23 Counters and Bans

"How can I ever refuse my dear old friend."

Hearing those words, to be completely honest, Yu Pengkai didn't know how he felt. Or rather, he didn't know what he should feel. His next words simply slipped out from his mouth without passing through his brain.

"Great to hear that you're not scared. So, let's meet across the street at SU library when you're done."

A little voice in the back of his mind nagged at him, reminding him that he was a thirty year old adult when this was only a little kid, but he brushed it away.

And before he knew it, he was sitting in the stiff library chair at the local state university, a small crowd gathering around him.

He had already logged into someone else's account, one complete with all of the previously released champions, and another computer was set up in a similar fashion.

Directly next to him, Darius had just arrived, setting down his giant bag of sports equipment and blabbering away as he had always done the split moment that he sat in the chair. "So what's the game plan, champ?"

Gesturing to the computer on the opposite side of his desk, Yu Pengkai motioned for Darius to move away from him. It wasn't like they were on the same team anyway. In fact, they were quite literally the definition of opponents, if not bordering enemies.

"Awww, come on, isn't this just a little friendly competition to test the waters?" Despite his casual words, a streak of competitiveness lit Darius's eyes as he swiftly moved his possessions and himself to the other side of the table.

Now, they were quite literally opposing.

"So, how much of a handicap do you think you'll need?" Yu Pengkai asked, flexing his fingers in preparation as he moved the mouse around a bit to test its mobility. "Sorry, I should rephrase the question in a way that you might understand it. How many free kills do you want?"

The mini gathered crowd exchanged sideways looks, biting their tongues in anticipation.

In response, Darius only threw his head back and laughed, propping his head against his hand in amusement as he watched his opposition from between the computer boxes.

Yu Pengkai used the awkward time pause to change his game settings, double checking that auto-attacking was turned off and that the key-bindings were correct. Now that he sat in front of a computer and had the game's Home Screen in front of him, there was a sudden wave of peacefulness as Darius's smug look didn't even annoy him that much.

"I'll pick you champion for you, and at the same time, you can pick my champion for me." After a few moments of hesitation, Darius spoke up. "It'll be a fair game, and if anything, there will be a stroke of luck."

Yu Pengkai racked his brain, wondering what type of champion the cocky basketball player would choose for himself.

A ranged mage? An armored tank?

If he had picked a weak support or an off-meta champion for Darius, in the off chance that his former friend had actually selected a buffed champion for himself, there would be no point in the game at all.

And if he just so happened to pick a champion that was countered by Darius's selection, there would be also no validation of his skills either.

Plus, he had no previous research at all in Darius's play style or his skills. Even if he selected a powerful champion with a lot of potential, if it had a high skill cap, would Darius even be able to utilize it, or would it be just setting a trap and waiting for Darius to fall into it when he realizes that he couldn't hit any of the skill shots?

Almost as if reading Yu Pengkai's mind, Darius smiled, motioning for him to go over. "I know you're new to the game, so here's a full list of all the champions that could be chosen from."

On Darius's screen, or rather Dardardar's game Home Screen, was a comprehensive list of current Kings of Valor champions, all of them unlocked. Not only were they unlocked, they all at least had an average rating of an A next to each of them.

Admittedly, there weren't that many champions released yet, but lighting up all the squares and squares of colored splash art was an accomplishment within itself.

"So yeah, just pick on anyone. There's not a champion that I'm not already familiar with." Darius wagged an eyebrow, sending Yu Pengkai back to his desk. "Is there any champion that you like in particular? I can just pick it for you, and you can try find a counter."

Darius paused, "Wait do you know what a counter is?"

Once again, Yu Pengkai had to remind himself that he was double this taunting boy's age.

After a few moments of hesitation, he hovered over a standard ranged champion, one that didn't demand a lot of timing and play setup but dealt a decent amount of burst damage.

From across the table, Darius cast a fleeting glance over, his lips curled together into a belittling snarl.

Seeing that look, Yu Pengkai changed his mind.

There was only one way to justify himself.

He clicked on Robin Hood, motioning for a boy standing next to him to jot down his pick.

Across him, Darius also whispered something to the crowd next to him.

"Let's announce what champions you have chosen for one another." A boy standing towards the middle of the group announced, his eyes sparkling from excitement. "On the count of three, please simultaneously say your picks for the other person."

"Three…"

"Two…"

"One…"

"Robin Hood," Yu Pengkai and Darius declared in perfect unison, their voices overlapping one another's.