With a cursory glance around at his fellow players' cards sprawled out on the table, Knuckles laid out his hand. He didn't know anything about the game or what the cards meant, but the surprised look on a certain bat's face told him enough to know that whatever he had was good.
Five hands later and Rouge couldn't believe the echidna's luck. Somehow he had managed to win four out of five and on the last one, still had something better than her. It annoyed the thief that not only was she constantly losing, but she couldn't read him at all due to his lack of experience in the game. Every time he laid his cards down, he was thrown off by his good luck after Tails kindly explained to him what he had.
By the eighth hand, she was starting to suspect foul play. There was no way Knuckles could magically have gotten three Kings to beat her three Queens. His luck was suspiciously going far and showing no signs of drying up soon. The bat eyed Sonic as he shuffled the cards. The blue hedgehog was the only suspect: he was the dealer, shuffler, and the only one there that would be willing to do something like this. Knuckles didn't have enough skill and she doubted the fox boy would bother with it.
"You've been dealing all night, why don't you let me take over for you?" The sentence was phrased as a question only out of courtesy as the bat was already reaching to take the cards.
"No worries, Rouge! I've got this under control." He gave the girl a disarming smile with the faintest hint of mischief as he moved the deck away from her grasping hand, earning him a scowl.
"Really, hand them over like a good little hedgehog…!" Sonic's movements forced her to have to lean over the table to snatch the cards out of his unresisting hands.
"Fine, fine, you can have 'em" The hero's smile turned into a grin as under the table his legs tensed and his feet changed position to allow him to leave at a moment's notice. He wasn't going to be caught sitting around if Rouge decided to do something about his cheating after this hand.
Tails gave his best friend an uneasy look as the thief reshuffled and dealt the cards. Maybe he should've tried harder to convince the hedgehog out of this idea when he first heard it. Too late now, he supposed. Sonic would have to deal with the consequences of his actions or, which he knew to be more likely, get out of sight as soon as trouble reared its head.
All the cards were laid out on the table, and Rouge smiled triumphantly. She might not have won the hand, but she did have something better than Knuckles. Finally. The excitement was short-lived, however, as the joy left her face and she narrowed her eyes. The object of her displeasure responded to this sudden change in expression with a wide grin, prompt wave, and a quick "See ya!" A gust of wind was left in his wake, causing the nearby cards to drift off the table.
The echidna grumbled at this, oblivious to what had transpired. As far as he was concerned, Sonic was acting like his erratic self for no reason and prematurely ditched the game. If the hedgehog was going to drag him away from his emerald to play cards with Tails and her, the least he could do was give a proper goodbye before leaving. His eyes watched his rival as she gathered up the cards from the table and took the ones offered by Tails. For some reason, the fox was apologizing to her. No doubt for something Sonic did.
"I'm sorry he did that, Rouge…"
A sigh, then, "It's fine, really."
And it was. As irritating as that stunt had been, losing a few hands to Knuckles wasn't that important. She knew she'd win the battles that really counted and that's what mattered.
"Still, it wasn't right. He can be immature sometimes."
"So I've noticed."
"I'll go talk to him about it. See you two later!"
Hoping he left this meeting on a better note, the boy hurried off to find his friend. Knuckles watched him go, gathering enough from that short exchange that the game had not gone how it was supposed to.
Only two remained now. They each gave the other a sidelong glance as Rouge idly shuffled the cards and Knuckles folded his arms across his chest, feeling a little awkward in this situation. Most of the time he interacted with the girl was in combat. It was weird being around her without anyone else and not fighting over the Master Emerald.
She was the first to break the silence. "Don't let any of that go to your head. You'd never beat me in a fair game."
He snorted. "Is that so? Bring it on, Bat Girl."
Happy to oblige, the bat dealt out the cards again for another round.