You saw me that time, I'm sure. Since everybody did.

There's no way @Chris Anthemum would have won without my help. He was obviously completely in over his head. And now the school is saved, and everybody can go home.

Well everybody but Chris Anthemum. And me.

I had to spend every ounce of my... whatever it is... (lifeforce? soul?) in order to get the mods for the Magnalobe that were necessary to win the Tribulations. With every mod I bought, more and more of it was drained from me and more and more of me became silver. From my hand to my arm to my shoulder to my head. My torso and legs went last, which was weird. But now I'm 100% silver. And there's no way back.

I'm also, apparently, stuck here on the Other Side for good. Seems whatever holds these silver bodies together is a special wavelength to this dimension. If I set foot out of it, I'd melt like a puddle of mercury.

Not that I'm safe on this side either. I hear Plink is setting up a squad of security sprites to hunt down the person responsible for helping Psyhigh win. And I plan on making it hard for her to find me.

So, congrats, everybody, and you're welcome. Maybe someday I'll see you on the Other Side.

I would have won even without that silver guy.

I will admit the Lightning Worms had me pinned down, but I was ready to make my break and clobber that Smother Bear on my own. And I definitely didn't need any help on the puzzle, but that silver dude just barged in and took over.

And now everything's messed up. I mean, we did win, technically, so I guess the invasion's off. So that's cool. And they're letting everyone who's left return to school, and everybody's calling me a hero, but I think we all saw that coming, amirite?

But because of the "special circumstances" they're calling a technicality on me personally, and, well... what? Oh, you want to say something, sprite? I guess Plink wants to make an official statement. I will interpret her jingles here:

INTERFERENCE! INTERFERENCE DECOHERENCE! ILLEGAL MOVE! THE WIN WILL STAND, BUT THE BIG TOWHEADED ONE MUST REMAIN AND SERVE OUT 3000 YEARS (OTHERSIDE CALENDAR) COMMUNITY SERVICE AS CELEBRITY SPOKESMODEL FOR ULTRA-BODY™PURE MAGNIFICENCE PSYCHIC SHAMPOO, LESS TIME SERVED.

AND WE WOULD HAVE WON, TOO, IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU MEDDLING KIDS!!!

Really? You're keeping me here?

YES.

Well, I don't suppose it could be THAT bad... could it?

I saved Fleet Chavez! Did you see that?

There, look at frames 10002358 through 10002376. Right when the jaws of the big furry snake were snapping shut, see it? That silver hand! It grabs him by the shoulder and shoves him out of the way.

That was my hand. I bought some new mods, and to pay for it my whole hand turned silver, but I now I can reach right into the Magnalobe and really do stuff.

I can see why these mods are so popular. And illegal. But if we really want to win the Tribulations of N'kaar, I'm going to need more mods. A lot more. And I don't see any other way we can make it through the season finale.

You know what happens if we DON'T win, right?

If you look carefully through your school-provided eldritch scrying lens, @Lia Bezos, you should see some eerily glowing characters on the wall of your small dark room. Those characters translate as:

WAITING FOR THE HOST TO LET YOU IN

But really, they aren't letting any new students in. Or any old students out. Not until the Tribulations of N'kaar conclude, which has its season finale this Friday night!

Through an arrangement with the Other Side, you'll be able to watch the live stream by tuning in on the Magnalobe™ devices now available in the student store.

Let's go Psyhigh! Beat those... tribulations!

Sincerely,

A. Hazeltine
Student Activities Coordinator

@Ms. Hazeltine

Hi! I tried the portal. It seems that it has... rejected me. every time I try to go through it, I end up in a small dark room. Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong?

Best wishes, Lia

Round two could have gone worse. I think that's the best way to look at it.

We thought little Broonie McGrath would be a good candidate for the Motion Sensor Missile Squares, on account of her invisibility and shapeshifting powers, but, well, they were much larger missiles than we anticipated.

We thought Bufonidae could either leap over or squash the obstacles in the Murderous Robot Steeplechase, but his soft underbelly was no match for their countermeasures.

But how about that Fleet Chavez, eh? Whatever that thing was that was chasing him was no match for our Fleet! And how he made it out of that stumble and right out of its jaws was nothing short of amazing. We're still going back to the tape on that one.

Fleet got Plink wound up real hard too, and she's been jingling away ever since. I've translated it here:

INTERFERING WITH THE TRIBULATIONS OF N'KAAR IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN, AND CAN RESULT IN PUNISHING FINES, COMMUNITY SERVICE, AND A MINIMUM 3000 YEAR JAIL SENTENCE. YOU ARE PLAYING A DANGEROUS GAME, MORTALS! MORE DANGEROUS THAN YOU REALIZE.

That Plink! Really a great cultural ambassador for all of us here on the Other Side.

See you all (well, those of you left) at practice this week. Don't forget our big finale is on Friday night!

So I bought a Magnalobe. With a few mods pre-loaded.

I was surprised I could get it, since my mom's credit card doesn't work on the Other Side. Instead I paid with just a little bit of my life, which sounds bad but is really isn't. It's such a small amount. I touched fingers with the dealer and just the very tippy tip of my finger turned silver. That's how they do money here.

The Magnalobe is pretty incredible. They have all these shows but it's like you're right there in them. It's hard to understand the stories, but the mods help you to nudge the story in different directions. Even I could figure that part out.

At some level the mods are supposed to help with the betting, because there's a big underground market for betting on the Tribulations of N'kaar. And they bet the same way I paid for the Magnalobe -- everybody trades in their own silver, which is also their body. It's why the people at the edges of town are a little scrawnier than the people at the fancy shops. And some of the ones I thought were kids are actually just small because they've had to give so much of themselves away. The fancy people in the shopping district have tons of it built up and they keep in their own private warehouses.

Oh! Looks like my favorite show is on. It's about a family of the silver people who use some of their silver hoard to make children (which is the only way they can make children, if they have enough silver) but then the children get into all these hijinks. Even though I can't understand the words it's still hilarious.

Well I think that ended up going ok, all things considered. Amirite?

While it was great to have Sister Nova on the team, her ability to emit controlled atomic blasts from her rosary wasn’t much help navigating the Greased Pig Balance Beam.

Bart Sturgeon could have shined in the swimming challenges, so, admittedly, entering him into the Electrified Ladder of Doom event may have been a mistake. Especially in light of his tiny flippers.

And while it’s possible the bodies of Bridgette Le Sparque and Caleb IV20 may be separable following their mishap in the Collide-a-tron, they will both be out for the remainder of filming.

But hey! That just means we’re really narrowing the team down to our absolute top performers, and I’m sure @Ms. Hazeltine is contacting everybody’s parents as appropriate.

And did you catch my interview? Everybody here loves my hair! Probably because the silvery denizens of the Other Side have no hair. Which, come to think of it, makes it odd that I'm sponsored by a shampoo company. Huh.

Looking forward to seeing everyone left at practice this week!

Yeah I'm having trouble making it to practice.

You can walk right out of the hotel and into the most glamorous shopping area of the city. Everyone is tall and beautiful and silver and carry colorful bags from all the different shops.

You can keep walking through that area and into Zap Zap Town, which is where they sell all the stuff that runs on electricity. Except it's not electricity it's etheric energy. A lot of hats and goggles and antennas you can wear like a tail.

Then you can keep walking and get to the seedier side of Zap Zap Town. Places you can buy illegal etheric energy technology. Weapons like scorpion suits. Ghost data. Magnamods.

"Magnamods?"

"Yes, mods for your Magnalobe. Would you like to try? Here, put this on..."

Here on the Other Side, preparations and training for the Tribulations of N'kaar are going great. We've learned that the Tribulations of N'kaar are broadcast directly into the minds of all the citizens of the Other Side via their Magnalobe™ devices. Apparently it's a very popular program! Each month they invite beings from parallel universes to run the Tribulations of N'kaar obstacle course, which involves a lot of jumping and climbing and being beaten with giant bats and lightning bolts and falling off platforms into some kind of ectoplasmic goo.

Because it's a mandatory broadcast via their Magnalobe™ network, the biggest brands from the Other Side may even be interested in sponsoring particular team members! I myself have already been approached by an enchanted shampoo company about wearing their logo on my uniform.

Plink (our sprite guide and interpreter), is eager to give us some tips on the things the team needs work on. She's jingling right now (can you hear her?) but I'll interpret for her here:

FOOLISH MORTALS! UNLESS YOU PERFORM WELL IN THE TRIBULATIONS OF N'KAAR YOU WILL BE DOOMED TO ETERNAL TORMENT!!!!

That Plink really knows how to motivate team spirit.

So -- everybody keep it up this week at practice, and get ready for shooting the first episode LIVE this Friday night!