Rise

U-Tech Beijing were the defending champions of the Collegiate Cup. But the tournament taking place this winter was not going well for them. They qualified to the main tournament in second place behind Team Beijing, who had completely outclassed them in every part of the game. They’d made it all the way to the Semifinals, where they were up against Team Beijing again. This was supposed to be their redemption for what happened during the qualifiers. They’d spent countless hours researching Team Beijing. They hired analysts from professional teams to help them develop new strategies against Team Beijing. The entire team had even taken a semester off from their University courses to get in as many practice hours as they possibly could. They fought so hard, and got so far. But in the end, it didn’t even matter.

The players from U-Tech Beijing got up on stage at 9 A.M. The fans in the Chaoyang Sports Center cheered in support. The five from U-Tech Beijing usually took a moment to acknowledge this support, but not this day. For on this day, their eyes were on the soundproof booths and their minds were filled with the countless hours of practice that had led to the conclusion that they simply weren’t up to the task of beating Team Beijing. They were going to lose their title. They believed that, anyway.

Fifteen excruciating minutes passed in which the players from U-Tech Beijing sat behind their computers, waiting for the host to finish announcing them. They looked at each other for moral support, but no one knew how to offer that. Because they were winners; they didn’t know how to deal with loss. When they entered the lobby, their team captain sighed and said over the team’s voice chat, “Let’s just give it our all, guys. Those kids over there…” he nodded with his head towards Team Beijing. “... They’re just kids. Maybe the pressure will get to them and we can cheese our way through this.”

“They’re basically a top LSPL team…” U-Tech Beijing’s Jungler muttered, defeated.

U-Tech Beijing’s team captain grimaced and responded, “And we’re basically an LSPL team.” He briefly paused, letting that bit of information settle in with his teammates. He then continued, “Those guys at the bottom in the LSPL, they don’t give up. Despite their odds, despite everything and oftentimes everyone being against them, they don’t give up. They go up on stage and they play their damndest! We need to do that today. Not to win this series, but to prove to ourselves that we are, in fact, an LSPL worthy team. Let’s show everyone we have that backbone. And if Team Beijing messes up? We’re winning this.”

U-Tech Beijing’s ad-carry nodded, at first slowly but then faster. He grinned and clenched his fist and said, “You’re right. We’ve been so focused on how to beat them and realising we can’t beat them when they go all out that we’ve lost the bigger picture. No one is at their best every series. Upsets do happen. When we give it our all in this series, the worst case scenario is that we give up. Not fighting at all, that would be a shame.”

“Yes!” U-Tech Beijing’s Toplaner exclaimed. He narrowed his eyes, smiled and said, “My stomach is going crazy, and not because I just had coffee! My arms are shaking and look, just look at my hands! They’re trembling like crazy! But that’s good, that’s fine. I like this feeling. We might go down, but we’ll go down fighting. FOR U-TECH!”

“FOR U-TECH!” the four other members from U-Tech Beijing echoed their Toplaner.

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