“Get back!” Val shouted, swinging his Dragonbone Longsword horizontally at the opposing player, who controlled Jovy the Jester, a Physical Damage based assassin that was infamous for being annoying to play against more because of his in-game laugh than his gameplay.

DJ, playing Benny the Bear, leaped backwards, narrowing avoiding Jovy’s stab. Cackling with laughter, Jovy used his superior speed, splashing through the shallow lake to assault Val.

Timelapse!

For half a second, time froze and Val got time to survey his surroundings. He and DJ were the only two survivors on their team. The opposing team had three players left – their king, support, and Jovy the Jester, who acted as the scout. Both teams had managed to locate Excalibur, which was sticking out of a stone in the middle of the lake. However, as of now, Val had much more urgent matters to take care of.

Val dropped into a crouch, ducking the jab from Jovy. Pivoting on one foot, Val swung around and swept his shin into the side of Jovy’s legs, knocking the jester to his knees.

“Get him!” Val roared.

DJ bounded in and smashed his massive paws together on Jovy’s head, knocking the jester’s health down to zero. As soon as the kill was verified through a notification flashing across the screen, Val popped to his feet, head on a swivel.

There!

The opposing team’s king and support where dashing through the lake, several dozen feet in front of Val and DJ. It seemed as though they had concluded they couldn’t beat a fighter and a king with a support and a king. Now it was a race to see who could reach the sword first.

“We’re not going to make it,” said DJ, slumping to the ground. “They’re too far gone.”

“Frick!” shouted Val, taking his sword and hurling it into the lake.

Shortly after, “Defeat” flashed across the screen and the two of them were taken to the post game lobby.

“Good -”

Val cut off DJ, taking his headset and tossing it to the ground of his booth. He paced around in the space, wondering what he could do to alleviate some of his anger. His thoughts ranged from screaming his throat hoarse to smashing the glass door of the booth into smithereens.

A knock on the door of his booth interrupted him. Val glanced up to see DJ, motioning at him.

“You okay?” DJ asked when Val opened the door.

“Yeah,” mumbled Val. “Just tilted.”

“That’s four losses in a row,” said DJ. “At least we’re playing mid to high level C tier players now.”

“That’s the issue,” said Val. “We’re getting to the point where the characters we pick matters a lot more. It’s too hard to win with characters like Benny the Bear.”

DJ glanced up at Val for a moment before letting his gaze fall to the ground.

“You’re right,” said DJ. “I can only play Benny the Bear, though.”

“It’s not that hard to stop being a one-trick-pony,” said Val. “All you have to do is have a character for every in-game situation.”

DJ looked at Val, confused.

“For example, we could’ve used a ranged character this game,” said Val. “So if you and I are left in a chase scenario again, we have a way to stop the other team.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” said DJ. “But…”

DJ trailed off into a mumble, which prompted Val to ask him to repeat himself.

“Benny is the only card I own,” blurted DJ.

Val stared at him for a moment, incredulous. “You’re being serious?”

DJ nodded, twiddling his thumbs.

“You got to mid C tier playing only Benny?” said Val. “It’s a wonder you haven’t lost your mind. Why haven’t you bought more cards?”

“…I don’t have the money,” said DJ.

Val opened his mouth to taunt DJ, but he realized that spending so much money on cards was the reason he was broke in the first place.

“I have an idea,” said Val. He walked back to his backpack and pulled out his binder of cards. Searching through the pages, he pulled out a card and handed it to DJ.

“This is Sune the Alchemist,” said Val. “His ability is Transmutation, which allows him to change matter around him into some substance that you buy during the Equipment Phase.”

DJ stared at him, mouth open.

“He should be the perfect character for you,” said Val. “He can be melee or ranged, depending on what type of substance you’re using. Really high skill cap.”

“It’s…it’s ultra-rare…”

“Hm?” said Val.

“It’s ultra-rare,” repeated DJ.

“Yeah,” said Val. “It is.”

The stood there for a moment in silence.

“You’re giving it to me?” DJ asked.

“Of course,” said Val. “I have a super-rare version of him too. That I wouldn’t feel safe giving to you.”

After another moment of hesitation, DJ reached out and took the card from Val’s hand. He lifted it to his face, staring at it in wonder. Slowly, his brow furrowed and his eyebrows narrowed. Lifting his eyes, he looked Val in the eyes.

“I won’t disappoint you.”

Val had no clue what he was talking about.