Ah, yes. A most worthy opponent.

Shout out to Phoebe Miller for beta reading!


Fact #50: Some games change when dragons are involved.

Season: Late Season 3

Steve flexed a stunted rudder fin on his forearm. Kono picked at the webbing between her fingers. Chin rubbed his fingers over the smooth bronze scales on the back of his hand. Danny licked his lips with a flicker of blue tongue tips.

They were getting absolutely crushed in this game. And the whole mastermind behind their defeat? Grace Williams. Little sweet, charming Grace.

"Flush," she laid out five hearts on the table.

The four grown adults slapped their cards down.

"Unbelievable," Steve said with a dramatic sigh. "What did you do, Danno, raise her in a casino?"

"I'll have you know for a fact that my innocent Monkey has never set foot in a casino," Danny said.

"You sure, brah? She's been mopping the floor with us all night," Kono huffed, but winked at Grace.

"We keep playing anymore and she'll have you three fully shifted soon," Chin said. He grinned and held his hand up for a high five from the ten year old.

"If we were playing by the regular rules we'd all be in the buff right now," Danny commented under his breath to Steve.

Steve sat back in his chair. "This is good. Playing shift poker is how you learn to control very minor shifts. Helped me a lot when I was learning how to shift and my dad would play it with me and Mary."

"Except, the one who actually needs to learn," Danny smiled at his daughter, "isn't shifting because she's too good at five card draw, huh?"

Steve shrugged. It was true. While he and Kono had started to sprout scales, webbing, and fins, and Danny and Chin had only shifted forearm scales and then a tongue for Danny, Grace only had auburn and gold scales shimmering rosily on her cheeks.

"We could play slapjack," he suggested.

Grace made a face. "I don't like that game. Everyone gets too excited and then my hand always gets smacked too hard."

"How about cheatin' crow?" Chin asked. "Every time you get caught cheating you have to shift."

"No, no, no," Danny shook his head. He waved a hand out at Grace. "I don't want to play a game that encourages you to cheat and lie."

Kono laughed suddenly. "I got it! Hold on."

Chin gathered the cards up and neatly organized them back into a deck. By the time he had put them back, Kono had finished rummaging around in the clear plastic container they had dubbed the Game Box and kept in the storage closet. She waggled the new box of cards at them.

Danny blew out a breath. "Oh, boy. This should be fun."

"Come on, Danny, everyone loves Uno," Kono said as she pulled the deck out and shuffled them.

"You know who always gets the hand that has a wild card, two skips, and three draw twos? Them," Danny pointed at Grace and then at Steve.

"Okay, but with this one, you have the option of shifting instead of having to draw two cards," Kono explained.

"We playing the color rule, too?" Chin asked.

Kono nodded. "And if someone lays down a color and you don't have that color or number, you can shift instead of drawing, and then the turn goes to the next person."

Steve eyed Grace and gave her an understanding nod. She did the same once she examined her cards. Danny dug his fingers through his hair with a deep sigh.


An hour and a half later, Grace had indeed still had the upper hand, but this time it was more balanced. At one point, Chin must have had every draw card in the deck. Between him and Grace they had managed to get Steve and Kono to completely shift. After that, they had finally called it a night and decided to watch a movie.

Of course, Steve being Steve, refused to shift back into a human and thus took up the space on the floor between the coffee table and the couch. Kono, being much more reasonable, had shifted back down into a more manageable size and claimed the comfy chair.

Steve snorted softly and nudged Grace with a gliding wing. "I've been stung by those before."

"Really?" Grace turned wide eyes up at him, her hand pausing midway to her mouth with its delivery of popcorn.

"I was just swimming and then all of the sudden, there were jellyfish everywhere," Steve said.

Grace glanced over the sea monster she was curled up against. "Were you a dragon when they got you?"

"Yeah. Got me right through my scales. Feel how they're not very thick?"

Grace ran her hand down his shoulder and foreleg, nodding seriously. His scales were smooth and soft like a corn snake, not nearly as thick as her Danno's scales. "Did it hurt?"

"Nah," he smirked.

Chin chuckled. He leaned forward on the couch to whisper conspiratorially to Grace. "I was there and I got stung, too. Your Uncle Steve is a tough guy, but he wasn't one that day."

Steve scowled at him.

"And just between you and me, your Uncle Chin wasn't very tough that day, either," Chin said and returned to his couch corner.

Danny cracked a smile at the exchange as the room quieted again and the five of them continued to watch the Pixar movie about a father looking for his son. He liked to think that Marlin and Dory reflected him and Steve somewhat, with Steve definitely being Dory since he conveniently forgot police procedure the majority of the time and Danny was an exasperated father just like Marlin.

"Do sea turtles really live that long?" Grace questioned as Crush appeared onscreen.

"Totally," Kono said. "Maybe I'll take you to meet our cousin on the North Shore sometime. He works with rescued wildlife and has met quite a few old turtles."

"Awesome," Grace beamed up at her.

The smile on Danny's face broadened. His ohana was one of a kind, the kind one came across once in a life time. Well, once in his lifetime, anyway, because he wasn't a turtle. He didn't think he'd make it to one hundred fifty years old with Steve as a partner.


We once played Uno with three decks mixed in together. It was a loooong game.

Next week on "Dragons", there's an explosion, an argument, and an old SEAL buddy shows up.

It was a rather fluffy chapter. I promise, I have some more plot/story heavy chapters in the works. Thanks for reading, reviewing, following, and faving!