Kingdom of Human - gambling den - afternoon

Eyes moving around, eyes gazing right at me. The audience around me was staring at me with the prowess of an eagle. It felt as if making the wrong move would kill me . . . I was playing against the same guy that invited me to play. I've been beating his ass in a 4 game winning streak in this game. The game was a simple card game, you get five cards, you draw a card when it's your turn. To win a game you need to put out numbered cards that goes from 1-10. The person to put out a higher number wins. You can use more than one card, but that's only limited to using only three cards.

"17!"

My opponent put down two fives, a four and a three.

"Don't have anything for that, do ya, little boy?"

He was acting smug with a little western accent.

"Yeah, that's good, but check this."

I threw down two cards.

"Can you do me a favor and tell me what these say," I asked him with a smug smirk.

"18."

"That's right, the money's mine now."

I took all the bills and coins off the table and pocketed all of it.

"Wanna keep going? If so, I gotta say, you're not looking so good right."

"Y-you little..."

He put down the last card in his hand and gave up.

"Can I tell you a secret, my guy?"

I showed him what else was in my hand, it was just a four, three and a one.

"No ten."

"You son of a bitch!"

He tried to rush me but was stopped by the crowd, who had shuffled him out.

"That was a good bluff kid, but don't think that'll work on anyone else."

A man who was wearing a long, black overcoat with many belts on the front told me.

"I know but I knew it would work on him," I told him.

"Ha, you’re a clever one."

"Not surprising, so you wanna play too?"

"Yes, but I play with higher stakes; betting objects."

Oh, now this is getting good.

"Alright then, what are we betting?"

"My bike."

Oh yeah, now that is a good bet!

"Fine, but I got no items to trade, I'll give you money."

"Nah, how about those goggles on your forehead?"

When he said that I grab a hold of my goggles. I had these since I was a child, there was no way I was going to give them up. Although, even if I were to lose, it's not like I can't bail out hard.

"Alright, deal, my goggles for your bike."

I placed it on the table.

"Well alright then. Dealer, pass the cards!" We got five cards slid towards us. Taking a look at my hand, I can say it was pretty good."

"Best out of three for this game. It would be a bit lame to just end it after one hand," the man said. "Fine by me, you go first."

That way I can respond and beat him on the first hand. He threw down two fives.

"Ten."

Easy beat. I threw two cards as well. A six and a five.

"11."

The first round was mine.

"Not bad, didn't see that one coming," the man mockingly told me.

"I can already feel the wind blowing against my face when I'm riding your bike."

I still had a good hand with this ten and eight.

"Alright then, my turn."

Drawing a card, this leaves me at four cards and him three. I have a five and a seven, I'll use those to trip him up. I put down the two cards.

"12," I called.

"I fold," he told me.

"That's another win for me then!"

I was just one inch close to winning. That bike was as good as mine!

"Since you folded, I can go again."

I drew another card, leaving me at three. With this, I was going to end this with the eight, a two I just drew, then a ten.

"20."

This was it, I assured my victory. He was probably going to fold now and I'm going to be riding my new-

"21."

Huh?

"21?"

"21."

I looked at the cards on the table. a ten, five and a six!

"I guess that's one point for me," he said with a smirk on him.

"Hmph, that was just one play. I'll win the next time."

"I'm sure you will."

When I looked at my hand it was only then I realized it, I was out of cards. It was his turn to go and since he had no hand he was allowed to draw five cards. Was this his plan; to let me dwindle my hand while he had the best cards in hand? If so, it was damn good, and also damn irritating.

"I'll go easy on you." He put down a single card, it was a three. Since I didn't have a hand and I was only allowed to draw five on my turn. I could only draw one, for now and put it down immediately. I got three! I placed it on the table.

"A draw," the man said in surprise.

Now that I got a draw it was going to be my turn. I drew five cards. None of these were going to get me in the high double digits. I looked at the overcoat guy. His gaze was at me, he wasn't distracted by his hand, he was just looking solely at me.

"What's the matter, kid, getting scared?"

Damn it, he's mocking me now! I didn't have any cards to play to beat him. I could go all-in but if he has a ten, then I'm done for. What do I do then, just give up? Whatever, since it was my turn, I drew. Drawing possibly my final card, I looked at it, hoping it would be my ticket to winning . . .

"I fold," I bitterly called.

"I see. I guess it's my go then."

He drew one card.

"Can I ask you one thing," I asked with a saddened voice. "Can you at least hit me with an all-in. I don't want to go down with a whimper."

"Since you came close to winning, I'll end it with a bang."

He put his whole hand down. It was two fives, a three and another three and a six

"21. I'm sorry kid, but your goggles are . . . mine?"

I was laughing, no, chuckling to myself would be more like it.

"What's the matter, are you okay kid," the black overcoat man asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. In fact, you could say I'm happy I saw your hand. But I gotta say, you're one hell of a con artist."

"Thanks."

"But then again..."

I placed all my cards on the table. Three fives, a three, a four and a 1. 23!

“I know how to con as well.”

There were no words, nothing was said by the black overcoat sitting there with his hands in his pockets. He got up from his seat.

"Follow me," he uttered.

I did just that. We exited out of the underground gambling room. He led me towards a more obscure area. The feeling I got so far told me that he was going to try and jump me, and I was waiting for that moment so I could mess him up.

"Here we are."

We were in front of a shroud. It was covering something underneath.

"This is what you want, right? Take it."

He unveiled the object underneath it.

"This is it?"

What I was looking at was the bike that he offered me. It looked like a custom made enduro bike. The seat was where you expect it to be but the back wheel was poking out, away 1 foot from under the seat. It was held away from the main body or torso, or whatever you call it.

"This looks so awesome! I have never seen a custom bike like this before."

"It's one of a kind. It's supposed to be different from the other bikes made, and the reason for that is obvious the moment you try to ride."

"What happens?"

"Get on and see."

As he recommended, I got on the bike. I tried revving it on but nothing happened. Waiting, I was expecting the bike to see what the deal was. Maybe I got a piece of--

*Vroom*

The bike suddenly turned on but it felt a bit off, it was as if I woke up a beast.

"Better hang on, kid."

"Huh."

When he said that, the bike began to move on its own. I flew out of the alleyway and speeding down the streets of the kingdom.

"W-WHOA!"

The bike was faster than I expected. Note, this isn't my first time driving a bike, but this was ridiculous. It was going faster than any normal person could handle, and to make matters worse, there were people in my way.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

I had to pull back so I could make this thing stop moving. Instead of that, it steered left towards a building. It then unexpectedly scaled the wall. The wall under the wheels was being torn apart. The bike had ramped up into the air.

"Holy shit!"

This was awesome but scary as hell at the same time. The bike landed on the rooftop of a building and began riding along the tops of other buildings. This whole thing was getting out of control and I was trying to figure out how I was going to stop this all!

"Wait, hold on, there's no more roof!"

Beyond my control, the bike went off the roof.

"HOLY SHIT!"

The landing was hard, it felt like my ass was the thing that landed on the ground like a meteor hitting the ground. The bike was still ready to go.

"Wait, no, no! Don't you dare!"

Against my wishes, it went speeding off. It continued to cause chaos in the kingdom. Sooner or later, it was going to hurt someone and I needed to stop it before it did.

"That's it, this has gone on for long enough."

With all the strength I could muster, I pulled back on the bike while I put my left foot to the ground. It was fighting me to keep going but I wasn't the pushover that it believed I was.

"You had your fun, now I'm stopping you, god damn it!"

Pulling as hard as I could and pressing my foot against the floor as hard as I could. My shoe was beginning to burn up, but the bike was also slowing down. Knowing that I used every ounce of my strength to stop this mad machine.

"AAAAAHHHH!" With a roar, I pulled back as hard as I could. I wasn't moving anymore, rather, I felt like we were in one place . . .

"Did I stop this thing?"

We had finally stopped and I wasn't dead.

"W-whoa, now that was insane."

Throughout the many fights I've been in, the dangerous bikers of Newport and their wild ass riding style had nothing on this thing. It gave me the wildest ride of my life.

"Did you decide to play nice?"

Nothing happened when I asked. I'll assume that'll be a yes. Curious, I tried driving it on my own. Wouldn't you know it, it was moving the way I wanted it to.

"Oh yeah, you're a good boy."

With that in mind, I retraced my steps and drove back to the guy in the black overcoat. He had a dumbfounded face when I saw him.

"This is a crazy ride, I'll take it!"

"How did you manage to calm it?"

"Bit of gusto and youthful spirit."

"Impressive, not even men twice your size were able to tame this thing."

"Guess I'm different from those guys."

Sounds about right, I'm the real deal after all . . . I know I am.

"Wait, if you couldn't ride this thing properly, then why keep it," I asked him.

"I was in town with this thing to sell it off to the Kingdom, but they said they didn't want a piece of junk that didn't drive properly. So I was going to dump this thing off somewhere."

"But you used it as a betting piece instead."

"It just came to me as an idea before we played. If I lost then no hair off my back."

He's also one hell of a con artist.

“Wait, why sell to the kingdom?”

“I’m a merchant, so naturally I would sell items like that to the kingdom.”

“Wait, so merchants get to see the king without any hassle?”

“Not any merchant. The more respected ones are allowed, as to not waste our kings time.”

“Ah, so, what do you have for sale?”

“On me right now? Well, I only brought that bike with me since today was my day off, but I do have this.”

The overcoat merchant gave me a little rod that was the shape of a baton stick.

"Press the button beneath your index and middle finger."

Pressing it made it extend. It's a retractable staff.

“Sweet!”

“That’s 45,045 RELS.”

“Yikes, a bit pricey.”

“Gotta make money somehow.”

I added up the amount he asked for.

“All yours.”

“Thanks!”

“No problem, but if I may, can I ask for your name?”

“I’m Proxy.”

“Weird name.”

“I know.”

“. . . But I’m Avrie, a pleasure to meet and do business with you.”

As we shook hands I heard something coming towards us, it sounded like an engine. When it came closer I realized it was a bike. However, when it zoomed right past me I saw someone familiar on it.

"Richard!"

"PROXY!"

What in the hell is happening? No, that doesn't matter right now, I gotta stop those bastards! Just when I was about to speed off, someone got on the back of my bike.

"Drive after them!"

That voice belonged to Nunnalé.

"No need to tell me!" I revved up the engine to go after the bastard who kidnapped Richard.

"Thanks, for the bike and staff!"

“No problem, can’t wait to do business with you again.”

I drove off with the staff in hand. I quickly caught up to the bike Richard was on. This thing wasn't going at the ridiculous speeds that it was before, but it was still speeding down the streets like a bat out of hell.

"Nunnalé, why is Richard on some dudes bike?"

"When I was distracted someone kidnapped master. My carelessness could cost master Richard his life!"

She was troubled by this. She's always acting stoic to the part where it's weird, and while she still is, she was disturbed by this. I feel kind of bad for her.

"Hey, don't worry, we’re right on their ass. We’ll get him back."

"Really?"

"Like I said, we’re hot on their asses." We practically caught up with them. We are side by side of them. Nunnalé spawned her sword.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

I hit the brakes right when she swung.

"What are you doing? I had them in range?"

"Did you forget that Richard is on there? If you hit the driver then they'll crash and probably burn. You grab Richard when you can. Don't worry about anyone getting in your way, I got it covered."

We got side by side of them again. This time I was the one who was going to knock the thug out. I aimed my staff at the punk. I pressed the button to make it extend. It had hit him right in the forehead, making him fall off the bike.

"Get him," I yelled to Nunnalé.

She jumped to the other bike successfully. She then jumped off it and onto mine, with Richard in hand.

"Sup buddy," I said to Richard.

"Thanks, guys," he said to us.

"No problem. Now . . ."

I twirled my staff around in my hand.

"LET'S HOGTIE US SOME LITTLE PIGGIES!" I shouted, hoping that the bikers would hear.

Their screams would prove that they did . . .