Training for the big day

“Before we discuss things, mind telling me who the guy in the beak mask is?” Astrid asked.

“Oh, he’s Crowboy50, my friend and editor,” Leona stated.

“He- Hello,” I stuttered.

My shyness had kicked back in.

“Oh sweet, no need to worry. You’re free to watch. Now regarding the challenge. Like I stated on stream, we’ll do a gaming gauntlet with the potential for Jamboree to turn everything around. Though first I need to ask, have you ever played Maria and Squeegee’s Jamboree?”

“No, but I’m still down.” Leona exclaimed.

“I like your enthusiasm, but if you’re putting your hair on the line, I want you to have a fair shot. It would be bad for both of us if you go in and choke big time on Jamboree.”

“I thought you said it was luck based?”

“Yeah, but there’s also some skill involved. Plus, there are minigames that can help you out. Hey Crowboy! Have you played it?” Astrid asked.

“Ye- Yeah. I have a copy.”

“Perfect! Practice with your girlfriend so that she can at least lose with grace.”

My face went red as Leona patted my shoulder.

“Don’t tease him too much. He’s been a big help in getting me on my feet.”

“No worries. I know a guy just like him. As for the other games, I’ll pick one that I’m good at while you pick one that you’re good at. They don’t need to be multiplayer games. It could be a single player game where we compete to complete a quest faster than the other or even speedrun the game. Just make sure whatever you choose won’t take longer than an hour. As for the location, I’ll let you decide.”

“Um, I’m kinda broke so I can’t really go far,” Leona said awkwardly.

“No worries. I understand where you’re coming from. I can always come to you or reserve a place near you. So where are ya located? Don’t worry, if you tell me your address it stays safe with me. I despise doxers and will never let your private info slip if you tell it to me,” Astrid sincerely stated.

Leona smiled and told her the area she lived in.

“WOW! That’s like a stop or two away from me. Damn. In that case why don’t we duke it out at the center in A-city. It’s a stop away from us and normally used to host gaming tournaments.”

“But I don’t want to force you to spend cash just for me.”

“No worries, we’ll only be renting out a small room. Besides, you’re the first girl that’s ever accepted this challenge, of course I’d be willing to splash some cash for this. You damn well better not chicken out though or you’re gonna get hell online.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll come even if I’m hurling buckets.”

“If you actually get THAT sick we’d just reschedule. I’m an understanding girl. As for the date, how about two days from now on Friday at 3 P.M.? That should give you enough time to practice, and we can also build up the hype.”

Leona turned to me and smiled as they ended the call.

“I’ve never been so excited. Thanks for helping me get here. Now let’s practice the game.”

I went down to my apartment to collect the game.

“Mukuro! Where are you going with that game?” my mother asked.

“I’m training a friend.”

“Training? I don’t believe it. Considering how disastrous your stint at the salary company was I doubt anyone would ever want to hire you.”

“That was different. This time I’m working with someone I can freely speak with without clamming up. Besides, I now have motivation to do something.”

“Is it making money?”

“No, but I enjoy doing it, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”

My mother sighed as I left the apartment. Her bringing up the salary job did sting me though. My poor social skills had led to such a massive screw-up that I was fired and forced to deal with the legal ramifications of my blunder. Though it was really a jerk move for my boss to force everything on me. As a result of the legal fees, my family sadly took the brunt of it after me selling my apartment wasn’t enough to cover it.

To make matters worse, no place wanted to hire me afterwards, nor did I feel comfortable working anywhere after the incident. Yet Leona had decided to give me a chance. She didn’t know about my past, but I didn’t know about hers. We didn’t even know each other’s real names, but that didn’t matter. We were friends. If we wanted to divulge that information with each other, we’d do it.

I smiled as I returned to Leona’s place.

“How about you stream a few rounds with me? The night’s still young,” I suggested.

“But I already ended the stream.”

“So? Just stream again. Plenty of streamers do stuff like that. Besides, we can hype up your challenge like Astrid wanted.”

“Sweet! Let’s play!”

As Leona logged back in, we noticed Astrid was live again.

“What did I tell you. Now let’s play. I won’t go easy on you,” I smirked.

“Just the way I like it! Though I’m gonna cream you anyway,” Leona declared.

“Try saying that once you’ve actually played the game.”

Leona did the intro again.

“YO! Your girl Leona’s back for another round! For those that weren’t here earlier, I got challenged by Astrid. On Friday we’ll be going head-to-head in a vicious gauntlet, where loser gets their head and eyebrows shaved AND waxed! Since Maria and Squeegee’s Jamboree could decide the entire match, I decided now would be a good time to flex my skillz. I’ve never played it before, but who cares about that. Crowboy here’s a seasoned vet, so I’m gonna wreck him and the CPUs.”

“YO chat! You might recognize me as Leona’s mod. Don’t think you can go crazy just cause I’m playing. I WILL check up on you. Oh, and don’t even think about posting dumb shit just to distract me. I’m playing for keeps here!” I stated as I glanced over at chat.

Leona’s view numbers had doubled to 100 and Chat was in good spirits. This was undoubtedly due to Astrid’s influence. We began a round on the easiest board. Since Leona would be going up against Astrid, I had no choice but to be as cutthroat as possible.

“HEY! That’s my crown! You can’t just steal it!” Leona cried.

“I paid the scarecrow 50 gems. If you want it back just give him 50,” I stated.

“But he’s on the other side of the map, and I just spent all my gems buying that crown. UGH!”

The first round ended with me achieving an overwhelming victory.

“NO FAIR! How did you snag EVERY bonus crown!?”

“Simple, I optimized my play style. The bonuses are actually random each time, so there’s no guarantee I’d would have won them all.”

I then pulled up the stats page.

“See look. You landed on far more purple spaces than me and edged me out in minigames. You would have won the bonuses for those if they were in the rotation.”

“Wait!? Is that why you deliberately landed on the Oni space?”

“Yep! And I did it early so I didn’t risk losing a crown or too many gems.”

I then explained all the bonuses before we began another round.

“I got it, I’ll try going for them this time,” Leona stated.

“I’d still recommend getting as many crowns as you can normally. If you have a three-crown lead, you win even if second place snags both bonuses.”

“What if we tie?”

“Then it goes down to gem count. An actual tie after that is rare.”

Suddenly, Leona’s viewer numbers spiked into the low thousands.

“What! Where did- Oh hello Astrid. Thanks for the raid.”

Astrid had raided Leona’s channel. While not all her raiders stayed for long, a fair number of them did stabilizing Leona’s view count in the 700s. Looks like the challenge hype was paying off, though I still hoped Leona would come out on top in the end. Round 2 went much better for Leona.

“Hey, I got second,” Leona smiled.

“Yeah, but I still beat you,” I said as I did a victory pose.

“Because of the evil tree.”

“Yep, and that’s why this game drives people mad.”

I think she'd have a chance of winning if we kept practicing.