INSTITUTE OF WAR

The summoners gathered around in the dimly lit room. They were standing across some of the best champions of Demacia. With big flashy colours adorning their armor, you could tell from a mile away that they were Demacian, and with big names such as Shyvana the Half Dragon, Prince Jarvan IV, and Garen and Luxanna Crownguard, the group of Demacians were certainly a scary bunch, and you could tell that they knew it, much to the ire of Noxians.

"When do we get this started?" Someone called out from the group of Demacians. Looking at the man's armor alone was a big contrast from the other Demancians. Instead of the bright elegant armor that everyone from Demacia wore, His armor was sleeker than your average Demacian armor, and mainly black in colour. There were glowing blue lines of magic along the torso, the man's face was hidden under a black full face helmet with glowing blue eyes and a while skull painted on. "Can't I just sign some paper and get on with things?" His voice was distorted slightly, as if he was speaking through a device.

"Patience, Gill." Garen turned around to face him. "You will know the honor of serving Demacia soon enough."

"Cut the shit." The man spat in the same monotone voice. "You can have your honor, I need my money." Garen grunted as he turned around. As if on cue, the robed man that the group was waiting for returned.

"The process is almost done. Will the man who wishes to be a champion step forward." Gill walked until he was directly in front of the robed man. "Before we make this official, you must accept the champions terms."

"Terms? What the hell is this?" He turned back to the group. "I thought I already went through all that stuff in the courtroom?"

"It's just a few rules for if you're going to fight in the league, it's not something to worry about."

"Fair enough, continue."

"Very well then." The man paused to scratch his beard. "As a champion of the League, you will not start any fights within the league walls." OK, simple enough. "You will not do any damage to the institute of war." Also very simple. "You will not let the void champions out from their confines." Why the hell would he want to do that? "Lastly, you will NOT under any circumstance, kill a league champion in or outside the institute's walls." Gill couldn't help but feel that the last one was directly aimed at him. "Do you accept these terms?"

"I accept the terms."

"Good." The man smiled. "Welcome to the League of Legends."

After the introduction, the robed man showed Gill his room.

"Here it is, this is your room, you're free to leave the institute whenever you feel like it, but you are free to stay here." The man tossed Gill his key. "However, you should know, now that you are a champion of the League, you can and will be summoned suddenly without any sort of notice."

"Good to know." Gill said absentmindedly as he looked around his room. His room looked like it was fit for a king. With a deep red carpet and gold trim adorning the walls. At the left side of the room, they're was a king sized bed with two rather large night tables on either side. "You always treat your people this nicely?"

"Of course. Every room is tailored to be most comfortable for the people coming here. Your room looks Demacian because you're from the Demacian kingdom. Gill nodded. He was no fan of Demacia, but the room was good enough. He didn't feel the need to mention anything to the man. He kept looking around until he focused on the wall above his bed.

Above the bed, was a rather large Demacian flag hanging on the wall. 'Gonna have to take that down.' Gill thought to himself. He spent a few more minutes looking around the room, he couldn't help but notice the sauna and hot tub in the bathroom. Thankfully, there was a shower, he really wasn't the kind of person to soak in a hot tub all day. The sauna could be put to good use, however.

"Well, I trust everything is to your liking?" The robed man looked back at Gill.

"Oh yeah, it's a big improvement from sleeping in a cot in Bandle City." Gill started to take off his helmet, his helmet let out a hiss as it depressurised. The robed man stared at Gill's face for a while before simply shrugging and looking away. "What was that all about?"

"Your mask, you took it off. I imagined you to be like Viktor or the Kinkou ninjas, keeping your mask on at all times."

"Ha! I can't do that, that helmet can get stuffy sometimes." He made his way to the bathroom and looked at his reflection in the mirror. Black hair cut short, green eyes with dark circles around them from staying up working contracts, pale white skin from staying in the suit for days at a time. He gently traced the crecent scar under his right eye with his finger. Gill always found it funny that he looked better when he was poor, and he looked worse now that he was rich.

"Understandable." The robed man nodded. "I think you should go to the dining hall. It's lunch."

"Alright, I think I'll do that." Gill passed by the Dining hall on the way to his room, so he remembered the way. Gill held his helmet under his arm.

"Good." The robed man nodded. "Remember, if you need anything else from me, go to the front office and ask for Vextraillus." Gill gave Vextraillus a swift wave as he turned and walked to the dining room.

"Now then, where to sit..." Gill said to himself, he had gotten his food and really wanted to enjoy it. The only problem now is that he had nowhere to sit. Gill took another look around. Everyone was grouped. There was a table full of Demacians, and another full of Noxians. He sighed at the sight of the yordle and Ionian tables, something told him he wouldn't really be welcome to any of them. "Are you kidding me?" He grunted. "What the hell is this? Highschool of Legends?" He snickered at his little joke before moving towards a relatively empty table. As he approached the table he noticed a peculiar looking woman sitting down, focusing on her meal. She was scantily dressed in what looked like Ionian clothes that were slashed by a knife, but that wasn't even the most interesting thing about her, the woman had fox ears.

"It's rude to stare, you know." The woman looked at him.

"Right, uh sorry." Gill looked away, embarassed. "I-I wasn't staring at your body or anything, I was just wondering if those were real." The woman scrunched her eyebrows together. Gill's face turned as red as an apple. "Oh! No! I-I-I meant the ears! Not the anything else or anything." He sighed inwardly. 'Way to make a first impression, Gill.' The woman giggled as she tilted her head down and moved it towards him slightly, Gill gently gave one of them a little tug before pulling away.

"Does that answer you question?"

"Uh, yeah. Those are, uh, very nice." Gill stammered.

"Not very good around women, are you?"

"Nope." Gill sat down in the seat across from her. "Women usually get me into trouble. BIG trouble. It's why I usually don't allow my eyes to wander as much nowadays. If I get caught staring, I'm taking a dirtnap."

"I'm guessing women have caused you some trouble in the past?"

"You have no idea." Gill sighed. "I got kicked out both Demacia and Noxus because of a woman!"

"I'm sorry." The woman looked at him skeptically. "Did you just say BOTH?"

"Yup." Gill nodded. "Well, it was more of me being a shameless flirt and a loser than it was the girls themselves. But, I was born and raised in Demacia, I got kicked out and I moved to Noxus."

"You're going to have to give me a little bit more details than that. I want to know how you managed to anger Demacia and Noxus." Gill chuckled.

"Well, I'll give you the short version." The fox woman nodded. "I grew up in Demacia. My dad left me when I was young, so I lived around with my mother. We were pretty poor, so I resorted to stealing to help out my mom."

"That's noble."

"Ha, yeah. I guess. I wasn't really good at it, though. I didn't really have the quiet footwork, or the amazing athletics of a thief. I was a sideshow. It was more like a 'distract and grab' sort of thing. Anyway, I was going from place to place, stealing wallets, that sort of thing. I had a pretty big rap sheet by the time I was sixteen, it was all crappy felonies, some assault here, some stealing there. This is where the girl gets involved." Gill snickers. "So, I'm being told off by the cops, crap about wasting my years, or something like that, and then the Shiners came in."

"The Shiners?"

"The shining example of Demacian youth." Gill grinned as he quoted the saying. "It's the way us underprivledged guys address the rich kids. As a kid who wasn't so lucky, I always resented the Shiners. That was how things were until I met her. There was this girl, my age. She was a looker, I'll tell you that. You know her better as Luxanna Crownguard." The fox woman's mouth fell open.

"L-Luxanna? As in LUX!?" She practically shouted.

"Yeah, I figured that would get a reaction out of you." Gill laughed. "But, yes, I am talking about this Lux. Anyway, back then, the only thing I knew her by was 'sexy lady.' So, being the handsome devil I am, I decided to talk to her. Yeah, It didn't go too nicely. I think she could tell that I was looking for a good screw."

"Guess you're easy to read."

"Yeah, I thought she was just plain easy. Man was I wrong."

"What happened?"

"Well, I got her to a place nice and secluded, and then we talked."

"That can't be it."

"Good girl. 'Cause it's not." Gill took a deep breath. "You'll have to excuse me. I'm a little sensitive about this next part." He rested his face in his hand for a moment. "So, basically, after we talked for a while she started looking around. Eventually, she smiled and said 'So we're all alone here, huh?' I nodded, and then she punted me in the sensitive area and walked off."

"Seriously?" She cringed.

"Yup. Right in the cul de sac." He shook his head. "Woe is me."

"So how did this get you kicked out of Demacia?"

"Well, that just some history for you, let's fast forward a bit. Because I'm a masochist, I was completely in love with the girl after the whole, 'ruin my children' business. So, everytime I ran into her, I would send a few cat calls her way, it became a bit of a tradition for me to ask her out and for her to turn me down. So, fast forward a few years. I'm 19 at this point, and I need some cash, so I decide to plan a heist on the home of a family with strong royal connections. I use the term 'heist' very loosly here. So, the plan was to break in and steal what I can steal. I had a blade, so I could stick whoever I needed to stick to get out of there. Here's where it gets funny. So, I break in and I'm stealing whatever I can, and I hear footsteps. So I take the loot and I sneak into the first room I see. Lucky me, I ended up right in Lux's room." The woman's mouth falls open. "Yes, I was looting the Crownguard home. Well, I attempted to, anyway. So, Lux and I stare at each other for a while. Well, that was when I held up my knife and threatened her." He shook his head.

"What happened then?"

"She trapped me in a light binding and screamed for her brother." He shook his head. "Garen stormed into the room, made me drop all the crap I stole, and dragged me outside, but wait!" Gill feigned enthusiasm. "There's more! After he dragged me out of his house, he dragged me to the Demacian gates and beat the crap out of me. After he beat the crap out of me, he grabbed my face and said-" Gill grunted for a bit. "If I ever see you around Demacia again, I will put you in the dungeon myself." He said in his best Garen voice.

"Is that how you got the scar around your eye?" She asked. Gill unconsiously brought his hand up to his face and traced the scar with his thumb. He sneered as he remembered the pirate who gave him that scar. Gill quickly snapped back to reality.

"No, I got this scar from being smacked by the butt end of a sword." Gill shook his head. "I got it while doing mercenary work. I was still new to it back then, only a merc for about 9 months. Let me tell you, I was much, much better looking when I first started out." The woman smiled. "You have a very nice smile."

"Thank you." She giggled. "You're one of the only people that have ever said that to me. Most guys are focused on other parts of me."

"I can imagine." They chuckled a bit. "I'm just focusing on your face right now, and I'll add that those clothes you are wearing are making that very hard to do."

"Aren't you the flatterer?" She rested her head on her hand. "Do you have some other motive I don't know about?" She gently started to chew her bottom lip. Gill finally realized that this thing she did was a routine. She had done this before, many, many times before. Gill cursed inwardly as he realized that his complements had provoked this. She had him pushed into a corner, the Gill from a few years ago would've loved this. A woman was flirting with him for a change. However, he had changed quite a bit in over the past few years. Now all this was doing was making him very uncomfortable.

"N-No." Gill shifted nervously. "I'm just being polite." He was going to need to take a very cold shower at this rate.

"Sure you are..." She said playfully. Gill felt something rub against his leg. Curiously, he reached under the table and grabbed at it. It was furry.

"Uh. Th-there is something under the table."

"Go ahead, look." Gill followed her directions and looked under the table. To his suprise, it was a tail. He followed the tail and-

Looked back up at her.

"So, fox tails, huh? I'm assuming that those are real too?" Gill desprately tried to change the conversation.

"Of course." She leaned back in her chair, seemingly disapointed. Gill sighed inwardly. She took the bait.

"So fox lady, how did you get those fine additions to yourself?"

"Ahri." She said. Gill raised his eyebrow. "My name is Ahri. You know, instead of 'fox lady'?

"Oh, your name." Gill stammered. "I'm Gill. Nice to meet you." He held his hand out.

"Nice to meet you too, Gill." She shook his hand. "As for the fox parts, I started with them, the human parts of me were the additions." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "I was born a fox. I used to feed on the essences of men."

"Like a succubus?"

"Well, yeah. I ate the essences of men and I killed them."

"Oh..." Gill shifted around nervously. He dodged a bullet, all that crap about the old Gill loving this? It turns out the old Gill would end up dead. "So, do you still do this?" He asked her, partly to parish the thought.

"No, silly. I signed up with the league so I could stop killing."

"Oh. Cool." Gill nodded.

"Yeah." Ahri laughed. "So, how did a moronic thief end up as a mercenary anyway?"

"Sorry." Gill laughed. "Only one story a day." He smiled at her. "Also, if you could do me a favor, please don't mention this to any of the Demacians, they're paying me quite nicely for this job, I don't want to do anything to screw it up."

"They're paying you to be in the league?"

"Yeah, per match."

"How much are they paying you?"

"Um. To my knowledge, no one else is directly being paid to be here, so I think it's better if I keep my mouth shut."

"Fine, suit yourself." She cleans up her plate and gets up. "I have somewhere to be, see you around, Gill."

"You're not going to leave me without showing me that nice smile again, are you?" She smiles at him. "Ah! There we go! Now I can have a good day!" He waved her off. With his plate cleaned, and no one else to talk to. He got up and made his way to his room. He didn't even take two steps when the world around him faded away.

"Welcome to Summoner's Rift!" A loud female voice came from the heavens.

Gill blinked in shock, when his eyes opened again, he was standing in a stone circle with his mask and backpack on, with four other people around him. There was a girl playing an instrument, a guy with a glove and an arrogant look on his face, a giant blue man with a cleaver, and the last one he recognized as Shyvana.

"Hey!" The blonde guy with the glove motioned him to come over. Gill shrugged as he walked over to the blonde guy. "You're the new guy, you know how things work here?"

"Not really, I only practiced on the Proving Grounds."

"Howling Abyss." He corrected.

"What?"

"It's called the Howling Abyss now." The guy shook his head. "Anyway, I'm Ezreal. I've been here a while, so let me run you through on how things work here."

"Alright."

"Alright, so this is Summoners Rift. It's the basic 5v5 area, it's our team versus the other guys. So, I'm the AD Carry and Mundo is going top, so I think you're going mid."

"AD Carry? What the hell are you talking about?" Gill raised his eyebrow, not that Ezreal could see with his mask on and all.

"Every Champion has a role. Look at Mundo over there." They both turn their attention to the muscular blue man, who was now hitting himself with his cleaver.

"Mundo is bored!" He shouted. "Why don't minions spawn, so Mundo can kill them!" He yelled as he slobbered all over the ground.

"Is he OK?" Gill asked. He was met with a sigh from Ezreal.

"I'll answer that the same way that I always do." Ezreal takes a deep breath. "I have no friggin' clue." They both shook their heads. "Anyway. As I was saying, everyone has a role here. Mundo's job is to take care of top lane, he protects the turrets up there, and he wards Baron when he needs to."

"Baron?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Ezreal said flatly. "Anyway, I'm the AD Carry."

"So what, you carry the team?" Ezreal replied with laugh.

"No, not exactly. Saying that just gets the supports pissed at me. My job is to get as much gold and items at possible, so by the time endgame comes..." Ezreal paused. "You know what, you'll see what happens when endgame comes. I may not be insane, like Draven or Vayne, but I got my own things going for me. I'm one of the most popular champs for a reason, you'll see."

"Uh huh..." Gill nodded awkwardly. "I don't know who Vayne is, Draven, on the other hand. I'm aquanted with." Gill cleared his throat. "Draaaaaaaaavennnnnn... "He dragged it out for emphasis. "Likes to pose naked in front of mirrors." Gill flexed one arm while pretending to spin an axe with the other. Ezreal chuckled quietly.

"You're gonna be fun, I can tell already. Just remember to watch out for Vayne and Draven. They will hurt you." Gill nodded. "Good. So, the next role is support. Their job is to make sure I get all the minions and champion kills so I can be awesome when endgame comes. It's the ultimate team within a team!" Ezreal said proudly.

"So, if their job is to make sure you get kills, when do they get to get kills?"

"When I'm not there." Ezreal replied dryly.

"That's kinda rude. Do you give any minions to them?"

"Nope. Not when I'm in the lane, anyway."

"How is that a team? You might as well just sock her in the face and call her your wife." Gill said plainly.

"Hmm. Now that you mention it, it is a lot like being an abused wife." Ezreal scratched his chin in thought. A sour note was heard from the woman with the instrument. "Oh, my bad, Sona, you know I don't mean it." The woman with the instrument turned away in a huff.

"So what about the summoners? I was under the impression that the summoners controlled our every move."

"The summoners? They let us do our own thing, mostly. They buy our items and pick our spells, they also pick which abilites we get to use, but I guess they figured that we know more about combat than they do, so they just let us wing it. Believe me, when you have a stupid summoner, you'll know. I once saw a summoner build all AD items on Katarina. Oh, do you know the values?"

"Uh, yeah. They're based on if you use magic or not, right?"

"Not always." Ezreal explained. "Katarina's abilities are AP."

"She knows magic?" Gill asked.

"Nope." Ezreal deadpaned. "Sometimes, the values are switched up for the sake of balance. You know, keeping it fair?" Gill nodded. "So, I heard you use firearms? I'm assuming your guns are AD?"

"Nope, AP. My guns fire crystalized magic. Stronger magic means stronger guns."

"Yeah, then you're definitely the mage." Ezreal nodded to himself. "Sometimes, the mage is AD, just so you know. So, I think that's it for now. Maybe someone else will explain buffs and stuff to you. The summoners give us what they can, then they just allow us to adapt." With that, Gill turned to the woman with the instument.

"So. Nice thing you got there. How long have you been playing it?" Gill asked in an attempt to make nice.

The woman with the instrument stared at Gill with a sour expression. She glared at him as she strummed a few more notes on her instrument. Gill was speechless as the woman continued to pout.

"Sona's a mute." Ezreal explained. "She can't speak, so she uses her instrument to communicate."

"Um... How?" Gill asked.

"It's simple. Good mood equals good music. If she's pissed, your ears will bleed." Gill nodded.

"So, can she play that thing?"

"Can she play? Can she play?" Ezreal asked in shock. "She's a member of Pentakill for a reason."

"Pentakill? What the hell is that?" Ezreal opened his mouth to give his answer.

"Enough!" Shyvana snaped at them. "The match is going to start soon, you have more important things to do than ramble incessantly." Shyvana grunted as she turned away from the three.

"So what does the dragon do?" Gill asked in an annoyed tone as he stared at the half dragon.

"She jungles." Ezreal pointed to Shyvana with his thumb. "Basically, she helps out with the lanes that are struggling."

"30 seconds until minions spawn!" The woman's voice called out.

"Oh crap!" Ezreal yelled out. "No more time to talk. It's game time!" Sona played a few plesant notes on her instrument.

"So, does that mean it's time to kick some?" Gill asked Sona. The mute woman nodded to him with a smile. Gill smiled back at the mute before running towards the middle lane.

"Wait!" Shyvana grabbed Gill's shoulder. "I need you to follow me." Gill had no say as she dragged him off to the jungle. She kept moving until she reached a bunch of trees and rocks in the shape of a U. With a grunt, she dropped Gill on his backside.

"Hey! You could be a little more gentle, it's my first time." Gill whined. Shyvana very clearly deflated at Gill's comment. Once he realized what that sounded like, he sighed.

"Whatever Jarvan is paying you, it's too much." Shyvana smacked her hand into her face. "Listen to me, you bumbling idiot. I need you to help me kill the Ancient Lizard."

"There's nothing here..."

"Thank you for stating the obvious." She threw her arms up in the air. Gill couldn't really see, but he assumed that she was rolling her eyes at him.

"Minions have spawned!" The woman's voice echoed throught the jungle.

"So..." Gill said awkwardly. "How about that Ancient Lizard?"

"Wait." Shyvana hissed. "Brace yourself in 3... 2... 1... Now!" Without warning, a giant red lizard came out of thin air and attacked Shyvana.

"What the hell?" Gill jumped back in shock.

"Just... SHOOT IT YOU MORON!" Shyvana screamed at him, it didn't take a genius to hear that her inner dragon was coming out. Gill quickly took out his revolver and started shooting at the giant lizard's head. The beast roared as it threw Shyvana towards Gill. They landed on the grass with a soft thud. The lizard let out a fearsome roar and charged towards the two.

"Any ideas?" Gill looked at Shyvana. As the beast was about to swipe at Shyvana and Gill, a white light came from the sky and killed it.

"Just that one." Gill raised an eyebrow, not the she could see it. "It's a summoner spell, it's called smite. It's for killing monsters quickly." Shyvana was surrounded by the red aura that was around the lizard. "Perfect. Now then, go back to your lane. If you are in trouble, you may call me." She grabbed him by the throat and pulled him close. "I warn you, any false alarms, anything that you could have easily handled yourself, anything of that sort, and I will break you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Uh, yeah. I got it." Shyvana shoved him towards the middle lane. "Right, middle. I'm going there now." Gill staggered over to the tower. "Okay Gill, just kill the minions, simple enough." Gill took out his revolver and shot at the minions. The blue ones appeared to be on his side, so he aimed for the purple ones. Upon killing one of the minions, he notices a woman float out from the jungle from the other side. She had white hair, and black Ionian clothing. The woman had three spheres floating around her. The woman laughed at the sight of Gill.

"You're the new champion? I suppose that the league is just allowing anyone in now." The woman continued to laugh. Gill grunted. He wasn't going to stand there and be insulted by the dark ball lady who looked no older than him.

"Oh, you think you're funny?" He asked mockingly. "Let's see how funny you are with a smoking hole in your head." Gill reached in his backpack for his sniper rifle. "Um... Sniper Rifle?" Gill kept rummaging around. "OK then. No sniper rifle... Shotgun? No." Gill sighed. "Screw it." He aimed his revolver at the womans head. With an unseen grin, he fired it. The crystalized magic bullet collided with its target with a loud clang.

"Ah." The woman was speechless as her elegant headdress fell to the floor.

"Next one going between your eyes." Gill threatened.

"You..." The woman grinded her teeth. "I'm going to kill you for that."

"Oh yeah?" Gill taunted. "What are you gonna do?" He heard a noise that made him look down. Sure enough, there was dark energy swirling at his feet. Gill jumped away in time to not take the full force of the blast, but he was nicked by some of it, there was a floating dark orb where he was just standing not too long ago. 'Well, it seems that this young girl is a powerful mage.' Gill thought to himself. 'When someone is that young, and that much stronger than you in terms of magical ability, there's always one thing you can do. Time to distract her.' He hopped up to his feet. "Hey! Do you know who I am? I'll tell ya', It takes a lot of BALLS to try and hit me."

"Really?" The woman sighed. "I've heard better insults come from 12 year old boys." He allowed her to talk as he reached in his backpack. He was overjoyed when he found his submachine guns.

"Aww, you don't like my joke?" Gill said in mock hurt as he killed a few minions. "How 'bout this one?" He took out the two sub machine guns as he lunged at her, firing the submachine guns madly. The woman was knocked back by the flurry of bullets. As he went back to shooting the minions, he felt himself level up. With a smile, he reached in his backpack.

"You insolent little-" The woman dusted herself off. "I will destroy you!"

"Nah, I've got a better idea." Gill pulled out his shotgun. "-and It's called shotgun diplomacy." He fired it at her center of mass.

"First Blood!" The announcer called out as the pellets hit their mark.

"I like that." Gill smiled as he leveled up again. His celebration was short lived as he heard an alarm. His eyes widened as he realized a turret was targeting him. He quickly dashed out of the way, but the turret had already fired. His whole body went numb with pain as the turret's shot collided with him. Luckily for him, he managed to get out of range before the turret fired the second shot. He was about to let out a sigh of relief when he heard a beast's roar come from the jungle. Gill clutched his shotgun tightly as he turned towards the noise. He was met with the sight of an angry minotaur charging headfirst into him. "OH SHI-"

"You have been slain!" Gill heard as the world around him faded to black. He woke up what felt like a second later in the same area he started in.

'Ouch.' He heard Ezreal's voice in his head. 'You should watch how far you extend next time. Junglers love catching people out of position.' Gill raised an eyebrow as he wondered how Ezreal was talking to him. 'Oh, don't you know? Teammates can speak to each other telepathicaly. Try it.'

'Um... Test test?' Gill attempted. 'Can you guys hear me?'

'Yep. You got it.' Ezreal confirmed. 'Anyway, be careful not to overextend. Also, Sona says hi.'

'Uh... Hi?' Gill said awkwardly. He shrugged as he made his way back to mid lane.

"Wait!" The shopkeeper called out to him. "Your summoner bought you a Sheen and some basic boots, just so you know." Gill nodded, he had no idea what the hell any of the items did, but this was a good way to figure out. Gill jogged over to mid lane. He was overjoyed when he found the woman floating there. She looked a little distracted, so Gill decided to suprise her. He aimed his revolver at her headdress again. To his suprise, one of his minions jumped in front of the shot.

"Not twice." The woman grinned evily as she shook her head. "Not twice." The minion that was now floating in front of the woman surged with power. She let out a chuckle as the minion was flung towards him. Gill let out a grunt of pain as the minion collided with him. He didn't have time to lick his wounds, because the woman was summoning an orb to hit him. He quickly rolled out of the way and prepared a flechette round for his shotgun. It was really just putting in more magic in a shot, but names are everything in the league. Unfortunately, the flechette round missed, but his weapon started to surge with red energy. Gill shrugged as he fired his shotgun at her anyway. She let out of scream of pain as she used her power to push him back.

"What the-?" Gill asked no one in particular as he examined his shotgun. It was no longer glowing red. Gill calmly noted that he just leveled up in that skirmish.

'That's a sheen.' Ezreal's voice rang out in his head, startling him. 'Everytime you use an ability, your next attack does your attack stat in extra damage.'

'Cool.' Gill nodded to himself.

'If you think that's cool, you'll love the Lich Bane. It's the Sheen, except it does AP.'

'Ooooh...' Gill smiled to himself. 'I gotta see the store one day. I have a feeling that I'll be like a kid in a candy store.' Gill then snapped into attention. 'Wait a minute, how do you always know what I'm doing?'

'Teammates can see each other if they close their eyes and focus.' Ezreal explained. 'I wouldn't recommend doing it right now. You seem busy. Speaking of busy-'

"An enemy has been slain!" Gill swore that he could hear Ezreal laughing in his lane.

"Nice job." Gill said aloud for no particular reason.

"Why thank you." A male voice replied. Gill's eyes widened as he recognized the voice. It belonged to Draven. "Draven heard about what you said about him." He said arrogantly as he began to spin an axe. Gill assumed that Ezreal spilled the beans while farming. "Speak of the Draven and he will appear." Draven punctuated his statement by throwing an axe.

"So, that was your support that just died?" Gill glared daggers at him, not that he could see. "Way to sell out your teammate. It's good to know that you're still the rat bastard I remember you being. It makes me a whole lot happier being able to kill you over and over again." Gill was about to fire at Draven, but then the Ionian woman returned. "Aw crap..." Gill mumbled to himself as he peppered the two with submachine gun fire. A few minions killed each other behind him, allowing him to level up again. If Gill's knowledge of the league was correct, than he just reached level 6, which allowed him to have his ultimate ability. If he has his ulimate ability, then he has access to the one weapon he hasn't been able to use yet, his trusted sniper rifle. The thought of using his sniper rifle put a smile on Gill's face faster than a boy who just found out his dad is taking him to the amusement park.

"I see. You know Draven?" Draven raised his eyebrow, snapping Gill back to the matter at hand.

"Believe me, Gill wishes he didn't." Gill continued to fire as he retreated. His eyes widened as he came to a realization. This is what junglers are for! 'Um. Hello? I'm dealing with a loud egotistical moron and I would really like the jungler's assistance.' He attempted to contact Shyvana.

'Hm. I didn't realize that there were more of you.' Her voice rang out in his head. Given the circumstances, Shyvana's deep voice sounded like the most beautiful thing in the world at that moment. Gill didn't even care that she insulted him. 'I'm on my way, let them put the pressure on you, I'm going to be coming from blue.'

'Blue?' Gill asked.

'The bushes on the left!' She screamed in his head.

'Right, please come as soon as you can.' Gill continued to retreat as he fired his submachine guns at the two.

'Alright, I'm in position.' Shyvana said in his head. 'I hope you have a slow, because this is going to be so much better with a slow. On your mark.'

"GO!" Gill shouted out as he pulled his revolver out. A giant dragon let out a fearsome roar as it lunged at the Ionian woman and Draven. Draven caught on and tried to get away, but Gill was quick enough to shoot Draven in the knee with an empowered shot from his revolver. Things only got worse as that friggin' minotaur sprinted out of the same place he jumped Gill from. The minotaur wasted no time getting into the fight, as he immediately jumped into the skirmish and headbutted Shyvana away. Shyvana let out another roar as she leaped back into the three champions. Gill quickly produced his submachine guns and fired them at the minotaur, the gunfire pushed him back enough to give Shyvana some space, he then shifted his attention to Draven, who was still in pain from getting a bullet in his knee. Gill dashed toward Draven and shot him with Sheen empowered submachine gun fire. He then drew his Shotgun and fired a big flechette round at him, he finished his combo with a sheen empowered shotgun blast.

"You have slain an enemy!" The announcer's voice rang out. Music to Gill's ears, but he wasn't done. The ball lady and the minotaur remained. They didn't remain for long, however. With Draven dead, the duo figured it was a better idea to get out of there. Shyvana got the minotaur with a powerful twin bite as the minotaur headbutted her to the turret. The ball woman made her way to her turret with the minotaur limping not to far behind her. Gill grinned to himself as he pulled out his sniper rifle, his magical goggles painted the whole world around him red. As far as he was concerned, this was as perfect a sniper rifle moment as it could get.

"The grim reaper has arrived..." Gill mumbled to himself proudly as he aimed at the minotaur when suddenly, the minotaur was stricken down by a bright golden energy wave coming from the right.

"An enemy has been slain!" Gill said nothing, he was just in shock. Not even rival mercenaries would C-block him that badly. That's just cold. Ice. 'Friggin. Cold. Gill shook his head as he aimed at the fleeing ball lady. "Double Kill!" Oh, the little bastard got a double kill from Mundo's lane. Gill coughed to himself awkwardly.

'Ezreal.' Gill finally said.

'Yes?' The prick replied innocently.

'Let me tell you something, the mercenary world is a tough, mean business. A lot of guys are hungry, and everyone's just trying to put food on the table.' Gill said to Ezreal quietly. 'BUT! Kill stealing is low! Kill stealing is just crossing the line!'

'So? What's your point?'

'WHAT'S MY POINT-!? You did it! You just did it! TWICE!' Gill sighed, there was no way that this guy was going to understand merc code. 'Whatever. Ezreal, I have one more question for you.'

'What may that be?'

'The ionian ball lady, what's her name?' He went down on one knee to get a better shot at her.

'Syndra.'

'Syndra, eh?' Gill primed a shot. "Well then, time to kiss it goodbye, Syndra." He pulled the trigger.

"You have slain an enemy!"

"Headshot!" Gill yelled out triumphantly.

The match only got better from there. Ezreal ended up getting a triple kill and the match ended with a surrender from the other team, Gill even got a double kill. All in all, a good start. At the end of the match, they were in a large room with a cobblestone floor. There was only one wooden door, the wood was old and rotting away.

"Hey, good match." Ezreal smacked him on the back.

"Yeah, you too. What the hell was with the stolen kills?"

"Carry privileges." Ezreal said flatly as he walked out of the room.

"Carry privileges..." Gill shook his head. He assumed it could be worse, at least he's not Draven. He sighed as he turned to the rest of his team.

"Mundo like shooty man!" Mundo ran up to him. Gill held his breath at the sight of the giant blue man. Mundo drooled as he walked out the door. He gave Sona a nod as she walked out the door, leaving only him and Shyvana in the room.

"Well then." She approached him. "I understand why the king is paying you now. It seems there is more to you than bad jokes."

"Thank you." Gill said modestly. "It was nice to work with you too." Shyvana nodded as she left the strange room. With nothing else to do, Gill opened the door and left the room. There was a door across from him where the other team was leaving. Gill was greeted with the sight of the friggin' minotaur. "You're not going to headbutt me again, are you?" The minotaur chuckled a bit before leaving without a word. The next one to come out was a blue woman with a horn coming out of her head. Gill knew her as Soraka, the unlucky lady who ended up as Draven's support. Speak of the devil, because the next one to leave the room was captian assclown himself. "Sorry Draven, maybe next time."

"Draaaaaaven always gets the last laugh."

"Draven says his own name a lot, or else he forget." Gill mocked him with the same thing Mundo said when asked why he spoke in third person. Draven grunted as he left the room. The last one to leave the room was the woman he went to mid lane with, Syndra. "Penny for your thoughts?" She floated away from him in a huff. "OK then." He shrugged. "It was fun to lane against you!" He called out after her. "You know, for what it's worth..." Abruptly, she turned around and stared at him. "You know... The match? It was fun." Gill said awkwardly. Syndra narrowed her eyes at him before spinning around and continuing down the hallway.

"Are you going to go anywhere, or are you just going to stand there like an idiot?" She called out to him, her back still turned.

"The one that pays better." She shook her head.

"Anyway, the dorm rooms are through here." She motions through the door she was about to walk through.

"Thanks." She walked away without saying a word. With a shrug, he made his way toward the demacian rooms. He walked around blankly until he found the demacian rooms. With a smile, he depressurized his mask. He tucked his mask under his arm as he looked for his room.

"Nice match, mercenary man." A woman's voice called out from behind him, it was a voice he thought he would never hear again, if his memory served him correctly, than the voice belonged to a grumpy red haired woman named Katarina DuCouteau. He felt a smile tugging at his lips as he slowly turned around. "Geh-" Her eyes went as wide as saucers. "It's y-y-you! The moron from the bar!" Katarina stammered.

"It is me." Gill said proudly. "Me... Me... Me..." He said evily. "What's wrong? Was the mercenary man not who you expected? Hello Red, the years have treated you well." Katarina looked past him with the same horrifed expression.

"I need to go. I need to go somewhere else, like right now..." She turned and ran away.

"What's her problem?" Gill said to himself. "It's not like she had a crush on the mysterious mercenary..." Gill shook his head. "I mean. I know I played it up a bit and she hates my guts, but really? Did she really have to run away?" He shrugged as he finally found his room. Gill took out the key Vextraillus gave him and entered his room. Gill stumbled over to his bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. He didn't really look too ugly, definetly not ugly enough for Katarina to run away from him. He gave himself another glance in the mirror. Those bags under his eyes were getting pretty bad. With nothing else to do, Gill decided to take a nap. He took off his suit and looked in his bag for something comfortable to wear. He put on an appropriate t-shirt and sweatpants and dozed off to sleep. Just as Gill was about to fall asleep, he heard a knock on his door.

"Mr. Gill!" Gill heard a man's voice beyond the door. Gill stormed over to the door and swung it open. He was greeted with the sight of a thin man in a suit, the man in question was holding an envelope. "You had a good match today, not bad for your first." Gill nodded. "Anyway, I have your payment here. It's cheque for the amount of gold that was agreed upon." He handed Gill the envelope.

"Lucky you. I was about to unleash hell on you for interrupting my nap, this is a good reason to interrupt it, however. Have a good day." Gill closed his door on the man. He didn't want to sound rude, but he really needed some sleep. He quietly collapsed on his bed and finally drifted off to sleep. Before he dozed off, his thoughts went back to Katarina. Gill still thought that running away from him was a little ridiculous, but what was more strange was that to his knowledge, the Noxian rooms where on the opposite wing from the Demacian rooms. He was sure she had to have ran into new champions before. So, she probably wasn't here to commend him on his first match. Just what was she doing here?

CROWNGUARD HOME: A long time ago.

Gill was in an old house. He was carrying a sack that had many stolen things in it. He shoved anything of value in the sack, now all he had to do was sneak out of the window of one of the rooms and he would complete the biggest heist of his life. Life did not get any easier than this, he couldn't believe he was in the home stretch. Gill couldn't help but think about what was going to happen when he brought all this stuff to his fence. He'd probably be able to buy a new house for his mom, poverty no more, he would be in the big leagues after this! Gill was grinning as he made his way down the elegant hallway, he entered the farthest room to the left and immideately made his way towards the window.

At least, he was, until the lights suddenly turned on. Gill turned around slowly, he found a very angry Lux in her pyjamas. "Ah crap..." With nothing else coming to mind, he raised his knife threateningly. "Look Lux, baby. I know we have something special, and I really don't wanna mess up that pretty face of yours, so let me through and no one gets hurt, okay?" Gill smiled at her as nicely as he could.

"Seriously, Gill? This is ridiculous, even for a moron like you." Huh. Look at that, she remembered his name. "-and what the hell are you talking about? Something special? I didn't think I had to spell it out for you, but apperently I do. Gill, IT. WILL. NEVER. EVER. HAPPEN."

"Look Lux, can we talk about this later? Now is really not a good time for you to play hard to get, okay?" Lux said nothing, she just stared at him blankly. It was as if all the life within her was just sucked out of her.

"Hard to get?" She mumbled to herself. "To hell with this! GAAAAARRRRREEEEEENNNNNN!" Gill felt himself get caught by a light binding before he could run. He could feel the air in the room get colder as Garen burst through the door.

"Aw crap... Uh... Hey Gare-bear!" Gill spoke in the friendliest tone he could muster. No words in any language could describe how screwed he was right now. "How are you doing! You look we-"

"Shut up and drop it." Garen grabbed him by the collar menacingly. "Put the bag down, now." Gill dropped the bag. The light binding wore off as Garen dragged Gill outside by the back of his shirt.

"Where are we going?" Gill asked politely.

"You and I are going to go for a walk. Any complaints?" Gill opened his mouth to protest. "SAY AGAIN!?" Garen screamed in his face. Gill kept his mouth shut. "Exactly." On a scale from 1 to 10 on how screwed he was, no one could identify the number, kind of like how his body is going to end up. Garen dragged Gill by the collar, as Gill looked around, he noticed that he was being dragged to the gates. As they approached the Demacian gates, Gill noticed two guards standing there.

"Hey!" Gill called out to the guards. "This man is dragging me against my will! Would you fine gentlemen help me?" Gill pleaded.

"Take a walk." Garen said quietly to the guards. Without a word, the guards walked away. Just as Gill was about to ask Garen what he was going to do, Garen hit Gill with a swift right hand to his cheekbone, knocking him to the ground.

"Aww! What the fuck!" Gill yelled at him. Garen didn't reply as he gave Gill a kick to his side. Gill rolled on his back and clutched his ribs as he got back up. "That's it. I'm gonna take your pretty boy head off!" Gill yelled as he threw a punch at Garen, only to have him move out of the way. That didn't stop Giil, as he kept throwing punches at Garen. Gill could've sworn that Garen was smiling slightly as he dodged Gill's punches. This only made Gill angrier, as he continued wildly throwing punches at Garen. To the suprise of both of them, one of the punches hit. Gill wasted no time in pressing his lead.

"No." Only to have Garen grab his fist and stop his momentum dead. Using Gill's hand as leverage, Garen headbutted Gill right in the forehead, knocking him down. "Do you know why I did this?" Garen asked as he crouched beside Gill

"Because you're a bitch..." Gill grunted out in one last act of defiance. That little chirp earned him Garen's hand around his neck. Gill tried to pry Garen's hand off to no avail. His treetrunk of an arm was not going to move, Garen had a vice like grip around Gill's throat.

"No. You see, my family is really close. We look out for each other. So when my dear little sister tells me that she's being harrased by some worthless gutter trash from the slums. I'm more than happy to straighten him out."

"Oh, I get it now." Gill gave Garen the best grin he could muster. "You don't want me skirt chasing Luxanna because of how 'close' you are, right?" Garen lifted Gill up by the throat, turned him around, and pushed his face in the dirt.

"That was disgusting and uncalled for." Garen said plainly. "You and I don't know each other very well, to be honest, but I can see that you pride yourself on your humor, however innapropriate it may be. I wonder how many jokes you'll tell when you are being bent over by your cellmate in prison?" Gill's eyes widened in fear of the implications of Garen's statement. "I had a feeling that would get your attention. Let me tell you something, someone as funny and as scrawny as you, I'd give you a week before some inmate is calling you Luxanna." Garen chuckled to himself darkly. "You know, I don't usually treat people like this, you, however, really piss me off." Garen sighed. "Oh yes, you have quite a rap sheet on you. I bet you would end up in Jail for quite a long time. To be honest, a part of me wonders what would happen to you in Noxus."

"Please, I'd do great in Noxus." Gill said proudly.

"Really?" Garen asked skeptically. "I highly doubt that, but that gives me an idea." Garen picked Gill up and put him on his feet. Gill probably would have tried to punch him, but he was still really dizzy from the headbutt. This guy has a head like a boulder. "So. here's my idea. You have two choices. You can either go to prison, or you can get out of here and go to Noxus or wherever."

"Fine." Gill told him. "I'll go to Noxus. Maybe I'll be with more plesant company." Garen threw him towards the gate. Gill immeadiately lost his balance and fell. His head was still reeling from the beating. As Gill slowly got up, he stared at Garen, who was looking at him with the same stoic expression. He turned around and made his way outside the walls of Demacia. "Wait!" He spin around, that action alone made him woozy. "What about my mother?" That's right, his mother was getting old. Gill wouldn't even have become a theif if she wasn't sick in the first place. "She's very sick. You have to help her! I don't care what happens to me, but please help my mom out!"

"Oh? You suddenly care about your mother? You should have thought of that before you attemped to get in my sister's pants." Garen shook his head. "Again." He abruptly added. Gill had heard enough. He swore to himself, he was going to come back for Garen, his sister be damned. It's one thing to take his anger out on him, it's another thing drag his mother into this. The woman had nothing to do with Gill's crap. Gill's train of thought was interupted by something solid moving around in his mouth. It tasted like copper. He spit the offending object out on the ground, it was a tooth. It was Gill's left molar from the looks of it. He didn't even have the energy to say anything about it. He gave the walls of Demacia one last look before dragging his feet to the docks, the city-state of Noxus the only thing on his mind.

The League of Legends Dorms: Present Day

Gill woke up with a yawn. That was nolstalgic, it was probably the best sleep he had all year, aside from remembering his tooth. He shrugged, he got that tooth replaced as soon as he got the money. It turns out healing magic can work wonders on missing teeth.

"So, are we going or what?" Gill heard someone outside. It was a female voice, not deep, like Shyvana's, the tone was much higher pitch, as if it belonged to a young girl. Gill identified the voice as Lux's. His mask pressurized with a hiss as he made his way outside. As he entered the hallway, he saw Shyvana, Lux and Garen in a group together. "Hey, new guy!" Lux called out to him. Gill had the sinister thought of taking off his mask and saying something stupid like 'what's up babygurl!' He chuckled at that. The old Gill would have totally done that.

"Hey." He replied casually. Gill didn't know why, but Lux really didn't seem as atractive as she used to. Maybe the fact that she hated his guts turned him on a bit... 'Man, I'm pretty weird...' Gill wondered to himself.

"So." Lux began. "You wanna come over to the bar with us?"

"Bar? What bar?" Gill asked.

"Come on, we'll show you." Gill took a second to lock up his room before following the three to the bar. They walked down to the end of the Demacian dorms, Gill noticed the Noxian hallway just across from them. It was mainly red in colour. Gill wondered to himself what the Noxian rooms would look like. He didn't get much time to wonder, as Lux grabbed his arm and dragged him through these big double doors.

"Wow." What was beyond those double doors was amazing. It was like a miniature town, they're was a library, a gym, a diner. Gill continued to look around as he was dragged to the bar. "The Winking Minion?" Gill snickered to himself as he saw the name of the bar. Lux, Garen and Shyvana already walked in from the looks of things. Gill quickly followed in after them. He walked in the bar nervously. What he saw was impressive. This place had varnished wood floors and chairs, with granite tables and bar, all in all, it looked like a pretty high class establishment. Gill looked over to the bar, he saw humans and yordles alike downing their sorrows. He looked around to see if there was anyone he recognized, either from meeting them today, or from his various merc contracts. In the back, he saw a music stand where that Sona girl was playing. She was playing jazz music, she seemed focused on her work, because she didn't really notice him. Gill was alright with that, he really didn't like to be noticed to by people who weren't potential contracts. He shrugged as he continued to look around. He noticed a bunch of Noxians playing cards at one table.

Gill's mind went blank. Katarina was staring at him, she was giving him such an evil stare, it felt like his blood was freezing. Beside her, Draven was staring too, except he was staring at Katarina, and he wasn't staring at her face. "Good to know the he's always the charmer." Gill nodded to himself. He remembered Ahri saying that she had the same problem at lunch.

"Hello again, Gill." 'Speak of the devil.' Gill thought as Ahri approached him. Gill noticed that she was walking with two very drunk summoners, one female, one male. She was holding on to one in each arm. "We were just going to have some fun in my room, would you like to join us?" She gave him that look again, that seductive, intoxicating look. Gill was almost considering her offer until his common sense kicked in.

"No thanks." Gill could've sworn that he heard his unclean thoughts scream bloody murder at him. "That's not really my kind of fun, thanks for offering, though." Ahri frowned at him.

"Okay then. Suit yourself." With that, they walked off. Gill watched them leave the resturant, that was one lucky guy, or was he? That would depend, is Ahri submissive, or does she like to be on top...

Gill smacked himself in the head a few times, as if to knock those thoughts away. He was really going to need to have that cold shower later. He turned to the bar in hopes of clearing his mind. He found an empty stool and made his way over there. As he got closer to the stool, he noticed that something was suspicious. He moved closer and closer towards the stool until-

"Hey."

"Gah!" Gill jumped back. A blue woman appeared out of nowhere and was sitting there, smiling evily at him.

"Hey, new guy." She spoke to him. "I'm Evelynn, you can call me Eve for short, and you are?"

"Really scared." Gill replied plainly. "Pleased to meet you Evelynn. I'm going to go away now." Gill quickly walked away. That scared the crap out of him. He's not prepared for this kind of stuff when he's not on the job. Gill gave a look back at the woman, who was now waving playfully at him. He spun around and continued to look for an empty stool. He found a bunch near the end of the bar, it was away from the crowd, the only person there was a masked man drinking his beer from a straw, he noticed the bartender leaning against the wall across from him, it looked like they were in conversation, most of the man's features were covered by robes. Gill quickly moved over there, as he found the man intrguing, just as he was about to sit down beside the man, he spoke up.

"Don't sit there. If you want to sit beside me, sit on the other side."

"Why?" The masked figure looked up from his drink for a moment. Gill took note that the man had blue skin and three giant fingers on each hand.

"Graves? Would you do the honors?" The bartender nodded as he moved from his spot on the wall. The bartender picked up and empty bottle of beer and smashed it infront of the stool, grabbing the entire bar's attention for a moment.

"Hey Teemo!" The bartender shouted at the stool, he had a very old wild west accent, to be honest, Gill thought it sounded pretty badass. "This is a bar, not a cot! If you're going to sleep, sleep in your own shack." In a cloud of fog. A yordle dressed in explorer's clothes appeared out of nowhere, much like Evelynn before him. What is with these damn invisible people!? The yordle turned to Gill and stared at him. They stayed like that for what felt like an hour. This is- No way. Even though this yordle hasn't opened his eyes once, Gill felt like the yordle was staring into his very soul.

"Aren't you the mercenary that Ziggs hired to guard his students?" The yordle suddenly asked him in a high pitched voice. Gill nodded slowly.

"Uh... Yeah..." He said awkwardly. "Yeah. That was an old contract, from a few years back. Why do you ask? Do you know me?"

"Know you? No." The yordle replied. "I've only heard of you. I hear people talk about you sometimes, I don't go into bandle city often, but I've heard stories of a few of your contracts. Your name is Archangel or something, right?" Gill shook his head.

"Archangel? Where did you get that? My name is Gill." Gill corrected the little yordle.

"Gill? I'd stick with Archangel." The yordle said as abruptly he walked off.

"What's with him?" Gill turned to the two.

"Oh him?" The bartender smirked. "He don't talk to people much. Rumor has it that that he's isolated for months at a time. People say that all that time away from people is starting to make him a little loopy."

"I see. What about you? Do you think he's loopy?" Gill asked.

"I dunno. He don't know how to have a conversation, I know that much. I don't think he could hurt anybody, though."

"So you don't have to freak out like you did with Evelynn." The masked man chirped in, the two burst out in laughter.

"I'll tell you boy, she's been doing that since I first came here!" The bartender smacked Gill on the shoulder as they continued to laugh. Evantually, they calmed down. "So what'll you have?" Gill paused in thought. He didn't go to many bars unless he was working a contract, and that was usually to interrograte some drunk. He looked behind the bartender, seeing some the alcohol available.

"Graggy ice? I guess I'll have that." Gill shrugged. "So, nice bar you got here." Gill tried to start up a conversation.

"Yep." The bartender nodded. "It's league funded, some of the champions volunteer to serve drinks, and some champions offer to entertain when they're free." The bartender slid over Gill's bottle of graggy ice before going to get someone else's drink.

"Man, this league stuff is getting boring." The masked man beside him sighed before taking a sip of his drink, Gill noticed that the man's drink had a tiny straw going to his mask. That's a good idea. Too many people have seen him without the mask, people he would not like to catch up with.

"Why?" Gill asked the masked man.

"Because, I'm summoned twice every month. The rest of my time is spent drinking here, talking with whoever's on bar duty." The masked man shook his head. "It doesn't really help that no one here is willing to train with me, or take my personal challenge."

"Well, it sounds like you need to practise more. I mean, if your only being summoned two times a month."

"Let me tell you somthing." The masked man turned to him. "The only reason I'm summoned two times a month is because I'm not allowed to be summoned any more than that." He grunted. "Do you have any idea how many limits the league puts on me? Do you have any idea how many limits I have to put on myself? But still, I'm too strong to be summoned normally, so they put this damn limit on me. What the hell do they want me to do? Fight with a wet noodle? It's not my fault you keep bringing in crappy champions." He finished his drink with a slam. "Graves! Another refill!" He called out. "Anyway, I'm Jax."

"I'm Gill, the new guy." Gill replied. "So, what kind of limits does the league put on you?" Jax let out a little laugh.

"Many. I'm only allowed to fight in casual clothes with no armor, I can only parry things for 2 seconds, otherwise I get disqualified."

"Seriously? Why all the limits? Are you some kind of badass?" Gill asked.

"Let me put it this way, when I first came into the league, I didn't have any limits. Do you know the top 3 undefeated streaks?" Gill shook his head. "Will, third is Mordekaiser, with 68. Second is Renekton, with 166. First is me, with 489." Gill gaped. This guy was undefeated for 400+ games? "Now, I'm manageable, but still, the league allowed me to create the Jax challenge."

"Jax challenge?"

"Five champions versus me, no holding back." Jax said flatly. "Guess what? Undefeated, now people are too afraid to even fight me. You know why? Because even with all the limits on me, I still have one of the highest winrates. It all came to a head when Summoners were using me in matches so they could fly up the ranks with all the victories. So now I'm only allowed to be summoned two times a month. God, It's boring, I'm thinking of getting back in the game." Gill's eyes widened as he realized what Jax meant.

"The game? You used to be a merc?" Gill raised an eyebrow. Jax nodded.

"Yeah. I used to dabble in it for fun, I never really applied myself. I just ran around with a sword and looked menacing. It wasn't until I entered the league that I started fighting seriously, I thought I'd get a challenge here, guess not, legends my ass."

"As a current merc, I will beg you not to do that. If you're as strong as you say you are, then you are going to be taking quite a lot of money from me." They both laughed.

"Nah, not that bored yet." Jax took another sip of his drink. "So, are you going to drink or not?" Gill looked over to his drink, and then to the Demacians. From the look of things, they were leaving. He saw Lux give him a wave as the Demacians walked out. The Noxians were still really focused on their poker game. So Gill shrugged as he took of his mask and took a sip of his drink. He turned his head and noticed Jax staring at him.

"What?"

"Nothing, I just pictured you to look a little different. Where's your stubble?"

"Stubble?" Gill raised an eyebrow as he rubbed his chin.

"Yeah. You know, your 5 o'clock shadow? I've never seen a merc without one."

"Really? Well, I don't like having facial hair, it's uncomfortable when I'm in the full costume." Gill explained.

"Hmm. A merc without a beard, that's new." Gill raised an eyebrow.

"Is it really that strange?"

"Well, yeah." Jax began. "Most mercs want to really give off that 'grizzled veteran' look, you know, to help them get contracts."

"Well, doing that is kind of pointless. I have the suit." Gill explained. Jax simply nodded his head in understanding.

"Yeah. I think I see where you're coming from." Jax finished his drink as he got up. "Alright. I'm gonna go train some more, then I'm going to hit the sack. See you around, Gill." Gill nodded as he finished his own drink. The bartender came back around to see how he was doing.

"Hey. Another drink over here?" Gill asked. The bartender slid another Graggy ice over to him. He downed it quickly. "Put these on my tab." The bartender nodded as he took the empties. Gill put his mask on and made his way out the door. He didn't really want to make the day longer than it had to be. He made his way to his room with a triumphant smile on his face.

His first match.

-and it was great.