Grandstanding

Mimoko stare in horror as a pool of blood began to form around Carol. "CAROL-CHAN! YOU MONSTER, HOW COULD YOU!?"

"My, what do you mean?  I am Compassion incarnate, and Compassion incarnate would never murder someone with a machine gun, let alone own one," Pewler sneered as he returned his machine gun to its secret hiding place.

"I SAW YOU DO IT!"

"And who would believe you, no one."

"Mi... Mo..."

Mimoko looked down to find Carol barely clinging to life. She quickly knelt down and grasped her hand as Pewler and Lakisha watched in silence.

"Beat... Him... Get... Home... Going to... Collab..."

"SHUT UP! I'M NOT LETTING YOU DIE ON ME!" Mimoko shouted as she pulled the DESPER key case out of her breasts and opened it up.

One key remained, but that was all Mimoko needed. Pewler, however, was prepared and pulled out his DESPER. "The match shall take place between you and me in the rose garden without Carol or Lakisha present," he stated as Mimoko shoved the DESPER key towards his DESPER.

Carol watched as Mimoko and Pewler vanished, leaving her alone with Lakisha.

"I'm only here to confirm your death. Once that's done, I'll head out to spectate the match," Lakisha coldly sneered.

Outside in the Rose garden, crowds of civilians and reporters gathered as Pewler and Mimoko suddenly appeared before them along with a chessboard.

"NO! You heartless fiend! I won't let you defeat the forces of compassion!" Pewler cried as he headed towards the white end of the board.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? YOU MURDERED CAROL-CHAN!"

"Nay, I simply beat her after she pulled out one of those vile DESPER devices and forced me into a chess game. I tried to show her compassion, but she was adamant about death being a losing condition. She was a=once a dear friend, though there was hostilities between us, I had hoped she could be reformed, but alas, now she is dead. And you, Senator Frisch's chosen cleaner, have decided to force me into a back-to-back DESPER match. How heartless!"

The crowd quickly began booing at Mimoko and hurling jeers at her. Though she couldn't fully understand them, she could definitely sense the hostility and contempt behind them. She then faced Pewler and stared him in the eye.

"If I win, I'll be warped home to Japan, AND you will drop out of the presidential election and confess to ALL you sins! Carol-chan will also be completely healed and survive!"

A message suddenly flashed before Mimoko, telling her the latter half of her wager was not possible. Tears began to well up in her eyes as Pewler flashed her a brief malicious smile before resuming his act.

"And if I win, you shall apologize for your actions and commit yourself to life of reform, helping me and the Misericordia party achieve a world of compassion!"

"Alright, now move," Mimoko tearfully glared as she sat down at the black end of the board.

You are quite heartless. Fear not, I shall purify thee with compassion!" Pewler declared as he moved his pawn to e4.

Mimoko promptly moved her pawn to e6, while Pewler moved his queen to h5.

"The hell is he doing?" Mimoko thought as she moved her pawn to d5.

"Mimoko Inoue, I ask that you find compassion to cease this heartlessness. I am but a humble public servant with little to no chess skills. Please surrender peacefully," Pewler begged as he moved his pawn to e5.

"Are you trying to put on some act? Listen up! This man is a vile and inhumane monster with the Desperado league!" Mimoko stated as she moved her pawn to c5.

The crowd's animosity towards her only increased as some began hurling projectiles at her, though the invisible barrier surrounding her and Pewler prevented any of them from actually hitting her.

"Please find it in your cast aside heart to find compassion. I believe chess is far to violent, which is why the object should be to resolve the game without harming any of our dear pieces," Pewler begged as he moved his pawn to f4.

Mimoko decided to just tune him out and moved her knight to e7. "If he's gonna play like this, then I'll show him no mercy," she thought as Pewler moved his queen to d1.

She then moved her b-knight to c6 while Pewler moved his knight to e2. She followed up by going on the attack and moving her knight to f5.

"Please, I beg you, have compassion," Pewler pleaded as he moved his pawn to g4.

"You truly are irredeemable, yet I won't bend my morals. Even scum like you deserves to rot in prison over being killed. Check," Mimoko glared as she moved her queen to h4, forcing Pewler to move his knight to g3.

She promptly captured said knight with her knight, but then Pewler moved his bishop to e2.

"Well, now there's no chance of him pulling anything," Mimoko thought as she captured the rook at h1 with her rook, forcing Pewler to move his king to f1. "And that's the end. Checkmate," Mimoko declared as she moved her queen to f2, winning the game.

She then warped away as the board vanished and Pewler sunk to the ground in despair. However, a few seconds later, Pewler began to smile.

"My firends, I thank you for being here. Though I may have to drop out of the election due to the heartless Mimoko Inoue's scheme, you heard her demand for me to confess all my sins, yet I have confessed to no wrongdoings, since I am a very compassionate and selfless man. And fear not, just because I am dropping out of the elction, doesn't mean I won't become president."

Unbeknownst to everyone, Pewler had made one of his spoils of victory from a DESPER match, immunity from confessing to all wrong doings. That, and thanks to Mimoko's wording, he had been provided a loophole that would instantly make him president.

The current president slowly walked out along with the current vice-president and took the podium. "First off, I resign," the vice-president stated.

"And second, I appoint Senator Manuel Pewler to be my new vice-president," the president stated.

Once Pewler was sworn in as vice-president, the president promptly resigned, allowing Pewler to succeed him and become president.

"My, it certainly has been a busy day. I haven't even spoken with Jacque since last night," Pewler chuckled.

"Um sir, I heard that Mr. Horner was killed in a tornado," an aide whispered.

Pewler scowled in shock as he verified the aide's claim. "So a tornado touched down on the outskirts of New York city. Impossible, though tornadoes can appear in cities. But how did that happen? Well, perhaps Iori is among the dead. Though I should-"

Pewler's thoughts were interrupted by an aide ushering him to the podium to be sworn in as president.

"Ah, my apologies. You're right. Me becoming president is checkmate, to the world," Pewler sneered as he headed for the podium.

...

Mimoko blinked as she found herself in the living room of her home. Her parents were having dinner and stared in shock at her sudden appearance.

"Mimoko!? You're back!?" Daria cried.

Mimoko began to tear up as she leapt towards her mother and embraced her in a hug. "Okaa-chan, it's terrible! They're all dead. Iori-chan, Carol-chan, I'm sorry!"

"Slow down, I know you're frantic, but calm down and explain it all to me. Oh, and start by takin' your shoes off first."

Mimoko looked down and noticed she was still wearing her shoes. This caused her to calm down a bit as she ran to the door to take off her shoes. Once that was done, she sat down and told Daria everything that had happened.

...

In Washington, Pewler smiled as he took the podium to give his first speech as President of the United States of America. "Mimoko Inoue tried hard to get rid of me, no all of us. But our united compassion triumphed over her heartless vendetta!"

The crowd erupted in cheers before Pewler continued.

"As your new president, I will ensure that not just our country, but our whole planet becomes a giant ecosystem of compassion and love for one another. The heartless hate espoused by Senator Frisch and his Ratiocinatio party ilk has lost! We have won!"

"What about the election?" a reporter asked.

"Fear not. Due to the outside interference, I will use my authority to cancel it and serve as president for a term. I will also have all involved in this treasonous affair sent to reform camps to be properly reprimanded and given a crash course in compassion. Though I suppose the greatest offenders such as Senator Frisch and Mimoko Inoue must sadly face the death penalty due to being too far gone. No matter. I shall have Senator Frisch arrested, and have Japan's prime minister extradite Mimoko Inoue so that she can be charged for her crimes!"

...

Mimoko began to hyperventilate as she watched Pewler's speech on her phone. "What the hell!? This is bullshit!"

Daria shook her head and sighed. "Sadly, corruption often wins like this."

"But I beat him. I beat him! And he just turns around and has his cronies make him president anyway!? He killed Carol-chan, he killed Iori-chan... He's an inhumane monster, and yet, why are people treating him like he's some victim in all this!?"

"Because he's such a master manipulator. I'm sorry. I nor anyone could have predicted how vile his plan truly was. If we had, perhaps the burden wouldn't have fallen on you."

"I can't blame you for this. It was my fault. Carol-chan died right in my arms... I couldn't see his attack back in New York, so Iori-chan had to sacrifice herself. I'm weak, vulnerable, and it shows. I can't even get ahold of Tanabe-kun either, nor any of the others. Why? Why did it have to turn out like this?"

"Don't worry, I can at least prevent that scum from dragging you away and subjecting you to torture. Now do you have any more of those keys you got from the WWCF president?"

Mimoko stared at Daria in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean, Iori-chan's the one that gave me the keys. Both at the hotel and right before I got on the train."

Daria's eyes widened as she immediately pulled up her WWCF card and began scrolling through the menus.

"Seems like you remembered something important," Ichimitsu chuckled as he read his paper.

It took a few minutes, but Daria finally found what she was looking for. "Mimoko, not sure where I should start, but your friend is a mad genius."

"What do you mean?" Mimoko asked as she strolled over to Daria.

"Look at this match data. Your friend Iori's alive."

Mimoko's eyes widened as tears began to pour out of them. "Iori-chan... YOU IDIOT! I'VE BEEN TRYING TO CALL YOU, BUT YOU WOULDN'T PICK UP!"

"Looks like she's still in America though."

"WE GOTTA SAVE HER!"

"No, I don't think she needs saving, nor is corruption going to win in the end."

...

In Washington, Pewler concluded his speech, just as a hooded girl managed to make her way to the front of the crowd. "Standard security formation, no snipers as far as I can see, just a good 10 ft and checkmate," Iori thought as she leaped as fast as she could towards Pewler and pulled out her DESPER key.

Before Pewler could react, he suddenly found himself warped to the Grand Canyon. "What is the meaning of this!?"

"Huh? I thought you knew Glasstone like the back of your hand. So surely you should know what happened to Kon Iving, the main antagonist, at the end of the book," Iori snickered as she threw off her hood.

Pewler scowled as he recognized Iori. "So that tornado was your doing then. I had my doubts, but now it's clear. You really are a murderer."

"What took ya so long to figure that out?"

"I researched the incident with your family, but now it's clear. To murder not just Jacque but a crowd of passionate supporters, you truly are an evil and vile woman, but that doesn't mean you've won. Now tell me the conditions-"

"Loser gets the oh so brutal death of being gunned down by a firing squad of 44 fully loaded machine guns before falling into the grand canyon and having their corpse carried to it's basin. Oh yeah, and a drone camera will film the whole thing from start to finish and upload the vod to my Ewetube channel. Oh, and if I win, I get warped back to the riverbank overlooking downtown Kawaguchi in Kawaguchi, Saitama, Japan."

A sinister smile began to form on Pewler's face. "So you choose to escape enslavement with death. Very well, ladies first as they say," he chuckled as he sat down at the black end of the chessboard. "And when I win, I shall be warped back to Washington DC where I will begin my reign as president. And if I may correct you, in Glasstone, Kon Iving is faced with the threat of oncoming missiles, but he is not hit by them as the story ends right there. But a man like Kon Iving, who is clearly based off of me, would survive the nuclear onslaught like a cockroach and thrive as it's sole ruler once the dust settles."

"Well that's one shitty fanfic. I heard what you did to Cece. Your ass is going to be completely and utterly fucked up in the most humiliating fashion," Iori glared as she sat down at the white end of the chessboard.

The full game:

White: Manny Pewler (2948) Black: Mimoko Inoue (2730)

1. e4 e6

2. Qh5 d5

3. e5 c5

4. f4 Ne7

5. Qd1 Nbc6

6. Ne2 Nf5

7. g4 Qh4+

8. Ng3 Nxg3

9. Be2 Nxh1+

10. Kf1 Qf2#