The Dark Horse Page #3

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We gonna start soon.

Fella won some local school comp.

Cleaned them all up.

Then tried to burn down the school.

I told his parole officer

that we're going to this...

This tournament.

Be like his community service.

They went for it.

Gen, you probably think

I'm being some big arsehole.

But you talk dreams to those kids,

you better follow through.

Take your meds, get

your sleep, whatever.

Just promise me

that you're looking after yourself.

Promise me you won't let 'em down.

Promise.

So, gear...

I figure we...

What are those?

Just be careful with them, please.

We just got them!

Come on, at least let

them last the night.

Nice one, bro.

Michael, can you help Piripi, please?

Thank you.

Be careful with them, eh?

Don't want to be like Noble

and end up in no-man's-land.

Someone stole our pawns!

Must have been Usher.

Not even funny, bloody Jedi.

Stop with the f***in' old music!

Hey, hey! Look here.

Good evening, team.

Rusty!

As members of Eastern Knights,

you belong to a very special family,

which means...

- Oh, man!

- Awesome!

You will each be represented

by a warrior on this board.

You're to keep it with you at all times

as a kaitiaki, or guardian.

At practise, you return it here,

back to the board,

to reunite us all as a family.

Okay?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Line up, then.

Wail. Wait.

Before you get your sticky, dirty little

fingers on these beautiful pieces...

I think there's one that needs to

be handed out first, don't you?

King for a king, eh?

What do you all think?

- Yeah!

- Yeah!

Yeah, of course.

All right, now, think about who you

are, all the good things about you.

Pick a piece.

Come on.

Nice one, Rip.

Thanks, Gen.

Thanks, Gen. Mean.

I think I'm gonna take this

because I deserve him.

And... Yeah.

Thanks, Gen.

Thank you, Genesis,

for giving me this beautiful...

- Rook.

- ...rook.

Next week, you're all going to be

learning chess notation.

Who knows what that means?

You got to write down

where you move your pieces?

That's exactly what it means.

You have to write down your moves,

where your pieces end up on the board.

Now, see, I have my little notebook,

and I make chess notation.

See that, see the knight there?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

I take two steps closer to...

Angry Noble!

And where does Angry Noble go?

His milk truck!

Very funny.

His milk truck. Awesome!

And his milk truck is parked at E3.

How do I know that is E3?

A, B, C, D, E.

One, two, three... E3.

- Rank.

- Rank and file.

Easy. All right, now, what move

should black make next?

Manihera?

Bro, I'll give you a game, eh?

Whatever.

All right. How about...

Look.

Jedi the Stallion.

Checkmate again.

Sorry, bro.

Good game, my bro.

Looks like we got another Dark Horse

in our midst, eh?

What Dark Horse? Him?

- Didn't you go crazy or something?

- Michael.

You made a mistake.

What, winning?

You could've got checkmate

about six moves earlier.

This fella for real, Noble?

Let me see.

So, you were here.

- Yeah.

- Pretty much it, right?

And then he moved his queen here.

So, queen takes queen, C3.

That's the best move.

That's what I did.

Try this one. See?

See, you just lost your queen, bro.

No wonder they call you crazy.

Take the queen, Noble.

Checkmate.

See? Be crazy.

- Burn the school down.

- Don't burn the school down.

Burn the school down!

Don't burn the school down!

Burn the school down!

All right, all right, all right.

Everybody, go to your own tables.

Put those back.

Put that back, please, Murray.

Get outta here, man!

Please do not burn down the school.

Crazy little midgets.

Only on the board.

Okay, great, come on.

Go again?

- I can choose what I want!

- What did your parents teach you?

Hurry up, eh...

- Fine. I spy with my little...

- Big eye.

- Big eye.

- ...my big eye something that's green.

- Are you dumb?

- I ain't dumb.

Supposed to be a letter,

not a bloody colour!

I can choose a colour if I want!

- Well, then, grass.

- You have wonderful children.

- No! No! No!

- Yeah! Yeah! Shut up!

Yes, it is,

'cause she's my next-door neighbour.

Thanks.

Mum, can Gen come in when we get home?

I think Gen's got his own stuff

to do tonight, hon.

- Yeah!

- Okay.

- Thank you, though.

- Shut up!

- Said number 10, right?

- You shut up!

- Is this it?

- Yes, yes, yes.

- I can kick your arse.

- I can kick you!

Bro, your leg's down there, Murray.

Nice place.

See you tomorrow then.

See you tomorrow.

BYE, Gen!

- Bye.

- Bye, Gen.

You hold onto those pieces,

all right, you kids?

- Yeah.

- Thanks for the lift.

- Bye.

- Good night.

BYE, Gen!

We a know who Maui is, eh'?

- He's one of our ancestors, eh'?

- Yeah.

And one day he went fishing.

He had this magic fishhook.

He threw it over the side,

and then something bit.

He was like, That's a bit heavy.

Can't pull that up all on my own."

So, because he was a leader

of his people, like this king,

Maui, he went and got

all of his family, just like us,

just like all these

pieces on this board,

they come together,

and they pulled and they pulled

and they pulled up land.

And that land is the land

we all live on now, eh?

- New Zealand?

- That's us.

And that board there,

the kingdom for this king,

that board is like our land.

We have to protect our land, eh?

And we do that

by all working together with our king.

Now, if we lose our king, Maui,

game over, no more game,

'cause he got the magic,

so we have to protect him.

Now, the one last thing about Maui,

our king,

is he has to carry that responsibility,

and it's very heavy.

So, it slows him down,

and he can only move

one square at a time.

Nana'?

Mafia.

What are you doing here?

I've got a present for you.

Found it in our house.

I thought you might want it.

You followed me here?

You can't be here, Mana.

Does your father know you're here?

He knows

that you came to our practise.

Are youse going to a tournament?

How did you know that?

I know you think I'd be sh*t at chess, but

that's just 'cause nobody's taught me.

Maybe I could be all right.

Maybe I could play in your tournament.

Oh, boy.

You have to go.

Nana, I'm sorry.

F*** it, then! Whatever!

You're just scared!

F***in' bullshit anyway!

This is way better than Noble's garage!

All right, you kids, listen up!

Okay-

We need to raise some money if we're

gonna make it to this tournament.

Now, I know all of you

have a special talent,

something that you're good at.

This is what we're gonna do.

We're gonna practise it,

we're gonna make it even better,

and then we're gonna charge people

some big bucks

to come and watch us!

Think about what it is.

What are you gonna do?

You can't sleep up there

any more, all right?

Do you have something Mana could do?

Yeah, of course.

Hey, everyone, say kia or a to Mana.

- Hi, Mana.

- Kia or a, Mana.

Come here.

Go on. Go talk to Sandy.

Kia or a. I'm Piripi.

- I'm Rip.

- Cheers.

- Hey, Mana, I'm Nobes.

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