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The Shark House - Chapter 9 - Razzmatazz

Word had gotten out around the world that Popful Kitty had returned through Freddy's news show, Razzmatazz could no longer ignore it.
Eager to see himself the very person who stole his title of King of the Arcade, Razzmatazz ordered a homecoming at the Quarter Bros Arcade, the fans lined the red carpet as Razzmatazz emerged from the limousine with short blonde hair, sunglasses, a cane and a glass of his terrible energy drink, dressed in a formal white military coat.
"Jesus christ Nero, you look like a pimp" Dawn shaking her head in digust.
"We're no longer on first name basis Firestorm, just tell me where Popful Kitty is!" Nero was in no mood.
"Poppy is not here, she's already moved on to her next job, honestly you could've just looked at her god damn Wikipedia page instead of showing your traitorous face here!" Dawn's eyes glow yellow in anger.
The lights from the manager's room glows at the two gamers indicating to break it up, as the red mist cleared, a tense meeting between Nero and Dawn occurred later in the bar.
"So you're telling me I lost to a five year old girl?" Nero was twitching getting close to snapping.
"The only thing that scares me is how quickly she picked up a game she's never played before, if she took this seriously, she'd easily wipe out both our teams, I hired her for Polygon Express and she accepted but whether she turns up at the majors is anyone's guess" at least Dawn was more calm.
"Is she really part of that dumping ground the Shark House?" Inquired Nero.
"She is, don't even think about trying to buy her around, she's just a hard worker who wants to pay off her debt her way and don't pull any bull shit in trying to force her to play against you, you've already got two strikes for harassment and no amount of crypto is going to buy back a banned account" Dawn's eyes glow yellow again.
Nero broke his wine glass and snapped.
"I am the Razzmatazz! I am the hype! I am the one true arcade king! Not this meek pathetic marathon runner! When the time comes, she'll be wasted! I'll make sure she faces the most humiliating of defeats!" Nero storms off in anger.
"I'd laugh my ass off, but it sickens me how pathetic you look Nero, Lazeld must be turning in his grave right now" Dawn leaves the arcade, shaking her head trying to hold back tears.
The next morning over at the beach area, Poppy arrived in her Mini, waiting for her was Lisa standing next to her motorcycle.
"Okay Poppy, you've got a whole morning to complete the delivery route, try not to get yourself killed out there" Lisa popped on her helmet and rode off.
Popuri wondered why the route was so dangerous.

The Shark House - Chapter 8 - Intrepid Cave Troll

Freddy who worked the Helpdesk at Quarter Bros constantly paid attention to Poppy's work week, when the work day was done, Freddy would return to his apartment packed full of stone statues of Lord of the Rings characters and a setup rig for his weekly news show, Troll News hosted by himself under the name Intrepid Cave Troll; he had a more promising career as an influencer only for an NFT scheme to go horribly wrong and throw him into endless debt, he blames Razzmatazz, another influencer and gamer for the incident and uses his platform to get any chance of insulting him; suspecting that Poppy is the same Popful Kitty that destroyed all Razzmatazz's arcade records 18 years ago, Freddy secretly filmed Poppy during her breaks when she was allowed to play with the other arcade patrons.
"Good evening, this is Intrepid Cave Troll with Troll news with a hot scoop directly from the Quarter Brothers Arcade, Popful Kitty, the very gamer who destroyed the old records of Razzmatazz has returned to the arcade, now we've heard the Razz preach many times that Popful Kitty is the ultimate gigachad but trust this Intrepid Cave Troll as the identity of Popful Kitty is none other than Canadian Marathon runner Popuri Meadows, yes Razzmatazz, the person who destroyed all your records 18 years ago, is not a 6ft tall gigachad with a beard that can light a firework, no! You lost to a five year old girl, who barely games anymore and is from the Shark House of all places, now then Razz, what will you do, Firestorm already signed her to Polygon Express, your Empire is about to crumble" Freddy ended with a sinister laugh.
A kick on the door from Lisa who just returned from a delivery quickly shut the cave troll up.
Popuri was also outside with her cat on her shoulder having just returned from the common room with a snack.
"Ignore the troll, he's always like this every Wednesday night" Lisa pet Poppy's cat Karma and went to her apartment.
Poppy just blinked and went back to eating her cookies.

The Shark House - Chapter 7 - Cat's Eye

Popuri started her 2nd shift at Quarter Brothers and immediately she was inundated with requests to play with all the customers prompting Dawn to step in and break up the crowd.
Later on lunch break, Dawn was able to talk properly to Poppy.
"Popuri Meadows, daughter of former Gracies model Michelle Meadows, half Canadian, half American, has represented Canada as a marathon runner at both the Rio and Tokyo games finishing top ten in both, you hold the record for youngest olympic marathon runner. So what is a marathon runner doing in a place like this?" Dawn's research had been thorough, when Popuri could finally talk she explained her debt problems and how much she owes in University tuition fees.
"Yikes, no wonder you ended up in the Shark House, well I can make this easier for you" Dawn pushed forward a card for her gaming team "Polygon Express" asking her to join her pro team, Popuri says she'll think about it with Dawn saying she'll need an answer before the first major in March.
After lunch, the subject came up about Poppy's eyes.
Popuri at the age of four once got lost at the cat shelter during the night, she was scared and didn't know where the house was, she was pounced on by one of the elder cats and batted in the face, she doesn't remember much after as she found herself in front of the house when she woke up, from there her stamina and reactions were significantly higher than before, in fact it wasn't until she stood up to a high school bully that she realised her blue eyes changed colour, almost like activating a superpower. Popuri then asked how Dawn got her yellow eyes?
"I had major eye surgery when I was a child, had to replace both eyes, it saved my vision but the side effect of the donor eyes gave me this unique ability to heighten my senses when under pressure, I found out later that the eyes I have were completely bionic, I still need glasses to adjust my vision like adjusting a camera lense" Popuri was fascinated by Dawn's story and even felt a bit of a kin ship with her, Popuri agreed to join Polygon Express on the condition that it doesn't interfere with her part time jobs.
"Trust me Poppy, you'll be out of Shark House by Christmas"

The Shark House - Chapter 6 - The Undying Golden Girl

The arena at Quarter Bros was shining like a Coachella concert, Smash Zone existed as an arena fighter where home made avatars battle in the arena using a headset to control the characters, the blonde woman revealed to be Firestorm, a pro gamer had sent in her character, a swordswoman shining with a gold aura wielding a large sword sparking off fire, Popuri having never played the game was scrambling to make a character settling for a basic design resembling her real life build.
"Has she really never played this game? She aced Witch Hunt without trouble yet, that build is something a ten year old would make" the blonde girl confused as to how someone with such inhuman reactions could look so amateur.
Poppy was ready to go and the match began, Firestorm attacked but Poppy avoided the attacks, it took several attempts to even get a strike on her when Firestorm finally forced her back with her sword.
"Now it makes sense, this system picks up on athletic ability during the character build, she has good evasion and decent speed, she's also working out the game as she's playing, see if I can push her buttons" Firestorm immediately split her character into several clones and launched a storm of fire surrounding Poppy, Poppy's character finally got a lightning punch in which does heavy damage, Firestorm's body just glows more golden in response; in one slice of her brilliant sword she unleashed a shower of rose petals which all ignited and exploded which finally scored a heavy hit on Popuri.
Popuri struck Firestorm in several places but each time Firestorm glowed a more intense gold.
"She's so fast but she has no clue how I operate, guess I overestimated her ability" Firestorm prepared her sword with a large wave of fire and unleashed her attack on Popuri with one impressive swipe of her Golden Blade leading to an explosion of fire, when the dust settled Firestorm found that Popuri had catched her sword, Popuri's eyes opened and they were glowing yellow like a ferocious tiger. Popuri then thunder punched Firestorm so hard, she almost ringed out.
"Her eyes, so that's her secret, now it's fun!" Firestorm shined perfect gold as her eyes turned yellow like Popuri's, Popuri was shocked to see someone else with yellow eyes both characters disappeared into an epic speed battle neither one wanting to yield, the crowd were in awe of the battle and even the system was finding it hard to keep up with the two fighters.
"What's your name cat eyes?" Firestorm asked.
"Popuri Meadows" Poppy replied.
"The Olympic Marathon runner from Stardust Meadows, that gift of yours is powerful, I'm Dawn Shriners" Dawn spoke as both characters were KO'd, the crowd cheered the battle as they both got out the booth.
Dawn enthusiastically throws up Popuri's arm in triumph.
Popuri was exhausted, it was only her first day.

The Shark House - Chapter 5 - Quarter Bros Arcade

Bayside has a unique history in that it's addicted to competition, everything from the arcades to the rampant speed races on the surrounding highways, Bayside will always find something worth competing for, Popuri arrived at the Quarter Bros Arcade expecting to see the quirky little arcade from her youth, now it's a multi-story technology park run by pro gamers and influencers, a little intimidated by the loud noises and constant flashing lights, Popuri went to the staff area to prepare for her first shift, her only job is to assist tech support and make sure customer pay cards are working properly and maybe give out the occasional prize.
When Popuri finally got on her break, she looked through her bag to find her original Quarter Bros Arcade ID but it looked so tattered she had to go get it changed, luckily another Shark House resident worked here, his name was Freddy and he worked technical support.
"Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you Poppy, I was busy with team drafts this month so I've had to work late" Freddy looked as scruffy as Quint except Quint grew up in the 70s, Freddy looked like he barely tries.
"Thankfully your fingerprint still works, everything is on your new card, give it a try on a game" Freddy handed back Poppy's card.
Popuri looked for a game and found one she used to play, booting up her card, her username "Popful Kitty" appeared and quickly got started, she was playing an old bullet hell shoot-em-up called Witch Hunt, as she played, all her memories of the game came back as the movement of the joystick got faster and faster with each stage, her performance was starting to attract attention from nearby gamers, some were whispering loudly, many pointing out that Poppy hadn't been hit by a single bullet.
A blonde woman not much older than Popuri in a black long coat and sunglasses was also taking notice.
"I never seen anyone no hit clear Witch Hunt before, hey helpdesk, what's her username?" The blonde woman startled Freddy who was in awe of Poppy's skills.
"Um, Popful Kitty, she hasn't played in 18 years but her records are incredible, I've only ever seen Razzmatazz with such high score history" Freddy went deeper into Poppy's history.
The crowd cheered when Poppy cleared the game and nailed the best score by a country mile.
The blonde woman walked up to Poppy and declared "I challenge you to a Smash Zone Battle"
Popuri startled by the request.
"I should probably get back to work my break is over" Popuri was about to leave when the main stage lit up with Popful Kitty vs Firestorm.
"Looks like the boss approves, I'll give you a few minutes to set up your fighter" The blonde woman walked over to her booth.
Popuri baffled by how fast things were going struggled to understand the situation but since the boss approved it, she must go through with it.