Checkmate

"Looks like the kinsmen are expecting our arrival, huh.." Yuri stood from his seat, with his blood boiling as they approached the edge of the forest they are about to subdue. His eyes glimmer in the dark atmosphere around the forest area though the other members felt the other way around. Yuri was seated at the further back seat of the bus. He, then, paced slowly towards the entrance door and opened it happily, grinning like a child offered with candy. "We should also welcome our guests.." he added.

The baboons stood welcoming the team on the forest entrance. They wore an ancient Celtic outfit with iron domed helmets and carry prehistoric weapons used by barbarians.

Everyone stepped outside, icy air slapped their faces. The atmosphere felt heavier.

"This could mean a bad omen.." Andra said. "…and I don't like bad omens.."

"Same here.." Andi added.

"With the baboon welcoming party?" Sandra muttered. "I can't look forward to that.." her eyes said the irony.

"Anyway, we need to get going…" Jayson stepped forward and the others followed. "Just don't fall behind."

"Yeah, deep inside that dark forest…" Andi murmured.

The leader baboon make a path for them to walk through the jungle and the other baboons followed their trail. They entered the forest and walked on a steep footing. They went up, deeper inside the forest, crossing a river and climbing a rocky slope. And as they pace forward, they saw red eyes staring, glaring at them, lurking in the forest depths in every direction.

"They're giving me goosebumps.." Tori said, gripping her arm. Getting paranoid of her surroundings.

"It's alright, they won't hurt us until we reach their palace," Jayson said. He smiled at Tori to ease her tension.

"Don't force a smile, Jay," Tori replied, rolling her eyes. "I'm fine…"

"Just as I thought…" Jayson giggled.

"I wonder what kind of game we're talking about here.." Yuri muttered.

"I hope it's not a deadly one.." Andi squawked.

"It is a deadly one, you know…" Alex said. "I just hope it's not so complicated that the others there cannot follow.."

"Are you referring to us, Alex?" Michael eyed him with dark intent. "I wonder if you are referring to yourself.."

"I wonder…" Alex sarcastically replied, rolling his eyes.

"You two should stop.." Jayson warned.

They continued walking in silence, but now, on a downward muddy slope.

"Did we reach the peak?" Andi whispered.

They arrived in the only flat space in the middle of the forest. No trees are found in a mile radius found at the other side of the mountain, but a deep cliff stared at them on the left side though it gives a nice view of the crimson sky.

"Woah.." Mike said in awe.

"No wonder we cannot see it from the city. It is located at the back of the plateau, facing the other side of the island."

"I guess it's what they call the backdoor of Luna.."

"Back door, huh?" Sandra muttered sarcasm. "I guess it fits its name very well, though."

"Quite intriguing.." Jayson mumbled.

A drumroll sounded in the air through the speakers around the forest though they cannot see anything but trees surrounding the area. The ground trembled. The vacant space split in tiles and a big box slowly emerged from the ground turning into a big square field sliced into smaller squares, 8 chunks on the width and 8 chunks on the length, in a baseball field-sized court with alternate colors.

"A chessboard.." Sandra whispered.

They all stared in awe at the palace slowly emerging in front of their eyes. The baboon, who emerged from the middle along with the field, stepped forward and greeted them with open arms.

"Welcome my dear guests.. I welcome you in my game of chess.." the baboon with a crown said. His teeth are covered with gold, though Andi is pretty sure those are plaque, his trunks are made up of panther skin, his chest is topless showing his big fury front, his hair seemed like a bed hair or it just happened to be licked by a cow, and his eyes glared at them, burning with fury. "I know you know the rules of chess so it'll be an easy job. But, I'll just warn you, there's a twist on this one."

"A twist?" Jayson replied. "What kind of twist are you referring to?!"

"It's something you might surely like. You'll fight against my army arm by arm using your own weapons and strategy as the pieces in the chessboard. We need 16 participants and you will be assigned with a certain role as a chess piece and will fight until the game is over. Dead chess piece really dies in the AR."

"That's dangerous!" Sandra shouted.

"That's impossible!" Andra exclaimed.

"In chess, you need a sacrifice.." the baboon grinned at them with an intent to kill. "They are relevantly important in this kind of game." He added. "Besides, if you win. You'll get the treasure."

"We can't---"

"We can.." Yuri said with composed eyes as he stepped forward. "It can't be helped, so we need to get going."

"You're saying that you'll risk your own life, your friend's lives, just for that damn key?" Andra said. "What kind of monster are you, huh?"

"If that means victory and I can take my friends out of this mess, I will sacrifice anything, everything. Besides.." Yuri glared at king Baboon. "We can win the key if we play your game, right?!"

"Of course, my beloved guests.." the king said, grinning "You can try until you fell dead."

"That's more than enough…"

"Then, we can start the game in a few minutes," the baboon clapped his hands in excitement. "..you can think of who your pieces should be, muggles.. anyway, you'll lose in the end." He left a smug face and returned to his seat at the king's throne on their side of the board.

They formed a circle and assigned the roles for their match.

"I can see that this is the best lineup we can assign," Jayson said. "Any reactions?"

"Yeah, there is!" Alex exclaimed.

"Shut up Alex!" Jayson grabbed his wrist. "It's for the best. Just bear with it for a while until we finish this stuff."

"But.." Alex muttered.

"And here you are asking for any complains… how could you Jay?!" Sandra said.

"We don't have complains," Yuri said. "If you see this fit, Jay, we'll leave it like this. Anyway…" Yuri sighed. "I hate to admit it but this game's a team effort. All I want is to get out here safe, with my team of course. And if siding with you is the only way, we'll look the other way and tolerate this stuff…" he added.

"Tolerate, huh?" Alex grumbled.

"I see, we've come to an understanding then…turn your mics on. I'll relay the commands on that line Ethan modified for our own sake" Jayson said.

"Ehh?? You're in command, huh?" Mike said sarcastically.

"Jayson is a genius in chess. He had won different competitions around the world. You can trust him with this one.." Sandra explained.

"He also created a chess game back when he's in grade school," Alex added. "He knows how this thing goes better than we do."

"He's right, Mike," Yuri said. "I didn't even have a chance against him when we play this game seriously last year, remember?"

"But.." Mike complained.

"And that's why you resorted to underhand tactics.." Alex grumbled.

"Shut it up, Alex.." Jayson reprimanded him again. "We're not here to fight against each other."

Alex turned around and wore a deaf ear.

"Mics on. So, it's like we're forming a party, huh?" Yuri said.

"Yeah, something like that…" Jayson exclaimed. "We need to stay connected.

Everyone turned their chat on and connected their line to their hotspot.

"Don't you like it?"

"I don't really care, well.." Yuri looked away.

"I look forward to a good game and move to your positions," Jayson said.

"Ahh!" The rest of the team exclaimed.

These are the assignment of pieces of the Gold team:

Alex (Rook_R) Yuri (King_K)

Sandra (Queen_Q) Mike (Knight_N)

Tori (Bishop_B) Andi (Rook_R)

Jayson (Knight_N) Andra (Bishop_B)

"Gold team, huh?" Alex muttered.

"I guess that's the color of your school right?" Mike said.

"So what?!" Alex exclaimed.

"Not just the school, but the owner, too," Jayson said.

"The owner?" Andi asked but no one seemed to notice he asked a question.

"There's nothing wrong with gold. Besides, the other team wore red." Yuri said.

"Why red?" Andi asked again but he was neglected again. "Ne?!" he complained.

"One more thing…" the baboon said in a loud voice. "There's a twist in this game as what I've said.."

"Do it as you please…" Yuri eyed the big guy. "We don't care because your defeat was long been decided.."

They scattered and went to their designated posts on the battlefield. Officials went to their back posts and the pawns stepped forward.

A countdown was set on air, just above their heads around two floors in height, showing the time given for them to arrange themselves. It has a cliché sound of a ticking clock though it is digital in nature.

Alex stood on Jayson's left side irritated.

"Why aren't you the king, Jay?!" he asked angrily.

"Why not? I owe Yuri something and this is the payback." Jayson replied.

"I can't understand this… I mean,,, you're accepting defeat.." Alex insisted.

"No, Alex. I chose this post for better mobility.."

"What do you mean?"

"If I am the king, I'll get limited in 8 squares. I'll get protected and get no chance of attacking…" Jayson said. "All I can do is take cover and run.."

"You have a point but.."

"I'm not putting myself in danger, don't worry…" Jayson replied. "I trust you guys…besides," he added. "I can think of a better plan when I'm here, along with the other fighters. That's what a Knight does, right?"

"You're one hell of a guy…"

"I know right.." Jayson's eyes gleamed with confidence. "..if worse turns worst, Sandra's there to continue the fight. She's one hell of a gal."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked but Jayson focused on the enemy.

The drumroll was sounded again and fireworks were shot in the air, a signal of the opening game.

"Then, let's get this started." The baboon said and made his first move.

Nf3,

The baboon holding a lance riding on a big boar with curling tusks stepped forward, leaving a loud roar.

"What's happening?!" Yuri exclaimed. "We're supposed to start the game, right?! I mean, we're the challenger."

"Oh, haven't I told you, there is a twist in this game, aside from the pieces, some of the official rules were modified according to MY liking.." the baboon smirked.

"That can't be.." Sandra said. "That reduces our chance of winning." She added.

"No, it's just getting started. We can regain the upper hand, just trust the grandmaster." Jayson replied, trying to ease the heavy atmosphere.

"Ja, what should we do?" Mike exclaimed, "I wish I can go".

"Nf6" Jayson shouted and moved Mike towards the tile he mentioned.

"Oh, I never thought he'd use me in this early game," Mike muttered.

"Don't rush. Jay!" Sandra exclaimed. "We just have to deal with this calmly."

"I'm fine. He'll be fine. We need this to gain a good start." Jayson replied. "That's what the early game should be."

"He's a daredevil despite how he looks, huh.." Mike mumbled. "I'm quite amazed."

"That's why I hate the likes of him.." Yuri muttered, arms crossed.

c4,

The king moved his piece again. This time, it's a dwarf baboon walking like a penguin stepped two tiles forward.

b6,

Jayson whispered on their line and everyone heard the command. The front row moved a tile forward.

d4,

The baboon moved again. His expression is getting excited, he's so confident that he'll win the match.

e6,

Jayson commanded again. Now, he can see two of his GSSTI companions in front. Their expressions seemed to shake but he whispered a chant, "All is well…" and it seemed that their expressions lightened.

g3, Ba6

Tori moved towards the rightmost side, in front of the a7 pawn

b3, Bb4+

Andra dashed, checking the baboon king.

The baboon grumbled in shock and spit a cuss. He didn't expect he can get cornered in this early game.

Bd2,

A baboon wearing a cleric hat stepped a tile forward, covering the king.

Be7

Andra backed off and returned to the safe zone.

"That was amazing, Jay!" Andra exclaimed. "Though that made me quite nervous. I thought I'm a goner."

"That's just a warning. We can't let our guard down.." Jayson muttered.

Bg2,

The baboon king continued.

c6

Jayson moved a pawn.

Bc3, d5

They exchange moves making the opening game of the match.

Ne5, Nfd7

Yuri moved back but he was eaten immediately by the bulk-built muscle head baboon knight holding a bronze lance.

Nxd7,

"No!!!" Yuri exclaimed. "Mike!" his expression darkened as he saw his friend vanish in the middle of the field in this early game. He tried to move forward but Sandra caught his arm.

"Let go of me!!" he shouted at her.

Sandra's eyes were filled with tears. "I know it's hard, Yuri. But, bear with it for a while.." she whispered.

"Bear it?!" Yuri exclaimed. "How can I stay calm when I saw my friend vanish in front of my very eyes?! Tell me!"

Nxd7

Jayson rushed towards the knight who attacked Mike. "We still have a way to get him back." He muttered.

Yuri stopped for a moment and lend Jayson his ears. "How can you do that? The baboon said that we can't regain the lost pieces, they're all considered dead."

"No, there is a way. It will happen in the end game and we need the pawns to do it." Jayson replied.

"The pawns?"

"Yeah, piece exchange. If we can open a path using the pawns, we can bring the lost members back."

"Your sure that will work?"

"I dunno. It works in the real game. It's part of the rules, I just hope that applies here. It's still a possibility but we don't have other choices. We have to bet on that stuff."

Yuri stood on his own feet and act composed. "Then, let's continue this damn match."

Nd2, 0-0

Yuri went castling.

0-0,

The other side did the same.

b5

Jayson moved another pawn.

c5, e5

b4, e4

e3, Qc7

Sandra went out of the safe zone.

Re1, Bg5

Andra moved forward once again.

a4, bxa4

Rxa4, Bb5

Tori stepped a tile forward.

Ra3, Nf6

Jayson started his attacks. He's burning on the mid-game battle.

Bf1, a6

Qa1, Rab8

Alex started to move a tile to his left.

Bxb5,

Tori was eaten and turned into nothingness.

axb5

Jayson immediately did his revenge. Two of their officials have been gone, but he knew he had to make sacrifices. "That's what chess is all about. We need to do sacrifices, both temporary and permanent." He mumbled on the line.

Yuri heard what he said. He knew this would happen since they entered the field. He can't just imagine he lost his friend and his sister in just a split second.

"We'll get them back, Yuri. I promise." Jayson said.

Yuri did not respond. He kept silent.

Ra7, Qc8

Sandra was pursued. Jayson put him back to safety.

Qa6, Qe6

Sandra went to side Jayson on the field.

Ra1, h5

Rc7, h4

Rxc6, Qf5

Qa2, Ng4

Jayson leaped forward, executing his attack.

Nf1, Qf3

Sandra did not fall behind. She kept on assisting Jayson on their attack.

h3, Kxe3

fxe3,

And Jayson was gone. Sandra kept her tears and moved towards the strategy. She knew it all along that he'll sacrifice himself.

Bxe3

Andra savagely killed the baboon who killed Jayson.

Kh2, Bf2

gxh4, e3

Leaving the baboon with no way out.

0-1

Checkmate!