I Rely On You

After finishing their duel session, Ellie called everyone present to give a quick debrief. They once again sat around the meeting table with Ellie standing in front of the group. Ellie concluded today's session with a bright glow on her face which was telling of how pleased she was with the progress made by everyone. She was elated that Mona was learning at an abnormal rate, her spirit never wavered despite the colossal amount of information that Joseph hurled at her. Ellie showed everyone the games that they played today without Joseph and Mona. Ellie fished out a remote from her pockets to analyze a play on the monitor. She pressed a button on the remote and began to discuss the contents of the video with everyone : "This right here, at this spot you can swing out faster to support the DPS player." Danny the main subject of the video lacked the awareness and the decisiveness to act upon a situation which required addressing.

Danny paid close attention to the feedback by Ellie and Luna, afterwards, he explained why this decision was made. After going through the situation at hand, Ellie used her remote to switch to another video. She went through what every player is thinking at the present moment as she froze the video at a particular point. 'All Fight' has a replay feature that allowed players to view frame by frame every moment in the game. Ellie navigated through the replay expertly, showing signs of immense experience with the game. Ellie did not feel entitled as the team's leader to ignore all her flaws as well, after giving feedback to Danny and Luna , she remained grounded by also pointing out her faults as well.

Joseph and Mona who were seated beside one another struggled to keep up with the discussion. They were lacking heavily in knowledge and other aspects of the game and could not rest easy as they paid attention to the analysis of their games. They were much more determined to improve themselves after realizing how much more they have to improve. Ellie concluded their meeting by informing everyone : "From tomorrow onwards, we will play together as a team." Everyone present gave a resounding "Yes" and went to pack up their belongings. As Joseph was packing up, he reminded himself to bring along his personal keyboard and mouse tomorrow.

"Clank!" The door opened in a loud manner which caught the attention of the group that was packing up. Ellie, who was closest to the entrance saw their guest first, she warmly smiled to welcome their unexpected guest after seeing who it was. "Sis!" Ellie called out to her sister Lily as she stepped into the club room. Lily waved to Ellie before facing the rest who were in the midst of packing up. Joseph was exuberant to see Lily and packed his bag with more urgency before rushing up to greet her. Danny followed suit but was less energetic about it as he was fatigued from the training today. This sudden enthusiasm from Joseph surfaced a tinge of jealousy from Mona who only saw his serious instructive side thus far. She wants Joseph to acknowledge her as a great friend who will similarly be there for him just as he did for her. Her interaction with Joseph so far was lacking in a friendly sense and she wished that Joseph will be this close to her. Luna in contrast couldn't care less and was about to say something to Mona, she looked at Mona only to see that she was staring blankly at Joseph and Lily interacting.

"It's great your doing well Joseph!" Lily said to Joseph warmly as she hugged him. Joseph smiled and asked her as she pulled away : "Why are you here anyways?" Lily face lit up as she heard that and signaled for Luna and Mona to come over as well. They both came over carrying their bags and greeted Lily. Mona asked as they came close : "Who are you?" Lily simply answered : "I'm Ellie's sister, Lily."

"Oh! Hi! I'm Mona and this is my twin sister Luna." Mona introduced herself and her sister Luna. After exchanging greetings, Lily announced to the five of them : "I have scheduled a scrimmage with a top e-sports team in the region tomorrow for you guys, they are called the Top Legion." Ellie , Danny and Luna gasped as they were shocked upon hearing the name 'Top Legion'. Joseph and Mona who were equally clueless could not help but ask : "Who are they?"

Lily introduced the team 'Top Legion' to them : "Joseph, you should be familiar with the team's captain TankMunch or his real name Richard." Joseph face grew grim as he recalled 'TankMunch' , he was a formidable rival back in 'Strike Two'. He also remembered him for his appearance, he is a burly guy which intimidated many of his skinnier opponents.

"They are a team that plays with two tanks, one of which is of course 'TankMunch' who is declared as the No.1 tank in the world . Not only that, they have the No.4 DPS in the world, 'Zero' who earned it thanks to his sniping skills primarily." Danny trembled in fear visibly while Luna got really excited by the challenge. Ellie asked her sister suspiciously : "How did you schedule a game with them for us?" Lily clarified with Ellie : "I know TankMunch personally, I contacted him yesterday to arrange for this match two hours after the club's training starts tomorrow." Ellie at this moment was experiencing a myriad of feelings, her eyebrows pulled closer together and she pouted her lips . "Ellie?" Lily asked as she seemed to be in a daze, Ellie snapped herself out of her trance and went up to embrace her. Lily felt assured immediately as Ellie whispered : "Thank you..." After this display of affection , Lily asked them afterwards : "Shall we head home now?" Ellie was just about to remind her sister that she had to clean the school but Lily seemed to recall it at that exact moment. Lily mocked the trio loudly : "AH! Yes! You three have to clean the school." Lily laughed at their plight and had a smug expression on her face the entire time. Ellie couldn't take the humiliation and retaliated : "Hey!" Lily did not hold back and told everyone : "Ellie does not do any housework at all, this is a fitting punishment for her." The siblings bickering continued as they left the club room together shortly afterwards. Lily waved goodbye to Ellie , Joseph and Danny as she accompanied the twin sisters to the school gates.

The trio sighed heavily and accepted their boring fate, they were once again back to the usual cleaning. After cleaning for a while, Danny took the opportunity to talk to Joseph : "Top Legion is no joke, Flare who we played with before is the No.15 DPS in the world right now, every individual on there are of a similar level or better." Ellie overheard Danny and got slightly triggered, she wiped the windows harder and created a lot of noise. Danny questioned her as he noticed it : "What the hell?" Ellie apologized : "Sorry! I was thinking of some stuff." She went back to her cleaning afterwards. Danny waited for Joseph to respond but he did not seem to be bothered by their opponents at all. Joseph replied back shortly after mopping a particular area : "We have to believe we can win against them, if we can't then we are never winning anything." Ellie thrust herself into the conversation as she moved closer to the both of them : "I believe Joseph can win it all for us, can't say the same for us all." Joseph paused and stared at her, Ellie stared right back at Joseph and entered a staring contest with him. They entered this deadlock and Ellie simply waited for him to respond. Danny felt the need to be involved and moved right in between the both of them, he blocked the both of them from each other awkwardly and got their attention. He phased out between the both of them afterwards and assured Ellie : "You can believe in us too Ellie."

Ellie told the both of them : "Only Joseph here is exceptional and can stand above the rest of the competition, I have seen your gameplay before on Strike Two and realistically speaking..." Ellie looked away as she said : "This team cannot win without you Joseph." Joseph did not appear surprised as he already realized this fact from the moment the team was formed, he knew that is the case and Ellie is taking a huge gamble on him. Ellie opened up about her ambitions as she went on : "I'm pursuing a career in 'All Fight' and I wouldn't have agreed to join a school with no prior history with 'All Fight' without you Joseph, the Dark Knight." Danny could only accept the fact that they were weak and what they do isn't enough to compete with any professional team. He remained silent as Ellie told Joseph and Danny as she looked at them seriously: "Truth is , my sister had arranged with TankMunch for me to join Top Legion before encountering you Joseph." Joseph and Danny got flabbergasted as they heard that, they were shocked to hear those words coming out of Ellie's mouth. "She chose you over them for me. Does she really believes in you that much? I don't believe in the team at all right now, even you." Ellie questioned Joseph as she began to doubt her sister's decision.

...

"Knock! Knock!"

"Yes?"

"Yo can I come in TankMunch?"

"Come in please."

Richard's bulky figure took up the spaces around his gaming chair as he sat on it, he was presently doing his stuff and was amusing himself. His teammate 'Zero' had just entered his room and wanted to clarify something with him.

"Why are we playing a bunch of nobodies tomorrow? The schedule tomorrow man is confusing the heck out of me." Zero questioned Richard.

"Albert, I owe Lily so we are just gonna play a game with her sister." Richard replied.

Zero accepted it and said : "Whatever man, you wanna do pointless stuff we sure can."

A "Nya" sound came out of his PC's speaker suddenly, Zero was astounded by what he just heard and stared at Richard, the No.1 Tank in the world, a fearsome figure around the world in 'All Fight' and off of it. "Meow, Sore wa anata no okiniiri no vtuberdesu. N-"

"Get out."

"Okay."