Layover

Okisato looked up as the other members of the chess club gathered before him. "I thought I said I could handle this on my own," he sighed."

"Like we'd believe you. Mimoko-sama mentioned that she felt you would try to sneak off to China in order to confront the corrupt maestro. Not to mention, the situation has changed now that Mimoko-sama has been abducted," Utami glared.

"Still, it doesn't mean we all have to go on vacation."

"Vice-president's orders, we're going to save our president," Yuusuke glared.

"And Iori-chan?"

Yuusuke paused before a moment before grumbling, "Guess so."

Following his fight with Baskerville, Okisato quickly found that he was stranded atop the Tokyo sky tree, and deduced that the DESPER had transported him to the real sky tree rather than conjure up one. Once he was rescued, he learned that Mimoko, Iori, and Carol had gone missing and theorized that they had been whisked away to a different location due to the DESPERs. No one knew where until Daria received a video from Iori which showed the bet that led to Mimoko getting all her hair shaved off. It was thanks to that video that Daria was able to figure out that the three were in London, and promptly informed everyone about it.

Raymond was one of the ones she informed and as such was able to head off to London, though promised to take more of an observer's role and only step in if things got hairy. He had also informed Okisato on some of the details, though still preferred he deal with Xiao Lin first. As such, the other members of the chess club were called upon to send back-up to Mimoko. While Okisato believed Mimoko and Iori would be fine on their own, Utami and Yuusuke thought otherwise and decided to mobilize, both to rescue Mimoko and to aide Okisato in taking dow Xiao Lin.

Okisato shook his head as he gazed at his ticket. He had initially planned to fly to China earlier, but the Desperado encounter threw everything off. While getting reimbursement for the ticket wasn't an issue, the fact that everyone now knew of his plan made things more difficult. However, things were about to get more difficult as Okisato received a match request from Raymond.

"So Mr. President, what's the nature of this call? Okisato asked as he moved his pawn to e4.

"Just a little status report. Desperado Pewler is in London," Raymond replied as he moved his pawn to e5.

The revelation caused Okisato to pause for a bit. "So you're asking me to go to London instead?" he asked as he moved his king to e2.

"No, I'm simply giving you more of a choice. Now that your friends are informed of the situation, I imagine you're more pressured into going to London, or at the least not going to China alone."

"The problem though is that anyone else would just bog me down. Iori-chan was the only other person I'd consider taking with me, but now that she's in London, things are complicated. Now that I know Pewler's in London, I truly am a bit conflicted. Since I assume he can probably teleport to WWCF affiliated sites, he'd probably want to stay in London since to my knowledge, there is no WWCF affiliated place like a branch office or secret puzzle cafe for him to warp to."

"Your presumption is correct, though what if he were to finish up his business and leave while you're en route to London?" Raymond asked as he moved his queen to h4.

This truly was a perplexing predicament for Okisato. He had little information on Pewler and a chance to get a better idea on who he was would make things easier for him. On the other hand, going to London instead of China could be what Pewler wanted him to do. Assuming he was behind the the attack earlier today, that would mean he was trying to get Mimoko to London from the start. However, that could also mean that Mimoko might need back-up since she could still be vulnerable to certain attacks.

"I'll go to London for two days, then straight to China," Okisato sighed as he moved his pawn to g3.

"I see. I'll await the results," Raymond nodded as he checkmated Okisato by capturing the pawn at e4 with his queen.

...

As the chess club headed for their gate, they were confronted by a group of 5 girls. Okisato immediately recognized them as the college girls from the beach in Okinawa.

"YOU! You'll pay for what you did to us!" the group's leader, Olga Obrazovanshchina, shouted.

"You're Svetlana's friends, is she nearby?" Okisato glared as he went on guard.

"Yes, in fact, she's currently in the restroom. I bet she'd love to see you again," Jackie sneered as she adjusted her glasses.

"How'd she even get past security with that sledgehammer of hers? Anyway, we all have a flight to catch, so good bye.

As the chess club attempted to ram past the college girls, they were stopped by the sound of a loud yawn. They turned and noticed a man lounging on the chairs nearby. With his spiky grey hair, white lab coat, gloves, and goggles, he certainly looked like a mad scientist.

"You girls are so loud. I already had my beach trip ruined by you all getting arrested. Don't ruin my layover nap," the man growled as he got up. He then turned to Okisato and let out a yawn before pulled out a DESPER. "Svetlana would throw a hissy fit though if I just let you go, and it shouldn't take too much time to trounce you all in team play."

"I refuse," Okisato glared as the man activated his DESPER anyway.

"Who said I was challenging you?"

Okisato's eyes widened as chessboards suddenly sprung up and his clubmates headed towards them along with the college girls.

"How bout a little 6 on 6. And yes, my rating's 2714 so your friends can't refuse this. Oh, and since I just summoned chessboards, you're free to just head off to your flight," the man sneered.

Okisato's expression darkened as he shot the man a death glare. "You're exactly the kind of madman that would replicate the entire place with the DESPER, Skaberghast."

A malicious smile spread across the man's face. "And here I was hoping you'd walk right into the women's restroom. Well, guess you're staying here."

A single bead of sweat ran down Okisato's face. The man before him was a man he knew all too well, Dr. Manfred von Skaberghast, one of the lead inventors of the DESPER and a grandmaster to boot.

The full game:

White: Okisato Tanabe (2550) Black: Raymond Redfield (2899)

1. e4 e5

2. Ke2 Qh4

3. g3 Qxe4#