66 Counter Pick Checkmate (1/2)
”C'mon! One more!” Ignis waved her controller and grin beamed on her face. It made her look like a brat who wanted to mess around. Even though Yuel lost terribly in the previous game, it was hard to hate Ignis's attitude. She was really just a Classmancers geek. ”One more!”
”May I?” Yuel turned to Howard, who held the most authority in this house right now because Ignis was totally hammered.
”You got no choice,” Howard's lips curved into a smirk. ”Once you start playing her when she's drunk, you better be prepared to play her own until she knocks herself out.”
”Yep~” Ellen added with an impish smile. ”Be ready to stay here aaaaaall night~”
”That'll be a problem,” Yuel had no plans staying over. ”But I'm not in a hurry so I'll play as many matches I can.”
”Good, good!” Ignis nodded repeatedly and exaggeratedly, making it feel like her head will fly off her neck at any moment. ”That's the spirit, Chesskid!”
”The name's Yuel.”
”Nooooope. You're Chesskid. Real pros use their nicks,” Ignis puffed her cheeks, leaving no room for argument. Thinking about it, Yuel also referred to her as ”Ignis” even though that's her IGN and not her real name. What was even her real name? That kind of information wasn't always trivial to find online. Pro players were really best known by their nicknames and not any real name. But, even so...
”It's not Chesskid,” Yuel argued. ”It's Chessmaster.”
”Pft, yeah, right! You're ten years too young to have such a coky name!”
[Actually, this name was your brother's idea...]
”So, Chesskid suits ya just *hic* right now.”
”Is that so,” Yuel made a face. He felt obligated to shoot something back. ”I didn't see you calling Howard and Ellen by their nicknames.”
”Weeeeell,” Ignis shrugged. ”Wardy is Wardy and Elly is Elly.”
[You're making so much sense that you're blowing my mind!]
”She just hates her real name,” Ellen whispered. ”So, she wants everybody to call her Ignis.”
”What's her real name?” Yuel asked in a whisper.
”It's Heather.”
”Don't see a problem with it,” Yuel shrugged.
”Nuuuuuu!” Ignis roared out of the blue. ”I'm nooooo Heather! I'm Ignis! IG-NIS! Drill that into yo *hic*!” She poked Yuel's temple as if to transmit this data into his brain.
”Fine,” Yuel conceded. ”You're Ignis.”
”Damn right, kiddo! All hail Ignis!” She threw both hands in the air to celebrate.
[What are you, five?] Yuel sighed. ”I'll call you Ignis, so you call me Chessmaster.”
”Nope.”
[Gah! This woman! I swear...!]
”If you don't like it, then c'mon! Try and *hic* me, Chesskid.”
”You're on,” Yuel clenched the controller. Despite the huge skill gap between them, he'll do it. He'll beat Ignis, somehow. There had to be a way.
”That's the spirit.” Ignis grinned. ”You got trashed real bad last round, so I'mma boost you to Lv.10. Or, you need more?”
”Five levels is fine,” Honestly, considering the outcome of their previous game, it's possibly Yuel needed more than that to fight Ignis on equal footing. But, Howard claimed he defeated Ignis consistently with a handicap of five levels, so Yuel had to try it too.
”Come at me then.” Ignis tinkered with the settings and instantly locked her pick. Yuel didn't hear any sounds of scrolling across the selection screen, so Ignis obviously picked Warrior again.
”Um, I know you picked Warrior,” Yuel said. Despite the suboptimal conditions of this match, he still wanted to keep things fair.
”Yeah,” Ignis admitted. ”Whoever wins gotta stay with that class for next round.”
”Huh? Why?”
”House rules!”