Chapter 42: What If?
The projector flashed pictures of cards, hands, and poker chips on a blank white screen until Mr. Grey turned the knob on the device to shut it off. "Now that my little presentation is over, does anybody have any question? Speak now, or forever hold your peace." He said as he turned his body around to his guests.
Everyone was sitting in a dark shady room, resting their rumps on cheap plastic chairs; with the Smash Brothers taking the front row. An awkward silence took hold of the atmosphere until Wario raised a gloved hand in the air.
The skeleton lightly growled, if he had a face of flesh he would be frowning right now. "Yes, Wario?"
"Uh, why did you had us watch a 2 hour-long video of how to play Poker?" Questioned the fat Smasher.
"It was only half an hour! Get a watch!" Jack pointed to his own watch in annoyance. "Anyways, I did it because I wanted to make sure that all of you are familiar with this game; didn't want any complaining."
"But wouldn't most people coming to a casino know how to play Poker or any of the games here as a matter of fact? This seems very patronizing and I do not like it one bit." Said Wolf, leaning back in his chair.
"That's what I thought too, but you be surprised how many idiots walk through my front door." Spoke Jack. "They first play my games without a clue of what to do, then they get pissed they spent all their saving or their kid's college funds, and then they get in my face-and I have to resist burning them to a crisp-and it turns into a bad day for everyone, and one day I said enough." He gestured to the projector to the room. "I showcased you a tutorial if you will, so you'll have no grounds to whine if you lose because "you didn't get it". If you still fail stupidly after this, your fault."
"We know that the presentation's over, we can finally get playing" Snake was about to stand up before the skeleton interrupted.
"Wait, before we start. There's another thing that is required of all of you before we begin." He snapped his fingers and the doors at both ends opened. Men of living shadow came pouring into their space, wearing white comedy or tragedy masks on their faces. They came to each of the rows and passed down a multitude of papers and pens to the guests sitting down.
Lucario got his paper and observed the document in close detail; he raised an eyebrow. "A waiver? Is this game so deadly that we need a waiver?"
"Not exactly, my games are safe (for the most part)." Jack coughed in his hand, then continued on his explanation. "This is in case you try to press legal action against me."
"I'm guessing this rule came as a result of an experience you had, an unruly guest I suppose?"
Grey shook his bony head and took a breath of his cigar. "Back then, when I was forming a way on how to deal with stupid guests, this one guy had to gall to sue me, saying that I was unfair to him and how I was rigging the game against him because he had better cheek bones than me." The undead owner scoffed in disbelief. "First of all, I did had better cheek bones than him, second, I almost lost court because of his sour attitude. The law could have taken my business you know, but luckily I proved myself to be honest and holy, and got off freely. So yeah. I'm not going through that nightmare again." He grabbed the waiver and showed it to the audience. "You don't sign. You don't play."
Wario raised his hand again.
"No Wario, signing this would not result in the loss of your soul, everything you see on the print is what you agreed to. There is no strings attached. Besides, even if I did had the power to suck souls from bodies, I wouldn't dare use it. Especially against you, don't want your putrid spirit stinking up the place."
Wario lowered his hand down angrily.
"When you're done just pass your paper to servants to left. I'm going to listen some oldies in the meantime." The man sat down at his desk and turned on the radio, which played an unfamiliar song that probably came from the 60's or 70's as he as smoke heavily on his cigar.
Lucario held the tiny pen in his big paws, writing his signatures with only a few fingers. Due to him having fast reflexes, he finished the paper within a minute. Finished, he passed his document to the left and turned to Snake, who was taking his time writing.
"Projectors, Waivers, and well-trained security detail? Jack doesn't take any chances does he?"
"Nope, when it comes to the matter of his money and shares, he avoids risks like the plague." Remarked the solider. "That's why he's so successful."
"Yeah…" The canine pondered on that comment, resting his head on the back of the chair. "You know I just remembered something. We forgot to check the computer before we left."
"Ah, dammit you're right." Snake sighed in his chair. "We need to see the hint first before we can even come up with an answer."
"Actually, we can get R.O.B. to check for us. All we need to do is just call him." Piped up Lucario, now remembering his robotic ally.
"Yeah but not now. Jack said we can't use devices such as cameras or phones when the game starts and before it finally ends." Reminded Snake. "Don't worry, we'll get through that digital blocker and closer to FW soon. Just give it time."
"Oh, the terrorist worries me without a doubt." Lucario stated. "But that's not what I'm concerned about at the moment."
"You're scared we might lose this." Snake pointed out, reading the signals his friend was giving.
The Pokémon shook is his slowly. "We're fight on the battlefield, not a green-clothed table." Said Lucario. "This is not our expertise, we're playing against high-level players to free our potential friend. The fact that we might lose one of our own is terrifying, and to make it worse, he's our key to unlocking more of the program. If we lose the tournament-"
"Then we'll come up with a better plan." Snake spoke as he handed his paper to the henchmen.
"And that would be?"
Snake turned his head left and right, then he focused his attention to Lucario, tapping his middle and index finger on his temple. He wants to take this private.
The canine nodded and strengthen the telepathic link between them, leaning off his chair in anticipation.
"We'll get the boxer back." Snake said to the shock of his friend. "Jack doesn't give out the prizes immediately to the guests who won. He keeps it in the vault room of the casino for background checks to make sure no one cheated; a long wait period. That should be enough time for us to go to plan B if we happened to lose: we crack the lock, bypass the guards, and get the hell out of here before he notices."
Lucario was flabbergasted, unsure of what to say. "I thought you said Jack doesn't take any risks when it comes to his fortune?"
"Yes, when it comes to legality." Explained the solider. "He focuses all his precautions and security on the games, and any potential trouble from this "court" he likes to moan about. Whiles his security is not lax, breaking in wouldn't be impossible."
"If security can be evaded, then why hasn't there been many thefts?" Lucario asked perplexed.
"Jack likes to make rumors that his safe is uncrackable, and how his men are skilled beyond possible. That, combined with his reputation with how he deals with those who wronged him; discourages people to steal and keep them well behaved. He feels like he's in control."
"Speaking of Jack, did you see what he did in the ballroom? He turned the place into the beach. It's insane, do you really think he advanced his ability of shifting the casino into low-level reality warping?"
"I don't know for sure but I would believe it, I happened to know that he gains his strength and power from his cigar; said he casted a lot spells and used special herbs into it to make himself stronger."
"And you happen to know this because?"
"I chatted to Jack Grey at the bar here, he was drunk enough to let the secret slip through his bony jaw." Answered Snake. "This is why they forbid you from drinking alcohol in military and government jobs. Gets you very talkative."
The blue dog sighed, changing topic. "Could be a good back-up plan, but let's focus on winning the game first before we resort to that. Don't want to cross any unnecessary red lines."
Snake communicated in his normal voice and said: "Exactly, only activate the plan as an, 'what if'."
"That's all of them? Hand it here." Jack Grey's voice cut through the attention of the dog and solider, them along with everyone else. One of the shadow men gave the skeleton the documents. He did a quick read of the stack, then opened a drawer and slid the papers inside, closing the drawer as he stood up from the chair.
"Alright, get you're asses out of the seats. It's ShowTime."
The skeleton led everyone into a large spiral staircase, they keep going up until Jack stopped at the door. "This floor is reserved for us, you'll have the room to yourselves 'till the end of tournament." He told his guests, the metal key glimmered in the light as he inserted it into the door. "This section is usually for V.I.P. only, so consider this a rare treat by yours truly. Just don't break anything." He said before he opened it all the way.
The roof was made of gold, the carpet held an elegant design of sparkles and stars, and the furniture was chiseled from the rarest of antique stones. Everything about this room was beautiful, even more than the lobby of the casino. Jack spent no expense.
"As I said before, we're going to hold the tournament here. I ordered my servants to set the tables, as well as to monitor the games in case something happens. So we're set. Does anyone else need anything before we start?" Asked Jack.
"Yes, I got a question." Said Wolf. "Whose sitting at each table? Is this thing going to be organized or random?"
"That's a good question my wild friend, a really great one. Instead of the brainless one's we got earlier." Jack scowled in Wario's direction. "For your answer, it's both."
"Both?" Snake folded his arms.
"The first round will be sorted into groups as I see fit." Jack flipped a coin in his hands, catching the small metal item between his fingers. "But during the rounds after that, you'll be able to choose freely."
"Well that's comforting." Snorted Bowser.
"Smashers, since all of you are our special guests tonight, I will assign the seven of you first." Jack pulled a list from his pocket and read it aloud. Wolf, you'll be at table 9, that's where all of our dog player's will be going.
"Dogs? They don't have the mental capacity to even play poker!" Argued Wolf.
"Tell that to them." He pointed to a small group of angry canines wearing suits and ties with his bony thumb.
"Pfft, whatever." The leader of Star Wolf rolled his eyes.
"Snake, you're going to share table 24, with the war veterans we have here."
"That's fine, at least I can speak to people of experience." Said Snake.
"Lucario and Ganondorf, tables 1 and 4 respectively, the mystic and tyrant section."
The jackal's ears perked up. "Mystic and tyrant section?"
"People who are tuned into their spiritual side and literal cartoonish evil dictators." Deadpanned Jack.
"Evil dictators?! Why have-"
Jack interrupted the blue canine. "Bowser, the monsters at table 30. Meta-Knight, the knights at table 6. And finally we have the soccer moms at table 50 for Wario."
"Wah!? You're putting me with the soccer moms? Why?" Spoke the outraged Wario.
"Because I don't like you, that's why." Mr. Grey answered with a straight face. The skeleton looked up from his lists to meet the Smashers eyes. "Go to your tables and wait, I've still have to sort out the rest of the guests."
"Well, alright Jack. We'll… wait. Come on Smashers, let's prepare for our game." All of the fighters except Wario left, the fat mustached man had a face of disbelief.
"Everyone gets to have their own little group except me? That's so unfair! I deserve better not this bull-" Wario stopped when he noticed a green tentacle monstrosity standing right aside him. It towered menacingly over the biker and…
"Want to see my kids?" The creature spoke out as she pulled a string of pictures from her wallet.
Wario sighed and face-palmed his giant nose. "Dammit."
Hey guys, hope you like this chapter.
If you see any mistakes, or have ideas on how to make this story better. Don't be afraid to tell. I'm open to all criticism.
Till Next Time.