Fun with Triple Triad

I know it's been awhile since I've brought something to post on this site. I got sidetracked looking for a job for the last few months. I've now come home and I am working on new ideas for old stories. I haven't abandoned the ones I've started...just stuck on most of them.

But to explain this one shot; I was playing Triple Triad for several hours and then this idea evolved and would not leave me alone. The ending of the story is well worth the read. To explain Triple Triad I have taken some liberties with the actual rules in the game and tried to make them work as if they were actually playing it between themselves. Some of the rules are edited slightly, to make them work for this story. I know the explanation is kinda dull, but I tried to make the dialogue as amusing as possible.

On a tip from a reviewer I had a look at the story and realized that I forgot to save the changes I made before I posted ...oops. I've corrected the mistakes I could find but please point out any errors I might have missed.

I don't own Triple Triad or any character from Final Fantasy Eight. I hope the characters aren't too OOC here.

Squall knew he was in trouble the moment Rinoa suggested he teach her how to play Triple Triad. At first he had thought she had not been serious and had just thought up the activity as a way of spending more time with him. Actually Squall had hoped she had not been serious about the idea. But once more he found himself wondering why Hyne seemed to have it out for him as Rinoa showed up to his dorm at the appointed time, notebook and a pen in hand and a determined expression on her face.

Angelo trailed behind her master and did not pay much notice of Squall. The dark dog seemed to find a comfortable spot on the floor and was soon snoozing away.

It wasn't like he did not like spending his free time with Rinoa; he certainly enjoyed her company immensely. But some pass times with his girlfriend were far more enjoyable than others; and explaining Triple Triad to said girlfriend was not one of them. Politely Squall shut down that line of thought before it could become inappropriate and definitely before the notion he had been musing about caused him to become distracted from his explanation.

Besides, the last time he had blushed at some of his private thoughts, Rinoa recruited Selphie and both girls spent the entire day trying to pry the information out of him. Eventually he had sought refuge in the training centre and hoped the girls wouldn't follow. But no…they recruited Irvine and tracked him down. That had only been a week ago, and it still amazed Squall how focused Selphie and Rinoa had been in attempting to extract the information from him. Irvine had just laughed and watched as both brunettes followed him and whined. He had ignored both girls, but had glared at Irvine whenever the Sharpshooter even dared to chuckle….not that it stopped Irvine from laughing.

A week later he had another day off. With the stress of Commanding the Garden it was definitely time he needed to defuse and relax. Rinoa used the logic that the best way to relax was to spend time with people he loved. Squall agreed, but privately wished that he could convince Rinoa that it actually WAS romantic to spend a few hours in the training centre, depleting the monster stock. In fact brushing up on training was how Squall had pictured his day off. He certainly hadn't pictured himself sitting on his bed attempting to explain all the rules of Triple Triad to his girlfriend.

He wasn't good at explaining things, and he seemed to be exceptionally bad at explaining the game's rules in a way that Rinoa would understand. He had already fumbled through the rules once with Rinoa growing more and more puzzled as he went on. Squall explained it as he had read it from the rule book; quoting the book fairly regularly as he did. Apparently reciting the rules just did not work.

"Alright. I'll start again." Squall said finally.

"And it's going to be said in a way I'll understand, right?" Rinoa asked, frowning and nibbling on the eraser of her pencil as she spoke.

"I'll try." Squall responded with a sigh. "First when you are challenging someone to a game, you will be given an opportunity to discuss rules. The first rule you would want to discuss is the trading rule."

"…Trading?" Rinoa asked.

"If you win a game one or more cards are traded; depending on the rules agreed upon."

"Like what?"

"The most common trading rule is ONE. This means that if you win, you get to choose one card from the your oppoenent's hand. But if they win, they get one card from you. The second most common rule is DIFFERENCE. This means that if you win you get to take the equivalent of the number of cards that you control on the board and the number of cards you have flipped during the game."

"Meaning?" Rinoa asked, scribbling furiously as she did.

Squall sighed "Say you have six cards that you have either played or flipped. That would mean that your opponent has four cards under their power. You would get to choose two cards from their hand."

"Okay."

"The next rule is the ALL rule. In short, you get all your opponents cards if you win."

"Got it." Rinoa replied promptly once she was done writing.

"Are you sure?"

"…Yep." She said with a faintly more hesitant tone.

"You don't sound sure."

"I'll figure it out later."

"Alright." Squall surrendered. "The last trading rule is one I try to avoid; it's called DIRECT. This means that you get to keep any of your opponents cards you have flipped over; but they get to keep the cards they have flipped from your hand."

"That…doesn't sound good…"

"…It makes it harder. That and coupling DIRECT and RANDOM…" Squall trailed off.

"What?" Rinoa asked.

"Later." Squall passed that by. "Once you have determined the trade rule, you can then determine whether or not to play with the ELEMENTAL rule."

"ELEMENTAL?"

"Almost every card will have a picture on the right hand corner, if it has an elemental property. Some cards will not; and they will be blank. But for the cards that do have an elemental property you can determine what the element it is by the picture on the card."

"Got'cha. Like the Bomb card is fire."

"Yes. Most of the board will not be affected if the game is elemental, but sometimes several slots may be a different element. The handbook comes with a battle area."

"This thing." Rinoa responded pointing to the well used page.

"Yes." Squall agreed. "The handbook also comes with a four sided dice. This dice determines whether or not a slot is to be elemental. It must land on 'yes' for the second dice to be rolled."

"And if it lands on 'no?'" Rinoa asked.

"You move on to the next slot. It doesn't matter the order, but all nine slots must be rolled for before the game can continue. If it comes up 'yes,' the second dice must be rolled."

"And the second dice has all the pictures of the elements?" Rinoa asked, holding up the multisided dice as she spoke.

"That's right."

"Then what?" Rinoa asked.

"Usually beginners would not play with the ELEMENTAL rule and would immediately skip from the trading rules to the card selection rules."

"….Huh?" Rinoa asked.

"In short you can either pick the cards you want to play with directly, or play by the RANDOM rule."

"What's that?" Rinoa asked.

"You would shuffle all the cards in your deck and would randomly pick the top five cards."

"So…you could have really good cards or really bad ones?" Rinoa hedged.

"Usually you should end up with a mixture of both, if your deck is even."

"…And you?" Rinoa asked.

"We've already determined that I don't have much positive luck." Squall deadpanned. "If you are playing the ELEMENTAL rule and you are picking your cards, watch for the corresponding element. If you pick cards that correspond to an elemental property on the board and successfully play that card in the slot, all the number values on your card will go up by one. However, if you lay a card that does not have the same elemental property as the slot, all the numbers on your card will decrease by one."

"….Okay…." Rinoa replied. "I think I get it. It's like matching the pictures."

"Yes." Squall answered. "If you are not playing the ELEMENTAL rule than it doesn't matter what elements are on the individual cards you picked. When you are picking your cards, pay attention to the four numbers on the left hand side of the card; they represent the four sides of the card. For example the number on the top represents the top of the card, and the number on the right represents the right hand side of the card. 1 is the weakest number and 9 is the highest."

"But what about all the cards with A on them?" Rinoa asked cutting him off.

"A is higher than 9." Squall answered, biting the inside of his cheek as he did. "A card with an A on one side usually is undefeated in the game. A goes down to 9 if you are playing with the ELEMENTAL rule and use the card in a slot that doesn't match."

"Does A go up then if the elements do match?"

"I'm….not sure on that one. I think A is as high as it can go."

"So…there isn't an S then?" Rinoa asked. "Like Super-awesome?"

"What?" Squall had to ask.

"A stands for Awesome and S stands for Super-awesome." Rinoa explained back simply.

"...Sure." Squall agreed quickly, still puzzling over Rinoa's strange logic.

He would never understand her. Actually he would never understand females in general.

"Anyways." Squall said finally. "Another rule to be chosen before the game starts is the OPEN or CLOSED rule."

"What?"

"Beginners usually start with the OPEN rule. This allows you to see your opponents cards before they are in play. This also allows your opponent to see your cards."

"That doesn't sound good." Rinoa said thoughtfully. "I don't think I'd like that."

"It actually is easier because you can formulate your next move and your opponents possible moves after that; by looking at their cards and the numbers on them. If you are planning to lay a card to flip one of theirs, you might see that one of their cards can flip the card you are planning to lay. After seeing that you can decide to go through with the move and see if they go for your card or you can change your strategy and pick another card. Sometimes you have to lay a card as bait in order to win the game."

"So it's like a failsafe…if you're going to do something impulsive; it's like a warning?"

"Exactly." Squall agreed.

"...I'm impulsive."

"It's better to think things out before you play. No one's going to get mad if you think about a move for a few minutes before making it. In fact some players will sit for five to ten minutes planning their next move and any counter moves their opponent can make."

"Sounds boring." Rinoa muttered.

"Maybe." Squall said slowly. "The CLOSED rule doesn't let you see your opponents cards, and they cant see yours either."

"And that's flying blind."

"Yes. It can help, but you also don't know what cards your opponent has picked. The easiest way to play a game is to play with no more rules than that. This is the way beginners play. Going on from that, in the game itself -" Squall started before getting cut off.

"There's more!" Rinoa exclaimed. "My hand's beginning to cramp…I feel like I'm back in school!"

"I'll make it short. You won't really need to know these rules right away…but it's good to have the reference if you need it."

"Good for you maybe…more confusion for me." Rinoa muttered.

"….If you've had enough." Squall had to offer.

"No! I will learn this!" Rinoa shot back with a determined expression on her face.

"Whatever." Squall replied tolerantly, knowing it wasn't worth the effort to argue. 'She looks cute when she pouts.' He thought.

"Ah, a Squallism!" Rinoa said. "The first one of the day!"

"…The players then would decide who goes first. Generally it's the one being challenged that is given the right to choose." Squall spoke again, deciding to ignore Rinoa's bantering bait.

"Explain…"

"If you challenge someone that person has the right to decide if they want to go first or if they want you to go first. Or your opponent can choose to flip a coin and call it and have it fall to chance. Most often you will find that your opponent will choose to flip a coin."

"So there's a polite way of playing cards?" Rinoa asked.

"There's a polite way of how to go about it, yes. But everyone plays with their own strategies during the game itself. You don't want someone to decide not to play you again because you were impolite to them. It's considered more friendly to flip a coin."

"…Friendly…flip coin." Rinoa wrote down. "Seems like a subculture kinda."

"A little bit." He agreed. "There are ways of playing that are considered more polite than others. If you don't watch what you're doing and how you treat your opponent, win or lose, you may find that not many people will accept a challenge from you or will challenge you themselves."

"So they have to accept?" Rinoa asked.

"Yes. To start a game, the opponent has to accept the challenge. If they say no it may be because of the timing of the offer. If they are interested in playing later and are just busy at that moment, they can accept and specify a time when it is better for them to play. Its then up to you to make sure you can be there at that given time. Don't accept a rain cheque time if you aren't sure you can make it. If there is an emergency than the opponent will usually understand and accept that. But you don't want to make someone show up and then stand them up."

"Okay…rules….rules…." Rinoa scribbled.

"With the handbook you also get eighteen coloured blocks; there are nine blocks of blue and nine blocks of red. Before the game begins each player is assigned a colour. Usually the one starting will pick the colour they want to represent them."

"I'd pick blue." Rinoa added on.

"I figured as much." Squall replied. "The person starting the game will play one card on the board, in any of the open slots and that person will put one of their blocks on that card. The next person can then go and lay one of their own cards and put one of their blocks on it. The overall purpose of playing is to try to flip your opponents cards to your side. So you want to try to lay your cards in a way that can flip your opponents cards. If you flip your opponents card you would take off their block and put one of your own block in its place. This claims the card as under your control. It's up to you to remember which cards you picked out of your deck, if they happen to be flipped."

"Sounds…easy." Rinoa said finally.

"But you have to make sure that you are not leaving your own cards vulnerable to be flipped in return. Even the strongest cards can have a lower number on them. You have to watch where you laying your cards and what cards your opponent has in their hand and their possible counter moves."

"...Okay..."

"There are in game rules too. I…won't go over them briefly now as you…are glaring at me and rubbing your hand. Okay. Those rules are for intermediate and advanced players; I'll explain them later if you decide you want to learn more."

"Good!" Rinoa exclaimed and started to massage her hand.

"Did you get all of that?"

"…..All of what?" Rinoa asked hesitantly.

"All of the rules and regulations?"

"Ummm…"

"What I explained…?" Squall said hopefully.

"Ummmmm."

"Are you still confused?"

"Yes." Rinoa replied.

"On what?" He had to ask.

"All of it."

Mentally he slapped himself on his forehead and he bemoaned the loss of his rest day off. But he had agreed to try to teach her the game. Early on in their relationship Squall had realized that if there was one thing Rinoa was good at; it was making him agree to things he normally would never have agreed too alone.

"Well…Let's play a game and I'll explain it as we go."

"WHAT! NO WAY!!" Rinoa shouted backing away and shaking her head no for emphasis.

"…Why not?" Squall asked in puzzlement.

"I've seen your deck and I've seen you play! You have one of a kind cards!! NO WAY!!"

"Alright." He agreed. "I will take out any cards that would give me an unfair advantage and play with level seven and below cards."

"I don't know…" Rinoa trailed off. "You are the Card Commander…I'll just lose."

"The what?!" Squall asked in a low tone.

He had stopped sorting his cards and was now staring at her intensely. "I'm the what?" He asked again, hoping against hope that he had not heard her correctly the first time.

"Card Commander." Rinoa replied.

"…Why?"

"Dunno. That's just what everyone calls you. Kinda suits too…"

Squall buried his head in his hands and wondered how much more embarrassing life could get before Hyne had enough and targeted someone new.

"Well; you beat Quistis and everything…and they needed to keep the hierarchy so they added you as the Card Commander." Rinoa explained.

Squall sighed and wished he had never heard of Triple Triad much less learned to play it.

"Try playing one hand with me. It's easier to learn as you go anyways." He said finally.

"So all of this stuff I wrote down??"

"Keep it. We'll start off with the beginner rules."

"So OPEN, no ELEMENTAL, no RANDOM and trade rule ONE?" Rinoa asked.

"Yes."

"You…will not beat me too badly?"

"We're playing with the exact same cards. I won't have any more of an advantage than you."

"Yeah right…you just know what you're doing."

"Rin."

"I know I'm going to get trounced."

"Rin."

"Card Commander…" Rinoa mumbled.

"Rin…." Squall responded, biting back the embarrassed blush that wanted to form. 'How many people have started calling me that? I don't want to know…Maybe if I talk to Quistis she can change it…'

"Alright, Alright…I'll stop whining and play."

"You can pick your cards first." Squall offered nicely.

It was maybe ten minutes later that the game ended. Squall shook his head ruefully as Rinoa peered down at the mostly red covered board and then peered at him with a suspicious glare.

"You won." Rinoa pouted.

"Well…to be fair this was your first game; and you really need to play a few hands to get the feel of it."

"You flipped all of my cards." Rinoa continued, still in a deep pout as she once more peered down at the aforementioned cards on the battle area.

"I tried to warn you."

"I'm impulsive! I can't help my immediate urge to avenge the loss of one card without thinking that the next card I play is going to be flipped to!"

"It takes time to learn. We'll play a few more hands tomorrow sometime. You will learn how to play." Squall replied, copying Rinoa's earlier statement. "It just takes time."

"I'm sure you learned immediately." The dark haired girl still pouted.

"Well…I am the Card Commander." He said finally, knowing that hearing him say that would put her in a better mood.

Rinoa giggled slightly, but still did not take her eyes off of the cards played on the battle area. Squall couldn't help but feel relieved that Rinoa seemed intent on studying the board and not demanding to play another game. They had been sitting here for over an hour already and Squall was beginning to feel a little bored and he desperately wanted to go do something more active for awhile.

Suddenly the dark haired girl frowned and snatched up the rest of the edited deck he had left lying next to him on the bed. With an impatient air she started to sort through the cards, muttering to herself as she did. Squall leaned back, resting his back against the headboard and watched his girlfriend. Idly he wondered what notion had just popped into her head now; and equally wondered if it should be something he should consider being concerned about. Finally it seemed as though she had reached the end of the edited deck and Squall prepared himself for whatever notion had come to his girlfriend now.

"My Hyne!" Rinoa exclaimed in irritation. "Aren't there any cute monsters?! They're all ugly!"

"Well…" Squall frowned in thought for a moment before an idea came to him.

Causally he sorted through his level eight cards and picked out the one he was looking for and offered it to Rinoa. Staring at him suspiciously she took the offered card. Slowly her expression changed from the faint pout that was still present to a full out frown. Squall wondered if it was true that Rinoa was beginning to pick up some of his traits.

"Are you calling my dog a monster?"

And done. Squall should have considered that thought a little more closely before he acted. Review and tell me what you think.