Catch-22: The Gambling Table
By: M14Mouse
Summary: Keycards…shadows…and a little bit of card counting.
Disclaimer: Don't own them.
"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." — Henry Ford
"We are going to get some keycards. Despite what she said, she is going to make it a pain in the ass to get around," Futaba said as the group gathered by the elevator.
"I sense several different shadows to have different keycards. I'm 100 percent sure that one of them is guarding the member keycards as well," He noted.
"Plural? There are more than one?" Akechi asked.
"Probably. It is likely that she handed them out once they reached member status," He said.
"Support Buddy and I believe that they are blanks until she puts a name on them," Futaba added.
There was a moment of silence. The group was staring at him and Futaba rather strangely. What else were he and Futaba supposed to do on their time off?
They also had to change their plan with his shadow friends. Not that they couldn't follow a plan, but Daito refused to stay behind. He wished that he would tell him what was bothering him but the little slime was strangely quiet on the subject.
It was a risk to involve them, but their presence will still throw Akechi off his game.
"Anything else you like to add?" Makoto said in slight awe.
"She rigged the games," He noted.
"That isn't too surprising. Do you know to what extent?" Akechi asked.
"Every single one of them has been rigged in one way or another. Some of the shadows have very particular orders," He replied.
"Beside our eyes in the sky, I can sense that she rigged the games and the machines. I won't be able to analyze them until the next floor but Support Buddy is right. She has her hand on everything." Futaba added.
"Shit…then how are we supposed to get to her?" Ryuji said.
"I can imagine that they are working around," Akechi added.
"Right and we will find the trick to them. We have Oracle and Sensei on it," Ren said as Futaba saluted Ren.
"Although, it does bring a very insightful question, does these same alterations carry over to the real world?" He said.
"What do you mean, Sensei?" Haru asked.
"Sensei thinks that Sis might be tampering with the evidence or her cases in some shape or form in the real world," Makoto said before she turned away from the group. She shouldn't be ashamed. It wasn't her fault.
Although he knew his student, she probably thought that it was.
It was something to look into in the real world but he wanted to ask Akechi and Makoto if they knew anything.
"I haven't seen anything, but Sis is rarely home nowadays," Makoto said.
"I don't see any evidence at the moment, but Gambler is right. It is something to investigate later," Akechi said.
"But right now, we need to move on before she drops something else on us," Ren said.
The group mumbled in agreement before staring head toward the back area of the casino. They need those keycards to gain access to the other areas. Of course, he and Futaba could…in theory…steal them for the group.
They needed their strengths for the other parts of the palace.
Besides, as they made their way through the back area, it was nice to see how well everyone worked together, even Akechi. Although, he did notice that Akechi stood separate from the group when they stopped for breaks.
Even with everything going on, he was proud of his students.
Finally, they made it to the room where the membership cards were held. Of course, a shadow was guarding the cards.
Of course, his shadow friends were trying to get a keycard.
They could do without hanging the guard upside down with cords.
He gave them points for creativity.
"Give us the keys! We want to plaaaaay!" Ivy said excitedly.
"You have to be a member!" The guard shadow shouted.
"We aren't members of your stupid club. We want to play or would you rather die for me?" Mint said sweetly.
"You can't protect anything if you die, right? Besides, we are fellow shadows…come on! We just want to play on the shiny machinessssss!" Ivy said as he grabbed the shadow's suit and started shaking him.
He could hear Futaba's snickering behind him.
"Uhhh…Should we do something?" Akechi said confusedly.
"No," Yusuke said.
Akechi looked at Yusuke then Ren for answers.
"Just give them a minute…they might do the work for us," Ren said.
"Yes…I want to play this Russian Roulette that humans keep talking about," Mint said cheerfully as she pulled out one of her knives.
"If you cut him up, he won't give us the keycards or put our names on it, Mint. See! He had a name thingy! Besides, Sensei might need him. I don't know what for but he might be important!" Ivy said happily.
"Uhh…Should someone…I don't know…explain?" Ryuji said.
"You are welcome to try," Haru added.
"You know…you have a point but then again, so do I," Mint said as she showed the shadow her knives.
"I wonder who this Sensei character is," Akechi mumbled.
"That would be me. Mint, Ivy…what did I tell you about playing?" He said mildly.
"Always make sure that they are dead?" Mint said as she and Ivy turned around.
"Always make sure that you get their money and items?" Ivy said at the same time.
He chuckled softly.
"True on both accounts but what else?" He said with a hum.
Mint and Ivy looked at each other then them. Mint's eyes light up.
"Finish what you started!" Mint said happily.
"Good," He said proudly.
Ivy and Mint tended to get distracted by…well…everything which led to fires, screaming shadows, and an upside-down Nom Nom. So, he has been teaching them to focus with mixed results.
"So, we get the keycards…," Ivy said.
"And our names on them," Mint said.
"Then steal all of his items and money…"
"And kill him!"
"YAY!"
"YAY!"
"You guys just get the blanks. I can put your names on them," Futaba said.
"Thanks, Oracle!" Ivy said.
"Is that…wise?" Akechi asked as he watched Ivy climb on the shadow to get the blank cards, items, and money. Mint laughed like a manic as she started pulling out another knife.
Futaba shrugged.
"Probably not but it will keep our lovely manager busy if we let them have their fun," She said.
"Oracle! We got them!" Ivy said as he showed her the blank cards from the shadow's pockets.
"Alright! Let me get to work," Futaba said as she took the cards and went to the card machine. It only took her moments to make their member cards then started handing them out to the shadows and Ren.
"YAY! Okay, Mint! Die for me time?" Ivy said as he turned to his companion.
Mint nodded eagerly.
"You might want to turn around for this part. Mint can be rather…messy," He said as he turned around.
He heard the others follow suit then a loud scream from behind them.
"All done, Sensei!" Mint's voice behind him.
"Good job, Mint and Ivy," He said as he turned back around to see nothing by dangling cords from the ceiling.
The pair beamed.
"Okay! Let's go, Mint! Fun time!" Ivy said with glee.
"Yes! Bye, Sensei! Bye, everyone!" Mint said with a wave.
He watched the duo disappear out the door.
"That was…interesting," Akechi said with confusion in his tone.
"My shadow friends often are a little bit confusing, but Mint and Ivy are the easy ones to understand," He said.
"There…are more?"
"Of course."
"How many are they?"
"The number changes. Some shadows come and go," He said truthfully.
It was true. In the beginning, shadows would come in and out in their little group. Now, the numbers are pretty stable but he won't tell Akechi that piece of information.
"Interesting…"
"Okay, guys. Let's go. We have what we need," Makoto said.
The group nodded as they made their way toward the door.
"What about the extras?" Akechi asked as he lingered behind the group.
"Trash them," Futaba said with a shrug. He watched Akechi slip a card into his pocket before getting rid of the rest. His eyebrow rose slightly at Akechi, who smirked slightly then waved his hand in the air.
Ah…Akechi has a plan.
The group made its way back to the elevator and Ren put the membership card into the elevator. It didn't totally surprise him that Sae's shadow was there when they exited the elevator. She has a tight leash on her palace much like the count room in the real world.
"Sis!" Makoto said as Shadow Sae approached the group.
"You wanna just get this over with right now, huh? That makes this easy. Bring it on," Ryuji said.
"Do not speak to me as though you are my equal. I am the manager, as well as its number one player. Now, you lack the qualifications to fight me," Sae said.
He had a feeling what the qualifications are…he was sure that the group wasn't going to like it.
"It would seem she looks down on us," Yusuke pointed out.
"And what if we would like to battle you, no matter what?" Akechi said.
"I had to win time and time again in order to reach my number-one rank. If you want to face me, you must continue to win as well," Sae said.
"Continue to win?" Haru asked.
"If I take a guess, she has a goal for us in mind to reach. It doesn't matter if it is coins or barriers. We must reach those "qualifications" to face her," He noted.
"Agreed…it will match with her palace…her casino," Akechi agreed.
The shadow turned her attention away from the others and looked at them.
"Correct. Do you have the confidence to win?" She asked the group.
"We might pull the rug out underneath you if you aren't careful," Makoto said.
"I don't expect much from you…but I'll be waiting," Sae said as she snapped her fingers and disappeared.
He didn't bother to turn around when he heard the elevator move up toward the other floors.
"This is different from our prior opponents. She'd rather scheme than defeat us with brute force…" Morgana noted.
"We were right. There are more floors," Futaba mumbled to him.
"I wasn't expecting to come all of this way to a Palace to gamble," Yusuke said.
"Lucky for us. We have Sensei," Ryuji said.
"True! I mean I know nothing about this," Ann said as she wandered over to the slot machines.
"And how do I know that I have such knowledge?" He said amusedly.
"Because you're Sensei?" Haru said.
Futaba and Ren snickered behind him. He chuckled.
"I did some research," He said.
He did some research once he and Veles formed a contract. After all, cards were his method of attack beside his sword. He needed to know everything about how his cards worked. His cards rely on luck but there are ways to manipulate the draw…sort of speak. Card counting was one of the methods that he learned to help balance his luck in his favor.
"Gambler, is there a way to manipulate the system in our favor?" Akechi asked.
He hummed softly.
"Slot machines and dice…probably not. Oracle believes that there is a mechanical lever or device in place to prevent anyone from winning too much. Cards might be our best bet," He noted.
"Huh? Why?" Makoto asked.
"You plan to count cards," Akechi said with a chuckle.
"Card counting?" Ryuji asked.
"Wow…Support Buddy, I didn't know that you had it in you," Futaba remarked.
"It isn't illegal but they frown on the practice. They might kick us out if they catch you," Makoto noted.
"No, she won't," Akechi and him said at the same time.
"Why not?" Ann asked.
"We beat her system. While she will shack the odds against us, she would undoubtedly be impressed when we manage to beat it," Akechi said.
"That lines up from what we have seen from her shadow too. We didn't get kicked out when we "handled" her security either," Morgana said.
"It is probably a good idea if we tackled this separately. Sensei and Crow will scout the card tables while we check to see if we can hit the switch on her machines," Ren said.
"Good plan! I will communicate with you guys when we find something or if we need to come back here," Futaba said eagerly.
"I will do the same," He said.
He gave a little wave to the group as he and Akechi went toward the card tables.
"There aren't any card machines. So, we're good on the card counting aspect of our plan," He noted.
"Truly." Akechi said.
"I didn't know that you knew how to count, my friend," He said.
"Some aspects of my job can be a little dirty. Besides, like you, it is a useful skill to have. It is a test of observation and math. A mark of a detective."
"Then let's test our skills, shall we?" He said as he tipped his hat.
"Aren't you going to ask? Where will our winning go?" Akechi said.
He grinned.
"I'm sure that the card in your pocket will aid us in that."
Akechi chuckled.
"Should we compare notes? Taps, perhaps?" Akechi said.
"It will work because they might think that we are nervous more so than signal each other. One tap…one value…no taps, zero, etc?" He nodded.
"Excellent. Shall we?"
"We shall."
He and Akechi took a seat at the nearest table. He waved to the dealer to deal them in. It took them a few hands to get into their rhythm of play and their method of communication.
After a time, he almost felt sorry for the dealers.
With each new table that they moved to, their skills and methods of communication improved. Taps become nods of the head or tip of the hat or mask. It is almost a game between them more so than the house. Who gets the better hand? Who gets the largest number of coins?
It wasn't a palace. He would almost say that he and Akechi were having fun.
During the last hand at their third table, he heard Oracle's voice.
Alrighty! We found her devices and got us some coins from the dice machines. How did you guys fare?
Quite well, I believe.
He answered back at Oracle.
….
What the….How did you two manage that amount?
He grinned at Akechi, who waved back.
Both of us knew that luck was on their side.
End of The Gambling Table
Next Chapter: The Walls Where Memories Burn Deep
A/N: Akechi and Yu left to their own devices can be a dangerous combo. At least, no one died. :D This time. We are slowly making our way to that moment. It only took me a 100+ chapters to do it. Oppps. Anyway, thank you for the reviews, favorites, etc.