Well this would be good for ratings, at the very least it would convince a lot of fence sitters to order the PPV. But why would she enter a poker tournament?
♠♥♣♦
Like any good military unit The Ikari Warriors played poker while off duty, with the players rarely changing. Around the table players judged old faces and old tricks and tried to invent new ones to catch an opponent off guard.
The blue haired woman had the largest stack of bills in front of her, keenly observing her opponents. Ralf’s eye twitched, he had a bad hand. Clark’s glasses may have hid his eyes, but it didn’t hide the small amount of lip he chewed on. From old observation that meant he had a bad to moderate hand but might try and bluff. Whip fingered the edge of her cards while tilting her head to one side then the other. Decent to good hand, may be a problem. Leona took another look at her hand, a pair of Aces♠♣, King♠, Jack♠ and Queen♠. This was a problem. Should she ditch her face cards for a chance at more aces, drop the ace of clubs and hope for a spade or hope for a ten? And if the risk didn’t pay off could she bluff?
All these thoughts ran through her head at an astounding speed. After half a second of hesitation she dumped her ace of clubs. Whip dealt her a card.
Four♥. Leona resisted the urge to bite her lower lip, a clear giveaway to a bad hand when done by her, and forced herself to grin slightly. ‘At least I can afford to bluff’ she thought to herself as she pushed a sizable stack forward.
Ralf caved in and folded, and Clark thought for a moment then folded as well. She resisted the urge to widen her grin, her bluff worked on the two men but Whip was still in the game. She matched her bet with a raise, and a sizable one at that.
Leona called locking eyes with the woman across from her as she matched the raise.
They stared at each other for seconds. Leona felt a drop of sweat trail down behind her ear.
Seconds passed. Whip’s eye twitched nervously.
By the minute mark Whip said only one word. “Fold.”
Grinning widely Leona pulled her winning to her as the door opened, letting Commander Heidern, base commander and her adopted father, into the room. “Sorry to interrupt, but I need to see Leona. Come to my office once you’ve collected your winnings.”
”Yes sir.” She said, stuffing the cash into a handbag as the Commander left, leaving the door open. Before leaving she tossed her hand onto the table, not noticing as the cards landed face up.
Three sets of eyes landed on the cards. And three mouths uttered one word. “CRAP!”
♠♥♣♦
“You wanted to see me sir?” Leona said, saluting as she entered her father’s office.
“Yes, and relax, don’t need to call me sir all the time.”
“Yes... father.”
Smiling warmly the Commander tossed a flier to Leona. “Since you’ve bluffed the weeks pay from my soldiers you’re best suited for this one.”
Picking up the flier Leona looked it over. “A Strip Poker Tournament?”
Nodding the Commander stood and turned to look out the window. “The dealer is one Ranma Saotome, our sources have IDed him as a very talented fighter, perhaps as good as Terry Bogard was when he was Ranma’s age.” He nodded at his daughter’s whistle and continued on. “Since he started at his new job Ranma has become something of an attraction there. He will also be the dealer for the tournament.”
Turning back around he faced his daughter who was still looking over the flier. (And a picture of the dealer) “NESTS maybe dealt with now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else tried another stunt like they did or resurrected NESTS itself. To make sure a NESTS like group can be dealt with again we need to get new fighters into the King of Fighters tournaments, especially if the... ‘stakes’ are high.”
Folding the flier under her arm Leona nodded. “What do you want me to do?”
“Enter the tournament. I want you to... get to know him, become his friend, and this is the best opportunity to meet him as it stands. You can ask him to meet you after the tournament, to practice poker or martial arts, whatever. Just get his trust and feel him out, see if he’ll pitch in, just in case the KOF tournament is sponsored by some crazy person or origination. Again.”
Nodding again Leona saluted, although a bit more relaxed. “Got it. Anything else I should know about?”
“Not at the moment, just... get something nice to wear. It’s going to be on pay-per-view, I won’t have one of my soldiers, let alone my own daughter, play in a tournament poker match looking like a grub!”
”Yes sir!”
♠♥♣♦
1. Tèa Gardner
2. Michiru Kaioh
3. Haruka Ten’ou
4. Kasumi Tendo
5. Urd Megami
6. Leona Heidern
7.
8.
Only two slots left. Who else will enter?
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(Posted Thu, 04 Aug 2005 18:34)
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