Chapter 44: Tournament: Part 2

It was the final round.

Most of the participants had been eliminated by failed 'all-ins', untimely blinds, and god forbid: caught cheating. Everyone had gotten away from the rest area and circled around the last table. Watching intensely at the 4 remaining players: Lucario, Meta-Knight, Ganondorf, and one peculiar Doberman. Since the three Smashers were in cahoots with each other, they had no problems strategizing as they prepared to battle against the canine. They all whispered to each other.

"Alright, this is good. All we have to do is to beat this guy, and we'll win." Said Lucario

"Don't be hasty, Lucario." Warned the knight. "We survived so far but at the same token, so had he."

"Wah, what's taking so long?! Make a move already!" Shouted an impatient Wario. He was about to speak further but the Gerudo King gave him a glare. "Silence boy. This is a game of strategy, it requires patience. You blabbering makes it more difficult for us all to win."

"Oh! You're boys are working together?" Questioned the green tentacle monster that Wario met earlier. "That's so sweet."

Wario rolled his eyes in a feeling between annoyance and disgust. "Yeah. Very cute." He said sarcastically.

"Wait! You guys are together?" The Doberman pointed to the Smashers at the table. "Mr. Grey, these players are colluding against me. Isn't that on grounds for expulsion?"

"Ha, heavens no!" Jack Grey laughed as he passed the cards along. "Pairing up is not illegal by any strength of the imagination. As long as they don't break the rules." He took a smoke of cigar before lightly blowing it in the dogs face. "By the way, the blinds have been risen by a thousand more."

Wolf didn't have the strength to hide his smile, it was admitting funny seeing the mutt squirm under the haze of grey smoke.

"A thousand!?" Exclaimed Lucario. "Why did you raise the blinds so high this time?"

The casino owner was casually flipping a coin with his bony hand as he explained his reasoning to the Pokémon. "The four of you have been playing it too safe, I'm raising the stakes to make the game so more interesting. I was getting so bored from watching, I'm afraid my eyes would go blind. Ah? Ah? Get it?"

He raised his arms and shoulders in the air, waiting for the acknowledgement of the pun from the players. But was heavily disappointed when they stayed silent. "Eh. Well f*ck you too. The blinds been raised and I'm not lowering. Deal with it."

"I need to evaluate." Meta-Knight said to himself as he counted all of their team's poker chips. His eyes widened. "Lucario and I are below the mark, which means we both will have to go all-in."

"But only one person could win the pot." Remarked Lucario, tapping the table out of nervous habit.

"One of you are getting cut, at the minimum." Ganondorf took another look at the cards currently being faced up on the green felt fabric: There was a jack and a 2 of hearts on the table, Lucario had a four of diamonds and club of 3's, Meta-Knight had and ace and a queen, and he himself had two jacks. He didn't know what the Doberman had but judging on the expression on his snout, it probably wasn't anything of value.

"Don't have any other choice do we?"

"Unless you forfeit, then I'm afraid so." The knight replied to Lucario. "What about you Ganon?"

"I'll survive for this round. If you both should fall, I'll carry the mantle."

"Let's discuss that after the pot." He sighed. "I pray it goes in our favor."

The dog shook his head. "Better than nothing. I bet." He exchanged a decent portion of his chips before settling back onto his seat again.

"I'll bet as well." Ganondorf reshuffled his chips around. "I feel victory is in my reach."

"Yeah, for this round at least!" Bowser remarked to Ganon's displeasure.

"Meta-Knight and I are going all in." Lucario pushed his and Meta-Knights chips to the center. The pot had grown so large in a matter of moments.

"Time for the results." He did a snap to the dealer, who gladly placed the third card down.

Another jack.

"Alright let me see your cards." Announced the dealer. "Yes. Yes. I see. The man with red hair has won the pot."

Ganondorf was about to smugly smiled until he realized who lost.

"Both of you got out?!" Announced Snake. "Dammit. Now it's all up to Ganondorf."

"No. This can't be real. We came so far!" The Pokémon felt his head in panic when his round blue friend put a hand on his shoulder.

"We haven't lost yet. Don't give out hope." He turned to the tyrant king. "Do what you have to, everything hangs on you winning."

"Oh, trust me. I have no plans for failing." Ganondorf gave a confident smirk, when he was ready, he ordered another glass of champagne.

They weren't budging an inch. Both players were at neck-at-neck, shuffling the cards in their hands-waiting for the opportunity to pounce the other.

Time seemed to blur as the patrons kept their attention on the game, there was a clock somewhere in the room but no one was willing to even blink to miss the invigorating action. Except for Jack.

"Alright, this is taking too long." He took another breath of his cigar. "I know you guys want to play to the best of your ability, but can you get this over with? It's getting old at this point."

"What's with the sudden change in tone? I thought you loved Poker?" Questioned Lucario.

"Not when it's going at a snail's pace." The skeleton place three cards on the felt, and upturned them. "The quicker the winner wins, the sooner I get to relax."

The Gerudo looked down; an ace, a king, and a 10. All diamond. He observed his own hand: two 10's, one a club and the other a heart. He would get a full house at the minimum, or four of a kind if he's lucky.

Ganon raised his head, the Doberman was shifting nervously in his chair; he appeared to even shrink back further under his gaze. The king smiled. Time to go in for the kill.

"All in." The green Smasher pushed all his chips into the center, getting a couple of whistles and claps from the crowd. But then his smugness turned to confusion.

This time it was Doberman smiling, he leaned in his chair with a guilty smirk. Then he realized his mistake. "All in."

"Wait, I want to re-exchange my chips!" Ganondorf said, but Jack Grey waved the finger.

"Too late, your turn has passed." He tapped the table with his finger. "Now show your hands."

Ganon, through clenched teeth, uncovered his cards and slid it forwards. "A full house, not bad. Think you can top that poochy?" Jack asked the Doberman.

The mutt flipped his pair of cards and gave it to the casino owner, winking with pride to Ganondorf as he drank his glass of alcohol.

"A queen and a jack. Both diamonds. It's a royal flush."

The cigarette fell out of Snake's mouth. "That means…"

"Yep!" Jack Boosted with pride. "OUR DOBERMAN IS THE WINNER!"

The dog ejected himself out of the chair and bowed for the audience, getting cheers from all around. To rub it in, he gave Wolf a smug wink, prompting the grey canine to snarl with fury.

"Thank you all so much! It's been wonderful participating in this fantastic game you got here Mr. Grey."

"Well I'm glad you feel that way Danny." He patted the dog on the shoulder as a sign of good will. "You'll get your prize by the end of the day, I'll store it in the vault for safe keeping."

'So that's his name.' Thought Wolf. 'What a tool.'

"Hold on a second!" Lucario slid past the guests to confront the owner. "What about the Newcomer?!"

"The boxer?… hm, what was his name?" He snapped his pale white fingers out of habit. "Oh that's right! Little Mac. Yeah he's going to Danny over here." Jack gestured to the Doberman.

"Jack, listen! We need Mac back at our base. Come on, there must be something we can work out!"

The undead rubbed his chin. "Well, if our dog-friend over would like to share his prize…"

"Not a chance." Danny said immediately. "I'm not splitting what I earned, not my fault you couldn't keep up."

"Guess that's it. No deals." Said Jack.

"But-"

"No deals." Grey spoke politely yet firmly. "Learn to live by it."

"I'm sorry this happened to you boys." Apologized the tentacle creature. "I know how much you all wanted to win."

"Thanks… I guess." Wario took out a clove of garlic out of his trouser and took a bite. "This sucks."

The skeleton turned on the microphone he was carrying in his back-pocket and put it to his mouth. "I NOW DECLARE THIS GAME, TO BE OVER!"

Chuckles and clapping swallowed the silence that was remaining in the room. All of the Smashers were either shocked to the core, or dismayed with self-guilt. As all of this was happening, Ganon was sitting up right. Taking a whiff of air before uttering out two words.

"*sigh*… well. F*ck."

"What the hell was that?!" Shouted Wolf. After the tournament, the Smashers found rest at the food court section of the casino. All of them were sitting at a table, discussion the future.

"What do you mean?"

"You can't be this forgetful, Lucario. The game! We almost won, and then we lost so hard!"

"Because of chance, Look." Said Snake, pressing his hands against the table. "We weren't able to win the game, but that doesn't mean we give up. Just need to find another way."

"But how? That dog clearly stated he didn't want to split." Piped Wario. "Not to mention if we try stealing it from the mutts hands Jack will be on us in a flash. I don't know how we're going to beat this."

Ganondorf was about to give his thoughts on the matter when he saw the treasure box being moved by two of Grey's servants. There was a newly pasted sticker on the container that read: TO VAULT.

"We can't steal it front of their eyes, but what if we stole it under their noses?"

"Under their noses?" Replied Bowser. "What are you smoking?"

"The Newcomer will be stored in the vault until the end of the day, if we free our friend with the alerting anyone. We can escape scot free."

Lucario eyelids sprung open like window blinders. "We can't steal, Ganon. We are heroes-"

"Not all of us are."

"Can it Wolf. We are an organization about doing what is right. If we go through with this. We'll set a bad example to the entire WOT."

"And if we don't, Little Mac will end up as a prize. Fated to never be alive again." Argued Ganon. "Besides, most people on this planet are not even aware they're even breathing. I think they wouldn't mind."

"I hate to agree, but if we refuses. One of us will be left behind." Meta-Knight stood on his red chair. "Is it really worth abandoning one of our own, for a walking corpse who let this to happen in the first place?"

Lucario thought it over. After some deep searching and cheek biting. He gave. "Alright. Alright. You're right. We can't stand idle for this evil."

"So we're breaking into the vault? I'm in. This might be a good day after all." Said Wolf.

"I think it's safe to say that everyone's in. But we have a problem." Announced the solider. "We have to plan and execute a heist in a single day, if we want this to go smoothly, we need someone who has brains."

"There's R.O.B." Proposed Bowser. "We haven't told him anything about what happened. But his heart is a bleeder. He would get on board in a flash if it involves saving someone."

"So we talk to R.O.B. and go on from there? Do all of you agree?" If the countless nods didn't tell him what, nothing will. He took out the communicator out of his utility belt, and pressed the command button.

"R.O.B., there's been a change of plans."