Fluorescence Worlds Tournament: The Early Rounds

Your days are full of assignments, play practice and prenatal classes with Rebekah. The College Spread universe also provides couples counseling to help the two of you learn to handle stress better together. The final weeks of the semester are hectic, but eventually the final papers and exams are done. You feel confident that you’ve passed and Rebekah says she thinks she’s done okay too.

It would be nice to say you get time to relax, but that’s not exactly true. The play will be staged the night before finals results are published. Before that, there’s Fluorescence Worlds.

You’ve never been to South Korea before, but there was no way you were missing out on seeing HexDrive play in the Fluorescence Worlds tournament. There are 20 teams competing across five rounds. The initial round features the losing finalists of the nations that were granted two places. That, of course, is where HexDrive start.

Rebekah spent so much time talking about the various other teams as she drove to the airport that you feel like you know as much as the team does. You’re surprised to find that ImpulseGroup has provided first-class travel for the team, as well as a few plus ones. You spend the flight over speaking to Tariq and Priya, while the HexDrive players gather to talk about plays. For most of the 15-hour flight. They do manage to get about 2 hours of sleep in as you fly over the Pacific, but that’s all.

Three days in a foreign city could have been exciting. Three days in a luxury hotel while HexDrive prepare for the tournament is less so. You spend most of your time with Luca’s lovers, either supporting the team by bringing drinks, food etc, or just socializing while they play.

Finally, it’s time for the opening day, featuring the preliminary round and round of 16. The event’s held at an indoor sports arena, bigger than where the Nationals event took place in America. The three of you settle down in the audience and wait for HexDrive to make their appearance.

The preliminary rounds are intense. It begins with HardKore from the UK eliminating Fuji Flow from Japan in a slow, cagey match. Chinese runners-up Hangdong Haze push past Germany’s Blitzkriegmeister easily. The Polish team, Brutalna, hit Canada’s Fluorescence Falls team hard until the Canadian center line player manages to drive through and hit Brutalna’s back line. The crowd love it, but you’re waiting for one team, one person. Rebekah.

Finally, it’s HexDrive’s turn. They’re drawn against South Korea’s second-place finishers, Myeongnyang 2. They’re a reserve team for the country’s champions, named after a decisive battle Korea fought against Japan, and they’re tipped to do well.

The screens behind each team’s computers change from displaying their logos to close-ups of the players as they greet the audience and chat together. You barely spare a moment for M2. You’re more interested in seeing how HexDrive are handling the pressure.

Devon, their top-line, is focused on the opponents, her eyes narrow. Luca Strauss, her teammate on the bottom, gazes to the audience. When he spots Tariq and Priya next to you he grins and waves vigorously. Trent’s on support today. It’s a change to how they’ve been lined up, but Maya’s been showing promise on jungle. The two of them are chatting together, probably sharing tactics and strats for each other’s positions. They look ready, eager.

And then the camera shows their leader, your fiancee, Rebekah. She’s looking in your direction, her hand coming down from her mouth. You guess she blew you a kiss, though you didn’t see it. That’s the only moment she takes before calling the team to a group meet.

Finally, the teams head to their computers and get ready. The big timer on the screens counts down. 5-4-3-2-1. It begins.

And it’s over as soon as it begins. Rebekah calls the play. Luca and Trent dominate the bot line, pushing past their opponent and taking down towers before the M2 support can respond. Maya helps Rebekah take middle, and Devon fights hard to keep two opponents at bay on top. It’s the fastest game of the day and the scream of triumph from HexDrive at the end is well-earned.

The judges are silent for a moment before they start commenting on the win. Words stumble over one another as they declare surprise victors and even question whether M2 should have received the hype they did. You have to agree. Perhaps there’s a reason they were Myeongnyang’s reserve team.

A few minutes later, the commentators are announcing the draw for the round of 16. You had expected it to be seeded, but apparently in Fluorescence, it’s random. One by one the names are pulled and the order of the matches is announced. HexDrive is the second-last team to be drawn, meaning they will play in the final game of the day. Their opponents are another second place team, HardKore from the UK. All in all, you think, it could have been tougher.

Fluorescence Falls falls in the first match, losing to the Brazilian team, Agonia. Myeongnyang show the real South Korean pedigree as they put out the German champions, K-spieleren. The French team, Joue de Mort, play with finesse and brush aside Canada’s Mounted Justice.

Every match raises the cries of the crowd louder. Every win brings a mix of excitement and disappointment. It means little to you, except to provide insight into who HexDrive might face if they make it through the round of 16.

Next comes Stratos, the team who beat Rebekah in the US Nationals. Their opponents are Chinese champions, NT Gaming. Stratos take control early and, even from your still limited understanding of the game, they seem very smooth, NT… not so much. They seem slow, misjudge their moves, and ultimately collapse. Of all the first place finishers you’ve seen, NT Gaming are the least convincing.

Hangdong Haze follow up, proving to be the most successful Chinese team as they put out Japanese winners, SaNcTiOn. The UK’s Nationals winner, Number Ten, obliterates Australia’s DreamTime so badly it looks almost criminal. That leaves two games to go. Sweden’s Free Netix and Poland’s Lodz L1 fight hard. The game goes back and forth before the Polish team prove victors.

Finally, it’s time for HardKore and HexDrive to take their seats again. Still, nobody has beaten Rebekah’s win time, as the commentators declare loudly. But the Brits are ready, and counter every play expertly. Luca’s towers get taken down early and it’s only Rebekah and Devon fighting hard to equalize things that prevent an early loss. Maya and Trent provide assistance wherever they can, and eventually the tables are turned. But it’s a slow, hard slog. Rebekah calls plays, the team acts. Tower by tower they take over the map. The game lasts over an hour, the exact opposite of their quick game at the start of the day. A sigh of relief greets the victory rather than a scream of joy. But it’s over. And they’re through.

Your hope to spend the night in intimate celebration with Rebekah is quickly dashed when she and HexDrive instead spend much of the night together in Trent’s room, going over the teams left in the competition. It sucks, but so close to a major prize for the first time ever, you can hardly blame them. You end up curled-up with the hotel’s pay-per-view and are already asleep before Rebekah returns to the room.