Aww, my adoring fans! How I love you and thank you ALL for the reviews. I wouldn't be here without you!

SO! ...I'm not such a big fan of this chapter, seems like a bunch of writing to me, ...writing with no end or means...

Maybe you'll tell me otherwise!

Uncharted

The Limit

"You in or not!" Three men glared down Drake as he stared off into dreamland, eying his playing hand.

-Ace In The Hole-

Thud, thud!

Drake looked up at the knock and he eyed the three thugs sitting across from him. They weren't his typical gunslinger thugs but thugs were thugs and he hated every single one. They were all wearing leather jackets and their faces wore bruises of past arguments and bad poker games. Each of them gave Drake a typical sneer.

"Not much for patience..." Their grip was tight on their cards.

Sighing, Drake lowered his gaze to his cards and gave a soft nod. "...Yeah." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few bills. "I'm in!" They then joined the rest piled on the table.

Like any other night, he found himself in Sully's bar. He had started off with a few drinks then found himself telling off these thugs.

Now here he was proving a point. He eyed his cards carefully and sighed silently. Lady luck was NOT on his side tonight...for he was BADLY proving a point.

He looked over the thugs as they made their moves and threw out their bets. They looked as confident as he felt...

"Read em and weep!"

They all watched as the middle thug suddenly threw down his hand. He flashed a full cavity grin, for he had just won the game!

Like the others, Drake threw his hand onto the table in defeat. As the thug scooped up his winnings, a smirk suddenly popped onto Drake's face and he quickly stood. He threw out his hand in truce, smirk never leaving. "Put it there pal! You deserve it..."

High on his win, the thug took his hand proudly. As they shook, Drake leaned close. "Guess I was wrong..." The thug gave a cocky smirk and began to pull away to continue collecting...Drake stopped him though, gripping his hand tight. Blinking, the thug eyed him and the smirk grew. "But..so were you.."

Before the thug could figure out what Drake was talking about, Drake jerked his hand back and then brought forward a fist. It connected hard with the thugs nose, cracking it, and he soon fell to the ground with a loud thud. As the others watched dumbfounded, Drake quickly went to the downed thugs side and he pulled a card from his sleeve.

He raised it with a knowing smile but before he could open his mouth to speak, the two thugs snatched him up and slammed him down hard onto the table. Chips, winnings, and cards scattered across the table and floor as other customers watched in silence.

The thugs may have been playing against each other, but thugs have a strange bond with one another. Friends or not..they always have each others back when worse comes to worse.

Drake groaned feeling his back pop as he tried to get out of the thugs grip. "The three stooges..." Quickly, before he was turned black and blue, he raised up the card and it finally got the thugs attention. "Our so called winner..." He slowly put his weight onto his elbows as he eyed the two. "...Is nothing more then a cheater..." He nodded to the downed thug. "I think he's on your hit list..." He smirked back at the others. "..not me."

As one thug snatched away the card, the other nealed down and jerked the other to his feet. In seconds the man was thrown outside and the other two followed with fist clinched. Drake winced as he sat up, knowing what the thug had coming and also feeling pain. Sitting up right, he sighed catching an approaching man out of the corner of his eye.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again..." Drake quickly gave the man his best puppy eyes and in return he got a shaking head and crossed arms. "...This is why we can't have nice things..." The man was none other than guardian and best friend, Victor Sullivan.

"Hey, he was cheating me out of hard earned money..." After climbing to his feet with the help of Sullivan, Drake turned to the scattered winnings and sighed. "Pirates are meant to take it! ...Not some damned bald thugs from the streets!"

"Oi, I'm heartbroken!" Drake quickly turned to the voice as Sullivan patted him down. Facing an open armed, cast-less Charlie Cutter, Drake let out a surprised laugh. Quickly the two embraced and as the two pat each others back, Drake let out a cry feeling a pat on his ass. Pulling back he pat Charlie's shoulder softly, holding him at arms length. "...Easy Charlie...I know it's been awhile but..." He stopped at Charlie's "Are you serious" look, then he noted his eyes moving off behind him.

Following the gaze, he jumped as his stopped on Sullivan holding up a card. Feeling burning, questioning eyes on him, Drake quickly looked between his two friends laughing nervously as his mind raced for a quick way out. "...Wh..what? It got in there during the brawl!" As Sullivan rolled his eyes turning away to clean, Charlie leaned toward Drake squinting. "Hold on mate..I'm pretty sure that's hair on your head!"

Drake quickly stepped away from the two heading for the bar as Sullivan and Charlie shared a laugh. "It's not like it did me any good anyway!" He planted himself down, resting his chin in his hand as he let out a defeated sigh.

Few minutes later, Sullivan pat Drake's back softly then placed the card in front of him as he stepped behind the bar. "They can't all be winners kid..." He nealed down and then placed three glasses in front of him. He nodded to Charlie who planted down beside Drake. "Your pick tonight Cutter, what'll it be?"

With a sparkle in his eye, Charlie eyed all the beverages behind Sullivan. Drake shook his head watching. He was like a kid in the candy store and Sullivan gladly gave it up. After a few minutes of thinking, Charlie nodded towards a red bottle. "That one right there mate! Gonna need something hard..." He glanced to Drake pulling his journal from his pocket. "Trust me mate..you're going to need it after hearing this."

As Sullivan picked up the bottle and poured the three a glass, he kept his eye on the two boys and he never bothered asking what was coming next. Both of their eyes were shining with mischief and as Charlie flipped through the pages of his journal, Drake's eyes were glued to every page. When either would pull out a journal, the rest of the day was history and they'd be off on another adventure. Taking a sip from his glass, Sullivan smirked softly. "Story of my goddamn life..."

I was meaning to go further in this chapter but my brain does this thing, that when a chapter gets to a great ending, it won't write ANYMORE. ...Also, gotta love those cliffhangers. THAT'S what keeps people coming back. HEHE.

So, this is a slow chapter and the next one might be too...ya know, just to bring in all my characters. Course I say that now and tomorrow something totally different will happen!

Tell me what you think and see ya next chapter my beautiful fans!