Lola Pop (ARMS) by MidbossMan

Excitement overflowed at the Arms World Grand Prix, where the strongest and springiest fighters from all over came together in an innovative new boxing-style match. In the ring, contestants were launching punches with their elongated arms (or hair, in one particularly odd case), seeking the championship gold and all of the fame that came with it. The crowd was going wild as fighters exchanged blows, jumping around the ring and dazzling the crowd with feats of marksmanship and showmanship alike. It was anybody's match to win and the stakes were red hot!

... And Lola Pop, self-proclaimed showman's show-woman, wasn't part of it.

The down-on-her-luck clown / fighter / confectioner slumped her long, springy arms, composed of intertwined pink and orange balloons, as she made her way out of the arena, dragging her over-sized Funchuck-brand fists against the floor. Ordinarily, she was a gal who was all smiles, but the way this tournament worked, there were winners and losers. She was today's loser, unfortunately, having been eliminated when that gooey green menace from Arms laboratories scored a cheap shot on her. Helix had bent out of the way of her boxing and blind-sided her before she'd had a chance to whip out her special defense techniques.

"Aye aye aye, that guy was slippery! Cool as a cucumber, too. He even looked like a cucumber," she admitted to herself, slouching as she took a spot on a bench outside the arena. She was trying to ignore the sounds of cheers and adulation-- two of her favorite kinds of sounds, really-- but it wasn't going well. There would be future ARMS tournaments and she'd have plenty more chances, but she hated the idea of sitting on her hands after getting eliminated this early.

She actually wasn't super satisfied with her hands today in general. Something felt off. She raised her Funchuck weapon up and inspected it, turning it over to look at the front and back. Her eyes widened in surprise as she pulled the chain out to its full length... she'd lost one of her chucks! No wonder her attacks had been off all day. She'd been fighting at half power! "Ooooh, mercy, ma dai! Until I get this replaced, I can't enter another tournament!" she moaned, pulling her face down by the cheeks with comical stretchiness. "Who ever heard of a sad clown? I can't make people smile if I can't smile myself..."

"Not to worry! Ya still look plenty sweet to me!"

Lola Pop perked up, suddenly raising her head. It was one thing to mope by her lonesome, but she didn't want to let her potential fans see her that way. This guy... didn't look like her typical fans. Instead, he was dressed in a shady black suit, smoking a cigar in one big gray glove while hiding the other behind his back. His beady little shades were hiding beady little eyes, making him look altogether untrustworthy.

His opener was a little creepy, but she tried to see it as a joke. After all, her orange-and-yellow swirled hair was basically a big lollipop. Her entire ensemble, from her yellow overalls, puffy hammer-pants, big rubber nose, and clown-shoe sneakers, all screamed "candy" with their coloration. She fluttered her eyelashes over big blue eyes cartoonishly and flicked one hand. "Aw, shucks! You'll make a gal blush. Are you a fan of mine?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Nah, I know you're an ARMS fighter, but I'm not much of an ARMS kinda guy," the man spoke around his cigar, while puffing out big, cartoonish rings of smoke. "I'm more into the underground circuit. S-A-T. You heard of it?"

"Well... golly, no! I didn't know there was another circuit," Lola responded, raising her eyebrows and slapping her cheeks with each hand, jingling her Funchucks as she did. "Say, uh... they wouldn't happen to be looking for competitors right now, would they? I just got out of the ARMS tournament and it's still going for a few days. I was planning to go back to the bakery, but I'd much rather compete!"

"Compete, huh? Yeah, I can see that," the guy responded, looking her over with a grin playing at his lips. "Okay, sweetcheeks, I'll get you in. Even loan you some new gloves, since it looks like yours have just about bit the big one. Way the S-A-T works, if you do well, I'll get you new gear and enough scratch to redo your whole arsenal if you want to."

"That much? Perfecto!" A big smile came onto her painted lips and light sparkled in her eyes. "Is it okay, though? I'm a veteran ARMS fighter! I've even come close to the prize a few times! Is it okay for me to fight in the S-A-T league? It's not a rookie league, is it?"

"These guys don't got what you got, that's for sure," the stranger admitted. "But they got a will to learn and you're like, eh, a seasoned veteran to 'em. Plus, a feather in their cap if they win. Trust me, they'll eat you up." The man licked his lips suspiciously and chuckled to himself, eyeing her up and down once again.

"Ha ha! Ha... Yeah. Sure," Lola tried to laugh along, although she didn't think she got where he was going with that. She tried to put it down to her candy theming again.

"I'll fill you in on the details as we go. I think I can get you a fight today, if you want it. There's just one condition: if you forfeit at any point, like not lose, but give up, you lose all that compensation I promised ya. Spirit of competition and all that. You good with that?"

"I'm your gal!" the ARMS veteran responded proudly, pressing one thumb to her puffed out chest excitedly. "To new frontiers!" She swung her arms merrily as she skipped alongside the man, but due to his relatively slow speed, she ended up making circles around him just to keep pace. Lola Pop was a bundle of energy, as ever-- too much clownish foolery for a lot of promoters to handle.

"You know, strikes me lookin' at you, this is another opportunity for ya. You can see a whole new style of self promotion in the SAT, I'm tellin ya. Bet you hit it off with a new fan-base you never even knew was lookin' for ya."

"Gee, I hope so!"

"And on that note, I ought to tell ya-- they put you in a new uniform for this. Not that there's anything wrong dressin' as a clown, of course. Think of this as... a fresh start, capiche?"

"Oh, sure! Capiche!" Lola agreed. she was fond of her whole look, but it made sense-- if she was coming into a new circuit, she didn't want to step on anybody's toes by showing up as a veteran ARMS fighter. She needed to accept their terms and conditions. It might even be fun to adopt a new persona for a while!

The two arrived at the underground circuit the stranger had mentioned... was this really a certified ARMS fighting establishment? It looked more to Lola Pop like some seedy bar, with a lot of cars parked haphazardly out front and high-up windows that didn't show the action going on inside. The guy strolled on in like it was the right place and she had but to follow him.

The inside wasn't much more promising-- she could see a steel cage ring further in and lots of roaring crowd members, but they were focused on the action, and she couldn't see a thing from this distance. Instead of leading her to the ring, the stranger circled around the crowd, towards the dressing rooms. "Don't worry about all your things. You'll get 'em back after the match. And remember: if you forfeit, you'll be gettin' them gloves back just like you're given 'em to me."

"No worries there! There's no quit in Lola Pop!" the clown reassured him. She didn't know why he was making such a big deal out of the possibility she might back out-- this was like the third thumbs up she'd had to throw him for the sake of reassurance. Were these fights especially brutal? Couldn't be... if they were still ARMS fights, they shouldn't be particularly dangerous.

"There's a machine in there that handles the costuming for ya. Real official-like, and quick, too. I know it'd take ya a while to get outta all that business normally, so this'll help. I'll wait out here, don't worry."

Lola nodded with a big smile, grabbing the man's hand in both of hers again to give them a big, full-bodied shake that nearly made him drop his cigar. "I won't let you down, pal!" She dropped his sagging gray glove and bounced her way into the dressing room.