Welcome to the 27th local Tanisian Gunslinger's Gamble tournament!

Today, we're hosting a battle between Aerial Anemones and the Skull Quintet.

We remind that all ticket sales were going toward aid for the patients of New Hope's Hospital.

The final battle starts in two hours. In the meantime, remember to visit our fan booths and cosplay section!

Stay courteous, and have great fun!

The announcer struck a gun-fingers pose and abandoned the hanging platform under the ceiling. He made his way down the spiral staircase behind glass panels with images of characters equipped in the most popular game outfits, weapons, and accessories, then entered the staff lounge.

There was a big commotion.

"Hey, Freddie!" - The announcer shouted to one of the producers. - "What's going on?"

"There was an accident, RiskOfGlitches had an accident. He's out."

"For Eternity's sake, it's the finals!! We already sold out all preorder bundles! Are we rescheduling?"

"Uh, the matter is... very serious. I can't go into the details due to lack of disclosure agreement, but RiskOfGlitches is in New Hope and it's hard to say when, or even If, he'll be out."

"What with the replacement, is there any?"

"Diego, you know it's not the major league. Those kids are just a bunch of friends." - Freddie paused and looked to his right. - "Oh, Reyes is coming."

Reyes was the main promoter, he had a final say in everything.

"What's up, Reyes?" - Freddie asked.

"RiskOfRain will not make it." - Reyes declared.

"We already know that." - Diego fixed his earphone, kind of not paying attention.

"No, that's not what I mean." - Reyes eyes were piercing Diego, like Reyes wanted to strangle Diego by just looking.

Diego stared at Reyes stupidly, not understanding what do these words mean, so Reyes continued.

"RiskOfRain contacted us, he can't afford medical expenses. He asked for our help."

Freddie gasped. - "We already gifted all the money to the hospital. How much does he need?"

"About twelve thousand omni-credits."

Diego almost choked just on air. - "What!? We're not miracle makers!"

"Let me clarify it for you, If you still don't get how serious it is." - Reyes pointed a finger right at Diego's chest. - "This. Kid. Is. Going. To. Die. Today. If we don't do anything."

"I get it, I get it." - Diego defended himself. - "But pulling twelve thousand omni-credits in a single night? Even with all the merchandise, it's impossible!"

Reyes crossed his arms. - "Don't you doubt me. We're resigning from the exclusive event and putting up a stream, I've already contacted this district's e-sport branch. They'll be featuring it, but we're still on our own. You know the policy."

"Man, you're a dreamer! You're not going to accumulate twelve thousand omnis! Even If all the streamers in the district teamed up!" - Diego tried to defend his stance.

"We have to try." - Reyes responded in a resolute tone.

"Okay, okay. OKAY!" - Diego nearly gave up. - "You're missing one thing, though. We still DON'T HAVE A PLAYER."

"Already handled it." - Reyes responded in a deep tone. There was doubt in his voice.

Diego sensed it. - "How?"

"A paid lottery. We'll be pulling a player from the audience." - Reyes answered.

Diego firmly grabbed the bridge of his nose in disbelief. - "Reyes, you might have good intentions, but you know nothing of the scene. Nobody is going to watch a team of four and one-hundredth be wrecked to oblivion."

Reyes was unconfident. - "I... do you have any better idea?"

"Yeah, screw the lottery and get the top streamer, Blue Ribbon."

"...but we already started selling the tickets." - Reyes responded, there was a hint of guilt in his demeanor.

"I can't believe it. Just rig it in her favor!" - Diego almost exclaimed from the pressure and stress.

"You want me to scam our supporters? People will know suspect it rigged!" - Reyes argued.

"Yeah, people will get mad, but only on the following day. If it's Blue Ribbon, nobody will care today." - Diego exhaled and looked at the clock. - "We don't have much time. She needs to prepare for the best results."

Reyes felt defeated, but he ultimately agreed to the plan. There was, however, one issue.

Reyes returned with bad news. - "Blue Ribbon disagreed. She doesn't want to hurt her reputation."

"The Butcher is next in the top, but he's far off. We won't get achieve anything with his mediocre tier." - Diego bit his fingernails.

"Blue Ribbon recommended a player, though." - Reyes said.

"Who is that!?" - Diego looked at Reyes with big eyes.

"Unaffiliated player."

"Unaffiliated? It's not going to work!" - Diego kicked a nearby chair, into the wall. Everyone in the room looked at him in surprise. - "We need a SPECTACLE!"

"Think about it, If it's an unaffiliated player, nobody will suspect anything." - Reyes explained.

"We NEED A STREAMER. Not some random."

"There's one more thing, Blue Ribbon called that person a monster." - Reyes added.

Diego's eyes were wide open. - "You kidding me? She's a top solo in Tanisan! She would never admit it."

"She just lost a duel after duel the last night, her solo ladder is no longer top."

"Unbelievable..." - Diego was pondering. - "...but that's not going to work, it's not a solo tournament."

"So, what are we doing?" - Reyes asked.

"Your call." - Diego replied. - "We're out of options. Take a butcher or risk it, it's not going to work either way."

"I will trust Blue." - Reyes exhaled, but deep inside, he felt lost.

[ ... ]

We'll now announce the winner of the lottery, and his name is... The King.

At this moment Diego thought - what a blunder. He'll be the butt of all jokes. This didn't work in the stream's favor, but there was nothing else they could do.

...The match will continue in the standard format, capture the flag, push the payload, and three-lives deathmatch. Due to unusual circumstances, we'll give the players an extra hour to prepare.

Until then, enjoy the free supernova drinks. Remember, everyone who participated in the lottery can retrieve free skin – Aldona - for grenade launcher AX-570, the redeem code is on the back of the ticket!

[ ... ]

The tournament was about to start and Diego examined his surroundings, looking for the King. He wanted to know what he has to deals with. Then, there he was, a twelve-year-old kid, walking out of the player quarters to the arena, together with other players.

Diego felt defeated. He lifted his microphone and welcomed the audience.

"Erm... The Aerial Anemones walk onto the scene. Big applause to... Dandy, Toffee, Laboratory Crisis, Sumatra and The King."

The audience greeted the challengers with great cheer. They were quite hyped for the games, but Diego knew it was soon going to change.

"...and now, the Skull Quintet. Welcome MAD, Wildfire, DarkDarkDark, CreamIce, CodeFly."

The round has started, it was a ban phase, players were banning weapons, vehicles, and tools.

"The Anemones banned The Black Widow, pretty standard ban, considering it's the most overpowered sniper rifle in the game. Even If the map is arctic pass, where long-range weapons don't have much use due to the presence of underground tunnels, it's still a considerable threat to deal with... it seems that CodeFly hovers over the Morning Star... it's a decent, armored transport vehicle, great at defending at the opponent's point but it doesn't give as much flexibility as a dragon hoverbike, which would be another standard ban. Oh... and that's it! They banned hoverbike..."

The other bans were smoke grenades, which although usually not a common pick, were superior on the arctic pass. Another ban was P480, a submachine gun with a spread as narrow as most of the canyons, which maximized its advantage. On top of that, it had decent magazine size and a high rate of fire, which was important at picking up kills or defending at clutch points. At last, the teams banned surveillance drones and skis.

"...and now it's the time to pick the restricted equipment. Anemones reserved Morning Star, an obvious pick for defensive playstyle." - Considering that they were not in their full squad, Diego thought to himself, but didn't want to say that. - "The skulls want a The Volcano! The flamethrower with the highest melt speed! They'll be focusing on opening the tunnels to those extra capture options!"

The other picks were mostly preferential personal choices, but the players still had to buy their equipment during the rounds. Next players were choosing their classes and perks. Nothing out of ordinary, until Diego saw King's screen.

What in the nemesis name is he doing? - He almost wanted to utter into the microphone. - The class was jester, one of the weakest classes of the game. It focused on stealth, pistol, and a knife. It had no heavy or even medium weaponry. The only major benefit was the ability to bring an extra tool.

Diego didn't comment on that, but the audience gasped when they've seen the pick and cheered for the so under-picked character. The more serious players were annoyed by it, they felt like their time was wasted for a troll pick. The jester needed many kills to stay useful in team fights and had no late-game presence.

The game lasted until five flags were captured, so it would be long-drawn. There were literally no visible benefits to picking a jester. On top of that, the enemy team had a thermal vision, which completely countered the aspect of stealth.

The soundproof screens closed, cutting the players off from commentary. The game was about to begin.

3... 2... 1... Go!

"The Skulls are playing a standard meta of three offense, two defense. Anemones..." - Diego looked and what he saw was beyond his expectations. The newbie didn't go into the Morning Star with two other players and instead split into one of the tunnels. He was bound to meet resistance there, but with his weapons, there was no way he would get through, not easily. On top of that, he only had light armor and no helmet. Sure, it increased his speed, just so slightly, but a series from a standard weapon or headshot and he would be gone. - "...respond with the Morning Star setup with a flanking diversion."

The players of Anemones moved slowly, while all skulls were already in the middle of the way towards the base, spread across different paths. They avoided the Morning Glory, knowing that even If they've died, they would respawn on time to defend.

At the same time, The King was close to DarkDarkDark. Diego observed. The King waited behind a wall.

One grenade and he's out. - Diego thought and just as he predicted, DarkDarkDark tossed an explosive type into a winding tunnel, but then he noticed something, The King knew in advance that the grenade was being tossed at the very same moment and stepped back before it was even noticeable.

"Nice..." - He wanted to say dodge, but he was not an inexperienced caster. He thought that perhaps The King saw the reflection in ice, but it wasn't that. It was patched in that pass. - "...prediction!" - Yes, that or luck were the only options.

The questions raised though. How did he predict that?

Did he calculate the speed and path based on the enemy equipment? That required immense skill, and even then, how would he know which player travels this path and how did he know IF ANY players travel this path.

No, it had to be just luck.

The King knew now that the tool were grenades, so he activated the stealth and just stood in the middle of the path.

What is he doing, again? - Diego though.

Then he noticed DarkDarkDark, who already gave away his position. DarkDarkDark knew there was a jester in the room, so he started shooting series at the walls, just where there were zones out of stealth detection range.

Diego understood, there was no point in hiding.

One more step and king would be in detection range, what would he do with his lack of firepower and armor?

The sound of series from uzi resounded in the air, DarkDarkDark collapsed dead.

What!? What just happened?

The King was on a sliver of health. He stabbed DarkDarkDark to death in two fast attacks to the neck.

First Blood! - could be heard in the gaming arena.

Everyone stood up and cheered.

"The First Blood goes to The King! Good job for the rookie..." - How did he do that? - "...let's watch the replay!"

There it was, The King was holding a knife at the level of his chest, heart to be precise. He walked right in front of DarkDarkDark's barrel and bullets ricocheted from the steel. All other bullets hit, but DarkDarkDark was out of ammo, since he used it on scouting the walls.

Was it luck, again? What was he going to say?

"A close one, The King is barely under 3% of his HP... that state calls for reset."

Diego wouldn't have it, he had his suspicions, you could call it commenter's sixth sense. - What perks did you pick? - Then he noticed. Kamikaze. It basically almost doubled the attack power given the low health, but it was almost never used, since the exchange of fire would often be a short one unless you were a tank, in which case due to low damage output, it had no much use.

Double kill!

What the... - Before Diego could finish studying the player, the first flag was captured. Skulls took thermovision to detect the Morning Star, so they couldn't spot how the King was ready to backstab them. They couldn't react, since the King had Kamikaze perk.

However, on the other side of the map, skulls won their skirmish with one player still alive. Anemones send one player from the Morning Star to re-secure the flag, so Skulls' only option was to either run to the base and hope to avoid the player or risk retrieving the flag from the Jester.

They picked the safer option, Morning Star couldn't guess the required tunnel. It was a trade, one for one.

The players respawned. Five at the enemy base, two at Anemones' base, two at an armored truck with caterpillar tracks.

The Anemones decided to retreat and call for a backup, it would be four against four or five this time. Jester was defending. Skulls knew they didn't stand a chance against full-on assault, so they decided to send a single player to risk capturing the flag, while the others hold the base. While Anemones' backup was coming, the skulls used the extra time to dig pits and lay tank traps.

In the meantime, the King shot himself in the feet and under ribs a few times, until he was at one percent health.

Diego knew he could no longer ignore that. - "The King seems to be the taking title Gunslinger's Gamble a bit too seriously. It will take two headshots to take down the enemy with a helmet, can he do it?" - ...or does he have another plan.

BANG!

POW-POW-POW

"The King is dead, but Anemones managed to capture the flag thanks to the support of Morning Star. It's one against one again..." - Then the announcer had realized, something was off. CreamIce's movement was too slow. - "Oh! It seems that the King was going for the knee! Interesting choice."

The Anemones delivered the flag, while CreamIce was still in one-third of the way. This time, the truck was abandoned, it was rush to the middle.

"What an exciting game! Anemones seem to be leading, If they manage to retrieve the flag, they'll have enough gold advantage to disregard one round of eco."

In the meantime, The King split, taking a roundabout route.

"Exchange of fire! Dandy and Crisis are down, but at the same time, CreamIce dies and loses the flag. DarkDarkDark retrieves it and is about to return! Oh, no! Suppressive fire from Sumatra... but here he comes, MAD, the JUGGERNAUT, dragging behind with his heavy armor and shield! In the last moment, he protects DarkDarkDark and allows him to start returning to the base... look at his Gatling gun! YOU SHALL NOT PASS ANEMONES!"

It seemed that the situation was a blockade for Anemones, so Diego redirected his focus.

"Let's check what The King and Wildfire are doing. Wildfire, equipped in his thermovision, shouldn't have a problem dealing with the Jester... but the Jester ignores Wildfire. Instead, he places the explosives under the glacier. Oh, he's going to cut off the enemy's escape route! It's certainly going to buy Anemones more time!"

The explosives detonated and large chunks of ice blocked the way in several tunnels, Skulls had to call MAD off, to bring his flamethrower, while CodeFly rushed to the base. The flag and heavy were at the blocked passage, while the non-defending Anemone, Sumatra, joined the King.

It was two against two, to capture the flag. Sumatra and the King prepared their assault at twin tunnels.

"It's a Molotov!" - Diego shouted. The path in front of Wildfire was ablaze, his thermovision was countered. He couldn't see Sumatra coming and had no time to unequip the tool. A series from Sumatra penetrated Wildfire's red triple visor and skull of his corpse banged against ice with a loud thud... but where was the jester?

Another explosion, a cloud of snow surrounded CodeFly. The smoke grenades were banned, but the fog of snow could replace their effect well. CodeFly knew he was late, he had to secure their flag, he overheard footsteps and rushed in that direction... only to find a device that mimicked that sound.

MAD and DarkDarkDark returned, the map was reset. Three to Two. Anemones were in advantage.

"It's three / two split again for Anemones." - Diego announced. - "Anemones lost their morning star, but they are buying the best arsenal to increase make the big push! What is it... Skulls are going on the full defensive for eco. They're combining their funds to get a single sniper rifle and extinguisher bombs! They need to score three kills for zero to even the chances out..."

BANG! BANG! - Crisis and Sumatra were down. More gold for the enemy team.

Skulls were on the push. Three / two, against one / two.

"The Jester switched to underwater equipment, what a big spender! He's taking the spec ops route! He might be losing health due to cold, but it synergizes with the Kamikaze passive!" - Diego commented, half-excited, half full of doubts. If it would work, he already would know what once-in-the-lifetime events he is experiencing. - "...but how is he going to deal with Wildfire's... ohh..."

The camera was showing it, the temperature of King's suit was below detectable levels.

The Skulls couldn't afford helmets this round, but the steps still could be heard... in both of twin tunnels. On top of that, the King didn't know their positions. CodeFly put down his rifle and drew a pistol, then Wildfire moved to cover the detection range. They were ready... then a knife landed in the snow.

What was that?

A ricochet. Wildfire was down.

CodeFly's arm moved on its own, left or right? He had to choose.

Bang! - BANG! - Thud.

"THE KING CAPTURES THE FLAG! SKULLS CAPTURE THE FLAG! It's one for one!"

Diego fell down on his chair. He could not believe what he had seen. Yes, reflections were patched on arctic pass due to balance reasons, but reflections on polished steel surfaces were always working as intended. Diego checked the charts and window with multiple streams, Blue Ribbon was hyping King's plays on her stream and explaining the mechanics.

The last round was a formality. Anemones had too much of a lead.

The game was over. Anemones won. Five to three. Afterward, Reyes barged into Diego's room.

"Diego, did you see the charts?"

"I did."

"Can we do it?"

"We can."