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The Shark House - Chapter 12 - All Eyes On Popuri

The midnight coffee house was busier than normal as a few of the residents of Shark House were active along with their friends, among the residents, Popuri was with Dawn, Dave was with his friend Luke while the regular occurrences of Nessa with her bridge club along with Barry and Quint kept things running like clockwork as Giro joined Luke trying to make a distraught Dave feel better.
"She was literally your passenger and you blew it" Dave could only bury his head in his arms as Luke points out his missed opportunity.
"To make things worse, I still haven't met my neighbour Lisa" Luke was about to point out something but Giro stopped him while shaking his head.
"Cheer up, there's more than just Lisa" Giro pointed out.
"Yeah Giro is right, Hellcat is hiding those huge assets, Nessa over there seems like your type and Popuri....... she's an option, that friend of hers looks hot as well" Luke charismatic in showing Dave some options.
Dave looked over at Dawn only for Dawn to scare him off with her intimidating yellow eyes.
"I swear Dave you always play in hard mode" Luke shrugs.
The sports programme Quint and Barry were watching was interrupted by a report from the streamer Razzmatazz.
"Hello Bayside, I am the hype that keeps this city going, the Razzmatazz" the interruption started to anger Dawn the most let alone Quint and Barry wanting their sport back on.
"Now then you know that Bayside is the city of competition and everything from gaming to driving is always competitive, well I'm putting a bounty of my whole fortune on the line for someone to win the greatest tournament Bayside has ever seen! Over a thousand players will compete in a tournament with one left standing to claim my fortune, I of course will enter as I wish to keep my fortune but I only have one condition, Popuri Meadows will enter otherwise I'll call the whole thing off, you have until 1st February to register, don't keep me waiting" Razzmatazz ends the broadcast.
The attention of all the customers focussed on Popuri as she tries to piece together what just happened.
"I don't care how much he's worth, it ain't getting me anywhere" Nessa indignant to Razzmatazz's offer as she continues her bridge game.
"There we go Dave, an answer to your problem, of course I'll enter as well" Luke pretty confident of his chances.
"Are you after Lisa as well?" Dave enquired.
"No offence, but someone who can casually buy a Ferrari has way too many red flags" Luke finishes off his energy drink.
Dawn meanwhile was begging Popuri not to take Razzmatazz's offer.
"Poppy don't do this, don't give that prick any satisfaction"
Popuri gently pushed Dawn's arm aside.
"I refuse to be the cause of any problem, I'll enter this tournament" Popuri being brave with her decision.
"Give the girl credit, she knows she wants out of Shark House" Luke called out.
Dawn stared down Luke.
"You think this is a joke? You honestly think Razzmatazz will just cough up the money? All he wants is to beat Popuri just to feed his twisted ego!" Dawn's eyes glowing yellow as she leaves a dent in the table after slamming her fist.
"Whoa now, someone has boyfriend issues, probably not wise to cause property damage in front of the cafe owner and a police officer, if you really hate this prick so much then beat him yourself, then Poppy doesn't have to indulge his inflated ego" Dawn knew Luke was right and calmed down, Dave was several tables away terrified of Dawn.
"Alright that's enough, Dawn your paying for the table damage" Giro cleared the rest of the tension as everyone went back to their drinks.
Popuri was upset knowing that she caused this to happen.

The Shark House - Chapter 11 - The Gauntlet

Popuri was on her way to the beach districts in Bayside, the region had the unfortunate nickname of being known as the gauntlet, no one other than Lisa can successfully navigate the area without running into a gang of some kind, Popuri arrived at a police blockade before entering the territory.
"Might want to leave your car here missy, we'll look after it while you complete the deliveries" Popuri recognised the officer from the Shark House as Barry Black another resident at the boarding house.
Popuri immediately made her way into the area on foot; many people stared at her thinking she was an easy target, one person testing it straight away by letting loose a dog.
The barking dog ran towards Popuri but in a split second his aggressive behaviour switched to friendly as he begged for attention, Popuri gave the dog a belly rub before clearing her first package.
Beginners luck they thought as they signalled a car to drench Popuri with a mud puddle, Popuri immediately grabbed a piece of wood and blocked the mud and cleared her next delivery.
Barry could see everything going on and was about to put his sirens on when he saw a bicycle gang try to rush Popuri only for Popuri to step gracefully through the ambush, one of the bikers fell off in surprise.
"Are you hurt?" Popuri bandaged up the bikers knee and cleared her next delivery.
The biker blushed at the kind face Popuri gave him.
In a final attempt to mess with Popuri, one of the roller hockey players in the street slap shotted a puck at Popuri's face only for her to catch the puck one handed, the act caused the gang and even Barry to gasp in shock.
"You dropped this" Popuri handed back the puck and smiled as she cleared her final Delivery.
"How on earth did you catch a shot like that?"
The player wanted to know.
"I played for Canada as a goalie in the Winter Olympics, just be more careful with your shots okay?" Popuri gave a smile and went back to her car.
Barry gave a report of no trouble in the area, a first for someone else other than Lisa.
Barry did a quick google search of her name and it suddenly made sense. Canada silver and gold at successive women's ice hockey, also a summer Olympic marathon runner, another article peaked his interest.
"Hero school girl prevents school shooting? Who on earth is this girl?" Barry watching Popuri leave.
For the rest of the week, Popuri had no trouble at all as the gangs started to respect her, even greeting her formally and tuning up her car for her, Popuri was a little baffled but at least there was no trouble.

The Shark House - Chapter 10 - Chaos Engine

Lisa wondered if Popuri could handle the route she left her, that thought was quickly questioned when she arrived at the Chaos Engine meeting area with Zoe and her brother waiting.
"You put Poppy on that delivery route?" Questioned Zoe as Lisa removed her helmet.
"I heard she held Dawn Shriners to a draw at Quarter Bros, a quick search confirmed the type of person she is, I'm positive she'll be fine" Zoe and Lisa met a few times briefly but this was the first time they've properly interacted.
"Rather than create unwanted tension, can we get to the induction? Dave is waiting to take Lisa shopping for a new car" Zoe's brother Joel ran the Chaos Engine team, youngest of three brothers but older than Zoe, Joel inherited the team that his grandfather started.
Chaos Engine is a major team on the highway racing scene with a number of sub teams ran by one of the pros, Zoe and Dave along with the newly promoted Lisa run these sub teams.
"Alright Lisa, you'll need a car for some of the midnight events, you'll need to find a team to run as well, since Dave can find cars faster than anyone else you'll be with him tonight" Joel hands a blank pink slip to Lisa. Dave was waiting in a Subaru BRZ, or his casual car as he calls it, looking at Lisa he knew she was special, long blonde hair, red motorcycle leathers, she had a presence that could silence any room, this made the engineer nervous creating an uneasy awkward silence in the car until Lisa spoke.
"So how long have you been part of Chaos Engines?"
Dave mumbled his words several times before answering. "About ten years now, I turned pro in 2019 and now run the Trakstars sub team, but alot of them are kids with rubbish cars"
Lisa didn't really react to the joke returning to the previous silence.
They arrived at Bayside's most infamous car dealer Glenn, an old school friend of Dave's; it was obvious how much Dave used Glenn's dealership with how often their exchanges started with sarcasm.
"Get out, you've bought enough cars already" Glenn started.
"Time out, time out, it's not me this time, it's Lisa"
Lisa was already out the car and looking around.
"Never thought I'd see you with a normal girl" Glenn curious about Dave being with a girl closer to his age rather than older.
Lisa searched until she eyed up a Ferrari SP38, Glenn shook his head.
"I don't think anyone could afford that one, even though I got it off a rogue influencer, it's still going for a million dollars used" Glenn normally ruthless with his deals knew that having a car that exotic would be more trouble than it's worth.
Lisa wrote out some figures and presented them to Glenn. "I'll take it for this much plus extra to drive it away today"
Glenn instantly took the offer and guided Lisa to the office to finalise the details.
"You better keep this one Dave, she could buy you out of debt and a whole lot more if you know what I mean?" Glenn responds nudging Dave with his elbow.
Dave meanwhile wondered what on Earth just happened.

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.