Solo: 4980.
For the first time since MMR was released, Jackie Mao was a sub-5k player.
He took off his HyperX headset, rolled back in his NEEDforSEAT chair, and stood up. He was glad he wasn't streaming. He didn't know what he would have done if he had been. Instead, his feet carried him over to his bed, and he collapsed down across the Cloud9 comforter, staring up at the anime posters he'd taped all across the ceiling.
"What happened, boys...?" His voice was faint, indistinct. He couldn't wrap his head around it. He'd dropped out of college for this. He'd spent so many years training. He'd built up the strongest teams he could. He'd shoved out players who couldn't cut it, who couldn't match his drive. And now he was a sub-5k player. He raised his hand up, looking at it just as Kirito had done in episode 12 of Sword Art Online. "Did I feed?"
The new shuffle hadn't seemed to work. Ever since TI5... no, he couldn't think about TI5. Not about what had happened there. He had tried to fix it. He thought that new players would solve it. That's why he'd kicked bone7. He was too unreliable. He needed a reliable offlane. And FATA was getting iffy as well. Panda was better for TI4, not TI6. Puck had been nerfed hard, too, after people had figured out the Satanic build. He was right to get rid of them, right to build his team anew.
But... it hadn't worked. They weren't even able to get second place any longer.
He swung his feet back off of the bed, kicking aside an empty bottle of specially-imported ramune soda as he walked over to his shelf. He had set up a shrine, there, with one figurine standing at its heart. He picked her up, now, looking down into her eyes in the dark red glare of the DOTA2 main menu. His lips hardly moved as he spoke. "Taiga-sama," he asked, "is being a tryhard not enough? How will I defend their rares now?" He felt the tears well up in his eyes, starting to stream down his cheeks and drip off of his chin. He imagined the camera shot shifting to watch them stain the carpeting with their wetness.
"If this keeps up, I... I'll have to rename myself TemporaryEnvy," he sobbed, falling down to his knees. "I don't know what to do! Why is it never enough?" He lifted his head up, trying to look for some kind of inspiration, and through the misty blur of his tears he saw the wallscroll for Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. He looked on their happy, smiling faces, and he remembered the lesson he'd learned from that show. "It's not about trying hard, is it, Taiga-sama?" He looked down to the grumpy-faced figurine cradled in his hands, a wobbly smile forming on his lips. "It's about your nakama."
He stood quickly, putting her back on her place in the shrine. "Itadakimasu," he said, bowing in quick prayer, before turning back to his computer. He scrolled through the green sea of his friends list, searching out those few names he needed. Main Menu - Idle. He double-clicked. There was work to do.
------
Two days later.
Jackie shifted nervously from one foot to another as he stood in the great, echoing Half Life terminal of Gabe Newell International Airport. Valve had bought the former O'Hare with some of the proceeds from TI5, though they'd had plenty left to buy Morocco with. His eyes scanned the crowd anxiously. He didn't know if they'd really be coming, if they'd really arrive.
He felt a tap on his shoulder, and whirled around. "Pie," he gasped, looking the Swede in the eyes. "I-I'm glad you made it."
Johan Åström grinned, patting Jackie with one hand and raising a plastic grocery bag with the other. "Look," he said proudly. "I'll brought food for all of us."
Jackie found himself smiling back, and pulled the support in for a hug. "I knew I could count on you to feed," he chuckled, squeezing him tight.
"Am I interrupting something?" The two men broke off their embrace, turning to look at the new arrival. Kurtis Ling took his glasses off, wiping them on his shirt, and coughed lightly.
"Aui!" Jackie exclaimed, taking a half-step forward. "I thought you said you were busy. And what about your other team?"
The man turned his head to the side, folding his arms. A faint pink tinge crept across his cheeks. "W-well, I wasn't planning on it. It's just... there isn't anyone else who wants to play Drow to buff my birds. Don't think it's anything special, baka!"
"That's three of us," Pieliedie stated, looking around. "So two more..."
A man broke away from the crowd, dressed in the strangest assortment of clothes and colors possible. He dashed up to the group, and bent over his knees, panting heavily. "Sorry I'm late," Pittner Armand gasped. "I had trouble getting my visa."
"No problem, Bone," Jackie answered, looking over his outfit with shock and dismay. "But... what's with the clothes?"
The offlaner beamed proudly, picking at the cloth with his fingers. "It's my new style! Don't you like it? I think it could be the next big thing."
Aui_2000 rolled his eyes, turning away from the group. "Just one more, right?" he asked, tapping his foot impatiently.
Jackie could feel a knot tightening in his stomach, and he gulped. "Yes, just one more." He stared down at his feet, not wanting to look up. Would he be here? Would he have decided to come? He didn't dare look into the crowd and find out for himself.
A soft, low voice broke the silence, as familiar to the carry as if he had heard it just yesterday. It sent shivers down his spine, recognizing the words as much as the tone they were spoken in. "Two tangoes pls?" Jackie slowly raised his head, the motion feeling light and dreamlike, and looked towards the source of the voice.
There was Artour Babaev, smiling warmly towards his one-time captain. Jackie took a faltering step towards him, arms reaching out to that swole body. He stopped, though, and a few tears trickled down his cheeks. He wiped them away, trying to hide his face, and muttered an apology. "I-I don't want you to see me like this..."
Artour shook his head, stepping forward to embrace Jackie, microing each finger perfectly to rub the man's back. "Don't worry about it. We're all S A D B O Y S here."
Jackie nodded, smiling, and gave the mid a hug back before reluctantly stepping away to look at the team he'd gathered.
The five men stood in a circle, ordered neatly from 5 to 1 position. Jackie straightened up, taking a deep, shuddering breath. "So, boys, I guess... Kaipi's back together again. Who's with me?" He put his hand in the middle of the circle, palm-down. A moment later it was joined by Artour's, and then by Johan's, and then Pittner's. Kurtis took a moment longer, but huffed and put his hand in as well.
Jackie's eyes moved from each to the next, lingering on each player that he'd done so much with, and it took a long pause before he finally spoke. "Guess we should go scrim, huh?" Each man nodded, and as a group, they turned to walk out of the airport. The team was back together again, and an observer would hear only one small voice before they faded out of sight.
"Hey, after practice, we should all watch Grey's Anatomy."