“That robot says that if we win we get to escape with our lives. Quit treating this like one of your reality tv shows or your local Whole Foods,” TV-Head says pointedly to Cool Cat, apparently thinking that’s what being a hipster means. “This game won’t end well unless we hurry up and take things fully seriously. Quit shooting ourselves in the foot for no reason. I don’t care if you have free will. We only get one chance to do this thing right and so we’re going to work like a real unit as much as possible.”

It’s pretty unclear why they are particularly urgent on this matter, as the others have pointed out, even if the game has some challenges nothing is an immediate threat. Or so they all believe.

"I agree with the others." Uno spoke from the back. "I would rather not share my code if necessary. We can still work together without having to share this information... In a way, it's our trump card. Is there even a significant difference if we withhold it till the end? We still get out successfully. Problem solved." They gave a light shrug.

---

"Yeah, can it, you box," Odin snapped, shaking his fist. "This conversation is over! My code is staying a secret with me until the right time comes."

It seemed most of the players were against TV-Head's idea. No-one was willing to commit to anything until they'd found some of the hints and gotten a better idea of what the Nonary+ Game would entail. It was time to vote.

For their first door, the trek into the unknown, they settled for the safe-seeming, yellow "Joy" door. As soon as the vote passed, the door opened. There appeared to be an airlock system of sorts in place: there was a second door beyond the first, and it only opened after all players were through, at which point the door back to the Oubliette closed as well. It didn't seem there was any safe way to cheat the system.



[Joy theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOizFuXShAk]

The players immediately regretted leaving the Oubliette: at least that room had a pleasant, if mocking, natural light source. The Joy rooms were bathed in a uniform yellow light, like a filter had been passed over the scene. The colour wasn’t entirely unpleasant, but it was suffocating in how all-encompassing it was. The players presumed that the rooms behind the other doors would be similar, with lights matching the door’s colour. After everyone was through into the main room, the secondary door behind them locked as well. There was some kind of device next to it that appeared to control the lock, but they couldn't even access it yet. It said "Pass the three Trials" on it.

The Joy area was a relaxing lounge, split into three rooms. There was a library, a cafe and an arcade, the latter of which had sound-proof walls, perhaps to keep any noise from reaching the library. After a quick look around, the players split up to explore in earnest.

[Thus begins the first Exploration Phase. These are equivalent to the ‘night’ phases of Mafia/Town of Salem. They consist of freeform RPing within the set of rooms loosely described at the start of the phase. There are no particular limits to what you can do here: if you want, you can RP doing ‘Zero-Escape-like’ things such as solving puzzles or giving random pseudoscience lectures. The rooms are very flexible, and contain whatever you feel would be appropriate to find there.]

[The Phase will last 4 days, subject to change, and will be split halfway by a GM post. Later Exploration Phases will likely become shorter as the cast shrinks and people’s characters become played out. During this time, please send me your actions! Actions will be resolved at the end of the phase. If your action isn’t submitted on time, it will be forfeit. Of course many of you are playing characters without abilities, so don’t need to worry about this.]

"...Let's start looking around." Uno suggested, going over to the library section of the lounge, and looking through some books. "Let's see what we have here..." They mumbled, flipping through some books eagerly. An excited smile appeared on their face, perhaps this interested them. Finding a puzzle book nearby, he peered through it. "...What's this? A killer sudoku? This seems... challenging."

He turned to look for Miss Ennea, whose help he would surely need to solve this beast.

---

Cool Cat looks around the lounge before peering into the café.

"The café here reminds me of the one that I was a frequent customer at... It's so surreal that our captors puts in places that we'd be very familiar with. Just how much do they know about us?" Cool Cat wondered after looking around the café. "I'm going to check out the library. Anyone want to join me in checking out the library?"

"Sure, honestly id probably prefer the other options but honestly id feel a tad guilty if I were to relax in the café or go have a blast in the arcade while my brother is still in suffering out there alone...at least with the library I can find a good book to dicuss with him." Golf began to make his way to the library.

Turning around revealed Ennea very quickly, seeing as how she was standing behind Uno and looking over his shoulder at the puzzle book with that smile that never seemed to leave her face. "Very challenging! Sudoku is just your usual brain teaser, but killer sudoku certainly lives up to its name." she said, maybe a bit too loudly for how close they were standing.

She rummaged through her pockets for a few moments before presenting a pen to him. "But I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly! See, we can start by checking the sum of all the 'cages' that go through a specific area..."

... She seemed to be more than capable of solving the thing herself, but insistently pushed the pen into Uno's hands to help him do it.

"I guess I'll check the arcade, then," Nova volunteered without much enthusiasm. "Haven't been in one of these since..."

She sighed and held her hand over her eyes to shield them momentarily from the all-encompassing yellow. "Wish I had sunglasses or something..." she grumbled as she made her way to the game room.

---

TV-Head had already spent all their tokens on ski ball when they sense something, a disturbance relating to puzzles. They dash out of the arcade and hand their many tickets to Nova, adding, “the ski ball gives you the most reliable odds for tickets, no need to be a hero.”

Running to the library, they elbow their way into Uno and Ennea and starts back-seating the puzzle, “Come on, we don’t have all day! The 9 goes there! Give me the book, I can do it! Let’s have a real person with an unspecified skill set take this on!”

"Oh! Um..." Nova attempted to reply as the tickets were shoved into her hand, but by the time she'd gotten over her surprise, TV-Head was already gone. "Uh... thanks..." she muttered, mostly to herself.

She walked over to the exchange counter and found a pouch of tokens she assumed was for whoever wanted them, headed over to the ski-ball machine with a little sigh of relief, then began calmly tossing the balls up the lane one by one.

"...Why am I doing this, again?"

---

"It's not about just solving the sudoku, TV-Head! It's about the process!" Ennea answered. "You have to tell him why the nine goes there, otherwise it's no fun! Don't you want to just slow down a little and appreciate the simple beauty of seeing someone learn?"

TV-Head dashes back to the arcade, puzzle book in hand and frantically filling it out. “We need to get the prizes! Maybe there are clues in them,” they point derangedly at a giant purple stuffed gorilla about 10 ft tall and a banana wearing a reggae hat.

“If you have a better idea let me know. We need to get someone to check the DDR machine as well,” with that they finish their rather unhelpful explanation.

TV-Head finishes the killer sudoku surprisingly fast. Perhaps they are some kind of puzzle genius or for whatever reason they’re familiar with the puzzle.



“If he hasn’t learned yet I say leave him in the dust! Let him be miserable!” They yell in reply to Ennea.

((This trial post was written completely by me. I have KamiPanda's direct permission to post this. Enjoy!))

Cool Cat’s team (composed of Cool Cat, Albatross, Ennea and Nero) went exploring the library, since it would save plenty of time if several people covered more ground.

During the exploration of the library, Cool Cat stopped to browse the books. He pulls a book out at random and looks at the book's summary to get an idea of what the book was about. He seems interested in the book's summary.

“Huh… I’ll have to give that book a read when I get out of here.” Cat said as he made a mental note of the book’s title. He put the book back in its place and was about to pull out another book when…

“Cat! There’s something here that we think you’ll need to take a look at!” Nero called out from near the reading cubicles. It sounds like Nero apparently discovered something and wanted Cat to check it out.

As Cat casually walks over to the reading cubicles, he can see that Albatross, Ennea and Nero were gathered and are looking at one of the reading cubicles. It was marked with a ‘6’... Cool Cat’s bracelet number. It appears to be locked.

“Is this what you wanted me to look at?” Cool Cat asked as he inspected the locked reading cubicle.
“Yep, looks like this must be your trial.” Nero nods at the hipster. “There’s a device nearby. I think that’s where you must place your bracelet.”

Cool Cat didn’t need to be told twice as he went to place his bracelet on the device. There was an beep, followed by the sound of the reading cubicle being unlocked. He glances at the now unlocked reading cubicle before looking to the others. They nod, encouraging him to undergo his trial.

“Well, wish me luck, people.” Cool Cat said as he stepped into the reading cubicle. The door locked shortly afterward, preventing the others from checking on the hipster.

Inside the Reading Cubicle, Site of Cool Cat’s Trial

After the door locked behind him, Cool Cat took a look at the reading cubicle that he was standing in. There were several books stacked neatly, almost as if they were waiting for him to read. However, that’s not all there is to see. There was a device in which he quickly placed his bracelet. After placing his bracelet on the device, a needle shot out of the device and, before Cool Cat even had a chance to react, stabbed him in the arm. The hipster winced as he could feel something being injected into his body. And then the needle pulls back into its place. A screen lit up, displaying a message. Cool Cat took one look at the message and paled the moment he read it.

[Trial Music = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8wu-pmmPTc]

The message was straightforward and clear on his situation; he had been injected with poison. In order to dispense the antidote, Cool Cat must solve a set of puzzles, otherwise he’ll die. He was given a certain amount of time; the time it takes before the poison kills him.

Keeping his composure, Cool Cat takes a look at the first puzzle. It was that he had to input the book title that best fits into the provided set of numbers (i.e. 10,3 = Charlotte’s Web). After the first couple of wrong guesses, Cool Cat was able to correctly identify the book titles and cleared the first puzzle.

Cool Cat could feel sweat drops go down his forehead. There wasn’t time to dread his own death; solve the puzzles and get the antidote! He takes a quick look at the second puzzle. For this second puzzle, he was given the book titles and some numbers. “I bet the numbers are likely page/paragraph/word/letter, most likely.” Cool Cat said as he started searching the books in which their titles appeared on the screen with this logic in his head. His logic would turn out to be correct as when he noted that the letters apparently spelled out the book theme. Interestingly enough, the books that Cool Cat went through apparently all fits the book theme. At this point, he was sweating some more. Damn, the poison was working and it seems like he had a few minutes left to complete the last puzzle.

The third puzzle was apparently that Cool Cat had to assign the books to their actual publishing dates. The hipster does recognize some of the book titles as he had read them before. He was able to match those book titles to their proper publishing dates. For the last two book titles, however, he had never heard of the books before. Shifting through the books, the hipster was able to find the two books. And after a couple of minutes of pain-staking looking over the books, he was able to find the publishing dates for each of the books. After assigning the last book to its actual publishing date, there was a confirmation sound that Cool Cat got everything right.

Suddenly, another needle shot out of the device and stabbed Cool Cat in the same arm where the poison was injected. He could suddenly feel a huge wave of coolness as the antidote worked its magic to erase the poison from his body. Have he stalled for even one more minute, he’d be done for.

“... Hahaha! Take that!” Cool Cat exclaimed as he quickly checked his bracelet. He saw that his bracelet had been updated with the hint. He took one look at the hint and then smiled.

Meanwhile outside the reading cubicle

“D-Do you think he’ll make it out of there alive?” Albatross nervously asks as he looks at the reading cubicle.
“I’m not sure, Albatross. If he dies, then we’ll have to discuss what to do next.” Nero replied as he crossed his arms.
“Yeah… We should consider that-” Ennea began before being cut off abruptly by the sound of the reading cubiscle unlocking. “- opportunity…?” She finished her sentence after hearing the sound.

The trio looks towards the reading cubicle, anticipating Cool Cat’s return.

And then… Cool Cat steps out of the reading cubicle. The hipster didn’t say a thing as he wiped away the sweat on his forehead.

“Well? How’d the trial go?” Ennea asked, curious about what happened.

“It was a piece of cake.” Cool Cat said simply. The trio looks at each other, baffled by the hipster’s statement. A piece of cake? What did he mean by that?

"A piece of cake then? I suppose this game really is as straightforward as it seems. I was halfway expecting the cubicle to turn out to be an incinerator!" Ennea laughed, secure in the knowledge nothing wacky and uncharacteristic like a poisoning had just taken place.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say it was a piece of cake. I had some trouble with the last puzzle... Two of the book titles were ones that I have never heard of before." Cool Cat explained as he put his hands on his hips and shake his head in disbelief. "When I cleared the trial, I have one minute left. Can you believe that?" He looks up at his companions.

"The captors thought they'd defeat me with puzzles centered around the books found in the reading cubicle... They underestimated me as I'm a avid reader!" The hipster laughs at the thought. "Point is, I got my hint from clearing the trial."

"And... Is there a doctor in the house? I might need some band-aids, because... Well..." Cool Cat held his arm up for the others to see. There were two injection marks on his forearm, which they both seems to be bleeding a little.

Albatross has absolutely sweat through all his clothes, which is definitely made public as he hugs Cool Cat and breathes heavily.
"Oh I was so scared for you! It sure is lucky you know book names! I was never much good in English so I would have been fried!" Albatross then let go and went to see if the arcade had Turtles in Time because at the mall he had been the #3 high score behind A55 and POO and had only spent 72$ in quarters to get there. He definitely says this all outloud to anyone who will listen.

Odin wasn't near the library at the time, so he couldn't celebrate Cool Cat's achievement and bleeding appendages. Rather, he decided it was prime time to take a nap in the middle of the cafe, despite the situation.

"Good job on not dying. Now let's hope the rest of us are that lucky," Twist said, lightly patting Cool Cat on the shoulder as he moved past him and towards the cafe, whereupon he saw Odin napping on the couch. He let out an exasperated groan and got to work looking the place over for... anything of interest, really. The couch would be his last stop, tempted as he was to rouse Odin from his slumber.

"Three different notable areas in this place... maybe there's three trials..." he mumbled to himself as he perused around.

Golf unlike the others had chosen to ignore the whole trial going on and instead focus on finding something worth reading, he had decided on a book about thought experiments, paradoxes and other such puzzles to of which he grabbed and moved over to the cafe, he then grabbed a drink and sat down to read.

Golf opened the book to a random page and began reading only to stop himself on one particular part, the twins paradox. for a few moments he didn't say or do anything till a minute later he grabbed his walkie talkie and set it on the table he was sitting at.

"Ahh what a perfect place to start a conversation with you dear brother of mine." Golf proceeded to hold a conversation on the topic with the walkie talkie that continued to play nothing but static.

Uno seemed a bit lost. Perhaps it was because of the killer sudoku explanation being interrupted by a very impatient TV Head, or maybe it was the trial Cool Cat had to undergo. Either way, when he came back with injection marks on his arm, Uno ran off to get a first aid kit. Returning with one, he looked at Cool Cat's marks and bandaged it, making sure to clean the wound first. He seemed surprisingly knowledgeable while performing this. "Are you alright?" He questioned. "How did you obtain these?"

---

Cool Cat wasn't fazed by the hug from Albatross, not at all... Okay, maybe the hipster was grossed out by Albatross' sweat a bit. "Thanks, Albatross." Cool Cat said, appreciating the hug. Then he was let go. "Although, it'd be nice if you could take a..." But by then, Albatross was already out of the library. ".... bath?" The hipster shrug his shoulders.

Then Twist gave him a pat on the back. "Geez, thanks and I'll be certainly wishing you and the others luck in overcoming the trials we come across."

And then Uno cleaned Cool Cat's wounds and bandaged it up. "Thanks, Uno." He remarked before the office worker asked him about the injection marks.

"The injection marks? They were part of the trial I have to undergo." Cool Cat explains as he looks over his bandaged forearm. "My trial was that I have to solve a set of puzzles. You'd think that'd be easy, right? Well, I was put on a time limit. Simply put, when I put my bracelet on the device that I found in the reading cubicle... A needle shot out of the device and stabbed me in the forearm; I didn't have time to react as it was so sudden. I only found out, from reading a message that appeared on a screen nearby, that I was injected with poison. Apparently, that was the dangerous part about my trial... I was given a certain amount of time; the time it would take before the poison kills me." The hipster grimaced at the memory of being injected with poison.

"The message not only told me that I was poisoned... It also told me that in order to dispense the antidote, I have to solve a set of puzzles provided. So, I took on the task of solving the puzzles. As it turns out, the puzzles revolved around the books provided in the reading cubicle. After I solved the last puzzle, I knew that I have cleared the trial as another needle shot out of the device and stabbed me in the very same forearm. That's the antidote being administered into my body to get rid of the poison... That's how I came to have two injection marks on my forearm." Cool Cat concluded as he gives a final lookover at the bandaged forearm and nods.

Crow sat in the cafe, apparently convinced that solving one of the puzzles required downing as much coffee as possible. Ash leaned over to take one sip from her cup and began vibrating rapidly.

“I’m glad that we’ve made some progress, but it looks like this game is more dangerous than we expected,” she said. “Everyone should stay in groups to make sure we can keep each other safe. It doesn’t look like we can help each other with the trials, but we can be ready to provide medical attention if things go south.”

Ash let out a screech that hung in the air and wavered like a full strings orchestra.

---

"Ah... So that's how it works!" Ennea laughed after seeing Cat's injection marks. Her smile seemed brighter than ever. "I was wondering when that cute little robot's warnings were going to start making sense. I guess making the stakes outright death is a little old hat, but you could call it a classic! Now this game is starting to show its point."

"Still, seems like quite the risk we're taking here. If even just one person fails their trial, we all lose a digit! One or two we might be able to guess, but anymore than that and we're stuck here for sure! It'll be quite the thrill whenever another one of these starts up..."

"Poison? There's simply no way! Poison is fatal, is it not? Why would they place us in such a position of danger?" Nero huffs in disbelief. "If what you're saying is true, we simply must have a word with whoever placed us here regarding their questionable safety measures... I never thought the mainlanders could be so barbaric."

Upon introduction to the new area, Silver shouted "Arcade!?" and promptly ran off. Somehow she ended up in the café, though, and immediately ran over for some sweet sweet caffeine.

"Ohhhh, This place is great!" Silver smiles wide, and speaks almost too loud, having no care for anyone who happens to be NAPPING nearby. "If they're treating us this good then maybe I'll never have to deal with crappy coffee shop employees again! Though, I know their pain, I was in their position once..."

Silver continued to drink her coffee and smiled and nodded towards the screeching bird. "Same, dude. Same." She added in between sips.

"Poison..? Hm. How concerning." Uno said, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, I do believe this game is starting to show its uglier side... The fact that our captors are willing to put our lives on the line for this makes me quite concerned here. We must be careful while solving these trials. If anybody needs any medical attention, please call for me. I will do my best to help." They spoke with a look of concern. "Take care in there."

---

Nova hadn't heard the commotion with Cat's trial, of course, being in a soundproof room. She'd grown tired of playing skee-ball and decided to check on the other games. Most were the classics you'd see in most arcades from the 80's or 90's: Space Invaders, Ninja Turtles, Street Fighter...

She frowned to herself. She'd have to leave those games to someone else.

Having not much else to do, she headed out to check on the others, passing Albatross on her way, and entered the library just as Cat was finishing up describing what happened in his trial.

Nova paled a bit and turned her eyes to the floor briefly before speaking up. "Hey... Have any of you, uh... thought about what the deal with these bracelets is? Like... you know there's gotta be more to them than being fancy computers and keys, right?"

---

The screech from Ash jolted Odin awake, a little bead of drool flying across the room and hopefully hitting someone. Odin took some time to catch up on the others' conversation, gathering what he could from the people in the cafe.

"W-Wait a minute...Cool Cat got his number, then, didn't he? He cleared a trial!"

Odin shook Crow back and forth, thinking she'd have the answers. Plus, she was closest to him anyways. I guess. "Why hasn't he shared it..? Maybe he's faking it! He probably just took a fork and jabbed himself in the shoulder!"



"Very good question, Nene," Odin nodded, getting her codename wrong. "Maybe they're injecting some sort of microchip into our bloodstream...my thoughts are very valuable, so I would assume they would try and track them, somehow."

Crow seemed about ready to sling her cup of coffee over Odin but barely managed to restrain herself. She settled for lightly shoving him away from her.

"He's just trying to protect himself," she explained. "The moment he gives up his code, he loses any reason for a traitor to keep him alive. Don't act like you wouldn't do the same if you found your trial."

Crow sighed and finished rearranging some coffee bags on the counter, opening a secret compartment containing a screwdriver they were probably supposed to use for some other bullshit.

"Besides, there's no way he would have come up with such a ridiculously elaborate lie. Though if you don't believe me, just hand over a fork and I'll give you some wounds to compare with his."

---

"...F-Fine, I believe you," Odin said, scared over fork violence. He straightened out his clothes that were wrinkled from Crow's rude shoving, peering over her shoulder into the secret compartment that materialized.

"A screwdriver? Can we try and remove our bracelets with it?"

“Poison needles or not, it was just a stupid puzzle that was frankly too easy if Cool Cat was able to make it through unscathed. It doesn’t matter what the stakes are, we will succeed at everything.” TV-Head sounds like they are convincing themselves to be calm more than anything.

Silver, finally finished with drinking an excessive amount of coffee, got up and made her way towards the Arcade at long last.

As she was wandering the Arcade, passing by various games and machines, she’d hum a somewhat familiar tune… Anyone who decided to accompany her might’ve recognized it, depending on their hobbies or content they’ve watched online. In fact, some might add that Silver has been a little familiar the whole time.

(I’m gonna refrain from mentioning any player specifically, so that way, if you wanted your character to have been there the whole time, they could’ve been!)

Turning a corner to find the next set of Arcade machines, everyone’s attention is immediately drawn to a machine all on its own, with the number 2 painted roughly in red on the side of the machine. At the front by the controls was an all too familiar device that anyone who witnessed Cool Cat’s trial would know of.

“Ohh, hmmm….” Silver pauses and puts her index finger to her chin. “You guys think this is one of those trials?” She asks nobody in particular, and looks around as if to wait for an answer, but quickly shrugs and heads towards the machine before anyone can do so. “Only one way to find out!”

Silver waved her arm over the device, waiting for it to activate before realizing that she’s moving too quickly for anything to scan properly. Finally, after slowing down, the device worked, and the arcade machine’s screen flickered on, with the message [PRESS START] displayed in big red text.

Turning back to anyone who’s watching, Silver nods and smiles. “I’ve got this. This ain’t my career for nothing.” She mumbles to herself and slams both START buttons with her fists.

Immediately after, the control board of the arcade machine opens up under her arms, and chained bracers lock around her forearms, keeping her stuck close to the machine, but allowing mobility of her arms to play the game. A jingle comes out of the machine’s speakers… The screen switched to a simple instruction. Win.

With a cocky grin on her face, Silver disregards her restraints and gets right into the game. The game seemed to be simple enough, similar to classic arcade games that would eat countless quarters from children. Silver didn’t seem too phased, and caught onto the mechanics quickly. Dodging enemies, firing back, all efficiently.

Though all too suddenly, Silver made one mistake, and her character in-game took damage. At the same time, an electric current ran through her restraints, shocking her with a loud buzzing and humming noise. From the shock and surprise, Silver stumbles more in game, leading to further shocks before her character takes quite a bit of damage, but ultimately the section of the game is passed.

Panting, Silver used the spare moment to wipe some sweat off of her forehead. “I see… S-so it won’t be that easy after all, huh? Well, this is nothing!”

Grinning through the pain, Silver progressed through the game’s level, taking a few hits of damage every once in a while, though determined to not let the shocks phase her. Until ultimately, the inevitable happens…

BZZZAP

Silver’s whole body jerks violently as her in-game life is lost. She falls forward, collapsing on the control counter of the arcade machine… On the screen is a display of her Lives counter, which ticks down from 2 to 1. Oddly enough, Silver’s character in the game shared a strong resemblance with her appearance in real life… Key difference being that in game, her hair was actually silver!

Groaning, Silver recomposes herself, though her confident grin is gone. “This is… This is nothing!” She shouts before jumping right back into the game.

Silver’s second run had gone much better than the first, however she would still take a few hits of damage every so often. Soon enough, though, she passed the point where she previously lost a life, and was in significantly better condition. Weaving her way through the rest of the stage with relative ease, Silver reaches what appears to be the final room. And to everyone’s delight, intense Boss music begins to play…

It doesn’t take long for Silver to be quickly outmatched, unused to any of the Boss’s unique patterns or tells, Silver took shock after shock before another big one, just like before. Using the counter in front of her for support once again, the screen counts down from 1 to 0. 0 spare lives remaining.

Now sweating nervously for plenty of reasons, Silver couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s it, huh? Just one stupid boss? Pathetic!’ It was hard to tell if she was calling the boss pathetic, or herself. “No matter. I only need one more shot.”

Almost as if all the gears fell into place, Silver shifted to another level of expertise. Performing better than ever before, she swiftly navigated through the stage with minimal damage, not letting any of the electric shocks shift her focus from the game. All she would do is grin and bear it. Arriving at the boss in better condition than ever, she jumped straight into the action without any hesitation.

The battle is tough, intense, and dramatic. Sweat drips off of Silver’s forehead as she leans in closer to the screen, focused. The machine is whirring constantly, zapping out electric shocks that seem to be more and more painful than the last. Eventually, Silver’s composure breaks, and she begins to scream in pain after each hit she takes, though her eyes remained unblinking. The fight doesn’t get any easier, with additional phases being introduced as its HP drops.

“This is… Really.... nothing! It’s going to take way more than THIS to beat me! Hrraaaaarrghhh!” With one final shout, Silver charges the boss and focuses all her attacks to bring it’s HP down, in an all or nothing attack...

Eventually, though, it’s over.

With a loud hiss, the restraints around Silver’s forearms release, her skin red with burns, as she stumbles away from the arcade machine towards another one nearby, and leans against it before sliding down and landing on the floor. Panting heavily, Silver forces a smile and flashes a thumbs up to any observers who happened to come by and watch her play…

“Piece of.. Cake… Hahh… Hahhh…” She smiles and lets out a hearty laugh in between breaths.

"Well done, Silver! Beautifully done! Oh, I just don't have the words for it!" Ennea, who'd been there and enthusiastically cheering the entire time, trust me, clapped and laughed as the game came to an end. "I hope all the other trials can be like this, it's just so fun to watch!"

"This game... It's so much more elegant than I initially gave it credit for." she cooed and continued making no effort at all to check on Silver. "I'm not sure if this was just luck, but three lives was really the perfect number. Making it through on the very last one was so thrilling! I really thought you were about to die!"

"... Glad you're having so much fun as a spectator," Twist, who had also been there the whole time, trust me, replied to Ennea. "I'd use a lot of words to describe this game, but 'elegant' definitely isn't among them."

He let out a huff and shook his head.

"Batshit crazy number woman aside, uh... you good, Silver? You took a hell of a beating. Or a... shocking. Zapping. Whatever you'd call it."

Silver nods as enthusiastically as she could. "Yep! I'm great! Now to just check out what my hint is..."

She fiddles with her bracelet before her seemingly happy expression changes to one of shock. She lets out a sigh followed by a nervous laugh.

"Glad someone enjoyed my performance! I might not look the same, but I knew I'd have an audience here too!"

"Oh, come on Twist, don't be like that! Look at her!" Ennea enthusiastically gestured towards her. "She's happy! You have to see the beauty in keeping a smile on despite the pain. You were a joy to watch Silver, don't let him get to you!"

"Her hair is sticking out on all ends and then some and her skin is completely red with electric burns. I wouldn't really be happy and smiling about that, but to each their own," Twist replied with a shrug.

"So anyway, two down, ten to go, huh? Wonder who's gonna be next."

"That was a fascinating show you'd put on, Silver!" Cool Cat exclaimed as he clapped his hands a few times. "We got two hints now, so we're doing good!" The hipster crouch down near Silver and put a hand on one of her shoulders.

"Are you alright? Those electrical burns looks really nasty..." He asked, concerned for Silver's wellbeing. "It look like our captors are really cruel when it come to these trials... What will they think of next?" He pulls his hand away from Silver's shoulder.

"An... audience?" Nova eventually managed to sputter out after the shock (he he he) of the whole spectacle had waned a bit. "So you're... some kind of entertainer, then?"

---