Chapter Text
Ding!
Cassidy breathed out with relief as the words “Next Level” appeared on the screen. Good. That was the difficult one, after all.
Raising her gun again as the next level materialized, Cassidy began to click and fire rapidly, aiming quickly before squeezing the trigger.
Digital, 8-bit aliens exploded as she blasted them to pieces, Cassidy closed one of her eyes in focus.
Left, right, up, diagonal, right, right, left, down, down, diagonal, right-
An alien slipped through her guard and reached her character, taking away one of her hearts, Cassidy grunted with frustration, blasting it down, before switching to a new strategy, instead only blasting them as they got close rather than as they appeared.
Left, right, left, right, right, left, left, left-
An upgrade appeared on the screen. Cassidy blasted it out of instinct, which unfortunately let another alien past her guard and took away another of her three hearts.
Cassidy growled with frustration, activating a bomb and clearing the screen of enemies. Maybe if she could just stay protecting her guy…
The next onslaught began, and Cassidy fired ever before. A quick glance to the score counter told her that she was doing well-she might just make it to the #1 slot.
Left, right, right, left, down, up, right, right-
Activate a bomb to give herself some breathing room.
Right, right, left, left, right, left, up, down, diagonal, left, down, up, right-
An alien made it past her guard one final time. Cassidy froze with the screen as the dreaded electronic notes and words “Game Over,” appeared on the screen.
“Damn it!” Cassidy shouted, shoving the gun back into its place. The menu pulled up with the top 10 scores, and Cass clicked out of it. She was already in second place, behind whoever CHE was.
Cassidy had probably sunk literal days into this stupid machine. She was going to get that high score, no matter what it took! CHE was nobody compared to Cassidy Peters Delgarde!
“Such a mature reaction,” someone said in a dry tone behind her.
Cassidy looked back, seeing one of the employees behind her. She was a brunette, with brown hair tied back in a ponytail. She wore the green and black shirt of an employee and a matching hat. Cass could vaguely remember her standing behind the prize counter when she had walked in. She seemed to be about Cassidy’s age, 17 or 18. She was Caucasian, spoke in the same Western-American accent as Cassidy, and was a few inches taller.
“Well, what would you recommend I do?!” Cassidy replied angrily. Maybe she was just proving the employee’s point, but Cass found it hard to care.
The brunette raised an eyebrow. “We close in about 20 minutes,” she said. “So I’d recommend giving up and leaving.”
“No way,” Cassidy replied. “I’ve sunk way too many tokens into this damn thing to give up now. Let me talk to Mike, he’ll let me stay after hours.”
“You know Mike?” the brunette asked with a chuckle.
“Well…not officially…he’s a friend of a friend!”
“Right,” Employee-Chick replied, shaking her head. “Well, Mike isn’t working right now. He works the day shift.”
Cassidy swallowed. “Great.”
The brunette gave another small laugh. “Once again, we close in 20…15, by this point, so I’d recommend wrapping things up.”
Cassidy rolled her eyes as the employee walked away, likely cleaning up some other area of the arcade. She’d stay past closing if she needed to! Out of principle!
The black-haired girl held herself up with pride for a second before falling back down, feeling a little embarrassed. She could probably come back tomorrow, and she was probably being really annoying right now…
And she was the one screaming at a video game.
Cassidy sighed, taking a look around. The arcade had gone rather dark. The only lights came from the screens of the machines themselves, as well as one behind the Prize Counter, where the employee had left. The clock above the Counter read 7:42pm. Knowing the arcade closed at 8, that gave Cassidy a good frame of reference.
Alright. 18 minutes. That’s enough time for one more try.
Cassidy pressed her last token into the machine, buying one more attempt. Because of her interaction with the employee, she’d lost the screen that could reload her progress, meaning she would have to start at the beginning.
No big deal. She’d beaten the beginning levels countless times. Probably too much, if what Gabe said was any indication.
Cass lifted the gun as the first screen loaded, blasting down the easy, slow moving aliens that first appeared. The level slowly sped up near the end, but was very easy throughout.
It faded down, and the next level began.
Playing through the first couple levels was almost ridiculously easy considering the impressive (read: shameful) amount of hours that Cass had poured into it. Small configurations of pixels were reduced to disassembled configurations of pixels under her gaze.
Cassidy continued playing through it, pushing past the old levels to the more difficult ones, unaware of the employee finishing her cleanup and retaking her previous position, watching Cass play the game in her usual violent way.
Left, right, left, left, left, up, right, left, down, right, up, left-
Cass activated a bomb, clearing the screen just in time as the level finished.
She breathed in and out, trying to remain calm as the next level loaded.
Down, down, left, up, down, right, left, left, left, right, up, right, down-
An alien reached her guy, and one of her hearts disappeared.
Shitshitshitshitshit…
Cassidy activated a bomb, shot off a few more blasts and completed the level with two hearts left.
Cassidy swallowed as the screen for the final level-the same level she had died on before-loaded up. Lifting the gun, and reminding herself to use her remaining bombs, Cass began firing.
Left, right, up, down, down, down, down, bomb, right, diagonal, right, left, left, right, down, up, up, right, bomb, left, up, right, down, up, left-
One heart down. Cassidy grit her teeth and used her last bomb to clear the screen before the next onslaught began.
Right, left, left, up, right, down, right, left, up up, left, down, down-
Her last heart went down.
“Game Over” appeared on the screen.
“NO!” Cassidy yelled as the screen glitched to a save slot, offering to restart that level in exchange for another token. A token Cass didn’t have.
Her heart dropped. Now she was going to have to come in tomorrow and restart the entire level-
“I have to wonder why you care so much about that stupid game,” the employee asked from behind her.
Cassidy jumped, realizing that the employee had been watching her play, before shrugging. “I’ve given up so much to this machine, I have to win. I won’t rest until my initials dethrone CHE on the leaderboard!”
The employee raised an eyebrow at Cass’s impassioned speech. “Really?”
“Yes, really!” Cassidy nodded as the timer on the save screen clicked down.
“Well, alright then,” the brunette nodded, walking forward and sliding one more token into the machine. This was followed by her holding out her hand to the gun.
Cassidy stared at her for a second.
“We don’t have much time,” the employee noted as the final level screen began to load.
Cassidy glanced at the screen, then back to Employee-Chick, before chuckling.
This I’ve gotta see.
Cass handed over the gun. Employee-Chick, with one hand, held it out and began to fire, barely glancing at the screen yet hitting the aliens with pinpoint accuracy.
Cassidy froze.
Shifting so she was looking at the screen more solidly, Employee-Chick rapidly fired as she moved her left hand onto the other end of the gun.
LeftRightLeftRightLeftLeftLeftUpRightDownLeftDownUpRight.
Her movement was fluid, like it was one constant shift rather than multiple micromovements.
The screen was suddenly cleared as she activated a bomb, and rather than use that time for breathing she instead immediately began blasting the new aliens that appeared.
Cassidy’s jaw lowered and slowly dropped as the level continued, Employee-Chick not losing a single life.
RightRightUpLeftUpDownRightLeftUp.
The last enemy fizzled out, and the screen glitched.
Cassidy’s jaw dropped. It was impossible. She’d been playing this stupid machine for weeks now…but it was undeniable. The screen flashed “WELL DONE,” and tickets began to pour out of a slot near the bottom.
The brunette gave her a smirk, lowered the gun, and walked away. Cassidy stared after her as more tickets poured out of the machine.
“We’re closing soon,” the brunette said, taking her place behind the desk. “So I’d recommend wrapping that up.”
Cassidy stared at Employee-Chick, waiting behind the Prize Counter, before glancing back at the machine. “I can just take these?”
“I’ve got no use for them,” Employee-Chick shrugged. “I mean, I get discounts on all the stuff anyway. You can even put your initials into the top spot, I really don’t care.”
Cassidy swallowed and picked up the gun as the machine flashed to the leaderboard screen, putting in the initials CPD into the system and watching them replace CHE. It felt a little dishonest…
She pulled the tickets out of the machine and stuffed them into her pocket. “I’ll keep ahold of these,” Cass murmured.
“Great,” Employee-Chick nodded sarcastically. “Can I close up now?”
Cassidy rolled her eyes and passed by the Prize Counter, to the sliding glass door on the other end. Passing by, she caught a glance at the nametag on Employee-Chick’s left breast pocket, wanting to know who was that good at some dumb shooter.
Charlotte Emily.
Cassidy froze.
Charlotte Emily.
CHE.
The black haired girl glanced at Charlotte, who smirked at her again before nodding to the door.
“You’ve already stayed past closing,” she chuckled. “So it’s best if you come in tomorrow.”