Alex turned off the TV and started doing some meditation exercises before going to sleep.

All of Alex's Pokémon that had a little time spent it on pursuing their hobby. ​​

To the surprise of all Pokémon, Ditto challenged Bastiodon to play chess.

All Pokémon who saw this stopped whatever they were doing and went to watch this unforeseen match. Even Alex couldn't help but show interest in watching this match.

Only Vulpix watched for a while before she got bored and started playing with a ball.

After Ditto explained the Bastiodon rules of chess, they both started a best of 3 chess games.

Ditto started directly with a gambit*1 that Bastiodon didn't know, of course, and thus Bastidon fell completely into Ditto's trap.

Bastiodon, who played for the first time, didn't know the perfect or even a good counter and started to fell deeper into Ditto's trap.

If he fails to see Ditto's fatal move on this turn, then he would be checkmated and lose the first game.

Bastiodon caught a trailing behind but did not see the danger of Ditto's next move and made a fatal mistake.

Ditto has read many chess books and was even trained by Alex since seeing his many defeats. Seeing Bastiodon make a wrong move, Ditto knew that Bastiodon already lost this match. Ditto made the last move and said a little bit louder voice,

"CHECKMATE."

After winning the first game, he immediately started laughing happily and ran around the room wildly.

Although he is the person most of the time inverted in chess, it was the first time he won a game of chess.

After months of work, he finally managed to win.

Alex and his other Pokémon congratulated Ditto on his impressive victory. He had improved really well in this time.

Even Crobat and Scizor gave praise to Ditto's willpower and victory.

Alex had a light smile on his face when he said, "I have an idea. Let's all play a little chess."

Although Alex wanted to do a tournament first, he had this idea quickly discarded because of the skill difference between his Pokémon being too vast.

Alex and Gardevoir are clearly the best chess players and would easily dominate the tournament.

So Alex planned 4 relatively balanced matches with similar skills, which will make them more interesting.

Best of 3:

Alex v/s Gardevoir

Scizor v/s Crobat

Ditto v/s Eevee (rematch)

Bastiodon v/s Combusken

Because Vulpix wasn't interested in chess, Alex didn't have to worry too much about looking for an opponent for her.

Bastiodon v/s Combusken was played first. Bastiodon and Combusken only learned the rules today, so Alex thought it was a good matchup.

The first match was very tense because both of them often made big mistakes which led to losing many valuable pieces on both sides. In the end, Bastiodon narrowly won the first game. But it looked like it had a lot to do with luck.

The second match was also very close, and Combusken made fewer mistakes and quickly have gained a little advance in the number of valuable pieces. In the end, she won against Bastiodon in contradiction to the previous match.

In the third match, Alex immediately noticed who was the smarter one of the bunch. Combusken started making very few big mistakes from the beginning. And with that, she could quickly play an advantage. In the end, Combusken won relatively easily.

Ditto v/s Eevee rematch was surprisingly a clear-cut 2-0 win.

In the first match, Ditto used a different gambit that he hadn't shown before and succeeded in taking Eevee's rook by losing only one pawn. That was a huge advantage that Ditto kept until the end of the game.

The second match was also a clear victory for Ditto, who used the same gambit as in round one. But because Eevee hadn't found a good answer in the first round, she lost another important figure. Ditto kept this advantage until the end and won against Eevee relatively easily.

Ditto, who had now defeated a very talented player like Eevee, couldn't help but give a joyful scream. He ran towards Alex and hugged him with a rare beaming grin.

Alex had often taken a little time to show Ditto some gambits, including this one, and explained it so that Ditto can transform his experience into strength. Although Ditto's mid and late game is really mediocre, he is now very strong in the early game. Only Alex, who showed him these gambits, is better.

Although Eevee gets better faster than Ditto, she was at this point a good deal too inexperienced to react to Ditto's tactics.

Scizor v/s Crobat was what surprised Alex the most.

Both were playing chess for the first time, but it didn't affect their playing speed. And to Alex's surprise, he noticed that Scizor sometimes plays brilliant moves. He even checkmated Crobat with fewer pieces and quickly won the first game.

The second game was even one-sided. Scizor hardly made any mistakes and started to play lots of smart and aggressive moves. Even though he made some strange moves, he easily won the game.

Scizor smiled as he said, "Don't be sad. It's normal that the one with the most intellect is better."

Crobat showed a peculiar expression when he said, "Shut up! Do you think you smart just because you won a game? Haha, you have a good sense of humor, grill tongs."

Scizor didn't get angry and just replied with a smirk, "Oh, then it must be a coincidence that Alex and Gardevoir are the best chess players. If the truth makes you unhappy, just keep it to yourself."

Alex quickly separated these two Pokémon and sat across Gardevoir for their match.

He knows that his strength is that he has a lot more experience than Gardevoir. But the Gardevoir often plays some brilliant moves that he can never imagine.

Alex was a good chess player but not one that was particularly good. He was good at trickery and making others fall others for traps, but that was his only strength.

Fortunately, chess is not very popular in this Pokémon world, so Alex's world has a higher skill in chess.

The first match was a controlled slugfest. Alex tried to play a gambit that Gardevoir didn't know. But Gardevoir could see the danger almost immediately and didn't fall into Alex's trap. Unfortunately, Alex lost a pawn because his gambit didn't work. Although his position was better, the game wasn't at his side. Gardevoir played a few moves that Alex did not understand and cornering him at every other step.

Gardevoir defeated Alex narrowly but with calculated moves.

At the second match, Alex even tried to talk to Gardevoir to distract her. But with a high level of intelligence, she could easily play chess and talk to Alex simultaneously. Alex naturally played a different tactic on which you have to answer perfectly, or Gardevoir would have a big disadvantage. But if Gardevoir played this move perfectly, he would lose the game almost immediately.

Gardevoir didn't even need 20 seconds to find this perfect counter and made it almost impossible for Alex to win. Alex gave up with a helpless expression.

After a few seconds, he looked at Gardevoir and said, "Congratulations, Gardevoir. You played really well."

Gardevoir smiled happily and said, "Thank you, father. You, too. That was really fun. Let's play again when we have time."

When Alex was about to reply, he heard the ringtone of his TRH device. Someone had called him.

He made an apologetic expression and said, "Sorry, I gotta go and take this call."

But when he saw the number, he couldn't help but show a serious expression.

"Lisa?"

***

*1 A gambit is a chess opening in which a player sacrifices material with the aim of achieving a subsequent positional advantage.

[EN]: I wonder how Bastiodon played chess with his huge paws.

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