With that unwelcome invitation still ringing in my head, I headed to where I knew Rosie would be. It didn’t take a master detective to figure out that on Saturday; Rosie was going to be at the Fairchild Central Plaza. This place was unlike any you’ve ever seen in your life. Some would even call it most exciting place in the city. Left and right, there were interactive game arenas, built into the park’s scenic architecture. Anyone could pick up and play on the machines; you only needed a deck. Rivalries flourished and everything was a-blur with heightened emotions.
Ever since Rosie and I learned about this place, we always made any excuses to come here and watch the games and tournaments that took place every weekend. For the followers, it was the perfect interlude between official Tournament events. For us, it was also the best place we knew where you could pick up a pointer or two on sound technique. Although many of the matches were only exhibition matches, reputations were still at stake.
In Red Diamond, playing ranked matches is the only way to bring you higher or lower on the tournament scale. Being better in the official rankings meant you could be invited to join better clubs, gain access to larger events, and have a dedicated fan base. A player with a high official ranking was always considered a contender, and you’d be expecting to see them on the world stage one day.
Although the atmosphere at the Plaza was always attractive, Rosie and I never had enough nerve to take a shot at it ourselves. To be on stage, meant your play style was actively being critiqued by members of the crowd. You had to be very sure of yourself, to not feel the pressure of competition and the censure of a poorly executed move. Instead, we found our place in picking apart the games that we were watching and analyzing the match with a real-time commentary. In other words, we came to do some backseat playing.
Rosie was talking trash to one of the players trying to concentrate on their move.
“Hey! You call that a defensive play? He’s going to steam-roller all over you!”
Rosie saw me and waved me over. She was watching the match from the side, off a concrete wall seat.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey. What’s going on?”
“That guy’s being canned– He’s not being ballsy enough with his plays, you know? Common mistake. Check out that other guy’s Attackers. They’re all in line to rush the board! This guy, he had chances all game to play some high level Defenders and maybe slow down his defeat, but what does he do?”
I yielded to her.
“He keeps playing mediocre, low-level equip cards! Some people, ya know– I don’t even get it. ”
I joined in, “Depends on the equip cards he played. Maybe he’s trying to exploit a loophole in his Opponent’s strategy?”
“What loophole? Look at his Opponent’s cards! Every one on his Opponent’s field is at least twice as powerful as his. All it’s gonna take is a couple of uninterrupted Attacks and Whiff!”
“Yeah, but it’s also good to look at the board as a whole. It seems like all his Opponent’s cards seem to be weak to the same battle-types.”
Suddenly, there was a great wave that stirred the crowd. The player, who had been Rosie’s punching bag earlier in the match, whipped out a high-level ice-type card, and in a single move froze up the other guy’s machine-type Attackers with a combo of special effects! The whole game was over in less time than you could unwrap a candy bar. Of course, it was Rosie’s turn to make up for it by shouting rude comments at his Opponent, but overall it was a futile gesture. Hardened, veteran players seldom observed their crowds. And if they did, they were usually showmen who knew how to play off the jeers.
It was at about this time, as the crowds were dispersing, that a boy, near or about our age, came around the corner and steered right on up to us. He was shorter than either Rosie or I, and wore rounded spectacles and a waxed, broad smile, which met up uncommonly well with his dressed-up bow tie. He began to introduce himself to us both…but it wasn’t long to fathom that his main interest wasn’t us…it was Rosie.
