Hopping on the Xbox, the three realized they didn't have their accounts.
On each of the tables was a 7-day Gold trial card which they quickly snatched up.
'Remnants of the golden era!' Mandrew smiled as he held the card in his hand. The touch was just so… nostalgic. And the smell was oh so pleasant!
"Guess we can make smurf accounts, that will work the best for Ivaan." remarked Mandrew.
Ivan quickly agreed. They settled on three different names with Mandrew as XL0GDUMP3RX; Ivan Rodriguez as Sir Bignose; and Ivan Evilrez as IMBABYWAAAA.
After adding each other and logging onto Rocket League, the tree immediately entered into their settings.
Camera shake? Absolute trash, it should default to 'off.'
Field of View? Slide it up to 110.
The rest of the settings were as follows: Height? 100; Angle? -4.0; Distance? 260; Stiffness? Anywhere between 0.4–0.6; Swivel? Between 4.0–10.0; Transition Speed? Set it to a solid 1.2–1.6.
They also remapped a few of the controls, making air rolling and whatnot function more efficiently.
Afterwards. They partied up before entering into a 3v3 queue, their faces glowing with anticipation.
Mandrew felt a wave of emotions wash over him. He was nervous, but even more so he was antsy, his hands shaking restlessly as the queue changed from searching to joining.
Finally, he felt like he was getting his long awaited fix after a week's period of withdrawal—but in this case more of a year's worth of withdrawal.
The loading screen popped up and the map chosen was Salty Shores—the day version—his favorite of all Rocket League maps. IUt was almost like Rocket League was warmly welcoming him back!
Immediately, he noted his starting position was far right, with Ivan at center back, and Ivaan off center left with their colors of the blue team.
The start-up timer commenced and all of his worries were quickly devoured by the ever-growing fiend inside him, thirsting for nothing but wins!
"1"
'This is it.' He clenched his controller tightly.
"2"
'This is my return. My resurgence!' His eyes burnt feverishly.
"3"
'I'm going to win. This entire week, I'm going to win!' His veins popped out through his body, far more intense than during his special military training.
"GO!"
Mandrew's car, the octane, with its all rounded performance and perfect hitbox, boosted off the kick-off leaving behind a nostalgic trail of exhaust fumes as his wheels grinded against the ground.
Mandrew breathed in, feeling like he could even smell that sweet aroma, and found himself deeply immersed.
He was the car, and the car was him.
This was a concept he understood, one he touched upon, but still, to this very day, he couldn't quite enter into the necessary state of enlightenment to truly become the car.
Perhaps, winning the RLCS was but one of many precursors to achieve this synchronized state of mind, a synergy between car and human… between Octane and Mandrew.
A couple of seconds in, he snapped his car forward with a diagonal flip, reaching the ball in mere seconds and getting the first touch on the ball.
"Fuck yeah!" Mandrew roared, nearly crunching his controller into bits as his score went up from 0-2 for touching the ball.
This was it! Even after a year, his familiarity with the controls had not wavered!
But still, could he pull off his old techniques?
Whether he could or couldn't, it didn't matter because Ivaan continued left to grab a solid 100 boost pad, while Ivan followed a moderate distance behind Mandrew, perfect for defending and pressuring.
Naturally, Mandrew, with his titanic hydracannon of a shot, easily won the kick-off as he launched the ball down their field before their starting pressure could even reach it.
"EASY!"
"Nice!" Ivan yelled out, signaling for Ivaan to pressure while he collected a nice 100 boost pad left of midfield.
Resisting his temptations to follow and dunk on the enemy team of scrubs, Mandrew decided to let Ivaan go for it.
Albeit on the clumsy side, Ivaan managed to hit the ball off wall. It wasn't quite enough to qualify as an aerial, but still more than sufficient for a newcomer.
And with his fully prepped 100 boost, Ivan soared through the sky, hitting ball with an aerial.
But like always, the dreaded moment came.
All three opponents triple committed the ball while in net, bopping one another but managing to save the goal.
Ivan sniggered at their futile attempt to save the ball because—MANDREW WAS THERE!
You can't see him! You can't expect him! But he's there, always there! Perfect timing, perfect location, always ready!
BOOM!
Mandrew boosted forward, moving too fast for the eyes to see! Even the car mirrors couldn't pick him up in their line of sight! And then—
BAM!
At Mach 50, the ball burst into the goal!
"GOAL!"
"1–0"
Taking a look at the clock, only 10 seconds had passed with 4:50 still on the clock.
This game was far too easy for the former RLCS players.
Following the second countdown, the kick-off was slightly different this time. The newbie, Ivaan, shot forward with a run-of-the-mill fifty, ultimately tying it in mid.
Mandrew followed, shooting it straight into the enemy team's goal as they were now 2–0.
Even so, he felt no enjoyment from such an easy goal. There was no flamboyance! No flare that showcased his skulls which stood out even at the top of the ranked ladder!
The enemy team immediately conceded the game to no surprise, directly backing out to the main menu.
At this moment they wished for nothing more than to uninstall this sweaty game and go play something like Destiny 2—but that free game demanded far too much money for their near-empty pockets.
They asked themselves this same question: Do I want to get decimated on Rocket League? Or go play Destiny 2, sitting at the bottom of the ranks grinding, just so I can do a raid and receive trash-tier loot?
Naturally, they chose to continue Rocket League, queuing up for another game.
But their misfortune was on the high rise today, and they joined Mandrew's match one again.
"DAMMIT!" the enemies yelled, typing with fluent toxicity in chat.
Mandrew merely smiled, his inner fiend feeding off of their toxicity, growing stronger and stronger as his malicious aura towered over the frightened trio.
"Let me handle this one," he said as he took on a 1v3.
The enemy team raged as one car stood against all three of theirs.
"How dare he humiliate us like this! Who does he think he is?" One slinky youth yelled over their Discord call like a standard cross-platform sweat.
"Maybe he thinks he's one of The Three Fiends or a member of Mandinga?" a bespectacled youth with thick round lenses scoffed.
"Heh. The Three Fiends? You mean that trash team that disbanded after a miserable loss?" a chunky boy chuckled, chortling with a nasally voice.
Luckily for them, Mandrew couldn't hear their call. Otherwise, he might just end their bronze-ranked Rocket League careers for good here and now.
Before they could say anymore, Mandrew dribbled the ball horizontally across the field, juking out all of their cars before flicking it onto the wall, then quickly following it up wall. His motions were smooth, almost as natural as a leaf flowing with the wind.
The opponents were lost at Mandrew's brilliance, forgetting their earlier mockery.
"Wh-what is he doing?!" The chunky boy asked as he snorted his nose, his eyes full of amazement.
Mandrew scooped the ball up the wall and followed with an absolute beaut of a half-flip, continuing to boost up.
The slinky youth cried out in alarm as Mandrew caught the ball into an aerial dribble, flying towards their goal. He stood from his gaming chair, fingers leaving his keyboard and even unplugging his mic from his pc in shock.
He was far beyond being astonished.
"No way! No way! Is he going to pull off the legendary flipperoni into an air dribble and lastly into the impossible lariat goal?!" the bespectacled boy cried out in disbelief.
The boy thought this could only happen in imagination, but today he was seeing it with his own two eyes and in the flesh!
That's right, two eyes—not four eyes!
He didn't even realize when his glasses fell from his face because his vision didn't change at all! Mandrew's beautiful play… it corrected his vision back to 20/20 and the previously bespectacled youth cried at this realization.
No longer did his parents have to spend all their money, going into debt, to correct his vision that was rapidly worsening by the day from extended game time.
And now, he could fully commit to becoming a true Rocketeer, one day entering into the ring of RLCS.
Not just the bespectacled boy, the other two had experienced significant changes as well.
The chubby boy felt his sinus infection immediately clear away, likewise his chubbiness was immediately shedded and he looked ripped! 'I'm all muscle! It's a fucking miracle!'
Likewise, the slinky youth suddenly experienced a gain of weight but purely in terms of muscle. He was crying tears of joy. 'This must be a sign! The god of Rocket League has descended and blessed me with a holy body. From this day onwards, I will train physically and mentally to uphold your name.'
Mandrew didn't realize it, but today… Today, he turned three boys into men—three Rocket Rookies into Rocketeers.
Even now, when no one knew his name, he was changing lives for the better!
Like what the rain was to the plants, he was bringing saturation to this withered down, dying community of Rocket League players.
The trio conceded right after witnessing this skill.
It wasn't that they wanted to leave, no, they absolutely loved seeing such a beautiful play! But how could they limit these pros to playing with a few chumps like them? With no desire to hold him back, they came to that conclusion.
Before leaving, they asked in chat, "Who are you? Such an amazing play! Where can we find you?"
Their eyes were wet as small droplets formed in their eyes as tears of joy started to percolate from their tear ducts, streaming down their cheeks.
Mandrew paused for a brief moment, quickly texting back while chomping down on some Cheetos, "Wait for a couple years and you'll see me again. In the meantime, remember: The Fiend's Resurgence. Work hard, and you might even be like me one day.
Saying their goodbyes, everyone quickly returned to the main menu.
"Queue up another?" Mandrew asked.
"Of course." Ivan smiled, Ivaan following in agreement.