It was a hard pill to swallow....

Max: But.... just....

Even for those watching the match, it was a confusing end.

Rose: Ken... won?

She turned to Tiffany to make sure.

Luke: Well... that was fast.

Tiffany: Yeah...

Julianne remained silent.

Even harder to swallow was said pill, because Ken was smirking the whole time.

Ken: I win. It's as simple as that.

Max remained on the wet floor, completely befuddled by what had just happened.

Max: Just... how....?

He lifted his now wet hand.

Max: Water?

Ken: It's elementary.

Max: Huh?

Ken: When super heated water is lifted to the air, it often meets a cold front that cools it, turning to a mist. That mist is what we call vapour.

Max turned around to look at the white vapour, still dissipating into the air.

Ken: And when that vapour reaches a cold surface...

He then looked up, and then after, as did Max.

There were drops falling on the ground, just as before.

Ken: ... it forms water. That very water, that you slipped on.

Max remained silent for a moment.

The very shock of losing because of something so simplistic.

Water. Plain old water.

Max: But....

Ken: To be completely honest with you...

Max: Huh?

Ken: ... I never would have come up with this plan had I not seen your battle with Tiff.

Max: With... Tiffany?

His eyes turned back to the others for a moment.

Ken: Yes. Tiff.

Ken's eyes also turned to the others.

Ken: During your battle with Tiffany, I took note of something.

Max: What thing!?

Needless to say, Max was curious.

From what Ken had said, he'd actually expected Max to trip.

In short, this incredibly odd strategy was weirdly all a part of his plan.

That in and of itself made no sense to him.

Ken: Your reaction to smoke bombs.

Max: Huh!?

Ken: Unlike most people, when your vision is obscured, rather than remain befuddled, you act. And if I was able to make you think I was about to attack...

Max: You could get me to use my super speed and slip.

Saying it was one thing. Believing it was anither.

To think... Ken actually thought this through. Even more, he could think that many steps ahead.

Max: That's...

Ken: Incredible? Unbelievable? Unsurmountable? Perhaps. I suppose you could use those words to describe my intellect.

Max: Mmmmm....

Max still couldn't believe it.

He just lost. His chance to beat the entire team had ended. And to make things worse, his mother had seen it. What a shame!

He hung himself, somewhat upset at his loss.

Ken: But hey, I have to admit. You were a tough opponent.

Max: Huh!?

Ken: You almost had me.

And then, Ken left his hand out to Max to grab it.

Ken: No hard feelings, right?

Max looked at the hand for a moment and then took it.

Max: Yeah. No hard feelings.

He had a smile on his face as he said that. It was partially fake, though.

True, he wasn't mad at Ken for beating him. But, as for losing, that was an entirely different board game.

He'd placed so many hopes onto that victory.

But, he decided to keep it all in.

As for those watching them all....

Rose: They've been there for a while...

Tiffany: Yeah...

Rose looked worriedly upon them both. Did something happen?

From the great distance between the two combatants and the rest of the team, they couldn't hear a word they were saying unless it was said particularly loudly.

Tiffany sighed. She, too, was concerned.

Luke simply waited. Perhaps one could call it a male intuition, however, he wasn't all that worried. In fact, it would be better to say that he believed that it wasn't worth worrying about at all.

Julianne simply remained silent, keeping her thoughts to herself.

Tiffany stole a glance at her and then looked away again.

One question one could ask would be, why had she been so quiet during this match?

Not once, not even once... had she spoken during the match. So... what did she think?

And as for Max and Ken...

Ken: Let's head back.

Max: Yeah...

And the pair walked back to the others, both walking normally.

Julianne immediately summoned a computer and caused the pebbles on the ground to entirely dissipate.