After finishing a meal and returning to the tree, Ahri finds herself in the presence of a few gambling junkies who just finished setting up a table.
"What's going on here?" Ahri askes Twisted Fate who was in the process of shuffling cards in a flashy manner.
"Ahri, perfect timing. Evelynn decided to call it quits at the last minute. Something about us not dating anymore." Twisted Fate greets Ahri, continuing his showmanship with cards.
"No use bluffing, partner. Playing against the best is just a means to lose money... and lots of it." Graves says aloud, with his feet resting on the table.
"What do you expect when "the best" are well-known cheaters of the game?" Ahri uses air quotes to emphasis cheaters.
"That's how it's done, miss fox. Wanna play? The first game will just be a warm up." Twisted Fate offers Ahri a risk-free game with the intention to add more to the roster.
"Why not? I can be sneaky at times too." said Ahri, finding a sit then notices a few extra chairs.
"Great. We still need more players." Graves points out.
"No worries, our ninja friend said he'll bring some over since he owes me a favor after losing a game of Bilgewater Lowball." said Twisted Fate.
"Ninja? You don't mean Zed?"
"Are you out of your mind? I'm talking about Shen. I know those two need to cut loose, but at least Shen is approachable. Speaking of which, here he comes." Twisted Fate focuses his attention behind Ahri to see the Eye of Twilight accompanied by not just Akali, but LeBlanc and Elise(Blood Moon).
"The man has great tastes." Graves says.
"I've brought more players as you requested, Twisted Fate." Shen answers in his usual, serious tone. The Deceiver and Spider Queen don't say a word as they take their seats at the table. Akali also finds a place to sit. From the left we have Ahri, Graves, LeBlanc, Ahri, Elise then Twisted Fate. It was an elliptical table and there was just enough space left over for Shen.
"A pleasure, ladies. Let's get our first round of poke..." As soon as Twisted Fate deals the first card across to Ahri, Shen snatches it and eyes the card master.
"Emilia and Elise have declared to me that they will only take part if I'm the dealer." Shen explains.
"... Fine by me. Here... Emlia?" Said Twisted Fate, trying to hand Shen his deck of magic cards and also contemplating Shen's use of LeBlanc's first name.
"Do you honestly believe that your cards are the ones we will be using?" LeBlanc sternly asks.
"We'll be using THESE cards and play Noxus Hold Em'." Elise adds, holding up a Noxus themed deck before handing it to Shen.
"A simple game for first-timers I guess. Hurry up and deal." Graves optimistically orders the ninja.
"Then everyone will start with 10,000 gold as we agreed before." Shen announces, placing a large box on the table to reveal its contents: stacks of poker chips that had the appearance of runes each with different values indented on them.
"W-Wait a minute, I thought this was risk-free!" Ahri cries out as Shen pushes gold, silver and bronze chips towards Ahri.
"No worries, Ahri. Shen is paying for your share and mine." The Fist of Shadow reassures her.
"B-But 10,000."
"Do not concern yourself with minor details and enjoy the game, Ahri. This is a small reward for watching over this tree that many champions are fond of." said Shen, showing off his shuffling skills.
"Huh? So, you..."
"Silence, Ahri. This game of deception is about to begin." LeBlanc demands, causing Ahri to lower her head.
Shen deals two cards to each player and the game officially begins. The first few rounds went by without incident, but it was then the tricksters began to show their true colors.
"Grrr... fold." (Graves)
"I fold." (Akali)
"Fold." (Ahri)
"Fold." (Elise)
"Raise." (TF)
"Call."(LeBlanc)
Shen lays down two community cards for Twisted Fate and LeBlanc to battle it out.
"Raise." (TF)
"All In." (LeBlanc)
"You gotta be kidding me? We don't even have enough to make a full hand."
"Hmmm? Is fate not in my favor?" LeBlanc teases.
"Alright, let's play. All..." Before TF could finish his sentence, doubt wedged itself deep within him.
Wait, don't tell me these cards are rigged. No, Shen is all about balance or whatever and if they were, he should notice. I should notice something as well, but these cards are just regular cards. Bluffs seem pretty irrelevant if all the cards aren't dealt. Maybe I should...
"Twisted Fate, your call?" Shen asks.
"All in." TF says with gusto.
Shen places the rest of the community cards down.
"Lady luck pulls through for me once again I suppose." Said TF as he attempts to go for the pot.
"I'm not sure if it was my deception skills or your pride, but either way my royal flush is above your straight." LeBlanc slaps his hands away and takes her bounty.
Twisted Fate excuses himself and sits in the grass with lighter pockets.
More rounds end and Akali found herself bankrupted. She stayed at the table to eat some peaches and witness the intensity unfold.
"Hmmm... I call." (Elise)
"Fold." (LeBlanc)
"I call." (Graves)
"I fold... again." (Ahri)
After placing down the fourth community card, Shen throws a kunai over Graves' head.
"Hey, you want to be one step closer to death!?" Graves loses his temper.
"Calm yourself, Graves. I'm simply performing my roll as the dealer and preserver of balance." Shen tells him then points to the spider that landed on the table.
"I-It's just a spider." Elise stutters, trying to keep her chin up.
"Ooooo, caught red-handed. Shame on you for spying." Ahri says, holding back a laugh.
"How rude. Shen, please continue the round." Elise attempts to keep her cool, but feels the pressure from Shen's piercing gaze.
"There's a penalty for cheating." Shen warns her.
"But I didn't cheat. How can I resort to such unrefined methods? Don't you believe me?" Elise tries to seduce him by leaning towards him and innocently placing a finger on her puckered up lips, but it's Shen.
"Disqualified." Shen declares.
"I tried. At least I came out richer." Elise shrugs her shoulders before enjoying some wine she brought with her.
More rounds go by and this time LeBlanc is caught. Before LeBlanc could turn her cards over, Shen grabs her hand.
"Is there a problem, Shen?" LeBlanc asks with an annoyed expression.
"Why is your queen backwards?" Shen questions her the moment he gets a glimpse of her pair.
"What? Imperfections I suppose." LeBlanc answers, sustaining her poker face, but at the same time trying to free herself from his grip.
"I see." Shen holds her wrist firmly.
"Can we please continue with the round?"
"In a moment."
"H-How about now?" LeBlanc suddenly begins to break character.
After about eight seconds, her cards begin to change, showing a totally different hand.
"Oh my, look at that. I accidently casted my mirror image skill on my own card... Would I lie to you?" LeBlanc gives Shen a nervous laugh then gets disqualified herself.
LeBlanc still enjoyed her winnings and wine with Elise.
"Looks like it's down to you and me, fox." Graves playfully says.
"Graves, you don't have enough to play. So Ahri is our champion." Shen nonchalantly says before tossing some blossom petals over Ahri in a stiff manner.
"What? I still have four gold." Graves argues, but is soon guided to a small sign that stated that the minimum bet is five gold.
"Yay." Ahri turns in her chips and rakes in 25,000 gold from Shen.
"Sorry, Shen. I was completely overwhelmed." Akali says with her chin resting on the table.
"A loss is a loss. Learn from it and you will be rewarded." Shen tells her then rubs her head out of pity.
Ahri witnesses this behind her mountain of gold and subconsciously touches her head after reminiscing about the times when she had her ears scratched in a gentle fashion that would put her to sleep almost instantly.
"H-Hey, I won here. I think I deserve as much." Ahri pouts, blushing more from embarrassment than frustration.
Shen pauses for a moment, but complies to her request; patting her head tenderly and slightly scratching behind the ears, causing her tails to wag. It wasn't long until Ahri took a nap after her little trance.
Ah, what a nostalgic feeling.
Ahri slowly awakens to find that she's been asleep for a few hours, but something got her mind off the sudden time skip. Everyone, except Akali and Shen, were still present, however they all appeared to be missing something.
"Woah, what did I miss?" Ahri asks the champions who were stripped all the way down to their underwear.
"Well, Shen suggested another high-stakes game of his choice." Twisted Fate answers, trying to act cool by leaning against the peach tree while wearing nothing but boxers with spades on them.
"It was Mahjong... and not the matching tile game by the way." said Elise as she makes temporary clothes out of spider silk up in the tree.
"Should've quit while I was ahead, but his taunts... My Destiny." Graves grovels while ruffling his hair over his shotgun that he foolishly wagered and lost.
"His talent to use our own stubbornness against us is indeed a hindrance, but there was no need for the pentakill. That includes Akali, who went home in the same condition." LeBlanc says from under the table.
"Wait, didn't I have a question for Shen?" Ahri scratches her head trying to recall that memory, but no luck since the sight of the champions proved to be beyond distracting.