I looked at my total score of -2 points, then looked around at everybody else.

  Ok, so, the first turn, Krath played a Jack Pot, meaning that the second turn, when Me, Second of the Snow, and Krath held a card for the next turn, only one of them had a Jack Pot. And that person is the only one here who knows I’m holding a Pit Fall since those were the only unique cards left. And even if I pulled two 10s, it would be 13 points. Which would be less than just a held Jack Pot and two ones, equaling 19 points.

  But who was the one holding it, Krath Nixm of Second of the Snow? No, a better line of thought would be, what would they do if they were holding it? I could see maybe Krath communicating with Second of the Snow if they had it, teaming up on me. But after that argument with Fifth of the Mist, I couldn’t see Krath being up to working with the yellow side at all.

  Though if Second of the Snow had the Jack Pot, it would be a different story. They were more cooperative, and even if Fifth of the Mist told them not to, they’ve been shown to have more of a back bone.

  So in the first scenario I was fucked, and in the second I was spit roasted, great… Wait, what If I…

  I tapped one of my cards, the 3, and Held it, like a Pit Fall or a Jack Pot, which I was pretty sure was only supposed to be for those unique cards. But, once again, nothing was stopping me.

  The other players looked at me with shock. And if any of them did the math and looked at the rules, they would know that there was still one Jack Pot in circulation. And that a Jack Pot cancels out a Pit Fall, but they hadn’t seen that happen yet, so none of us knew what that would look like.

  Then I mumbled under my breath, the noise would’ve been unintelligible if the room wasn’t completely silent, “Hmm, well, that’s annoying.”

  And I put the card back into my hand, making it seem like I wasn’t allowed to do that with the ‘Jack Pot’. Then I put my cards forward, betting two tokens. The only thing that could stop me was if one of the other players had gotten the Jack Pot. But to their knowledge, only one of the Unique cards could be Held, and I was known to ‘break’ the game in the past. But that was only if they shared that information.

  And, one by one, with careful consideration, all the other players folded, till I was the only one who put a bet forward. A system message popping up.

  “In the event that only one or less players bet, all players are forced to put one Deflection Token forward if they can.”

  “What!?” Krath said as a Token from everybody floated away.

  Which I found kinda rich coming from them, since they were the only ones besides me who had a Token left.

  Then the cards were revealed.

  Krath Nixm with a Jack Pot, and two 5s. Totalling 27 points.

  Second of the Snow with a Pit Fall, a 10, and a 7. Totalling 10 points.

  Urg Floaw with two 8s, and a 6. Totalling 22 points.

  Fifth of the mist with an 8, a 5, and a 9. Totalling 22 points.

  And I watched with glee as the other players saw my -2 points. And since I was the only one who actually raised, I was the one who received the pot of 6 Tokens, bringing my total token count to 10.

  The System announcing.

  “The players, Second of the Snow and Jacob Davidson, shall be questioned by Fifth of the Mist, Urg Floaw, and Second of the Snow.”

  The three who could question me did. Which I suspected was more out of malice than actually trying to get an answer out of me. Leaving me with 7 tokens, 8 throughout the entire game, leaving two more questions before the round would end when it dropped to 6.

  Then the system announced it was the third turn, and passed out the cards. Handing me a 10, a 6, a 2, and two 3s. 19 points, not bad, but not good. All I really wanted to do was stay out of the bottom so I could ask as many questions as possible, since I’m the one person they would have to ask to restart the round.

  But the yelling of Krath distracted me, “Cheater, you have to have had a Jack Pot or else you couldn’t have Held that Card. And you have to play both the cards when you get them!”

  I tilt my head, “Where does it say the second part?”

  “Uh, well! Well…” Krath sputters, then seems to be looking at something in front of them when there appears to be nothing. Which I suspect to be the ‘Lucky Leg’ rules, then admits, “Ok, you have me on that part; Agreement. But you must’ve had an extra Jack Pot, you must’ve cheated to gain it; Statement."

  My mind catches on a weird bit of wording, “Must have had an extra, I could’ve just gotten the Jack Pot still floating around? Unless… Don't tell me you have the Jack Pot now? Eh, Krathy.”

  There were 25 cards drawn every turn, and there had been 26 cards in the remaining deck. So the odds would’ve been low for the Jack Pot to not have been drawn.

  Krath Nixm stiffens for just a moment, but saves it nearly immediately, and says, “Just phrasing,” but I already caught onto them.

  “Oh, come on,” I said in the most infuriating voice I could, “You don’t have to lie to me, I’m just a little guy. What could I possibly do to something like you?”

  Krath was about to do something stupid, but to my annoyance, his teammate Urg stopped them, saying, “Look, Nixm, you can hold regular cards.”

  They said, demonstrating it, and soon everybody replicated it, ruining any chances I could use the same trick again in the future. Then it was time to make decisions, I decided to Raise one Token, and Krath did too, the other unable to bet since they didn’t have any Tokens. And the cards were revealed, the scores being.

  Krath with the Jack Pot I suspected, but since their only other cards were a 2 and a 3, they ended up with a total of 17 points.

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  Urg Floaw had 20 points.

  Second of the Snow had 14 points.

  Fifth of the Mist had 18 points.

  And I came in with my 19 points, taking the pot since me and Krath Nixm were the only ones that Raised, and I scored higher than him. So then the top two players questioned the bottom two.

  Fifth of the Mist asking Krath, “What are all your Core Skills?”

  I feel a headache coming on at the stupid question, but Krath Answers, “My First skill allows me to burn whatever material is in my body as fuel for MP and EP. The Second one lets me consume as much food as I want, and easily convert it into body mass. And my third Core Skill allows me to consume elements such as Fire and Dirt to feed myself.”

  Then Urg Floaw asked Second of the Snow, “What is your greatest weakness; Question?”

  Second of the Snow answering, “My weapons and armour, they’re connected to my soul, so if they’re damaged, some of that damage will reflect onto me.”

  After they’re done answering the questions, we waited for the next turn to be announced, but in its stead, something else did.

  “Error, unforeseen happenstance. A player has gained all of the Tokens, the event has been deemed disrupting and in need of user input.”

  “Waiting.”

  “Waiting.”

  “Waiting.”

  “Input has been detected.”

  “An amendment to the rules has been made.”

  “In the event a player gains all of the remaining tokens, and the number of tokens hasn’t reached the minimum of six. The game shall automatically reset, and the next round shall commence.”

  My first thought was.

  Yeah, this entire game thing definitely wasn’t thought out if they didn’t even think of that. I’m surprised they hadn’t just shut it down at this point, considering how many bugs I was finding.

  My second thought was.

  Fuck you! I was going to dominate them at definitely not poker, you bitch!

  But I had to grumble to myself as all the cards and tokens were taken, then redistributed evenly. I looked at my cards, then mentally slammed my head into a table over and over again. I had somehow gotten four 1s and a 2. This was quite literally the second worst hand possible without the Pit Falls, but I suppose I didn’t need those to do my best Lily Philips impression.

  Then I looked over to Fifth of the Mist, who was right next to me, and had an idea that I didn’t really like. But I didn’t have any other, so I asked the system to create a one on one voice channel. A system message popping up.

  “Would you like to create a one on one voice channel with Fifth of the Mist? They are not one of Terra's contestants.”

  Yeah, why else would I be doing this?

  I mentally click the yes button.

  “Are you sure?”

  Jesus, YES!

  I spam the yes button like a madman, yelling, “I said yes!”

  Then a familiar voice said, “Um, Jacob Davidson, can you please not be so loud?”

  “Oh, sorry, uh, just let me check one more thing,” I turned to Second of the Snow, saying, “Hey, dumbass, look at me.”

  “I would ask you to refrain from calling my team mate a dumb buttocks.”

  “Oh, uh, yeah, of course, I just did this to ask you one question.”

  Then an awkward silence passed in between, then Fifth of the mist said, “So, what is this question?”

  “Oh, right, sorry, I forgot to ask it.”

  Then another silence passed, and I saw Fifth of the Mist about to remind me again before I actually did what I was planning to do, “Oh, Jesus, I'm an idiot. I was going to ask if we should team up and all, at least for now, till we can get the other game.”

  “Mmm, I don’t know…”

  “Come on, I did you a favour earlier, as long as we promise not to do anything that would harm each other.”

  “I’ll have to ask my team mate.”

  “All right.”

  Then I got a message from the System.

  “Fifth of the Mist has left the voice channel.”

  Then I wait as the Wasp and Ape talk it out, another system message soon popping up.

  “Fifth of the Mist and Second of the Snow want to join a voice channel with you. Yes or No?”

  I accept, yes, and say, “So, what’s the answer?

  Second of the Snow cross their six arms on top of each other, “I tentatively agree to this on my honour.”

  Then Fifth of the Mist says, “... I too promise on my Honour not to betray you.”

  “And I will do the same,” I promise.

  Second of the Snow coughs to get attention, “Um, can you promise to do it on your honour, it’s the tradition for a proper promise.”

  “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know. I promise on my honor, and uh, back at my home the proper way to seal a deal would be done with a handshake,” I said, not really knowing why I said it, “But uh, I don’t really have to proper equipment for that, I said, wiggling my legs around a bit, “Also, I think that would give away our alliance to the other side.”

  “That makes sense,” Second of the Snow said.

  “Ok,” I started, “So, I'm going to Fold, I got four 1s and a 2 if you can believe it,” I said, another awkward silence descending as the other two didn’t respond for a moment.

  Till Fifth of the Mist said, “I got a rather bad hand, so I’m going to Fold as well.”

  It took another moment, but Second of the Snow said, “I got a decent hand, so I’m going to try my luck,” Then they put forward a Token.

  The turns results being revealed, Krath won the pot of two, the two lowest being me and Urg Floaw. But I didn’t have to sacrifice any Tokens due to the only two people who could question now being on my side.

  The next turn, I got a Jack Pot, and held it, the suspicion of Krath directed at me, trying to determine if it was a bluff. I also asked Second and Fifth what their cards were, and they revealed them, even telling me the numbers.

  Yeah, some trust is finally being built up.

  A little twist in my gut forming at the thought, but I pushed it down. Instead, I played around with the setting of the voice channel, as I was bored waiting for the others to make a decision, having Folded a while. One of the weirder settings being able to make the channel public ot all, but my attention was diverted from that when everybody had made their decision.

  The results of the round were Second of the Snow winning the pot of three, Fifth of the Mist and Krath ended up in the bottom. Both of them having to sacrifice a Token, due to me and Urg.

  Then the third turn came around, and I looked at my cards, a 9 and a 7, mixed with the held Jack Pot, that would be 33 points in total. A rather safe bet, then I turn towards the yellow side.

  Asking in as steady of a tone as I could, “What are y’all’s cards?”

  And as they answered, I turned off the privacy setting, letting everybody hear as Second of the Snow answered, “I got two 5s, a 6, a 1, and 3.”

  Then Fifth of the Mist said, “I got a 10, two 4s, a 1, and a 7.”

  Krath and Urg look at them, one of them saying something I tried not to hear, the alien body language of a giant wasp and a six armed ape making it clear enough.

  Then I said in as cold a tone as I could, “Sorry, guys, but there’s only one way for me.”