Fluorescence Worlds Tournament: Eliminated!

The morning of the semis you wake with a full. Erection that is. Rebekah is going down on you and you moan in pleasure as her teeth rake your cock. You wrap your hand in her hair, hoping for a long, slow morning blowjob. Instead, she’s fast and efficient. She uses every trick she’s learned to make you cum fast. Immediately after she swallows she heads for the bathroom.

“What? No good morning?” you call after her as you hear her gargling mouthwash.

She reappears a few moments later, already fully dressed. “I thought I just gave you one…”

You can’t deny she did, but you’re still surprised to see her heading out this quickly.

“Sorry, baby,” she says. “Today’s gonna be intense. I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate having a fiancé who doesn’t mind giving up time with me for this.”

“It’s cool,” you say. “You’re aiming to be champions. I get it. Now go win Fluorescence!”

“Thanks, baby. Love you.”

You have breakfast with Priya and Tariq before heading to the tournament hall. Unsurprisingly, the only topic of conversation is the competition: who you hope and fear HexDrive will face, who their MVP is so far, what the differences were between the game they dominated and the one they struggled in. You’re outclassed. You’ve shown an interest in the game since getting involved with Rebekah, but you’ve never really been a gamer like she is. Luca’s lovers, though, are all in. When Priya pulls out a spreadsheet showing the wins and losses of each quarter-final team over the last year you’re somehow unsurprised.

When you finally make it to the tournament hall, you’re surprised to find it is even more packed than on the first day. You’d assumed that the players and fans of the losing teams would have packed up and left to spend the rest of their time exploring the city. That is quite definitely not the case.

You find some empty seats and sit down, focused on the pre-game rhetoric from the commentary panel. According to Priya, they’re each past winners, who now make a living off the esports scene.

“Hey, Fresh!”

Kailani drops into the seat next to you. She already has her phone out and is avidly studying whatever’s on the screen.

“Hey, Kailani,” you say. “I didn’t think this would be your kind of thing.”

She shrugs. “Well something here is. At least if what we’ve seen so far is true.”

“Oh? That doesn’t sound sinister at all! Care to tell me more?”

She smirks. “Not right now. I don’t want to throw accusations until I have proof.”

“Accusations?”

“Yes, but like I said, not until I can prove they’re true.”

She’s not going to expand further, but whatever it is promises to be something big.

And then they call the first of the quarter-finals. It’s Hangdong Haze vs Stratos. The Chinese team were absolutely dominant yesterday. This could be the team that gets some revenge on Stratos for defeating Rebekah’s team at Nationals. At least you hope so.

They’ve changed the format to best of three now, instead of single elimination as it was in the early rounds. You lean forwards, watching eagerly for a victory that never comes. Right from the start of the first match Stratos are dominant. They’re well-prepared and respond immediately to every move the Chinese team makes. Hangdong Haze, meanwhile, look nothing like as competent as they did in yesterday’s games. They’re slow, strangely so compared to their earlier games.

The commentary gets more and more frantic as Stratos take the quarter-finals in two straight matches. When it finishes, the Chinese team argue with each other. You’ve no idea what they’re saying, but they’re all mad at each other. Fingers stab; voices raise. Any sense of team spirit has gone. They leave, but only after two members of security step forward to encourage them.

Beside you, throughout their matches, Kailani kept working on her phone. You tried looking at what she was doing once, but it was a list of numbers, some rapidly shifting bar graphs, and other mathematical things you couldn’t begin to work out. She keeps silent as the teams leave the stage ready for the next two to take their place.

The second and third quarter-finals are intense. Number Ten from the UK eliminate Joue de Mort from France, but it takes them all three matches to do so. Then Lodz L1 are beaten by the South Korean champions, and though it only takes two games, they fight hard. Both games run long and Myeongnyang immediately head over to congratulate their opponents as soon as the match is over. That leaves HexDrive and Agonia, the Brazilian champions.

You can’t help noticing that during those games Kailani barely pays attention to her phone at all. She glances at it occasionally, but mostly watches how the teams play.

“What’s going on?” you ask her as you wait for Rebekah to lead her team onto the stage. “How come you’re not paying attention to your phone?”

“Phone?” she looks confused for a moment. “Oh, this? Yeah, I guess it does look like a phone. Anyhow, here comes HexDrive.”

She’s right. The judges announce the two teams and they stride forwards to the machines set up for play. Rebekah looks happy, almost relaxed. The others are following her lead, confidently taking their seats, donning their headgear, and getting ready for the start.

It’s another match that goes all the way. The amount of studying the team did of their opponents pays off in the first match as they counter every play easily. You’re not sure, but it seems like they were predicting the moves Agonia made. You remember Rebekah saying they were one of the more efficient but formulaic teams at the finals.

In the next game, Agonia sit back a little and wait for HexDrive to make their plays. They don’t respond as well, but they do counter most plays and find routes through holes in their defense to hit the back line and take down towers.

The final game is the longest so far. It takes over an hour and both teams look exhausted afterward. HexDrive take it though, and the team gathers to celebrate their victory.

You’re relieved when the announcers state there’s going to be a full hour with the venue’s restaurant providing a full meal service. You haven’t eaten since the first quarter-final at 8:00 this morning. You’ve barely taken time out for the bathroom. It’s only when they say the semi-finals will begin at 6:00pm you realize just how long a day it’s been.

“God, I feel like I’m starving,” you say as you head from the tournament hall with Tariq and Priya.

They both give you a strange look.

“What? There hasn’t been a meal break since we started.”

“You did have a snack when you used the bathroom though, right?” says Priya.

You stare at her.

“You didn’t?”

“From where? I didn’t see any vending machines nearby.”

“From the restaurant. It’s been open all day. Why do you think Tariq and I took so long getting back when we went to the bathroom.”

“I thought you were having bathroom issues or something.”

They look at each other for a moment before they lose control of themselves and guffaw loudly.

“Every single time?” asks Priya.

“I was gone for over thirty minutes when Stratos played,” says Tariq.

Your stomach growls, complaining about your neglect. Thankfully, the food provided is amazing. Free, or at least wrapped in with the cost of the tickets, doesn’t hurt either. There’s another free meal after the finals. Everything tastes great, the meat, the veggies, the seasoned, carefully carved potatoes. But when you get to the dessert and find it’s frangipane, you don’t know whether to be delighted or embarrassed. You take a spoonful and almost moan aloud as the almond paste and delicate crust damn near melt on your tongue. No wonder Rebekah found your effort inedible.

The crowd are on fire when the semi-finals start. Their excitement is boosted by the fact that the first match stars Myeongnyang. They’re not only the local team, but the current holders. Their opponents are the UK champions, Number Ten. In this battle of the empires, the UK initially dominates but it's Korea that rules the airwaves at the end.

Number Ten comes out swinging. An emphatic top-line play leads them to victory in the first game. They look good in the second game too pushing across all three avenues of attack until Myeongnyang manage to turn things around and push back. The decider looks intense too with the British fighting hard for victory but in the end they're overwhelmed by superior counters and excellent forceful attacks that take down all their towers. A cry of 456 goes up from the crowd which you have no idea what it means.

That just leaves the US-versus-US semi-final with Rebekah's HexDrive taking on Stratos. The hype built up by this rematch is intense. Even the neutrals in the audience seem to have picked sides, and everyone is wondering whether HexDrive can gain revenge for losing in the USA.

As you wait for the game to start, Kailani drops into the seats beside you.

“So who won the first one?” she asks, taking out her phone once more.

“Myeongnyang,” you say. “It was close though. Where have you been?”

“I had to see a man about a hack.”

“What?”

You hope for an explanation but none comes.

“Never mind,” she says. “Hopefully this match will give me what I need.”

“And what's that?”

She grins. “Proof.”

“That’s the second time you’ve said that,” you say. “What’s going on, Kailani?”

She taps the side of her nose and indicates that the teams are about to play. Still wondering what the hell she’s talking about, you turn to the stage.

HexDrive start out slow and steady. You remember some of the conversation you’d overheard on the plane ride over about needing to watch what Stratos do before making a choice. It proves an effective strategy. They push on the bottom line and center. HexDrive move to intercept, lay traps, and stop them. That allows Devon to make a move on top. It looks good, until suddenly he slows down, stops, and waits until Stratos catch him. The others also seem to play worse after that point, and the tables turn easily. Stratos claims the first game.

HexDrive are shaken. It’s obvious as soon as the second game begins. Rebekah tries to control the center line as she calls out plays to the others, but she’s weirdly slow. Stratos go bottom with their support helping out. Trent heads to support Devon’s counterplay, but turns back for a moment as if uncertain. It’s not much, but the delay enables the Stratos’s bottom-lane player to take Devon down.

“FUCKING RUBBER BANDING?” Kailani cries out from beside you. “I never thought they’d be THAT stupid.”

You turn to look at her in confusion.

“Oh they’re done. That’s all I need!”

“What are you talking about?”

But she doesn’t answer. She’s up and out of her seat quickly, heading for the exit. You don’t know what happened, but something has.

The team continues to play badly as Stratos dominate the second game even more than they did the first. You’re not surprised to see them lose given their hesitation and uncertainty, and all you can do is get up and head to the restaurant where you agreed to meet Rebekah and the team afterwards.

You grab some food with Tariq and Priya. It’s barely an hour and a half after you ate, so you just have a sandwich and ice cream. Around the room, several other groups sit, talking about the evening’s games. Priya sits across the table from you.

“I don’t get it,” she says. “They haven’t played that badly in years.”

“And did you see them arguing afterwards,” says Tariq. “Something was wrong.”

You nod emphatically. “It was weird. And what about Kailani leaping up and running out like that?”

“Who?”

"Kailani,” you say. “She was sitting right next to me.”

“What, the rugby player?” asks Tariq. “I didn’t know she was into esports.”

You laugh. “I know, right. I mean I mostly know her as a cam girl. And she spent most of the game on her phone too.”

Priya looks deep in thought. “She was in a computer security class with me last semester,” she says.

“What the fuck happened?”

Devon sounds anything but calm as he leads HexDrive into the restaurant. Several fans get up and approach them. Rebekah keeps the team as calm as possible, her usual fiery aggressiveness replaced by diplomacy as the team spend time signing autographs and chatting to fans. They look exhausted and you want to tell people to give them space, but this is their venue and you have a feeling you’d be ignored anyway.

It takes over an hour until they’re able to pull away and join you.

“You backed off, Trent,” snaps Devon. “We all saw it.”

“No, I didn’t!” Trent looks pissed. “You know I wouldn’t do that. It was like my mouse stopped working for a second.”

“Center line was crazy too,” says Rebekah. “I don’t know, guys. Something happened. Maybe they’re having computer problems. I mean that’s shit at a big tournament like this, but I guess everyone had to deal with it. Look at Hangdong Haze earlier. Same thing.”

The three of you check what the team want to eat and drink and go to get it for them, giving them a chance to settle down.

“I guess semi-finalists at Worlds is pretty impressive,” says Maya. “None of us thought we’d ever make it past Regionals a year ago.”

“Rebekah’s right,” you say, placing a carrot cake in front of Maya, a baklava and full roast dinner in front of Rebekah. “You’ve been amazing. Champions at Regionals, runners-up at Nationals, and now this. And you’ve got top sponsors too.”

Maya blushes. “Yeah… I still feel awkward reviewing sex products, but I can’t deny the money’s useful.”

You remember the orgy scene after the finals at Regionals. Maya was the one player who didn’t join in, worried about what their sponsors would think. It turned out that orgy scene got them the ImpulseGroup sponsorship in the end. Still, if she was reserved with her sexuality then—

“Are you fucking joking, Maya?” snorts Rebekah. “We all heard you screaming when you triggered the Mighty Stallion Vibe with Realistic Orgasm Action. I wasn’t even going to stick that massive thing in m—”

“Shhhh!” Maya hushes her quickly. “Okay, okay, that was… ummm… can we just drop it. We’re in a restaurant!”

Rebekah’s phone starts ringing. At first she ignores it, but as soon as the chime stops it starts again. Sighing, she picks it up.

“Hi, Rebekah Flores. Who is this?”

She’s frowning.

“Yeah, we’re still here. Why?”

You watch her carefully, wondering what’s going on. Does someone want to do an interview? Surely that would have been arranged in advance.

“What?!?”

Her eyes go wide.

“Are you fucking serious?”

Everyone is staring at her.

“Er, of course we’ll be there. But… HOW? How the hell did this happen?”

More conversation you can’t hear from the other side.

“Okay, okay. I understand. I guess. Sure. We’ll be there tomorrow.”

She drops the phone on the table and stares forward in silence. You all stare at her, waiting for her to say what just happened.

“We’re in the finals…” she says, barely above a whisper. “Stratos have been eliminated for cheating.”