Chapter 255:

Forget me not

En Passant Grandmaster

Maida glared as she watched the game unfold. Skaberghast had indeed inflicted a cruel punishment over Yuusuke's head even by his standards. This is why it was all the more important Yuusuke won.

"Shousen-kun, don't worry about me, think about saving yourself," she tearfully thought as Skaberghast captured the knight at f3 with his g-pawn.

Yuusuke had done his homework though and captured said pawn with his queen, prompting Skaberghast to move his queen to f6. Then after e5 and queen captures f5, Yuusuke captured the pawn at f7 with his bishop, entering the the Double Muzio gambit.

"Check, how's it feel to get paid back?"

"Please, you still gotta hold, against the best Muzio player in the world," Skaberghast sneered as he captured the bishop at f7 with his king.

To his credit, Yuusuke did play well. D4, queen f5, bishop captures f4, knight f6, and finally knight c3, and Yuusuke had played near perfectly. The only problem was theat Skaberghast WAS playing perfectly.

Still, even after Skaberghast moved his bishop to g7, Yuusuke still played his best. Knight b5, knight a6, queen b3, check, queen e6, but then it all fell apart as Yuusuke captured the pawn at c7 with his bishop. Skaberghast gleefully traded queens by capturing the queen at b3 with his queen, prompting Yuusuke to capture said queen with his a-pawn. Next Skaberghast captured the bishop at c7 with his knight, propmpting Yuusuke to capture said knight with his knight, but then Skaberghast moved his rook to b8 and Yuusuke began to panic.

"What's wrong? Realized you're screwed?" Skaberghast sneered.

Yuusuke merely shot him a tearful glare and captured the panw at a7 wih his rook.

"Figured. You only lived cuz Zanni decided to toy with you. If him and Cypress had flip-flopped targets, you'd probably be dead, though so would Zanni. You even missed a mate in one blunder from him too. Howard Steinitz must be rolling around restlessly at the fact he shares his birthday with you," Skaberghast sneered as he moved his king to e7.

That line was all it took to set Yuusuke off as he slammed his pawn down on c4. Skaberghast began maliciously smiling ans slid his king to d8. Yuusuke was going to lose, and everyone knew it.

Knight b5, knight e8, a-rook a1, rook f8, rook captures fe, and bishop captures f8 showed Yuuske was beginning to give up himself.

"Damn it, why am I not good!? What did I do to deserve such a fate!?" Yuuske agonized in his mind as he moved his rook to f1.

"Relax, I gave you some mercy. I didn't invoke an irreversible clause so if someone beats me and makes reversing your punishment part of the wager, you'll be fine," Skaberghast sneered as he moved his bishop to g7.

"Mmmph ngh mmph!" Maida tearfully glared as Yuusuke moved his pawn to d5.

"Don't worry, Mayana, I heard ya loud n' clear so don't worry, you'll forget about him too," Skaberghast sneered as he moved his pawn to b6.

Skaberghast's punishment was for everyone to forget Yuusuke existed. It also added the condition that Yuusuke's soul would be trapped inside the Ultima-master, only being freeable if someone beat Skaberghast in a DESPER match and made reversing Yuusuke's punishment part of the wager.

For Skaberghast, it was more of an experiment as he wanted to see just how powerful the DESPERs truly were. If his wager was successful, only he would remember Yuusuke Shousen existed, and it seemed like that reality inched ever closer.

B4, bishop a6, knight d4, and Yuusuke was on the verge of mate as Skaberghast captured the knight at d4 with his bishop, sending Yuusuke's king to h1. Now he was free to capture the pawn at c4 with his bishop, forcing Yuusuke to move his rook to c1.

"Heard ya like bishops. Hate em now?" Skaberghast sneered as he aptured the pawn at d5 with his bishop.

Yuusuke merely began crying and cursing under his breath as he moved his rook to d1. "Why!? WHY!?"

"Cuz you suck, that's why," Skaberghast sneered as he moved his rook to c8.

"CHESS ISN'T MY THING, OK! I ONLY DID IT CUZ OF OKAA! But now... Okaa's gone... and I'm... I'm gonna fade away," Yuusuke trembled as he blundered into mate and captured the bishop at d4 with his rook.

"Not just that. Mayana's getting an erotic humiliating bald makeover, and it's all thanks to you. At least she won't remember ya though, so no need to worry about grudges. Oh and check, it's mate in two," Skaberghast sneered as he moved his rook to c1.

Yuusuke's only move was to move his rook to d1, but he didn't move it. Instead, he just waited the clock out, however, a few minutes later, his hand moved the rook to d1 on it's own.

"HUH!? Why!?"

"Seems DESPERs will force you to move regardless if you want to or not if there's only one legal move you can make. And now, checkmate. Talk about lame, you couldn't even get to your mother's... or father's level," Skaberghast sneered as he captured the rook at d1 with his rook, winning the game.

Yuusuke's eyes widened at the mention of his father. That was the one topic Hagemi had refused to discuss with him, even going so far as to claim it was irrelevant as she claimed she chose from a sperm bank at random.

But none of it mattered as Yuusuke poofed out of existence, with his soul heading for the Ultima-master. Around the world, all Yuusuke's friends quickly forgot out him. While none of the things he did were erased, any memory of him was now altered so that each person would be unable to recall who he was.

...

At a mountainous biome located within the jurisdiction of the WWCF holding facility, a large malnourished man groaned as he slammed his bloodied fist into his DESPER. The man was Dr. Arlecchino Zanni, a Desperado that had served under Gyro, but lost to Yuusuke, resulting in him being forced to destroy his DESPER. However, that was impossible, resulting in Zanni slowly destroying himself in a test of endurance to see how long he could last. How long he could last until his punishment was reversed that is.

Instantly, his body was restored to normal and he no longer felt the impulse to try and destroy his DESPER.

"So my friends have beaten the one who sent me here. Hmm... I can't remember who it was though. Perhaps thanks to my friend. Well, time to dine out," Zanni chuckled as he headed towards a nearby guard.

As per Raymond's orders, the guard had to allow Zanni to leave as his punishment had been nullified. Now, Zanni was free to do as he pleased, though as soon as he got out, he recieved a call from a fellow Desperado, ordering him to aid Italy at he Chess Olympics.

"Very well, but first I require fine dining."

As for Yuusuke, only Skaberghast remembered him, or so he thought. For his wager was unable to apply to a certain individual who was currently trapped in a JESPER battle.

Like DESPERs, if someone was trapped inside a JESPER battle, wagers outside the ones in their battle would not be applied to them. Thus was the case with Okisato. But if he failed to best Phil Ur, none but Skaberghast would remember Yuusuke.

The full game:

White: Yuusuke Shousen (1909) Black: Prof Manfred von Skaberghast (2801)

1. e4 e5

2. f4 exf4

3. Nf3 g5

4. Bc4 g4

5. O-O gxf3

6. Qxf3 Qf6

7. e5 Qxe5

8. Bxf7+ Kxf7

9. d4 Qf5

10. Bxf4 Nf6