Triple Triad King
By
Syc0ticEpis0de
Edits: Revised on 3/10/16
Chapter 2: The Random Rule
Balamb Garden, en route to Fisherman's Horizon
When killing Gratz and turning T-Rexaurs into zombies became repetitive, it was good to sit back and pick up on that hobby you never had much time for. Something like this was good for both body and mind. If that the hobby in question was also constructive, all the better. Today was ideal for doing all that, what with the blue sky, drifting clouds, and wailing sea gulls hovering overhead as Balamb Garden sailed past. Having just departed from Deling City, the crisp sea air was also a refreshing change.
Out on the Quad Area, Selphie Tilmitt enthusiastically briefed her small Garden Festival Committee of an event they would hold on Fisherman's Horizon, much to the dismay of the handful present. They would most likely have to do the manual labor for such an undertaking. Not minding that most were only there for the sake of grades, the perky brunette carried on with the details of her plan.
Over by the cafeteria hall was a bevy of students with Zell making a dash in the hallway, leaving behind a stampede cloud. Each student was crazed, perhaps Zell being the most vicious. The lunch ladies looked at one another, then at the oncoming horde. They nodded understandingly, quickly outfitting themselves with army helmets, and holding their cooking utensils like weapons (the helmets were pots, go figure).
"Tonight, we dine in hell!" The biggest lunch-lady bellowed, rallying her troops as they roared and clanged their weapons together in slow-motion. Zell led the charge, hands raised with fistfuls of gil ready to be dispensed on the cafeteria lady 3.
"Take from them everything!" One lady shouted.
"Booya! First come! First serve!" The hand-to-hand SeeD specialist unleashed a jab to an unsuspecting student unfortunate enough to come close, sending him tumbling behind the stampeding cloud to be forgotten for the rest of the story.
"No way!"
The next student trying to pass him up was knocked back by a spontaneous torrent of dolphins following Zell's uppercut.
"My only weakness!" Wailed the dolphin-mauled, student.
As Zell finally made it to the head of the lunch line, he lunged into the air, hands raised with money as he aimed for the lunch lady.
As the madness of lunch rush occurred in slow-motion, Squall was making his way to the cafeteria seating area at normal speed. He spared not a glance for the mid-air Zell as he seated himself. Once comfortable, he looked across the table and acknowledged his scheduled opponent.
This was his first game since leaving Deling. Both duelists nod and took out their respective decks, setting them down on the table. Silence met with silence. The air was just thick with epic tension.
"Draw…" The man said, a spaghetti western style theme playing in his head could only mean one thing: shit just got real.
Actually now that Squall thought about it, it was the only thing he ever heard the guy say. Regardless, a smirk tugged at the corner of Squall's lips, and for some reason he was wearing a cowboy hat and chewing on a toothpick. As he drew his 5 cards, his hat shadowed his eyes, adding greater effect to his trash talk. "I hope you Saved your progress, cause this is about to get-"
"Sup' dudes!" Zell cut him off and pulled up a chair.
Squall's hat disappeared. He didn't hide his annoyance as the spiky-haired blonde set his mountain of food right in the middle of the table, effectively postponing the duel. Zell had hotdogs in each hand and was just about finished wolfing down the one in his mouth.
"Aawwwoh, mahn, iff' amahing. Mmm!"
Both duelists gave him dirty looks, but the insatiable beast that was Zell was too occupied to care or notice.
Squall was just then noticing a few dolphins flipping and flopping about by the lunch line. Before he could even question why no one else seemed thrown off by that, he felt someone's hand slapping his back in greeting. Further dampening his mood. "Give me a break..."
"Gents! You'll never guess what I just found out." Irvine Kinneas grinned and made himself comfortable beside the lion. The table was already crowded before, but this was starting to push it. "Our Sefie is planning somethin' big for FH."
"Dude, you're late. It's all over the message boards." Zell said, licking his fingers. He made sure to touch each hotdog once, as to dissuade anyone from wanting in on his bountiful feast.
"Shoot, really? I thought-"
"Hey, guys!" It was Rinoa Heartilly, the spritely daughter of General Caraway. She had joined them sometime ago in Balamb Garden, making her one of the few residents not officially enrolled in Garden. "Sorry to interrupt, buuuut..."
WHAM!
Squall's opponent found himself knocked clean off his chair. "D-Draw! Urgh..."
"Oh, my!" the princess exclaimed, deftly taking his place once he fell over with a groan. She looked apologetic with a hand over her mouth, though one could never really tell with her. Despite that, she managed to join them at the table. "I hope he's alright. These things are slippery, hehe." She discarded her bent tray and smiled sweetly.
Squall looked unnerved.
"So what's this I hear about 'somethin' big'?" Rinoa broke the ice (and possibly a man's face).
"Dude, you're late. It's all over the message boards."
"Rinny, ain't you a sight." Irvine tipped his hat and clicked his tongue; hook, line, and sinker. Most women would melt.
"Anyway, Squall! I wanted to ask your opinion on something."
Irvine clutched his chest and winced. Rinoa only seemed interested in one thing at the moment.
"Whatever..." The lion finally surrendered. He sank back in his chair and dragged his fingers across his face.
It's been days since he had a game of Triple Triad, and he could feel himself starting to go through withdrawals. Recently it's been nothing work and traveling. There was a power hungry Sorceress to worry about. Seifer had defected. Adding to that stress, Squall lost his Ifrit card. He had done so intentionally to win the Rinoa card, but now he was regretting that decision. Squall had trouble believing General Caraway traveled hundreds of miles in mere minutes and have time to lose a game to Martine, then travel those same hundreds of miles back and slip into the mansion unnoticed by Squall.
These things happened for no apparent reason, it seemed. Putting that aside...
Squall just wanted to play, and not have these tremendous responsibilities of Commander cutting him off at every turn from the one thing he actually enjoyed doing.
Damn you Cid, damn you.
"So..." Squall sighed. "You wanted to ask me something?"
"Well, actually, I was hoping we could talk in private," Rinoa chirped.
"What for?"
"That's a secret!" She was on her feet in no time, and already she was pulling his arm. "C'mon! Up and at 'em."
"Fine, I'm going. I'm going."
If Squall could look any more defeated, one could say he was stricken with Zombie. The sad thing was he had no way out of this one. It was his free day, which meant Xu would assume all necessary duties in his stead. The commander would only be contacted in the event of extreme emergency. Right now... how he wished Balamb Garden was under attack. Preferably by dudes on motorcycles. That would be neat to see.
Rinoa was giggling as she continued dragging the lion, her blue duster flowing behind her perky hips like a banner. As they zipped around together, she hooked her arm under his, prompting him to keep up.
"Don't be so glum; it'll be fun!"
With that, Zell, Irvine, and the 'Draw' guy were left behind to ponder just what the hell it was that made Squall popular with the girls all of a sudden.
Balamb Garden cockpit
Xu sighed as she stared up at the clouds. The way they lazily drift across the big blue was making her comfortably drowsy. Normally, this kind of feeling was a welcome distraction, even therapeutic to some. However, she was working right now. It was the sort of dull work that had to be done, no matter how much she wanted to skip it.
"Actually..." she muttered to herself.
Skipping work right now didn't seem like a bad idea. After all, Nida was with her. This could easily be a one man operation. Being cooped up in here was making her restless the more she let herself think about it. Squall certainly wouldn't mind.
"Heh..."
Squall. The past few months had been a wild ride with him around. Granted, there were also some uncertain and stressful times, like Garden Master NORG's uprising. The attempted coup on Headmaster Cid nearly brought Xu at odds with Squall and his team. Luckily, with Quistis's help, she understood where their loyalties were.
"Grr..."
All this looking back was making her more inclined to shirk her duties. Without even thinking about it, she slipped into sneaky Xu mode. She was intent on leaving Nida for a while as he steered Balamb Garden at sea. So with a light footed step, she started making for the automated lift that would grant her freedom and-
"Hey, Xu…" Nida said. His eyes were bloodshot from sailing for days nonstop.
"Heh~?"
"Don't you dare."
"What?"
"Don't you do it."
"..."
"..."
After judo-chopping the crap out of Nida, Xu set aside his unconscious form by the steering wheel. She decided to set Garden on auto-pilot. Why didn't they just have it on this whole time? Well, then Nida would feel like he wasn't doing his part. With that taken care of, Xu dusted her shoulders and took the lift down. It was time for a break.
At the same time, Quistis Trepe entered Cid's old office with a stack of paperwork in one arm. That was when Xu had just gotten off the lift. Their eyes met. Both warily studied the other. A pregnant silence lingered as Xu and Quistis stared each other down, until finally-
"Let me guess," the blonde smirked. "You can explain."
Another silence... and then both of them broke into a fit of laughter.
"Fine, you got me."
"Xu, what have I told you about shirking your duties? Naughty, naughty." Quistis began light-heartedly, going over to her friend and bumping fists. After exchanging a few pleasantries and dropping off the paperwork for later, both of them made for the elevator.
"So, I hear our Commander is getting to be quite the player. I certainly don't mean that kind, although that wouldn't surprise me either." Xu thoughtfully tapped her lips. The more she thought about him and the skills he possessed, the more she became intrigued. If one thing was certain, Squall was certainly good with his hands.
While Quistis was very close friends with Xu, she certainly didn't like the idea of Squall being around the elite operative so frequently. Even on a professional level, or with any female for that matter. She hid her dislike for this very well, lest it become a battle among friends with the handsome commander as a sort of prize. No, it should never come to that.
They walked arm in arm, discussing Squall's talent in detail. For this was the Master King and Queen Heart; Quistis and Xu respectively. They were in charge of a secret Triple Triad club on campus. Their true identities remained largely unknown, even to most of the other members of the Card Club. By chance, Squall even tried challenging the ladies to a duel, only to be turned down. It was decidedly difficult not to give him what he wanted, as both King and Queen wanted a piece of him. Thankfully, both were on the safe side and prepared a scripted response if he ever asked again. The elevator hummed quietly as they were taken down to the first floor. Xu and Quistis both sighing at the thought of facing Squall in a duel.
"He's talented. Heard he beat Cid and won his Seifer card a while back." Xu chimed.
"Strange, I've never seen him use it. Wonder what else he's picked up on our travels." Quistis mused. "In any case, we have to make sure he doesn't reset the rules once he faces us." She looked off into the distance, "We'll need every advantage against him…"
Squall's room
Pomf! Pomf!
"Wow, it's so soft." Rinoa was having a very good time bouncing on Squall's bed. It felt like she was on a cloud. She's seen his room before, but claimed to have forgotten about it. Besides, here they would not be disturbed.
"It's whatever, I guess." He said plainly, leaning on the wall opposite to her with arms crossed. He sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time in this one day.
Why did it have to be today? I haven't even... Whoa.
"R-Rinoa..?!"
In one quick motion, Squall was suddenly yanked into bed with her. She took him by surprise, and he was now face to face with the princess. Her raven hair was spread out around her, and Squall found he didn't dislike its scent. It was somewhat nostalgic to the senses.
"You talk a lot, you know?" Rinoa said, touching his forehead. "I mean, not aloud, but.. you do it here. There's this look you have when you do it." She continued on, allowing her finger to trace the tip of his scar.
"..What?" Squall was at a loss, because up until now only Quistis noticed that about him.
With every word and maybe because they were so close right now, he didn't move a muscle. Rinoa didn't seem to mind it, in fact only seemed to enjoy his slackjawed expression. She cuddled closer to him. Close that he could feel her breathing on him. The heat was intense, and her movements were doing something strange to him.
"I don't mind if you like to keep some things to yourself, Squall. I just think you have a lot to offer people." She muttered, encircling his waist casually as she pulled him closer. "Ah~ this is nice."
"HALT!"
"Eek!"
"!"
Rinoa and Squall jumped out of bed at the sound of the voice. There were now two ladies in his room, one of which was thoroughly displeased.
"INADMISSIBLE."
The silver haired, eye-patched beauty twisted her lips bitterly. Fujin, of course, did not condone the situation before her. A girl and a guy alone in a room would be inappropriate, especially if it was the commander and a client with a contract.
"Hey, give us a break. We didn't do anything, yet."
Fujin lifted a brow and cracked her knuckles. "YET?"
Squall was caught in the middle and didn't know what to do. Nothing like this ever happened to him before, and he didn't want anything to do with it in the first place. All he wanted was to enjoy his free day playing cards.
Damn it all.
"Ahahah, I mean it's not like...eh?" Rinoa then went on the offensive. "Wait, and just what are you doing here?"
"...ADMISSIBLE."
"Yeah, right! Who do you think you are accusing me of-"
At this rate, things will get out of hand. I should stop it...
Fujin and Rinoa were both at their throats, one side went off on a rampant while the other offered one-liners and glares. Even if Squall tried to stop them, they had subsequently tuned him out and continued going back and forth. It got to a point where no one knew who made the first move, and suddenly claws were being drawn. The two women started going at it, hurling Magic and depleting a good chunk of their HP in Squall's nice, comfy room. He couldn't believe it, and eventually the Limit Breaks were busted out... then the GF's... then...
The SeeD commander found himself staring at a pile of rubble. His room was reduced to ash and splintered wood. Worst of all, many of the cards he had accumulated over the months were destroyed. This is what it felt like to experience the pain of loss. Like losing your Saved progress times a thousand. This was true hell.
"Damn it all!"
To be continued