Chapter 133:

"So, you ready for this?", Zach asked, and Ace nodded. The whole squad was waiting, and as the doors to the bus opened, they filed in, Zach, Noelle, Bromley, or Brom, as they called him, Nai, Win, Igor and Ace. Two students from each grade. They were all the best of the best, and Ace could not wait for the week-long training bootcamp they were about to go to.

The school actually endorsed this type of cram training for certain tournaments and events, especially team-based ones, since living together was great for team chemistry.

They did not have to fight together, but it would serve as a great time for them to try their best to at least attempt to cover their most glaring weaknesses.

They sat in the coach, it was extremely comfortable, probably cost just as much as about 100 average priced cars. The seats were wide, and seemed to have been custom fit for each and every single person there.

There were also wide tables, and the seats could actually move around to some extent.

It took about 10 seconds for Win to suggest gambling, and half a second more for Nai to pull out a deck of cards and some chips, declaring herself to be 'the house'.

Since they had first heard they were going to Las Vegas for the tournament. They had gone crazy.

All they did in their downtime now was gamble, from Poker to dice games, they called it 'training'.

For Ace, it was like getting candy from a baby. He had only played card games once or twice before, but in the past few weeks, he was playing everyday, for at least a few hours.

He was good at reading people, and this travelled over to games like poker wonderfully, he cleaned them out as much as he could. What Ace loved, however, was the fact that no matter how good or bad you were, you would always win some, and always lose some . It was the good players that simply won more than they lost.

They all got into the game, except Noelle who wanted to sleep. That made 7 people playing, they played Texas Hold'Em, and had fun while doing so.

"Pity we were not playing with real money, or I would have cleaned you out.", Win said, his smile forcing his eyes closed. He was Asian-Latino, and it showed, his hair charcoal black, and his skin quite tan. He always had a cherry smile on his face, even when Ace robbed him of all his chips.

"Bah, I would have played seriously if we were.", Nai said, and looked at him mockingly. She was Middle Eastern, and honestly, breath taking. She had some of the most attractive eyes Ace had ever seen, and they lit up everytime she laughed or smiled. Her dark brown hair was gathered in a ponytail, which shook as she mocked Win, making faces at him.

This was funny, since Win had pretty much beat her every round. However, she managed to spin it in a way, where Win was the one being bullied, instead of the other way around. The poor clueless boy, was just taking the abuse, attempting to come up with snarky comebacks, that Nai would never allow to land.

It was ironic, how someone who knew exactly what buttons to press was so bad at a game that relied on knowing people so heavily. She was by far the worst out of all of them, even if it did not seem so, since she always managed to sling the abuse at someone else, making him or her the focus of the jokes.

Ace laughed as he twirled chips in his hands, it was something he had found had interesting effects. Much like a swordsman twirling his sword. It showed a familiarity with your chosen 'weapon', that intimidated most people. Because of that, Ace had spent 10 minutes of his time, taking note of various things you could do with chips that had absolutely no real use. It worked great however, and clearly made people nervous- at least the people he played with.

A few twirls, and it would give the image of an experience player, one that was about to cash your whole bank.

They spent the trip like this, playing one game after another. Or at least they did until a few more people got tired, and then they did their own thing. Ace spent his time dealing for Nai and Win, who were playing a heated game of 21(or Blackjack), whilst he talked to Igor.

They spoke about what it was like to live in different countries, and Igor told Ace all about living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere in Siberia.

Igor told him that it was a great way to 'center your mind'. Hunting your own food, cleaning your own kill, he said it helped to show appreciation for all you had. Ace had never gone through the experience, but he assumed that it would be pretty humbling, you would find yourself not being the apex predator anymore, especially if you did not hunt with guns, as Igor said he and his family did.

Ace knew his grandmother would never allow it, but had already planned with Igor, that in a few years, Igor would take him to the little cabin in the middle of nowhere, and show him how it was.

If Ace did not die from the bears, he would probably die from his grandmother once he came back, but that was only if she found out...

***

"Wow, that was a long trip, all good though, we are finally here!", Noelle said, which was funny since she had slept through pretty much 95% of the trip.

"Ok, let's go.", Win said and jumped down the bus, completely forgoing the stairs, and running into the villa that had been prepared for them. Bromley, the silent giant, who almost rivalled Igor in size, followed behind, but in a more mature fashion.

"Dibs on this one!", Nai said, beginning another argument with Win, about who it was that and seen the room first. It was all solved, however when explained that girls and boys had different wings, so the rooms were pretty much already set in stone. Win was given a small victory once it resulted that he would be the one staying in that room.

Nai, had still been able to twist the story to her favour, and her room was now the clear better one.

"Oh god...", Noelle groaned, not looking forward to a week living with the two. "Well, I guess I can hut them everyday I guess..."