Lars and Vincent received the important task of pep-talking Luke. But, what was the best way to go about it? What was going to be their grand plan?
"Shouldn't we just talk to him straight?" Lars suggested. "Simple and effective, yo."
"Indeed, that is one approach," Vincent said. "But, do you think that'll be enough? Luke appears to be in quite the slump, so we need something big to pull him out of it."
"Yeaaaaaah, dude ain't looking good," Lars agreed. "So, what do ya suggest?"
"Well, how about something like this…"
And so, a plan was set in motion. It wasn't anything fancy, definitely not on par with Chessmaster's craftiness, but it gave them a solid footing to start with.
In the first place, the goal here wasn't to manipulate Luke. The duo just wanted to have a friendly talk with the fallen Meme Jedi and bring him back to the light side.
So, they waited for the right time and assaulted their prey in broad daylight! "Yo, my dude!" Lars wrapped his arm around Luke's shoulder. "What's up, yo?"
"Going home, that's what's up," Luke said. "Don't you have practice today?"
"Yes, there's practice," Vincent said. "However, we decided to ditch it this time."
"You what?" Luke's jaw dropped. "Seriously?"
"Indeed." Vincent nodded. "After all, we're here right in front of you, aren't we? This proves we're currently not in the clubroom, unless you suggest we have quantum qualities and can simultaneously exist both here and there."
"So, you're seriously skipping?" Luke asked again. "That's new. Yuel is going to talk your ear off."
"Nah, it's fine. We'll just sort it out with him later."
"Indeed," Vincent said. "Everybody needs a rest once in a while, don't you agree?"
In truth, they discussed the details of this plan with Yuel in advance. He was vehemently against them losing a day of practice, but Vincent argued this was a magnificent setup for getting through to Luke. "If we skip practice on the same day Luke does, it'll make us comrades! Nakama!"
At some point during the debate, Yuel lost the energy to continue arguing and gave them a day off. But, only ONE day off! He stressed that part clearly.
And so, that's how Vincent and Lars were here right now, joining Luke's criminal activities.
"So," Lars started. "Got any plans for the day off?"
"Not really." Luke shrugged. "Was planning to go home."
"Then, let's hang out!"
"Eh, I dunno..." Luke awkwardly scratched his head. There was visible fatigue on his face, but not the kind that came from physical activity.
"We have a rare opportunity on our hands here," Vincent claimed. "The stars aligned to grant us freedom from practice during daytime. It'd be a colossal shame not to make the most of it!"
"Totally, yo!" Lars exclaimed. "Thinking of it, we haven't had many chances to hang out like this, right?"
"Of course not," Luke ranted. "It's always practice, practice, and then some more practice. I'm supposed to be a middle schooler, but I feel like I have a full-time job here."
"Haha, true dat." Lars laughed. "I do wanna become a pro, tho. So, gotta keep grinding, yo!"
"Gotta be nice to have such big dreams..." Luke felt a sense of alienation from that dreamer. How could Lars talk so confidently about such a distant future? Luke could never.
"In that case, I propose we challenge ProCenter today!" Vincent suggested. "It shall allow us to feel like real pros in any activity we desire!"
"Heck yeah! Lessgo, yo!"
"Wait a minute," Luke said. "Don't tell me this is just some 200 IQ plan to get me to play Mancers today. Did Yuel put you up to this?"
"Non, non!" Vincent motioned with his finger. "I did suggest ProCenter, but I didn't say Classmancers, did I? It has many other games to try, including non-PC ones like bowling and billiards."
"Oh, I like those!" Lars grinned. "Haven't played them much, but I remember it felt gud to snipe things!"
"Oh boy," Luke said. "Somehow, I have the feeling Lars is gonna mop the floor with us at these games..."
"Indeed, that does sound like a very likely scenario..." Vincent smiled wryly. "The Gungnir Sniper will strike us both down!"
"Heck yeah!" Lars pumped a fist. "Gonna show ya my 200% accuracy!"
"I'm actually curious now to see you pull that off with stuff like bowling," Luke said. "Alright. I'm going. Let's see watcha got, dude!"
"You're on, yo!"
And so, the trio headed to ProCenter. This was the first step in Lars and Vincent's grand plan to convert Luke to their noble cause! Or something like that.