Sideline Leaders

Read More Sun Tzu

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"You should have given up the pawn."

Kallen scowled. "Isn't it enough that I agreed to play this stupid game with you?" She moaned.

The dark haired boy didn't respond. He just took her rook and waited for her to move. Tentatively, Kallen moved the bishop over a few squares. If she could just get his king over there-

"Checkmate."

Kallen blinked. Looked over the board. Groaned, once again. "This game is pointless!" She said, gripping her hair. "Half the time you block whatever I'm doing, and the other half I can barely keep up with your moves!"

"No," C.C said. "You're actually doing both those things, all of the time."

Kallen rolled her eyes. "Exactly!" She said in exasperation. "This game isn't making any sense."

"Which is exactly the point." He continued. "Chess mimics real life strategy and tactics."

Kallen snorted. "I don't see a Knightmare piece anywhere on that board."

"It mimics the thought patterns and mental flexibility needed to be a good tactician." He said as he began collecting the pieces. "What you don't realize is that in real battles, your going to have a target you need to attack, and something special you need to protect."

The girl frowned. "What? You mean like a base?"

"Or a city." C.C folded the board. "Think about your battle with Clovis. During that battle, you had two goals: protect the civilians your friends had gathered in that warehouse, and attack Clovis to end the battle. If you transfer that battle to chess, the people in that warehouse- the people you would give anything to protect- were collectively your own king. Clovis was your enemy's king."

"Yeah," Kallen said slowly, "and I won that battle."

"Because your opponent was almost as much of an amateur as you are." The boy ignored Kallen's angry sputtering. "The minute you go up against a more experienced foe you'll lose: just like you did with Cornelia."

"Hey! That wasn't-"

"Wasn't your fault? Wasn't your idea?" Kallen glared, but the boy continued on. "If you continue to think like that, you'll never be able to win against a more skilled opponent."

"I don't have to." Kallen argued as she got up to leave. "Nobody expects to win when you know your enemy is stronger, it just doesn't make sense."

"Then why are you fighting Britannia? Do you think you can win?"

"Of course not!" Kallen yelled. "Britannia's a superpower, and even if Japan were united we'd be up against one of the biggest empires in the world!"

"Then what's the point of fighting?" C.C asked. Standing above him, Kallen should have felt much more justified then she did. Although the brunette showed no signs of aggression, he returned her glare with enough force she couldn't help but feel she was fighting a losing battle.

"All we're trying to do is limit the damage Britannia does to us." Kallen said with complete conviction.

C.C sighed as he looked at the closed chess box. "And that's why you should learn to play chess."

"I don't even understand what you're saying."

"It's not that simple."

"Then explain it." Kallen glowered, sitting back down on the bed with her arms folded. "Make it simple."

For a minute, she thought C.C would back down. Change the subject to something more personal, like her mother, as he did so often. But instead he looked at her in a way he never had before. For a moment, Kallen could've sworn he looked impressed.

"You said that you were having trouble blocking my actions and making your own moves at once." C.C said, thoughtfully. "In other words, you have a hard time focusing on offense and defense at the same time."

"So?" Kallen asked.

He continued. "Since we've started playing, you've been betting better at each individual aspect of the game. Slowly, but improving nonetheless. Do you remember that rescue mission for the soldier who'd been framed for killing Clovis?"

"Kururugi? Yeah. What about him?"

"When you were planning that event, you focused on one thing and one thing only: getting ahold of your target." His tone turned a little more condescending. "I had to remind you that you needed an escape route, and if it wasn't for that last-minute contact telling you about Orange, you never would have escaped alive."

"In other words," C.C added quickly in response to Kallen's growls, "You focused entirely on your offense and ignored your defense."

"Okay." Kallen said. "So your little game has some actual purpose. Why do I have to keep playing it?"

"Because you need to learn how to think the way chess teaches its players to without getting yourself killed." The boy gave her a look as though she'd just tried to eat her own shoe. "Because it's a good way to learn not only tactics, but creativity without having to fight battles in real life."

"If that's the purpose, why don't we just play Risk or some online battle strategy? Something that uses real battle pieces instead of stuff that makes no sense?" Kallen asked.

"Two reasons. One: because these tactics are not limited to the battlefield." C.C explained. "You can apply them to strategy, politics, and even your daily life so long as you keep an open mind. Those kinds of games teach you to think specifically about battle, whereas chess teaches you to think in new ways and allows you to find your own uses for this mindset."

"And two," The boy shrugged and smirked as he rolled up off the bed. "I'm better at chess."

And that was when Kallen lost her temper.

"So in other words," She shouted as the boy ducked out the door, "You just want to win!"