The Foolproof Method to Beating a Mind-Reader

Frankie looked at the back of the long line to challenge Guile, softly sighing.

“You don’t want to either, do you?”

“I’m gonna fight him again, that’s set in stone.”

“But… you don’t have to do it right away, do you?”

Katie was in a pleasant mood again.

“No…” The gloomy sibling admitted.

“Then let’s go on a ride!” She cheered. “Clear our minds for awhile.”

“That’s just what you want to do.”

“But that’s exactly what I was saying! You don’t look like you want to get right back in line either.” The lilac-dressed sister argued. “If we went on a ride, you could like… plan or something!”

Again, she stated across the army of challengers.

“I guess the prize pool would get bigger if we waited…”

“Yay! See? My plans make sense sometimes!”

“But what if we come back to someone already having beaten him, like last time with Bozo.”

“You’re too nervous. You really think that would happen twice in a row?” She tried to grab her sister’s hand, but the digits faded through.

“Why not? Definite possibility to consider.”

“He’s beaten hundreds already! Stop sweating it.”

Frankie kicked the virtual flip-flop that was stuck to her foot.

“Alright. You win. If I can’t beat him, nobody can.”

“That’s the spirit!”

Attraction lines were a hell of a lot shorter when you could create separate instances of a ride for multiple groups to go on. Other than Guile, there was no wait time in the entire zone. And when walking didn’t make you tired, you could spend forever in a park like this. Both the sisters were starting to see its merits, even if the unreality of the space was somewhat depressing in a way they couldn’t put into words.

Katie got them on a simple spinning ride in minutes. Somewhere to think, she proposed. Indeed, conversation became easy when you had a private version of the entire ride at request.

“This rocks.” Frankie stated, obviously enjoying the feature that was practically made for people like her.

“Beats paying everyone to leave the park, doesn’t it?”

The digital space aliens they rode on went up high and all over, but stayed fairly slow, making them perfect for strategizing.

“You know one way you can always beat a mind-reader?” Frankie casually asked, smiling, as she admired the artificial landscape that generated as needed.

“What’s that?”

“The blank-out method. Like, when you just don’t think of anything, so the psychic or whatever can’t predict what you’re gonna do? Works all the time in shows and stuff.”

“But… what’s a game you or I can win without thinking?”

“Hm…” Frankie pondered. “You looked pretty in-the-zone when you were doing that sword fight, but I think that falls more into the category of “sport” rather than “game.” He might not allow it.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

“A game I could win without thinking… well, can’t be anything trivia-related… of course, I’m not so good at anything that I could nail with my proverbial eyes closed.”

“A game of complete chance maybe?”

“I wonder if he’d allow that… anyway, I think my first bet should be to challenge him at something requiring some mind games, but not so much that I have to use any skill or thought.”

“That’s… I can’t really think of a single thing that fits into that category.”

“Yeah… maybe. Of course… I do have a backup plan, if what he said back there means what I think it did.”

“What’s that?”

“Er… I don’t wanna embarrass myself even more than I already will be of it works, so… just think about this: what if… instead of a blank mind, an overflowing one could stop him?”

Katie blinked.

“Yeah, I don’t really understand.”

“I guessed.” Frankie coughed. “I apologize.”

The ride slowed… and then it ended.

“Wanna go check how many more guys he’s beaten now?”

“Yeah.” Frankie nodded. “I can see those tokens already. Let’s kick his polygonal ass!”