《Cougress》 Ch. 1: A Girl Named Janis Pullman My name is Janis Pullman. Janis Caroline Pullman if you want the full name. Nice to meet you! Online, I go by "Cougress." These days, Cougress has become synonymous with my identity as a gamer. Recently, I have become a pro gamer at this multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game calledUmbra Warriors.It''s entertaining once you get into it. It''s way too complicated to explain in detail just yet, so I''ll be sure to break down the game''s various nuances and complexitiesover time. But first, here are some facts about me. I''m 18 years old ¡ª only child. I love cats and eating calzones. My dad is Butch Pullman. He is a former pro football quarterback who now owns and runs a sports bar in my hometown called Rolling Hills with my mom, Miranda (maiden name is Nile). My mom grew up in a Native American community, which was acouple of miles outside of Pacific City where I currently live. Though I am technically half-Native American, I ended up looking really white from my dad''s side of the family. Before being married, both of my parents were quite athletic in their youth. My dad had his football career, and my mom always took part in Native American activities like hunting with her tribe. When they had me after settling down in Rolling Hills, they wanted their future children to be into athletic endeavorsjust like them. Of course, they ended up with just me who was quite the opposite of what they had in mind. On the one hand, my parents blessed me with all of the genes I would want to be a quality student-athlete and then some. Mom and dad really tried to push me into sports: soccer, softball, basketball, tennis, some football and a lot of other activities. Technically, I had the pedigree to be really good, if not great, yet none of those sports really piqued my interest. I did not see the appeal of throwing a ball around and thought it was lame. However, everything changed the day my parents finally let me try out some video games as a little girl. The day I touched a controller for the first time was truly magical. Instantly hooked. It was like something went off in my brain and told me that this wasMYthing in life. Just like that, mom and dad''s potential athletic superstar became a gamer. I have not looked back ever since. Instead of playing sports, I begged my parents to buy me the newest video games. No matter how much they pleaded or attempted to reason with me to try regular sports again, I refused. I was incredibly stubborn and bratty at this age. Luckily, I was glad I was so persistent. Much to their chagrin, my parents gradually caved in and accepted they had a girl gamer for a daughter. It was not easy for them for a while.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. They decided that gaming made me happy, so why would they take away something that brought joy to their daughter''s life? So they compromised with me. I always had to get good grades, do all of my chores and all of that jazz. Otherwise, they knew they could at least punish me by taking away my gaming privileges. Let''s just say it was not a pretty sight every time I would bawl my eyes out if my gaming computer got removed from my room. If I had a bad report card or gave my mom too much lip, the threat of having my computer taken away deterred me as a young teen. I at least learned my lesson every time to make sure I could get right back to my games. Eventually, I stumbled acrossUmbra Warriors. The game''s company, Hope Catalyst, wanted to give girl gamers around the world a shot at the electronic sports (esports) scene. Historically, mostly male players have taken part in many different games from all sorts of genres. Female-only leagues have existed before. Even then, the interest was limited. I don''t attribute this to gaming communities hating women or anything of that nature. If anything, gaming communities and companies want MORE female gamers to take part in the fun, but more girls need to stop seeing the hobby as a boys'' club. I think more girls should give gaming more of a shot to see why anyone (young, old, this or that and whatever) can learn to love gaming! So in a daring move on the company''s part, they made their main esports league only open to female players. Personally, I would prefer if the guys could be part of it as well, but these are the rules from the company. Not mine. Guys can still playUmbra Warriors, and the male gamers do enjoy the game as much as us gals. They just can''t compete in the main esports scene, unfortunately, which is a real bummer. Anyway,Umbra Warriorscame out when I was still in high school around my sophomore year. I had played many games up to this point, butUmbra Warriorswas different. It was not unusual for gamers to go from one game title to the next, yet I found myself being really obsessed with this one. Slowly but surely, the game started to take over my high school life. I stopped hanging out with my friends at school. I focused a lot on the game itself. My parents became quite worried about me because I would just hole myself in my room and not leave for hours at night. But, hey, they could not say anything as long as I kept up with my schoolwork and other duties at home. I started thinking about the game constantly, I kept looking up strategies, I kept watching other gamers stream the game to pick up tips and tricks and even began to streamUmbra Warriorsmyself. My stream drew in a decent following as I grew more confident with my own abilities. Little by little, I just got pretty darn good at the game. I climbed quite high up in the ranks at the time among other aspiring players. I got so good that a gaming org decided to reach out for me after watching one of my streams. They were forming a new team to compete inUmbra Warriors'' esports league. Their initial impression was that I could be a potential starter and superstar if I played my cards right. My parents were really against me doing such a thing. How could esports be a stable career? In their opinion, this had to be a fad that could come and go just like that. I did not care. I argued with them and had my share of disagreements until it came time for me to make my decision. Being a pro gamer ofUmbra Warriorsor a traditional life for someone my age? By traditional, it would mean me just going to college, hopefully getting a good job afterward and then settling down with a family - that kind of path. But that path wasn''t for me. It just did not sound that appealing. So, for now, as I sit in here in my gaming chair about to queue up for another match ofUmbra Warriorsfor practice, I don''t have time to look back at my past. I made my bed, and now I have to lie in it. I may be a girl named Janis Pullman, but I''m Cougress when I log into this game. Remember the name.
Ch. 2: Umbra Warriors Umbra Warriors. I admit at face value the name sounds a bit dorky, but there is so much beneath the surface. The name derives from two particular concepts for this game. Umbra refers to "shadow," and this is because the players act as the spiritual shadow that empowers characters who take part in battle (it sounds weird, but it will make more sense later). Naturally, if there are battles, you need "warriors" to participate. Thus, this is how you get the name Umbra Warriors. Simple, right? The game is part of the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre. The MOBA genre entails players controlling their individual character as part of a team to play against another group doing the same. A common theme in MOBA is pitting teams to go against each other with an objective in mind. For instance, let''s say the goal of a MOBA is to destroy the "main" structure for the opposing team. Though this sounds straightforward on paper, the caveat varies from game to game. Every MOBA title brings in their unique characters, mechanics and other components. It is not surprising when two MOBA titles are vastly different despite being in the same gaming realm. As I said before, I''ll break this further down as we go. It can be a lot to take in all at once without some more context. Well, over the years, many games in just this genre come and go. Some make a splash for the playerbase, some even enjoy some relevance in the esport scene, but they can slowly fade into obscurity if another game ends up more popular. It happens. No matter how good games are, players are always looking for the next title that will maintain their interest. It''s a constant war of sorts among gaming companies to put together the next big title to last as long as possible. For Hope Catalyst, Umbra Warriors'' game developer, the company knew it had to throw in some twists to stand out from its competitors. For one thing, every playable character in the game, referred to as Warriors, are all female. Yup, girl power to the extreme. They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. They can vary wildly in their race, which includes humans, elves, monsters and other creatures. All of them embody various traits, personalities and bring different strategies to the table with their abilities. You have lots of common elements that run the gamut. Some Warriors fight with brute force. Some use magic to attack their opponents. Some rely on supportive skills to heal or protect their allies. Like any good game out there, there is something for just about everyone and then some.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Unlike most MOBA titles that use a 5v5 system, Umbra Warriors opted for 4v4 instead. One of the most intricate aspects of team strategy is selecting an ideal combination of Warriors. You want to form a strong squad of four characters who can work well together against the opposing team. Figuring out which Warrior works best for what the team wants (and determining whether they can complement their tactics) can get quite elaborate. As an example, here is one of the Warriors players can choose from called Cerulea, the Mystic Mermaid.
Being a mermaid, Cerulea unsurprisingly uses water as the source of her magic on the battlefield. Her main focus is to be a "disruptive mage" to control the tide of battle. She can utilize the water to move friend and foe alike at her will. However, because of how she functions, Cerulea is best used as part of the Support class in the game. Her water magic brings a lot of utility to the table, but she will not necessarily overwhelm the enemy team in terms of damage output. Besides, her water magic can be a double-edged sword. Used correctly, Cerulea can shift scenarios in her team''s favor. Maybe you use her water magic to push enemies toward your teammates for a combo play. But misused, the opposite can happen as the water magic can mess up situations as well. Perhaps you misplay and end up shoving the intended target away from your teammates. In other words, Cerulea requires some finesse to maximize her effectiveness. Going back to the notion of the players being the "shadow" for the Warriors, an Umbra is you - the player. You are giving the Warrior the power to take part in the battle on an epic map that holds all of this 4v4 goodness in all of its glory. Being the Umbra means the Warrior can have their full potential gradually unlocked as the game unfolds. As you can see, this is just one of many characters currently available in Umbra Warriors to play. I still have not even explained the real meat and potatoes of the game just yet, but I promise to do so as necessary. Hope Catalyst wanted to market this game toward the female crowd, which is why the main pro scene wants to center itself around the female playerbase (again, male gamers can play the regular game, but they cannot compete in the main pro scene). The company envisioned a game where pro female gamers could go at it using the strongest female characters in all of gaming, or something like that. There is a lot to unpack here, but I can assure you I love playing Umbra Warriors because it is a load of fun to get into when you really get the hang of the game. It may be a game called Umbra Warriors, but to me, it''s called EVERYTHING.
Ch. 3: Morning Person I have always been an early bird. For me, 6 a.m. is a good starting point to get my day going. Like clockwork, I am already up before I need to hit my snooze button. My parents ingrained in me to make sure I follow through on some consistent routine since I was a girl. When you grow up in a farm setting, it''s par for the course. Even though I preferred planting myself in front of a computer screen when I could, mom and dad didn''t want me to turn into some lazy slob in their eyes. In other words, there were chores, chores and more chores on top of that. Even when you thought everything was over with for the day, something always could be done. If my mom felt like doing so, she would try to cut into my gaming sessions a bit further. She still managed to find something random for me to clean, which ended up as half-hour jobs or more. At least my dad would throw me some mercy on the weekends. During the week, he made sure I spent some quality time outside and actually socialized with others without the use of a computer. There was a point he accepted his only kid wasn''t going to be into traditional sports like he envisioned. I think it was hard for him for a while, but I think he learned to accept me as a gamer girl. Let''s say it got a lot easier to convince him my career path was legit the day I got formally recruited as a professional gamer. Nonetheless, he wanted to make sure I kept myself as healthy as possible. For example, we would always offer to jog with me in the morning to stay in shape. Since he retired as a professional athlete, he didn''t want to get too doughy. My parents had a tight schedule running the sports bar during the week, especially on the weekends, so I appreciated the bonding moments they could spare. With mom, it meant cooking with her in the kitchen or perhaps swinging by to a local coffee shop to chat about the boys and girls I thought were cute in my class. For my dad, especially during high school, waking up to jog with my dad in the morning during the week became our main thing. Our daddy-daughter activity that I just got so used to doing... Without fail, he made sure we never missed a morning running together. Nowadays, due to me being hundreds of miles away from Rolling Hills now, I still find myself getting ready for the morning run as if nothing has changed. Even as a pro gamer currently under contract living here in Pacific City, it just wouldn''t feel right also if I skipped one morning. Nope, that''s not happening. Hot or cold. Rain or shine. Snow, even. The weather and temperature are moot. I have to run. It wakes me up, gets my mindset ready for the day ahead and then some. This particular morning would be no different. I slip into my jogging sweats and don on my jacket. I step out of my room and carefully tiptoe through the hallway to avoid making too much noise. Most of my teammates were still sleeping at this hour, after all. The gaming organization that I am under contract for, Good Game Girls (GGG or pronounced triple-G for short), has a decent-sized "house" here in downtown Pacific City. Well, to be more accurate, it is a large studio apartment with amenities. In addition to separate "training rooms" to hold our gaming computers for practices/scrimmages with other teams, we have a spacious and state-of-the-art kitchen and even a hot tub in the back to unwind.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. No two gaming houses are the same, but GGG is an up-and-coming organization that is trying to make a name for itself. At the very least, this gaming house, which is focused solely on Umbra Warriors, is considered highly competitive and up to modern standards for esports. I have a teammate who loves giving house tours to guests. It''s a cool place to live for college-aged girls like myself. This house can have about a dozen people living in it comfortably. Right now, we have eight people (four starting players including myself, a coach, a support staff member and our two substitute players). GGG hopes to add more members shortly. As I approach the front door, I could hear gaming sounds coming from our training room. Inside is a room filled with a few rows of high-end gaming computers. They are lined up side-to-side to create that team feeling when we practice together. I peek inside to see who was still up at this hour. I was not surprised to see who it was because she was quite the workaholic for our squad.
Team: Good Game Girls (GGG) Player: Madison "Shardine" Shard Role: Starting Jungler
"Morning, Madison!" I exclaimed at medium-tone as I waved at her from the doorway. It seemed like Madison didn''t go to bed last night. It was not unusual for her to stay up for hours and hours playing Umbra Warriors when everyone else hit the hay. She often mentioned how she preferred playing after everyone else is asleep because she liked having peace and quiet to concentrate. Madison took a moment to peek up from her Umbra Warriors match to acknowledge me with a soft grunt of sorts. She wasn''t one for words when she was training. Madison had pale skin and often wore a hood even while indoors to hide her hair. I don''t know why. She had nice-looking hair to me. Some would say she was too antisocial, but she would open up around those she trusted. In particular, her personality changed when she was speaking with her boyfriend, Terrell Holland, who goes by "Library" in Umbra Warriors because he loves to read books. She goes from quiet and reserved to almost giddy schoolgirl level when she is around him. Terrell was a famous shoutcaster (a person who acts like a broadcaster for competitive gaming) in the community. He was quite knowledgeable about the game and brings out his passion for calling the play-by-play situations in matches. I wasn''t in that much of a rush just yet, so I stepped over toward her computer to check out how her game was going. But the match was already over just like that. "VICTORY!" the game''s announcer shouted. "Pff, that was too easy," Madison mumbled under her breath. "Not feeling tired, Madison?" I asked without any sarcasm, though I knew what she was going to say. "Sleep is for the weak," I mimicked her as she uttered her typical line in the morning. She did a little smirk and glanced over at me. It was her way of playing along. "You really should get some shut-eye. We have a big scrimmage later this afternoon," I teased as I walked back toward the front door. "I''m not that sleepy, Janis..." Madison said while yawning a bit and rubbing her right eye. I could hear her clicking around to start a new matchmaking queue for Umbra Warriors. There is an expectation for pro gamers to play a lot, but it can quickly turn into an unhealthy lifestyle, unfortunately, if you''re not careful. It is a large part as to why I try to exercise and be extra cautious about overeating junk food, regardless if I am a pro gamer or not. It''s all about balance in my opinion. I shrugged my shoulders and grinned at her, but her attention was already on the screen. "Well, if you''re still up by the time I get back, let''s have some breakfast together, OK?!" I shouted as I opened up the front door. "Sure," Madison replied in the most neutral tone possible. Satisfied that she responded, I shut the door behind me and began to stretch and do warmups. It was a bit chilly this morning, but there was enough sunshine to make running around the streets feel safe. As I was about to take off, I received a text message on my phone from a particular person... "Ohayou, Janis-chan! Let''s meet at the same spot on the bridge!"
Ch. 4: Yuuko Dabu "Yuuko..." I muttered to myself as my heart seized up a bit with conflicted feelings. I took a moment to pause and think before replying to the text. This wasn''t just any person to me. It was Yuuko Dabu. On the one hand, Yuuko was technically a rival of mine in Umbra Warriors in our pro division. She played on a strong team called Mother Nature (MN). The org''s tagline - "A female force to be reckoned with." Clever, huh? She even played the same role as me as a fellow top laner. Yuuko and I faced each other many times during ranked matches as well. By all means, I respected her skill at the game. She definitely was a fierce competitor on many levels. On the other hand, I had a massive crush on her. Yeah, that kind of crush... It sure made things a bit complicated, don''t you think? Though she and I were not officially dating, we flirted both in Umbra Warriors and outside of the game at competitions. Nothing serious just yet. Yet being the key word here. The mere thought of seeing Yuuko this early in the morning got me excited and pumped up. I began my morning jog with a nice burst of speed, some sort of incentive in my mind to get there quicker. I overdid the sprint a bit, but I eased my pace a skosh as I made my way through the city sidewalks. At this time in the morning, there were not many cars out. It was safe and peaceful. Usually, these sidewalksoften had so many people going about their day. But this way, I could jog without any interruptions. To the park... To the park... To the park... Must get to the bridge... I reminded myself as I tried to maintain a decent running speed. I controlled my breathing as I turned around a corner. The park near my gaming house wasn''t too far away on foot. With running, anyone could get there in less than 10 minutes. There it was. The particular bridge Yuuko was talking about in her text. At this time of the year, the pink cherry blossoms looked rather romantic, exactly like something you would see in a photography magazine spread. Even this early in the morning, the petals were so breathtaking. I ran along a dirt path and made my way toward the stone bridge. It arched over a shallow stream about 15 feet across side to side. Of course, there she was. Yuuko Dabu...
Team: Mother Nature (MN) Player: Yuuko"HuskyShoujo" Dabu Role: Starting Top Laner
It may have been somewhat chilly this morning, but Yuuko still wore her signature purple shirt with a bare midriff showing along with some dark jeans. Yuuko looked down below at the stream of water underneath as if lost in thought. Her beautiful black hair gently flowed in the slight breeze over her pretty face slightly covering her piercing brown eyes, which accentuated her exotic Asian look. Despite being a pro gamer, she boasted an athletic build for her smaller frame. Yuuko also came from a wealthy Japanese family and was raised to be "elite" ever since she was little. Her father owned a big technology firm here in Pacific City that sold popular products throughout the world. There was a rumor that her parents did not care what she chose to excel at as long as it was something she could dominate in, which happened to be Umbra Warriors. Yuuko made a name for herself in no time when she decided to attack the rank ladder with everything she got. Mother Nature basically begged Yuuko to join them as a starting player. As I slightly huffed and puffed a bit, I waved toward Yuuko to get her attention from the corner of her eye. Her expression lit up instantly as she noticed me and then proceeded to wave back. Delighted, I mustered a goofy grin before catching my breath. "Janis-chan!" She shouted at the top of her lungs as she ran down to greet me with a huge hug. Luckily, I was not too sweaty from the jog, so I made sure to embrace her back with the same enthusiasm. "Yuuko! How are you?" I asked excitingly. "I''m good. I''m good!" she replied while releasing me from her arms. She motioned for me to follow her back to the bridge. "I didn''t know you got up this early like me," I said while fixing my hair. Yuuko did not seem one bit tired. "Well, I normally don''t like to wake up this early. But I can," she turned around for a moment to boop me playfully on the nose. "For you." I softly chuckled as Yuuko rested her chin on her arms of the bridge''s railing. She proceeded to look out toward the stream like when I jogged up to her. "Janis-chan, do you remember? This was the exact spot we first met," Yuuko said without taking her eyes off of the stream.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "Yeah, I remember. It was my first time here in Pacific City. I was exploring the park and then bumped into you." "Silly Janis-chan," Yuuko said in a childish Asian accent. "You were jogging! That''s how you bumped into me!" "Heh, you''re right..." It was my first day in Pacific City. Right after my parents dropped me off and were heading back home to Rolling Hills, I wanted to take a jog to help clear my head. New place. The beginning of my career as a pro gamer. I had not even met my teammates yet. I had just placed all of my belongings into my room and went out for a run. Would I like it here? Will I be OK without my parents? Should I have gone to college instead to pursue a regular life as a university student? There was a lot to unpack. There were so many thoughts running through my mind that I had to exercise to distract myself. When I was running toward this same bridge back then, there were a lot more people in the park. I was making my way through the crowded bridge trying to snake through everyone and then accidentally crashed into Yuuko. But perhaps it was fate. I apologized profusely. No one was seriously hurt or anything. More than anything else, I stumbled on top of her a bit awkwardly. We ended up both laughing as I helped her up. However, the moment I looked at her right in the face... I was not sure if it was love at first sight per se, but I definitely felt something special. I just happened to recognize Yuuko as her gamertag in Umbra Warriors, HuskyShoujo. She was a very popular streamer in our community. Most female gamers in Umbra Warriors love to stream using Witch Streaming Services. Unlike other streaming sites, Witch was predominately used by female gamers. A significant difference with this service was no gamer was allowed to use a webcam (no more than a "clean" photo of just a gamer''s head from the neck up for the profile picture). Other streaming sites had a prevalent issue where female streamers (especially non-gamer ones) would devolve the site into a glorified cam show with lots of cleavage hanging out and whatnot with little to no gameplay. Witch was all about showcasing girl gamers streaming video games where the focus was on the gameplay itself. Anyway, seeing Yuuko''s profile picture on Witch was one thing, but she looked a lot better in person to me. I actually blabbered out HuskyShoujo out loud when I figured out who she was while blushing. Before I knew it, we were just chatting up a storm and geeking out about Umbra Warriors under a nearby tree. We quickly became friends right there on the spot. Naturally, my newly minted pro status would come up as well. "Wow, you''re going to be a pro gamer at Umbra Warriors too, Janis-chan?" she asked me with a glow in her eyes. "Yup..." I modestly answered looking bashfully toward the dirt. "Sugoi! That''s great!" Yuuko''s Japanese was coming out as she playfully grabbed onto my shoulders. "What''s your gamertag? I might know who you are."
Team: Good Game Girls (GGG) Player: Janis "Cougress" Pullman Role: Starting Top Laner
"Cougress. My name is Cougress," I replied with confidence as I looked her right in the eye. "Cougress... Cougress. Oh! I know you! You''re a top lane player like me!" Yuuko gleefully declared as if she were singing to the heavens. "Maybe we were meant to be best friends, Janis-chan!" From that day forth, we kept in contact. Part of me fantasized about what life would be like if we were not pro gamers. Instead, I imagined a reality where we were just regular college students here at the local university here in Pacific City. Something incredibly ordinary. A generic life here in the big city. Honestly, as long as it was with Yuuko... I just thought I could enjoy it all the same. Being a pro gamer is fun and unique, but something like this... Living the college student life... Going to class and studying... Maybe working a part-time job together. Just thinking about it was so much fun in my mind. Friends... Maybe something more at this rate... My mom asked me so many times if I found someone special yet, and I always came so close to mentioning Yuuko''s name. So close. Always on the tip of my tongue. But until it was all official... "Janis-chan?" "Oh, sorry," I spaced out just recalling how I met Yuuko on this bridge. "Did you have something to say?" "I wanted to tell you. Because you''re my best friend, I just had to tell you. I met someone I really like," Yuuko said while beaming.
Ch. 5: Scrim Time "Pullman. Earth to Janis Pullman! Wake up please!" I snapped out my train of thought as I looked up toward my team''s head coach, Kalysta Rockwell. She stood there with an amused grin. I shuffled around in my seat a bit to regain my composure. My chair was all the way on the left of the room along with three other ones to my right based on our roles inUmbra Warriors. Top. Jungler. Bottom. Support. As the starting top laner, this meant I always sat on the farthest left in our seating arrangements. My other teammates like Madison Shard would sit beside me in their given roles. We applied the same seating setup when it came time to play on stage at a tournament or event. In our scrim room, we had super, really high-end computers with the best keyboards, gaming chairs and other essentials gamers splurged on to show off their hobby. Think computer lab, but this was a "professional" one meant for highly competitive gaming. For a professional gaming team, companies sponsored and hooked us up with their products. "Are you OK, Janis? You seemed less focused than usual," Kalysta asked endearingly. "Uh, yeah. I''m fine. I''m sorry," I tried to keep looking at her straight in the eye as I said that. My mind was elsewhere.
Team: Good Game Girls (GGG) Player: Kalysta "HistoryRocks" Rockwell Role: Head Coach
A former history professor at the local university here in Pacific City, Kalysta decided to opt out of her tenured career to pursue coaching professionally. When she was not busy lecturing or grading papers, Kalysta had an obsession with Umbra Warriors in her spare time. There were rumors that many classes got canceled because Kalysta was too busy finishing up a few extra ranked matches here and there. As a player, she rose up to a decent ranking on the ladder. But when gaming organizations reached out to her, Kalysta realized she enjoyed coaching others when it came to Umbra Warriors more than anything else. Her teaching experience proved to be a natural segue into coaching a bunch of college-aged girls like ourselves. She approached coaching as she did when it came to teaching. She studied the material intensely and wanted to impart her strategies and knowledge to us. Kalysta treated us as her special students. A perfect fit in all honesty. "Daydreaming is fine on your downtime, but the scrimmage is about to start," Kalysta uttered in a strict tone. "Yes, ma''am," I replied softly as I faced toward my computer monitor. "We''ve been over this before, Janis. Please just call me Ms. Rockwell," she sighed and continued to walk around the room. "Ma''am makes me feel old..." I never did find out her age (she refused to tell any of us), but all of my teammates and I suspected she had to be in her 40s. She took care of herself and looked like somewhere in her mid-20s. Objectively, she was a beautiful woman by society''s standards. Tall, slender, gorgeous free-flowing hair and chestnut-brown skin from her Native American roots. In fact, Kalysta grew up in the same Native American community as my mother. At one point, the two even did some tribal activities together ¡ª what a small world. Aside from being into anything having to do with history andUmbra Warriors, Kalysta kept to herself. Interestingly enough. She mentioned how she was married at one point (they even had a daughter who she does not like to talk about who lived with her ex instead of her). Something Kalysta emphasized a lot was how she chose her careers over everything else. Like history demonstrated, everything had an appropriate price to pay or something like that. It sounded poignant when Kalysta was coaching us one evening. When I first moved into this gaming house, Kalysta and I hit it off pretty well immediately. She took me under her wing and really tried to mentor me enthusiastically. She always mentioned how bright I was. Maybe because I was part of the same tribe as hers by blood. Nevertheless, she always reminded me about how I had a lot of potential inUmbra Warriors and lifebeyond professional gaming. Whenever I had questions or needed to chat about other matters, Kalysta took the time to let me vent to her. I truly appreciated what she brought to Good Game Girls. I thought of Kalysta as both my head coach and as a friend.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "OK, we have about five minutes before our match begins," Kalysta mumbled to herself as she paced around the room looking through her notes. "Wait. Where did Ngoc go?" I was too busy fretting over what had happened at the bridge with Yuuko earlier to realize that our starting squad was not wholly present. A few minutes before our scrim was going to start no less. "No idea," Madison said with no emotion. Typical of her. Nothing unusual. She sounded like a robot at times, but her mind was always focused when it was time to game. "I think she went back to her room to get something," saidSelena ZafiroGonzalez, our starting support player who sat at the end of the table. She had caramel-colored skin that glistened in bright sunlight. Long black hair that was shiny like silk that shimmered with other colors at the right angles. A cute little nose with an equally cute mouth. Intense eyes with a brown tone like an artist''s palette. But her appearance was deceiving. This was a chick who had a mouth ready to say what was needed. Selena was a Latinagal with a tough upbringing, but she was deep down a nice girl despite growing up in a rough neighborhood. Her friendsalways referred to her as "Doll" because they always thought she would make something of herself. After all, dolls usually increased in value over time. Plus, like her Zafiro namesake (Spanish for sapphire), whether during a scrim or on stage, Selena had to wear her sapphire blue bandana. She always wanted to represent her roots no matter what.
Team: Good Game Girls (GGG) Player:Selena Zafiro "Mu?eca"Gonzalez Role: Starting Support
InUmbra Warriors, Selena played her role well. No matter the situation, Selena put a lot of stock in helping her teammates with what she could do. Growing up in Rolling Hills where it was mostly small-town vibes and farming country, I did not have to go through what Selena did. Selena was a beautiful part from an otherwise ugly environment. A broken home forced her to grow up fast, but that did not break her spirit. She vowed to make something of herself. Fortunately for her, she was able to play soccer. You did not need to be rich to play as long as you had a ball to kick around in the neighborhood.A narrow alleyway with a few other kids playing some soccer sufficed to pass the time. Just enough to make the kids forget, even for a moment, how lousy everything technically was. Selena continued to play soccer.
She developed an athletic build because of it. She perhaps had the potential to play in college and beyond. At the very least, she was up to snuff to play high-level varsity at her local high school. Before matches ofUmbra Warriors, she often went outside to kick a ball around as a warmup to get her head in the game.
Eventually, she turned toUmbra Warriors by discovering the game at her local library one fateful day. A regular visitor was playing a match, and she got instantly hooked the moment the regular taught her the basics. Her family did not have the money to buy her own computer, and she practiced the game when she could.
The librarians were friendly enough to let her play there as long as she was quiet. After a while, she really found her niche and was quickly discovered by our gaming organization. She saw people she loved and cared about literally die in the streets from violence and other tragedies, so my simple life in Rolling Hills was nothing but roses by comparison.
With being a pro atUmbra Warriors, she earned enough to send over to her family. No matter what Selena went through up to this point, I was glad she was now my teammate on Good Game Girls. She did not have the easiest path, but she still pushed on through. "Ngoc, there you are!" Kalysta snapped at Ngoc Nguyen, our Vietnamese bottom laner as she returned to the scrim room with her makeup kit. Ngoc was a skinny girl with short hair. "You shouldn''t disappear like that!" "Yeah, yeah! I know," Ngoc chimed back in a rude tone as she applied the last touches of her makeup to her face.
Team: Good Game Girls (GGG) Player:Ngoc "NGOC-OUT" Nguyen Role:Starting Bottom Laner
Compared to Selena, truthfully, I did not care for Ngoc in the same vein. Ngoc was a self-proclaimed, bratty, spoileddiva. Arrogant. Egotistical. Selfish... Well, for a cutesy Asian girl, she was the definition of someone who looked great on the surface until you saw what was underneath... Ngoc was Vietnamese for "gem," so her fans often praised her looks. She put up a huge act at events and tried tobehave nicely when the public was watching her. Behind the scenes, she showed her ugly side underneath the glitz and glamor. I just thought of Ngoc as too fake and unpleasant to work with, but she had talent as our starting bottom laner. Whereas Selena had actual hardships in her life to overcome, Ngoc had a straightforward path with basically little resistance. Her family worked hard to provide every possible resource they could for Ngoc. She had a support structure. She had stability. She had this and that. But instead of being grateful, she was more inclined to think it was just the bare minimum for her. Ngoc thought the world revolved around her. The annoying aspects or not, Ngoc performed brilliantly in our scrims and events as far as gameplay goes. I just wished her attitude was better overall. Everything was about her. She thought too highly of herself. She wanted the glory just for herself as well. It hurt our team chemistry and morale when Ngoc turned toxic. "OK, headsets on. Let''s get this scrim with STORM underway," Kalysta motioned for us to get ready. Gaming headsets on, our fingers were warmed up, and we all sat there staring at our screens waiting for our scrim opponent to log into the private lobby. Kalysta stood behind us with her notebook prepared to call out her plan of attack and coach us through this scrim. We were all ready to play someUmbra Warriors.
Ch. 6: Warrior Selection A clash sound took place as all of us hit the "Accept Match" button that popped up when STORM initiated the scrimmage request. Scrimmage Mode was underway for our Umbra Warriors match. Good Game Girls (GGG) versus STORM. STORM was an official member of the league we played in, and many would label them about somewhere in the middle of the pack. Not particularly amazing. Not particularly awful. Very average in many regards. A great litmus test as far as scrimmage practice goes for this afternoon. I always loved a chance to scrim. They differed from regular ranked matches we all had to practice in to keep our skills sharp. But in a scrim or on stage, these matches required a lot more effort and coordination as a team to pull off a standard win. I lived for these kinds of games. Umbra Warriors was a 4v4 game in the MOBA genre. The two sides were Light and Dark, respectively, which faced each other horizontally on the map. For this particular scrimmage, we ended up on the Light side. The name of the game is to work toward the enemy side''s "base" and destroy the main structure called Crystal. To do so, players maneuver their Warriors throughout the map using their abilities to carry out fights and attain various objectives. Because each Warrior brings different aspects to the table, accomplishing this goal of getting to the enemy team''s Crystal was never entirely be the same in every match. No two games were ever identical in this regard. Warriors possessed varying strengths and weaknesses that every player has to account for during any standard match. The selection process was about to start in our scrim. We entered the character selection screen that showcased all of the game''s current roster of warriors. A few dozen to pick from at this point. Umbra Warriors used an all-female cast of all sorts of types. Whether you wanted a human character or perhaps a monster, the roster usually had something for everyone based on their personal style. For Draft Mode, the mode was meant to replicate the competitive stage''s standard method. This meant the banning phase and picking phase alternated. Before actually selecting your characters, players "banned" Warriors initially. By banning Warriors, this prevented particular characters for the upcoming match. No duplicate bans were allowed. Usually, players banned away Warriors they did not like facing or perhaps it is a character that counters their own individual or team strat. In the context of an organized team, banning had a lot more weight to it. Each ban, ideally, needed a purpose. You often banned the other team''s best Warriors to cripple them in some way, but the other side did the same to you as well. This Warrior Selection process had a lot of chess moves taking place before any of us actually hit the map. Afterward, the players got to pick the Warriors in between phases (players can always swap around the appropriate Warrior among themselves to make sure the right player ended up with the right kind of pick). It followed a sequence that looked confusing at face value, but it all made sense once you went through it a few times. The Draft Mode sequence went like this: Light Ban 1, Dark Ban 2, Light Ban 2, Dark Ban 2 Light Pick 1, Dark Pick 1, Dark Pick 2, Light Pick 2 Dark Ban 3, Light Ban 3, Light Ban 4, Dark Ban 4 Dark Pick 3, Light Pick 3, Light Pick 4, Dark Pick 4 Basically, the setup included pros and cons throughout the steps. When everything was said and done, eight Warriors got banned from the upcoming match while another eight Warriors got played. "OK, let''s see if we can figure out their strat," Kalysta began to guide us while standing over our shoulders. "STORM doesn''t stray from the meta that often. They usually play the standard when they can help it." I was a bit distracted still thinking about Yuuko, but I tried to focus on the selection process. All of us had different ways to cope with the stress, even if this was a scrimmage that did not matter if we won or lose. Madison was rarely chatty. She often muttered a few words of input here and there. Ngoc was often really aggressive about who she wanted to ban or pick. She challenged Kalysta''s strategies a lot, but Kalysta remained stern with her judgments. Finally, Selena always wanted to discuss with what was best our team composition. She always thought about how she fit into the team''s puzzle and never cared so much about the individual glory. I enjoyed playing with Selena for that alone. "Just remember to make me look good," Ngoc arrogantly boasted as she cracked her knuckles. I scoffed to the side as our 30-second buffer time went away. For regular matches, this was the time you were supposed to use to talk about your intended roles and strategies.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The character selection screen had eight boxes, four on the left and right respectively, with our usernames. The center displayed the Warriors for the banning and picking process. In each of the username boxes, it looked something like this as an example. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GGG Cougress [Highest-Rated Warrior Role 1] [Highest-Rated Warrior Role 2] [Ban] [Warrior Selection] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Essentially, the highest-rated role parts displayed your Warriors'' icons with the highest win percentage in their respective roles. So my two best roles were top and then jungler. The icons in these slots purposefully gave the other team an inkling about the kind of characters I played. Otherwise, players ended up banning/picking random Warriors without enough strategic merit. This was meant to cut down on the "blind" selections to give them more oomph. When other players saw my name box during Warrior Selection, they knew what my best characters were and could thus ban or pick the characters away from me. Or perhaps they wanted me to pick my best characters, which then allowed them to counter me. There was a lot of strategies here on so many levels. After all, you had to account for all seven other players, not just yourself, when making these decisions. For each ban or pick, you had 30 seconds to decide on something (you can also choose not to ban). If you went AFK and did not ban someone, the game ate away your ban. If you do so during a picking portion, your pick became random. "Their best player plays a lot of Thora," Selena chimed in while looking over at the opposing STORM side. A bit fitting that a team named STORM had a player who was good with a Warrior who used lightning powers. "I think Thora would be a good ban here." "Yes, I agree," Kalysta nodded. "Janis, ban away Thora with our first ban." "Got it," I replied as I hovered over Thora, the Lady of Lightning''s portrait and clicked to ban her. On the Warrior roster, her icon suddenly went red with a big red X through it to indicate the ban. "Shocking," Thora''s voice line played after the ban in a sarcastic tone. A cute touch. A lot of Warriors got annoyed or angry they got banned and would say a line. Thora was a lightning goddess who shocked enemies to death. She had a lot of dangerous spells that were devastating if she could land her attacks on you. STORM proceeded to ban two Warriors rather quickly without using all of their buffer time between each selection. They banned Esther, the Shining Paladin (a flex pick mostly geared as a top laner or support) and Freesia, the Butterfly Fairy (mostly played as support). Esther was a tank character who could take a lot of punishment. Freesia was a shifty character who caused a lot of disarray when played properly. "Hmph, sunshine always returns the next day," Esther grunted in her British accent. "Nooooo! Not me!!!" Freesia''s squeaky voice echoed. Madison decided to comment on what our next ban would be because she felt like it. "Let''s get rid of Kurome. I hate going against her," Madison said unenthusiastically. If no one knew her, some would have thought Madison was sarcastic. "Sure," Kalysta agreed as she OK''d Madison to ban Kurome, the Shadow Samurai (top laner). Just like that,Kurome got banned as the red X crossed out her portrait. "You can never truly escape the shadows,"Kurome replied in her cool voice fit for a superhero.Kurome wielded a long katana that could magically cut the air to create shadows to engulf enemies in darkness. Her signature aspect of creating a silhouette that mirrored her movements spawned a lot of wannabes. However, a skillful player withKurome had the potential to wipe the floor with just anyone if played to her full capabilities. Kurome... That was Yuuko''s signature Warrior, I thought. Shoot, there I went again! I just had a hard time concentrating correctly. "Pick my Warrior first," Ngoc demanded. "But we haven''t discussed what strat we were going to use," Kalysta tried to reason with Ngoc. "Doesn''t matter. I do great on all of my picks. I want to play Kiya this round," Ngoc said without a shred of humility. "Fine, prove it," Kalysta shook her head in disapproval, but she motioned for me to pick Kiya, the Feline of Fervor (can be flexed as a top or bottom laner) for Ngoc. "A purr-fect choice," Kiya''s voice line said with that cheesy pun. Kiya was a cat goddess who summoned an army of cats to do her bidding. She overwhelmed you with her feline army. As we played out the Warrior Selection process even further, more bans and picks took place. We strategically made choices based on the previous data on what STORM normally used. Finally, I was allowed to ask for my selection, Joan R. Rogers, the Pirate Princess (top laner). Joan made it through the bans and picks. I was always happy to play my favorite Warrior in the game when I could. "HILLYARD PRIDE IS ON THE LINE," Joan shouted confidently as Selena picked her for me. Joan was a cocky pirate who called the shots. She fought with a cutlass in hand, swashbuckling her way through opponents. "OK, let''s have a great scrim with STORM," Kalysta jotted down further notes as we geared up for our match.
Good Game Girls (GGG) STORM
GGG Cougress - Joan. R Rogers, the Pirate Princess STORM RUBY - Grudge, the Unforgiving
GGG Shardine - Zephie, the Gale Harpy STORM Excellence - Saber, the Silver Lycan
GGG NGOC-OUT - Kiya, the Feline of Fervor STORM Cinnamon - Korga, the Ogress Peacekeeper
GGG Mu?eca - Cerulea, the Mystic Mermaid STORM Becky22 - Aleris, the Dwarven Helper