huff, huff "Maybe, huff maybe I shouldn't of sprinted all the way here, huh?" I say, while panting heavily, as I had ran the entire distance from my home to Deca tower, as I woke up late. "Let me just, huff let me check ranked." I say, before going up to the ranked section of Deca tower. "R-Rainmaker, huh?" I say, before choosing blackbelly skatepark, even though I know nothing about it.

As I look around at my teammates, I can't help but facepalm immediately. "Seriously? An aerospray?" I say, while looking right at him, 2 custom splattershot juniors are standing to the right of him, seemingly not paying attention to us. "That is quite literally one of the worst weapons you could've chosen for this." I tell him, with a look of disappointment in my eyes.

"C'mon, aerospray can help, you just wait, I'm gonna splat so many enemies this round, you're gonna regret those words." He says, with a cocky look in his face.

"Look, I'm just gonna let you know, when we lose, it'll be on you." I tell him, before the round starts, all of us rushing forwards to the rainmaker.

As I get there, the aerospray is nowhere to be seen, while the custom splattershot juniors are playing defense, on each side of the map, while i'm at the rainmaker, with 2 of the enemies at the rainmaker, specifically their splattershot and hydra splatling. As the splattershot shoots at the bubble, I'm successfully able to keep it at bay, but when the hydra fires, I get overpowered, soon I hear both custom splattershot juniors get splatted, and I start to get a bit worried. Soon, I see the enemies inkbrush and .96 Gal deco show up, popping the rainmaker even when I shoot my brella at it to try and stall them out. As soon as it pops, I can see the aerospray show up, with his special ready.

"Oh, so NOW you finally show up, with a useless special, just like your useless weapon." I tell him, making sure to have a hostile tone of voice.

"You watch and learn, punk. I'll easily take down their entire team, you just watch." He says confidently, before activate curling bomb launcher and running into the fray. Not even 2 seconds later, he's been splatted by the hydra splatling.

"Knew that was going to happen." I say, before I start to shoot at the rainmaker, even though nobody has gone for it, hoping to hit someone who tries to go for it. Surprisingly this strategy actually works, and I manage to splat their splattershot, but soon enough I have to recharge my ink, and as soon as I go into octo form, one of them picks it up, just before the .96 gal splats me, sending me back to the kettle. Lo and behold, the aerospray is painting near our spawn, still being useless.

"You know, we might have a chance at winning if you were to focus on getting the rainmaker instead of your horrible special." I tell him, before walking towards the middle.

"Why don't you have anything against the custom splattershot juniors? It's literally a beginner weapon." He responds in a hostile tone.

"Because the junior is underrated, it has good stats, and can play an important role in ranked, unlike you." I respond to him, before noticing that the rainmaker is almost at our goal. "Oh carp!" I yell put, before rushing over there, barely managing to splat the rainmaker in time, not even 2 steps away from the goal. Soon, the rest of the team arrives, and we're able to take out the remaining 3 enemies. "Ok, now aerospray, can you please take the rainmaker?" I ask the aerospray, in a calm, collected tone.

"First of all, it's Brian, and second of all, no." He says, in a snarky, spoiled kind of tone.

"But why?" I ask him. "What do you gain from not helping the team? You're the best weapon for the job, I can escort while the juniors defend from the sky." I continue, in genuine bewilderment.

"Eh, I just don't wanna." Brian says, completely relaxed.

"So you want us to lose? Got it." I respond, before going over to the rainmaker myself, picking it up, and walking forwards, the splattershot juniors to my left and right, while Brian just stands there, doing nothing. Soon enough, we're at the middle of the arena, but.. there's only 30 seconds left before the round ends. "Should've expected this, bad teammates drag out matches like this all the time, just didn't expect to find someone like this in X rank." I say out loud, before continuing my trek onwards, even though I know I've already lost.

25 seconds later, and the round is over. an astonishing 99 points to our measly 25, it's easily their victory. "Told you it'd be on you, your incompetence and reluctance to play made us lose, Brian." I tell Brian, before staring directly at him in Deca tower after the match. "I'm mad, and disappointed in you. Mad that you had the audacity to do this, and disappointed you would even do this" I continue, making sure he can really hear what I'm saying. "The gist of what I'm saying is, You caused us to fail, Brian." I end off, putting it as bluntly as I can.

"W-well why wasn't it y-you! Why wasn't it you who cost us to lose!" He shakily retorts.

"Do you want me to list off the things you did- or rather, last thereof, during this match?" I ask him, still talking bluntly.

"No..." He mumbles, while turning away, a look of shame on his face.

"Good. I hope we never meet again, Brian, you were one of the most incompetent, and annoying teammates I've had the displeasure of dealing with. " I say, before turning around and walking out of Deca tower, as I'm just done for today.

As I'm walking home, I see my "biggest fan" following me still, so I look directly at them next time a turn a corner, and they leave me alone for the afternoon. When I arrive at my home, I quickly rush inside, and peek out all the windows before removing my suit. "Geez, today has been... frustrating, to say the least. I'll just have a light dinner and head to bed." I say, before pulling a half-eaten crab sandwich from the fridge, putting it the microwave for 30 seconds, and letting it cook. After it's done, I take it out, let it cool down for a few seconds, before eating it quickly.

As I toss and turn in bed, I already know I'm going to have another nightmare, but I don't like thinking about that, so instead I think of some of my best games in the past, before lulling off into my own personal hell... "Hey, hey Derek, get up." I hear someone say.

"Huh? what.. what is it?" I groggily reply.

"We only have 15 minutes of break, you said you wanted to tell me something, but instead you're sleeping!" They respond, but with no hostility in their voice.

"Oh, right. Sorry Kevin, I forgot." I reply.

"It's okay, Derek." Kevin replies.

"So, I was thinking.. Why is it that only females get to become the elites? What do they have, that we don't." I tell Kevin, genuinely curious.

"I don't know man, I really don't know, but all we can do is try our hardest to make a difference in the world." Kevin responds, trying to lift up my spirits.

"But we're doomed to be... lesser, just because of a few changes in our genes. Don't you think that's a bit unfair?" I respond, getting into a worse and worse mood as time goes on.

"Of course it's unfair, life hardly ever is, but you know what? The elites are our frontline defense, sure. But they're the first ones to get splatted, as well. We can have the same skill as an elite, yet sent back here, with no threat to out health." Kevin responds, lifting my mood a little bit.

"Yeah, yeah. You're right, dude. We're safer back here, and we can reach their skill level. Thanks for getting me out of that bout of sadness, bro." I tell Kevin, genuinely thankful.

"Any time, dude." He responds, ending our conversation.

As I wake up, I don't cry, or contemplate my existence, I just smile a tiny bit. It's a somber one. "I miss you Kevin. I wish you had gotten to escape with me." I quietly say, before going back to bed.