Video Game High School: The Professional Game

Chapter 4: Young Veteran

Seated in the stands of the mini auditorium, located within the Cisco eSports Training Complex, Jenny along with three of her teammates watched as the Panthers' Youth Team played their semi-final match in the France under-16 (U16) Youth Championship. Though it had only been three days since their defeat to the Knights of Lyon, the Panthers have set their sights on their next league match against the Monstres de Marseille (The Marseilles Monsters). It was a half-day for Jenny and her teammates, so they decided to catch a youth game that just happened to be held at the Panthers' home ground.

The Panther youths were up against last season's U16 France champions, the Youth Team of Team Helios. The scores were tied with each team clinching two victories in a game of king of the hill. For the final round the Panthers were tasked with defending the hill whilst Team Helios had to take control of it. Whoever won the round would take home all the glory.

The Panthers' youth team had a strong control for most of the match. Their refined skills and tactics were able to pin down their opponents. However, the youths from Team Helios were led by their star sniper who had the most kills within the competition, Robert Kaminski (eX_Fen). Jenny was impressed by the young high-schooler's marksmanship. He reminded her of herself from when she was still fragging noobs at VGHS.

Unlike her though, eX_Fen was more aggressive with his plays. Instead of waiting patiently to line up his shot, he would rather get closer to his target and engage in mid- to close-range fire-fights. He would also rotate with his teammate to take on defensive and attacking responsibilities. All the while he was only equipped with a sniper rifle.

As the match neared its end, Jenny found herself focusing more on eX_Fen's gameplay. Specifically him constantly swapping roles with his teammates. She noticed that the young sniper would always be the team's main defender whenever they were on the attack. In the event his teammates were being defensive, he would instead be the first to charge and break through the enemy lines. Though there were many situations where this line of logic was not always true, he still helped to balance his team and adapted accordingly to overcome any change in the match.

"Youths these days are getting bolder and bolder aren't they?" Nilda Gallo (TR4cKer) said. "Just last week I saw a clip of a Scottish kid fragging pros with just a pistol on his debut for Manchester Fury."

"Word from South Korea is that Seoul Infinite has a new prodigy straight from their youth ranks." Adam Iskandar (Ataker) said. "You have global elites, and then you have Koreans above all."

The match was at its last sixty seconds. With one last roll of the dice, Team Helios charged in on the building from all directions. The Panther youths were immediately enveloped by a swarm of bullets from all directions. Dust and debris rained down on them, further obscuring their vision. Before they could even return fire, eX_Fen would take out two of the Panther youth players. Team Helios would lose two of their own players as they tried to enter the building.

It looked like it was going to be a messy end to the match. A crescendo of explosions and gunfire. However, from within the chaos leapt out one of the Panther youths. The girl's in-game avatar was clad in all purple and black, wielding dual MP7 submachine guns. With no hesitation she bolted head first into the middle of the gunfight and mowed down two more enemies. However, she would lose the rest of her team in the exchange, leaving her all alone.

"Who the hell is that?" Ataker asked. "I don't remember her from this year's youth roster."

"Must be that new Korean kid the scouts snatched up just last week." Leonardo Ascari (Protez) said. "I overheard them saying she's the number one ranked high school player within the entirety of South Korea. I looked it up and there she was, Kim So-Yeon. Gamer tag, Alphareon."