NO TURNING BACK, NO BACKING DOWN, NOWHERE TO RUN, NO SOLID GROUND...
...
NO-ONE TO TRUST, NO-ONE TO HELP YOU WHEN YOU'RE LOST...
...
THERE'S ONLY...
US!...
Oh, hi there.
In the four years since the D-Reaper incident, Rika Nonaka had witnessed many strange events, such as the Mephistomon incident, and the Parasimon incident which she in hindsight supposed was an interesting way to spend her thirteenth birthday, aside from her almost getting killed of course, meeting the Ryo of the past, when he was still fighting Millenniumon, and being transported to that other universe, to fight alongside the Digimon anime characters, and several other people, most of which had Digimon of their own,
She'd known in some round-about way that they existed, since Ryo did, but meeting them in person was still a shock. Why he had not returned to his home universe then, with Ken, she didn't quite know, though she appreciated him staying regardless.
For the moment, though, things were pretty quiet as Hypnos seemed to have the only noteworthy Digimon-related trouble pretty well taken care of, namely the D-Reaper, who got regressed to its fundamental state, every few months, before it got out of hand like it had years ago.
However, despite all of that, she was completely unprepared for this.
"Henry!" The eleven-year old cried to her older brother, who sat with a stern face. "I wanna play!"
"How did you guys talk me into this?" Rika asked exasperated, wondering who exactly had come up with the idea of playing strip poker at her sixteenth birthday party. It was unlikely to have been the sweet and innocent Jeri, nor Takato. The mature and composed Henry wasn't likely to do so either. Ryo seemed a possibility, though Kazu and/or Kenta were far more likely.
Not that she felt especially uncomfortable doing this sort of thing with them, as she trusted the other Tamers completely. Though, she was more curious as to how Suzie had found out about it...
"Suzie, you've already been told, 'No'," Henry told his pouting sister, with a thin note of strained patience. "Besides, I have no intention of playing strip poker with my younger sister, and I'm fairly certain that the others have no interest in doing so either, especially with an eleven-year old."
"Why not?" She sniffled. "Just because I'm a little younger than you guys, I can't play poker with you?"
"Yes, Suzie," Henry smiled warmly. "Because you're eleven, you can't play strip poker with a group of sixteen-year olds. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's illegal."
"If Ryo can play, why can't I?" She asked, teary-eyed.
"Because he's eighteen." Henry calmly responded.
"Why do you even want to join the game?" Kenta interjected.
"To see Ryo shirtless," She innocently replied, earning disbelieving looks from everyone else sitting at the table.
"I don't know whether to find that funny, or disturbing," Ryo muttered, uncomfortably.
"I do," Rika muttered, creeped out by Suzie's statement.
"Disturbing," Takato continued her sentence.
"Highly so," Henry finished his.
"Hilarious!" Kazu and Kenta laughed, while Jeri snickered in the background.
"Don't be so rhadamanthine, Henry!" Suzie pouted, walking off in a huff, followed by Lopmon, who was visibly surprised to hear the girl say such a word, though the former Deva supposed that humans were strange and unpredictable creatures. "But to come with up with such a word as 'Rhadamanthine'?"
After she'd left, an uncomfortable silence filled the room. After a minute, Rika was the first to speak. "What did she just say?"
"No idea," Ryo, Takato, Kazu and Kenta replied, sharing her confusion.
However, Henry seemed to understand what she had said. "'Rhadamanthine', it means harshly strict."
"I see." Rika replied, mildly impressed.
"So, uh, which variant are we gonna play?" Jeri asked
"Texas Hold'Em?" Takato suggested. Kazu and Kenta nodded.
"We'll run out of cards if we played Five-Card Draw, so Hold'Em sounds best," Henry agreed.
"Right, Hold'Em... That's the variant where the players get two cards each, right?" Rika inquired, quickly and gracefully shuffling the deck, and with a calm, rehearsed gesture, she tossed everyone a pair of cards, which landed directly in front of them.
Rika held the Jack of Spades and Four of Diamonds.
Kazu had the Queen of Spades and Ten of Hearts. As he only had the small blind, he lost one-hundred yen. (4900) (100)
Ryo got the Nine of Clubs and Eight of Spades. He was less lucky than Kazu, losing two-hundred yen. (4800) (300)
Henry had gotten the Five and Six of Spades.
Kenta received the Ten and Jack of Diamonds.
Takato got the Jack of Clubs and Eight of Hearts.
Lastly, Jeri had the Kings of Spades and Clubs.
"200," Henry smirked. (4800) (500)
"Now we have to add at least 200 yen to the pot, right?" Jeri asked, earning an affirmative nod from Rika.
"I'm in," Kenta said. (4800) (700)
"Fold," Takato groaned, handing Rika his cards.
"Call," Jeri smiled softly. (4800) (900)
"Fold," Rika groaned.
"100," Kazu said, confusing Jeri, which didn't escape Rika's notice. (4800) (1000)
"He's adding them to the 100 yen he's already put in the pot," Rika explained to the brunette.
"Fold," Ryo muttered.
The first betting round over, Rika burned the top card of the deck, and placed the Flop, consisting of the Five of Hearts, Seven of Hearts and Ace of Clubs, beginning the second betting round.
"Fold," Kazu sighed.
"300," Henry grinned. (4500) (1300)
"Fold," Kenta said, following Kazu's lead.
"I'll call too," Jeri smiled. (4500) (1600)
"Third betting round," Rika grinned at them, burning another card, and placing the Four of Spades as the Turn card.
"300," Henry said. (4200) (1900)
"7X2+4=18. 3 out of 34 = every eleventh card." Jeri quickly calculated. "I'll like to raise to 1500." (3000) (3400)
"No way!" Everyone exclaimed.
"Fold," Henry sighed.
"Yay!" Jeri cheered. (6400)
"So, uh, does Henry have to strip or not?" Takato asked.
"Huh," Ryo replied. "We forgot that bit."
"How about that it's only the people who're still in the game, after all five community cards have been placed, that have to strip?" Rika suggested, earning nods of agreements from everyone. "Good. Then it's settled."
With the first hand over, Rika passed the deck to Kazu, who passed the small blind to Ryo, who in turn passed the big blind to Henry.
01: Rika. 5000 Yen. Wearing: Shirt, jeans, sock, bra and panties.
02: Kazu. 4800 Yen. Wearing: Shirt, jeans, boxers.
03: Ryo. 4800 Yen. Wearing: Shirt, jeans, Boxers.
04: Henry. 4200 Yen. Wearing: Shirt, jeans, boxers.
05: Kenta. 4800 Yen. Wearing: Shirt, jeans, boxers.
06: Takato. 5000 Yen. Wearing: Shirt, jeans, boxers.
07: Jeri. 6400 Yen. Wearing: Shirt, skirt, socks, cap, bra and panties.