The Ace

In the distance, there's an island that sparkled brightly into the darkened night; this island is known as Lemdust island. The island was filled with many large buildings and resorts that you would never see now, maybe because this is the year 2307. Although this island isn't meant for just resorts and a large population, there's something else. There was a stadium-like building with much glass covering it, letting out many colorful lights from what was in its center from the back of the island. People were cheering and waving colorful flashlights around as they were all in the seating area surrounding the entire stadium except for the center.

Ty and the other boy had their eyes wide open as it was glowing blue around the iris of their eyes. Above the stadium in the sky, a giant hologram in the shape of a cube showed two people on separate bridges jumping and rolling through obstacles for the people looking at it in different directions(Ty and the boy he's going against)

From inside the stadium, there was a person in a dim hallway next to a vending machine. "Give me a bottle of sparkled water," the person in the shadows demanded "A bottle of...Sparkled water...Coming right up", the vending machine announced. The person stared through the machine's glass as the bottle was hovering down to the compartment seal. "Please pay to enjoy your drink." The person grabbed a small black slim square object and tapped it once on a screen on the vending machine, showing a Pay here sign.(Devices such as that is the quickest way to pay for something besides getting out your card or counting how much cash to give something) "Thank you and enjoy."

The person grabbed the drink as he was coming out of the shadows. It's a teenaged boy with an emotionless expression on his face. His hair was cut into a bald fade. He was also wearing a red and black school shirt.

The boy started sipping on his drink but suddenly stopped once he heard the people cheering louder from outside.

Back outside, the giant cube in the sky shows Ty sliding down before an axe swung towards him. He quickly got back up, continuously running as he was getting closer and closer to the finish line. The other boy competing was far behind, still dodging flamethrowers, boulders, hidden spikes from the ground.

"Shit! I'm far behind, there's no way I'll--". Out of nowhere, an arrow shot him through the side of his head. "S-Son of a--." The person suddenly turned into cubes that faded away seconds later.

Ty finally made it to the finish line, and firecrackers abruptly shot in the air. "I won?" Ty said with a shocking expression on his face as he was staring at the enormous word victory floating above him for more clarification. Ty started smiling with much delight. "Oh yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhh!!!"

Once the cube in the sky disappeared, Ty came back into reality; once his eye's stopped glowing, he got up and started cheering some more. "Yeeeaaah, who's the man?! I am!" The entire stadium grew louder and louder as Ty was cheering.

An alarm out of nowhere surrounded the entire stadium making all the people silent. "Will you all be silent as we prepare for the next match to commence, thank you."

Ty finally stopped cheering and started walking towards a hallway leading inside the building. As he was walking, he couldn't help but keep his joyful face as he walked through the hallway, stretching his arms.

"I can't believe it; I actually won Boardgame, to think that was my most challenging genre to compete in...Wonder what's next." He spotted a boy sipping a bottle of sparkled water while walking, making him stop staring at him. The boy felt Ty's gaze making him stop sipping his drink and stare at him.

"You're...The Ace, aren't you?" Ty spoke with a incoherent tone

"...Mmhm." The boy then started sipping his water again.

"Oh...Ok...". Ty started walking towards him, leaning his head on the wall. The boy's eyes turned to Ty as he was still sipping the water slowly, trying to avoid talking to him as best as he could.

"So Ace, any advice you'll like to tell me?"

"If I did, then that'll be me taking pity on you, if that's what you want." Ty just stared at him, then gave a smile as he tried his best to not pick a fight with him; "Yeah, you're right. Do you know what we're doing? Chess? Fighting? Rpg? Or Boardgame? Though I doubt we'll be doing that one since I just did it" The boy stopped sipping his drinking, giving a sigh while staring down at the murky floor. "Who cares? Is it to find some kind of weakness in me?", The boy turned to Ty, giving him an angry look, "Or is it that you are toying with me? Making me feel less of myself hoping I will lose the match?." Ty stared at him, hesitant to know what to say next. "I-I'm not...What?!" The boy started raising his drink close to his lips. "I don't blame you though, I would've done the same." He once again started drinking his water. Ty just stared at him. Then the buzzing noise appeared again, letting everyone in the stadium know the match is about to commence. "The match is about to start soon, will the contestants please come outside?"

"Thank god," Ty was saying in his head. He began to turn back to the boy. "Well see you outside, Ace." Ty started walking around through the long hallway back outside. The boy stopped sipping his water once Ty was far away enough. "Damn, I'm getting tired of this,"The boy said filled with exertion. He heard the crowd from outside screaming Ty's name as he got out

The Announcer started to speak, "Now, who you all have been waiting for..."

"Hm, guess that's me," the boy said, walking outside.

"I will like to introduce to you, the person who undefeated three years in a row, the person who could finish a match in less than 10 minutes, no 5 minutes..." The boy walked outside as he's still keeping that emotionless face on him.

"Junipeeeeer!!!" as the Announcer finished his sentence. The screams got louder as they called Juniper's name. Juniper didn't even bother turning to the people in the stands; he started walking up the thin stoned arena that only had two comfortable gaming chairs with an armrest that holds their arms in place whenever they begin the matches as they're in their conscious. Juniper spotted Ty in his chair while walking closer to his; he sat down, laying his arms into the armrest, completely sealing them from moving. Ty turned to him,"Good luck." Juniper turned to him but then stared at the people up in the stands. "Yeah, figured you wouldn't say anything," Ty said, teasingly. The Announcer began to talk, "The match is about to begin, the genre of this match is Chess."

Ty started to smile, "Chess, glad it's one that's relaxing." He turned to Juniper, closing his eyes, already beginning the match. "Is he already starting?". Ty then looked up as the giant cube appearing making the crowd cheer. "Guess I should get ready too ." Ty closed his eyes for less than a second before opening them; his eyes started glowing the bright colors from his eyes again, indicating he's in the virtual cube.

They were in a very dark area far from each other, sitting cross-legged on separate floating floorings as they were in the cube. In between both of them sat a giant chessboard with giant chess pieces already set up. They were able to hear the Announcer from inside the hologram.

"The contestant Ty shall proceed first." Ty started to smile as he was staring in the distance at Juniper. "Hey! Good luck!!!"

"Just start the game!!!", Juniper shouted showing his same attitude he just can't stop having. "Yep, he's going down," Ty quietly said with a annoyed look. "Pawn on E2 move to E4!" The 4th Pawn on Ty's side moved automatically. "Ok," Juniper announced, "Pawn E7 move to H4."

"Pawn A2 move to A3."

"Alright then, Queen move to H4."

"What?!" Ty said as he was thinking, "Why would he already spawn out the Queen? The match literally just started...The Ace is always hella surprising I admit, just gotta pay attention to his moves, then counter it."

"It's your go, Ty."

"Hm, Knight on B1 go to C3."

"Bishop on F8 go to C5."

"As I thought", Ty said, sighing, " Pawn on G2 to G3". The Pawn blocked the Queen's way.

"So you did know what I was doing", Juniper said silently as he stared at Ty.

"What?" Ty was thinking, "You assumed someone like me wouldn't know about the most well-known move Scholar's mate? He asked if I was toying with him, but he's doing the same to me. The Ace sure is a mystery".

Minutes later-

For many minutes they've been going back and forth. "Knight on B5, hit Pawn on D6", Ty announced. The Knight moved and hit the Pawn, making it float to the side of Ty with the Knight, two pawns, and Rook beside him.

"Ok, Bishop on G4, hit Knight on D7." The Knight floated on Juniper's side beside three pawns and two Bishop

From outside the hologram cube, everyone was staring up at it not even focusing on anything else around, not even the blood that was dripping out of Juniper's eyes.

Many minutes later-

On the chessboard, there were only six chess pieces on the board. A Knight, and a King with Juniper; A King, two Rooks, and a pawn.

Juniper looked utterly calm, knowing he was about to lose. His King is on D5 while his Knight is on E6. Ty observed Juniper from up and down, hand to hand, seeing if he had any smirk or shocking expression, trying to find anything before making the most obvious move to take. Ty's Pawn is on F4; his Rook is on H5 with his other on A5 and his Knight on H3. "It's my turn," Ty's thinking, "I can get him with either of my Rooks. Is this really the Ace? What I trained all these years for? He's weak, he must be hiding something...For the love of God, he's the Ace! Undefeated for three years, what is he--"

"Just make the move!!!" Juniper shouted angrily, "Do it now!!!" Ty was staring at him with his eyes widened; "Wh-What did you say?".

The crowd was just as confused.

"Is this a trick? This must be a new trick, right?" Juniper was staring at him angrily,

"Just make the move! Now!!!" Ty gave him a serious face,

"No, I'm not, after all you said to me before this match, how am I supposed to know this isn't some trick that someone yourself the Ace will pull?"

Juniper started getting furious, "Come on just take the shot alright?!"

Ty was stunned, "I...I don't--" Ty suddenly spotted Juniper turning into many cubes."Huh?!" Ty mumbled. Ty closed his eyes and opened them as he instantly came back to reality. The second he came back, he heard screams from the crowd. "Huh? Why is the crowd screaming" Ty thought to himself, "Hey wait, why do my feet feel warm?" He looked down and spotted a big puddle of blood beneath his feet. "Ah! What the hell!?" He got out of his chair and accidentally fell to the floor freaked out, as he got to his senses a little he spotted something making him horrifying. A trail of blood streaming from Juniper's eye's as he was on the ground; the blood kept splashing out of him. Ty started screaming as he tried his best to get back up and run away from the scene.