The Hexiles
Chapter 1: Top of the Class
"Greetings everyone, and welcome to this year's Arcanum Majoris Graduation Ceremony!" Senior Summoner Montrose proclaimed into his microphone to the loud and raucous crowd in the arena. "Thank you everyone for attending this evening, for we have a special event planned for the finale; the top Summoner Initiates will showcase their skills for you in a traditional battle on Summoner's Rift!"
The crowd continues to cheer as Senior Summoner Valkyrie stepped forward into the spotlight shining across to the announcers' booth. She, like her other colleagues at the Senior Summoner platform, is wearing her traditional dark blue robes. Her hood is back, showing her fair complexion and long blonde hair drawn back in a top know.
"As many of you may not know, the Initiates only train using simulated versions of many of our popular champions, as the process of joining two consciousnesses is something that takes time to adapt and become used to. Tonight, the top ten Initiates become full-fledged Summoners by joining with a Champion for the first time." She announced, gesturing to the center of the arena.
"And here are the heads of this year's graduating class!"
The spotlight shifts from the announcers' booth over to a raised platform in the centre of the arena. Smoke billows out from the edges of the stage as the ten newly proclaimed Summoners step forward from behind the curtains.
"Representing Valoran as an independent, Summoner Bane!"
The spotlight focuses on a young man standing at 6'4", his hood already tossed back to reveal an unruly head of spiky, light brown hair. His eyes are a deep blue and are currently seem to be spacing out at the moment. The only acknowledgement he gives to the crowd and the other Summoners is a slight smirk as he adjusts to balancing on his right leg. His robe flaps open, consider a faux paw to many, but he doesn't seem to care, showing he's wearing a casual dark red top with a triple spiralling blade design over his heart and neat black denims.
Enough with the bloody pony show and let's get to the match already. Bane thought to himself, tuning out the rest of what Senior Summoner Valkyrie had to say, as he already knew the other Summoners at his level and what their specialties were. His hand traced around his right eye briefly before pocketing it, fiddling with the ring he keeps in their before every match.
Just need to rig the Champion selection and I'll meet her. Granted it'll only be a mental connection, but still, I'll have another piece-
"Now ladies and gentlemen," Head Summoner Montrose called out, pulling Bane out of his reverie, "we shall proceed with the Champions Selection!"
A podium rose up in front of each of the Summoners on the stage. On top of it was a large crystalline display showing all of the Champions available for selection. A Summoner could also look into the Champions' psych profile, strengths and weaknesses, known powers, and other information, provided they had enough time. Bane looked briefly at his screen to confirm his plan before Senior Summoner Montrose continued.
"We have arranged that all Champions currently serving within the League are available for our newest Summoners to select. However, that's not nearly enough of a way to showcase the top up and coming Summoners' skills. So, each Summoner shall select five Champions that we will then randomly select one from amongst them to use!"
Bane raised an eyebrow at this announcement. Hmm, that's annoying. But I'm sure I can make things work. He looked over the Champion selection screen and began isolating Champions based upon his role, the jungle.
"Now, the purple team captain will select her Champions." Senior Summon Montrose stated, indicating for the Summoner on the opposite end of the stage to Bane to begin. Bane looked down the line to see a woman about his age but much shorter then himself. She had her hood up but Bane could see a few red bangs hanging out from it.
That's Summoner Amaryllis, curious that she was made their captain, she'll be taking mid lane... Bane trailed off in his mind as Summoner Amaryllis made her selections and they were shown for the crowd on the big screen above them.
"And chosen by Summoner Amaryllis is...Morgana...Ziggs...Katarina...Twisted Fate...and Brand!" Senior Summoner Valkyrie called out, "and now, the Champion she shall be working with is..."
A glowing box went in order through the five Champions portraits listed on the display screen. Bane noticed that on his screen it was also showing this instead of his own selection screen.
"Katarina!" the crowd goes wild in anticipation of seeing a veteran of the Rift in action first hand.
To Bane and everyone's surprise, a portal began glowing at the front of the stage in front of all the new Summoners. Out of this portal stepped Katarina herself, to further applause and shock, especially Summoner Amaryllis it seemed.
"As you can see, to make it easier for our new Summoners, they shall have some time to get to know their selected Champion before the match to begins, for we all want to see a good show tonight!" Senior Summoner Montrose proclaimed to the masses, while Bane pondered this new development.
Meet in person? This gets better and better. Bane thought as he went to his podium, knowing he had to make his plan work now more than ever.
"Blue team captain, please make your selections now." Bane heard as his hands quickly hit the profiles and confirmed his choices. Now, let's see how "random" their selection process is...
"And Summoner Bane has chosen...Nocturne! Ahem, Fiddlesticks...Vi...Kha'Zix! *cough* and Shyvana!" Senior Summoner Valkyrie seemed to have a hard time dealing with Bane's choice in Champions.
Just as I thought, they don't really want us to use just any Champion. Bane thought, a smirk in the corner of his mouth. There's no way they'll let me use Nocturne or Kha'Zix, Fiddlesticks is out as well for a newcomer. That leaves only two...
"And the Champion selected for Summoner Bane is..."
Every time I try and relax, someone always causes trouble! She thought angrily as she smacked the would-be thief upside the head, keeping him moving forward. The thief had tried to break into a shop on one of the darker streets, away from all the bars showing the upcoming League match. All sorts of places were sharing in the festivities, from the arenas and bars for families and friends, to the darker bars and underground places for making bets and gambling, from which team to even which Champion would be chosen.
Take a walk on the quiet side of town he said, calm down, chances of being picked are slim, blah, blah, blah. More relaxing to beat the crap outta lowlifes though. She thought, lazily ducking a sudden haymaker before driving her fist into her opponents' stomach. The thief doubled over hard, her protected fist driving deep into his gut. He just needed some more cash to cover his upcoming bets; if only she had been summoned, then this wouldn't have happened.
You have been chosen. Prepare to be summoned.
Bloody hell. Alright, gimme a sec. She thought back, tossing the now unconscious thief over a shoulder and jogging up to a nearby well-lit street. She dumped the thief's body by a shop, signalling the bar owner to take care of him.
Awesome, I get to fight on the big stage tonight! Hurry up Summoner, let's do this! She thought back, already feeling the familiar pull of Teleport being used on her. Who's the Summoner that I'll be working with tonight?
You'll see.
The crowd went wild as Bane's Champion appeared through the portal and stepped onto the stage. She rolled her shoulders, bouncing on her toes as she looked for which Summoner chose her for this showcase of skill. She was only ever called in to either solo a lane or roam in the jungle. She saw to her far right that Katarina was the only one summoned so far, so she looked to her far left.
There she saw a Summoner leaning to his right with his hand in his black jeans with a smirk and a nod towards her. He looked tougher than most Summoners she was used to, but the one thing she found peculiar was how his shadow shifted when she first looked at it, but at second glance it was normal.
He's kind of cute. She thought as she approached him, coming to a stop on the other side of his podium. She looked him up and down again now that she was closer, but he just had that smirk as he looked back at her.
Perfect. At last we meet. Bane thought as his champion stopped in front of him. He knew enough about her to know what to expect, but still, she was quite a beauty.
"Pleased to meet you miss Vi, I was hoping you'd join me in battle tonight," Bane said, extending his right hand to Vi, which she grasped in one of her massive hextech gauntlets. She was wearing her usual combat attire, grey corset, self made armour plates, and the power pack strapped to her back could be heard idling as Vi shook Bane's hand.
"Drop the formalities; they're a waste of time. You are?" Vi replied.
"Bane, Bane Heldian, unaffiliated Summoner that specializes in the jungle. 24, 6'4", 210 pounds, and I'm a pretty good brawler myself," Bane chuckled, "if you want to know more, you'll have to link minds with me or go on a date."
"Good thing we're battling together then huh," Vi said, shifting to one side, a large metal gauntlet resting on her hip. Pretty forward for a Summoner, have to say I like it. The rest are so pompous or scared of Champions.
"Damn, there went my dinner plans,"
"Kog'Maw!" Senior Summoner Valkyrie called out as the Mouth of the Abyss steps out of the portal and quickly waddled over to the Summoner standing to Bane's left. The Summoner in question visibly blanched at the sight of the large Voidling as it looked up at him, his four eyes twinkling with excitement and a small amount of drool dripping out of the corner of his large mouth. He was probably hungry, as the creature from the Void usually was, and was hoping his Summoner had something for him to eat.
"Well, he looks like he pissed himself, what's his deal?" Vi asks Bane, pointing at Summoner Coplin with her right thumb, flipping her bright pink hair out of her eyes and adjusting her goggles with her other hand. Bane opened his mouth to reply when he was mentally yelled at from Senior Summoner Valkyrie.
Save it for when all the Champions have arrived Summoner Bane!
Bane shook his head from the mental lashing, looking up at her on her podium. He glared, raising his hand and making open mouth, close mouth motions before waving her off.
"We'll have to talk more later, the Senior's are bitching at me."
"Hmph, yeah, I just got the same shit," Vi replied, flipping off Senior Summoner Montrose before turning back to the Summoning portal.
Turning back to the Champion Summoning portal himself, Bane saw Soraka appear for the opposition, followed by Nasus walking over to his friend Summoner Dispanic. Dispanic looked quite pleased with his luck, as Nasus was one of his top Champions in class.
After that, Amaryllis' team got Ezreal, Vladimir, and Warwick, while Bane's team received Sona and Ziggs to round out their lineup.
"The Summoners and Champions will have 5 minutes to strategize and prepare for the grand battle. During this time, please watch some highlights of last night's match between Zaun and Piltover!" Senior Summoner Montrose called out, before taking his seat and talking with another Senior Summoner that Bane wasn't familiar with.
Bane's team headed into the blue tent, his teammates chatting up their first Champions, all except for Summoner Coplin, who was supposed to work with Summoner Vriska, his Champion Sona, and Coplin's chosen Champion...
"Hey..." Kog'Maw said, waddling hard to catch up to Coplin, "hey...Summoner...why you no talk to me?"
"Seriously? There's no way I should've gotten Kog'Maw, this is a mistake..." the Summoner mutters under his breath, but everyone nearby heard him, including Kog'Maw.
Kog'Maw came to a stop in front of the Summoner who called him to this place, sat down, looked up at the guy who he thought would be a friend, as he wasn't food, and tears pooled in the corners of his four eyes.
"You no want Kog'Maw?" he said, looking down with a sniff.
"Geez Coplin, way to greet your first Champion," Bane cut in before Summoner Coplin could stammer a reply. Bane raised his index finger to Vi before walking over and crouching before the voidling. Kog'Maw was still sniffling as Bane put a hand on his back.
"Hey, that's not what he meant there pal. He was just surprised, we're new Summoners after all, we weren't expecting to work Champions from the Void or other exotic Champions on our first battle," Bane said, patting Kog'Maw's back. Kog'Maw looked up at Bane, before whipping the tears from his eyes.
"So Kog'Maw wanted?" he asked, turning to Coplin, then back to Bane.
"Nev-ugh!" Coplin started before Vi jabbed him in the ribs, cutting off his harsh sounding reply.
"Yeah buddy, Coplin doesn't know what he's saying, you just work with Vriska and Sona there and Vi and I will come by and help out when you need it alright?" Bane says, pulling out a piece of cloth out of his pocket and whipping away Kog'Maw's tears. The cloth started to deteriorate in Bane's hand, so he tossed it at Coplin's feet while Vi had him distracted. Kog'Maw's tears began eating through the hem of Coplin's robe, much to his team's amusement. The mild acid reached Coplin's flesh, causing him jump with a yelp of pain.
"Gah! What the hell?" Coplin yelled, patting at his leg where the acid had burned him. He caught Bane snickering at him, Bane's gaze telling him "Yeah, I did it, what of it?" while everyone else on the team laughed.
"You...this is how you lead a team? Burning me with that thing's acid?"
Bane stood up, walked over to Coplin, and without Kog'Maw being able to see, grabbed Coplin's collar. "Listen close Coplin. You are going to work with Kog'Maw. And you are going to win," Bane glared down at Coplin, the six inches of difference intimidating in itself, but what made Coplin step back was the intensity in Bane's eyes. "And if you insult Kog'Maw, or he tells me you got him killed today, you'll be dealing with me one on one, got it?"
"Yeah, alright, just back off already," Coplin replied, brushing off Bane's hand as he walked over to his place in the Summoner circle. Arrogant prick, you'll get yours. Kog'Maw hustled onto his spot in front of Coplin, but didn't look at him, instead watching Bane and Vi approach, his little tail wagging in anticipation.
Vi walked onto her spot, but Bane walked past her, standing in the middle of the Summoner circle with his team facing him. "Team, this is it, we win this match, and we get the glory. We prove that we are the best Summoners, and Champions, tonight," Bane started, nodding to each pair of teammates before looking at Vi. "Vi, it's you and me in the jungle. We stay in sync and we'll be fine. Everyone else, work with your partners, talk with your team, and play your best."
Bane walked over to his spot, turned to face Vi and held out his right hand, palm out. "Let's win this."