A/N: All-Star Weekend events start! Part 1/6. This chapter was so fun to write. I also feel like this is one of my best written chapter in the story so far. Hope you guys like it as much as I liked writing it. :)

Slightly longer chapter due to recap/dialogues from the novel. All credit for dialogues taken from novel to Butterfly Blue (蝴蝶蓝).

All-Star Weekend was upon us before anyone knew it. But all I cared about was meeting the deadlines for all the projects, even the impossible one! Some of the finer details and base of the figure still needed to be worked out at a later time, but hey they wanted something to show and that's exactly what they got. I say that was some decent work for only giving me a week and half to draw up something.

Everyone in the oversea department was invited by the Glory Pro Alliance to attend as special guests at the event due to the various contributions we made to the venue and for the official Vaccaria figure announcement to be made. The ticket for the event, travel expense, and hotel costs were all covered.

Lin was beyond excited. He had been a Glory fan for a long time, but he has not ever gone to an All-Star Weekend due to family duties. It looks like his wish comes true this year, although it was still for work. But he was just mainly there as the translator, a simple task for him compared to what he normally does. When the company told us the news, Lin stepped out excited to call up the wife and kids to let them know immediately that he was on a business trip this weekend. As for the rest of the team, this was a paid and all expense covered vacation to City S. So why not?

We should have known that the plane ticket the Alliance booked for us was probably the cheapest option available. The flight time to City S was at 7:30 in the morning on Friday. To calculate in traffic delays, travel time, check in time at the airport, we were needed to hit the road at least an hour before 7:30.

To cut down expensive even more, it looks like Glory gaming company and Tiny Herb agreed to split the cost of a charter bus to the airport. The bus was to stop by the company apartment complex at 6:00AM sharp and then leaving for Tiny Herb, and then the airport as soon as all the bags and suitcases were loaded onto the bus. Anyone who doesn't make it on time will have to find his or her own to the airport. Talk about pressure first thing in the morning.

To avoid being late for the very important bus ride, I packed the night before after I got off work. It was only for two nights in City S. I tossed together the essentials, laptop, traveling drawing tablet, and few change of outfits into a carry on bag, double-checked that I had my wallet in there, and call it good. Anything I forgot to pack was deemed unimportant, and I can just buy it in City S.

x

At 5:55AM I met up with the rest of my co-workers at the bus stop. We said our hellos, shared a yawn, and complained about how early the bus and plane were as we waited for the bus to arrive. When the bus arrived, the driver helped to load up some of the bigger suitcases into the storage space under the bus. Once everything was secured in the lower decks, we all spread out on the various parts of the bus. At least this bus had comfy seats, I noted before snoozing off.

I didn't notice at all that the bus had arrived at Tiny Herb. The team, team manager, and owner had joined us on the bus. I had slept through all of that. I only finally woke up when YiFan gently shook my shoulder and told me we were already at the airport. After muttering a quick thanks to YiFan and wiping off any drool from the corner of my mouth, I grabbed my carry on and headed out with the rest of them.

"Sis, you seemed really tired." YiFan asked as we headed into the City B International Airport as a large group.

"I'm okay. Just slept too late and woke up too early. How about you? You seem a bit tense."

"I-I o-okay."

YiFan seemed a bit nervous. But I guess it would be his first time at a huge event like this so it's all normal.

"You will be fine, kiddo." I slugged one arm on his shoulder and pulled him into a one-arm hug.

x

The team got recognized by a lot of people at the airport because we were in City B, where Tiny Herb's fan base the biggest, and they weren't exactly being discrete about it. All the team members were dressed in their official team jacket and track pants. The team as a whole or individuals on the teams were asked by fans to get pictures taken or for autographs. It seemed like YiFan was invisible even in the team uniform. No one recognized him, and he was pushed to the way back in pictures. But I thought YiFan looked cute in the official Tiny Herb uniform. I have to remember to get a picture later and sent it to mom and Aunty.

After all checked in at the airport and boarded the airplane, Tiny Herb and the rest of us split into business and economic class on the plane. At least in business class, Tiny Herb members would have to deal with fewer disturbances from fans on the planes who might be flying down to the event too.

Once we settled down in our seats, I decided to keep on napping until we get to City S International Airport. I was glad that Kazumi was the one I was sitting with. Even after a month of working together, she still remained very quiet and hardly said a word to anyone. For the ride, she brought along Japanese novel to read.

Out of everyone, I was just glad that I wasn't seated by Lin. Lin was just too excited about the whole trip. Like a little kid, he gushed over the events on the brochure we received early, courtesy of the Alliance. He also caught wind that new technology was in play for this All-Star event. It was like Chinese New Years came early for him. Eventually, the flight attendant had to asked him to quite down because he was disturbing the other fliers on the plane.

The flight from City B to City S was not a long one; it was only roughly 2 hours. When we arrived at airport, more fans encircled Tiny Herb team for more autographs, pictures, and handshakes. Since the overseas department was pretty much a group of nobodies, my coworkers and I made our way through the crowd easily and got on the charter bus prepared by the Alliance for Tiny Herb and us in no time at all.

x

After being escorted by the airport security, Tiny Herb finally it onto the bus.

"Finally made it." I smiled at YiFan when he flopped down to a sit next to me. I checked the time on my phone. "Only took you guys 30 minutes."

"There were a lot of fans." YiFan said nervously.

"So many people. But it was nice that they said they would cheer for Tiny Herb this weekend." YingJie said happily as he sat in a seat behind YiFan and I.

"Seemed like a few followed you guys back to the bus." I looked out the tinted windows of fans with their phones out, trying to get a few more glimpse of their favorite players.

YiFan, YingJie, and I talked about this and that on our way to the hotel. All the teams were housed in the same hotel. It was easier to transport, protect, and interview the teams if they all stayed together. It was easier for the Alliance to book out a portion of a hotel versus multiple hotels.

x

Four hotel rooms were assigned to the overseas department. That meant two lucky individuals would be able to have a room all to themselves. In the end it was decided that it would only be fair if the three girls pulled straws for one room, and the boys pulled straws for the other room. After straws were pulled, I managed to get a room to myself, Jin got a room to himself, Kazumi and Aiko were in one room, and Sam and Lin were in a room.

When we arrived at the hotel, got our event guest badges, and settled in to the rooms, it was only noon. Friday's event won't official start until 8PM. That gave the overseas department a lot of time to kill. Sam, being a well seasoned tourist, already organized some sightseeing spots to see and restaurant to try for the whole group as a bonding experience.

I not too familiar with the city, so I'm glad Sam went out of his way to research all of this for the rest of the group. I would probably just used the hotel wifi to surf the web or doodled on my computer a little for upcoming work until time to leave for the stadium otherwise. The rest of group had mixed feelings though. Some just wanted to read a book and other just wanted to go see the stadium already.

In the end, the group split up. Lin went to the stadium to watch them set it up. Kazumi stayed in her room to read. Jin, Aiko and I decided to be more social and met up with Sam for his planned out day. I wanted to see if YiFan and YingJie wanted to tag along too, but it seemed the team were busy with some warm up training before the event.

For the afternoon, we wondered around City S taking in the sights and trying food at interesting shops we found along the way. We walked along a riverbank and explored some plazas. Due to Sam's great planning skills, we had a very enjoyable afternoon. Even Jin and Aiko had a smile on their face today. Around 4PM, we headed back to the hotel to clean up, relax, and then meet up for a group dinner before heading to the Samsara's stadium together with some of the other teams on private shuttle buses.

"You should have seen the stadium! All the work Samsara put into it is pretty amazing! I met some of the other team there too…" Lin talked enthusiastically over dinner. He was just as excited as he was at the beginning of the day. It was like he was turned into back into a youth.

It was weird to see the oldest one of the group reverting back to a little kid. But what was more odd to see was Kazumi crack a small smile. I mean if you really squint your eyes and look careful, she had a small smile as Lin talked in detail about how impressive the new projection system and graphics were.

I knew Kazumi took part of redesigning game graphics and fine-tuning the new projection system. Maybe deep down, she also enjoyed hearing other people praise her work. I was kind of glad that she was just as human and vain as the rest of us.

x

When we arrived at the stadium close to 6:30PM, the traffic outside the stadium was terrible. The whole main street in front and sidewalks were packed with people. It was a good thing the experienced shuttle driver knew some backstreets that could get us to the back of the stadium doors by avoiding the crowd in the front. He also said we should come back to the back doors to be picked up once the event was done.

We got through the backdoors security without a problem with our special guest passes. Even the backdoors seemed to be surrounded by fans that were trying to get a glimpse of their favorite team or player. As we walked passed the security guards, there were a lot of fans that shot us glares of pure envy.

In the back stage area, different teams mingled with each other and chatted like regular friends who haven't seen each other for a while. The competitiveness was only kept on stage; off the stage, it seemed like everyone got along pretty well.

I tipped-toed and stretched my neck as high as it would go to look for YiFan in the crowd. No luck, darn why are these eSport player so tall. Height shouldn't matter in eSport so why are they so tall? I thought begrudgingly.

"XiaoWang. The Alliance wants us to head this way to get seated right now." Lin caught my attention and dragged me towards a door.

We were not put into the audience like I original thought. We were seated close to team Samsara in the pro player area. What did I expect? Since we are at team Samsara's home turf, it was only fair that the special guests were seated by the hosting team.

x

The eSport stadium was awe-inspiring. There were two stages. There was a player's stage where the pro-players would sit and play on the PCs that were set up. Then the center of stadium was the new character stage where battles will take place. Right now the middle of the stadium looked like any other plain stadium. But Lin claimed that the image tests they run earlier today were amazing. The new 3D projection that can be viewed without special glasses was the new future for Glory. In addition to everything, there were also abundant numbers of big screen TVs all around the stadium, showing every possible point of view in battle.

Slowly, all the teams filed into their assigned seating in the stadium and the stadium was packed full of people. Even without trying to listen in on people up in the stands, I could heard many people getting excited about the small gifts I designed they received in the bag with their brochures. I smiled knowing I did a good job for the event.

Right at 8PM on the dot, the whole system went dark like a blackout. Then the show started. Lin was right; the projections were amazing. The first part of the program was pretty much just showing off the new projection by showcasing each of the 24 all-star characters and their skills individually. Even Kazumi, who was still had her nose in the book previously, finally closed her book and watched the show with a full-blown satisfied smile. The crowd clapped and cheered with each character in the projection. We clapped and cheered as to tip our imaginary hats to Kazumi, Aiko, and Jin's hard work. After laboring over this since day one at the company, it must feel good to see all their hard work up there.

The projection show was then followed up with talking from the host and highlighted events of this season. I was disappointed to find out the player behind One Autumn Leaf retired half way through the season. He was an old friend I knew back on the first server. But I was still glad to know he made it in the professional circle for so long.

x

After what seems like endless talking for the event host, the main event of this evening was finally going to start. The Rookie Challenge Competition in a nutshell was the rookies of this year, who signed up to participate beforehand, go up on stage and pick a senior that they want pick a fight with. It was an event to see which rookies the fans can expect good things from in the future and such. I'm sure the clubs also secretly graded those who had the courage to go up and decide if they want to continue to nurture the young talent or cut them loose.

One by one, the rookies went on stage and picked someone they wanted to challenge. Hey look, Gao YingJie went up stage and challenged Captain Wang JieXi. It was a witch vs witch battle. It was an intense battle, but after studying Vaccaria past battle video multiple times, I can see that Wang JieXi was going easy on the kid somehow. If he played the same way he did against the unspecialized character, he would already won this match a while ago.

But winning was not what Wang JieXi wanted, he was controlling the flow of the battle so YingJie had a chance of wining. I'm not sure how, but I had a feeling that he was. Eventually YingJie defeated the mighty captain. Wang JieXi wanted to lose, but did it in a way that no one could tell. Did he do it as a sign of passing the team's future on this youth? It must be, why else was he risking so much to lose this battle. I'm sure if the Alliance finds out, there will be severe consequences.

After the battle ended, claps slowly build up until it was deafening. I stood up and applauded the two on stage, but more so for the silent sacrifices that Wang JieXi made that he thought no one knew about.

"Why are you standing?" My coworkers asked. They didn't get it.

"I just thought it was an amazing battle that's all." I said simple and finally sat down once the Wang JieXi left the stage area.

Once the applause finally died done. The host on stage announced the next challenger that surprised even me: Qiao YiFan.

"Qiao YiFan wishes to challenge the owner of the number one Phantom Demon, Sobbing ghost, Team Void's Captain, Li Xuan (李轩)!" The host on staged continue to say without missing a beat.

"Hey, isn't that the brother of yours?" Lin said out of recognition.

I could only nod silently to Lin's question.

x

…What? This is not like the timid YiFan that I knew. From looking at the Tiny Herb area, it looks like they were surprised and in an uproar too. Could it be? After he got noticed and received pointers from this God person, he got cocky? I had a bad feeling about this. I chewed on my inner lip with worry as I watched Qiao YiFan stepped on stage.

Things went as I expected…not well. YiFan was met with a devastating defeat. I stood up from my seat again, but this time for a completely different reason. I rushed out of the nearest exit to find YiFan.

I knew YiFan's heart must be shattered right now, and mine was breaking along with his. I knew all he wanted to do was prove himself to his captain, his team, and the world, but he picked the wrong opponent this time. Picking the most experienced Ghostblade player, according to the brochure and Lin, was a really bad move on his part. With this poor performance, both YiFan and I knew what would happen to him when this season ends.

I ran down numerous hallways trying to find the one that would lead me closer to Tiny Herb's area. After taking too many turns here and there, I was pretty lost. I was in a panic; I didn't know what to do. I slid down the wall to the ground with tears falling down my face. YiFan probably needed someone to comfort him right now, but I can't get to him. What do I even say to him to make him feel better? There is a chance Tiny Herb will still keep you? There is always another team?

In my moments of silent sobbing I heard voices, two male talking to be exact.

"God Ye Qiu!"

I heard someone yell and recognized that voice anywhere! I picked myself up from the dirty floor made my way towards the voices.

"Yeah, it's me. You don't need to doubt your ability. But don't think that you'll be able to catch anyone's attention right now."

I got a little closer and eavesdropped on the conversation. The hallways amplified the conversation a bit with it being so empty. Even still some distant away, I could hear their conversation fairly clearly. Using the darkness as a veil, I kept myself out of sight. It seemed that this was the Glory God that YiFan spoke highly of before. It couldn't be any better that the person he really admires was here to comfort him in his toughest moment. YiFan really have good luck it seems.

"Thank you, Senior" From YiFan's tone, it seemed like he was already somehow cheered up.

"You can do it!" This Ye Qiu person encouraged.

"What about your, Senior. Why did you choose to retire so early?"

"I'm looking for an opportunity too!"

"You're going to come back?"

"Of course! Even though I'm a bit old, I'm not done yet!" The older man turned and walked towards my way and YiFan was walking away again.

x

I stood my ground as a tall shaggy looking male with cigarette smoke sticking to him walked past me

"Thank you." I said as he walked passed me.

"Do I know you?" He asked seemly little startled that a complete stranger just thanked him for no good reason.

"No, but you helped someone I know just now."

"I only say things I mean. He does have talent."

"I know he does. I just wish his captain would see that."

"Well, Big-Eyed Wang does have two different sized eye. It could affect his ability to see properly." Ye Qiu left me with those final words and a wave before disappearing into the darkness.

I laughed at the stranger's joke. Big-Eyed Wang. I will have to remember that one. I followed the direction that I heard YiFan walk to. In the darkness, I saw bright opening with someone standing there staring in.

"The stage is bright and mesmerizing, isn't it?" I stood next to the boy who had grown so much in my eyes, both physically and mentally.

"I…I want to be there one day." There was a crack in his voice and trembling in his hands.

"You will." I can feel hot tears blurring my vision. "Just remember no matter what happens, I will support you. No matter what happens, you can come to me for help. Just remember, this is only the beginning."

I reached out and held on to YiFan's shaky hand. I'm not sure if I'm making false promises. If there was a small chance I can help make his dream happen, even if I'm not his Glory god, you can bet I will give it my all to help make his dream a reality. It's what big sisters do for little brothers after all.