Level 1: All the Single Ladies

FEET OF RAAGE

PIIRAA:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
RAAGE:🔥🔥

THHUUNDRAA:
🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵
1 MP

Yyouu movve towward thhe Shhiinto temple, thhouughh thhe fog sevverelyy liimiits yyouur aabiiliityy to get aarouund.

Iin faact, thhe closer yyouu get to thhe entraance, thhe closer to iimpossiible iit iis to movve—aas iif thhe aaiir iitself iis aas soliid aas aan iiron mouuntaiin! Jjuust tryyiing to breaathhe iis maakkiing yyouu thhiirstyy!

Fortuunaatelyy, thhere iis aa vvendiing maachiine jjuust ouutsiide thhe temple! Iinsiide iit aare twwo caans of Spriite aand aa bottle of Jjolt.

FEET OF RAAGE

PIIRAA:
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
RAAGE:🔥🔥

Yyouu staart to feel more iin control. The closer yyou get to thhe Shiinto temple, the less jjerky thhe motion. You barely notice the gliitch noww.

Pira gives the vending machine a swift kick in the glass, and smashes it to sixteen bits! It turns out there was a Hero Sandwich inside—a healthier choice than drinking soda.

Speaking of, the Sprite cans are rolling away! All that’s left is the Jolt bottle, but the broken machine is clinging onto its only bottled lightning!

YOU CAN’T STEAL MY THUNDER.
THERE IS A COST.

THUNDRAA:
🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵
1 MP

Thundraa’s sword emiits phosphoruus sparkks when the machine speaks.

FEET OF RAAGE
Thundra calls out the new form of Kilroy and/or Dest-roy! Surely they have followed her, and the mastermind behind the evil cyber-legion WILL be defeated! She strikes through—and follows up with another strike! She pulls on the bottle with all her might!!

Yet… it is not enough!

Wiithh eaachh striikke, thhe fog protects thhe bottle. The Jolt bottle is very cold. Cold doesn’t bother you anyway, but the point is that this bottle is not just of thunder and lightning, but also Cold. Somehow you feel it is as cold as the Ninth Plane of Hell. But what would you know of such magic? You didn’t even have magic until you reached Lv.99!

The machine speaks again.

THERE IS A COST. THE COST IS PRECISE. TO OBTAIN THIS BOTTLE YOU MUST PAY THE PRICE.

When Thundra removes her hand from the bottle, the fog relents for now. You can smell the bottle’s contents! It smells like—

—the breath of the Drunken Boxing Master from the Fu Bar stage in Hong Kong.

—absinthe.


ITEM ROOM
As Pix speaks to Kurumi, both hear two metallic ‘bonks’ and a shhhhhhhhhhhh… The sound is coming from behind a strange blue bubble on the wall.

ITEM ROOM
Pix’s wand pops the bubble!

Lying on a flashing red floor are two dented green cans, both leaking a bubbly liquid that smells vaguely of lemon or lime. The cans are both labeled "Sprite."

You can tell the liquid is a carbonated beverage like one you might purchase at any under-21 club or Shim’s Royal Soda Fountain.

The cans must have fallen from way, way above! When you look up, the ceiling begins to fade to 50% opacity. Pix and Kurumi are also half-invisible—and the flashing red floor is going up, up, up…!

You’re on a Phase-o-vator! You have never heard that term in your life, but somehow you know this. Or somehow, you’re being told…
PLEASE KEEP YOUR HANDS AND FEET INSIDE THE PHASE-O-VATOR UNTIL IT HAS COME TO A COMPLETE STOP.

By the time you’re done listening to the echoing feminine voice, the Phase-o-Vator has come to a complete stop.

You are now in a grand city! There are skyscrapers or extremely tall shiny rectangles that probably definitely have minigames inside, and trees that endlessly rain petals of cherry blossoms.

This is obviously—

—the secret area you can find with Rose’s wand!

—Tokyo, a city that has not one but TWO under-21 dance clubs!!

FEET OF RAAGE

YOUR SWORD IS NOT A THREAT TO ME, BUT RATHER A NECESSITY TO PAY MY PRICE OF
🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵
1 MP

As the machine announces her exact price, Thundra notices a bright red light on the machine flickering on. To the left of its words is a sort of slot. And the words themselves:

1 MP
INSERT
SWORD
~ TO ~
BOARD!
Indeed, Thundra could insert her Sword of the Thundering Tundra into the slot—like how Queen Artemis removed her magic sword from the anvil by the royal stable, though this would be the reverse—including the part where you would lose magic instead of gaining it. But then, you don’t know any spells, so what else could you even do with your 1 MP besides this?