[PROLOGUE]

"Good luck, have fun."

"You too."

The familiar whoosh rolled into his ears as the screen momentarily turned black. The oddly mystifying backdrop appeared in a flash, vanishing just as quickly with the click of a button. A wave of anxiety flowed through James.

"So, who's he up against this time?"

Lee entered the computer room, a soda in his hand. As lanky as he was tall, Lee's long limbs allowed him to quickly cover the distance between him and an open seat. He rolled his chair over to the central table, watching the large monitor.

"Bassfreak," replied Michael, the reflection of the screen glowing on his glasses. "I haven't seen his records or replays yet, so I don't know what kind of plays he'll use."

"Well, it'll keep the suspense up," said Lee, taking a sip of soda. "Anyways, I think James will do fine. He's almost as good as us now. At least, in Fastest anyways."

"Fastest or slow money, each requires skill to play," said Michael. "You know that."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. I'll shut up."

"No, don't. I want you to analyze this with me."

"Always on the job, aren't you?"

"There's no point in being an observer if you're not going to watch," said Michael, putting a hand to his chin.

"Exactly. Watch. Not analyze."

"To me, that's one and the same."

"Tightwad. Ah, they're starting to make their first moves."

Michael's hands moved in practiced sweeps. The mouse cursor flashed around the screen, clicking on an area that was unaffected by the fog of war.

"Bassfreak is Protoss too," said Lee, watching the probes mine minerals. "He's building pretty fast. Already has double nexuses up."

"I see it," said Michael. It was an all too familiar strategy. Build a probe with the beginning 50 minerals as the rest began to mine resources. As soon as your second probe was built, build a pylon and continue mining. The two nexuses came at a slight cost in economy and time. Each cost 400 minerals, which destroyed any chances of an early zealot rush. Therefore, the player would be forced to build cannons to defend his base.

"James is building zealots," noted Lee. "Goddamn it, go scout!"

"The cannons are already going up. There's no chance of a rush right now," said Michael. His hands began to fidget. James wasn't at a level yet where he could efficiently destroy the opponent's economy while straying away from the cannons with micromanagement. And Bassfreak was slowly closing the gaps in his defense with more cannons in the back. His economy would continue to boom throughout the game, because of the additional probes being pumped from his nexuses.

"He's teching up at last!" said Lee, a slight quiver in his voice. "Christ, this kid takes a long time to get around."

"He's lucky the opponent chose to go economy," said Michael. "Íf he'd been rushed, James would've been steamrolled."

"Gas is up. For both of them."

"But Bassfreak has more assimilators." Assimilators were essential towards the latter part of the game. While minerals provided the "cash" to build initial buildings and units, the vespene gas collected from Protoss assimilators would allow the players to advance higher up the tech tree and build more advanced units.

"That's bad. Bassfreak only has a couple of units, but with the extra gas, he'll be able to upgrade quickly." With upgrades, each unit could get progressively stronger (up to 3 levels). By the third level, a group of even the weakest units could wreak havoc in someone's base.

"James is attacking!"

"What?" Michael returned the monitor to James's base. Sure enough, the army of zealots that had slowly built up in his base had started marching off across the map. Michael was surprised that James would take such a risk. Not that it was a bad move; in fact, with Bassfreak being in the middle of production, it was coincidentally the perfect time to do some damage. But Michael had always seen James lose a golden opportunity because of his passive character. He tended to fear his opponent and would choose to take refuge in his base, only to be destroyed by a sneak attack from the back or through superior brute force from the front.

"He's actually making a good move for once," said Lee in mock astonishment. "Impressive."

"Yes. He's improved," said Michael. But can you keep on this track, James? Can you win this battle?

The growls from the zealots rang from his headphones. James quickly maneuvered them to his enemy's choke. His scout had died earlier, but not without destroying a probe or two. However, looking at the double nexuses, he doubted that his opponent would miss them. What probably worried Bassfreak more would be that James had found him. Bassfreak had precious few units, as he had concentrated mostly on teching fast. It was a mistake James had come across many times, but Bassfreak had a stable economy to support his endeavors. At the moment, he would be pumping units from his gateways. His vast store of resources would ensure that his army would outnumber James's in no time.

I have to hurry, thought James. He picked three zealots from his group and sent them into Bassfreak's base. He strayed away from the protruding gateways, knowing that the fog of war would illuminate his units if they came too close. Instead, James cut to the side, where darkness covered him, and quickly made his way to the top. Imagining the fog of war's range, James allowed the zealots to attack an assimilator.

Bassfreak responded just as James expected him to.

The cannons were built in front of his primary nexus, their range covering the back of his base and his first few gateways. Unfortunately, the assimilator was quite a distance from the cannons which allowed James's zealots to attack unmolested. James smirked as Bassfreak sent a group of zealots and dragoons to attack his force. There were four zealots and three dragoons, upgraded to level 2. It seemed that Bassfreak had yet to finish building his army. But to his credit, Bassfreak had increased the dragoon's attack range, allowing them to attack the zealots from a distance. In a couple seconds, James's zealots were annihilated.

It was then that James's main army began attacking Bassfreak's pylons.

"What the hell?!" thought Bassfreak as he saw dozens of zealots enter his base. "Shit!"

James divided his zealots into two groups; one would attack Bassfreak's units and pylons while the others would destroy his cannons and move towards his economy. The zealots moved at an amazing pace, their movement speed having been upgraded earlier on. Because of their small stature, James was able to weave through Bassfreak's gateways, keeping out of the dragoons' range.

"Just a little more," thought James as the cannons exploded one by one. "Just a little more..."

James froze. Suddenly, Bassfreak's units had multiplied. It seemed his army had finally arrived.

"Shit!" thought James, as he destroyed the last cannon. He had spent too much time on the defenses. At this rate, his entire army would be obliterated. James directed his zealots to attack the probes, chipping away at Bassfreak's economy as fast as he could.

But Bassfreak was too quick. Before his zealots could finish off the probes, a flurry of antimatter bolts mowed through James's army.

The fog of war covered Bassfreak once again.

Oh no.

Bassfreak wiped his forehead. That had been close. If his units had come out a second later, he would've been crippled for the rest of the game. It was a good thing the force had only been composed of zealots.

With the break in battle, Bassfreak began to rebuild his defenses. He doubled the number of cannons around his nexuses, stretching their range down to the middle gateways. As his cannons finished building, a series of roars and beeps signaled that his units had arrived. He now had triple the number of units and all were upgraded to level 3. He was fairly sure that the zealot army had been his enemy's only units. Now was a perfect time to attack.

"Time to get some revenge," thought Bassfreak as he moved his army into the center of the map. Even if his opponent had units, it wouldn't matter. His economy was allowing him to constantly build replacements. His tech had all been upgraded. He had even started on an air fleet. Soon enough, he would max out the map and be undefeatable.

"GG."

Bassfreak sent all his units into James's base. Being on the left middle of the map, James's choke was unnaturally large, which meant that Bassfreak could have his units file in groups rather than a single line. It was as if Starcraft was just waiting for him to win.

A dozen dragoons began firing at Bassfreak's zealots.

"So, you have some fight after all," thought Bassfreak as he moved his dragoons towards James's economy. Their range would allow them to destroy the probes without being in the cannons' line of fire. His zealots moved quickly to the enemy dragoons, slicing through them in a trail of azure slime. In the blink of an eye, James's defenses were blown away.

A group of observers floated into James's base. Even with his enormous army, Bassfreak was taking no chances. A few dark templars could initiate a comeback. After having to rebuild a good part of his base, Bassfreak was keen on getting revenge. He watched hungrily as one by one, James's structures burned to rubble.

Noob. Thinking he can beat me.

"Our base is under attack."

"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" yelled Lee.

"It's not over. James has half his base gone."

"It's going to be close," admitted Lee soberly. Then he grinned and added," But I bet Bassfreak is freaking out right now."

"Probably," said Michael, smirking. "He didn't even try to defend himself, so he probably never saw it coming."

"Man, to get that far and get owned because you can't multi-task."

"Depressing."

"But hey, it's good for our side."

"Maybe. Maybe."

It had been an act of desperation. James had expected his forces to put quite a dent to Bassfreak's economy. Although he had destroyed many probes, it hadn't been enough to stop Bassfreak's production. A few quick movements with observers proved that. For a split moment, James had considered sacrificing his economy and going straight for more harassment. However, now that Bassfreak was pumping units, he knew that it'd simply be a waste of resources. Even worse was the fact that Bassfreak's vast surplus was allowing him to recover and produce units all at once.

"What do I do?" thought James. He quickly analyzed the situation. He could try to increase his economy at this moment. However, that would delay production of units. With his observers still in Bassfreak's base, James saw that in mere moments, Bassfreak would attack just to empty out his base. A column of blue warp spheres had been made. If James had to guess, these were surely stargates. Every second he wasted was allowing Bassfreak to close away every single opportunity to counter. He had to act fast.

It was then that he saw it. On a whim, James looped his observers over his enemy's dragoons and approached the right side of his base.

A hole.

James knew he had no time. It would be a miracle if he could pull this off. He began to mass produce robotic facilities. With his current facilities, he built a fleet of shuttles. He watched Bassfreak's base closely, feeling a sense of relief as Bassfreak chose to rebuild instead of attacking. Expanding his plan, James also began to produce high templars. A probe was sent out to an empty area.

As Bassfreak's base finished its repairs, James began loading up his shuttles. He flew them to the area under Bassfreak's base, one by one. He would continue doing this until Bassfreak made a move. He needed every precious second that could be spared.

Bassfreak began his assault. James couldn't help but feel horrified at the enormous army as it marched towards his base. He stopped production in the facilities and began making dragoons to defend his base. Then, with quick, assertive movements, James flew his shuttle down through the empty space in Bassfreak's base. He unloaded the high templars and positioned them away from the cannons.

Just as Bassfreak sent a second wave towards his base, James stormed Bassfreak's probes. Instantly, a series of explosions signalled the end of Bassfreak's economy. Moving his mouse furiously, James released his force of reavers into Bassfreak's base.

FUCK! thought Bassfreak as he finally noticed the reavers in his base. His first instinct told him to retreat and destroy the reavers. However, he quickly quelled the thought. By doing that, he would waste precious time. His base would be severely damaged, no matter what he did. But what he could do was ensure that James's base was completely destroyed.

So Bassfreak began producing more units from his gateways, trying to stall as his army slowly demolished James's base. Unfortunately, James's reavers were strategically spread out. The units that came out would waste time attacking random reavers while the reavers' splash damage would ensure that whole groups of dragoons were dispatched in one move.

Furious, Bassfreak tried to produce carriers from his stargates. It was then that he found a group of templars around the destroyed cannons.

WHAT THE HELL?!

Stupid, stupid STUPID! He had been too eager. He hadn't been watching his base. How could he have left his entire right side undefended? How could he have let those slow shuttles get into his base? With his economy, all Bassfreak could do now was focus fire on James's structures.

It was then that Bassfreak realized it. This was a bluff. There was no way those reavers could destroy his entire base in time. Bassfreak laughed as he recognized his stupidity. The poor fool only had his tech structures left while he had half his gateways still running. And even as he ran out of resources, Bassfreak saw that there were fewer and fewer reavers with each wave he produced. The noob's destruction would only get slower from here on.

I've won this. You scared me for a minute, but I've won this, you bastard.

His units began to attack James's final nexus. Blue flames erupted all over the pyramid-like structure. Any second now...

The nexus exploded and only rubble remained. Bassfreak whooped gleefully and tore off his headphones. It was all over. The noob had brought up that reckless tactic at the end, but he had still lost. What a fool! Smiling to himself, Bassfreak lazily moved his dragoons around in a victory march. Now all he had to do was wait for the victory message. When it appeared, he could exit the game and add another win to his record.

The message never appeared.

James watched as Bassfreak's dragoons moved randomly in his base. He smiled to himself as he glanced at the lone pylon he had built at the bottom of the map. No doubt Bassfreak would notice that he had expanded any second now, but it would be too late. His reavers had finally gotten through all the gateways. He had left no nexus or probe intact.

It was a dirty tactic, but James didn't care. As Bassfreak finally realized his mistake and tried to find James's last pylon, James ended the game with one final click. When the victory message appeared on his screen, James felt truly ruthless.

"God. What the hell happened to James this game?"

"I guess he's gotten over his passiveness," said Michael as the screen blacked out.

"You can say that again. I never expected him to do something like that. I guess we've been underestimating him."

"No. We've been overestimating him."

"C'mon. Even if it was cheap, he still got the win. And Bassfreak's pretty experienced."

"If he was good, he wouldn't have resorted to that," said Michael quietly. "He's still got a long way to go."

"Cut him some slack."

"You think I can do that?" asked Michael, smiling wanly. Lee looked away from his tired eyes.

"You could learn," he mumbled.

"Maybe I will. But not now. Right now, James needs to advance. I have to be ruthless."

"I think he's pretty ruthless enough without your help," said Lee.

"It's not his job to be ruthless. It's mine."

"Selfish bastard, aren't you?"

"No. I'm just obstinate."

[PROLOGUE: End]