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Snow Weaver...

...you are awesome! Thanks so much for reviewing again. You have no idea how much it means to me to see proof that people are reading this, especially considering the research I have to put into this to make many of the circumstances that will be happening shortly and further on, historically accurate! Good thing I'm enjoying writing it so much!

Since I know the rest of you want to see your name mentioned above too you'll have to review! LOL.

Anyways Chapter 3 is here!

Enjoy!

Trixie21

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Okay, you all know the drill. I have to take up valuable space and time to say that I do not own any part that is the coolness of the Yu-Gi-Oh universe. That honor goes completely to Kazuki Takahashi. Authoress as she bows subservantly before her shrine of great creators... "We're not worthy! We're not worthy! We're not worthy!"

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This Old Man: Sugoroku's Story

Part 1: Japan

3. A Captain's Challenge…

Sugoroku was just twelve when the Pacific War began in 1941. In a bold move brought on by their secure sense of knowledge in the new Western machinery and style of warfare, the Japanese Navy had, after several years of watching the progress of Hitler in Europe and their own successful time in China, attacked Pearl Harbor and brought the United States to fight a two front war separated by well over 6,000 miles. The Japanese had been for more than five years steadily massing its materials and men and with millions ready to die at the command of their generals, they had begun their campaign to become masters of the Pacific.

For such a young boy there could be little he understood about such things except that everywhere there were men in military uniforms going through the streets, every scrap of metal was ear marked for the one of hundreds of manufacturing plants of the war and posters were plastered every where touting that the war was right and that their Emperor was destined to rule all.

Sugoroku could make no sense of it. It didn't seem reasonable that he should go to war with people he had not only never met but with cultures that created some of his very favorite games.

What he did know of it however was that food was slowly becoming more and more limited and his parents were continually discussing leaving the city for a time.

Leave? Why would they have to leave? He could tell that something frightened them but he could not figure out what. They lived in Japan, the greatest empire in the world. Even if they were at war why would they have to leave? Surely no one would come here. Who could reach them? Who would dare?

For most of that year he did his normal thing and went to school daily, played his games and with some of his more adventurous friends paid weekly visits to the newly opened Port of Tokyo to view the immense war ships that came and went daily. They even had some fun regularly making a few yen here and there with simple card games that were easy to convince the naval man to try at and only on occasion were run off by the rare disgruntled loser.

But as the war raged on there began to be changes.

One of the biggest was the now constant presence of military officers not only patrolling the streets but in the schools. All the children were now given instruction in historical propaganda that seemed to do little more than celebrate the war and all the boys, save Sugoroku himself, now had a new class to attend in which they were not only taught to fight hand to hand but were also taught how to care for, load and accurately fire several types of guns.

For a time it seemed that none of the military men had anything more than derisive interest in Sugoroku because of his size but that changed when he was caught playing his first love game, Shoji.

Sugoroku had always hated being singled out for his unworthiness of size and so when the other boys were taken aside for their extracurricular military studies the small boy was left to suffer the jeering looks of the men that watched the girls work on their home duty activities. Unable to put up with it Sugoroku finally gave in to his temptation and managed to slip away and back to the classroom to play a game.

Unknown to Sugoroku a young captain, Hanaka Takashi, had spotted his shadow disappearing around the side of the building and he followed the boy in. When he found Sugoroku seated at the table he immediately grabbed the boy by the scruff of his collar and literally yanked him out of his seat.

"What are you doing in here? Why are you not out sewing with the girls?"

"I, I came in to play Shoji, sir!" stammered Sugoroku nervously as he was shaken back and forth menacingly.

"Shoji," asked the captain unconvinced, "You play Shoji?"

"Y-yes sir."

Captain Hanaka dumped Sugoroku unceremoniously back into his seat before walking around to the other side of the table and sitting down. He immediately began to gather one set of pieces off the board as he spoke, "You will play Shoji with me then. Show me you know how. If you win I will let you go unpunished. Lose and you will regret disobeying the rules."

Sugoroku nodded with a nervous swallow as he collected his side together and prepared.

'If I lose,' he thought, 'I could be punished severely in front of the whole school. It would not be so bad but they might punish mother and father as well. I could not do that to my mother and father. It would be a disgrace. I will have to win, but he is a soldier. I have only ever played common people before. What if he is a master player?'

Sugoroku's nervousness was not an un-based thing. It was very common for the parents or family of one who was caught doing wrong to suffer as well. Sometimes there were stiff fines, sometimes a father received a demotion where he worked and in worst cases it could be extremely bad. Sometimes the offender would be taken and placed in military duty or in the case of a girl she might find herself in a government workhouse forever sewing uniforms or making blankets. It was even worse now since the country had gone to war and every little misconduct could be easily determined detrimental to the unifying theme of their culture.

For the first time in his life Sugoroku was a little afraid and more than a little nervous. But he had no choice. He had to play. And so the game began.

Captain Hanaka was an excellent player. Schooled through the military he had received a great deal of instruction in military maneuvers and strategy and his skill with Shoji was more than evident. His moves were quick and decisive and there was never once a look of struggled thought across his tanned features as he led the boy in the decidedly one sided game. Slowly the pieces of Sugoroku's army became the captain's and twice did the boy nearly lose by almost illegally dropping a taken pawn in the same square as another, but he had caught himself in time and he was more than a little elated at that fact. He had imagined all to easily that the captain would have been very happy to jump up and yell, "Ni Fu !" (You idiot. You just lost the game.) before dragging him out to punished.

As the minutes ticked away Sugoroku became more and more nervous and with each move he made his fear only increased causing him to sweat. The captain's army was closing in on his king and it was but perhaps another 20 moves even with good staling before the inevitable would happen. What could he do?

Suddenly the boy froze as a cold clammy wave of surprise crept over him.

Had he just seen what he thought he had or was his imagination willing him to see hope when there appeared otherwise none?

He looked carefully at the captain's layout and blinked in dumb shock. It was there. A weakness. A fatal weakness. He had left a good portion of his left flank open to converge upon Sugoroku's own king and opened himself up to a serious threat.

Had he done that deliberately? Did he even know?

Sugoroku closed his eyes and pictured the moves it would take to get to the captain's king. It was easy enough in itself, only perhaps another 10 moves if he kept it bare bones. But he wanted to be sure. He'd have to hide his true intentions by intermingling his real moves with irresistibly placed takes. But to do that he would have to take the chance that his opponent might checkmate first when he opened his king slightly.

Sugoroku swallowed.

'Its all I have left,' he thought, 'I have to chance it.'

So he did.

And after managing to stretch it to 29 moves it was over. When he placed his rook and surveyed the field he could not believe it.

"Checkmate," he said in hardly more than a whisper.

Captain Hanaka, who had already been moving to take a piece of his army to do the very same thing, sat stunned as he checked the board for a long moment. After that, he sat back and studied Sugoroku intently.

The boy shifted nervously under the gaze.

Suddenly the captain gave a smile as he leaned forward and slapped a large hand on Sugoroku's shoulder.

From all around him a cheer went up such as he had never heard. He looked about in confusion to find that he and the captain were surrounded by no less than 60 students and 20 military men as well as several teachers. When exactly they had come in he could not have told. His focus on the game had been so intense he never heard them.

How much of the game had they watched he wondered? Had they seen the entire thing? Had they noticed his fear? Did they know how difficult this had been? How weak he had felt?

Apparently not for as they left school that afternoon the kids from his class recounted the game over and over for themselves as well as the students in other classes who had not been witness. In their eyes he was a hero. But he certainly didn't feel like one. All he had wanted to do was be done with it and get out from under the fear of punishment. He half thought of telling them that when they asked how he had felt to play the captain, but he didn't. He kept that thought to himself and as he thanked those above for seeing him through it he made a promise to himself. He would try never to allow such humiliating fear of an opponent to fill him again.

The following day found change to Sugoroku's school life. The men who patrolled the school yards no longer glared at his size but they instead offered an unobtrusive nod of their heads. He no longer sat within the ranks of the girls sewing, he was now sequestered daily often times for hours at a go to learn the finer points of Shoji through Captain Hanaka.

For a full month he was taught and well learned that there were many patterns that one often saw that could be defended against once seen. He learned that there were sequences of events within the game that could win a game within minutes or change the outcome of a game all the way through to hundreds of moves later. It was this cause and effect,this chain of events,that the captain really wanted Sugoroku to learn. And there was reason for it.

At the end of that one month's time things would again change for Sugoroku.

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Next Chapter: The New Lesson