Girls' Night Out, Guys' Night In
by Jason "BoneparteOzaki" Bertovich
©2000 by Jason Bertovich and Matthew Atanian
Boy Scouts ½ created by Matthew Atanian
by Jason "BoneparteOzaki" Bertovich
©2000 by Jason Bertovich and Matthew Atanian
Boy Scouts ½ created by Matthew Atanian
Author's Notes, Part One
On the topic of Side Stories…
A Side Story is roughly defined as a short story that is derived from a previous story but usually no effect on the primary story’s events or plot. Events are self-contained and usually will not be referenced to in the main story.
When I first started writing in Matt-kun’s Boy Scouts ½ Universe I intended to write a side story. That story was Perspectives from the Food Court. However, that story soon took a life of its own and later spawned six additional chapters (with an eighth on the way from Matt himself.) It was no longer considered a side story because it has now worked its way into the Boy Scouts ½ mythos and characters and events from it are mentioned in the main series. Now Perspectives is considered a spin-off.
I’ve decided to try again and attempt to write an original side story. However, before I begin, I will make the following promises:
1. This is a one shot story featuring Characters from all three series in the Boy Scouts ½ Universe.
2. The events are self-contained and will probably not be mentioned to in any of the main series.
3. This story will not be required reading in order to understand any of the other series.
4. No sequels or additional chapters will be added to this story later on.
There. Now with that out of the way, I now present the latest vision from the mind of BoneparteOzaki…
A Side Story is roughly defined as a short story that is derived from a previous story but usually no effect on the primary story’s events or plot. Events are self-contained and usually will not be referenced to in the main story.
When I first started writing in Matt-kun’s Boy Scouts ½ Universe I intended to write a side story. That story was Perspectives from the Food Court. However, that story soon took a life of its own and later spawned six additional chapters (with an eighth on the way from Matt himself.) It was no longer considered a side story because it has now worked its way into the Boy Scouts ½ mythos and characters and events from it are mentioned in the main series. Now Perspectives is considered a spin-off.
I’ve decided to try again and attempt to write an original side story. However, before I begin, I will make the following promises:
1. This is a one shot story featuring Characters from all three series in the Boy Scouts ½ Universe.
2. The events are self-contained and will probably not be mentioned to in any of the main series.
3. This story will not be required reading in order to understand any of the other series.
4. No sequels or additional chapters will be added to this story later on.
There. Now with that out of the way, I now present the latest vision from the mind of BoneparteOzaki…
The sun fell behind the mountains in the far distance. The sun had started setting later in the day. The air was getting much warmer and soon summer would be here in a few short months. It was Spring, April to be exact, and it was looking to be a gorgeous evening.
Nicole smiled to herself as she watched the last rays of sun sneak away. She was looking forward to Spring. She was looking forward to enjoying the warm weather with Jason. The pair had been seeing each other for almost half a year now, but now she had an opportunity to share some nice weather with him. She sighed contently as the stars began to become visible.
“Nicole?” a voice called to her. Nicole broke out of her reverie and looked at the source. It was her twin sister Kirstin standing at the entrance of the restaurant while Nicole stood in the parking lot looking at the sun set. “Are you coming inside?”
“Yeah, I’m coming,” Nicole said as she began walking toward her sister. Kirstin walked inside and Nicole followed.
As the pair stepped inside Nicole spied the other duo that made up their small party. Her older sister, Sarah and her friend the red headed Matty Hayes. They stood by a small sign that said, “Please wait to be seated.”
“Interesting décor,” Kirstin remarked, pointing to the large round stage in the center of the restaurant, along with the folded fans and paper screens decorating the walls.
“Well, Nicole has been raving about this place for the last five months. I figured it was time we all get to see it,” Sarah said to no one in particular.
“How’s the food?” Matty nervously inquired.
“Well, me and Jay seem to enjoy it,” Nicole answered.
“Jay?” Kirstin asked.
Nicole then noticed the stares from both Kirstin and Sarah. “What?”
“Pet name?” Sarah asked.
“What? No, of course not. He just likes to be called Jay. He says that Jason is such a common name for men of his generation,” Nicole said defensively.
Suddenly, a young woman in a floral kimono and wooden sandals came over to them. Her hair was blonde and it was set in a nice bun. She bowed to them and began to speak. “Kobanwa, Customers, welcome to the Rising Sun Sushi Bar…” Then she looked over to Nicole and broke into a wide smile, “Nicole-san!”
“Hi Angela!” Nicole greeted the Waitress/Nurse/Student who had waited on her and Jason on a number of occasions. Nicole had first met her when Jason had first brought Nicole here last fall. Of course back then they hadn’t officially been “dating,” in fact, Nicole had only gave Jason a brief kiss on the cheek and that wasn’t until Christmas. It was while on this ‘date’ Nicole learned that Angela was also a nurse at Baystate Medical center and had met Jason before, Jason having been badly attacked by an assailant that Nicole and Jason had encountered before.
Nicole took a pause to reflect. It was interesting. What would of happened if that man never made that racist comment that both Jason and Nicole took offense to? Things would probably be a lot different now.
So in a nutshell, Nicole had made some interesting acquaintances because of her fate chance of meeting Jason. Nicole then noticed that, during her train of thought, Angela had started to give her a stern look.
“Nicole-san!” Angela reprimanded. Nicole then understood.
“Gomen! I meant Anako-san,” Nicole said with a grin. A Moment later the pair both began to giggle lightly.
Matty looked confused and whispered to Kirstin, “Is there a private joke here I’m missing?”
Angela broke the laughter and looked toward the red head. “I’m sorry. It’s just something Nicole is familiar with. The owner, Mr. Segawa, insists that all the waitresses take Japanese names. He says it helps keep the atmosphere. He’s a little eccentric, but he’s really a nice man. So would you gals like Smoking or Non?”
“Non, please,” Nicole answered.
Angela led the quartet to a table that was near the stage. “So, Where’s Jason tonight?”
“It’s just me and my sisters tonight. A girls’ night out. He’s out with some of his ‘Guys,’” Nicole answered as she took her seat in the booth with Kirstin sitting next to her.
Angela nodded in understanding. “So Nicole, are you gonna defend your title tonight? There’s this new girl who’s been pretty good these last couple weeks.”
“Title?” Matty asked.
“Our little Nicole is quite the vocalist. She’s won their weekly karaoke competition four times in the last five months,” Kirstin explained, remembering
the four small brass cups that littered their nightstand.
“I don’t know,” Nicole hesitated.
“Well, she’s here tonight. She won last week. Looks like she trying to go for the repeat,” Angela told Nicole.
“Hmmmm… Well…” Nicole grinned slightly. “Maybe me and my sisters can whip something up.”
“Great! I’ll get the song book and I’ll be back to take your drink orders!”
Angela smiled and went off to fetch the hefty tome.
Matty looked to Kirstin, who was sitting across from her. “Should I be worried?”
Kirstin took one look at her sister’s grin and nodded. “Yes.”
Meanwhile, in Aaron Abdowmassy’s basement, Jason Bertovich looked around the table at the other four people staring back at him and at each other.
Of the four, the only one Jason knew reasonably well enough to hold a real conversation with was Aaron and that was because they were both dating one out of the pair of twins. Aaron dating the mild mannered Kirstin, while Jason had been seeing the sharp-witted, calculating Nicole.
Jason paused to correct his thinking. Only he and Nicole were officially dating and that had only been made official after they had been seeing each other for a few months. Aaron and Kirstin on the other hand… Well they… they stumbled and twisted themselves in emotional pretzels whenever anyone made mention of the word “relationship.” They were “just friends.” So of course, everyone knew that they dating… It seemed that the only ones who didn’t know were Kirstin and Aaron.
Jason looked to the other three. He could only vaguely remember meeting these people before, and that had been at the Boy Scout’s Christmas Party Nicole had invited him to attend.
The first was the short and young boy with the thick glasses. He had told him his name was Kenneth Pendrell. The others had told him they called him Kenny. Next to him at the table was a thick tome. On the spine Jason glanced at the title: Shroedinger’s Cat kicked Pavlov’s Dog’s Ass! or Why Quantum Physics is more interesting to study than Psychology.
At the next seat over, another younger boy sat with his eyes closed and his fingers joyfully tapping the table. On his head was a pair of earphones and coming from it was a sound that Jason would swear sounded like someone hitting a cat in a sack with a sledgehammer. Aaron had told him that his name was “Becker.” Which made more sense than what the boy had told him. When Jason had asked him his name he said is was, “WHAT?!?”
At the last seat over Jason realized that this boy was unknown. He hadn’t recalled meeting him at the party, but for some reason he looked or seemed familiar. Jason was almost positive that the pair had never met. He simply gave his name as, “Hughes.”
Jason dared to break the silence. “Well gentlemen, how are we this evening?”
The others responded with various shrugs and, “Okay’s,” except for Becker, who shouted, “WHAT?!!?”
Aaron calmly got up from his seat and walked over to Becker. He then grabbed the headphones and took them right off his head. Then he calmly walked over to a cabinet and calmly threw them in. He then took his seat again. “That’s better.”
Becker was beginning to look physically ill. He was slightly shivering. Kenny grew slightly interested and almost excited. He pulled out a small notepad and started scribbling notes.
“He might blow, Aaron,” Hughes stated in amusement.
“Withdrawal,” Aaron agreed.
“Is he gonna be OK?” Jason asked, a little worried.
“He’s a sound addict,” Aaron explained.
“Oh. Well, maybe this will help.” Jason then pulled out a leather case and unzipped it. Inside was page after page of CD’s. “What’s your pleasure? We’ve got classical, dance, hard rock, pop… It’s all here and it’s all Japanese.” Jason beamed.
“Quite an impressive collection of Anime CD’s Mr. Bertovich,” Kenny contributed. “Well, since we’re here to play a fantasy game, maybe something along the lines of that motif.”
“Ah!” Jason then slipped out a CD from a pouch and handed it to Aaron who put it in the stereo. “Vision of Escaflowne OST Volume 1. Oh, and Kenny?”
“Yes Mr. Bertovich?” Kenny asked.
“I’m not a Scoutmaster or a teacher or anything. I’m just some guy. You can call me Jay.” Then Jason slightly slapped his palm down on the small plastic case in front of him. “Gentlemen, shall we?”
The others nodded and reached in their bags or under the table. Aaron, Hughes and Becker pulled out long cardboard boxes. Kenny reached into his pocket and pulled out a prepackaged starter deck. He opened it and started shuffling.
Jason slid the plastic lid off the plastic case. This is what he had asked his family to send. He had gotten rid of his entire collection before he left, but these remained. The only things he kept from his Magic: The Gathering collection. Four Decks. Two Type 1’s, a Type 1.5, and a single fun theme deck. His Magic four. The “Four Decks of the Apocalypse.” These little men would soon feel their fury unleashed.
Jason pulled out the first one. It was a simple mono-black deck he had named The “Anyone, including the family chimp, can win with this deck” Deck. Jason began to shuffle as the other four had done.
They each slammed their deck on the table and began to draw cards.
About 15 minutes later, Jason had picked off Kenny pretty easily, though not much of a challenge as Kenny’s deck was pre-constructed and not made to play against as actual strategy. Aaron had pummeled Becker and was currently focusing on Hughes, which was fine with Jason as he needed time replenish his spent hand.
Jason then looked over to Kenny reading his book quietly as the soft symphony played on. “Good book?”
Kenny lifted his eyes over the edge of the book and arched an eyebrow. “Actually, yes.”
“So what’s your take on the Cat? Do you believe it was both alive and dead at the same time? Do you believe in infinite universes with infinite possibilities?” Jason inquired. Meanwhile Hughes groaned lightly as Aaron snickered.
“You understand this?” Kenny asked excitedly.
“A little. I’m no Quantum Physicist, but I do know a little something on a lot of subjects. I just found the concept of Alternate Universes with infinite possibilities fascinating,” Jason explained.
“Oh definitely!” Kenny said enthused. “In fact! I’ve…” Kenny immediately stopped himself before he said something he couldn’t take back.
“You’ve what?” Jason inquired, noticing that Kenny looked like he was going to say something but he had stopped.
“Well…I’ve…I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the subject and I hope to one day be the first person to prove the theory true,“ Kenny recovered.
“You’re a pretty smart kid, aren’t you? No doubt. Just promise me this. If you do, be sure to look me up. There’s a few universes I wouldn’t mind visiting.” Jason grinned.
Aaron broke in by saying. “Yes! You’re dead Hughes!” Hughes groaned again and threw his hand down on the table. Aaron then looked to Jason. “You’re turn. After that, you’re dead too!” Aaron laughed pointing to his menacing army while Jason’s creatures had died earlier.
Jason continued to look in Kenny’s direction while he drew his card. Then he tapped all his lands, then sacked a few to make even more mana with his Lakes of the Dead, then he played two dark rituals for even more black mana. Finally he took this giant butt-load of black mana and slapped the last card in his hand on the table. “Correction. I would die next turn. Unfortunately, I planned to kill you this turn. My Game.” Then he returned to his previous train of thought, “So Kenny, what’s your opinion on the Einstein, Rosen, Polanski bridge?”
The others all gathered around Aaron as Jason and Kenny continued their confusing conversation. Jason has successfully cast a drain life for 25 points of damage against Aaron and 25 points of life for himself. Everyone was pretty amazed how Jason had done this without even looking at the table. “He’s good,” Becker commented.
Jason then put all his cards back in his deck and pulled out another deck form the plastic case. “New game, gentlemen. Care to make it interesting?”
The other four looked at each other, even Kenny. “Interesting?”
“No way! Nuh uh!” Matty said vehemently shaking her head.
“Come on Matty! Please! We need a fourth girl!” Sarah pleaded as Nicole continued flipping between two pages in the book.
“It’s only a small part, Matty,” Nicole added.
Matty continued to shake her head. Yes, she had worn the dress. Yes, she had even bought it herself. But there was no way she was going to go up in front of a crowd of people and giggle and sing. Especially in a language she didn’t speak. She still had to cling to some ideals.
Kirstin bent over the table and whispered to Matty, “Please Matt. It will make Sarah happy.”
Matty looked at Kirstin and then to Sarah who was looking at the book with Nicole. Finally she sagged her shoulders. “Okay…”
Sarah turned to her. “Really? Great!”
“Of course, you three do know that I don’t speak Japanese,” Matty responded.
“You can read Romanji, right?” Nicole asked.
“I guess,” Matty answered.
“There you go. So are we doing it Nicole?” Sarah asked.
“I think we shall,” she said as she wrote down the song number.
Kirstin then leaned over the table and whispered to Matty, “Thanks Matt.”
“You owe me,” Matty whispered back. At that moment Angela returned with beverages and a pot of green tea.
“So you gals ready to order?”
“Are you serious?” Aaron asked.
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Becker added.
“Most unusual,” Kenny added.
“Ditto,” Hughes mumbled.
“Oh come on guys. Are you seriously telling me you never played for money?” Jason asked exasperated.
“How the hell do you play Magic for cash?!?” Becker demanded.
“Oh it’s easy!” Jason smiled.
“I don’t know Jay. I mean, unlike you, most of us don’t have steady employment that produce a cash flow,” Aaron contributed.
“Oh! That! Jeez, I’m not talking massive cash here guys. Strictly penny ante!” Jason explained. “The most you might lose would be maybe five bucks. At most! Surely you guys can afford that!”
The other four looked at each other nervously and then eventually shrugged. Then Becker took the initiative. “First explain the rules.”
Jason then reached into his bag and pulled out a large box and opened it. Inside were red, white and blue poker chips. “Okay guys, it’s like this. It’s standard Magic rules. Nothing changed. The whites are pennies, the reds are nickels and the blues are dimes. At the beginning of the game everyone puts in a dime. So at least someone will win fifty cents. Got em so far?”
The others nodded. Jason continued. “Now. Every time you lose a life point or are forced to discard a card, you put a penny in the pot. Every time you lose a creature, a land or another permanent such as an artifact or enchantment, you put a nickel in the pot. Finally if you are killed, you put a dime in the pot. Last one living keeps the accumulated cash. Usually enough to maybe buy a booster pack. Okay?” Jason finished.
Aaron and Becker looked generally interested and were already thinking of buying more cards with tonight’s winnings. Hughes looked bored and Kenny looked a little worried. However they all nodded and agreed. Jason then grew a Cheshire Cat-like grin that would be most disheartening if you happened to be a bird or mouse.
Everyone then fished into their pockets and handed Jason a five dollar bill. Jason fished one out as well, and tossed all of the money into the chip box. Jason then began to partition the chips. He gave everyone 200 whites, 30 reds and 15 blues. They began to shuffle their decks again. Jason reached into his deck case again and slipped out one of the stacks of cardboard enveloped in plastic slipcases. Jason had been dying to play this again.
‘Blue and White Thunder’… heh. It’s been too long…. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA Ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA HAH!!! Jason mentally said to himself as he shuffled his pride and joy. His greatest deck of all time. It had a fair share of decisive and close victories. It had its share of horrible defeats. And while it had never won him a professional tournament, it had reduced more than one “master” to frustration and aggravation. Jason loved this deck.
Jason then noticed Kenny was shuffling the pre-constructed starter deck again. “Hey Kenny.”
“Yes, Mr. Bertovich?” Kenny looked up from his book and shuffling.
“Is that all the cards you have?”
“Well, I really don’t play. I only bought this so I could play when they got together,” Kenny explained.
“Hmmmm. Kenny come over here,” Jason said to the small pre-teen.
Kenny got up from his spot and walked over to Jason’s seat. Jason then pulled out another deck from the plastic case and handed it over to Kenny. Kenny held the plastic enveloped cardboard cards in his palm.
“Mr. Bertovich?” Kenny inquired.
“Kenny, this is ‘Earn’em and Burn’em.’ This deck has probably won me more games than any other deck. It’s very simple, but very devastating. You have to play aggressive, understand?” Jason explained.
“But why are you letting me use your deck?” Kenny asked.
“I wanted to even up the playing field a little. Now, since this is multi-player, you want to pace yourself. Otherwise you’ll get pummeled in a late game. Think you can figure it out?” Jason answered.
“I think I can. Thank you, Mr. Bertovich,” Kenny responded.
“Didn’t I say to call me Jas?” Jason responded. Then he laughed. “I bet you were the only one to understand the rulebook after only one reading.” Jason grinned.
“The rulebook,” Aaron blurted, “is not to be understood by normal humans.”
“Well, if I see any normal people around here, I’ll be sure to tell them.” Jason smirked.
Kenny went back to his seat and studied the cards in the deck. He began to smile. Jason was right. It was mind boggling simple, but incredibly versatile and powerful. Kenny was surprised that Jason wasn’t using it himself. Kenny shuffled. Then a bad thought entered his head. If Jason wasn’t using this deck…
“OK men. Ante up!” Jason stated as he tossed a blue chip into the center of the table.
Kenny tossed his chip in and drew his cards. That meant the deck he was using must be incredible...
Matty worked the chopsticks with a relative amount of difficulty. For some reason, grasping a piece of cooked beef between two wooden twigs was proving to be more of a challenge than she had first expected. Matty looked at her steak. It was pretty lucky she had managed to stop Nicole before she had ordered four sushi platters… Heck, even the steak was a strech for Matty’s picky eating habits.
“Here, let me help you.” Sarah said. Then she took Matty’s hand into her own and positioned the sticks the right way. Kirstin looked over and actually
noticed Matty swallow nervously.
Kirstin then looked to her sister next to her. Nicole was busy eating from her ramen bowl. “So Nicole, how’s your love life?” The comment drew a stare from Sarah and a surprised look from Nicole. However that look of surprise turned to a sly grin.
“I don’t know. How’s yours?” Nicole responded, causing Kirstin to drop the piece of sashimi from between her chopsticks.
“Why, what do you mean sister? Me and Aaron are just friends.”
Nicole smirked at that comment and even Matty had to grin.
Sarah simply rolled her eyes upward and sighed. “My little sisters…”
Kirstin saw an opportunity. “Well, older sister, do we sense jealousy?”
Sarah almost choked on her soda, while Nicole simply nodded in agreement. “I do know that there are certain young men seeking your affections.”
Kirstin then threw a look over to Matty who decided now was an opportune time to examine her steak closer.
“You mean that Matt guy?!? You’ve got to be joking!” Sarah bemoaned. Matty felt her lips curling into a frown and tried to control it.
“Well, you seemed to enjoy his little token of appreciation,” Nicole commented.
“That was Christmas! That’s different! Then it seemed that he might actually be human!” Sarah countered.
“Well, It’s definitely an improvement.” Kirstin remarked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sarah demanded.
“Nothing. Just that six months ago if a guy would’ve tried to give you a present you would’ve given him a black eye,” Kirstin answered and then took a sip of her tea.
“I think she’s going soft on him,” Nicole smirked.
Sarah wanted to scream out at hearing that, but decided against doing it in a crowded restaurant. Instead she decided to redirect the conversation. “So Matty! How about you? I haven’t seen you with any members of the opposite sex lately. Is there a Romeo in your life?”
At hearing her name called Matty actually jumped in surprised and then even more surprised by the question. “Um…well…” Matty actually thought for a moment.
The closest thing she’d had to a date was Kuntz’s incessant and annoying wooing. “No,” she quietly replied. Then she looked over to Kirstin, who at
this moment decided that her platter needed a closer examination.
“Really? Wow that’s a surprise.” Sarah said disappointedly.
“Huh?” Matty inquired.
“I mean, not a single one of those pubescent Boy Scouts you hang around with have tried to hit on you? I’m surprised that Atanian hasn’t given up on me and gone after you.” Sarah answered.
Matty was beginning to feel a little ill. “What?! No, of course not! They’re just some guys I’ve known for years.”
“You might think that Matty. But remember, now they’ve got those hormones working which is preventing any real brain function. Just don’t be surprised if one of them ‘accidentally’ bumps into you on a hike,” Sarah deadpanned.
Nicole nodded in agreement.
Matty really didn’t like where this conversation was going. So she decided to take the initiative. “Wow! The food is really great!”
“Y-yeah! It’s terrific!” Kirstin added trying to help Matty out.
Sarah then turned to Matty with her chopsticks. “Are you sure you don’t want to try a piece of sashimi?”
Matty gulped. “Um…no thanks. I’m allergic to seafood,” she yammered. Of course, this was lie. Truth be known, Matt was one of the pickiest eaters he knew. On that list was seafood. Served raw and it moved to the top of the list. Matty considered it a lucky blessing that the restaurant also served Japanese steak. Cooked on a hot metal table while the chef chopped and cut. True, it would cost her six bucks more than if she had ordered the sushi, but considering the alternative, it was six bucks well spent.
“Oh.” Sarah blinked. She then shrugged and ate the piece of fish herself.
Meanwhile Nicole mentally filed away the factoid in the back of her mind for later use. Matty Hayes is allergic to seafood.
A moment later, A small Asian man took the round stage and tapped the Microphone. “Kobanwa, Ladies and Gentlemen!”
“Kobanwa!” The crowd of regulars responded loudly.
“And welcome to The Rising Sun’s weekly Karaoke contest!”
Why does that kid keep giving me those dirty looks? Jason thought to himself as he caught the Hughes kid sneering at him from behind his cards for
the thirtieth time that evening. Jason looked to his hand again and picked from card to card.
In the center of the table was a rather large mountain of poker chips that had accumulated during the course of the match. In fact, this was probably the largest pot Jason had ever been involved in. Of course, he had never tried this with a group larger than three players.
Becker was the first eliminated, when Kenny haplessly beat him with two large creatures by the fourth turn. Kenny almost took a morbid glee in eliminating Becker, which surprised everyone who knew Kenny’s quiet nature.
Aaron and Kenny were currently squaring off, while Hughes looked content to wait and see what everyone’s tactics were. Jason noticed that Hughes was quietly scraping his fingernails along the edge of the table. It reminded him of his old pet cat who had passed on a few years prior at the ripe age of sixteen. Jason then thought that it was a good thing that this Hughes kid didn’t have claws otherwise there would’ve been a nice sized groove in Aaron’s table.
As for Jason, he was simply leaning back and enjoying his handiwork. He had laid down his lock on the game. He had the Howling Mine and the Island Sanctuary on the table. Which meant only creatures with flying and islandwalk could attack him. Of course anytime someone tried to cast such a creature, Jason was rather quick with a counterspell. So his opponents were reduced to trying to toast him with direct damage. Unfortunately, Jason also had the annoying strategy to cast a Gerrald’s Wisdom with a hand full of cards for an average of sixteen to twenty to four life points.
It was becoming apparent that killing Jason was damn unlikely. So they went to work on killing each other first. Jason simply leaned back and enjoyed the show. Currently, he was quietly rooting for Kenny.
“So Aaron,” Jason started.
“Hmmm?” Aaron looked away from the game to see what Jason wanted.
“How goes your tutelage of your student?” Jason grinned, making a comment about how Aaron was teaching Kirstin to play Magic.
Aaron slightly groaned. “Don’t even start Jay! After what you taught her, I’m surprised I haven’t killed you yet!”
“What’s the deal?” Hughes asked eager to learn any dirt about Bertovich.
“Well, he gave her some tips on playing blue and white. Now she likes the concept so much that she’s literally made a deck that is exactly like her!”
Aaron bemoaned.
“Exactly like her?” Kenny asked interested. He almost seemed a little wistful at hearing the name of Kirstin.
“Yeah, she has all these cards like ‘Pacifism’ and ‘Peacekeeper.’ And she’s loaded all these counterspells and everything. She won’t let anything violent happen during a game. No attacks. No targeting. No nothing. But here’s the kicker! Somehow she managed for Nicole to get her a good price on a Divine Intervention card!”
At hearing that, Both Jason and Hughes whistled with respect.
“So now all our games always end in a tie! She says she likes it that way. That way there’s no losers so no one has to feel bad.” Aaron explained.
“That’s pretty admirable,” Kenny contributed.
“But it’s not much fun. It’s almost as bad as…” He looked over to Jason who was still sitting behind his cardboard fortress. “It’s almost as bad as playing against you!”
“Such harsh words. Shame, shame. For that you shall be punished.” Jason then played a card to steal all of Aaron’s creatures so that he could beat Aaron senseless with them…
“Now Ladies and Gentlemen, Let’s give a big had to last week’s winner. Ms. Julie Heinekins!” Mr. Segawa proclaimed as a small brunette took the stage. Matty was actually surprised. This girl bore a strike resemblance to Nicole and Kirstin. The petite girl coughed a little and then signaled for the music to start.
At that moment, a guitar’s hard chords filled the room. It was then Matty realized that she knew this song. This was Priss! Julie took the mike in her hand and began to belt out the lyrics.
Nicole smiled to herself as she watched the last rays of sun sneak away. She was looking forward to Spring. She was looking forward to enjoying the warm weather with Jason. The pair had been seeing each other for almost half a year now, but now she had an opportunity to share some nice weather with him. She sighed contently as the stars began to become visible.
“Nicole?” a voice called to her. Nicole broke out of her reverie and looked at the source. It was her twin sister Kirstin standing at the entrance of the restaurant while Nicole stood in the parking lot looking at the sun set. “Are you coming inside?”
“Yeah, I’m coming,” Nicole said as she began walking toward her sister. Kirstin walked inside and Nicole followed.
As the pair stepped inside Nicole spied the other duo that made up their small party. Her older sister, Sarah and her friend the red headed Matty Hayes. They stood by a small sign that said, “Please wait to be seated.”
“Interesting décor,” Kirstin remarked, pointing to the large round stage in the center of the restaurant, along with the folded fans and paper screens decorating the walls.
“Well, Nicole has been raving about this place for the last five months. I figured it was time we all get to see it,” Sarah said to no one in particular.
“How’s the food?” Matty nervously inquired.
“Well, me and Jay seem to enjoy it,” Nicole answered.
“Jay?” Kirstin asked.
Nicole then noticed the stares from both Kirstin and Sarah. “What?”
“Pet name?” Sarah asked.
“What? No, of course not. He just likes to be called Jay. He says that Jason is such a common name for men of his generation,” Nicole said defensively.
Suddenly, a young woman in a floral kimono and wooden sandals came over to them. Her hair was blonde and it was set in a nice bun. She bowed to them and began to speak. “Kobanwa, Customers, welcome to the Rising Sun Sushi Bar…” Then she looked over to Nicole and broke into a wide smile, “Nicole-san!”
“Hi Angela!” Nicole greeted the Waitress/Nurse/Student who had waited on her and Jason on a number of occasions. Nicole had first met her when Jason had first brought Nicole here last fall. Of course back then they hadn’t officially been “dating,” in fact, Nicole had only gave Jason a brief kiss on the cheek and that wasn’t until Christmas. It was while on this ‘date’ Nicole learned that Angela was also a nurse at Baystate Medical center and had met Jason before, Jason having been badly attacked by an assailant that Nicole and Jason had encountered before.
Nicole took a pause to reflect. It was interesting. What would of happened if that man never made that racist comment that both Jason and Nicole took offense to? Things would probably be a lot different now.
So in a nutshell, Nicole had made some interesting acquaintances because of her fate chance of meeting Jason. Nicole then noticed that, during her train of thought, Angela had started to give her a stern look.
“Nicole-san!” Angela reprimanded. Nicole then understood.
“Gomen! I meant Anako-san,” Nicole said with a grin. A Moment later the pair both began to giggle lightly.
Matty looked confused and whispered to Kirstin, “Is there a private joke here I’m missing?”
Angela broke the laughter and looked toward the red head. “I’m sorry. It’s just something Nicole is familiar with. The owner, Mr. Segawa, insists that all the waitresses take Japanese names. He says it helps keep the atmosphere. He’s a little eccentric, but he’s really a nice man. So would you gals like Smoking or Non?”
“Non, please,” Nicole answered.
Angela led the quartet to a table that was near the stage. “So, Where’s Jason tonight?”
“It’s just me and my sisters tonight. A girls’ night out. He’s out with some of his ‘Guys,’” Nicole answered as she took her seat in the booth with Kirstin sitting next to her.
Angela nodded in understanding. “So Nicole, are you gonna defend your title tonight? There’s this new girl who’s been pretty good these last couple weeks.”
“Title?” Matty asked.
“Our little Nicole is quite the vocalist. She’s won their weekly karaoke competition four times in the last five months,” Kirstin explained, remembering
the four small brass cups that littered their nightstand.
“I don’t know,” Nicole hesitated.
“Well, she’s here tonight. She won last week. Looks like she trying to go for the repeat,” Angela told Nicole.
“Hmmmm… Well…” Nicole grinned slightly. “Maybe me and my sisters can whip something up.”
“Great! I’ll get the song book and I’ll be back to take your drink orders!”
Angela smiled and went off to fetch the hefty tome.
Matty looked to Kirstin, who was sitting across from her. “Should I be worried?”
Kirstin took one look at her sister’s grin and nodded. “Yes.”
Meanwhile, in Aaron Abdowmassy’s basement, Jason Bertovich looked around the table at the other four people staring back at him and at each other.
Of the four, the only one Jason knew reasonably well enough to hold a real conversation with was Aaron and that was because they were both dating one out of the pair of twins. Aaron dating the mild mannered Kirstin, while Jason had been seeing the sharp-witted, calculating Nicole.
Jason paused to correct his thinking. Only he and Nicole were officially dating and that had only been made official after they had been seeing each other for a few months. Aaron and Kirstin on the other hand… Well they… they stumbled and twisted themselves in emotional pretzels whenever anyone made mention of the word “relationship.” They were “just friends.” So of course, everyone knew that they dating… It seemed that the only ones who didn’t know were Kirstin and Aaron.
Jason looked to the other three. He could only vaguely remember meeting these people before, and that had been at the Boy Scout’s Christmas Party Nicole had invited him to attend.
The first was the short and young boy with the thick glasses. He had told him his name was Kenneth Pendrell. The others had told him they called him Kenny. Next to him at the table was a thick tome. On the spine Jason glanced at the title: Shroedinger’s Cat kicked Pavlov’s Dog’s Ass! or Why Quantum Physics is more interesting to study than Psychology.
At the next seat over, another younger boy sat with his eyes closed and his fingers joyfully tapping the table. On his head was a pair of earphones and coming from it was a sound that Jason would swear sounded like someone hitting a cat in a sack with a sledgehammer. Aaron had told him that his name was “Becker.” Which made more sense than what the boy had told him. When Jason had asked him his name he said is was, “WHAT?!?”
At the last seat over Jason realized that this boy was unknown. He hadn’t recalled meeting him at the party, but for some reason he looked or seemed familiar. Jason was almost positive that the pair had never met. He simply gave his name as, “Hughes.”
Jason dared to break the silence. “Well gentlemen, how are we this evening?”
The others responded with various shrugs and, “Okay’s,” except for Becker, who shouted, “WHAT?!!?”
Aaron calmly got up from his seat and walked over to Becker. He then grabbed the headphones and took them right off his head. Then he calmly walked over to a cabinet and calmly threw them in. He then took his seat again. “That’s better.”
Becker was beginning to look physically ill. He was slightly shivering. Kenny grew slightly interested and almost excited. He pulled out a small notepad and started scribbling notes.
“He might blow, Aaron,” Hughes stated in amusement.
“Withdrawal,” Aaron agreed.
“Is he gonna be OK?” Jason asked, a little worried.
“He’s a sound addict,” Aaron explained.
“Oh. Well, maybe this will help.” Jason then pulled out a leather case and unzipped it. Inside was page after page of CD’s. “What’s your pleasure? We’ve got classical, dance, hard rock, pop… It’s all here and it’s all Japanese.” Jason beamed.
“Quite an impressive collection of Anime CD’s Mr. Bertovich,” Kenny contributed. “Well, since we’re here to play a fantasy game, maybe something along the lines of that motif.”
“Ah!” Jason then slipped out a CD from a pouch and handed it to Aaron who put it in the stereo. “Vision of Escaflowne OST Volume 1. Oh, and Kenny?”
“Yes Mr. Bertovich?” Kenny asked.
“I’m not a Scoutmaster or a teacher or anything. I’m just some guy. You can call me Jay.” Then Jason slightly slapped his palm down on the small plastic case in front of him. “Gentlemen, shall we?”
The others nodded and reached in their bags or under the table. Aaron, Hughes and Becker pulled out long cardboard boxes. Kenny reached into his pocket and pulled out a prepackaged starter deck. He opened it and started shuffling.
Jason slid the plastic lid off the plastic case. This is what he had asked his family to send. He had gotten rid of his entire collection before he left, but these remained. The only things he kept from his Magic: The Gathering collection. Four Decks. Two Type 1’s, a Type 1.5, and a single fun theme deck. His Magic four. The “Four Decks of the Apocalypse.” These little men would soon feel their fury unleashed.
Jason pulled out the first one. It was a simple mono-black deck he had named The “Anyone, including the family chimp, can win with this deck” Deck. Jason began to shuffle as the other four had done.
They each slammed their deck on the table and began to draw cards.
About 15 minutes later, Jason had picked off Kenny pretty easily, though not much of a challenge as Kenny’s deck was pre-constructed and not made to play against as actual strategy. Aaron had pummeled Becker and was currently focusing on Hughes, which was fine with Jason as he needed time replenish his spent hand.
Jason then looked over to Kenny reading his book quietly as the soft symphony played on. “Good book?”
Kenny lifted his eyes over the edge of the book and arched an eyebrow. “Actually, yes.”
“So what’s your take on the Cat? Do you believe it was both alive and dead at the same time? Do you believe in infinite universes with infinite possibilities?” Jason inquired. Meanwhile Hughes groaned lightly as Aaron snickered.
“You understand this?” Kenny asked excitedly.
“A little. I’m no Quantum Physicist, but I do know a little something on a lot of subjects. I just found the concept of Alternate Universes with infinite possibilities fascinating,” Jason explained.
“Oh definitely!” Kenny said enthused. “In fact! I’ve…” Kenny immediately stopped himself before he said something he couldn’t take back.
“You’ve what?” Jason inquired, noticing that Kenny looked like he was going to say something but he had stopped.
“Well…I’ve…I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the subject and I hope to one day be the first person to prove the theory true,“ Kenny recovered.
“You’re a pretty smart kid, aren’t you? No doubt. Just promise me this. If you do, be sure to look me up. There’s a few universes I wouldn’t mind visiting.” Jason grinned.
Aaron broke in by saying. “Yes! You’re dead Hughes!” Hughes groaned again and threw his hand down on the table. Aaron then looked to Jason. “You’re turn. After that, you’re dead too!” Aaron laughed pointing to his menacing army while Jason’s creatures had died earlier.
Jason continued to look in Kenny’s direction while he drew his card. Then he tapped all his lands, then sacked a few to make even more mana with his Lakes of the Dead, then he played two dark rituals for even more black mana. Finally he took this giant butt-load of black mana and slapped the last card in his hand on the table. “Correction. I would die next turn. Unfortunately, I planned to kill you this turn. My Game.” Then he returned to his previous train of thought, “So Kenny, what’s your opinion on the Einstein, Rosen, Polanski bridge?”
The others all gathered around Aaron as Jason and Kenny continued their confusing conversation. Jason has successfully cast a drain life for 25 points of damage against Aaron and 25 points of life for himself. Everyone was pretty amazed how Jason had done this without even looking at the table. “He’s good,” Becker commented.
Jason then put all his cards back in his deck and pulled out another deck form the plastic case. “New game, gentlemen. Care to make it interesting?”
The other four looked at each other, even Kenny. “Interesting?”
“No way! Nuh uh!” Matty said vehemently shaking her head.
“Come on Matty! Please! We need a fourth girl!” Sarah pleaded as Nicole continued flipping between two pages in the book.
“It’s only a small part, Matty,” Nicole added.
Matty continued to shake her head. Yes, she had worn the dress. Yes, she had even bought it herself. But there was no way she was going to go up in front of a crowd of people and giggle and sing. Especially in a language she didn’t speak. She still had to cling to some ideals.
Kirstin bent over the table and whispered to Matty, “Please Matt. It will make Sarah happy.”
Matty looked at Kirstin and then to Sarah who was looking at the book with Nicole. Finally she sagged her shoulders. “Okay…”
Sarah turned to her. “Really? Great!”
“Of course, you three do know that I don’t speak Japanese,” Matty responded.
“You can read Romanji, right?” Nicole asked.
“I guess,” Matty answered.
“There you go. So are we doing it Nicole?” Sarah asked.
“I think we shall,” she said as she wrote down the song number.
Kirstin then leaned over the table and whispered to Matty, “Thanks Matt.”
“You owe me,” Matty whispered back. At that moment Angela returned with beverages and a pot of green tea.
“So you gals ready to order?”
“Are you serious?” Aaron asked.
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Becker added.
“Most unusual,” Kenny added.
“Ditto,” Hughes mumbled.
“Oh come on guys. Are you seriously telling me you never played for money?” Jason asked exasperated.
“How the hell do you play Magic for cash?!?” Becker demanded.
“Oh it’s easy!” Jason smiled.
“I don’t know Jay. I mean, unlike you, most of us don’t have steady employment that produce a cash flow,” Aaron contributed.
“Oh! That! Jeez, I’m not talking massive cash here guys. Strictly penny ante!” Jason explained. “The most you might lose would be maybe five bucks. At most! Surely you guys can afford that!”
The other four looked at each other nervously and then eventually shrugged. Then Becker took the initiative. “First explain the rules.”
Jason then reached into his bag and pulled out a large box and opened it. Inside were red, white and blue poker chips. “Okay guys, it’s like this. It’s standard Magic rules. Nothing changed. The whites are pennies, the reds are nickels and the blues are dimes. At the beginning of the game everyone puts in a dime. So at least someone will win fifty cents. Got em so far?”
The others nodded. Jason continued. “Now. Every time you lose a life point or are forced to discard a card, you put a penny in the pot. Every time you lose a creature, a land or another permanent such as an artifact or enchantment, you put a nickel in the pot. Finally if you are killed, you put a dime in the pot. Last one living keeps the accumulated cash. Usually enough to maybe buy a booster pack. Okay?” Jason finished.
Aaron and Becker looked generally interested and were already thinking of buying more cards with tonight’s winnings. Hughes looked bored and Kenny looked a little worried. However they all nodded and agreed. Jason then grew a Cheshire Cat-like grin that would be most disheartening if you happened to be a bird or mouse.
Everyone then fished into their pockets and handed Jason a five dollar bill. Jason fished one out as well, and tossed all of the money into the chip box. Jason then began to partition the chips. He gave everyone 200 whites, 30 reds and 15 blues. They began to shuffle their decks again. Jason reached into his deck case again and slipped out one of the stacks of cardboard enveloped in plastic slipcases. Jason had been dying to play this again.
‘Blue and White Thunder’… heh. It’s been too long…. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA Ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA HAH!!! Jason mentally said to himself as he shuffled his pride and joy. His greatest deck of all time. It had a fair share of decisive and close victories. It had its share of horrible defeats. And while it had never won him a professional tournament, it had reduced more than one “master” to frustration and aggravation. Jason loved this deck.
Jason then noticed Kenny was shuffling the pre-constructed starter deck again. “Hey Kenny.”
“Yes, Mr. Bertovich?” Kenny looked up from his book and shuffling.
“Is that all the cards you have?”
“Well, I really don’t play. I only bought this so I could play when they got together,” Kenny explained.
“Hmmmm. Kenny come over here,” Jason said to the small pre-teen.
Kenny got up from his spot and walked over to Jason’s seat. Jason then pulled out another deck from the plastic case and handed it over to Kenny. Kenny held the plastic enveloped cardboard cards in his palm.
“Mr. Bertovich?” Kenny inquired.
“Kenny, this is ‘Earn’em and Burn’em.’ This deck has probably won me more games than any other deck. It’s very simple, but very devastating. You have to play aggressive, understand?” Jason explained.
“But why are you letting me use your deck?” Kenny asked.
“I wanted to even up the playing field a little. Now, since this is multi-player, you want to pace yourself. Otherwise you’ll get pummeled in a late game. Think you can figure it out?” Jason answered.
“I think I can. Thank you, Mr. Bertovich,” Kenny responded.
“Didn’t I say to call me Jas?” Jason responded. Then he laughed. “I bet you were the only one to understand the rulebook after only one reading.” Jason grinned.
“The rulebook,” Aaron blurted, “is not to be understood by normal humans.”
“Well, if I see any normal people around here, I’ll be sure to tell them.” Jason smirked.
Kenny went back to his seat and studied the cards in the deck. He began to smile. Jason was right. It was mind boggling simple, but incredibly versatile and powerful. Kenny was surprised that Jason wasn’t using it himself. Kenny shuffled. Then a bad thought entered his head. If Jason wasn’t using this deck…
“OK men. Ante up!” Jason stated as he tossed a blue chip into the center of the table.
Kenny tossed his chip in and drew his cards. That meant the deck he was using must be incredible...
Matty worked the chopsticks with a relative amount of difficulty. For some reason, grasping a piece of cooked beef between two wooden twigs was proving to be more of a challenge than she had first expected. Matty looked at her steak. It was pretty lucky she had managed to stop Nicole before she had ordered four sushi platters… Heck, even the steak was a strech for Matty’s picky eating habits.
“Here, let me help you.” Sarah said. Then she took Matty’s hand into her own and positioned the sticks the right way. Kirstin looked over and actually
noticed Matty swallow nervously.
Kirstin then looked to her sister next to her. Nicole was busy eating from her ramen bowl. “So Nicole, how’s your love life?” The comment drew a stare from Sarah and a surprised look from Nicole. However that look of surprise turned to a sly grin.
“I don’t know. How’s yours?” Nicole responded, causing Kirstin to drop the piece of sashimi from between her chopsticks.
“Why, what do you mean sister? Me and Aaron are just friends.”
Nicole smirked at that comment and even Matty had to grin.
Sarah simply rolled her eyes upward and sighed. “My little sisters…”
Kirstin saw an opportunity. “Well, older sister, do we sense jealousy?”
Sarah almost choked on her soda, while Nicole simply nodded in agreement. “I do know that there are certain young men seeking your affections.”
Kirstin then threw a look over to Matty who decided now was an opportune time to examine her steak closer.
“You mean that Matt guy?!? You’ve got to be joking!” Sarah bemoaned. Matty felt her lips curling into a frown and tried to control it.
“Well, you seemed to enjoy his little token of appreciation,” Nicole commented.
“That was Christmas! That’s different! Then it seemed that he might actually be human!” Sarah countered.
“Well, It’s definitely an improvement.” Kirstin remarked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sarah demanded.
“Nothing. Just that six months ago if a guy would’ve tried to give you a present you would’ve given him a black eye,” Kirstin answered and then took a sip of her tea.
“I think she’s going soft on him,” Nicole smirked.
Sarah wanted to scream out at hearing that, but decided against doing it in a crowded restaurant. Instead she decided to redirect the conversation. “So Matty! How about you? I haven’t seen you with any members of the opposite sex lately. Is there a Romeo in your life?”
At hearing her name called Matty actually jumped in surprised and then even more surprised by the question. “Um…well…” Matty actually thought for a moment.
The closest thing she’d had to a date was Kuntz’s incessant and annoying wooing. “No,” she quietly replied. Then she looked over to Kirstin, who at
this moment decided that her platter needed a closer examination.
“Really? Wow that’s a surprise.” Sarah said disappointedly.
“Huh?” Matty inquired.
“I mean, not a single one of those pubescent Boy Scouts you hang around with have tried to hit on you? I’m surprised that Atanian hasn’t given up on me and gone after you.” Sarah answered.
Matty was beginning to feel a little ill. “What?! No, of course not! They’re just some guys I’ve known for years.”
“You might think that Matty. But remember, now they’ve got those hormones working which is preventing any real brain function. Just don’t be surprised if one of them ‘accidentally’ bumps into you on a hike,” Sarah deadpanned.
Nicole nodded in agreement.
Matty really didn’t like where this conversation was going. So she decided to take the initiative. “Wow! The food is really great!”
“Y-yeah! It’s terrific!” Kirstin added trying to help Matty out.
Sarah then turned to Matty with her chopsticks. “Are you sure you don’t want to try a piece of sashimi?”
Matty gulped. “Um…no thanks. I’m allergic to seafood,” she yammered. Of course, this was lie. Truth be known, Matt was one of the pickiest eaters he knew. On that list was seafood. Served raw and it moved to the top of the list. Matty considered it a lucky blessing that the restaurant also served Japanese steak. Cooked on a hot metal table while the chef chopped and cut. True, it would cost her six bucks more than if she had ordered the sushi, but considering the alternative, it was six bucks well spent.
“Oh.” Sarah blinked. She then shrugged and ate the piece of fish herself.
Meanwhile Nicole mentally filed away the factoid in the back of her mind for later use. Matty Hayes is allergic to seafood.
A moment later, A small Asian man took the round stage and tapped the Microphone. “Kobanwa, Ladies and Gentlemen!”
“Kobanwa!” The crowd of regulars responded loudly.
“And welcome to The Rising Sun’s weekly Karaoke contest!”
Why does that kid keep giving me those dirty looks? Jason thought to himself as he caught the Hughes kid sneering at him from behind his cards for
the thirtieth time that evening. Jason looked to his hand again and picked from card to card.
In the center of the table was a rather large mountain of poker chips that had accumulated during the course of the match. In fact, this was probably the largest pot Jason had ever been involved in. Of course, he had never tried this with a group larger than three players.
Becker was the first eliminated, when Kenny haplessly beat him with two large creatures by the fourth turn. Kenny almost took a morbid glee in eliminating Becker, which surprised everyone who knew Kenny’s quiet nature.
Aaron and Kenny were currently squaring off, while Hughes looked content to wait and see what everyone’s tactics were. Jason noticed that Hughes was quietly scraping his fingernails along the edge of the table. It reminded him of his old pet cat who had passed on a few years prior at the ripe age of sixteen. Jason then thought that it was a good thing that this Hughes kid didn’t have claws otherwise there would’ve been a nice sized groove in Aaron’s table.
As for Jason, he was simply leaning back and enjoying his handiwork. He had laid down his lock on the game. He had the Howling Mine and the Island Sanctuary on the table. Which meant only creatures with flying and islandwalk could attack him. Of course anytime someone tried to cast such a creature, Jason was rather quick with a counterspell. So his opponents were reduced to trying to toast him with direct damage. Unfortunately, Jason also had the annoying strategy to cast a Gerrald’s Wisdom with a hand full of cards for an average of sixteen to twenty to four life points.
It was becoming apparent that killing Jason was damn unlikely. So they went to work on killing each other first. Jason simply leaned back and enjoyed the show. Currently, he was quietly rooting for Kenny.
“So Aaron,” Jason started.
“Hmmm?” Aaron looked away from the game to see what Jason wanted.
“How goes your tutelage of your student?” Jason grinned, making a comment about how Aaron was teaching Kirstin to play Magic.
Aaron slightly groaned. “Don’t even start Jay! After what you taught her, I’m surprised I haven’t killed you yet!”
“What’s the deal?” Hughes asked eager to learn any dirt about Bertovich.
“Well, he gave her some tips on playing blue and white. Now she likes the concept so much that she’s literally made a deck that is exactly like her!”
Aaron bemoaned.
“Exactly like her?” Kenny asked interested. He almost seemed a little wistful at hearing the name of Kirstin.
“Yeah, she has all these cards like ‘Pacifism’ and ‘Peacekeeper.’ And she’s loaded all these counterspells and everything. She won’t let anything violent happen during a game. No attacks. No targeting. No nothing. But here’s the kicker! Somehow she managed for Nicole to get her a good price on a Divine Intervention card!”
At hearing that, Both Jason and Hughes whistled with respect.
“So now all our games always end in a tie! She says she likes it that way. That way there’s no losers so no one has to feel bad.” Aaron explained.
“That’s pretty admirable,” Kenny contributed.
“But it’s not much fun. It’s almost as bad as…” He looked over to Jason who was still sitting behind his cardboard fortress. “It’s almost as bad as playing against you!”
“Such harsh words. Shame, shame. For that you shall be punished.” Jason then played a card to steal all of Aaron’s creatures so that he could beat Aaron senseless with them…
“Now Ladies and Gentlemen, Let’s give a big had to last week’s winner. Ms. Julie Heinekins!” Mr. Segawa proclaimed as a small brunette took the stage. Matty was actually surprised. This girl bore a strike resemblance to Nicole and Kirstin. The petite girl coughed a little and then signaled for the music to start.
At that moment, a guitar’s hard chords filled the room. It was then Matty realized that she knew this song. This was Priss! Julie took the mike in her hand and began to belt out the lyrics.
[Did you know?] arashi no HAIUEI
[Did you dream?] hashiri-tsuzuketa
[Did you lie?] togireta yume no yukue sagashite
[Did you know?] nigai maboroshi
[Did you dream?] subete no uso wo
[Did you lie?] senaka de hajiki-tobashite
[No, no, no, my heart]
Big City kodoku-na Heart to Heart
minna ai no mayoigo
Big City namida wa Day by Day
nemuranai omoi wo yusaburu dake
[I want your love]
kon'ya wa HURICANE
anata ni HURRICANE
tsutaetai no Loving You... [Loving You]
kon'ya wa HURRICANE
kanjite HURRICANE
sugao no mama Touch!
Give me touch!
[Did you know?] kotoba no DAATSU
[Did you dream?] nageau dake ja
[Did you lie?] mune no itami wa wakari-aenai
[Did you know?] oshiete hoshii
[Did you dream?] nani ga anata no
[Did you lie?] hitomi wo kumoraseru no ka
[Sin-, Sin-, Singe, your heart]
Big City chigireta Heart to Heart
yoru ni odori-tsukarete
Big City utsuro-na Day By Day
sasayaka-na nukumori machi-kogareta
[I want your love]
kon'ya wa HURRICANE
anata ni HURICANE
tsutaetai no Loving You... [Loving You]
kon'ya wa HURICANE
mou ichido HURICANE
dakishimetai Touch! Burning Touch!
(Guitar Bridge)
Big City kodoku-na Heart to Heart
minna ai no mayoigo
Big City namida wa Day by Day
nemuranai omoi wo yusaburu dake
kon'ya wa HURICANE
anata ni HURICANE
tsutaetai no Loving You... [Loving You]
kon'ya wa HURICANE
kanjite HURICANE
sugao no mama Touch!
Give me touch!
kon'ya wa HURRICANE
anata ni HURRICANE
tsutaetai no Loving You... [Loving You]
kon'ya wa HURRICANE
mou ichido HURRICANE
dakishimetai Touch! Burning Touch!
Give me Touch! Burning Touch!
[Did you dream?] hashiri-tsuzuketa
[Did you lie?] togireta yume no yukue sagashite
[Did you know?] nigai maboroshi
[Did you dream?] subete no uso wo
[Did you lie?] senaka de hajiki-tobashite
[No, no, no, my heart]
Big City kodoku-na Heart to Heart
minna ai no mayoigo
Big City namida wa Day by Day
nemuranai omoi wo yusaburu dake
[I want your love]
kon'ya wa HURICANE
anata ni HURRICANE
tsutaetai no Loving You... [Loving You]
kon'ya wa HURRICANE
kanjite HURRICANE
sugao no mama Touch!
Give me touch!
[Did you know?] kotoba no DAATSU
[Did you dream?] nageau dake ja
[Did you lie?] mune no itami wa wakari-aenai
[Did you know?] oshiete hoshii
[Did you dream?] nani ga anata no
[Did you lie?] hitomi wo kumoraseru no ka
[Sin-, Sin-, Singe, your heart]
Big City chigireta Heart to Heart
yoru ni odori-tsukarete
Big City utsuro-na Day By Day
sasayaka-na nukumori machi-kogareta
[I want your love]
kon'ya wa HURRICANE
anata ni HURICANE
tsutaetai no Loving You... [Loving You]
kon'ya wa HURICANE
mou ichido HURICANE
dakishimetai Touch! Burning Touch!
(Guitar Bridge)
Big City kodoku-na Heart to Heart
minna ai no mayoigo
Big City namida wa Day by Day
nemuranai omoi wo yusaburu dake
kon'ya wa HURICANE
anata ni HURICANE
tsutaetai no Loving You... [Loving You]
kon'ya wa HURICANE
kanjite HURICANE
sugao no mama Touch!
Give me touch!
kon'ya wa HURRICANE
anata ni HURRICANE
tsutaetai no Loving You... [Loving You]
kon'ya wa HURRICANE
mou ichido HURRICANE
dakishimetai Touch! Burning Touch!
Give me Touch! Burning Touch!
The music finished and the crowd gave her a standing ovation. Even Matty had to applaud her effort. If she had closed her eyes, she could’ve worn that it was Priss herself. True, Priss was a fictional character, but you get the idea. They definitely had a tough act to follow.
Mr. Segawa then came back up the stage and applauded again. “That was Julie Heinekins! Now, next up is another talented young lady! You might remember her, as she is a four time winner of our karaoke contest! Let’s give a hand for Nicole Porter!” However at that moment Nicole whispered something into Mr. Segawa’s ear and he spoke into the microphone again. “I’m sorry Ladies and Gentlemen. Nicole Porter will not be performing tonight…” The crowd immediately sounded confused. “…alone. Tonight she will be singing with her sisters! So lets give a round of applause to the Four Porters!”
The crowd began to applaud loudly as Nicole took the stage. Matty gave her a confused look. Nicole simply winked back. Anako set up three additional microphone stands and handed everyone their lyric sheets. Nicole spoke into her mike.
“Hello everyone! I’m Nicole and these are my sisters. Kirstin, Sarah, and Matty! I hope you enjoy the show!” Nicole then signaled for the music to start.
The soft sweet beat pops blared in and the rhythmic dance beat flowed. Nicole waited for her cue and began to sing…
Mr. Segawa then came back up the stage and applauded again. “That was Julie Heinekins! Now, next up is another talented young lady! You might remember her, as she is a four time winner of our karaoke contest! Let’s give a hand for Nicole Porter!” However at that moment Nicole whispered something into Mr. Segawa’s ear and he spoke into the microphone again. “I’m sorry Ladies and Gentlemen. Nicole Porter will not be performing tonight…” The crowd immediately sounded confused. “…alone. Tonight she will be singing with her sisters! So lets give a round of applause to the Four Porters!”
The crowd began to applaud loudly as Nicole took the stage. Matty gave her a confused look. Nicole simply winked back. Anako set up three additional microphone stands and handed everyone their lyric sheets. Nicole spoke into her mike.
“Hello everyone! I’m Nicole and these are my sisters. Kirstin, Sarah, and Matty! I hope you enjoy the show!” Nicole then signaled for the music to start.
The soft sweet beat pops blared in and the rhythmic dance beat flowed. Nicole waited for her cue and began to sing…
(Nicole)
Koi o shitara Kokoro wa sufure mitai ni Fukurande itte
Kogechau no? Masaka Honto ni, honto ni, honto?
Amai koi ni ochiru hi o yume ni mite
Doko de dare to deau no ka
Hayaku shiritai wa Mou matenai no!
Kisu o shitara Atama ga torotoro ni natte Tokedashichau no?
Odokashite... Masaka Honto ni, honto ni, honto?
Demo ne, watashi Koibito ga dekita nara
Asa mo yoru mo kansatsu shichau wa
Motomoto ga Mania dakara
Hachimitsu sufure ni natte Fuwafuwa to
Juwajuwa kogete yukitai LOVE MANIA!
Koi shika shiranai hito ni Naritakute
Inochigake no koi o shimashou
Barairo no sora Doushiyou?
Watashi hamarisou!
Koi o shitara Kokoro wa sufure mitai ni Fukurande itte
Kogechau no? Masaka Honto ni, honto ni, honto?
Amai koi ni ochiru hi o yume ni mite
Doko de dare to deau no ka
Hayaku shiritai wa Mou matenai no!
Kisu o shitara Atama ga torotoro ni natte Tokedashichau no?
Odokashite... Masaka Honto ni, honto ni, honto?
Demo ne, watashi Koibito ga dekita nara
Asa mo yoru mo kansatsu shichau wa
Motomoto ga Mania dakara
Hachimitsu sufure ni natte Fuwafuwa to
Juwajuwa kogete yukitai LOVE MANIA!
Koi shika shiranai hito ni Naritakute
Inochigake no koi o shimashou
Barairo no sora Doushiyou?
Watashi hamarisou!
Kirstin then stepped forward and began to sing. Matty began to feel even more nervous as she knew that soon it would be her turn.
(Kirstin)
Akogareteru otoko no ko no fotogurafu
Atsume sugi yo Me o samashite
Motto koi wa Kakehiki to ka Kuuru ni yaranakya
Junjou nante Atsukurushikute Otoko no ko wa
Nigechau no yo
(Nicole)
Zaisan to ka Matabaki to ka kankei nai Ashita yoake ni
Inseki ga ochite Mechamecha ni nattemo
Hadaka hitotsu Sore ga koi no michi da wa
Tatoe hitori Chikyuu ni nokottemo
Koibito o Mamori nuku wa
Tokidoki koibito tachi o chekku shite
Deeto o kansatsu suru no LOVE MANIA!
Te to te ga fureta dake demo Tokete yuku
Koi no pawaa Subarashii wa
Dakara watashi mo sorosoro
Chanto taiken shinakya
Akogareteru otoko no ko no fotogurafu
Atsume sugi yo Me o samashite
Motto koi wa Kakehiki to ka Kuuru ni yaranakya
Junjou nante Atsukurushikute Otoko no ko wa
Nigechau no yo
(Nicole)
Zaisan to ka Matabaki to ka kankei nai Ashita yoake ni
Inseki ga ochite Mechamecha ni nattemo
Hadaka hitotsu Sore ga koi no michi da wa
Tatoe hitori Chikyuu ni nokottemo
Koibito o Mamori nuku wa
Tokidoki koibito tachi o chekku shite
Deeto o kansatsu suru no LOVE MANIA!
Te to te ga fureta dake demo Tokete yuku
Koi no pawaa Subarashii wa
Dakara watashi mo sorosoro
Chanto taiken shinakya
Sarah then stepped forward and signaled Matty to be ready for her cue. Matty had a couple solo lines and then a small duet with Sarah.
(Sarah)
otoko nante azarashidawa jimi sugite
onna no ko to koi ga shitai...
(Matty)
docchi ni shiyou docchi ni shiyou dare o kudoki mashou
(Sarah and Matty)
muri yari kiss shichaeba kitto
onna no kotte OK kamo ne!
otoko nante azarashidawa jimi sugite
onna no ko to koi ga shitai...
(Matty)
docchi ni shiyou docchi ni shiyou dare o kudoki mashou
(Sarah and Matty)
muri yari kiss shichaeba kitto
onna no kotte OK kamo ne!
Matty stepped back and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Not only did she manage to not to screw up, she actually sounded pretty damn good.
(Nicole)
Amai, amai Koi ni ochitai keredo
Doko de dare to ochiru no ka na
Hayaku sagasanakya Mou matenai no
Amai, amai Koi ni ochitai keredo
Doko de dare to ochiru no ka na
Hayaku sagasanakya Mou matenai no
Matty took another deep breath as she stepped forward to her microphone along with the three Porter sisters for the big finale…
(All Four)
Hachimitsu sufure no you ni Fuwafuwa to
Juwajuwa kogete yukitai LOVE MANIA!
Koi shika shiranai hito ni naritakute
Inochigake no koi o shimashou
Barairo no kibun Doushiyou
Minna LOVE MANIA!!
Love is love is love is love
Kanari love mania
Love is love is love is love
Kyou mo love mania
Love is love is love is love
Zutto love mania
Love is love is love is love
Koi no love maniaaaaaaaaaa!!!
Hachimitsu sufure no you ni Fuwafuwa to
Juwajuwa kogete yukitai LOVE MANIA!
Koi shika shiranai hito ni naritakute
Inochigake no koi o shimashou
Barairo no kibun Doushiyou
Minna LOVE MANIA!!
Love is love is love is love
Kanari love mania
Love is love is love is love
Kyou mo love mania
Love is love is love is love
Zutto love mania
Love is love is love is love
Koi no love maniaaaaaaaaaa!!!
The music then faded and Matty felt as if her knees were about to cave in. She had just stood in front of a large audience for about seven minutes and now the crowd was silent…
That silence lasted about a second as the crowd stood up to give their second standing ovation of the evening. Nicole brought the other three forward and they did a group bow in appreciation.
And thus it was down to two. Jason faced off against Kenny Pendrell. The Small Genius vs. The Old Man. The other three watched in anticipation to see who would take the very large pile of chips that looked to be worth about six bucks. (This gives you an idea how long this first game had been going on.)
Jason still stood behind his impenetrable wall. He also had about ten cards left in his deck. However he was down to three life. His main saving grace was his four-card hand and all his untapped lands.
Kenny on the other hand had just drawn his last card. This meant that if he didn’t win this turn, he would lose next turn because he had no cards to draw. The other three stood behind him and look at his hand. Kenny had two cards in his hand. A lightning bolt and a Hammer of Bogardan. Kenny immediately cast the lightning bolt and Jason immediately countered it.
“Dude, you might as well quit.” Becker consoled.
“Why?” Kenny asked.
Hughes piped in with his two cents, “Because the arrogant bastard is impossible to hurt. You know he’s guaranteed to have a counterspell in his hand. Why bother?”
“Well, what if it’s a bluff to make someone quit so he wins by forfeit?” Kenny reasoned.
“What kind of idiot uses that kind of strategy?!?” Hughes shouted at the small boy. “You’re only trying to delude yourself! You’ve got about as much chance of winning as Becker does winning the Mr. Silence award!”
Kenny defiantly tapped his remaining lands and laid the damage spell down.
All four of them look across the table at Jason. Jason looked at his three cards and then to the table. Then to his cards again. Finally, he folded his hand and laid it face down on the table and extended his hand to Kenny.
“Pot’s yours. Good Game.”
Kenny took Jason’s hand with a surprised look on his face. Then he started pushing the chips to his part of the table. Jason then looked to Aaron. “Hey Aaron, where’s your bathroom?”
“Upstairs, first door on the left.” Aaron replied.
“Thanks.” Jason then got up from the table and walked up the steps in search of the bathroom. After a moment, Kenny followed suit and also went upstairs.
“Augh! I can’t take it!” Becker shouted and ran to the drawer to get his headphones. In one swift motion he had plugged them in and put them on his
head. Meanwhile, Aaron and Hughes started cleaning up their sections of the table and began to shuffle new decks.
“Care to tell me what the attitude’s all about?” Aaron asked Hughes as he looked through his card box.
“What attitude?” Hughes replied defensively.
“You’re not good very good at being discreet, Hughes. Everyone saw the dirty looks you were giving Bertovich.” Aaron countered.
“So what if I was! Are you going to defend him?!” Hughes asked angrily.
“What’s your problem?! Why are you so pissed off at Jason?” Aaron demanded.
Hughes gave him a scowl. “Bertovich. Humph! Twenty-year-olds shouldn’t be dating sixteen-year-old girls. It’s just…wrong!”
“Excuse me?!? And what business is it of yours?” Aaron countered.
“Nicole’s too good for him! He’s just a deviant!” Hughes shouted.
“Oh! And some guy who lives with her under the deception of being her pet is any better?!?” Aaron slapped his palm on the table.
“Screw you, Abdowmassy! He’s an asshole! Plain and simple!” Hughes slapped his hand on the table too and caused a small breeze to waft across the table. This breeze flipped the face down cards that were Jason’s hand.
“Huh?” Aaron mumbled as he took a closer look at the three cards.
“What’s got your sudden interest?” Hughes asked still fuming.
“Look,” Aaron answered, pointing to the three cards that had made up Jason’s hand. It was three counterspells.
“Wait a minute! If he had three counterspells, why didn’t he use them?”
Hughes asked, scratching his head.
“It’s pretty obvious,” Aaron remarked and flipped the cards back over.
“Are you saying that he let Kenny win? Why would he do that?” Hughes asked.
“Maybe you should ask Nicole,” Aaron said and then began to build a new deck leaving Hughes standing there in silence.
Upstairs, Jason stepped out of the Abdowmassy bathroom and into the hallway. There, Kenny stood waiting for him to finish.
“What’s up Kenny? Did you need to use the bathroom too?” Jason asked.
“Mr. Bertovich, why did you let me win?” Kenny asked quietly.
Jason stopped walking and turned back and looked at the pre-teen looking at him. “How did you know?”
“Well, I’m pretty good with math. I calculated that there was a 99.99998% chance that you were holding at least one counterspell in your hand. You were guaranteed to win. So why did you forfeit?” Kenny asked, wanting an answer.
“It’s for those reason’s I did it,” Jason replied.
“I don’t understand,” Kenny rebutted.
“You knew that you had no chance to win. You had everyone telling you that you had no chance to win. But still you played on. You refused to quit. I
admired that,” Jason answered. He smiled.
“Because I refused to give up?”
“Kenny, when I was growing up, I was a lot like you. I was a pretty smart kid and I liked to read thick books and had strange hopes and dreams. I didn’t have a lot of friends and lot of people didn’t like me," Jason started to explain.
“What did you do?” Kenny asked.
“Well, a lot of times, I gave in,” Jason said with a frown. “I was a very sad person and I was very angry at the world. You refuse to quit. I really admire
you for that. I sense that you have a lot of talents that are waiting to be unleashed on this world. Just don’t give up.” Jason then turned away and walked down the steps to the first floor. “You coming?”
Kenny blinked for a moment and followed. Neither spoke as they went down into the basement again.
In the basement, the other three shuffled cards and replaced ones they wanted to change. Becker blissfully shuffled and destroyed his eardrums at the same time. Hughes looked at Jason and then to Aaron but said nothing. Kenny took his seat.
Jason sat down and took a new deck. “OK guys, ready for the next round? I’ll play my goofy deck now. How many of you have ever been killed by Falcons?”
The other four looked at each other worriedly and began to sideboard.
Jason smiled and started to think to himself. Not a bad evening. I wonder how Nicole’s went…
In the backseat of Sarah’s car, Nicole and Kirstin lightly slept. Sarah pulled up to the corner and Matty stepped out.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you up to your house?” Sarah asked for the thirtieth time since she had met Matty Hayes.
“It’s okay. It’s only a block’s walk.” In reality it was a five-block walk, but this way Sarah wouldn’t begin to get suspicious. “You get on home.”
“Okay. Good night, Matty.” Sarah smiled.
“Good night Sarah. Thank you for including me tonight. I really had a good time,” Matty said with no regrets.
“Yeah, so did we,” Sarah agreed and looked at the back seat. In Nicole’s arm was a small brass cup. Taped to it was a Polaroid picture of the four of them holding the trophy with Mr. Segawa.
As Sarah pulled away, Nicole awoke, but still kept her eyes closed. She mentally yawned. She didn’t realize how long a day it really had been. Not a
bad evening. I wonder how Jason’s went. Nicole smiled and went back to sleep.
That silence lasted about a second as the crowd stood up to give their second standing ovation of the evening. Nicole brought the other three forward and they did a group bow in appreciation.
And thus it was down to two. Jason faced off against Kenny Pendrell. The Small Genius vs. The Old Man. The other three watched in anticipation to see who would take the very large pile of chips that looked to be worth about six bucks. (This gives you an idea how long this first game had been going on.)
Jason still stood behind his impenetrable wall. He also had about ten cards left in his deck. However he was down to three life. His main saving grace was his four-card hand and all his untapped lands.
Kenny on the other hand had just drawn his last card. This meant that if he didn’t win this turn, he would lose next turn because he had no cards to draw. The other three stood behind him and look at his hand. Kenny had two cards in his hand. A lightning bolt and a Hammer of Bogardan. Kenny immediately cast the lightning bolt and Jason immediately countered it.
“Dude, you might as well quit.” Becker consoled.
“Why?” Kenny asked.
Hughes piped in with his two cents, “Because the arrogant bastard is impossible to hurt. You know he’s guaranteed to have a counterspell in his hand. Why bother?”
“Well, what if it’s a bluff to make someone quit so he wins by forfeit?” Kenny reasoned.
“What kind of idiot uses that kind of strategy?!?” Hughes shouted at the small boy. “You’re only trying to delude yourself! You’ve got about as much chance of winning as Becker does winning the Mr. Silence award!”
Kenny defiantly tapped his remaining lands and laid the damage spell down.
All four of them look across the table at Jason. Jason looked at his three cards and then to the table. Then to his cards again. Finally, he folded his hand and laid it face down on the table and extended his hand to Kenny.
“Pot’s yours. Good Game.”
Kenny took Jason’s hand with a surprised look on his face. Then he started pushing the chips to his part of the table. Jason then looked to Aaron. “Hey Aaron, where’s your bathroom?”
“Upstairs, first door on the left.” Aaron replied.
“Thanks.” Jason then got up from the table and walked up the steps in search of the bathroom. After a moment, Kenny followed suit and also went upstairs.
“Augh! I can’t take it!” Becker shouted and ran to the drawer to get his headphones. In one swift motion he had plugged them in and put them on his
head. Meanwhile, Aaron and Hughes started cleaning up their sections of the table and began to shuffle new decks.
“Care to tell me what the attitude’s all about?” Aaron asked Hughes as he looked through his card box.
“What attitude?” Hughes replied defensively.
“You’re not good very good at being discreet, Hughes. Everyone saw the dirty looks you were giving Bertovich.” Aaron countered.
“So what if I was! Are you going to defend him?!” Hughes asked angrily.
“What’s your problem?! Why are you so pissed off at Jason?” Aaron demanded.
Hughes gave him a scowl. “Bertovich. Humph! Twenty-year-olds shouldn’t be dating sixteen-year-old girls. It’s just…wrong!”
“Excuse me?!? And what business is it of yours?” Aaron countered.
“Nicole’s too good for him! He’s just a deviant!” Hughes shouted.
“Oh! And some guy who lives with her under the deception of being her pet is any better?!?” Aaron slapped his palm on the table.
“Screw you, Abdowmassy! He’s an asshole! Plain and simple!” Hughes slapped his hand on the table too and caused a small breeze to waft across the table. This breeze flipped the face down cards that were Jason’s hand.
“Huh?” Aaron mumbled as he took a closer look at the three cards.
“What’s got your sudden interest?” Hughes asked still fuming.
“Look,” Aaron answered, pointing to the three cards that had made up Jason’s hand. It was three counterspells.
“Wait a minute! If he had three counterspells, why didn’t he use them?”
Hughes asked, scratching his head.
“It’s pretty obvious,” Aaron remarked and flipped the cards back over.
“Are you saying that he let Kenny win? Why would he do that?” Hughes asked.
“Maybe you should ask Nicole,” Aaron said and then began to build a new deck leaving Hughes standing there in silence.
Upstairs, Jason stepped out of the Abdowmassy bathroom and into the hallway. There, Kenny stood waiting for him to finish.
“What’s up Kenny? Did you need to use the bathroom too?” Jason asked.
“Mr. Bertovich, why did you let me win?” Kenny asked quietly.
Jason stopped walking and turned back and looked at the pre-teen looking at him. “How did you know?”
“Well, I’m pretty good with math. I calculated that there was a 99.99998% chance that you were holding at least one counterspell in your hand. You were guaranteed to win. So why did you forfeit?” Kenny asked, wanting an answer.
“It’s for those reason’s I did it,” Jason replied.
“I don’t understand,” Kenny rebutted.
“You knew that you had no chance to win. You had everyone telling you that you had no chance to win. But still you played on. You refused to quit. I
admired that,” Jason answered. He smiled.
“Because I refused to give up?”
“Kenny, when I was growing up, I was a lot like you. I was a pretty smart kid and I liked to read thick books and had strange hopes and dreams. I didn’t have a lot of friends and lot of people didn’t like me," Jason started to explain.
“What did you do?” Kenny asked.
“Well, a lot of times, I gave in,” Jason said with a frown. “I was a very sad person and I was very angry at the world. You refuse to quit. I really admire
you for that. I sense that you have a lot of talents that are waiting to be unleashed on this world. Just don’t give up.” Jason then turned away and walked down the steps to the first floor. “You coming?”
Kenny blinked for a moment and followed. Neither spoke as they went down into the basement again.
In the basement, the other three shuffled cards and replaced ones they wanted to change. Becker blissfully shuffled and destroyed his eardrums at the same time. Hughes looked at Jason and then to Aaron but said nothing. Kenny took his seat.
Jason sat down and took a new deck. “OK guys, ready for the next round? I’ll play my goofy deck now. How many of you have ever been killed by Falcons?”
The other four looked at each other worriedly and began to sideboard.
Jason smiled and started to think to himself. Not a bad evening. I wonder how Nicole’s went…
In the backseat of Sarah’s car, Nicole and Kirstin lightly slept. Sarah pulled up to the corner and Matty stepped out.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you up to your house?” Sarah asked for the thirtieth time since she had met Matty Hayes.
“It’s okay. It’s only a block’s walk.” In reality it was a five-block walk, but this way Sarah wouldn’t begin to get suspicious. “You get on home.”
“Okay. Good night, Matty.” Sarah smiled.
“Good night Sarah. Thank you for including me tonight. I really had a good time,” Matty said with no regrets.
“Yeah, so did we,” Sarah agreed and looked at the back seat. In Nicole’s arm was a small brass cup. Taped to it was a Polaroid picture of the four of them holding the trophy with Mr. Segawa.
As Sarah pulled away, Nicole awoke, but still kept her eyes closed. She mentally yawned. She didn’t realize how long a day it really had been. Not a
bad evening. I wonder how Jason’s went. Nicole smiled and went back to sleep.
Author's Notes, Part Two
Well, OK, that’s it. It’s finished. Hope you enjoyed it. Just a few things to go over for your convenience…
Original Characters from the Boy Scouts ½ series not based on real people were created by Matt Atanian. Those include The Porter Sisters and Kenny Pendrell, and any others I’m missing.
Angela Manors / Anako, & Mr. Segawa were created by Jason Bertovich.
Julie Heinekins was created by Bill Hughes. She was only mentioned for a paragraph in the Perspectives Side-story Of Possible Futures -- The Tale of Neko-chan and Bertovich. I liked the name.
The song Heinkekins was singing was “There’s a Hurricane Tonight!” From the original Bubblegum Crisis OVA series. I’m a sucker for the classics. The song the Porters were singing was “Love Mania!” from El Hazard: The Alternative World.(For those wondering, it is the song that is briefly sung at the end of the series in the last episode. The version her was the full length version.)
This is actually the second edition of the story as the first version seemed to have many things that Matt-kun had problems with. Hopefully, this new version fixed things.
I’m Sure Matt had plenty to say here. So I’ll let him get to it…
Original Characters from the Boy Scouts ½ series not based on real people were created by Matt Atanian. Those include The Porter Sisters and Kenny Pendrell, and any others I’m missing.
Angela Manors / Anako, & Mr. Segawa were created by Jason Bertovich.
Julie Heinekins was created by Bill Hughes. She was only mentioned for a paragraph in the Perspectives Side-story Of Possible Futures -- The Tale of Neko-chan and Bertovich. I liked the name.
The song Heinkekins was singing was “There’s a Hurricane Tonight!” From the original Bubblegum Crisis OVA series. I’m a sucker for the classics. The song the Porters were singing was “Love Mania!” from El Hazard: The Alternative World.(For those wondering, it is the song that is briefly sung at the end of the series in the last episode. The version her was the full length version.)
This is actually the second edition of the story as the first version seemed to have many things that Matt-kun had problems with. Hopefully, this new version fixed things.
I’m Sure Matt had plenty to say here. So I’ll let him get to it…
Matt's Notes:
Over all, this was a good story and I enjoyed it immensely. There is still one slight thing that, unfortunately, bothers me…
Jason letting Kenny win.
I’m not saying that Jason-kun wouldn’t do that, I’m saying he wouldn’t have to.
He wouldn’t even have to loan Kenny one of his decks.
Kenny may be socially awkward, but under that hides a mind far exceeds that of a normal human. His genius allowed him to fully comprehend the game mechanics, after all, after only reading the rulebook. (My mediocre skills at the game, just to give you a comparison, only came about after a summer of intense tutelage at the hand of the Aberts.) Kenny’s mind is capable of such tactical genius that he would be able to play against anyone. Pit Kenny against a master player of the game using any deck they wish. And Kenny would win at the game using only any random starter deck!
Of course, there is a rationalization we could use to explain this. Perhaps Kenny wasn’t playing to his full abilities for the same reasons that young Clark Kent wasn’t on the Smallville Football Team… He was simply hiding his abilities.
I was quite amused to see the song that Nicole’s new rival was singing! I had just re-watched the first episode of Bubblegum Crisis shortly before I read this story. Also, I quite liked the concept of the Kirstin deck.
In closing, even if it did provide me with a bit of a headache. I know that any re-writes Jason did, he’d rather not have done, and in fact I would have been happy to have left the story alone, except Jason didn’t wish the story to be non-canonical. Thanks, Jason-kun, for the wonderful story! I’m glad we were able to work everything out in the end.
Jason letting Kenny win.
I’m not saying that Jason-kun wouldn’t do that, I’m saying he wouldn’t have to.
He wouldn’t even have to loan Kenny one of his decks.
Kenny may be socially awkward, but under that hides a mind far exceeds that of a normal human. His genius allowed him to fully comprehend the game mechanics, after all, after only reading the rulebook. (My mediocre skills at the game, just to give you a comparison, only came about after a summer of intense tutelage at the hand of the Aberts.) Kenny’s mind is capable of such tactical genius that he would be able to play against anyone. Pit Kenny against a master player of the game using any deck they wish. And Kenny would win at the game using only any random starter deck!
Of course, there is a rationalization we could use to explain this. Perhaps Kenny wasn’t playing to his full abilities for the same reasons that young Clark Kent wasn’t on the Smallville Football Team… He was simply hiding his abilities.
I was quite amused to see the song that Nicole’s new rival was singing! I had just re-watched the first episode of Bubblegum Crisis shortly before I read this story. Also, I quite liked the concept of the Kirstin deck.
In closing, even if it did provide me with a bit of a headache. I know that any re-writes Jason did, he’d rather not have done, and in fact I would have been happy to have left the story alone, except Jason didn’t wish the story to be non-canonical. Thanks, Jason-kun, for the wonderful story! I’m glad we were able to work everything out in the end.