Chapter Four
"Hey Alayn. Are you nervous?"
"A little. Are you?"
"Yeah, a little."
It was the day of Alayn's practice match, and the day was full of unknowns. For one he didn't exactly understand how the match would work. For two, he didn't know who he would be facing against. For three, neither he nor Lux could figure out what Champion they would be facing. It made planning a little rough because they had to plan around a plethora of different possibilities.
"How are we going to win this, Alayn? We don't even know what we're going up against." Lux asked Alayn, laying back down on a couch with an exasperated sigh. It had been three hours of planning that hadn't yielded much other than more questions: who were they facing, who was going to be controlling the champion, what was the optimal build path to use? None of which had been answered yet. "It may not matter." Alayn said, pulling up a digital information screen. "Your abilities are some of the longest ranged abilities in the game. Not the longest, mind you, but comparable. We could just try to ride it out and hit the 100 mark first, relying on your range and your shield to keep you safe."
Lux thought about it for a minute before frowning. "None of my abilities really pack any kind of punch until later levels, or until I get some items to use that boost my ability power. If I get jumped on in the early levels, we could lose straight out." Lux said, concerned about losing well before hitting the 100 mark. Alayn pulled up a map of the Arena, Howling Abyss, and studied it for a minute. "We could let the minion wave push toward us. We would have the safety of the turret protecting us, which would do tons of damage to any champion trying to kill you under it early on. We also have the two health packets here," he said, pointing to the side of the turret, "As well as one a little further behind the turret. Those provide whoever picks them up with health and mana, which should keep you sustained through the early game. From there we should be able to get you some more levels, which should mean that getting a higher creep-score shouldn't be too hard."
Alayn dismissed the image of the map and looked to Lux, who was still frowning. "Is something wrong?" Alayn asked, concerned. Lux quickly shook her head. "No, no. I'm just thinking that if you want to do that kind of plan, why not just ask Gragas or Ziggs or Orianna or even Karthus to be your champion for this? They all have better long-range abilities than mine so you'd do a lot better with the—" she started to say, but was abruptly interrupted when Alayn lightly slapped the back of her head. Lux looked stun for a moment, before turning to Alayn with rage in her eyes. "What the hell Alayn!? Why'd you do that?" she yelled into the face of utter tranquility in Alayn. "Because we've already been over this answer before. I asked you because you're you: you're my friend, my closest friend, and the only person here I really trust. It's a no-brainer that I would ask you to do this with me." Alayn spoke simply. Lux paused, the rage leaving her eyes as she realized he was actually being serious about what he was saying. "Besides, you underestimate yourself so much. Maybe winning this will give you a little more confidence." Alayn suggested, laughing a bit.
"Alayn! Alayn you goof, we're here!"
Lux's yelling snapped him out of his thoughts as they arrived at the Summoning Room. It was a small room, actually, with ten chairs scattered around the back perimeter of the room. The chairs were paired together in two's by a series of wires and cables that connected one chair to the other. Every chair had cabling that ran from the chair to a central spot on the floor, and down into the floor, possibly to another room. The chairs had multiple panels around the arms as well as ports on the arm, leg, and chest areas that looked like it would let out constraints to keep people in the chairs. Why they would need to stay in the chairs was beyond his understanding.
A Summoner walked up to him and Lux. "You must be the Summoner who's getting a practice match today. Come in, come in. Lady Luxanna, a pleasure as well." He greeted them, gesturing them to enter. "I'm Kobe, and I'm gonna be the tech running the match. I'll be the one that makes sure that everything goes smoothly on a technical end and the match can be decided by skill not who has the better processor. Anyway, go ahead and get situated in one of the seats and we can get started." Alayn and Lux both got seated in one of the chairs, and Kobe moved between the two of them, attaching different sensors to different areas of the body. "Alright Alayn, since this is your first time in a match there's a few things I need to ask you to calibrate the system. First off, are you right handed or left handed?" Kobe asked. "Right handed." Came Alayn's simple reply. "Alright. Your preferred pain settings?" Kobe asked, which confused Alayn. "Pain settings?" Kobe simply nodded. "A lot of the sensors and nodes I attached to you do more than just transmit data from you to Lux. They can also receive data from her inbound to you. This data can include pain that she experiences, we can then transfer it onto you as well. Certain summoners like to at least feel a part of what their summoner is going through, so they have it on. Others prefer not to have it on, so they leave it off. I have to offer it to everyone." Kobe explained, which made Alayn think a bit. Of course what someone was capable of was limited by how they were physically feeling. And if he were going to make accurate calls that Lux could execute, he would need to understand how she was physically feeling at the time as well…
"Turn them on to full." Alayn said, which surprised Lux. "Alayn, you don't have to do that!" she complained. Alayn simply shrugged. "I could hardly asked you to run ten miles if you have a broken leg. I need to understand how you're feeling if I'm going to be a good summoner for you." Alayn explained. Lux visibly didn't agree with his decision, but she didn't voice any further complaints. There was a few moments of silence before Kobe walked back up to the chairs. He pulled a thumb tack out of his pocket and promptly roughly poked Lux's leg with it.
Alayn's leg spiked in pain. "Ow!" they both said in unison, which just got a nod out of Kobe. "Pain sensors are functioning properly. You're all set. I'll get you guys strapped in and we can get started." Kobe spoke, punching a few buttons before straps extended out of the sides of the chair, restraining his arms, legs, and his chest. "The restraints are only a safety measure, as we've had incidents of summoners accidently falling out of their chairs and injuring themselves on the fall and causing problems in the game. Once the game is over the straps will be immediately removed." Kobe said, and the game started.
Alayn opened his eyes, the howling winds and freezing cold of the Freljord shocking his system. What shocked him even more was the realization that he was looking through Lux's eyes, and he had to control himself a bit. "Alayn, can you hear me?" he heard Lux's voice echoing in his mind. He regained his calm before replying. "Yeah, I hear you. You ready?" he asked. Lux laughed. "As ready as I'll ever be. What should I buy to start with?" Lux asked. "Just what we discussed. Get the three Doran's Rings and the health potions. We'll play this game safe from afar." Lux purchased the items and began trotting down the lane, waiting for the minions to spawn. The announcer announced the minions spawning, and the game really began. Lux watched the enemy minions approach the center of the map, and another figure approaching with then. Crimson red hair, dark clothing, twin blades in her hands and daggers strapped to multiple different parts of her body. Lux groaned. "Great. We're facing Katarina." Lux said sarcastically. Alayn simply nodded. It was a skill-matchup, with both having outplay potential on the other. It was close to what he expected, but it was an interesting choice to face against. "Remember, just play it safe. Your abilities have a longer range than Katarina's so you should be safe so long as you just play back. If she tries jumping on you, just shield yourself and bind her and run back." He instructed, which got a nod from Lux as she began focusing on last-hitting the minions.
The game was fairly slow for the first few minutes as both were just content with last hitting minions and getting a few more levels under their belts. Katarina was the first to start playing aggressively. She threw out her bouncing dagger at Lux, before Shunpo'ing onto her and spinning her blades out in a circle, sending stabs of pain down both of their bodies. Lux reacted quickly, though, shooting a snare of light at Katarina and binding her in place. Lux blasted the Noxian assassin a few times with bursts of light before retreating a ways back, outside of range for retaliation. This game of cat and mouse continued for a while, each party drinking a health potion to recover from the damage. While Katarina's aggression was usually meaning she had a slight upper-hand in fights, her aggression meant that she was missing more minions than Lux was, which was giving Lux an edge in creep score. It was starting to move toward the later stages of the match, and Lux was within a wave of minions of hitting the 100 mark. Katarina was not that close. "Katarina may try to go for an all-in fight. Be careful." Alayn warned. Lux just nodded in reply.
Katarina made the first move. Lux had just used an ability to clear out a few minions before Katarina jumped on her, throwing out her daggers and Shunpo'ing on top of her. "Die!" she cursed before spinning rapidly in circles, daggers flying out rapidly in her deadly Death Lotus. Each dagger was a stab of fire to Alayn and Lux, but Lux reacted calmly through the pain. She threw out her binding, snaring Katarina under the tower as the tower began to pummel the Noxian with turret shots. With Katarina bound to one spot, Lux thrust her wand forward, willing it to levitate on its own as it began to spin with magic. The wand emanated with a bright glow as Lux poured the last of her mana reserves into casting her ultimate. "DEMACIA!" she shouted, throwing her Final Spark straight into the immobile Katarina, blasting her straight into the wall.
"FIRST BLOOD!" the announcer called out automatically, as the victory imaged came into Alayn's view. He did it; he won his placement match. The Howling Abyss disappeared from view and the Summoning Room came back into reality. The chair constraints were released and Alayn shot out of it, ecstatic with his victory. Lux jumped up as well, running to Alayn and hugging him tightly, laughing all the while.
A door opened into a dark room, remaining open just long enough for a single figure to slip in quietly before it shut again, encasing the room in darkness. There was a pause. "Alayn won his match. The plan ran into complications." A voice said. Another pause followed. "I thought I was clear that you were not to fail me." A second voice spoke, clearly angered. "We have a different plan! One that's sure not to fail. It will take longer, though, and it will be a delicate process." The first voice spoke, quickly and trying to hide the failure in a new plan. There was a silence, an eerie, deathly silence. "Explain it to me." The second voice said, and said nothing as the first voice explains the plan. There was a pause, one that seemed to stretch on for all eternity. "Alright. Do it. I expect regular updates on progress. I need results soon. I can't risk him aligning with someone else. If we cannot get him for ourselves, we must ensure that no one else gets him. Understood?" the second voice spoke. "Of course. I won't fail you again." The first voice spoke. The second voice laughed. "I hope so. If you failed again, you may share his fate." The door opened, and the figure slipped back out.
Welcome back guys! Thanks for reading through Chapter Four. I hope you're enjoying the story so far. To start with I want to apologize. I know that today is Saturday. I know I promised uploads every Friday and that I didn't upload anything yesterday. I've been traveling a lot this past week and on Friday I landed in a hotel that was charging 15 bucks for a day of wifi. So I had no wifi to upload anything. I'M SORRY FORGIVE ME D: But now I'm waiting for my flight back home and thank god for free airport wifi so here you guys go!
Anyway, as always I'm interested in your feedback. Do you have any comments or criticisms you want to bring up? Any ideas you wanna offer or just wanna drop in to say hey? Leave me a review! I always welcome feedback of any kind, since I'm always looking to improve my writing.
Anyway, thanks for coming and I'll see you guys in Chapter Five!
