Let it never be said Nikki was lax in her commitments. She always put a hundred and ten...no...TWO hundred percent into everything she did! Granted that was only when it was tangentially related to the pursuit of glorious SCIENCE, but her current goal of working herself to the bone on the Fists and Fighters team had little to do with the sciences, so...progress?
In all seriousness, she absolutely gave a damn about this dumb little video game contest more then most things, even if it was entirely for selfish reasons. Keeping it afloat was her top priority if she wanted to stay enrolled her, so that's exactly what she tried to do. When she wasn't playing the game, she was looking up strategy guides, watching tutorials, running over battle-plans in her head, even digging into the lore to try and squeeze as much information as she could out of the series. It even got so far as to incorporate into her schoolwork, as the very confused math teacher found out when an algebra problem involving apples and oranges turned into spearmen and health potions on Nikki's paper. Every waking moment, every idle second, she was laser-focused on this one task, as her laboratory equipment sat nearly unused in her dorm. Fists of Fighters team. She had to stay on the Fists of Fighters team.
"Be honest, do you think I'm losing my nerve?"
Eva, the Satyress that was her long-suffering roommate glanced up from her laptop from her perch in the bed on the other side of the room. "You talking to me or the bird?"
Nikki's eye twitched as she turned back to the confused pigeon plucked out of the open window, held firmly in her grip. "Yes, I see her too Squit," she said to the bird. "Don't worry, we'll get you back to Pesto and Bobby after my stay at the academy is secure." Tired of this, the pigeon pecked at her thumb, causing her to release her grip with a sharp yell.
"SQUIT NO!" Nikki shouted, clambering after the bird as it flew out the window. "I need you! The team needs you! AMERICA NEEDS YOOOOOOOOU!"
"Oh my god, I cannot believe I'm missing you blowing up the dorm right now," Eva grumbled, snapping her laptop shut. "You need help, Nikki. The Fisting Fighters dweebs are making you even worse."
"Fists and Fighters, thou plebian!"
"Whatever." Eva got to her feet and packed up her bag. "I'm going to the library. Please detox, I have a big test tomorrow and I can't sleep if you're manhandling the pigeons."
"But the big game is TOMORROW!" Nikki pleaded. "And I'm woefully underprepared! Everyone is! What if I take a less optimal path and it costs us 0.3 more seconds to arrive at the frontlines? What if Luke's cooldowns are sluggish due to the slight connection difference and our teamwork together is sub-optimal? What if Mohini is a microsecond late on her fire control and causes a breakdown in concentration as our teamwork collapses like uranium going through a fission reaction? THESE ARE SERIOUS CONSIDERATIONS!!!" Nikki blinked and took a deep breath before realizing that Eva had in fact left well before her rant began.
She was right though, with the game tomorrow, mere excellence would not do. Sure the team played so well that even the self-conscious Mohini was confident, but she could settle for mere excellence. No, in order for this to work, Nikki needed perfection. She needed the one thing that she knew that could push them towards gaming perfection like no other. She needed...the Fuel.
Practically diving across the room, Nikki rummaged through her equipment in a manic fervor, preparing to recreate the Fuel. It was a recipe she knew by heart, a brilliant concoction that bestowed energy, helped with concentration and reflexes, even helped to cure minor ailments. If it weren't for that one itty bitty side effect, it could have caused a sensation, but alas it sat forgotten in the collection of failed inventions and creations that Nikki collected en masse.
Until now.
---
"Connection goes live in five minutes," Ms. Patrick announced. "Make sure your team is prepared."
The big day, at last. As a simple exhibition, there wasn't a grand stadium or live performance for this matchup; the highly skilled West Coast team merely connected to a game with the Monster High team and played, simple best of 3 game with a teacher to supervise. That didn't make it any less stressful for the four students. Outside of Luke who always looked perpetually cool, Mohini was practically a nervous wreck, her hair messy and her eyes sore and just barely bloodshot.
"Barely got any sleep last night," she explained. "So nervous."
"Don't worry, we got this guys!" Kay the shark girl said, her voice cracking slightly as she tried to keep an optimistic outlook.
"Y-yes, we will have them!" Nikki announced, by far the worst looking of the group. Twitchy and pale, the others wondered if she stayed up all night practicing as her hands shook dangerously. "How about something special before we get started, hm?" Acting casually, Nikki reached down into her backpack and pulled out a pitcher and four plastic cups, pouring a flowing purple liquid into each.
"Refreshments?" Luke questioned, running his finger around the rim of one glass like he was trying to make a tone.
"Energy drink, something my...family passed down from generation to generation," Nikki lied readily. "Just a little bit of a kick before the match starts." Nikki quaffed her own drink to prove her point, and the effects were immediate; a warmth spread from her throat to her stomach, all through her body to the tips of her fingers and toes. Her small aches, pains, and twitches subsided as she began to feel re-energized and rejuvenated by the strange brew.
"I hope there's not anything I should be concerned about in that stuff," Ms. Patrick said coolly.
"Oh nothing at all, just natural extracts and juices all throughout! No booze or anything like that!" Nikki said brightly. Luke, seeing the change in his teammate, grabbed his own cup, only betraying his feelings on the drink by the sharp uptick of his brow in surprise.
"Huh...not bad..."
"Wait, really? Gimme some!" Kay snatched a cup and drank it all in one gulp, exhaling with a gasp.
"Wow, it's like...liquid electricity or something!" Kay exclaimed. "I feel like I could run twenty miles before the game starts!"
"Get ready, thirty seconds..." Miss Patrick warned the students. Mohini stared at the drink in front of her, in turn feeling the stares of her friends on her.
"Seriously Mo, try it. I feel like we're going to win just by tasting the stuff!" Kay insisted.
"Ten seconds..."
Mohini took the cup in her hand, still staring.
"Come on Mo," Nikki said, putting on her best and brightest smile. "Let's clean their clock!" The scientist watched in delight as Mohini drank down her helping of the Fuel, her eyes widening in surprise.
"Wow!" she sighed. "It's....its....!"
"Time!" Miss Patrick announced. "Controllers in hand, get ready!"
In one fluid motion, the whole team reached down to pick up their controllers, eyes focused intently on the screen, planning out strategies and battle plans. This was going to work, Nikki thought to herself in between her own planning. We're the perfect Fist and Fighters team, and we are going to...
Option A: WIN! Our heroes clobber the West Coast team and earn their status as an official FoF team!
Option B: Tie? It's a dead heat all the way through, and there will need to be a rematch next week. More training!
Option C: Ugh...I don't feel so good. Is the Fuel having an unexpected reaction?
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