A/N: I'm venturing into the EB fandom once again (nervous laugh). This isn't the story I hinted at on my profile page, there'll be a different one.

Dont expect regular updates! Ideas come and go with short stories. At least with mine xp

Anyways, enjoy!

"Claus, you're terrible at Chess."

Ness laughed, rolling his eyes at the red-head who now glared at him. The Chess board now showed Claus in checkmate, two Rooks surrounding the King. It had been a quick match; apparently, Claus stood no chance against his brother.

"I'd like to see you do any better," Claus growled, flipping his King over in defeat. "Lucas is pretty dang good at this game. I doubt you can beat him."

"I-I'm not that good," Lucas protested, obviously embarrassed. "M-Maybe you just-"

"You beat me in two minutes."

"Maybe-"

"Stop arguing about it. You're the best at this game." Lucas didn't respond from that, seemingly too flustered to do so. A red blush spread from his cheeks to all over his face. "There, you shut up. Now, Ness, try to win against him. I guarantee you'll lose."

"We'll see about that." Ness smirked, happy to be taking on a challenge. Claus rolled his eyes.

"You say that about any type of competition," Claus retorted. "And half the time you lose."

"The other half I win," Ness rebuked, setting up his half of the board. He didn't consider himself the best at Chess, but he surely he wasn't the worst. And he should be able to beat Lucas: he doubted Lucas was that good, no matter what Claus said. Claus wasn't apt for games that required him to think. He was always more of a straightforward person, at least in Ness' opinion.

"Whatever, Ness," Claus scoffed. "We'll see when you lose."

"You're acting like you're the one who's playing."

"So what?" Claus glared at Ness, who glared right back. Small sparks of electricity flew between them, fire starting to glow in Claus' hands, then-

"Hey- What the heck is going on?" The stare-down was broken as all heads turned towards the voice that spoke. Ninten stood in the doorway, looking the most confused he ever had in his life. "You're gonna burn down the freaking house!"

"...Our PSI-?"

"Yes is was, Ness." Ninten walked over, sitting down on the ground where the Chess board was set up. "You two need to learn to chill for once your life."

"Says the person-" Claus tried to continue, but was interrupted when Ninten shoved him. "Hey-"

"Anyways, what have we here?" Ninten asked, cutting the two arguing people off. He rubbed his hands together. "Who's playing Chess?"

"Me." Ness raised his hand a bit. Ninten raised an eyebrow.

"Versus?"

"Lucas."

"Oh." An evil glint came into Ninten's eyes. He rested his head on the back of his hands, grinning. "Well, THIS is gonna be an interesting match..."

All eyes stared at Ninten once again, who didn't seem to notice his friend's odd expressions until what felt like forever had passed.

"What? Start the match, you two!" Ninten exclaimed, not noticing why odd looks were being flung in his direction. Ness rolled his eyes and stared at the Chessboard. He was the black pieces, Lucas the white. If what Claus said was true and what Ninten was implying was true, then he was in for a rough time.

Or so they said.

"You go first, Lucas," Ness offered, laughing a bit at the confused look Lucas gave him when he said his name. Apparently, the blond had been staring off into space; not an uncommon thing he would do. Ness wondered how a person like Lucas could somehow be a monster at a game like Chess, but didn't ask it aloud.

"Your move," Lucas responded quietly, staring at the board.

Then, it became a battle of wits. Turn after turn went, Ness becoming more frustrated as piece after piece of his became lost to the army of the white team, Lucas as their tactician. It was funny, though: Lucas' play-style was nowhere near his personality. His pieces were always on the offense, while Ness struggled to keep up with the daring approach.

He had sorely underestimated his blond friend.

"Checkmate," Lucas declared, setting down his piece. Ness stared. It was checkmate all right: his King was cornered. He flipped his King over in defeat, sighing.

For once in his life, he saw Lucas give a small grin of silent celebration.

"So, that was... three minutes." Ninten whistled in surprise. "Dang."

"He fared better than me," Claus muttered. "It took two minutes for Lucas to destroy me."

"T-That's because I know how you play, Claus," Lucas murmured, looking at the ground. "It's nothing."

"What do you mean, it's nothing? Two freaking minutes, Lucas. Two minutes."

"So?"

"Lucas," Ness interrupted, "he's trying to say you're the best of us at this game. It only took three minutes for you to beat me, and you didn't know how I played."

"But that's because you're my friend," Lucas protested, flushing a light shade of pink. "I'm really not that-"

"Oh, of course you are! Give yourself credit for once!"

"...O-Okay." Lucas stared at the ground again. "But I just don't want to give myself that much credit so I won't get full of myself-"

"You're not going to get full of yourself that easily." Ness rolled his eyes. "Even if you do, you deserve it. It takes brains to master Chess. My brain fries within like a minute of playing."

"I doubt-"

"Oh, just accept the compliment, Lucas!" Ness smiled, shoving Lucas on the shoulder.

"So," Ninten interrupted, "that was a total annihilation by Lucas. Anyone wanna play something else?"

"Smash Bros," Claus suggested, grinning. "I'm going to beat you all."

"Not if I can help it!" Ninten exclaimed, rushing towards the Wii, Claus right behind him. Ness and Lucas exchanged one last look — one that most likely said 'Ninten and Claus are idiots' — before walking off to join their other two friends.