"Hello, and welcome to Hotel Delfino! Do you have a reservation?" the hotel manager asked as he greeted two new guests at the reception desk.
"Yes, we have a reservation for…" one of them began, but he stopped talking as soon as he heard a loud crashing noise from behind the manager's desk. "What was that?"
"Uh, nothing, I assure you" replied the manager, trying and failing to sound calm.
Another metallic clang came from the vent, this time even louder.
"Was that a rat?!" rasped the other guest.
"No, I assure you that we take our cleanliness very seriously" the manager said, beginning to panic.
"Forget it; we're out of this pigsty". And with that, the two Pianta men stormed out of the hotel, their snooty noses held high as they left the pile of garbage that was Hotel Delfino behind them.
"Dang it!" the manager cursed quietly to himself. "Who knows how many costumers that will cost us if they write a negative review online".
Just then, the banging in the vents got even louder, and it was clear that whatever was inside was about to come out. The manager about ready to dive in and throttle the rat, when suddenly a little yellow foot kicked vent open, and F.L.U.D.D. emerged from the bowels of the hotel, covered in grey grime.
"Oh, hello sir" F.L.U.D.D. said as it began dusting itself off, in full view of the incoming hotel patrons. "I fixed the plumbing, as you asked, but I no longer need the swimsuit as payment".
"That poor little boy!" gasped one of guests. "Don't they have child labor laws on Delfino?"
"Is that how they treat employees here?" asked another.
The manager's eye twitched in annoyance. He needed to stop the hotel's reputation from declining any further, and fast.
"Ha! What a kidder!" he said with forced joviality. "No, my dear boy, for what you did you deserve a lot more than just a free swimsuit. Here, take this gift card; it will get you ten thousand coins worth of free chips over at the casino, my treat. In fact, hundred coin cards for everyone here!"
The lobby responded quite happily to this news, and quickly started lining up for their cards like peas in a pod. F.L.U.D.D., meanwhile, was being pushed quite hurriedly to the casino by the hotel manager.
"Off you go, boy. Have some fun" the manager said as he shoved F.L.U.D.D. forcefully into the casino room.
"But I'm not a-"
*slam*
"-boy" F.L.U.D.D. finished. Without anything else to do, F.L.U.D.D. turned around and got a lay of the strange new land it had been thrust into.
Laid out in front of F.L.U.D.D. was a long red carpet with red velvet ropes on each side leading into the main area of the casino. The room was so massive, F.L.U.D.D. was shocked that it didn't see the casino from outside of the hotel. The floor was a smooth white cobblestone, the distant ceiling was littered in multicolored flashing lights, there were several running fountains and lampposts made to look like palm trees, slot machines and poker tables were everywhere, and it was all centered around a gigantic roulette wheel that was big enough to hold at least eighty people on it, maybe more.
The incandescent glow combined with all the flashing lights was enough to hypnotize a normal person, as they were intended to, but to F.L.U.D.D. all they did was force the robot to dim its cameras slightly. F.L.U.D.D. was, however, captivated by something else.
"What are these strange mechanisms?" F.L.U.D.D. asked no one in particular as it approached one of the nearby slot machines. An old Pianta man with greying orange hair was sitting in front of the odd contraption, putting in coins one at a time, pulling the lever on the side, and then watching as three little wheels with symbols painted on them spun in front of him.
"Dagnabbit!" the geezer swore as he failed to win anything for the hundredth time that day. "Why don't you let me win, you piece of junk?!"
He emphasized his statement by smacking the slot machine as hard as he could, which, given that he was eighty years old, was not very hard. But it was hard enough to cause F.L.U.D.D. to come running to the machine's defense.
"Stop that!" F.L.U.D.D. said as it stopped the old Pianta man's hand from going in for a second strike. "Whatever you are angry about, I assure you that it is not this innocent machine's fault".
"But it is!" the retiree shouted back. "I've been playing this thing all day, and it hasn't paid out even once! Darn thing's broken!"
"Then allow me to render repairs" F.L.U.D.D. said, turning its attention to the 'broken' slot machine. Within seconds, F.L.U.D.D. had detached the back of the gambling device, switched around a few wires, and then put it back together. "Finished; you should not have a problem now".
The old man was skeptical but, sure enough, when he put in a coin and pulled the lever, a wave of money instantly flooded the slot machine's tray. He was left speechless as he realized that he made back more than twice what he had spent so far that day.
"I hope I was of assistance" F.L.U.D.D. said before walking away and leaving the man to his newly rigged slot machine. "Why would anyone leave a device in disrepair for so long anyway?"
Before F.L.U.D.D. could ponder this question any further, however, it was interrupted by a familiar, dark skinned hand.
"Ah ha ha! So we meet again, false savior!" The human speaking these words was none other than Il Piantissimo, but wearing a fancy tuxedo instead of his usual white t-shirt and shorts. "And here I thought you would have fled after you so blatantly cheated in our last duel".
"I cannot leave until my user's tasks have been complete" F.L.U.D.D. said calmly. The robot was about to leave the annoying little man alone when it suddenly realized what Il Piantissimo's presence probably meant. "You have another Shine Sprite, don't you?"
"Ah ha ha! So you do have a brain in that tiny little head of yours!" Il Piantissimo responded, amused. He reached into one of his jacket's pockets and pulled out one of the glimmering spirits that F.L.U.D.D. had spent so much time looking for. "Care to make a wager?"
F.L.U.D.D. did not respond, knowing that Il Piantissimo was going to challenge the android no matter what it said.
"My Shine Sprite against everything you own in a game of Bean-Bean Holdem, and, if you lose, you have to leave our sacred Isle Delfino forever!" Il Piantissimo shouted dramatically, repocketing the precious stolen artefact.
F.L.U.D.D. took a moment to look at its gift card before responding.
"Challenge accepted".
A few minutes later and the two of them were each given ten thousand coins worth of poker chips and were sitting in front of a dealer at a nearby poker table. F.L.U.D.D. took the opportunity to ask some questions while the dealer dealt the cards.
"Both our previous duels were tests of skill and endurance. Why are we now playing a card game?" asked F.L.U.D.D.
"And who said poker is not both of those things?" Il Piantissimo inquired back. "It takes quite a lot of skill to read your opponent's face, and to keep your tells from showing. And I'll have you know that boat you ruined was very expensive, and I intend to make you pay for it!"
Finally all the cards were dealt, and a hushed silence descended upon the table. Il Piantissimo's olive eyes stared deeply into F.L.U.D.D. cauliflower white ones, probing for any sign of weakness. Instead, he was met with the robot's usual emotionless stare as it discretely checked its cards, calculated its odds of success, and then making a decision.
"I will raise" F.L.U.D.D. said, pushing a thousand coins worth of chips into the center of the table.
"Aha! I saw that eye twitch!" Il Piantissimo announced triumphantly. "I'll raise you two thousand, and you'll soon that it is never a wise decision to bluff Il Piantissimo!"
By the end of the hand it was revealed that F.L.U.D.D. had actually managed to get four aces, two of them from the robot's own hole.
"Ack?!" Il Piantissimo gasped when he realized what had happened. "Eh, beginner's luck".
No one raised during the next hand until the river was finally played, at which point Il Piantissimo pushed all his chips into the center of the table and declared "All in!"
What F.L.U.D.D. observed next nearly caused the robot's circuits to skip a spark; Il Piantissimo's face was contorted with obvious worry, sweat running down his face like waterfalls, and he was biting his lip so hard that the android thought he'd start bleeding.
"Sir, are you alright?" F.L.U.D.D. asked.
"Oh, yeah, sure, everything's fine" he said unconvincingly.
"Are you having a heart attack? If so, my hands can double as defibrillators in case of emergency" F.L.U.D.D. said, sending a small spark in between its palms.
"No, no, that's fine. I'm just so excited over the perfect hand that I've just been dealt" said Il Piantissimo.
F.L.U.D.D. could not place exactly why, but something in its circuits told it that Il Piantissimo might be bluffing.
"Very well; I shall call your bet" the robot said, moving the appropriate amount of chips to the center of the table.
When all the cards were revealed, F.L.U.D.D. was shown to have only an abysmal king high. But, Il Piantissimo, only had a ten high.
"No fair!" Il Piantissimo shouted. "He must have cheated! I demand a rematch!"
"Sorry pal, them's the breaks" the Pianta card dealer responded. "You don't want me to call in the boys to escort you out, do you?"
Il Piantissimo glared back at the genuine Pianta but decided it wasn't worth it to fight back.
"You've won this time, lemon peel, but you have yet to see the last of me!" Il Piantissomo declared before releasing the Shine Sprite and making his exit.
F.L.U.D.D. once again could not pinpoint its exact reasoning, but it somehow knew that the strange pink wig wearing man who was pretending to be a plant was probably right.