Rise

Ouyang saw them. The Shanghai International team. He’d stood across from them before, looked at those faces and glared into those eyes. One year ago. It’d been a year since he stood on a stage like this one, looking at them. On any normal day, his motto was simple. You got a problem? Yo, I’ll solve it! But not on that day. That day was the single worst day of his life. And when he saw them again, standing across from him. Standing across from his team. Looking down on him with the same plastic expressions of ridicule from one year ago, that day started playing in his head again. The moments that haunted his nightmares and always stuck around in the back of his mind.

“Lol! This is too easy man,” Yan Liang laughed loudly into his microphone and to the crowd around him. He sat behind a computer in a small internet cafe, with two players to his left and two to his right. Together, they were the esports team for Shanghai International. “Let’s have a little fun! Haha!”

It was the first round of the qualifiers for the 2014 edition of the Shanghai 16 School Tournament. Shanghai International was grouped together with High School 13. It was an easy matchup for them. It was a game in which they could play around a little, try different tactics, and maybe just have some fun. And having fun is exactly what they did. The game was about to hit the 20 minute mark, but they were already pushing into High School 13’s base. It was a roflstomp in its truest form. With a little more than a minute before High School 13 could surrender and end this humiliation, the players from Shanghai International reached the Nexus. But instead of destroying the Nexus…

Liu Zhengjie looked towards the players from High School 13, sitting opposite him. He laughed at them and said, loudly enough for everyone in the internet cafe to hear him, “Watch this! HahaHAHAHA!”

If the humiliation of losing a game before 20 minutes wasn’t bad enough, what happened next definitely was. All Ouyang, substitute for High School 13, could do was watch as his team got served the ultimate humiliation. They were Nexus farmed. Shanghai International was so strong, and had enough long range skills, that they had formed a line around the fountain and were killing the players from High School 13, letting their minions finish the game. It was painful, disturbing, and degrading. This was the worst form of sportsmanship. But it didn’t end there. Shanghai International still wasn’t satisfied. High School 13 was below them, and they would let everyone know that.

The game finished. Shanghai International had as good as qualified for the next round, while High School 13 was on the verge of being eliminated from the tournament. But the players from High School 13 were no sore losers. They took a deep breath, pushed past their hatred over what happened in the game, and stood up to shake hands with the players from Shanghai International. It was basic courtesy, a short and simple show of good sportsmanship. That was when it happened.

Liu Zhengjie walked up to them, a bright and wide smile on his lips and derision in his eyes. He made himself big, broadening his shoulders, and said, “I wouldn’t dirty my hand by letting you touch it! If you want to congratulate me, get down on your knees! Hah, fucking pathetic bunch of losers. Go back to your kiddy league. You don’t belong here.”

They were the memories of a year ago. Ouyang’s arms started shaking as they played in his mind again, and then again. He bit down on his teeth, while his brows pointed down towards his nose. The grating sound of his teeth were barely submerged by the low roar coming from the back of his throat. He wanted to go up. He wanted to show them who was boss! He! He... He cracked his knuckles but didn’t move. Ren Rou held her arm out in front of him and Yang Fan, who’d lived through the same humiliation, grabbed him by his shoulder. So he didn’t storm forward, settling for pawing his foot on the ground, menacingly.

Yan Liang read the anger, the hatred, and most importantly the fear. They’re the same as last year. A bunch of kids trying to play with the grown ups. He grinned at his own joke before walking up to Ren Rou. He gave her a one over, checking her whole demeanor out. Then he turned to the others behind her. There were the familiar faces of a year ago, together with a few new faces. He looked back towards Ren Rou and said, “Oh, well look at this! High School 13! What a surprise! What are you guys doing here? Wait… Don’t tell me… Is it true? Did you guys really make it to the semis? Wow! Good job! I have to congratulate you! You did a great job drawing all the easy teams! Are you guys going to celebrate? I can understand. You guys gotta celebrate the small victories since they are all you have, right?”