Checkmate
Micah 
PCA: Team Watchtower
Featuring Adam and NERO

	"Take it one breath at a time, one step at a time. Rushing face first into everything will only get you humiliated, Adam." A blue hand inched a single black pawn forward a square from where it sat. NERO smirk, cold as ever, and rested his beak on his hands as he moved away from the board. The zangoose sitting before him looked down at the board, scratched his chin, and moved a knight out...knight king, to be precise. He pulled his clawed hand away from the board, but not before shooting a glare up at the Porygon2. "What? Don't believe me?"
	"Pfft..." Adam crossed his arms. "Make your move."
	"Now now, that's not a winning attitude..." He chuckled mockingly and moved the freed bishop from it's place. It smacked into the rook standing in its path, knocking it over. NERO set it down an removed the rook from the board. "Check."
	Adam growled in frustration and moved a pawn to block the check. "Asshole. You don't know Dash. Taking it slowly is only gonna get us where we are now." He watched as his teammate moved a rook into place, threatening a knight. He smirked; his bishop easily moved in and removed the threat. "A plan of attack is what we need, not skullduggery..." He looked over the board and smirked. "I do believe that's a check."
	NERO remained calm and collected as ever. "A plan of attack is always needed to remove your opposition, especially in the manner that you want to." He moved his queen to take out the bishop. "I still don't understand what you have against the ponyta. He really isn't anything noteworthy."
	Adam growled and slammed his hand down on the table. The pieces jerked, but remained upright. "He does not, at all, deserve to be in this academy. Him and the whole of his family are nothing but lying, cheating-"
	"And do you have proof of that?" Adam quickly calmed down and looked away. "I've seen the recordings of your father's fights with Dash's. Both are very capable in the arena." The zangoose remained silent and grumpy. NERO sighed and rubbed his head. He didn't understand this biological process known as "pride", nor did he understand "revenge" completely. "Your anger is completely irrational."
	"His family humiliated mine." He moved the knight again to take out a pawn. "I'm gonna pay them back in kind. Dash will not graduate from this academy, so help me Archeus."
	"Yet your father and his are rather nice friends, don't you agree?" He didn't make a move, waiting for Adam to respond. None came. "After all, they WERE on the same team, right?"
	"Yeah, they were. Doesn't mean anything." He looked down at the ground. "I don't understand how he still calls that rapidash a friend, even after he beat him."

	NERO let his processes switch over to compute this new information. Adam sheer hatred towards Vincent - something that he understood rather intrinsically - had always been apparent. It always complicated plans, often leading them to failure because of it. That was why they were playing this game of chess; he wanted Adam to learn to keep his cool. Sure, it was difficult to beat a living computer program at chess, but it wasn't impossible.
	And now, he had the leader of his team admitting, full on, that he was confused about why his parent was friends with his rival's parent.
	Rival...that was a funny concept. Was Dash a Rival? Or a Nemesis? "Adam, may I ask you something?"
	The zangoose eyed him. "Go ahead."
	"What do you consider Dash?" He tilted his head to the side, his beak not moving, acting as an axis for the movement.
	"Huh?" He scratched his head. "I don't know...a rival, I guess."
	"Not a nemesis?"
	"No. Why do you say that?"
	"From what I have witnessed, from what the teachers have told me, a rival is something you respect, even if grudgingly. A nemesis is the exact opposite. It's someone that you wish immediate and total harm to. I've seen more of the latter than the former." Adam looked down at the board again. NERO moved a knight to take out a pawn. "Well?"
	"...it's one of those organic things, NERO. You wouldn't understand."
	"That is why I am at this school, Adam...to learn, just like you. How can I learn without information?"
	Adam fidgeted and moved a pawn ahead a square. "I hate his guts. I want to see that mane of his extinguished for good. But...he held the group together after Terra lost her helmet. He leads his team competently, and he's fair to his opponents."
	"Yes...I am well aware of that. Even to us, he shows fairness."
	"You have to respect that."
	"I can." He looked at the board and smirked. "There's a problem with that, Adam."
	"What problem is there?" He picked up his last room and moved it to threaten NERO's queen. "A guy can hate another guy while respecting him."
	"Yes, Adam." He picked up the queen. "But that leads to hesitation. And if you ever want to see him thrown out of the academy, you cannot hesitate." He set the queen down again. "You have to make a choice. Treat him as a nemesis, or treat him as a rival." NERO rose to his feet and moved to the fridge. "Want anything to drink? I think we've got some lemonade left from the party."
	Adam shook his head. "No thanks." He was transfixed on the board, trying to find some way out of what NERO had set up. NERO cracked open the can and took a sip, watching the zangoose try to figure out how he could escape the situation. Eventually, Adam growled and brushed the pieces off of the board in a fit of anger. He got up and stormed towards his bed. "I've got homework to do." NERO laughed a little bit and shook his head. He knew why Adam had said that; he said it every time NERO did that to him.

	"Checkmate, zangoose."

	Adam glared over his shoulder. "Ass."
	He shook his head again. Adam would learn. He'd help the zangoose with his problems and, in turn, the porygon2's problems would be assisted with. He went over and started to clean up the mess left by his companion, picking up the pieces and placing them, neatly, back into the box from where they came. He stopped only to look at one of the knights that Adam had so fiercely defended, to the very end. They were all the same in the set, vaguely ponyta shaped. Why were they so important? He glanced over at Adam, who had since cracked open his books. The organics confused him. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself. His studies were more important.
	Besides, he had school work of his own to do. He put the chess set away, except for that one knight. He took it with him and sat it on his desk as he worked.

	It meant something...and he was determined to figure out what.

END