2132 Better than a pro

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Zallack couldn't help himself, as he continued to stare at the scoreboard. Like the others, he had improved his score. The fact that he was in competition and there was a lot riding on this, he had pushed himself more than he usually would have done and improved, getting the best score he had ever gotten.

Yet, despite all of that, he had still lost, and it was by a single point.

'How… could I lose by just one point?' Zallack thought, both of his hands covering his head. 'If I had just moved a bit faster, if I had changed the pattern of hitting the buttons a little, maybe I could have gotten three in that one area, instead of moving. If I didn't take a breath at that point.'

Zallack was now second guessing all of the moves that he had made previously throughout the game. If this was a real contest or the championship losing by one point, he would never be able to live it down.

'I have to get footage of the match and see where I went wrong. I need to analyse this game.'

While in the middle of his thoughts, a certain blonde haired man had approached him.

"Believe me when I say this, don't take it to heart too much. I don't think there is anyone that can beat him." Russ said, looking back at Quinn.

Zallack lifted his head, and pulled a frown, he was wondering what this person meant. For one, he himself had gotten a higher score, and there were plenty of professionals who wouldn't be able to get a higher score than that.

'He's just being big headed because they won the game.' Zallack thought.

"Don't worry, I will keep our end of the deal." Zallack replied. "We just need to inform some people about a few things. So if you wait here for an hour or so in front of the shop, we will return."

"How can we be so sure that you will return?" Russ asked.

"Then just get someone else to help you with whatever you need, but I will keep my promise. Some of my friends will stay here, so if you really want to find me then just look for them." With that Zallack returned to the others, and they soon started to walk off.

Although Zallack seemed to be quite aggressive in his approach, Russ kinda liked that. Due to how hardworking he was, he was sure it would also be the right person, to guide them as well.

There was one worry, a lot of the Penswi looked very alike with a few different details here and there, the main way they could tell the others were different were due to their voice.

"That's great!" Ceril said. "Let's play some more games, I don't want to lose again, if something so high stakes appears."

"No Ceril, seriously you don't have to take it to heart losing that game." Quinn said, and tried reaching out, but she had this strange fire in her eyes, showing her determination.

Zallack and the others were leaving the arcade, this was because Zallack had training sessions every day. He was a trainee for one of the top professional teams for the game known as Killer Instinct. The game they had just played.

Although professional teams also specialised in a handful of other games. Since all of them revolved around the same theme, speed, reflexes, and quick thinking. One who was best at one of these games was usually king at them all.

The group had finally left the shop, but not without the footage that Zallack was after. When he got somewhere he could watch the video, he needed to watch it immediately. Self analysis was best when done almost straight after as he could remember most of what he was thinking at the time.

"Hey Zallack, I wasn't sure whether to tell you this or not, but I noticed something strange during your match." Mikker, the Penswi that fought against Ceril stated.

Zallack looked at him for him to go on.

"Well, you see, the thing is, during the match it looked like your opponent was constantly looking at the scoreboard."

Zallack stopped in his tracks when he heard those words.

"Did you say constantly looking at the scoreboard? It wasn't a one off thing."

There was an intensity in Zallack's voice causing Mikker to gulp before answering.

"Yes, I'm sure of it, he did it more than once… and each time he did, his score would catch up with yours."

A strange tingling feeling was felt all over Zallack's body, and he remembered the words from the weird blonde human. Not saying another word, Zallack started to run faster ahead of the others, he needed to watch this footage as soon as possible.

——

Eventually, Zallack had parted ways with the rest in his group and he had arrived at a large building, where his professional team was placed. Heading inside, there were a number of Penswi that were the same age coming in and out.

The receptionist noticed Zallack and let him right through, as he headed up to the floor where his team would be. The floor was filled with noise similar to the arcade. There was button bashing, the sound of machinery as well as huffing and panting and talking amongst others.

There were multiple different rooms for different things and Zallack quickly headed to one of the empty strategy meeting rooms. There was a screen and throwing the small device in his hand, the video started to show on screen.

It was footage from the arcade, not even sitting down on the seat, he stared at every detail.

'He really did look at the screen each time, and when he realised he was behind, he suddenly sped up… but how is this possible? Was he not trying, no that's impossible, he can't be that fast?' Zallack thought. 'He must have a stamina issue of some sort, and while taking a break he took a look at the scoreboard.'

Zallack watched the video a few times over and over, trying to come up with different reasons as to why his opponent was looking at the scoreboard constantly.

"Crap I completely forgot, I need to tell the manager that I won't be able to make it to the training sessions today." Running out of the room, Zallack put the video on pause.

This was the reason why he had come back, he needed to inform his team if he wasn't going to be there for training sessions. As he said before, he kept his promise.

"Is there a problem at home, Zallack?" the manager asked.

"It's not that, sir there is just a bit of a situation, I promise that I will sort it out, and will be back to normal from tomorrow." Zallak answered.

With permission granted, he left the room and headed back to the strategy room to look at the video a few more times, but upon opening the door, he noticed that there were others inside, and it wasn't just anybody as well.

"Jun, what are you-" Zallack stopped there, as he could see not just Jun but a couple of others were present in the room as well, all of them wearing a thick red shirt. It was a weight for training. These were the professionals of the Dark Red's that he was a part of.

There were three of them and out of curiosity, they started to play the video of the match in the game.

"Hey, Zallack… who is this guy that you're going up against?" Jun asked.

"It's just someone I lost to, that I met at the arcade, as you can see, an alien." Zallack replied. "But I'll beat him next time. I only lost by one point."

It was shameful for a trainee of a professional team to lose, and it was to an alien, which is why Zallack said these words.

"Zallack, I don't think you would ever be able to beat him." Jun replied. "Can't you see, he didn't just beat you by one point. He chose to beat you by one point. This person… completely humiliated you.

"Who are they?"

*****

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