I Really Won
Advancement party moves to opposite wall.
Enter battle zone behind tanks and
"GERMANYGERMANYGERMANYGERMANY!"
Germany blinked out of a trance, in the thick of battle planning at a desk in the middle of his "work room." Italy had made the sign on the door in big, sleepy letters- Germany's Work Room- Do Not Come In! Tacked on the walls were countless world maps, marked with black magic marker. Italy had doodled on them, of course- a caricature of Germany holding a grenade sat on his country along with some sausages, and the boot shape was outlined on Italy's. The blonde strategist lifted his pencil and stared down at his diagrams. The soldiers were circles, the tanks rectangles with wheels, the wall an ovalish blob. In the corner of the huge paper was his admittedly pathetic attempt at a stick figure that he had scribbled over in frustration.
Rrrgh. He would never draw like Italy did...
Speaking of which, Germany thought and turned around. He listened as slapping footsteps traveled down the hall while that girlish voice kept calling his name, like a siren. It was almost a full minute until Feliciano's sleepy, happy form stopped in the doorway. He drew a long, choking breath and looked up at Ludwig. "I was at the market and I ran into China!"
Germany raised an eyebrow and frowned. "What was he doing THERE?"
"He gave me this!" Italy sang and shoved a colorful- thing- in Germany's face. His eyes shot open wide.
He snatched it from Italy with the speed of sound. "GIVE me that!" It was a printed tin with a clear plastic section on the lid. Germany tore it off and, to his surprise, at least a hundred paper cards fell out. Italy remained as peaceful as ever. "See? They're called Pokemon!... I think..."
He gathered the cards into a messy stack as Germany turned the tin upside down and shook it. It certainly didn't LOOK like a bomb... "It's a game! Want to play?" continued the blissful brunette. His bestest friend blinked and set the tin onto the table.
"Erm... sure. OK. How do you play this?"
"You make the cute little monster-thingys in the pictures battle eachother! The one who runs out first loses!"
Battling? Germany was beginning to like this game. He reached for the stack and tapped it on the table a few times, instantly making each card uniform to the ones surrounding it. "Sounds simple enough. I'll deal them." he said curtly as Italy sat down in a wooden chair across the desk.
"WAIT!" Italy grabbed the cards back like a toddler. "Can I pick mine first? You can pick yours!"
Germany was confused now. "Um... OK... I'm pretty sure that's cheating, but..." He watched in growing impatience as Italy fingered through all the blue-backed little rectangles, making noises like "Aah!" when he found one he liked. Germany thought he was going to explode if that took one more second. Why was Italy so SLOW? It was like he never woke up in the morning! He was only supposed to pick five cards, right? He was taking over a minute per card!
After who knows how long, Italy passed the deck to Germany. "Here you go." He chuckled a bit as he flicked through his hand of cards, careful not to let his competitor see. Germany sighed as his blood pressure dropped back to normal, and he efficiently surveyed his options. Those creatures on the cards certainly weren't animals. They were too colorful, too happy-looking for a game in which they fought to the death. He picked five of the most menacing-looking ones, paying attention to the health and attack numbers.
"Alright, then, I'm ready. I'll go first." Germany actually felt a little excited. He had given up on games like this ever since Italy's cat whats-his-name accidently swallowed his cruiser in Battleship... "Ich chooses... MAGMAR!" he proclaimed loudly and dramatically slapped his chosen monster on the table.
"Oh, well, I choose Cherry-man," said Italy, barely moving a muscle as he held up his card. An absolutely adorable cherry with a face called "Cherubi" was pictured there, next to a box that read 5 HEALTH. Germany looked down at his lava beast. 90 HEALTH.
Why did he think this would be a challenge?
"Go ahead!" Italy encouraged. Germany read his card.
"Erh... I use 'scorch' on yours. What happens now?"
Italy smiled wider and put his card back on the deck. "Whoops! I'm dead! Now I choose Caterpillar-man." An equally cute bug on a grass green background called "Caterpee" was produced from his remaining four cards.
Germany frowned. "I use 'ashes'."
"Ha ha ha! I'm dead again! Go, Mud-man!"
"...I use 'warmth'."
"Ha! Wow, you're really good at this! I choose Petal-man now."
Ludwig's fist clenched tighter and tighter. "'Breath'."
"Uh-oh! Down to my last one!" Italy laughed. "I choose Froggy-man."
Germany was about to use the 'flick' attack and be over with it when he had a sudden realization. Italy had been so excited to play this idiotic game with him. Would he be happier if he won? Already a plan was blooming in the blue-eyed's mind. It was worth a try. "'Uh-oh' indeed. I only have one, as well."
Italy looked perplexed, but quickly relaxed again. "Nope. You have all those left, right?" he pointed to the four cards sitting facedown on Germany's side of the desk.
Germany shook his head rapidly and averted his eyes. "Erm, no! You used a magic card a few turns ago. You don't remember?"
"No..." Italy started, staring intently at the cards. "Hey, are you trying to trick me?"
"Of course not! Und anyway, it's my turn!" Before his ally could reply, Germany covered a few zeros on one of his attacks. "Now, I use 'lava gun'. You still have 3 health left."
Italy brightened up. It was his turn! "I use 'splash'! Now what?" He turned to his buddy, who abruptly got up and forced a small smile.
"Good work, Italy! It seems you've won. I'm going to get something from the fridge." He placed his monster-thingys on the larger stack, pushed in his chair, and walked quickly away.
Italy's smile dissapeared as he listened to Germany's rhythmic, booted footsteps fading down the hallway.
...He won?
After sitting silently for a while, staring at the table, his smile returned. "Winning..." he said to himself as he put the cards back into the tin, "...isn't as bad as I thought!"
~KK~