A/N: A tribute to Helium2323, my FanFiction writing partner. Names are those of real people but the characters themselves are not.
All champions belong to Riot Games.
Summoner John, known as "Helium2323" in his circle of fellow teammates and players, is a casual player most of the time but is inspired to win. To him, nothing is more important than trying hard without being too much of a try-hard. Though his face usually wears a serious expression, his messy brown curled hair, tilted glasses and his generally wandering eyes betray his much more casual side. He checked his watch. 11:45. Soon, he'd have a game with two of his fellow summoners, summoner Shifter and summoner Mojo. This time, they had a plan to squeeze their triple bot lane strategy without receiving the flak they usually did.
Whispering an incantation, he summoned up the spirit known as Curse, the soulless voice. Almost immediately, a holographic flame burst from the floor as Curse rose from the ground. Red flames lined with an ashen black tainted each flaming tendril. As the soft glow of the embers grew brighter and brighter, a hollow voice devoid of life spoke, and a single green eye opened.
"Why do you call upon me?" Curse said. He clearly was not happy to be called upon near midnight, but he was clearly used to it.
"Find summoners Mojo and Shifter." John commanded.
Almost immediately, John felt a sensation to each of his temples as he suddenly felt the presence of two others.
"Hey John, what's up?" Mojo said.
Shifter said nothing; or perhaps John simply couldn't make out what he was saying.
"Ready to execute Operation: Hook City?" John asked.
No one said anything comprehensible, but he heard a confident "Yes" of approval from Mojo, and he heard Shifter giggling.
"Here goes" John said, as they all together, stepped into the portal to find a worthy team along with worthy opponents.
In the portal, everything was black, but yet somehow anyone could find their way out. Ever since the release of new mental communication technology, shopping was done through the mind. When a match was found, a gong would ring inside their heads and once again mentally; they'd make a choice on whether to accept their team or decline. After around two short minutes of waiting, they were ready to enter the arena and pick their character.
"Take one: Action!" They heard Shifter's voice, somehow actually clear.
It is a common known fact that the community in the League of Legends was rather impatient for the most part, conformed to numerous unnecessary common stereotypes known as the "Meta" and more importantly, would panic and freak out if this "Meta" was broken and was not followed. In more ways than one, the Meta determined who was good and who was bad, for the most part. At this hour however, people were sleep deprived, and were too lazy to argue to the end of the earth. They would use this to their fullest advantage, as they began their plan to do something they would otherwise most probably not get away with.
They began their argument, staged to draw attention from their otherwise frowned-upon Meta breaking deeds as they began to shout obscenities at each other. While there were some summoners who complained, others who thought they were mental and even others who believed that the three of them were simply the worst of the worst. As the distraction began to sap away the other summoner's focus, John locked in Thresh, the Chain Warden, Shifter locked in Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths and Mojo locked in Blitzcrank, the Great Steam Golem. Only when it was too late did the others realize what the three had done; they would have no one covering the jungle!
Laughing like they had just told an amazing joke, the three friends had made small talk about Grade 8 and the highest ranking summoners, as they were transported to the summoning circle, where they could make mental links to their champions and they could command them .
As John entered the battlefield, already he heard Thresh's raspy voice.
"We will kill the weak, and break the strong." Thresh said, and then he cackled, a frightening noise not unlike the sound of a furnace being given wood. Thresh picked up a Doran's Blade and a potion from the shopkeeper, Nautilus picked up a Doran's Shield and Blitzcrank had picked up Doran's Ring. They all also took potions, which helped to heal wounds. The three of them took cover in a bush, waiting for a target.
Draven confidently strutted out of the jungle, content that he was not made to take any punishment. Spinning his axes like Frisbees, Draven began to strike the minions, seemingly non-living constructs, who somehow had souls. He savored every kill, as he was lost in the clanging of the minions falling to the ground until suddenly-
A massive anchor struck Draven dead in the stomach, pulling his frail body towards him was Nautilus, who swung his anchor so hard that it created a small crater that stopped Draven from moving. Just as he had gotten out of the near-death trap, a scythe came out of the bush, binding Draven in chains and squeezing every last bit of life from him, as well as squeezing every last wisp of air from him.
Oh shit. Draven though as his summoner frantically burned flash to get him out of harm's way, until of course; a metal arm pulled him back into the fray. He was tormented by several metal objects smashing away as he succumbed to his wounds and fell.
Throughout the game, the "Hook City" was literally ruling the map as their own city, as though they owned a monopoly. Using a combination of displacements for both friend and foe and crowd control, they chose where and when anyone went anywhere. They had in fact, ended up ending the battle at around 33 minutes and in their favor, at that.
At the end of the game, all the summoners shook hands, with the exception of Draven's summoner, who was still stuttering out curse-like words and worse. The champions also shook hands and left shortly after, as most of them would soon have another battle to fight. Shifter, Mojo and John parted ways as they bid each other farewell and walked back to their dorms.
On his way to the dorms however, John aimlessly but happily walking, bumped into a hooded girl, as he fell on the ground. He looked up, and his first thought was: Damn, she's beautiful. His second thought was: I actually know her!
In front of him was a face framed in black hair. She had one almond brown eye, one silver, and a glowing purple hand. I think her name was Sara, and that she was one of my closer….friends. That was a good word for it.
"Hey!" John said. "You're Sara, right…?"
"Well yea…hello John," Sara said. "Why exactly are you up so late, might I ask?"
"I could ask the same of you."
She laughed so softly that only I could hear it, then said "I'm an artificer, remember? I'm one of those "theory crafters", as they called us. I design items for the league of legends."
I had heard the term theory crafters exactly once, and from Shifter. Apparently he was one of them, but he instead searched for viable candidates for champions. Exactly none of the candidates he found even made it, but he was confident that he would make it eventually.
"Then prove it." I said. I tried to sound as serious as possible, but as soon as it came out, I knew I had failed.
"Alright, follow me." She told me.
I followed her to her room, and she materialized a magical key from thin air, and unlocked the door.
When I walked in, I couldn't believe my eyes. There were blueprints of all kinds scattered around, from ones about "Needlessly Hard Plating" to "Negatron Elixirs". Whatever they were, I could barely understand them. They came in various qualities, some with in-depth studies of the effects written in neat writing beside the picture, to much more abstract pictures, of which I could not tell what they were at all.
"Whoa." That was all that could come out of my mouth.
"Yeah…do you believe me now?" She asked, confidence clear in her voice.
I couldn't say anything- I was so surprised still.
Suddenly, I heard something ring as she took her phone out of her pocket.
"Hello?" She asked.
Suddenly her tone changed from neutral, to annoyed.
"What do you mean Needlessly Hard Plating is useless? There's already a Needlessly Large Rod, so why no Needlessly Hard Plating?"
"Wait. Let me get this straight. So you're saying the Needlessly Hard Plating is also needlessly expensive? That's outrageous."
"Yeah, its 1200 gold. So what? I don't even know what that Trinity Force is made out of, but it certainly costs a lot more than 1200 gold."
"Fine then. I'll see you later." She said as she hung up her phone, and clearly discouraged, sat down on her chair and put her hands on her face.
"Ummmm…Sara…are you okay?" I asked.
"I'm fine. It's nothing. It's just tha-" She began, but she couldn't finish her sentence as she began to cry softly at first, but then it escalated to taking in deep, strangled breaths as she struggled to contain the fact that it was her eighth attempt at the Needlessly Hard Plating, and that they had barely acknowledged all the sketches that had gone into it.
John felt a stab of pity for his poor friend, normally helpful and determined, now broken and clearly really pissed off. He actually didn't know what to do, so he put a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her as best as he could. She began to stop crying and eventually, she stood up and gave John a hug.
He whispered something in her ear, and she simply said:
"Yes, I know."
And they just stood there, together, in awkward, but peaceful silence.
Epilogue
1 Month Later…
The New Year's Summoner's Cup was beginning for the first time. And the aspiring artificers would come from all over Runeterra to claim this cup. There were three judges; Jax, the Grandmaster at Arms, Sivir, the Battle Mistress and Pantheon, the Artisan of War. Each of them were judging the candidates for Champions as well as items. It was what mortals might call a fashion walk, but this was just a lot deadlier.
Sara stood in front of the gates to the institute, ready to present her final version of the Needlessly Hard Plating, this time, lined with Anti-Matter to weigh it down. Hearing her name called out, she stepped into the stage.
Jax asked her "What is the name of this armament?", in his usual burly voice.
"The Needlessly Hard Plating."
"And what is its purpose?"
"It's a special armor that throws off the trajectory of most attacks, at the expense of speed unless of course, one has the will to overcome the weight of it. "
"Let me try." Pantheon said as he lunged towards Jax, who was wearing the armor, and attempted to stab him.
It didn't go through. The spear weighed down and barely nicked his foot.
"That is one wicked armament. One more question though; if it made it through, what would you call it?" Jax, clearly impressed, asked.
Sara had always thought of it as the "Needlessly Hard Plating", but now, it seemed like a lot more than just that.
"I name this armor Righteous Glory, in honor of the fact that with perseverance and a strong will, anything can be done."
The crowd burst into applause, no one had ever done anything like that before.
Meanwhile, in another corner of the institute…
"What is this creature that you have found?" Singed, the Mad Chemist asked.
Summoner Shifter and Summoner John stood in the biology lab, in the Organism Contest
"This is a Scuttle Crab, known in its earliest stages as a crusader crab." Shifter said
"What are it's origins?"
"Bligewater." They said in unison
"What, if anything, makes it different?"
"The Scuttle Crab is a monster which is a pacifist, in the sense that it only eats plants, and is tamed not to harm. It does not fall easily, thanks to its titanium shell. But it's undeniably most intriguing characteristic are the parasites that live inside it. These parasites burst out after the crab dies, providing it with a sixth sense even after it dies, perhaps to allow it's body to decompose in the soil peacefully, as interestingly enough, when approached, the corpse of a scuttle crab will camouflage." The two said in unison.
"Ah. One more question. Is this creature edible?"
"See for yourself." John said. Everyone, even Singed, laughed.