CHAPTER 2: FIRST MATCH
9am. First match begins. At exactly 9am, Yasuo felt himself being picked for a game. A bright green number on top of his head appeared, counting down from 60. I'm a new champion, he thought, so it's totally natural I get picked by some rich kid with tons of RP to waste. The timer reached down to 0, and Yasuo felt himself being pulled into the summoning portal. During his time in the portal, Yasuo heard the ever present female voice announcing, "If you still have food or drinks, please finish or dispose of them immediately, as your summoners are currently summoning you to the Rift." Looking around at his teammates, he saw Shaco, (I hate Shaco, he thought), Sona and Draven in the bottom lane, and, to his happy surprise, Riven in the top lane. Glancing at the enemy team, he saw a Ryze top, a Fiddlesticks jungle, Kassadin mid, and Lucian and Thresh botlane.
They were loaded into the Rift.
"Yasuo, huh?" Riven remarked, "better hope your summoner isn't… bad." She laughed openly and ran to top lane.
Meanwhile, Draven was bothering Sona.
"Sona Sona Sona! Dayum, girl, look at 'em jiggle!"
Yasuo rolled his eyes.
"You know whatta do with that big fat butt. Wiggle wiggle wiggle…" Draven sang lewdly as he ran to lane. Sona, being pretty accustomed to Draven's humorless lust, just rolled her eyes and floated behind him to lane.
Yasuo finally started walking to lane, and as he walked, he felt the wind pick up at his side. By the time he walked to lane, he felt a powerful barrier of wind surrounding him.
As the minions started trudging down the lane, he looked over at Kassadin, floating quietly by his tower, staring back. Finally, Kassadin spoke.
"You must be searching for your elder's killer, correct?"
Yasuo was taken aback as to how this ethereal being knew of his past.
"Why, yes," he replied wryly. "How do you know?"
"I know a lot of things, Yasuo. But perhaps I can learn more from our battle here today." Kassadin replied, his voice cheerful.
The whole match was pretty much what you can expect: Kassadin utterly destroying Yasuo's team with his overpowered kit, Draven bothering Sona in the botlane, while the enemy Lucian was constantly shooting at the wrong support. And, being best friends, Fiddlesticks and Shaco enjoying a warm cup of tea together in the bottom lane river. Finally, Yasuo's team was losing too hard and after a tough teamfight, the enemy team went to go Baron. Only Yasuo and Riven were the ones that survived Kassadin's 5-man Force Pulse, which pretty much ended half of their teammates' lives. He looked over at the panting Riven next to him and a green health bar popped up above her head. Still well over half-health, she took a look back at Yasuo. A bit under half health. In the distance, they could hear the combat sounds and the screams of Baron.
"We still have a chance to win this game." Riven stated.
"What? How? I'm 1/7, you're 2/9, and the rest of the team is pretty much fresh meat for Kassadin."
"Look, your Last Breath technique. It needs a knock up to be initiated and can hit multiple enemies, correct?"
"Yeah, but I still don't see how that can win us the game."
"Let me explain..."
A couple moments later, they discharged their plan.
Yasuo charged in straight and released a powerful whirlwind straight at the enemy team, aiming just slightly to the right. As the entire enemy team dodged the whirlwind, Riven jumped over Baron's wall, her broken sword reformed, slamming down hard onto the murky ground. A deadlock, Kassadin realized, with the whirlwind still going strong on their left, they could only run to the back left of the Baron pit, allowing Riven a 5-man knockup.
The entire enemy team was knocked up, and Yasuo once again saw his chance. He leapt up into the air, and the wind took over from then on. He repeatedly slashed at his opponents, watching blood flow from their brand new cuts, and finally slammed them all down onto the ground, killing them all, save for Kassadin. The announcer yelped a grim "Quadra kill!" as Yasuo looked at the bloody Kassadin on the ground. Kassadin smiled grimly. "Good job." Yasuo, taking no chances, drove his sword deep into... the ground where Kassadin once was. Baron was still on rampage, spewing his toxic shots at everyone. Where did Kassadin go? Yasuo thought. He saw him on the outside of the pit, a purple shadow distorting around him. He just had enough mana to Riftwalk out, huh? He never wanted to give me that Penta. I need to have a chat with him after this match, Yasuo thought, and turned his attention to Riven still combatting the huge purple monster. Seeing Yasuo, Riven exclaimed happily, "told you that'll work! Watch this! You're not the only one with a wind technique. Wind slash!"
She stepped forward and released her sword's energy, sending out a huge wave of sharp wind that cut through Baron, killing it. From that moment on, the game was an assured (though hardfought) victory for Yasuo's team. As the enemy Nexus blew up, Yasuo laughed. What a game.
Back in the Institute, after his chat with Kassadin about the Penta he was cheated out of, Yasuo reflected on the battle. More specifically, the battle at Baron.
Riven's technique… and her words, "you're not the only one with a wind technique".
What does that even mean? Could she have been Yuruke's killer? And how did she master a legendary wind technique? If she did kill Yuruke, then she must be... a Noxian. Noxian. She was the Noxian that killed his master, the one that caused his name to be scorned by his comrades, the one that caused him the pain he had to experience. No matter how he looked at it, he could not deny it. And yet, he couldn't get mad at her. Not the way he gets mad at Draven or his prejudice against Darius. He could feel his prejudice against Riven filling his form already. And yet, it felt forced. It didn't come naturally when he saw Noxians. It felt forced from his brain to feel something it didn't want to feel. Yasuo couldn't understand what he was supposed to feel and what he wasn't supposed to feel. Yasuo couldn't comprehend his identity. Yasuo was going through a midlife crisis.
"There you are," said a familiar female voice, "I couldn't find you after the match, you left so fast!"
"Riven…"
"Hm? You alright, Yasuo?"
She killed my master. I'm facing the object of my vendetta, and I can't feel anger.
"Yasuo? Hello?"
"Look, uh, Riven, I gotta go. Sorry."
"Yasuo, wai-"
Before she could finish her sentence, Yasuo dashed off.
As he left Riven behind in the post-game lobby, a voice loomed out of the shadows.
"You've met her once, what will you do?"
Without looking, Yasuo kept moving forward. He knew that fishtank voice all too well.
"Yasuo. You've seen the object of your vengeance and you cannot exact revenge. Do you know why?"
Yasuo stopped and gnashed his teeth.
"Why, Kassadin?"
"Because she's your friend."
"We are not friends, Kassadin," Yasuo looked up, "Because I promised myself I would kill the one who put me here in the first place."
Kassadin took a long, hard look at the defeated Yasuo in front of him, and silently floated off to his room.
Yasuo sat down on a soft leather couch nearby, and put his face in his hands. What was he to do? He couldn't kill her, no matter how hard he tried. But the fight at Baron in the last game… at that moment, he could feel his camaraderie with this woman. He could feel the synergy they shared. He could not deny it. They were friends.
