm game."

"Seriously? I'm not introducing you to anybody, ya know."

"You're also fine."

"W-Wha!?" Jennifer took a step back. Her heart squeezed. W-W-What was going on here right now!?

"I mean," Hitter said. "You throw some tricky pitches, so batting against you gonna be good practice for me too."

"O-Oh, that's what you meant. Huh, yeah. I, um, pretty good at that stuff." Jennifer's words were a jumble. A weird wave of heat traveled through her body. What the hell was wrong with her? She shook her head to regain her senses. "You better be grateful you get the chance to play to against an amazing pitcher like me. I may not look like it, but I played some baseball back in grade school. Was usually the pitcher and stuff."

"Lol, a girl pitcher? That's hot."

"Y-Yeah, it sure damn is." Jennifer stuttered for some reason. Gah, every little thing this guy was saying ticked her off for some reason, "Anyway, what's your number?" They exchanged numbers, then she put her phone away. "Okay, wrote you down as 'Dat lol guy'."

"And you're 'Dead meme chick'."

"Yeah, whatever." Jennifer chuckled. "I'mma text you about practice later, so make sure to check your messages."

"Sure. Wouldn't want to miss any messages from a 'popular girl', lol."

"You know it." Jennifer turned to her teammates and clapped once. "Okay, let's... Whatcha all laughing at?" Her teammates gave her funny looks, giggling for some reason.

"We're just happy for you," Albert said with a stupid smile on his damn face. "You got yourself a boyfriend."

"Oh shut it." Jennifer waved her hand. "Besides, he's one year younger than me."

"Already making excuses?"

"You know, I think I liked you more when you talked less." Jennifer gave Albert a look. "You've been kinda bossy last game too, nitpicking every little thing I did."

"I just pointed out your what you could have done better. Not my fault there was a lot to point out."

"Snarklord," Jennifer lightly punched him on the shoulder. "Well, let's go. Coach must be waiting to give us an earful."

"Guys, blame everything on Jenny." Albert pretended to whisper.

"I heard that!" Jennifer waved an angry fist on her way out. Though, it's true she messed up a lot last game.

By now, Jennifer came to terms with the fact she had a lot to learn when it came to non-combo classes. Basic practice wasn't enough. She had to go out there and fighting with her rank points at stake. [Okay, the goal for tomorrow is a hundred matches as Pirate! No, a thousand! Yeah, that sounds good.]

As for practicing anti-parrying techniques, she now had dat lol guy. Awesome. Everything was set. She knew exactly what she had to work on, so she gonna improve a whole lot before the regionals. If anybody climbs from second string to first string, it gonna be her!

"That's a good look you got." Coach nodded in approval.

"I just figured some stuff." Jennifer smiled wryly. For her, playing Classmancers was about playing combo. Until now, she only focused on that art and treated non-combo meta classes as basic level stuff.

But, Classmancers wasn't such a simple game. Unless she genuinely practices all the important classes, she'll never become a truly godlike combo player. Even DimensionShift didn't use combo every game, despite being crowned as the top combo player in the world. Jennifer still had a long road ahead of her.

"Finally," Coach nodded. "Looks like things I've been telling you from day one finally sunk in. Good girl." He tried to pat Jennifer's head.

"Yeah, I guess." Jennifer jerked away. She wasn't some little kid, dang it. "We lost a buncha times today, but I really learned a lot. These were some good matches."

"True, true. But, that's not going to spare you kids from a long review session about all today's losses."

"Fuuuuun." Her shoulders dropped.

The next day, Jennifer arrived at the club room at 6am. They had optional morning training, but that started at 7am. She had been attending that morning practice every day, but it's been a while since she got here so early. When was the last time, again? Probably sometime back in her first year, back when she was fighting her hardest to climb out of her noob rank.

It's been a long time since she felt like this: frustrated and hungering for improvement. There's tons of work to do and little time. She had to play at least hundred games a day with every meta non-combo Carry and Mid class, then she'd be ready for regionals for sure!

"Hm?" Something was off. Jennifer inserted the key, but the lock didn't turn. Huh? Oh, the clubroom's door was open. Did somebody forget to lock again? Seriously, these guys.

Jennifer removed the key and entered the room.

"Oh." Her bag slipped off and crashed into the floor. Even though it was 6am and even though actual morning practice would only begin in an hour... somebody was already here.

"You're early," Alex said nonchalantly as if it's totally normal for him to be here. Yeah, totally normal. Nothing odd about this situation. It's just that the lazy bum who always skips practice happened to come here at 6am. What's next? Elephants gonna rain from the sky?

"Is today April's Fool or something?"

"Not really." Alex looked away. "Just felt like practicing a little. Feel kinda rusty."

"Rusty doesn't even begin to describe you," Jennifer gave him the evil eye. "It's a miracle you even still remember how to play."

"Hey now. I've at least been playing some Ranked."

"With just one class, apparently."

"...." Alex couldn't come up with a retort. Ha! 1-0 to Jennifer.

"I'll do it." Alex proclaimed. "I'll practice as hard as it takes to make up for the time I lost. This time, I'll definitely make it into the first string."

"Hmph, big words." Jennifer shrugged. She itched to shoot some more thorny words at him but decided against it. This must be the first time in ages she didn't feel like punching Alex in the face the moment she saw him.

Alex proclaimed he'll get into the first string no matter what, just like he claimed back in first year. Back then, they often came to the clubroom at 6am like this and worked themselves to the bone. Fun times.

"Well then," Jennifer put her hands on her waist and lifted her chin. "I'll be damned if you beat me to it. It's a race! I gonna become a starter way before than ya!"

"I can see that happening." Alex shrugged. "So, you also figured something from that match?"

"Not your business."

"I see." Alex returned to monitor in front of him. "I'm doing a warm up with my other main classes. Wanna join?"

"Nah, I got something more fun," Jennifer smirked and pulled out her phone. She called "Dat lol guy". It took the call a while to get through.

"... What?" A zombie answered from the other side.

"GUUUUUTEN MORGEEEEEN!!!"

"Agh! My ears- whoa!" A loud thump resounded.

"Pft, you okay there?" Jennifer laughed. Did he drop his phone or something? The guy must have been spooked shitless, haha!

"You just murdered my ear..."

"That's what you got another one for." Jennifer snickered. That felt oddly satisfying for some reason.

"What do you want anyway? It's like six now..." A loud yawn followed

"What do you mean 'what I want'? I texted you yesterday about practicing parries today at six."

"I don't remember replying, though..."

"Yeah, exactly. So, it means you don't have any objections!"

"10/10 logic, much genius..."

"I know, right?" Jennifer laughed. Then, silence descended on them.

Awkward. She actually started feeling a little guilty for waking up the poor guy like this. Like, she only met him yesterday and she's already pestering him at 6am. "Err, sorry. Go back to sleep."

"Like I could. My ear is still ringing."

"Haha, sorry, sorry."

"To hell with it. I'll practice with you."

"Really!?" Jennifer jumped.

"Yeah. Just gimme a few minutes. I gonna parry your attacks so hard they'll fly outta your screen and smack you in your stupid face."

"Hoho, we'll see about that." Jennifer grinned. "Call me when you're ready. I'll send you an invite." All she received in response was a loud yawn that vaguely resembled affirmation. Good enough for her.

"Everybody says you got yourself a boyfriend," Alex said with a stupid smirk across his face.

"They're just making shit up."

"You do look happy, though."

"Heh, of course, I am!" She pointed straight at Alex, stabbing him with an imaginary laser beam. "I gonna perfect my anti-parrying techniques, then get some experience with non-combo classes and shoot all the way to the first string!"

"And then invite your boyfriend to a date? Sounds like a plan."

"Gah! Will you all drop it already!?" Jennifer waved an angry fist. She got no time for such stupid crap right now.

The regionals are in a few months. She gotta practice, practice and practice! This time, she had a clear idea what she was lacking and what she gotta focus on. It won't be easy, but she'll make it for sure! Her fight for a starter position gonna start for real today!