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Everyone went to the big game store on 4th Street. It was two floors of pure bliss for those looking to play games of every shape and size. Unfortunately, everyone went to the big game store, even people like Paul Stones. The second he walked in the door every Sunday at 9:00 am, all eyes were on him, hoping that today was the day he’d turn around and leave, but he never would.
“What you looking at?” He sneered at the onlookers as he sauntered in. A group of four that was engrossed in their card game mere moments before looked at him bitterly.
“Get out of here, Paul,” one of the players stated.
“Don’t get your panties in a twist four-eyes,” Paul snickered, “I ain’t here to ruin your fun. I’ve got my own shit to do.” He walked past them, ignoring their glares.
“Not again,” another player groaned as Paul stomped up the stairs to the second floor. He’d long since burned up his goodwill with the tabletop clubs downstairs. Now, the only people who’d even give him the time of day were on the top floor, the arcade. Paul scoped out the area until he found his mark. A bunch of kids, not one among them old enough for middle school, were plugging away at a well-worn arcade cabinet, Team-W vs. The Favor Crusaders. It was the fighting game of the decade when it came out 25 years ago. Lucky for Paul, he’d been playing at that exact machine for over half those years.
“Well, if it ain’t you squirts encroaching on my favorite machine,” Paul smugly approached the kids as they finished their current round.
“Ah, man, it’s Paul,” one of the kids muttered.
“Buzz off, Paul, we were here first,” the biggest kid snapped at the much older and bigger man.
“Oh, is that so? Well, you know who my dad is, right?” Paul grinned. The kids wavered, even they knew Paul’s dad was not only the landlord but also a fairly important man in their small town. It went without saying that Paul had license to get away with quite a bit more than one should. “Tell you what, if one of you kids can beat me in a round, you can play all you want. I won’t bother you.” The kids stood in contemplation for a moment. It was a rare deal that Paul offered a chance to get him out of your hair. Unfortunately, they took the bait.
“You’re on, Paul,” the biggest kid stepped up to the plate.
“Alright, but if you lose, you can’t touch this machine ever again,” Paul snickered. The kid hesitated for a moment but stood firm in the end. As the scene played out, another watched it from afar in the manager’s room. The owner bit his nails as Paul and the biggest kid squared up for a game. Paul had been a thorn in his side for a long while, but now he had gotten into the habit of issuing these “win or leave forever” challenges. The teens and adults rarely took him up on it, but the kids would all fall hook, line, and sinker. Most of the kids who lost just stopped coming to the game store.
“I can’t stand this,” the owner admitted.
“Then tell him to knock it off,” the manager replied. “You’re the owner. Take a stand for yourself.”
“I’d love to, but do you honestly think Paul became like that on his own?” The owner asked. “He takes after his father, and if push comes to shove and I confront him on this, Paul’s dear old daddy will make my life a living hell.”
“So, you’re just going to let him run off all the kids and turn this place into his personal playground?” The manager glared at her boss.
“Right now, it’s let him get his way or lose my business. Paul Senior has done far worse to people who’ve given him less grief,” the owner lamented. “I’d give anything to get rid of him, though.”
“Maybe if you-” The manager began, but the phone ringing interrupted her. She grabbed it and answered, “4th Street Game Store, how may I help you? Huh?...Sure, I’ll tell him,” the manager turned to the owner, “Boss, someone on the phone about a Miss Lea and an Alice coming to see you right now?”
“Huh? Lea and…? Oh no, I nearly forgot,” the owner panicked. “They’re an odd pair, and they said they’re interested in the game store. I think they want to invest in the place, but if they see Paul making a scene…”
“That’s the thing, they’re here right now, as in walking in the door, I think that’s them waving to us,” the manager pointed past the owner. The older man turned and looked across the room; coming up the stairs was a pair of women fairly overdressed for the establishment. One was a tall blonde woman in a sun dress holding a closed parasol over her shoulder. The second was an even taller woman with short auburn hair in a suit fit for a ‘men in black’ movie. The former waved at the owner, while the latter seemed annoyed with the crowd gawking at them.
“This is bad. I have to-!” The owner moved out the door, but he was too late. Paul had just wrapped up his game with the kids, and it wasn’t even close.
“Them’s the brakes squirt, now beat it, all of you,” Paul demanded.
“What are you talking about?” One of the other kids huffed.
“I said you all can’t touch this machine ever again since he lost. That was the deal, now get lost,” Paul proclaimed
“Nah, you said he couldn’t. You didn’t say anything about the rest of us,” the other kid snapped.
“Not my fault if your ears don’t work and you put all your hopes on this loser,” Paul laughed. “Now, shoo, I’m gonna work on my high score.” The kids tried to argue, but even a half-dozen kids vs one Paul wasn’t a fair fight. Not that they could fight him without getting thrown out themselves. As far as they knew, Paul could punch someone in here and get away with it, thanks to his dad.
“Please don’t notice,” the owner rushed over to meet his two guests, but the two women were clearly focused on the scene unfolding in plain view. “You two must be Lea and Alice. It is a pleasure to meet you two.”
“The pleasure’s all mine,” the blonde replied, “but who’s that unpleasant man picking on the children over there?”
“Oh, that’s…Paul, his father is the landlord, and… there’s not much I can do about him,” the owner admitted.
“My, my Alice, we’ve been here but three minutes, and there’s a problem,” the blonde, Lea presumably, commented.
“Well, my Lady, if that’s the case, why don’t we-” Alice began.
“No, I like the look of this place,” Lea interrupted her companion, “it reminds me of the game store in the town I grew up in. But this…Paul has to go.”
“Um, ladies, I understand your concern, but there’s little I can do,” the owner admitted. “Paul Sr. is quite the influential man.”
“Don’t you worry, I’ll deal with him myself,” Lea declared and marched towards Paul.
“W-what?” The owner was flabbergasted.
“Oh dear, not this again,” Alice rolled her eyes and followed.
“Now for some me time,” Paul snickered as the kids shuffled off upset. Paul didn’t even continue playing the game. He just hogged it, treating it as nothing more than an armrest.
“You, boy,” Lea jabbed Paul with her parasol, “do you find the suffering of children amusing?”
“Ow, who’s the wise gu-? Oh, hello,” Paul changed tones as he got a look at his new guest. “You wander into the wrong store, toots?”
“I’m right where I intend to be, but there’s a problem,” Lea replied, “I just can’t stand your face. Do us all a favor and leave.”
“Ha, I don’t know who you think you are, lady,” Paul mocked her, “but you clearly don’t know who my dad is if you’re starting beef with me.”
“I know exactly who you are, Mr. Stones,” Lea parried, “and the less said about your absolute character of a father, the better.”
“If you know who my dad is, then you know there ain’t nothing you can do to make me leave,” Paul laughed. “Don’t you have a shoe store or something to be in right now?”
“Now, now Mr. Stones,” Lea leaned towards him and whispered, “you know better than to make trouble, less your father bail you out of another situation. Like with the governor perhaps? Or maybe that ‘ex-girlfriend’ of yours and all the money funneled into her bank account?”
“How in the hell do you know about-?” Paul almost yelled but quickly stopped before he incriminated himself. At first, he thought nothing of this woman, but now she gave him a chill. Something told him he couldn’t afford to ignore her. “What do you want, lady?”
“How about a game?” Lea smiled, “And since you seem so fond of all-or-nothing bets, how about stakes on top of it?”
“Pfft, what?” Paul kept his cool. He found this whole situation ridiculous, but a part of him really didn’t like where this was going.
“How about a round of Team-W vs The Favor Crusaders?” Lea sauntered up to the machine and slid her finger down it. “It’s been far too long since I’ve gotten a chance to play a serious match. Oh, how I miss those early days of the first version before they removed Human Hurricane’s infinite.”
“That’s…” Paul muttered. The “HH Infinite,” as it was known online, was something of a legend in the arcade circles for decades. It wasn’t until about five years ago that a rom dump of the game’s first version confirmed the infinite combo even existed. Even then, that was very niche info because everyone played on the revision 2 version of the game these days. The arcade cabinet in front of them was running on the same version. “Don’t try to sound clever. What’s this stupid bet you’re talking about?”
Meanwhile, the owner and Alice watched the exchange from nearby. The owner was bewildered by the whole thing, having no idea how Lea was getting Paul to fold. Alice was still just as exasperated as before and watched the situation unfold with disinterest.
“How about, if I win, you never touch this arcade cabinet again? And if you win, I leave you alone?” Lea proposed with a knowing look.
“Not happening,” Paul shook his head.
“Why? You seemed perfectly content making that deal with those children,” Lea pointed out, “or was that because you knew you’d win? What don’t tell me you’re scared of a little friendly competition? Or being beaten by a girl?”
“I don’t have to prove anything,” Paul turned his nose up at her.
“You know, I’m sure the Governor and his daughter would love to know what actually happened that day,” Lea threatened in a low voice.
“Fine, you’re on!” Paul snapped. Now he knew something was up, but he wouldn’t let this girl walk all over him. “But if I win, you take whatever you think you have and burn it and never breathe a word of it to anyone.”
“You have my word,” Lea held her hand to her chest. “Now let’s play.” The two stood adjacent in front of the cabinet, Paul on the left and Lea on the right. Both popped their quarters into the slot, and the machine jumped to the character select screen.
‘This’ll be easy as pie, there’s no way she’s actually old enough to have played this back in the day,’ Paul assured himself, ‘I bet she learned everything from internet videos and the wiki, no practical experience. Which means she won’t be ready for someone with real skills.’ He picked his team quickly, Terror Tyrant in front and The Truth as his second. Both were top tiers in the game’s meta and villains in the game’s lore. ‘I’ve been mastering TT combos since high school, and Truth is so tanky and oppressive to fight against she’ll never get close to a victory.’
“Let’s see,” Lea hummed as she browsed the select screen, but she didn’t pick until Paul finished his selection. When he locked in his choices, she swiftly picked her duo.
“Hendrix and Oblivion Girl? Really?” Paul snorted, those two were both mid-tier at best. He didn’t even remember the last time Hendrix won a tournament on any team, and Oblivion Girl was known as one of the most complicated characters to play with little reward to show for it. Both were popular characters outside the game for sure, both being heroes in the lore, but that just made many players frustrated they weren’t better. On paper, this match was already in Paul’s hands.
“Meta sheep,” Lea stuck her tongue at him like a child, and Paul grimaced.
“Don’t come crying to me when you lose,” Paul snorted as the game announced the match.
“Terror Tyrant and The Truth vs. Hendrix and Oblivion Girl,” a splash screen presenting the characters faced opposite flashed in front of them before shifting to the round start.
“Kneel before my power!” The Terror Tyrant character on Paul’s side of the screen declared. He was a massive figure with a trench coat over a suit of black armor, a black and white mask, and a helmet with big demon horns. His character was known for his incredible psychic powers and being the main villain of his franchise. If you ran your hand along the screen, you’d be at risk of cutting yourself from the edginess.
“Nice to meet you, sir,” The Hendrix character on Lea’s side curtsied. She was nothing more than a teenage girl with long twin tails in a maid-styled waitress uniform. The only thing going for her was her power to turn inanimate objects into candy that could be used as goofy weapons. Her character was known as the lead heroine of Favor Crusaders and acted as the franchise’s cutesy mascot.
“Enjoy your loss,” Paul declared as the round started. He quickly input a special move and had TT throw an orb projectile to begin applying pressure. He planned to follow up with a few variable high and low attacks to mix up his opponent.
“Ha,” Lea giggled as she input an odd button combination. Hendrix leaped over the projectile with an angled jump that Paul had never seen before and she descended down with a knee drop. The Tyrant was clipped by the attack, and while he was stunned, Lea quickly moved into performing a short combo that left Paul’s character with a third of his health gone and flat on his back.
“The heck was that!” Paul growled.
“You used the bog standard meta opening for TT, anyone would have seen that coming,” Lea didn’t even look away from the screen. “And didn’t you know Hendrix had an angled jump? It’s not on her move list. It’s more of a hidden mechanic to give her an edge against more mobile characters.”
“Don’t get cocky,” Paul warned as he moved in to perform TT’s command grab. It was an infamously overpowered move that was hard to dodge and harder to punish, and it opened up the foe for a follow-up combo. Yet, Lea’s just had Hendrix backdash out of the way and throw a rock candy projectile of her own. Paul’s attack whiffed and he lost more health for his trouble.
“Now enough playing around,” Lea dashed in to capitalize on Paul’s mistake. He saw her approach and tried to retaliate with TT’s heavy punch, which hit overhead, but Lea input a frame-perfect parry to negate the attack and started another combo. This left Paul with maybe a quarter of TT’s health left.
‘How did she parry that? It’s like she knew I was going for the overhead,’ Paul grit his teeth and input the command to switch characters. TT was bleeding, but if he got him in the back his character would recover some of the lost health.
“No running now,” Lea declared as she pressed her advantage. The Truth had maybe been on screen for five frames before she punished the clumsy switch in with another combo, ended with snap back, forcing The Truth into the backline again and bringing out Terror Tyrant. “And now for the finish,” she input another combination, unleashing Hendrix’s super attack. A barrage of giant rock candy assaulted the screen, and TT’s health hit zero.
“Why you!” Paul shouted as he input The Truth’s super attack as soon as the game would let him. The Truth was a large character, more of a monster than a person, with a hulking frame, two giant wings on her head, and a slab of stone as a weapon. Her super attack was a flying charge that dragged the foe into the air and threw them back to the ground with the stone before body slamming them with the stone as the finisher. It did tremendous damage and was unblockable, but the startup was slow and interruptible. It might have caught Lea off-guard if it were coming unexpectedly, but that was not the case.
“Why what?” Lea laughed as she input the angled jump again and hopped right over the attack. With the Truth vulnerable thanks to a missed super, she followed up with another combo and unleashed Hendrix’s super again, ending the match.
“What the hell! Truth has way more health than that!” Paul snapped as the game displayed Lea’s victory as “Perfect!”
“Not when she’s hit from behind,” Lea corrected. “People think she has an insanely high health pool, but she actually only has a slightly above average HP. She takes reduced damage from the front and extra damage from behind to balance it out. Didn’t you know?”
“Bullshit, I want a rematch,” Paul demanded.
“No can do. You can’t touch this machine again, remember?” Lea smirked.
“Once my dad hears about this, he’ll-” Paul began.
“He’ll what? Laugh that his son was beaten at his favorite game by a girl?” Lea countered. “Now do us a favor and run off with your tail between your legs.”
“I don’t have to take this from you,” Paul raised his fist to punch, but Alice immediately caught it.
“The Lady asked you to leave,” Alice squeezed Paul’s hand with more than enough strength to cause pain, making Paul wince. For a second, he thought she might break his hand, but she let him pull away without a fight.
“This isn’t over, you hear me,” Paul stormed off, much to the shock of the whole store, which had watched the game enraptured. There wasn’t a grand clap or cheer, but the mood of the store was quite lively now that Paul was gone.
“How did you do that?” The owner asked in shock.
“It’s just good fundamentals,” Lea brushed it off.
“I meant…oh, never mind,” the owner shook his head, “I’m glad to have him gone, but he’s not going to take this lying down.”
“I know, but don’t you worry, I promised I’d deal with him and I will, so just leave it to me,” Lea promised. The owner felt a chill go up his spine, but he didn’t question it.
Paul meanwhile stomped down the street in absolute fury. That girl just humiliated him, and she apparently had serious dirt on his past. Now, he had to figure out how to relay this to his father without revealing he got beat by a girl. Maybe they could have the game store closed down for a “hostile environment.” If he played his cards right, he could be in charge of the place by the end of the year. This thought was interrupted by a sudden call on his phone. It was an unknown number, so he just let it go to voicemail. Surprisingly, a voicemail was left, followed by a text that said, “You’d better listen to that voicemail, XOXO Lea.”
Now both freaked out and annoyed, he opened his phone to check the message. “Hey Mr. Stones,” Lea’s voice came through the speaker. “I know you’re having a little cry over me beating you, but before you go running to daddy, I can sort this out for you.” Paul was now angry, annoyed, and confused. “Come to the game store again tonight at midnight, and we’ll have that rematch you wanted, but just so you know, we’ll be playing for higher stakes. Come if you dare, and if you don’t, well… I’m sure your father could weather another scandal or two or five.” The message ended on that ominous note.
“Freaking bitch, I’ll show her,” Paul sneered but began to plot his next move. He’d be there, but she’d been in for more than just a game, he’d promise that much.
To Be Continued…
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People play games to have fun or be competitive, but you should be careful if you play to ruin others people's fun, because the same can happen to you.
Author's Note: Was not expecting this story to balloon out of control like it did, but I had fun writing it and it is October, so why not get a little spooky (I promise the second half will dive more into the horror part)? Stay tuned for the next part, coming next week.
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
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