Days passed without a word said to each other about their encounter or their abilities. Floyd's failure to mention the events made Saffron feel uneasy, but not surprisingly, she tried to hide her emotions from those around her.

The schoolhouse bell rang, signalling the end of the day. Saffron was going through her junior year of high school, having come back to reality after her ten year old self had gotten as far as she could adventuring. Like many at that age, she discovered that she was not a part of the elite 1% that could make pokemon training their career, and was forced back into the schooling system to become a functioning member of society. She got alright grades, but even at this point in her schooling she had no idea what to do with her life.

At the signal of the bell, she stood up from her plain wood desk and picked up her backpack from the off-white tiled floor. Classmates grouped together and talked of afternoon plans, then walked out of the room and building as if on auto-pilot, just like they did everyday.

"Hey Saff," called a female classmate as she stood in the doorway. "Are you coming to the Pokebase game tonight?" Her face glowed softly and sincerely.

Saffron shook her head. "No... Sorry." Her face conflicted with her tone of voice by showing urgency and purpose. "I already have plans."

The classmate paused for a second. "Okay, maybe next time then." She exited the room, jogging briefly forward to catch up with the rest of her group.

Saffron shrugged her backpack's strap closer to her neck for support. When am I going to finally tell them that I don't want to go to sports games? Should I just go anyways to talk to people?

She sulked out of the room and into the already emptying halls. Down the stairs she went, then finally out the main entrance, where a friendly face greeted her.

"'Sup?" asked Floyd, stopping his pacing and starting a suspicious grin.

Her eyes become slits as she glared at her friend. "I know that face; what is it this time?"

He lit up. "Go drop off your bag at home; I know what we're going to do today!"

-----

The two of them leaned against the side of her house on the back patio.

The orange soda can hissed satisfyingly in Saffron's hands as she opened it. "So," she said, "what do ya' want to do?"

Floyd gulped down some cola and let out a quick belch. "You know that small-ish casino downtown? Let's go to it."

Her eyebrow rose. "Even if we wanted to, you know we're not old enough, right? You have to be 18."

"Check your ID," he said with a smirk.

Still suspicious, Saffron pulled out her trainer ID and looked at it. "Hey, wait a second! This has your birthday on it!" She thrust it in his face to show him the anomaly.

He laughed and pulled out his own. It had Saffron's birthday instead of his. "Don't worry though, I can change them back with my Trick." He took their IDs and pressed them against each other. When he pulled them apart again, they were back to normal.

"What? You can do this sort of thing?"

"That's right," he said. "And it's how we're getting in!"

-----

"I can't believe we're doing this," exclaimed Saffron with a grin. "I haven't felt this excited since my gym battle here in Laverre!"

"Calm down!" Floyd shushed. "Just act natural." He stuck his hands in his pockets and treaded forward. He looked into the crowd of people beyond the entrance checkpoint and picked out a few people. Yep, they look like they're about 18.

They casually walked up to the guards at the entrance and pulled out their IDs. Floyd handed one of the sunglass wearing men his card.

The man looked down at it, then back at Floyd. "Yep, you're good to go," he said, handing it back.

Saffron handed the man hers next.

He eyed the card strangely, then looked up at her. "27, aye? Kadabra, double check this, will ya'?" He handed the card to his pokemon, who lifted it into the air with its psychic powers, investigating it in finer detail than any human could. The card floated back into the guard's hands, and the pokemon nodded its head. "Well... Uh... Sorry for doubting you miss. Have a good evening." He bowed and handed the card back to her, then motioned for her to pass.

"27?!" she snarled in a hushed tone to Floyd.

"It was hard to judge the peoples' ages from afar, okay? Luckily Kadabra couldn't find anything wrong with it, which makes sense because technically all the parts of the card were legit."

"Put your pokeballs in here," instructed a tired looking man, pointing to some bins.

They both looked at him funny.

"It's to prevent cheating via Pokemon," the tired guy answered.

They nodded compliance and gave him their pokeballs.

"We won't be needing them to pull this stunt," whispered Floyd. He waltzed forward. "So, to the Blackjack table?"

Saffron's heart skipped a beat as she considered the consequences of what they were planning. "I guess so."

They went over to a ticket window and purchased some gambling tokens to use. They stuck with just the low valued red and white tokens, and only spent the amount of money it would take to go to a fancy restaurant once or twice.

What was currently being used as a Blackjack table was in actuality a billiards table, but the game still worked the same. Saffron and Floyd chose spots on opposite sides of the table and sat down in the uncomfortable and tacky orange padded stools. They hopped in on the next round, with Saffron only putting in a single chip for her wager. Floyd, however, went immediately all in.

Eyebrows raised around the table as they watched the young newcomer confidently put everything on the line, taking it for a youth's naivety.

What is that boy thinking?! thought Saffron, kind of annoyed. I thought we were going to play it cool and start off small.

The cards glided across the green felt table top to each of the players.

Saffron looked at the two cards given to her. Blackjack: the game where you're goal is to get your hand to a value of 21. You can ask for more cards to try to get to 21, but if you go over then you lose automatically. Aces can play as either 1s or 11s, depending on how you want to use them. The dealer also plays a hand and follows a set of rules for determining when to keep accepting hits. If you get to 21, as long as the dealer doesn't also get 21, you win your money plus 50%. If the dealer gets a higher number than you, or if you get over 21, you lose your stake. If you manage to beat the dealer or they bust, then you get double your bet back.

She put her arms on the table and leaned forward analytically. This game truly is ideal for Floyd's ability. You can look at your cards and, perhaps why more importantly, you play against the dealer as opposed to the other players, meaning we don't have to worry about their suspicions. However, starting like that... Whatever.

After looking at his own cards and placing them face down on the table, Floyd cupped his hands in front of his mouth and blew into them as if he was cold. Within his hands and shielded from everyone else, tiny whispers of flames formed shortly lived symbols representing Saffron's cards. After they quickly disappeared, he rubbed his hands together to complete his facade. He smiled confidently.

Everyone around the table put their cards face-down. The dealer went around the table, letting each player play their turn.

"I surrender," said Floyd when it got to his turn.

The dealer grimaced. "Very well."

The entire table's eyes were on him now.

What are you doing, idiot?! Saffron mentally yelled at him. If you surrender you lose half of your bet! We haven't even played any rounds and you're already losing so much. She tried to not act affected by his decision as she reached her turn. It was their plan that Floyd would make her hand a winning hand each turn without accepting any cards, so she stuck with that plan.

Finally, the dealer revealed her hand: a perfect twenty one made up of an ace and a king. Everyone at the table frowned as they lost their money.

Saffron was in awe. Floyd, you idiot! You could have given at least one of us a perfect hand: you clearly knew the cards. Wasn't your whole ability swapping things? Can't you swap with the dealer's cards and win instantly? She looked at her hand that remained unchanged. I hope you're just trying to throw everyone off their game, because otherwise I have no idea what you're doing.

The next round started just like the previous one with Floyd going all in with the half he kept and Saffron betting a measly single chip.

Floyd fiddled with the cards in his hands, secretly swapping cards with others in the dealer's hand and the deck.

This round played out quite differently. Floyd asked for a card, then stopped. Saffron stuck with her hand, as she was asked to. The dealer ended with a hand value of 19, which is hard but not impossible to beat.

Wait a second... Saffron evaluated her cards as she flipped them over. This hand is worse than the one I started with! He made me lose!

He revealed his perfect hand and claimed his prize. He was now winning, while she was slightly losing.

She gritted her teeth. He's messing with me! She thought through ways to get him back, but one indisputable fact remained; Floyd had complete control of her hand and the dealer's, in addition to his own. When she puts her hand face down like everyone else at the end of the round before the dealer plays, she was completely vulnerable. Even so, she came up with a plan and bided her time, paying close attention to the movements of his cards.

The next few turns went as expected. Floyd racked up money quickly, doubling or more than doubling his money every turn as he continued to go all in. Saffron was continuing to lose a chip per turn, but she was running low. Everyone else had about average luck, after all, if Floyd played with their cards they would notice.

The entire table became tense. Money and pride was on the line and everyone was suspecting him of cheating. The players might not have been playing against each other but his suspicious winnings were being taken as making fun of the game they were playing, which is a huge insult to avid gamblers. Veins popped out of bald mens' heads and grips tightened. A few people even left the table but the most dedicated players stuck through it, hoping to be the one to call Floyd out at the first sign of verifiable cheating.

Finally, the slip up came as Floyd hid behind his growing mountain of chips. He fanned his cards out in front of him, then let out a risky sigh as if he was getting bored of his shenanigans. His expression was thrown for a loop into surprise as he realized his mistake.

Saffron's straight face upturned into a sly grin under her deathly glare at him.

A bead of sweat broke out as he looked at the now singed edge of one of his cards. He put his cards down on the table. I went too far and she got me in the end! She used the turbulence created by my side to light a flame flame and burn my card. He accepted his defeat.

Everyone around the table turned their faces towards the sky: their cards' faces that is.

She pointed an accusing finger at Floyd's cards and stood up. "I knew it! There's something up with his cards!"

A dozen eyes darted to the cards and noticed the error.

"Security!" yelled the dealer.

Beefy guards quickly came to her aide.

"This boy," the dealer said, "has a burnt edge on his King. I'm not sure how he did it, but he has surely cheated in this game, and that has something to do with it."

The guards nodded and scooped Floyd up by his armpits.

"Wait, get her too!" said a bald gambler, pointing at Saffron. "She came in with him, I saw him! They must be in cahoots."

Another pair of guards came from behind and picked up her as well.

"What? Why me too? I'm the one who pointed out the burnt card!"

"Keep quiet," said one of the guards.

The two were carried against their wills to a pair of large carved wood doors. They were let down, but were blocked from behind and motioned to walk through. They reluctantly pushed forward. Inside was a brightly lit room with luxury items on every countertop, table, and golden platter. Reclining on a couch with a Persian was a man with greased back ebony hair.

"So you're the ones that have been causing a commotion today," said the man. He set down his wine glass and stood up. "Show me your IDs... children."

Saffron and Floyd fumbled as they pulled out their identification cards that previously held stolen birthdates.

Do something Floyd, wished Saffron.

Sweaty hands delivered the cards to the man in charge.

"Do you think I wouldn't realize my birthday?" he said, looking at Floyd's card. "I can say for certain that you aren't 47 years old too. Admit it, you two are minors."

You idiot! Swap with the guards' IDs, not his!

Floyd smiled. "Alright, it's true. I'm 17 and she's 16."

"Floyd!" cried Saffron, aloud this time.

"What? It's not like he can't tell."

The man sighed. "I figured as much. Unfortunately, if it got out that I let minors gamble with real money, I'd have to face legal troubles, which I really can't afford at this stage. Guards, give them how much money they spent on chips and send them on their way." He grinned slightly. "I'm not going to let any troublemakers mess me up this time."

They were ushered out of the room quickly and handed their money back, then were forced out of the casino entirely and told that they were blacklisted, never to be let in again.

"Thanks for the fun evening!" exclaimed Floyd with a raging grin as the frustrated guards closed the doors to the building firmly.

Saffron turned to him and raised her fist. "Just wait until I get my hands on you... You did all that on purpose!"

"You bet I did!" he said, running away from his friend. "I know a guy who knows a guy who got his money back for being underage."

She immediately ran after him. "Get back here!" She was angry, but she was also smiling from the exciting experience.

Shortly afterwards, Floyd escaped with the sunset as his backdrop.

Out of breath, Saffron stopped and panted. "I'll get him next time."

***

From the Archives: Trick

User: Floyd

Range: Everywhere within sight

Description: Can swap objects or parts of objects when the action of swapping would cause no observable difference. Examples of this are the swapping of faces on face-down cards or the swapping of the ground under Floyd's backpack with the leaf covered ground under Clayton's foot.

Status: Active

***

A/N: And this has been Kyle writes insane card games part 2 ;)