Chapter Text
All-Stars
One of Glory Professional Alliance’s biggest events, and for good reason. There were no stakes, no massive titles to be gained. Instead, it was a chance for those in the All-Stars roster to show off, and for the audience to enjoy themselves watching said players get thrown into a twisted game mode for them to adapt. Season 12’s All-Star was no different, introducing a minigame called “Falling Heaven and Rising Hell”. The game mode was seemingly simple: Deplete your opponents health until one side is left standing. The catch here was that the map was a massive lava pit, with the only solid ground consisting of small floating platforms. These platforms were small, about 5 units in diameter, which meant that the area could only allow for one character, maybe two if they stood on the edges. Not ideal, but not unplayable. And so, the teams were drawn for the event. The main screen flashed, revealing the first roster.
Team 1: Troubling Rain, Desert Dust, Demon Subduer, Vaccaria
An extremely respectable roster, given that every member was the core on their respective teams. A few observers noted that they were all melee classes, a detail that was worrying given the map terrain. However, as the main screen flashed again, everyone waited eagerly for the opposing roster.
Dancing Rain. Not unexpected, as Desert Dust was on the opposing team, and Su Mucheng’s popularity had skyrocketed as the captain of Happy.
None Dare Attack, Lower Your Head. The Twin Sharpshooter Duo of Shu Kexin and Shu Keyi, now a part of Conquering Clouds after the tragedy that was dual double core Misty Rain. Blemish on their record aside, the swap had done both the sisters and Conquering Clouds some good, putting the team in contention for playoffs this season.
However, it was the last name that really got the crowd roaring.
Lord Grim
“Old Ye, you dog bastard! I thought you retired! What, did you get kicked out again and need a new team to come to? Blue Rain needs a rookie to train, come to us!”
Huang Shaotian slapped Ye Xiu on his back, causing the cup in the ex-Happy captain’s hand to spill water over both himself and the breakroom table. Flicking the excess water from his shirt, Ye Xiu swiped at the head of Blue Rain’s ace.
“I see the time I’ve spent away hasn’t made you more respectful. Training partner? Maybe I do need to come out of retirement in order to teach you some manners. I’ve seen your last few matches, I can see your hands slowing down. You didn’t even spam chat against Little Tang during a 1v1. Are you finally matching Old Wenzhou’s handspeed?”
Huang Shaotian briefly grimaced before opening his mouth again.
“Slowing down? I’ll show you slowing down! You better be ready to get demolished this match. Don’t turn off chat either, you coward. My chat typing speed has never been higher, and me kicking your ass will prove it. The only reason I didn’t type in my last match was because that Tang Rou is a freak of nature. No matter what I say, she just assaults me at full force. What happened to respecting trash talk nowadays? Back when we were the stars, everyone wo-”
“She turns chat off during 1v1’s.”
“….Oh.”
Ye Xiu snickered at the expression on Huang Shaotian’s face, a mixture of disappointment and confusion. Most players wouldn’t normally turn off chat. After all, who would have time to chat in the middle of a 1v1 match? However, Su Mucheng had shared a document that was making its way around the pro chat. It was a list of analyzed weaknesses of the top players, but in a humorous fashion. For instance, Sun Xiang was listed as having a weakness of “Fully Stacked Battle Spirit” and “NPC’s”, a jab towards the Season 10 Finals. Huang Shaotian’s was a similar note, stating “Turn Chat Off”. As Ye Xiu opened his phone to show Huang Shaotian, a buzz sounded over the intercom, signaling that the match would start soon. Both players stopped heckling each other and made their way to the stage. As Huang Shaotian stepped towards his playerbooth, Ye Xiu called out to him.
“Huang Shaotian, a word of advice.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t fall.”
Huang Shaotian fell.
A lot.
Needless to say, the match was a slaughter. As it turned out, the platforms would crumble and fall into the lave if they took too much damage. After a brief period of time, the platforms would respawn, emerging from the lava to return to their original spots. A fun and nifty little mechanic that encouraged constant movement.
Said mechanics were also extremely abusable. A quick look into the team communication recordings revealed a cheerful and playful atmosphere on Team 2, with Su Mucheng chatting with the Shu twins about a recent tv drama while Ye Xiu called out occasional targets. All in all, a very seamless team with great synergy, as expected from one of Glory’s Best Partners and a Dual Core Duo.
On the other hand, the voice communication from Team 1 was dominated by constant chatter, screaming and curses, most originating from Huang Shaotian. A side by side comparison of the player cameras and the in game footage revealed that every shot called by Ye Xiu resulted in the destruction of the platform beneath Troubling Rain. Any and all attempts for recovery were met with multiple Delivery Gun combos, with Lord Grim able to pair with any of the three Gunners in chaining shots onto the Blade Master. In addition, several clips revealed that Lord Grim had actually used Cloud Grasping Fist multiple times to fish Troubling Rain out of the lava, preventing the lava from dealing excessive tick damage before the platform respawned. Meanwhile, with Dancing Rain’s Triple Firing Line in play, it was akin to shooting fish in a barrel. Demon Subduer and Desert Dust were taken out quickly, as no amount of Reinforced Bones could save the two Fighters from falling into empty space after a literal carpet bomb. As for Vaccaria, two Sharpshooters using every skill in their arsenal proved too much to dodge, especially with the Unspecialized support that came from Lord Grim consistently running interference.
In total, the match took 25 minutes, with the latter 12 minutes dedicated to juggling Troubling Rain in the air. In the post-game interviews, Huang Shaotian expressed his grievances in a very explosive manner, almost breaking broadcasting rules several times before the studio got the hint to cut off his interview. With Ye Xiu, the interview went about as well as it usually did with the elusive player, with a number of non-committal answers and hums. However, when asked about why he came back for this All-Stars, he finally gave a proper answer.
“The Alliance gave me this offer: Come back and play for this game mode, and I would be able to chose my team. I agreed, but changed my conditions to choosing one teammate and one enemy.”
“Oh, so you choose Han Wenqing as a sort of parting shot?”
“What? Didn’t you see who I juggled for that whole match?”
A cry of anger sounded from the player seats.