Updates ... Hi all!
Ciardra ... Well of course he was cheating. But Sugoroku is a pretty young kid whose ideals sometimes yet border on the slightly naive. He was raised with the belief that cheating was dishonorable and just not done. Heck, in that culture, even for that time, cheating could get you kicked out of the family! As for Vick teaching Sugoroku to win...well, technichally he knows how to do that already. He just has to set it up so he does. Also... Thanks ever so much for reviewing my Honda fic as well. I'm pleased you thought it was well written and researched. The research however only goes as far as to the specifically mentioned circumstances (with exception to how Jonouchi and Honda met). Everything else is put from the way I view him in those instances. Not duleing and the hair could have something to do with his lack of appeal to the general public, but I have this tendency to look at the background and wonder why "little" characters like him stick it out and figure out how they play into it all too. That makes me analyze how they relate to the others and well...off I go. : )
PyroDragon2006 ... Glad you liked that last chapter. Some say that the final frontier is space. I personally think its the human mind. Everytime scientists think they have it figured out something new pops up that completely changes everything they thought about it before! Besides, we only achieved our short time in space because of the ingenuity and power of the human mind. And isn't trounced a cool word? Its one of my faves. As for doing so to Richter...well, the wait is over! Just check out below!
Scarab Dynasty ... Thank you for the compliment. Everyone has their moments of disorientation and personally, I feel Sugoroku/Solomon would have gotten out of his funk eventually. Mark just sort of sped the process up a bit. And don't worry, the writing will continue!
LadyAlthea ... Very glad you liked!
And now, the long awaited chapter! LOL!
Trixie21
Okay, you all know the drill. I have to take up valuable space and time to say that I do not own any part that is the coolness of the Yu-Gi-Oh universe. That honor goes completely to Kazuki Takahashi. Authoress as she bows subserviently before her shrine of great creators... "We're not worthy! We're not worthy! We're not worthy!"
This Old Man: Sugoroku's Story
Part 2: America
20. Tricking The Cheater…
Vick didn't just show Sugoroku how to spot a cheater and card shark. He taught the young man how to do it all himself. It was Vick's opinion, that the best way for Sugoroku to learn to identify all the tips and hints that spoke of a cheater, would be to know exactly how to do it himself, so that it would be even easier for Sugoroku to spot.
Everything from card counting, shift shuffling, marking the cards, palming a card, and even common hiding places on a person's body was included. Vick even taught Sugoroku a few fancy magician's card tricks as well.
It had been a little difficult initially for Sugoroku to handle the cards as effortlessly as Vick, since the young man's hands and fingers were no where near as long. But that was what the card tricks were for…to help Sugoroku find the best way to learn his control over the cards. That, and it was, Sugoroku admitted, rather fun.
His favorite of those tricks was the Magic Bridge. This was where the magician would bend the cards out from one hand, so they seemed to leap away and into the person's other hand. It was a difficult trick in itself, but even more so, was being able to do it back to the other hand.
Sugoroku was typically right handed and had never given any thought as to developing the dexterity of his left, but it suddenly became a high priority for him to work on it. The only other step further in the trick, was being able to do it either way, over an area larger than 5 inches. Vick could make them jump reasonably, with up to a foot between his hands.
The one main exercise above all that Sugoroku really excelled in however, was card counting.
Sugoroku was a thinker. Not just of deep insight, but his thoughts were almost always logically oriented. During a chess match, or while handling life, he looked at the circumstances presented before him clearly and made theories based on his observations, and all the possibilities he could see. He placed things in order within his mind and in doing so, relieved himself of the useless, cluttering, nonessential bits of information that meant nothing to the problem at hand. Having found his way to the basic facts, everything was suddenly understood, and his mind made leaps to the right conclusions, almost without any conscious effort.
With a mind so highly organized, and an incredibly quick memory to boot, Sugoroku was remarkably well suited to order and organize any set of numbers or items before him into a completely understandable and predictable sequence of events. Had he lived in an area so inclined, he could have easily attained the height of stardom as a mathematician, or perhaps as a code breaker.
So adroit in his mental marking of the cards was he, that as long as Vick did not make a mistake or change his shuffling, Sugoroku could just as easily foresee each card as it would appear, as the man had done earlier. Even more amazing, was that once a card was removed and the shuffling shifted by one card, Sugoroku's mind automatically excluded that set card and rearranged the entire order of the rest of the deck, allowing him to correctly predict the next placed card.
Vick had not done that earlier. He had merely pulled a card to show, then replaced it back into the pile where it was supposed to sit, before shuffling again. He was working with the same number of cards in his head every time. What Sugoroku did was far more incredible. As each card left Vick's hand, Sugoroku's mind readjusted the deck, and so, readjusted the outcome. Sugoroku couldn't explain how he did it. He just did. It just came to him. One moment his head was clear, the next, a specific card image would fill it.
In the end it had taken only 5 hours for Sugoroku to correctly identify every time Vick tried to cheat, and though he had said he was pleased with Sugoroku's progress, Vick's expression never went beyond a sort of strained acceptance. For him, it was a struggle to watch Sugoroku exercise so easily a skill that could not truly be taught. Vick knew that if he had been gifted with it, he would still be gambling his life away.
Sugoroku however, remained blissfully unaware of his friend's inner demons, and was absolutely elated at what he had learned. He now had the tools with which to beat Richter, or any other card cheating opponent, in just about every conventional card game imaginable. He was not going to be tricked again.
The only thing difficult for Sugoroku from this point, was getting people to play him to build his cigarette cache back up reasonably enough to face Richter one last time. No one wanted to risk losing what few cigarettes they had left when they were sure that it would just end up in Richter's personal pile.
Sugoroku begged and cajoled, pleaded and paid more than a few dollars in order to get even a quarter of a shoe box full, but that wasn't enough. Richter wouldn't even look at him if he didn't have a serious amount.
A little later, he sat on the edge of his bunk kicking his feet absently back and forth as he leaned forward with a frown, all the while absently shuffling a deck of cards within his hands. Mark came strolling down the aisle with a grin.
"Not bad, Sugoroku. When you learn something new, you learn it pretty well."
Sugoroku gave a half nod as he stopped shuffling, pulled a card out to show Mark, placed it back in the deck and after 6 shuffles, pulled the same card out to show Mark a second time.
Mark grinned.
"Now that was good. Looks like you got a handle on the cards, but why the long face?"
"No one will play me for cigarettes so I can challenge Richter again."
Mark sat on the bunk across from Sugoroku as he nodded understandingly.
"Once bitten, twice shy."
Sugoroku looked up at the new phrase.
"It means that when something has gone wrong the first time, people don't want to try to do it again and risk the same bad thing happening again."
"They're afraid I'll lose to Richter again?"
"Yeah. That's why they won't give up their last cigarettes for you. If you get them and lose them, that's it. Some of these guys will have to wait another day or two before we hit Hawaii before they can get a drag. Richter may sell them back, but he charges 10 times what its worth. For some, that's too much to risk."
"I understand, but, I won't lose this time."
"You're sure?"
Sugoroku smiled broadly in answer.
"Well if you feel that secure, I'm guessing you have a game plan for when you do play Richter."
"Yes."
"Then I suppose there's nothing left to do, but get that game set up."
"But no one will…"
"Don't worry about it. Just be ready to play him tomorrow at lunch, okay? I'll take care of everything.
Sugoroku smiled.
He trusted Mark to do exactly as he said.
He just hoped that everyone trusted him enough to let him follow through with his plan.
xxxxxxxxx
The next morning passed in unusual quiet on board the Pemberton. Sugoroku found it rather odd that so many of the men were keeping so uncommonly quiet. Even more strange, was the way most of them looked at him as they passed by with secretive little nods and hidden smiles.
Sugoroku did not know that after he had turned in for the night, word had passed through the ship like wild fire among those trustworthy, that there was to be one more game between himself and Richter. It had been assured to them that Richter was not going to win, and most of the men wanted desperately to see such an event.
So many in fact, that when lunch time came, the mess was packed from one end to the other, front to back, with men sitting even on the table tops to get a view.
When Richter walked in, he stopped in wary surprise at the silent men staring at him. He looked at their grinning faces from side to side as he slowly made his way to his normal spot, but again stopped dead when several men moved away, to reveal Sugoroku sitting in his very seat.
Sugoroku sat with his arms crossed across his chest, his head bowed.
"You're in my spot kid. Move it or lose it."
Sugoroku did not move.
"I think you'll find there's been a little change in plans," said Mark from behind Richter.
Richter looked at him, "What?"
Mark smiled.
"You see, we all decided that instead of having lunch first today, we'd all have a sit down and watch a little poker."
Richter gave a contemptuous glance at Sugoroku.
"Heh. I get it. Another challenge from the kid. Well, tough luck boys. I play when I want too. Not when I'm told to."
"Oh, but we insist," said Mark as Leo, Squawk, Mick and about 10 others leaned in towards Richter, a daring smile on each of their faces.
Richter glared at the men as the two lackeys that generally followed him about, quickly slid away from his side. With more than three quarters of the crew present, Richter was on his own.
There was silence for a moment, then, "I think he's afraid."
Richter turned back to the table quickly, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
"What did you say?"
Sugoroku tilted his head up only enough to see Richter from just under his brow, a half smirk fixed to his lips.
"Ya' know. I think he's right guys," added Leo cheerfully, "Old Rick does look a little nervous, don't ya think?"
There was a general mummer of agreement from across the room, and Richter's face turned a soft shade of red.
"I'm not afraid of anyone or anything."
"Prove it then. Play the kid. One more game," edged Mark.
Richter's nostrils flared as he looked about in angry hesitation.
"Are you afraid I'll win?" asked Sugoroku smartly.
Jaw clenched tight, Richter eyed Sugoroku severely.
"Fine. You want a game? You got it," came the man's answer as he sat down before Sugoroku.
"Sam! Get my box…"
"Here it is," said Leo as he tossed Richter's personal box of cigarettes on the table before the man could even finish asking his lackey to get it.
Richter looked at it for a moment, before pulling out his deck of cards and started shuffling aggressively.
"Kid, you shoulda' stuck to playing chess," Richter hissed. If poison could have shot out of Richter's eyes just then, Sugoroku would have been dead right there.
Sugoroku only continued his half smirk at the man.
Cigarettes were rolled out onto the middle of the table, cards were dealt and the game began.
Hand one ended with a pair of Kings for Sugoroku and a full house for Richter.
Hand two saw a low end straight for the younger man while Richter came out with flush.
In hand three, both had two pair with Richter the higher, a pair of Jacks over Sugoroku's highest pair of 7's.
In every way, it was, for the men surrounding the two players, like watching the other two games that Sugoroku had played against Richter except for one key difference.
Sugoroku's smirk never faded.
He sat the entire time, in a relaxed slouch, as if this were but a formality. He would glance at his cards only casually, before tossing his useless ones out onto the table like they were just a piece a trash. And he met every cold glare from Richter with an assured, confident disdain.
Though he was, in every possible way losing, he acted as though this game was hardly worthy of notice. True to his word, he would not cheat against Richter, but it gave him a supreme amount of amusement to be able to now so easily see ever trick Richter pulled.
It was almost astonishing!
Where before all he could see was shuffling cards, he now saw every flick of the man's wrists, every finger nailed card, every snip upon the sides of the cards, every held card…not a trick went past his eyes unnoticed. The self satisfaction he felt from the knowledge gave him the smile that graced his young face.
And it was driving Richter nuts.
He thought he understood what it was that had happened to Sugoroku.
That the kid had found his game face. What Richter didn't understand was how he could hold it so steady as his limited pile of cigarettes dwindled down to nothing. Sugoroku's calm, was almost unearthly, and the way the boy's eyes shone… It was as if the kid knew the outcome of the game already, and saw that there was going to be a new winner.
Slowly, inexorably, the game was coming to a close, and when it was clear that with only enough cigarettes left for one final hand, Sugoroku would more than likely lose, Richter grinned in glee as he shuffled the cards.
"Looks like this is it kid. Prepare to lose."
Sugoroku's gaze, his intensity, never shifted. It was time to play the real game. The last he would play with Richter.
"If you're so sure that I will lose, maybe you'll make a special wager with me this hand then."
Richter studied Sugoroku carefully.
"What kind of special wager?"
"I would like to see if you think that you will win well enough to bet every cigarette that is not originally yours on this last hand."
Richter laughed.
"What? Me bet every cigarette I have on one hand against your weak little handful? What do you take me for? I win and get maybe 30 more from you. I lose, not that I will mind you, but you get several hundred. Not exactly a fair bet pal."
Mark put five shoe boxes full to the brim, several over flowing, with packs and loose cigarettes in the center of the table as Sugoroku spoke quietly.
"How about this then. Every last cigarette, from every man here, against yours. One hand. All or nothing."
Richter stared at the pile in deep surprise. He licked his lips.
"Every last cigarette from every man here?" he asked slowly.
Sugoroku nodded.
There was a long moment of silence. It was deep a silence full of tension…full of edge. The nerves of every man in the room were keyed to over drive.
Would Richter accept?
"Well?" pressed Sugoroku, "You said yourself you weren't going to lose. What is there to think about? You couldn't possible be afraid of me winning…could you?"
Richter's lip twitched into a grin.
"Alright. One last hand."
Leo unceremoniously plunked Richter's other 7 shoe boxes of cigarettes next to Sugoroku's as Richter started to shuffle again.
"Oh, just one more thing."
Richter looked at Sugoroku curiously.
"For the last hand, we will use an outside dealer."
"What!"
"And…a new deck of cards."
Sugoroku pulled out a completely fresh, never opened, box of cards and slapped them down onto the table as Richter stared in shock.
"No more cheating, no more tricks. Completely honest and completely fair."
Richter's face grew dark as his left eyelid twitched in high agitation.
"I won't accept this," he said as he stood up, but Mark and Leo's hands on his shoulders, held him to his spot.
"Too late man. You accepted the last hand," smiled Mark.
"Not like this I didn't!"
"What's the matter son? Scared of a little fair play?"
Every man turned in unison to see Admiral Faraday standing in the door. There was a rush of bodies as the men stood in strict attention as a path was immediately made to allow the Admiral to get through the horde of men without issue.
Once Admiral Faraday was before Richter, he gave a grim smile.
"I think, son, that if you want to keep what semblance of honor you still have, you should play the hand."
"Sir, aye sir!" was Richter's strict reply.
"And unless anyone has a problem, or there was another choice already made, I'd like to deal this hand if you don't mind."
The Admiral peered around Richter at Sugoroku.
"I was going to let him chose someone," began Sugoroku, "but this is better. It would be an honor sir, to have you deal this last hand."
Admiral Faraday nodded. He sat down on the bench beside where Richter stood, and as he opened the new deck he said, "Sit down Richter. You have a game to finish. And the rest of you, as you were."
Richter did as he was commanded, a tight sullen look across his features.
"I'll still win," he said.
Sugoroku just smirked.
Admiral Faraday's skill at shuffling was barely marginal at best, and it took everything that Sugoroku had to keep from laughing at the man's awkward handling of the cards, but he got the job done, and at least everyone could be assured that there would be no underhanded tricks.
The first round of cards was dealt and Sugoroku picked his up. He gave them a glance, rearranged them and then proceeded to push them together and hold them face down as he looked across at Richter.
Richter tossed one card out, received one and suddenly his dark face cleared and a huge grin spread. He looked at Sugoroku.
"You're going down kid."
"You're sure about that?"
Richter paused in his glee.
"Are you crazy or somethin'? Just get your next cards so I can call it a game and get outta' here."
"I don't need too."
"What?"
"I'm done."
"You're not taking any cards?"
Sugoroku shook his head once and Richter laughed.
"Then read them and weep!"
Richter slapped his hand onto the table.
"Straight flush you little runt. Spades 7 though Jack. You lose!"
Richter reached across to pull the boxes in his direction, but the admiral's clearing throat checked him.
"Ah ahem, I think I'd like to see Sugoroku's hand first, before you go grabbing at those cigarettes, Richter."
Richter looked first at the admiral and then at Sugoroku in surprise.
Sugoroku's half smirk filled into a full smirk. He lifted the hand with his cards before his face, fanned them out with his thumb, and then proceeded to gently place the cards onto the table, his eyes never leaving Richter's face.
There was a hush across the room before Sugoroku said quietly, "Royal flush. Hearts. I win."
A stunned moment passed as the sailors took it in before a monstrous cheer went up from around the entire room, causing the tables to vibrate from the sound. Sugoroku had not only beaten Richter, he had beaten him with the only hand that could…the hardest hand to achieve in poker…the Royal Flush.
Dozens of hands reached to slap Sugoroku upon the back or grab his shoulders in congratulations, but he ignored them all. His entire concentration was on committing to permanent memory, the look of pure shock and disbelief on Richter's face. It was the sweetest thing he'd ever seen, and he would never forget it so long as he lived.
As his friends took the boxes of cigarettes from off the table to parade them around the room - to the obvious delight of the still cheering men - Sugoroku crossed his arms as he glared at Richter in contempt.
"Luck of the cards? Not even close."
"I want a rematch!" yelled Richter as he jumped to his feet, "No one but you and me. No stupid rules either! Just us."
"Humph," half snorted Sugoroku as he looked away, "I don't think so. I'm making it a new rule to never play a cheater from this point on. Richter, you're no longer even worthy of my notice."
That said, Sugoroku stood and stepped away from the table to walk towards the doors. Halfway there, he stopped and called out, "These cigarettes were originally won unfairly from all of you. They will be split up and every man will receive a share of them."
There was another cheer and again, Sugoroku felt the hands of the men around him patting him on the back as others shook his shoulders and even a few musing up his hair. They thanked him repeatedly and Sugoroku could only smile in embarrassment.
It was only fair as far as he was concerned. Richter had taken these cigarettes from them by cheating and Sugoroku was returning them through honesty and fairness. It was just the right thing for him to do. Besides, what would a kid who didn't smoke do with close to a thousand cigarettes?
Maybe give it a try sometime, and see what the fuss over them was really about?
Perhaps…but now would not be the time, for a moment later, a man jogged into the mess hall and called out, "Hawaii off the port bow!"
There was an impossibly loud whoop again from the men, and suddenly there was a melee of movement as all the men rushed up to the top decks in an excited flurry. Sugoroku, still high from his victory over Richter, went with them, and once above, pushed through the taller men to get to the rails and look out over the calm blue waters.
In the distance he could see a stretch of islands, the largest of which had a cone shaped mountainous peak.
Sugoroku smiled as Mark moved next to him.
"That is Hawaii?" he asked.
Mark grinned.
"You got it kid. Welcome to paradise."
Next Chapter: Confusion in Paradise...
R and R's gratefully appreciated: )