Part 18: Mate in...

Now, it's time for us to go back and get going on a new route! The thread has voted, and thus we will start at that period of time before the Jade Emperor first appears- when we were given the opportunity to go and speak to some of our fellow abductees. We're going to go and pick one more of the options from that period- though I'll remind you, these choices don't dictate what route we end up on; they're mostly just for character development. The remaining ones we will visit in a similar fashion, in a later update.

Therefore, this time we're going to be checking in with...

[BGM: Dance of the Snakes]


What was fascinating Snake so much about the chessboard? I had to know, so I walked over to ask him about it.

Hey, Snake.



Ah, Mouse. A pleasure for you to join me.

I notice that you're not talking with any of the others.

What would the point of that be?

I don't know, to pass the time I guess?

I am passing time just fine on my own.

I suppose you are. So, what's the deal with this chessboard?

I'm just admiring this game board. The game is only partways through, so it's in a place where I can make some presumptions about the moves leading up to this point.

I take it you play?



On occasion, yes. Not as much as I'd like to. Yourself?

My father taught me the basics, but it's been a couple of years since I've actually played a game, and even then I only played casually.

Respectable enough. Games are to be enjoyed, yes? While there is more art in high-level play, there is oft more joy in low-level play.



Say, do you know what makes a good chess player?

You mean, other than general chess skills?

I believe 'general chess skills' are exactly what makes a good player, yes, but I'm talking about something a bit more concrete than that.

And obviously, this is an opinion based question, there's no real answer here.

In that case... My father always said the trick to chess was to think a few moves ahead, get inside your opponent's head. So I guess a good chess player is someone who can think more steps ahead than the opponent.

Close, Mouse, to my answer. Quite close.

Well, what's your answer?



It's the one who can first determine who will win the game.

Huh?

Chess is a perfect information, zero-sum, sequential game. In turn, this means it is a 'solvable' game.

While we're far, far from finding it, theoretically there are a perfect set of moves that will allow one side to win every time.

Now, naturally we can't tell what that is because it's too complex. There are too many pieces. But with every piece that gets removed, finding the next 'perfect' set of moves becomes easier and easier.

And at some point, one of the players will realize that they can win no matter what. This is when the cockier players will say 'Mate in 5' or something.

But a truly magnificent player should be able to say 'Mate in 10', 'Mate in 15', 'Mate in 25.'

God could say 'Mate in 150' or some similar number at the very start of the game.



I believe the most important skill is the ability to 'solve' the game with plenty of pieces still on the board.

Huh. Well, that's an interesting way of thinking about it. Does that thought have anything to do with this game?

Perhaps not. But perhaps so.

...That doesn't clear much up.

Judging by this board, I can actually tell a lot about the two who played this game.

For one, White is the far more experienced of the two. But that experience seems to manifest more in rote memorization than any natural intellect. It appears that White began with the Sicilian defense. This seems to have worked fairly well, too.

Looking at the pieces taken, it's clear that White is quite a bit in the lead. And yet, there's a curious detail to this board. Can you tell?



It's that the King is knocked over, right? That's the universal symbol of 'surrender'.

Precisely. White seems to have given up the fight, despite apparently having the lead. Looking at the board, I haven't been able to see any clear check mates from Black, none in the low move-count range at least.

So I was thinking on it a bit, and I had a thought. What if, despite not being the best player, Black is incredible at analysis?

Even though it was their pieces they were losing, once the game had proceeded to a certain point, Black was able to look at the board and 'solve it'. After discovering how to make their victory surefire, Black made a move or two to bring it closer to that undeniable mate.

Then Black explained to White how, despite being behind them, there's no sequence of moves White could make that, if Black responded perfectly, would lead to their victory.

Having been schooled, White knocked their piece over in despair.



Whoa. That's... incredible.

Yes, it is indeed hardly credible, which is why this scenario of mine is likely pure fiction. The cause for White's surrender could be any number of things. Perhaps they got bored. Perhaps they were playing speed chess, and White made the better moves but ran out of time.

Perhaps there's some 'Mate in 4' that I don't yet see.

But, you must admit, my hypothesis is far more interesting.

Snake reached over, turned White's king back up, then moved White's remaining bishop three spaces.

Pointless, probably.



But might as well continue the fight in White's stead.

A shame Black's not here to play against you.

A shame. ...If that's true.

If that's true?

Look over at the other chess table. You'll notice that there are no pieces present. As it happens, they're all properly placed in the shelf that slides out of the board.

So what?

That's the expected result. It's Thanksgiving Break, after all, and I'd imagine the school would clean up before closing down. That would mean cleaning up the chess boards as well, and putting back these pieces.

I guess that makes sense.



So then, why is this game unmoved?

I don't know, maybe they just decided not to clean it up.

Perhaps, perhaps. Just something worthy of thought.

With that, Snake went back to examining the board. His last words troubled me some, but I couldn't dwell on it.

From here, we're going to skip forward past some of the parts we've already seen- specifically, the Jade Emperor's introduction and explanation of the rules. We will also skip past the part where the group splits up to examine their tablets, learn their Animal Abilities (and share them with the group, for the most part), and when Monkey comes forward with her hypothesis about the Jade Emperor's true identity- Brian Morris.

After Round One ends with the whole group simply choosing to RUN one space, the group decides to split up and begin searching for Trinkets (specifically the Minor ones, as collecting all 12 will allow them as a group to escape with no one harmed). Mouse makes a decision on who she wants to explore with, and for the route that was voted, the group she chooses to explore with is Snake and Rooster- which we have already seen (where they investigate the darkroom), so we'll be skipping past that, too.

After Round Two ends with the whole group, once again, simply choosing to RUN one space, they all begin splitting up into new groups to explore once more, which is where we will pick up from...

[BGM: Stripes]


I'm just going to start talking now before we get swept up into casual conversation. Yes, things are good now, but that's all the more reason we should immediately continue our search.

As we've recently learned, Brian isn't interested in us playing hide-and-seek as much as he is having us play his little games. Keep that in mind as you search. Obviously, try to be thorough, but keep in mind that if a room doesn't show any signs that there's something there, there probably isn't anything there.

Now, how are we splitting up?

The group started chatting and splitting up amongst themselves. I still wasn't feeling totally safe at this school, so I didn't want to be alone. I decided joining one of the pairs would be the best choice.

This time, we're going to be going with...



I decided Tiger and Dragon seemed like the safest people to explore with.

Alright, great to have you! You found a trinket earlier, right? You're sure to bring us luck, then!

Hmph. We'll see if she can really pull her weight.

The two certainly made for an intimidating pair. However, I was confident in my choice.

Let's not waste any time, then. These Minor Trinkets aren't going to find themselves!

Everyone, same deal as last time. Before the end of the round, remember to input a move and meet back up here.

Yeah, yeah, don't need to tell us twice.

Now come on girls, let's go.

Dragon headed confidently towards the right-hand stairs. Tiger didn't seem to have any objections in blindly following her, and I wasn't going to raise any either.



I was curious where we were heading, however, since she carried herself with an amount of certainty that I wasn't expecting.

Hey Dragon?

What?

You seem to have an idea in mind of where we're going to search first. Any reason for that?

Heh. On my way to the cafeteria, I saw that there was a gymnasium over here. After hearing about how these item things are hid with a sense of deliberacy, I figured that a gym's the sort of place where you'd think to hide something.

At any rate, it seems a bit more likely than some random classroom, don't ya think?

Makes sense to me! Spot on thinking, Dragon.



God, do you always have to be so damn cheerful? It really starts to get grating after a while.

Oh, I don't know about that. Who wouldn't want compliments? I know I certainly would want them!

That supposed to be a dig at my attitude, huh? Got something you want to say to me?

No, no, not at all! I was ju-

Oh my god. I do not care about this whatsoever. This is like the most meaningless argument I've heard today so far. Let's just get a move on.

[BGM: Silence]


And with that, we continued on towards the gymnasium in silence. When we arrived, I immediately realized how big a space we'd be searching.

[BGM: Befriend a Tiger]


Huh. Not a bad place.

No kidding. This place seems really well-maintained!

I imagine you two have good memories from P.E.?

The moment I said that, the two of them noticeably winced.

Um, well...

Not really, no.

Yeah, me neither.

Really? Why?



Well, I actually never had P.E.

You didn't? What school did you go to?

Homeschooled, actually.

No kidding? How'd that happen?

Eh, well that's kind of a long story without much of a payoff.

Still, that's incredible. I thought you said you went to the Olympics?

What does that have to do with anything? There are plenty of homeschooled Olympians!



Anyways, it's kind of weird, but that's just the way it is. Consequently, I've never really had P.E. before.

Huh. But what about sports? Like, basketball, you play much of that? I imagine you'd be good at it.

Yeah, well, uh... I used to.

Not anymore?

Nah, no, too busy unfortunately. I realized it was way more important to be chasing my dreams than to spend time playing silly games.



Tiger's seemed kinda reluctant whenever we push for more details, I say we leave well enough alone and stay silent for now.

Anyways, what about you Dragon? Didn't look like you were too keen on P.E. either.

Those memories weren't the best, I'll admit. That came at a particularly low point in my life.

A low point in your life? I don't believe it.

Believe it. There was a real stretch of time when I was pretty weak shit.

My school had a pretty cohesive unit in charge, and somehow I wound up as their target.



The bullying was relentless, and P.E. was often a chance to take it out on me physically without repercussion.

That's horrible!

Eh. It's not like I'm special for that. Those fuckers pretty much picked on people across the board.

But man... There was this one night when I was actually out on the town with them. It had taken a while, but I had actually befriended the clique leader's girlfriend.

I had the shittiest timing in terms of when to hang out with them. It just had to be that night when it happened.

When what happened?

Apparently those assholes had ticked off the wrong guy at our school. His cousin was the leader of this gang.



A ferocious fighter nicknamed 'The Night Devil'. Wore a mask and everything.

A mask?

I know, crazy right? Anyways, even though I was the only one to land a hit in I was somehow blamed for letting us get our asses kicked.

Next week in P.E. we were practicing dodgeball.

You can fill in the gaps.

Oof.

Dragon, I'm so sorry.

Eh, don't be. Those were all necessary experiences. Taught me some hard lessons.



A little after that, I was Queen of that fuckin' hellhole.

Yeah! That's the spirit!

Something told me that accomplishment might not be something to praise, but I kept that thought to myself.

I can't say I had any experiences like yours, but I was no fan of P.E. either. I'm like, super weak. I suck at most things physical.

No way! That's just because you haven't trained at all.

Uh, yeah, pretty much. I've never really worked out. I'm not saying I can't get fit or anything.

That's the spirit!

Okay, let's cut it out. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but we just pissed away some time we could be using to search this place.

Right! Let's get to work!



We began to spread out and search for anything that looked like it could be a hint. It wasn't long before Tiger called out to us.

Hey guys, over here! I found a lock on this supply closet!

Uh, yeah. That's what supply closets have.

No, I mean a lock that clearly doesn't belong on it. I mean, it kinda looks weird.

Tiger's right. There's a weird message written on it.

There is?

How do you not know that, you found it!

I kinda stopped looking when I saw the lock.

Christ.



Anyways, it says 'What's up, you filthy animals?'

Rude.

It's definitely from that prick Brian, alright.

Which means there's definitely something of value behind that door!

Heh, a mere door stands between us and an item, eh? I bet I could smash it down!

What? No!

Why not?

You could injure yourself! Besides, do you really think you could break down a door, just like that, with no tools to help?

A door like this? Totally! Stand back, I'll burst it open with one charge.



Or, or, and hear me out here: maybe we just look for the key first.

That doesn't sound as exciting of a solution.

We'll go with Mouse's way for now. We don't find the key soon, we go with yours. Sound good, Tiger?

Alright, fine.

Good. The key is almost certainly here in the gymnasium as well. If we split up, we'll find it for sure.

[BGM: Silence]


And split up we did. All three of us walked around the gym, looking for any sign of a key. Unfortunately, we struggled to find anything. This was pointless! Where on earth could Brian have hidden it? Was it not in the gym? I thought it must be, because that's what would make the most sense, but maybe not.

I needed to focus. Everything I had seen from Brian so far suggested he loved to be clever. The lock must have some clue. What did it say? 'What's up filthy animals?' What's up?

I looked around at the ceiling, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary.

There!

What?

[BGM: Stripes]


There, on that grating, the key's taped up.

Oh yeah, you're right! Nice catch, Mouse!

Aw, it was nothing.

The real question is how the hell we're supposed to get it. It's so damn high!

I could try throwing something at it.

What good would that do? It's taped there.

Is there a ladder around?

Do you see a ladder?

Ooh! Ooh!



What if we climbed on each other's shoulders?

What? Do you really think that would work?

It absolutely would work!

Ugh. It'd be a pain in the ass, but maybe.

I call being second highest, though, I'm not being the support.

Obviously.

But even if we climb on each other's shoulders, would we be able to reach it? It's really high up.

I found a stack of field hockey sticks. Mouse, if you climb on my back, who will be on Tiger's back, and try to hit at it with a field hockey stick, maybe you can knock it down.



This sounds like a really dumb plan.

You got a better one?

…

…

…

…



Watch it, would ya? Keep your foot out of my face, or so help me god I will end you.

Look, it's difficult to climb up you two while keeping hold of a field hockey stick. Tiger, are you okay down there?

Me? Oh, not a problem. Just focus on getting the key down.

I'm trying to hit at it, but it's a little hard with all the swaying.

Not me.

Dammit, how much do you weigh Mouse?

Dragon! Get it together!

Wait, wait, I think I've got it!

*clink*

The key fell to the floor.

Hell yeah! That's what I'm talking about!

Awesome! Now, how do we get down...

*CRASH!!!*

…

[BGM: Silence]


Well, that sucked.

Yeah. At least we got the key out of it, though.

Maybe we should have let Tiger just knock the door down.

I told you.

No use reflecting on the past. Time to open this bad boy up and see what's inside.

I used the key to open the lock. As it fell to the floor, the lock actually fell apart. Weird. Was that part of its design? No matter. It was no longer holding the door closed. Now we could see what Brian was hiding from us. I opened the door...

What the...

This is...



A weapons cache?!?!