Clash in the Mind
A Clover Guild Story
By Meowstic-anon
It's a peaceful, quiet afternoon in the Guildhall. At this time, most of the members of the guild are off to do their daily job requests from the Job Bulletin Board. A beautiful orange light from outside shines through the windows and illuminates the entire library. On one of the tables, Macom the Guild's Mareep Researcher, is minding himself as he reads through the report from his adventures with the Guildmaster and others at Crystal Cave a few days ago.
Aside from Macom, four other Pokemon were in the library. One of them is Booker, the Ribombee. He's taking a nap in a bowl filled with cotton after his usual job requests with his partner, Sneasel. Speaking of which, she's behind Charm's shoulders as they read through a book that they randomly selected from the shelf. Natu, on the other hand, is quietly staring at the door for some reason, and it has already been a couple minutes since!
"Raticate is such a coward!" Sneasel's voice echoes throughout the library, "Meditite can't lose to someone like that!" Then she notices that Macom is looking at her. She avoids eye contact with him and continues reading the book more quietly.
Shortly afterwards, the Guildmaster Meowstic, Lliam enters the library with a blank piece of paper in his hand. He approaches Macom. "Oh, Lliam, you're he-" Macom stops as he feels something ominous has befallen him. He looks up, and instead of the calm and somewhat jolly face that he has gotten used to, he sees Lliam with a serious face, giving off menacing vibes at the very sight of it.
"Is... there are proble-" and then Macrom remembered something like this having happened before. It was the time Lliam tried to 'hack' into Macom's mind with his psychic powers after he bragged he would get nothing out of it. That isn't entirely true because what Lliam found is a computer monitor; the area around it is reminiscent of a bedroom from the Human world, yet something felt off about it, or so he claimed. Within the screen lies a card game. What that game is is Lliam's guess, but Macrom said it's one of the video games he once played, though he remembered the rules of the game in great detail.
The rules of the game are quite easy to follow: There is the main deck, which consists of 9 cards per round. Each Green card is randomly assigned to the main deck with a range from 1 to 9 if the player chooses to end the turn without drawing a card from the side deck. To win, you have to reach a score of 20, or as close to 20 as possible, and the game is a best of 3.
Lliam summons a pair of scissors and a quill & ink from a counter with his telekinesis, and at a moment's notice, it cut through the paper into 10 pieces. He holds them all like playing cards. "I want a rematch." Lliam proclaims. "I need to enter your mind again."
It doesn't seem like Macom has much of a choice here, so he just reluctantly accepts the rematch with a hum. "Sorry, this will hurt a little... Just bear with it." Lliam stares intensely at Macrom's eyes until his own eyes start glowing in an aquamarine color. Looking at it the first time freaks Macom out, and while it still freaks him out, he is sure that Lliam won't mind control or kill him right off the spot.
Since they both have established a mental link with one another, Macom closes his eyes, and what he sees in his mind is a deck of cards to select from that same card game from days back.
There are multiple types of cards in the side deck:
The Blue plus and Red minus cards increase or decrease the total number of scores in that set. Their range is between 1 to 6. However, if the number is 1 or 2, the player can choose to add or subtract based on preference.
The Yellow flip cards reverse what's in the main deck. There are two types, 2&4 and 3&6. What it does is turn all the 2 and 4 numbered cards into -2 and -4 respectively, and vice versa.
Another type of Yellow card is the tiebreaker. It adds or subtracts 1 score and acts as a decider for who wins in the event of a tie.
Mareep looked at the deck for a while and chose his cards wisely. Meanwhile, Lliam writes down the cards he has chosen and calls Charm over to shuffle his cards. A bit gawky, but got the job done. Then they are given 4 of the cards out of the 10 from their side deck. But her job isn't done, she will be the referee where Lliam and Macom have to yell out what the cards say, and she will tally up the score for both sides and make sure it's the same as Macom's mind.
Mareep has a 2&4 Yellow flip card, a Blue plus of 5 card, a Yellow tiebreaker card, and a Red minus of 6 card, while Llliam has a Blue/Red card of 2, a 2&4 Yellow flip card, a 3&6 Yellow flip card, and a Blue plus 6 card.
And thus, the first match has commenced!!
Silence. They both took a deep breath, breathed in... and breathed out.
...
Macom: 4! End turn!
Lliam: 7! End turn!
Macom: 2! End turn!
Lliam: 8! End turn!
Macom: 9! I pick my Blue plus of 5 card!
Lliam: 4! ...End turn!
Charm quickly scribbles notes, "That's... 20! Macom wins this round! It's now 1-0!"
Lliam, who is slightly annoyed, insisted, "Next round!"
Those who lose the round get to be first in the next round.
Lliam: 8! End turn!
Macom: 2! End turn!
Lliam: 7! End turn!
Macom: 3! End turn!
Lliam: 5! End turn!
Macom: 2!? End turn.
"Low rolls... that can't be right." Macom mumbled.
Charm counts up the score, "Exactly 20 without drawing out a card! Guildmaster wins this round! It's now 1-1!"
Macom: 3! End turn!
Lliam: 2! End turn!
Macom: 6! End turn!
Lliam: 4! End turn!
Macom: 8! I'll use my 2&4 Yellow flip card!
Lliam: What the- 5! I'll draw out my own 2&4 Yellow flip card!
Macom: 2! End turn!
Lliam: 9! End turn.
Charm tallied up the scores, "Since Guildmaster has 20, he also wins this round! It's now 1-2!"
"That was too close..." Lliam comments.
Macom: 5! End turn!
Lliam: 3! End turn!
Macom: 6! End turn!
Lliam: 7! End turn!
Macom: 8! End turn!
Lliam: 4! I'll draw out a 3&6 Yellow flip card.
Macom: 5! ...I'll counter with a Red minus of 6 card.
Lliam: 7... End turn.
Macom: 1! End turn!
Lliam: 8. End turn.
"A close match! He won this round!" Charm presents her hands to Macom, "Just one more round and this game will reach its conclusion!"
Lliam covers his mouth, hiding his frustration, "I thought I had him... the game might be in his favor, but..."
Lliam holds his two cards, "I might have made a mistake earlier... should have drawn... Grr!"
Although Lliam is often level-headed, just like when he was a human, he had quite a competitive spirit—let it be video games or board games, he will do anything to win the game, and he couldn't handle a defeat very well after he put his efforts into it...
"Okay, continue." Lliam wipes off his sweat.
Macom hums in reply.
Lliam: 5! I'll draw my Blue plus 6 card right away!
Macom: !! 7! End turn!
Lliam: 3! End turn!!
Macom: 9! E-end turn!
Lliam: 5! End turn! (I'm close... overshoot it, please.)
Macom: 3! This is where I'll use this card! a Yellow tiebreaker card, plus 1!
"And Macom won!" Charm cheers, "Sorry, Guildmaster."
"Goddammit!" Lliam slams his last card onto the table, "Again!? I lost again!?" He then sighs, "...GG. Well played..."
"Well played." Macom replies, "But please, no more. I hate Pazaak!"
"Right, right. I... guess you'll tell when you feel like it. Curiosity really killed the cat, am I right? Ugh..." Lliam crosses his arms melancholically, "I lost... What do you want me to do?"
Macom thinks about it. "...Would you shear my wool when it gets too thick?"
Lliam was taken back, "...I might get shocks, but consider it done, though that was a weird order for a loser."
But ever since coming to this world, he has learnt from the Pokémon around him, so he actively tries to change himself for the better, a far cry from his run-of-the-mill librarian self. Though losing to the same person twice still hurts, moreso than the first time.
While those two were talking, Charm and Natu took their silent exit from the library.
"Did you rig that game earlier?" asked Charm.
Natu shakes his head, "Me? No, never! I just watched."
But Charm can see through his bluff, "Yeah, Yeah! You totally did it. You made Guildmaster lose on purpose!"
"But man... that sure was something! He's not like that when he escorted us!"
"Say, Smokey." Natu stops walking, "What if I tell you that while I was hijacking their minds, I found out where his diary is."
"Seriously?" Charm turns back, "That would be huge! Just a peak. I'm curious what Guildmaster is like. He tends to be so hush hush about it! So where is it?"
Natu hops to and fro, "But let's get back to our room first, then we'll talk about our-soon-to-be heist!"
Charm seems to be pumped up, "Then what are we waiting for!?"