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Play To Win

Hands at her hips and a smug smile fixed upon her face, Aria Blaze looked up in satisfaction at the sign that signified that she had successfully found her way to 8-Bit Arcade.

Approaching, Aria shoved the glass door open with a confident stride and looked around. The smell of competitive gamers was… honestly pretty repulsive that it made her crinkle her nose a bit in disgust and wonder how many of them remembered to shower every day.

The sound, however, was far more pleasant: all around her, cheers mixed with shouting and arguing could be heard. Kids were cursing angrily as they faced Game Over screens that prompted more quarters from them, teens were playing against one-another in the shooter, fighter, and racing games. All this negative energy was just waiting to be brought up to eleven and harvested for her needs.

Aria grinned, certain Adagio and Sonata would be so jealous that she had the sense to choose somewhere that didn’t feel like fast food… maybe that three-course meal one got once in a week that consisted otherwise of fast food, but still, it was something the hot-headed siren wasn’t going to miss the chance to brag about to the others. She just needed a way to make her song to enough ears for it to work.

“Oh, right… they have that new Karaoke Hero game,” she said aloud, looking around and noticing a small checkered stage similar to that game that more made someone look like they had ants in their clothes then like they could actually dance, a mic with a cord hanging next to it. Alright, losers, let’s get this started! she thought, purpose now in her mind as she began to approach, chuckling to herself at how none of these smelly dorks had any idea what was going on.

“Hey! Who are you? You don’t look like someone who’d come in here!” a young teen boy declared as he suddenly stepped in her way and obstructed her path.

Aria grimaced as she looked down at him; he was almost a head shorter then her so she gathered he was in his early teens and hadn’t found his growth spurt yet. His skin was a dull tan color and his hair an orange brown that looked as though he probably didn’t dedicate much time to combing it. He wore a loose green jersey and baggy cargos, but his most distinctive feature was the red and yellow beanie with a green propeller sitting atop his messy hair. His somewhat whiny tone, however, was already making Aria wish he’d go elsewhere.

“Do I look like someone who cares what you think, twerp?” Aria asked gruffly, folding her arms and glaring down at him disdainfully.

The boy did not appear remotely intimidated, and continued drinking out of the apple juice box in his hand before speaking again. “My big brother runs this place, so I’m here all the time. I’ve never seen you around.”

“I’m new,” Aria replied dismissively as she tried to walk around him, but again the boy moved into her path.

“You’re really hot. Like Samus-level hot,” he commented.

What passed for Aria’s patience immediately took a nose-dive. “I don’t speak dork, kid, now out of my way!” she snapped.

“What’s your favorite game? I mean, if you came here, you gotta have a favorite game!” the kid asked.

“Oh don’t worry, you’ll find out very soon,” Aria said with a sneer as she once more attempted to go around him, but the kid proved far harder to shake off then she would have liked.

“Oh, don’t tell me it’s that dumb girly singing game!” the boy said with an eyeroll. “Only sissies who can’t play real games mess with that!” he said. “…And a few who think they can sing. Jeez, you wanna talk total ear torture!”

“Like what I’m getting right now?” Aria asked in a condescending tone. The boy cocked his head and sipped more of his drink as though her insult had flown right over his head.

“I like you!” he said with a grin. “Wanna play against me in something?”

Aria stared at him a moment, confused. “Excuse me?!”

“I like your attitude. Now come on! I know just the right game!” he said, his grin not wavering as he grabbed her arm and began to tug her in the direction of one of the cabinets before Aria could react.

“Let go of me, you little brat!” Aria snapped lividly, but the boy ignored her and brought her to a game cabinet that looked a little older then the others. “What the hell, kid? What’d you drag me over to this antique for?” she asked, noticing by the date on it that it was probably older then the kid who had led her to it.

“Only a real gamer can handle Dragon’s Lair! It’s my big brother’s favorite!” he declared.

“This is a cartoon, kid,” Aria deadpanned, staring at an animated sequence promoting the game’s story.

“Yeah, sorta. Came out before I was born, my brother was a fan of this guy’s work growing up so he went through a lot to get ahold of this!” the boy said proudly.

Aria nodded absently as she continued watching the opening sequence. The sight of dragons and monsters did give the girl a sense of nostalgic memories of Equestria. The thought of her real home and that stupid wizard kicking her and the others into this boring place was enough to make her clench her fists tightly. I ever find a way back, I swear… she thought to herself.

A loud clank snapped Aria from her thoughts when the boy dumped a stack of quarters on the dashboard. “Here, you’re gonna need ‘em. Impress me and I’ll let you play the sissy girly singing game.”

Aria facepalmed, knowing there was no way out of this short of beating the kid senseless, which would just get her thrown out. Options lost and too much at stake, she decided she could humor him for now if it got him off her back. “FINE. I’ll play your stupid game!”

“Yes!” the boy cheered. “Well, let’s see if a girl can handle this game, huh?”

Aria’s fuse instantly ignited. “What?!” she demanded.

“You heard me,” the boy said with a smug grin as he leaned against the side of the arcade cabinet.

“Oh, it’s on, you little brat!” Aria snapped, gritting her teeth and sliding a quarter into the machine, bringing her to the start of the game. Forget the song! No one doubts what Aria Blaze can do! That little punk’s gonna eat those words! she thought bitterly as the game began.

“DRAGON’S LAIR!”

“You can’t be SERIOUS! The potion kills you?!” Aria Blaze screamed out furiously, slamming her fist on the dashboard as Dirk the Daring experienced another in a long line of creative death scenes the siren had the pleasure of witnessing while the boy looked ready to keel over from laughing the hardest he’d probably ever laughed in his life.

“This time, I got it…” Aria shoved another quarter into the slot, easily bypassing the many traps that had claimed the previous ones and finally finding herself in the room with the potion once again, this time ignoring it completely. “Like I’m falling for that again!” she said with a smug laugh as she continued on. “Looks like a girl’s handling this game pretty well, wouldn’t you say, kid?” she asked.

“Had to say something that’d get you to play it!” the boy said, smirking and prompting Aria to wince in anger.

“Shut up. I got this, I got a feeling I’m near the end!” she said, her eyes never leaving the screen as she moved the hero across a bridge.

Aria screamed out several inappropriate words at the top of her lungs as a burst of lava randomly erupted from the bridge and engulfed the hero, securing the game’s claim over the last quarter the boy had given her.

“Hey, language!” the boy said, trying his hardest not to burst into another laughing fit as Aria slammed her hand on the dashboard, gritting her teeth in disgust at the pile of bones the hero dissolved away into and turning to leave.

“This wasn’t worth any of my time!” Aria snarled, preparing to leave.

“Hey, we had a deal!” the boy said, rushing in front of her again.

“Deal with this!” Aria demanded, holding out her fist.

“Hey, you didn’t get to the end of the game! But we can do a different one!” His eyes widened. “Ooh! The new one my brother just got plugged in! Got money? It costs a lot but it’s so awesome you’ll love it!” he insisted, attempting pleading eyes.

“Go ask your mommy, kid,” Aria replied dismissively.

“She says she already gave me my allowance and I spent it here!” the boy whined. “C’mon, it’s four dollars each, it’ll be worth it!”

Aria facepalmed. Humor this little brat. Then get the energy here… stay calm, Aria. You’re not going home to tell Adagio you blew it, and you’re definitely way better then Sonata. she thought to herself. The last comparison filling her with new resolve, Aria gave a nod. “Fine, where’s this new game?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

“Back here!” the boy said, grabbing Aria by the arm again and pulling her along to a darkened room in the back, where two large sit-in pods of some kind that resembled some sort of cockpits sat, big screens in front of them that looked like holographic control panels and two levers on each side of the seat.

“What is this?” Aria asked, her hands at her hips as she looked at the setup.

“The new game, Mecha-Kai Throwdown!” the boy declared. “This one’s way awesome because it’s all set up like a cockpit straight out of the show! They even shake when you get hit!” he explained as though the last part somehow made it even better.

“I don’t watch that stuff,” Aria grumbled. “But fine, if this gets you out of my hair…” she took four dollars from her pocket and handed them over, and four for herself. The boy cheered and hopped into one of the cockpits, putting the money in and switching it on. Shaking her head, Aria entered the other cockpit and did the same.

“You know, speaking of hair, with that weird style you got, you’d fit right in with the show!” the boy said with a smile.

“Just shut up and let’s get this over with,” Aria snapped, watching as the opening tutorial screen began playing, depicting a crudely-drawn animated character explaining how everything worked. Aria, eager to put the boy in his place, swallowed her pride and listened carefully.

“Boring! Boriiiiiing!” the boy whined. “Hurry up already!”

Aria grinned, leaning back comfortably as the instructions continued along with the boy’s apparent suffering from impatience that gave her a small dose of satisfaction until a new menu popped up showing various giant robots to choose from.

“I already got mine. Get yours and let’s go, come onnnnnn!” the boy pleaded.

Aria had to admit, the graphics were impressive as it all looked so real. Selecting a purple robot that appeared to have fishlike features on it, the girl gave a nod of approval and hit start on her screen.

Two panels on the sides of the cockpit closed around her, encasing her inside and two more screens that showed her left and right sides came on. Immediately, she felt the cockpit shake, as though she were going up an elevator. Lights passed her on the screen as if she were indeed moving upward with sea life surrounding her as though said elevator were underwater. Seconds later the rumbling stopped and on the screens she suddenly found herself in what appeared to be a vast city.

“Pretty cool, huh?” the boy’s voice suddenly asked over an intercom in the cockpit.

“Great, I gotta listen to your voice the whole time, after all,” Aria muttered with an eyeroll.

Suddenly, an alarm went off and another giant robot landed before her in a burst of fire, this one resembling a demonic suit of battle armor with horns and ridged shoulders.

“Picked the Neptune Unit, huh? Suits me fine, I got the Mars Unit to scorch your butt with!” the boy’s voice declared proudly as the other robot struck a dramatic pose that Aria figured was supposed to be intimidating but instead came off as ridiculous.

“Gloat now, you little brat, but—” Before Aria could finish the boy’s robot socked hers in the face, causing Aria’s cockpit to shake violently as she felt herself tumbling across the ground and crushing a portion of the urban battlefield. “You little punk!” she shouted furiously, turning the levers of her machine to stand back up and aim the robot’s left hand at the other robot. Pulling a trigger on the lever, Aria smirked as the hand shifted into some kind of gun and began firing at the boy’s robot.

“Ha! Newbie!” the boy laughed as his robot leaped into the air and drew out a pair of swords, dropping towards Aria quickly. Pulling both levers down and then up, Aria managed to get her own robot to jump out of the way and barely avoid the attack. Immediately, the other robot began swinging the blades wildly, slashing into Aria’s robot’s left arm and setting off an alarm on her left screen panel alerting her of damage.

“Shut up, dumb alarm!” Aria protested. “Ugh! There’s gotta be something I can do…” she grumbled to herself frantically as she looked at her screen menus for options. Her eyes widened as she noticed a tab that read Deploy Trident and immediately pressed it. Her robot jerked slightly as though something popped off the back of it and looked up, noticing a trident spinning in the air and caught it with her robot’s right hand, narrowly parrying another attack from the boy’s robot.

“Who’s laughing now, kid?” Aria taunted, swinging the trident and knocking the other robot off its feet with a powerful slam and grinning as she heard the boy whining out angrily from her cockpit intercom.

“I haven’t even started! Take this!” the boy shouted, his robot dropping its swords and aiming both hands at her. Before Aria even knew what was going on, twin jets of flame blasted from the other robot and engulfed hers.

“Crap!” Aria shouted, the alarms going off and warning of overheating or possible explosion as the other robot’s fiery assault continued. She thought for a moment she could just sing over the intercom and make him lose, but decided against it. Adagio would never let her hear the end of it if she learned Aria had to rely on her song to win against an over-privileged fourteen-year-old.

Jumping out of the way, Aria moved her robot as fast as it would allow to avoid getting incinerated again. Thankfully the arms stopped, but now the boy’s robot began to give chase, firing blasts of flame at random as he attempted to hit her while she weaved around and occasionally on top of buildings when she could, trying to keep a distance between them.

“Stop running away and fight!” the boy’s voice demanded. Aria kept moving, trying to come up with a plan. Noticing a set of buildings that she figured could function as stairs, she activated the thrusters of her robot to enhance her jumps and began using them like stepping stones, getting higher and higher until she was out of range.

“Come on, don’t you want to get me?” she purred, making her robot pose mockingly as she stood atop a high building.

“Just you wait!” her opponent replied, and the red robot flew towards the buildings and prepared to ascend them. Grinning that he’d taken the bait, Aria reactivated her robot’s thrusters again and leapt off the skyscraper, trident aiming downward as she let out a gleeful cry and landed atop the boy’s robot, impaling it through the face with her trident.

“Brings me back to the old days,” she mused to herself with a smirk.

"GAAAAAAAME OVER!" a voice announced as the screens shut off and the doors on the sides of the booth slid open.

“MOMMMMM!” the boy wailed as he ran out of the room and disappeared into a hallway in the back. Smiling in satisfaction, Aria got up out of her cockpit and headed back into the main area of the arcade.

“All things considered, I guess it could have been worse,” Aria said to herself, looking back at the room she’d just been in. Digging into her pocket and taking her wallet out, Aria noticed it was empty and promptly let out a furious growl.

“Hey, Miss?” a voice asked behind her. Turning Aria found herself face-to-face with a gray-skinned young man with some kind of pixilated creature printed on his black t-shirt. “Hey, I’m the manager here, I just—”

Aria groaned. “If you’re butthurt about me kicking your baby brother’s butt, I really don’t care!” she snapped.

“No, no, nothing like that!” the young man replied. “Just, thanks for playing with him. He can be a real handful sometimes. Probably mad he lost, mom’s gonna have to find a way to make him stay quiet longer.”

“Your point being?” Aria asked impatiently.

“Right, look, here’s four bucks, use it on any game you want,” he said with a smile, handing Aria four dollars worth in quarters.

“Thanks, I think I will,” Aria said, looking over at Karaoke Hero as a dark smile formed on her face.

Thick, green smoke trailed from the arcade as Aria strode out, humming to herself as it slithered up her body and into her glowing red necklace, making her feel completely refreshed and rid of all the tension and annoyance she’d been feeling earlier.

“Adagio’s got no idea what she missed out on,” she mused. The sounds of the customers’ petty competition going into all-out tournament wars bellowing behind her, Aria took a sip of the big gulp freezie that she’d serenaded the kid’s brother into letting her have for free with a sense of satisfaction and victory and headed back home.

Author's Note:

At long last, I worried I wouldn't get this out before the weekend was over but here it is, the new chapter! Stay tuned for Sonata's adventure next time!

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Thalorrianspellweaver

Thalorrianspellweaver #1 · Nov 16th, 2014 · 2 · ·

I want to play that game. It sounds fun.

ShadeJak

ShadeJak #2 · Nov 16th, 2014 · · ·

5276033

It (sort of) exists. I based it off a Gundam arcade in Japan where the booth is literally designed to resemble an actual gundam cockpit from the shows.

Shadowmane PX-41