Chapter Three – Hit and Miss (Zidane)

"Oh, Frioniel~" I chirruped, putting my hands over his eyes. "Guess who~"

"Zidane."

"You ruined it!" I said, pouting. I wrapped my tail around his eyes while I was looking for his lance.

"Hey, get your tail off, Zidane! I need to look for something. My lance."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, my lance. I dropped it earlier here at the Lunar Subterrane, and I can't seem to find it." Just my luck! I bet Bartz took it!

"Hey, I'll help you find it!"

"Would you really, Zidane? Thank you." He said, as I uncurled my tail.

Searching for it was harder than I expected! It was a wide area to cover, and it was kind of hard to look when I was keeping an eye out for Bartz as well.

"Hey, hey Rosebud!" Tidus. "Whatcha doin' Rosebud? We're supposed to be playing Triple Triad with Squall! Bartz is there, too." Sounded good.

"Oh, Tidus, I would, but I'm looking for my lance."

"Your lance?"

"Yeah, I lost it here. Zidane's looking for it, too."

"You sure he didn't steal it?" He punched me lightly. "He is a thief after all."

"Nah, I wouldn't have. Besides, I woulda given it to him if I stole it."

"Pfft, yeah right. You'd be living it up with the fact you stole it off the Weaponmaster."

"Probably." Frioniel cut in.

"Hey, hey!" I patted Frioniel. "I wouldn't steal off of you for the world, buddy."

And so we ended up playing Triple Triad with Squall. He won every round.

"Can't we just play poker?" I asked, hitting my head on the table. "It's no fun when Scarface wins it all." Squall shot me a glare. Cloud put some cards on the table.

"I'm betting six hundred gil." Cloud set his money on the table.

"Eight hundred!" Bartz.

"One thousand." Frioniel.

Tidus looked sheepish. "Eheh, how about I bet Frioniel's lance?" His face grew red when Frioniel stared at him. "Look, I thought if I took it, you'd want to come ask us, and we'd be able to play a little longer. You're always so busy."

"Tidus, stealing isn't the way to do it. I would've loved to play Triple Triad."

"Sorry, Frioniel."

"Aha!" I cried, taking the lance. "I stole it!"

"Z-Zidane!" Everyone yelled.

"Sorry, my friends. I am off to a good start!" I put the lance down.

"Ugh. One point to Zidane." Squall said, pulling out a notepad.

"You keep a tally?" Tidus questioned.

"Yeah. They challenge each other so often that they started losing track. On the whole though, this challenge, Zidane definitely won."

"Well, he is a thief. Personally, I think that you guys should do stuff that isn't your specialty." Cloud stated.

"Makes sense." Bartz nodded. He grabbed Squall's notepad.

Zidane : IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII

Bartz: IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII IIIII

"Aw, a tie already?" Bartz queried. "Geez, we better think of a new challenge, fast."

"How about a race?" Cloud said. "Onion Knight's pretty fast. You guys can race him. I know you guys are quick on your feet."

"Good luck trying to beat the fastest runner on earth!" Bartz said, jumping out of his seat and racing out of the room.