ToT: Poker Face

The reflecting pool had gotten very crowded over the course of the day. Fortunately, Aveline had gotten there early. The beach was milling with activity, but not nearly as many people were underwater.

The bottom of the lake was like the night sky. Implausibly so, considering that it was mid-afternoon and the lake was only about thirty meters deep. Aveline decided not to think too hard about it, because the effect was pretty spectacular. She just swam around the lake bed. Not thinking about her problems, about the circumstances that had driven her to Tabira...

And certainly not about the chaos likely unfolding in the Wonder Room at that very moment.

____________________

"Read 'em and weep, full house!" crowed Blade. He took a celebratory swig of water while Roy and Rafael looked on with dropped jaws. Blade reached for the pile of coins in the center when David cleared his throat and set down his hand.

A royal flush.

Blade spat out his water and looked at the hand. David smirked, took a bite of his burger, and shoved the pile of coins into his corner, adding them to the much larger pile already there.

Samara cheered from the next table over, while simultaneously playing chess and sprinkling Spelon dust on her hot dog. As a result, she got checkmated by the Eevee she was playing against while simultaneously spilling the spicy powder all over the table. Her hot dog got buried in the stuff, and the Shaymin sneezed, transformed, and started yelling at her. Samara looked nonplussed throughout all of it.

Roy, meanwhile, was still gaping at the royal flush. "That's the fifth hand in a row you've won!"

Rafael eyed David suspiciously "What's your secret?"

David snorted. "My secret is that I'm good at poker." His noticeably raspier voice was the only remaining sign of the injuries he had sustained during the battle against Gilgamarsh. He took another bite of his burger.

The Houndour glared at him. "I don't believe you. You're cheating somehow."

"I think you've confused me with Samara" David said mildly.

"Hey!" shouted Samara, busily trying to wipe off some of the Spelon dust from her hot dog. She wasn't making much progress.

"Are you claiming that you don't cheat at cards?" asked David.

"Don't tell them I do it!" she shouted. She took a large bite of her hot dog, which had a lot of Spelon dust still on it. She maintained the glare for a respectable amount of seconds before breaking down and gulping at her root beer float to quench the flames.

"Don't try to hide behind some old married couple act!" said Rafael, not willing to let the issue go. "I got it. You're using your aura powers to read our minds or see the future or something."

David's eyes suddenly glowed a deep red as his aura flared up. "This is what it looks like when I use my aura powers. If I had been using them during this game, you would have only yourself to blame for not noticing it."

Rafael sputtered. "Then- then it's something else. You had an ace up your sleeve or something!"

David looked down at his clothing. He'd donned a keeper's uniform after his armor was burnt to a crisp by Gilgamarsh. Notably, it lacked sleeves of any kind.

Blade chuckled. "You're just mad because he won your carriage fare."

"No carriage fare?" said Silas, walking over with Kenneth and Penelope in tow. "Can't have that!"

"I'll pay for your ride home, if you need" said David.

"Nonsense!" said Silas "Deal me in. I'll help this kid win his stuff back!"

"Against David?" said Roy. "Yeah, no you won't."

"Sure I will. And I'll show you how in a moment." Silas gestured at Penny and Kenneth. "You two in?"

Kenneth stepped forward immediately, but Penny shook her head. "I'll just watch. I'm not losing any money to David."

"Same here" said Blade and Roy, handing in their cards.

"Suit yourself" said Kenneth. "So, what's this strategy you mentioned?"

"Even the playing field." The Lycanroc grinned. "Ethyln! Got an order for you! Need some top-shelf alcohol and shot glasses!"

The Emolga nodded. "Got it."

David raised his hand. "Also, another burger. Same details as the last one."

Ethyln looked surprised. "I only gave you the first one about five minutes ago."

David held up his empty plate. "That's what happens when medics make you spend two weeks living on nothing but cold split pea soup."

Kenneth shuddered. "That is just about the most horrifying thing I can imagine."

Silas laughed. "So, the rules are, whenever anyone wins a hand, they have to drink a shot."

David grinned, and Blade and Samara suppressed laughter. "You're on."

_____________________

Aveline arrived at the wonder room to find her team clustered with several others around a poker table. Kenneth, Silas, and a Houndour named Rafael were all clearly inebriated. David, who had a large pile of coins to one side and about a dozen shot glasses to another, looked perfectly sober.

Samara was grinning from ear to ear. "So, this is the part where I tell you all that Lucario, being steel types, have a natural resistance to poison. Including alcohol."

Kenneth pointed a wavering finger at David in accusation. "You tricked ush."

"Hey, I just agreed to the drinks" said David, clearly enjoying himself. "I never said they'd help you."

"A well-traveled bounty hunter really should have known that wouldn't work" said Blade, patting the Lycanroc on the back sympathetically.

"I really thought I had him that last round..." Silas said, mournfully.

"Well, I guess I'd better get these two home" said Penny. "Come one, you guys. You can cry over your hangovers in the morning."

"We'd better go too" said David. "I'm pretty sure none of you want to play poker with me anymore anyway."

"Never. Again" growled Rafael.