"Attention, everybody," Cato spoke up. "We're about to enter the mid-game."
"What is this, a metro station announcement?" Ronald laughed. "Bruh, we all know that."
"I'm glad you do," Cato said. "Anyway, my point is that the game will become less predictable going forward. So, keeping track of Vanishing will become that much harder."
"........" Sonya didn't say anything but she pushed her glasses in displeasure. There was no intended personal attack in that statement, but she probably translated it as such. After all, she was the one who was supposed to keep track of Vanishing's movements in this game, but she messed up and put Ronald in danger.
"Our builds are already halfway done," Cato said. "So, we can start sparing some cash for Stealth Wards."
"Are Stealth Wards really going to help?" William asked. "It sounds like a waste of resources, one that I can't afford."
"I understand your concern." Cato nodded. "The lack of kills did hurt your income a little."
"It hurt it a lot, actually. My build is half an item behind where it should be, and that's after I lowered the number of wards I've been buying recently."
"My, did you just admit that you're part of the reason why Vanishing has been having such an easy time slipping past our radars recently?"
"Don't try to pin this on me," William retorted. "We still had plenty of wards in Top Jungle back then. Vanishing just managed to slip by them, that's not my fault."
"Indeed, indeed." Cato nodded. "It was mainly the fault of the one who failed to deliver the periodic report about Vanishing's activities."
"Guh..." Sonya groaned but still didn't say anything.
Knowing Cato, he was probably dancing around the topic on purpose to take indirect jabs at Sonya. It was just his way of "having fun" or something. What an asshole.
"Anyway, Will," Cato continued. "I understand that you feel like you're falling behind in terms of farm."
"I don't just 'feel it'. It's a fact."
"It's only a 'fact' compared to your high expectations," Cato explained. "You're too used to matches in which you score kills before mid-game, so your perception of how much gold you should have is skewed. The only 'fact' I see here is that you won't get early kills that often against the really good teams."
"Hmph. You're talking as if the early-game usually has zero kills."
"Yes, that's almost always the case when it's a game between two defensive teams," Cato said. "The mid-game is where things will start going down for real. So, to be ready for it, it's best to have a Stealth Wards at hand."
"I already have one," Sonya interjected.
"My, what a good girl~!" Cato smiled. "But, so that you know, sucking up to me isn't going to score you any points right now. We're still going to have a nice and loooong chat very soon~"
"Geh..." Sonya growled. As she expected, her trial was not canceled, only postponed.
"I don't see much point in stacking Stealth Wards, honestly," William said. "It's clear that Vanishing is good at sneaking past wards, so expecting a couple of Stealth Wards to catch her specifically during stealth... it sounds unlikely, honestly."
"You make a good point," Cato agreed. "If it was just about Vanishing, then I probably wouldn't bother talking about this. But, they also have a Warlock."
"Hmm. Fair enough."
While Ninja had the ability to turn itself invisible, Warlock could turn all nearby allies invisible. As such, it was always nice to have a Stealth Ward at hand, just in case.
"But, I'll still pass for now," William insisted. "I must catch up in terms of farm first and I don't need a Stealth Ward to deal with Warlock's ult. It's not a real threat as long as I play around it."
"Well, you do you." Cato conceded this time. No point arguing with Mr. Selfish. As usual, his top priority is himself, for the better and the worse. I just hope this doesn't lead to any trouble...
With that topic out of the way, there was one more important thing to discuss. Cato had been too busy in the lane until now to properly address it, but the time has come.
"So, Sonya, my dear."
"Geeeeh..." Sonya's skin crawled just from the opening statement. Her insides squirmed from just imagining what Cato was going to say next. So, she decided to steal the initiative. "Yes. I know. I messed up."
"That you did, that you did. But, honestly, it was within expectations."
"Whose expectations?" Sonya raised an eyebrow. "For the record, I was planning to keep track of Vanishing the entire game, and I still plan to do so."
"Yes, of course." Cato nodded. "You're always diligent like that, aren't you? Too diligent, even. And, that's exactly the issue here."
"Since when is diligence an 'issue'?"
"Believe it or not, it can be a liability. And, this one example shows it very well."
"How so?" Sonya demanded.
"Tell me, which parts of the map are you currently keeping track of?"
"All of them, of course," Sonya said matter-of-factly. "That's what any player worth his salt ought to do."
"Yes, of course," Cato agreed. "But, please remind me what was the special mission you were given?"
"To keep tabs on Vanishing, duh. What's with the rhetorical questions all of a sudden?"
"Well, you see, that's where we have a little tiny problem," Cato said. "You were supposed to keep tabs on Vanishing, a player we know requires extra attention because of how slippery she is. Yet, at the same time, you also continued paying close attention to the rest of the map. Don't you find that a bit contradictory?"
"Not at all. I just had to multitask, that's all."
"My, such confidence in your analytic skills."
"Not to brag or anything, but that's the one area I excel in."
"Yes, that you do." Cato nodded. "But, there is a limit to how much a single brain can keep up with. And, you were definitely pushing yours past the limit there."
"Not at all," Sonya insisted. "I don't see a reason why I should compromise on either source of data. Keeping track of Vanishing and keeping track of the rest of the map are both equally important."
"Yes, there is some truth to that," Cato agreed. "But, I believe you're forgetting the entire reason why we even need to keep tabs on Vanishing in the first place. Namely, the fact that she's an elusive player who requires that kind of special attention."
"Yes, she requires a bit of extra attention, I've come to accept that," Sonya conceded. "But, enemy Junglers always require extra attention. It's nothing new and it's no reason to pay less attention to other things."
"My, how stubborn." Cato shook his head. "You're going to keep denying her elusiveness until the day you die, aren't you?"
"Not at all," Sonya said. "I admit that she is rather sneaky, a bit more than the average Jungler we're used to playing against. But, that's all there is to it. As long as somebody keeps tabs on her, she's not a threat."
"Indeed, indeed." Cato nodded. "As long as somebody consistently monitors her, then Vanishing shouldn't be a problem. And really, you've been doing a great job in that role throughout the game. These periodic reports about Vanishing's position may seem excessive but I believe they're necessary."
"Good to hear."
"With all that said, Vanishing still managed to sneak up on Ronald because he hasn't been properly warned for a while."
"That's..." Sonya opened her mouth but then closed it without saying anything. There wasn't a single thing she could say in her defense here. Down to it, this was her blunder, straight and simple.
"And just so we're on the same page," Cato continued. "That gank could've easily resulted in a kill if the enemy's teamwork was a little more organized. Ronald only got away scot-free because Phoenix wasn't close enough to assist Vanishing."
"Yes, I'm aware..." Sonya sighed. Ultimately, no matter how much she wanted to argue against Cato's accusations, she had to admit that Ronald almost died because she failed to pay enough attention to Vanishing's status at that critical moment.
All I had to do was report that Vanishing was still MIA. Sonya sighed. That would've made a case for ordering Ronald to retreat early, which would've prevented that entire disaster.
"First things first," Cato said. "Do you mind briefing me on why your periodic reports slowed down back then? I think I already know, but I want to hear it from you."
"I was preoccupied in the lane," Sonya explained. "Beat started playing more aggressively all of a sudden after being tame the entire time. That caught me off-guard, so I had to prioritize the lane for a while."
"If I had to guess, she probably noticed that you were distracted by monitoring Vanishing and the rest of the map, so she decided to dial up the offense."
"Perhaps," Sonya said. "Either way, while I was busy in the lane, there was no sign of Vanishing anywhere on the map. None of the wards revealed her, so I couldn't know whether she even left Bot Jungle at any point."
"That has already happened a few times in this game, though," Cato argued. "Usually, you'd warn us about the possibility of Vanishing rotating to Top Jungle because of that uncertainty."
"Yes, I made sure to give warnings like that during the regular reports, but..."
"Your report was overdue at the time." Cato just came out and said it. "You sure took your sweet time issuing that much-needed warning."
"Yes, I've been postponing empty reports like that more and more because I felt like they weren't serving much of a purpose," Sonya admitted. "I didn't want to spam you with guesses, so I gradually increased the interval between reports like that."
"You increased it so much that you eventually forgot all about it."
"That's not true," Sonya insisted. "I did plan to report it, eventually."
"My, are you sure Vanishing didn't just vanish from your memory? I heard she's pretty good at that."
"That definitely didn't happen," Sonya asserted. "It's absurd to suggest it's possible to entirely forget about the existence of a player, let alone the enemy Jungler."
"Maybe not entirely," Cato agreed. "But, temporarily? Very possible. You see this happen all the time during chaotic situations. People focus too much on the complicated situation in front of them and miss other factors."
"Never happens to me."
"Of course, of course." Cato smiled impishly. "The human machine does not make blunders like that, except when your nemesis, Vanishing, is involved~"
"She's not my nemesis and not special in general," Sonya insisted. "She's just a mediocre Jungler who is somewhat decent at keeping a low profile, which helps her to sneak around more easily, that's all."
"My, you sure love her~"
"I don't feel strongly about her per se, but I do hate the way you assume she's some sort of expert at erasing her presence like she's a ninja or something."
"Well, she IS a Ninja in this game."
"Very funny." Sonya made a face.
"Anyway," Cato said. "The next wave is about to arrive, so I'll stop messing with you. Let's get to the point."
"Thank you."
"In the end, no matter what you say, the results speak for themselves," Cato said. "You let Vanishing slip past you, that fact is undeniable. And, the reason you allowed that to happen was that you were preoccupied with too many things at once."
"I suppose that's correct."
"As for the specifics, you already said that your lane made you unexpectedly busy back then. But, I'm sure that, while you were busy with the lane, you continued analyzing the rest of the map at all times."
"Of course," Sonya admitted without hesitation. There was no doubt in her mind that she did the right thing despite the results.
"Of course, it's important to maintain map awareness, but you had to sacrifice at least some of it to keep better track of Vanishing."
"I've already sacrificed more than enough gold on extra wards, and I've also sacrificed plenty of my time on the regular reports."
"Yes, you've been doing a great job until that point, no doubt. But, as time went on, you started taking things less and less seriously."
"I... didn't..." Sonya's tone was weak. Deep down, a part of her felt guilty.
To put it bluntly, she started slacking on the job. Of course, it didn't seem that way to her back then, but in retrospect, that's what happened.
Sonya found the job unrewarding and started questioning its value for the team. That's what pushed her to focus more on other aspects of the game, and as a result, she started neglecting her job as Vanishing's supervisor.
"My, isn't it interesting?" Cato smiled impishly. "It's almost as if you and Vanishing have been negotiating this entire game, and she ultimately convinced you to let her do as she pleases. She pretty much talked you into being her accomplice in crime~"
"That's quite the hyperbole." Sonya made a face. "But yes, her actions did 'convince' me that it was fine to underestimate a little more. In retrospect, I should have realized it sooner. It might've been intentional."
"Yes, I'm sure it is," Cato said. "In all the games we saw Vanishing play, she always maintained a low profile while dodging wards, that's the gist of her vanishing trick. And, you can deny it all you want, but you totally fell for it."
"............. " Sonya wanted to say something back but she couldn't. As much as she hated to admit it, the criticism was mostly on point.
There was no denying that Sonya's supervision over Vanishing loosened over time, to the point she failed to warn her allies in time before a critical gank hit them like a truck. If another mistake like that happens, the consequences might be grave this time...
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