The Game Begins

James had cultivated a relationship with Verity, and surprisingly, Ebony, by coming over to their house and teaching Verity, (and Ebony, though not as much) strategies and the most optimal way to play. Verity came to view James as this amazing teacher and master of the game while Ebony came to tolerate James after seeing her sister, (and again, herself) get much better at the game. All according to James's plan.

James knew that the more players at his side, the better. it was simply something he couldn't pass up, especially considering how adept Verity was at the game. James could beat any average Joe that bothered him, but Verity was an even match for James. They played numerous games, and they had an almost even win-lose streak.

Ebony, not so much.

While Ebony was skilled in her own right, she let her emotions get the better of her, leading Ebony to pull rash moves and dumb decisions. Usually, your average Joe would still lose, but any skilled player could easily exploit Ebony's style, leading to her downfall. It was something that James took pleasure in reminding her about, usually in the form of beating her at the game.

While Verity (and Ebony) usually played against James for training and practice, every once in a while they would decide they actually wanted something from him (Ebony was usually the one to pull these stunts, but Verity did it a couple of times as well.) and were willing to play a round to get it. James was liberal with crushing Ebony every time she tried, but Verity was a problem. It was lucky that Verity actually liked James, unlike Ebony, or else James might have lost some things that were important to him. usually, Verity's requests consisted of favors by James that she couldn't do herself, being a kid and all.

James reflected on how much Verity changed when James first met her. She was in awe and admiration of James, which was nice, but to anyone else besides her sister, Verity was sadistic in her play style. She would ruthlessly crush her opponents as if they were ants, and usually asked a high price for their loss. The only other player that James knew of who was more sadistic and ruthless than Verity was "The Devil King" himself, Jillian. James chalked it up to all kids being secretly cruel.

Ebony was an entirely different kind of player. Her stakes were usually small unless absolutely necessary, her play style was tough but not ruthless, and she was usually kind to the players she beat.

"She did change in her own way" James thought, reflecting on how Ebony barely smiled at home, her happy go lucky attitude was gone, her bubbly, enthusiastic personality had disappeared, and when no one was looking, showed open hostility to James, all combined to make a less then ideal person to deal with on a regular basis. James figured that all of it was mostly justified, all things considered. James believed that Ebony blamed him for changing her sister into a sadistic psychopath, which was fair, mostly because it was true.

James looked back on his exploits so far, wondering how far he came from merely a year ago. Unlike the psychopaths and the sadists or even the people who just wanted something from others, James didn't go out looking for games to play. He only did it three times to ensure everyone knew he had a special card and was pretty decent at the game, then just waited for small fry to come to him. Of course, James was too cynical to just hope this strategy would work. Luckily, he had some decent evidence that it would, considering that Jillian was basically doing the same thing with much success.

After that, James had started to receive "visitors" at his apartment since. James didn't know who leaked his address, (even though he knew it would happen) but profited nonetheless. He wanted to keep a low profile. Famous enough for people to come looking for a battle, but not famous enough for some of the big players to come looking for a battle. He really didn't need Jillian to walk up and challenge him. So, when he asked for stakes, he asked for enough for him to maintain a decent lifestyle, but not enough that he could be compared to someone like Jillian. Verity's games asked for more, while Ebony asked for less. He thought of it as a good compromise.

Thinking back on it however, James realized that while he was well known enough to be given a title, he didn't really ever DO anything. He just lazed around waiting for suckers to drop in and give him their loose change. James wondered why that was for him. Yes, he didn't want to lose everything to someone like Jillian, but surely he could be doing more?

When James thought about it, people like Jillian and others like him don't really bother with other legendary players. Supposedly, they'll go win tournaments, deal with the idiots that challenged them, etc. but won't go out of their way to battle other legendary players. James wondered why that was. It's not like they don't battle legendary players ever, they've been consistently televised doing so, but those battles usually happen by circumstance or coincidence more then anything else. There are hardly, if ever, cases of a legendary player going to another legendary player and just stomping them out. Hell, the stakes for legendary player games against one another never really include the special card in the mix.

Maybe James was just being unreasonably paranoid. James said he wanted it all when this started... So what happened to that mentality? James wanted fun, and these average Joes that only ever played three games coming to challenge him were not fun.

The more James thought about it, the more he wanted to go out and PLAY. His resolve started to steel, he wanted to have fun with this game, even for purely selfish reasons. James decided that maybe hiding in the shadows was no longer a benefit. Hell, battling someone who's skills were on par with his own, who wasn't Verity, sounded like a hell of a lot of fun.

So, James resolved his will. He planned to bring Ebony and Verity along for the ride, just because, and planned to join the next big tournament. He got up from his old sofa, and got up to walk out the door of his apartment...