A mysterious stranger visits the Cafe for a quick visit, looking for one last game to play before she leaves...

Seymour belongs to me.
Nico belongs to  Nicolaus
Cafe Plaisir was created by  Palibakufun and is run by  Dark Violet !

---

Humans were often a rare sight amidst the fur-filled halls of Cafe Plaisir. It was an oasis for Pokemon weary of the excessive and hypocritical demands of society, someplace where they could retreat and forget the world around them, be allowed to let their hair down. But few humans ever came here. Least of all this one.

A lone young woman with wavy black hair sat at a table near the entrance, staring out the window at the world outside, her eyes shining with an almost unnatural beauty. Wearing a red dress and a pair of golden earrings, she looked like she fit right into such a fancy establishment. One look at her light brown skin and you’d think she hailed from some tropical resort..

But here, she stuck out. Catching the attention of one Lickitung in particular. He flew in like a pink hurricane, eyes like two clear black marbles as they flew from her face to her toes.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Seymour said, “have you been helped?”

“Oh! No, I haven’t.”

“Are you waiting for someone?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” Her soft voice cut through the air, her body smelling faintly of sea breeze. “It’s funny. I was waiting here for a bus, but no one showed up. Call it a bit of bad luck, but I missed it. I don’t suppose you know when the next one will be here, do you?”

“No, but I can check.” Seymour cocked his head and adjusted his cargo shorts. “Wait here.”

A light smile unfolded on her face as she reached over to grab his arm. Seymour stopped.

“Wait a second,” she replied. “I’ve been meaning to ask… do you know how to play chess?”

Unable to resist, he turned to face her. “Chess? Yes, I do, but–”

“Could you show me how? I’ve been meaning to learn, but no one’s really taught me, and I’ve been aching to learn before I leave.”

A nagging feeling caught hold of Seymour’s mind like a tick, and he felt like he couldn’t deny this beautiful woman a chance to play before she left. He did have to clean the other rooms for Jack and Firenze, but really, what would it hurt? It was just one quick game.
So, the lizard nodded; she let go; Seymour walked off to the Break Room - the next place to visit after this - to find the chess board in the locked cabinet that Rain Flower hadn’t yet desecrated. Turning the light on, the lizard got a good look at the various magazines strewn on the coffee table, some of which were out of date.

The room smelled faintly of Doritos and cooked cheap frozen pizza, and the tile floor hadn’t been washed by Seymour just yet, so it had a stickiness that gave his shoes a rather unpleasant sound. Rather sad, really. So little care was given to this place. Since he was short, he had to go and get the ladder from the supply closet, bring it to the Break Room, and get the chess board and pieces, which were encased in a brown lacquered box with a drawer for the pieces. However, as he was coming down, he noticed a peculiar rectangular object lying on the ground.

“What’s this?” he said aloud, going to pick it up. It didn’t take long for another member of the Plaisir group to finally show up - Nico, glancing up at the lizard without batting a single eye, taking a sip of coffee from his mug.

“Nico! Fancy meeting you here,” the bulbous pink lizard said, smiling faintly at his coworker as he noticed the object he’d picked up. It was a black keycard, in fact, one with a strange compass symbol emblazoned on the front. Odd multi-colored triangles glowed as the Meowstic tilted the thin plastic strip.

“Whose keycard is this?” Nico remarked.

“Not a clue,” the Lickitung replied. “Anyway, I’m going to start cleaning the floor now, so watch out.” Nico stepped aside and let the Lickitung get straight to his work. “I heard there’s been a few new hires, like some Meowscarada. She kept trying to get me to join her for some after-work shenanigans.”

Meowscarada. The name rolled around Nico’s tongue like a cherry-flavored mocha, not bitter whatsoever, but sweet as the fruit he loved. “And did you take her up on it?”

“She’d never been with a Lickitung before.”

“Oof. But she did enjoy it, right?”

“Very.”

Seymour soon returned to the bar with the chessboard - well, box, really - and set it gently down on the table in front of them. A simple game, at first glance, until you really got into it. One where you never could tell who was winning until the moment someone made their fatal blunder. A game for the mathematical mind.

The lady drummed her fingers on the table as a feeling of anxiety pulled at her like the strings of a puppet master. She could tell by the look in Seymour’s eyes he was anxious to play, too. One by one, the pieces were set up. Hers were white. His were black. A row of pawns, ready to march forward and die to defend what was behind them, never able to return.

“Now,” Seymour said as he picked up one of the pieces in front of him. “Chess has three parts. Do you know what they are?”

“Tell me,” trilled the woman’s soft voice as she looked up and down the whole board.

“A beginning, a middle, and an end,” the Lickitung continued. “And in the beginning, if you do two things - two fundamental things - you’ll be all right for the rest of the game. Do you know what those are?” He continued, moving his hands in front of his pawns. “Develop your pieces in the center, immediately, taking dominion of the center of the board, so the intruder can’t get in.” All this while his new friend, this beautiful woman, looked very intensely at the board in front of her. “You can’t wait! They’ll do their best to take control, too. That’s why you need to develop your pieces as quickly as you can, so you can get that advantage. That’s one.

“Now the second thing you do, and this is important, you know what it is? It’s a special move that only the king can do - it’s casting. Hide your king in the corner! So he’s not exposed to danger by a strong player who’ll come up the middle and put you in check, preventing you from defending your king!” All this was spoken with such enthusiasm Seymour threatened to blow the pieces away in a storm of excitement blustering from his mouth. “Now, if you do those two things, you’ll be alright. You’ll have a chance.”

“Wow, that’s interesting!” the woman exclaimed with a smile. “Have you played this game long? You sound so experienced!”

“Oh, me? I only ever played for ten years! Every now and again I play with some folks around here, but my skills are rusty. I only ever won a couple of tournaments. But anyway. Watch my fingers here-” The blubbery lizard motioned with his stubby index fingers, almost jabbing at the four middle squares of the chessboard. “You see these? These are the middle squares of the chessboard. All the masters say you have to take control of these squares, to take dominion. Do you know why? Cause we’re waitin’ for the enemy, men with their guns cocked - little soldiers ready to take down anyone who will come for our king!” His body gesticulated quickly, the energy boundless and searching for some way to escape! “Inching our troops forward little by little, with one intention: kill the king. Alright, that’s enough out of me; we’re gonna do this, you’re gonna develop a piece, so you go first! Go ahead and pop the horse out of there, that one–”

“Oh, you mean this one…” It was clear by the smile on her face she was having fun, as she moved her knight on her left forward.

“Excellent! Now, that’s not a typical move! You know why?” Seymour said, not waiting for her to answer. “Most times, you see players moving their pawns forward, here to d4 or e4, right here - those are typical moves. But with the knight, he can take the center squares right away, so you know he’s coming. But, we’re developing, we’re developing! We’re not at war yet - we’re setting the stage for the war!”
Nico came by as soon as he heard, his eyes darting straight toward the chess board to see Seymour explain what came next. If there was anything he was going to do in the next few minutes, it took a back seat to this.

So as they played, one by one, Seymour gently explained how to move the pieces around, watching this woman play with a deft hand - almost too deft. He was interested to see what kind of person she was, who would come down here at all.

“Why this place?” said Seymour as he finished pushing his pawn forward. “Why did you choose to come here?

“It was the closest to the bus stop,” she replied. “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, didn’t I? I’m Mia. And you are?”

“Seymour. Now, let’s see, what I’m gonna do is show you a little something - I’ll take this pawn here! Now, when your opponent does that you have to ask yourself, why did he do that? Because that helps you discover his intentions. It forces your eyes down at a greater level of observation. It forces you to say to yourself, how do I get him?”

She gently cupped her chin with her left hand, looking like she was already contemplating her next move. “I had better take this knight, then!”

“Yeah! Take the knight! There ya go! Wonderful!” Seymour shouted, never seeming to know when enough was enough here. “Now I know for sure… your observation is capable of advancing to a higher level. Over 70 per cent of chess is observation - so, let’s see how much further you can go! Say I’m a weaker player, right? I move my knight, my horse, here–” Seymour placed his knight further, a stranger in enemy territory, ripe for the taking, but it was all in the service of the teaching.

But now her pieces were such that her rook was in position to place the king in check. Little did Seymour realize.

“So you got your castle there, don’t you? Tell me what you’re thinking!” Seymour said.

How delightful.

“I think I should move my horse there, shouldn’t I? Yeah, I think I should!”

“Yes! Do it, do it, do it!” And then Seymour watched as the knight moved into position, seemingly flanked by a pawn nearby ready to cut it down. “See, now my king is in trouble and I gotta get him out of there! So I block it–”

“No, that’s mate,” said Nico.

“No, this is a block.”

“Look again, Seymour. She has you in double-check.”

“Wait, so, I can’t move my king, 'cause I’m in double check! So I’m in checkmate! Wow! You knew what you were doing the whole time, weren’t you–” Seymour’s words took a moment to sink in, but when they did he finally saw what was happening and said, “You tricked me! Oh, you tricked me! Wait a second, I shouldn’t be saying anything, shouldn’t I?? You’re way better than me!”

“Oh, yes, I managed to get you in double-check, didn’t I! I was curious to see how you would do, to be honest. For someone who hasn’t played in a long time, the fire still burns so hot inside you!”

“Wait, how long have you been playing this? How long?”

“Well… can I tell you a little secret?” The lady in the red dress leaned over as if she was speaking with a confidante from a secret agency. “This is my passion. I’ve been playing it for over fifty years; I’m a grandmaster!”

“I wanna play you again! I wanna play one more time!” Seymour shouted, shaking giddily as a baby about to be handed a birthday present. For someone so anxious, this game brought out something amazing in him.

Suddenly, the lady noticed the card on the table and said, “Oh! Is that your keycard?”

“What? No, I just found this in the– wait, how did you know it was a keycard?”

“May I see it?” she asked, ignoring his question. She was clearly too interested to see what it was; the compass on the front, the way it glimmered… like it was telling her something very important. “Yes, this is mine! I thought I dropped it somewhere…”

Seymour blinked, as he was understandably confused as to how she had a keycard like this. “But, ma’am, this was in the break room. How did you–”

“Ma’am, are you waiting for someone?” asked Nico, interrupting the moment.

“Oh, yes, I am! But, I’m very tired, and I could use a break.” She took the keycard from Seymour and rose from her seat. “Could you please show me to my room? I’m terribly sorry. I ordered a room here not too long ago; it’s a special one.”

As they walked by the guest rooms, Seymour kept trying the keycard at every door, only to be greeted with the same buzzing sound, the same red light every time.

The lady in the red dress swiped the card through the last door, hoping it would work. One second felt like a thousand years.

Bzzt. Red light.

There was only one other place they hadn’t tried: the door near Firenze’s office. When she slid the card through the reader, hands trembling, she hoped this was the one.

Which it was.

Mia reached the door handle before anyone else did, and as she opened it, light burst forth from the crack, soon enveloping the lizard and the psychic feline as they had to shield their eyes.

“What is happening!!” Nico cried out.

“I can’t see anything!” Seymour replied.

Both of them did their best to see what was happening, but to no avail.

“Finally. It’s time for me to go.” Mia stood before it, ready to step through and never return. “Thank you very much for such an entertaining game, my dear,” she told Seymour, her voice now taking on a sublime echo. “I had hoped to play my favorite game one last time before I could move on, and Arceus, ever merciful, granted me my wish. Now I can return to my family once again. I hope to see you again someday, little ones.”

She dropped something on the ground. In an instant, the light disappeared, and she was gone.

When he could finally look, he saw the door had vanished. But he just kept staring at the empty space for a while. Wondering who the lady in the red dress was at all, why she was here? All she left was the keycard, slowly disappearing from sight...

Outside, a Greyhound bus took off toward the vast empty plains, its inhabitants going off to new horizons…