That was, if Tonio played right. His nerves were already getting to him. He was trying to stay calm by pretending the other player wasn’t really there, but it meant he wasn’t paying close enough attention to what Keegan might be doing. Turn two the Serverpillar became ChrysalISP, so Tonio played cards to freeze it up, not thinking ahead to the fact that ChrysalISP took several turns to grow, anyway. Keegan was betting on that choice, and Tonio didn’t have cards ready when HORROR.WAV crashed onto the battlefield.
“Nice!” Keegan cheered as he claimed the first Spirit Battery. “Got you this time, kid.”
Tonio didn’t look bothered at all. “Good job.”
“Don’t let me get the next one so easy, though, okay?”
Tonio blinked and finally looked up. “Huh? Don’t you want to win?”
“Sure I do.” Keegan shrugged. “But it’s more fun to lose a tough game than to win an easy one. Show me what you’ve got!”
Tonio’s expression softened. “My friend says that, too.” He drew a card and considered it.
“Your friend is right!”
Now Tonio was watching Keegan and really analyzing the field. “I don’t get it.” He put down another Manabyte, and Checkmate, Gravity Runner. “She seems so frustrated and mad when she’s losing, but she still says I’m supposed to do my best. But I don’t care if I win, so why should I, if it makes people feel bad?”
Keegan pushed a ring on his lip back and forth, flipping a shiny stone in and out of his mouth. “Hmmm. Let me think.” He drew a card. “Do you play video games?” And cast an update spell on HORROR.WAV.
“Not really.” Tonio cast an Anti-Grav enchantment on the battlefield.
“Do you run?” HORROR.WAV flooded it in response.
“Not on purpose.” Tonio contained the water in a Folder of Holding.
“Have you ever gone to an all-night party?” ChrysalISP burst forth into Luna Motherboard.
“I’m eleven.” Tonio caught it in a Network. He sent Checkmate on attack.
“So???” Keegan sent HORROR.WAV to defend.
“We don’t have a lot of all-night parties.” Checkmate’s ability activated, and she got a bonus in the Anti-Grav.
“What is the world coming to!” Keegan gasped. “Back when I was eleven, we—I—” He paused and looked at the battlefield. “Well, mostly I played video games, you’re right. Good play.”
“Thank you.” Tonio collected a spirit battery.
“So, what do you do?” Keegan asked. He sent HORROR.WAV to the AfterFile.
Tonio considered this. “I draw.”
“Perfect!” And didn’t play anything. Just had to pass. “Sometimes drawing isn’t fun, right? Sometimes you want to get to the end, when you’ve got something cool done, but you can’t get there until you’ve done the hard part. It’s kind of like that.”
Another attack from Tonio. He won again and collected another spirit battery. “But at the end you don’t have a picture or anything. You just lost.”
“That’s thinking too small! The picture isn’t just that one match. It’s all the matches.” Keegan peeked at his next card and groaned. “Useless. Bad draw.” He held his hand out, palm up, to pass the turn to Tonio.
“I’m sorry.” Tonio looked down at the battlefield. He could win now, but he was hesitating.
“Don’t be. I knew this deck might not have enough fighters in it. Anyway, all I’m saying is, one match is only the first line of the drawing. And even if I lose a million times, it’s just more lines. Then, when I take what I learn and put all the lines together, that’s the picture. And that feels great, even—and maybe especially—if it felt bad on the way.” Tonio pushed his fighters out onto the battlefield, and Keegan sighed—he’d lost. “Maybe that’s how your friend feels, too.”
I’m not sure that’s exactly how Mia thinks, I thought. But Tonio just nodded. “Maybe so.” Keegan held out his hand to shake, and Tonio took it. “Thank you.”
“I’ll get you next time. SKYLER!” he yelled across the hall. “I LOST!”
“Got it!” Skyler called back at a much more reasonable volume, and gave a thumbs-up.
The street outside Roll the Ice was as hot as the store was cold, and as empty as the tournament was cramped. Tonio didn’t say anything for a long time, which was fine with me. We had plenty of time before round two, and I felt certain Sergeant and Grizzle were around somewhere, trying to spot me breaking the law.
To tell the truth, I was terrified. I’m still terrified. I’m not even three years old, and I might have to spend the rest of my life in exile already! But if you could have seen his face … I think you would have felt you were doing the right thing, too. He was staring toward the bell, drifting in and out of a big smile. He was happy. What was my fear, next to that happiness? It felt like I was getting to hold on to his anxiety for a little while, which is all I really wanted to do.
“Thank you, Buster.” He leaned over and wrapped his arms around me in a big hug. “You’re the best.”
If I wasn’t already sure I loved the kid, well … I was then.
“HEYBUSTERHITONIOCUTEHUGIBROUGHTMIABUTIDON’TTHINKSHE’SVERYHAPPYABOUTIT!!!!”
(To be clear, that was a dog, so to Tonio it sounded more like “HORFARFARKROARKHRKORKARKIAU!!!!”)
We leaned forward on the bench and watched three fuzzy colors zoom by.
“YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW, MOZART!”
(That was a human, so to Tonio, it sounded like a very angry Mia in elephant pajamas.)
We leaned back at light speed so we wouldn’t get in her way. Tonio looked at me. I blinked.
“?” he asked.
“!” I suggested.
He nodded.
We ran.
Tonio was not much of a runner, but he pushed extra hard to catch up to Mia, and I tugged him along by the leash.
“Hi, Mia,” he said.
“I’m busy,” she replied.
“Yeah!” Pant. “I see …” Double pant. “That! Can we help?”
She watched him from
