Chapter 137:

After about five hours of flying, the plane landed on L.A, and Nai and Win, the two excitable children, let out whoops, while Igor, who had slept for a sizeable portion of the trip, woke up softly, not letting a sound, just opening his eyes, and standing up both smoothly and silently.

"We have arrived at Los Angeles Private Airport, the school reserved a flight space, and we have been allowed to skip police checks, so you can get on the limo, and go straight to the airport, we wish you all the best of luck in the tournament, we will be here to pick you back up once it is time to go back.", one of the pilots said, and they all thanked them for the quick and smooth flight.

They went down through the stairwell that had been put up, and walked a few metres to where a black tinted limo was waiting for them, the chauffeur opening the doors. He smiled at them, and asked whether they wanted any snacks or drinks, they all refused. They had eaten and drank more than enough during the flight, the air hostesses that served constantly coming and going, bringing in food and snacks for the duration of the flight.

The chauffeur nodded, and closed the door behind them, before getting on, and driving them straight to the hotel. Well, they called it a hotel, but it was actually a whole building owned by the school. Ace had seen pictures, it was grand, with each room spanning a whole two floors, with an indoor lift, so there was no need to even take the stairs. The fact that the school owned such huge property in the middle of L.A, was just astounding. They also owned another in Santa Monica, with beautiful views to the beach, the only reason they were not in that one, much to some people's chagrin, was the fact that the other was closer to the arena where the tournament would take place.

***

"Good day,", the chief butler greeted them all respectfully, "The rooms have been set up, but can be changed to your discretion. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to let us know. We are here to make your stay more enjoyable and relaxing, so that you may be able to give the best of you once the tournament begins, if you win, so do we.", he nodded, and the other members of the service behind him smiled as well.

"Thank you for your work, we will be relying on you then.", Zach said and smiled, while motioning for the staff to show them their rooms.

Ace's was in the middle of the skyrise, and he decided to stay there, it had a nice decor, and the side that faced the street was all glass, which meant he had a clear view. He put his bag down, and ensured everything was in order - of course, it was. He took out all the things he had in his bag, and then arranged them to his own comfort, he had brought his monster machine of a laptop, along with a USB where he had a Linux Distro he had made himself for himself.

He took out the various cables and chargers for his watch, laptop and phone, and then plugged them in at his convenience.

They all met up in the lobby half an hour later. They had all showered and changed, Ace wearing some loose black jeans and a military jacket, with various patches he had custom-designed himself. Once the last person got there, Zach informed them on what they could do, "Ok, so, you have the afternoon and night free, but do remember that we must be ready to leave by 9. If you need anything, you have everyone's numbers, along with Coach's. Also, have these,", he handed them what looked like credit cards, but they were in fact IDs. They seemed to be made out of some matte black metallic compound, their names written in gold. "These have a fingerprint receptor, if you show them to a worker, and you place your finger on the receptor, ensuring your identity, you will have no problems anywhere. Well, enjoy yourselves, and have fun.", with that said, he was the first out of the door.

'Well, luck I brought the skateboard, Ha, the others would be pissed if they knew I can just chill and skateboard in L.A, instead of going to school.'

He got on the board, and skated through the street. He admired the various buildings and places much like a tourist would, and stopped in front of a place that would look fun, the only sign he could find that would give him an idea as to what the massive building was, was the following: ARCADE. There were many lights, lighting up in patterns, that attracted attention from the passerbyes.

Ace went in, and was assaulted by the noise of various arcade games, and sounds of shouting, along with tickets being dispensed from various machines. He smiled, 'This is gonna be fun.'

He went to the main area, where he could trade tokens for cash, and did so, first getting about 100$ in tokens. The difference to most arcades was that he did not get tokens per-say. He got a card, where the number of tokens was charged, then, to use a game, all he had to do was swipe the card on the reader, and then the amount would be redacted. If he won anything, all he had to do was swipe the card again, and the amount would be inputted into the card again.

He could, of course, check the number of tokens he had on his card at any time, on one of the many machines that were dotted around the various floors of the arcade. He could also check the rewards he could cash out with that amount, as well as all the rewards that were available.

'Ok, let's start with some of the basics.', Ace thought, and made his way to a Street Fighter machine. The edition was Street Fighter 2. The game in this arcade, he was told, was a bit different. He would play against another arcade goer, and they could bet chips if they wanted. Of course, that was only one of the modes, he could also play against a friend on the same machine, or against the machine, depending on the difficulty, he would get one reward or another.

He loaded a token, and then picked RYU as his character, the default character. Ace had not played much Street Fighter, especially not in an arcade. He spent about ten minutes however, memorising all the moves and combos he could do. It was an unfair advantage, he had memorised a character's whole skill sheet within minutes, and not only that, he would most likely have no problem actually using them in an actual match.

He found a game, another player in the arcade, and then the betting selection began, the other person did not want to bet, and neither wanted Ace - at least not yet, so they went forward with the match.

Ace used the match, and its subsequent rounds to get himself used to the character, and ensured he had the moves memorised properly and up to scratch.

He won without an issue, and smiled, 'Ok, so, the choice is this, do I explore some more? Or do I begin to smash people at this game?', Ace thought, before coming to the decision to explore and have fun for today, and the next time he came, focusing on winning tokens on the various games that were found on the building.

He spent the afternoon in the arcade, playing games, and having fun, he was alone, but that did not impede him from having fun. He ended up speaking to a group of teenagers that looked about his age. They were most definitely not the good sort, for one, they were wearing school uniforms, but they were most definitely not following the school regulations, they were smoking, which was allowed, but only in certain areas, of which this one was not one of. They were all crowded around a few games, and did not let anyone else get close.

For another, a few of them tried to bully Ace into 'playing a few games with them'. THye did not dare to steal his tokens, but he could always 'invite' them to play a game with him. Of course, a kick to the knee and an elbow to the face made them all friends.

Ace was now officially part of a gang of school kids. They were all between the ages of 16 and 18, but since they had not asked Ace, he had not said his. They probably assumed he was about their age anyway.

He spent the rest of his time playing with them, they soon realised Ace was more than a little bit good, and they now bet on who could last the longest against him. It did not matter the games, rhythm, shooting, fighting, or dancing. Ace was great at all of them. The excuse, was that his father owned an arcade, and had been playing them since he was a baby. That seemed to appease their questions.

"Well guys, I would love to go for a few drinks with you, but I do have to leave, I have some stuff to do tomorrow.", Ace waved goodbye, and then left the casino, skating all the way back to the hotel.

It was 11 at night, and while the casino was nowhere near closing, the others were going for a few drinks. They invited Ace, but he declined, he wanted to get some research done before going to bed, since he wanted to be ready for what would come later.