Want to listen to our newer episodes but don't have time to catch up? Listen to this in-depth summary and highlight reel for SuperIdols! RPG Arc 1: The Gig and you can jump straight from here to episode 20!
Want to listen to our newer episodes but don't have time to catch up? Listen to this in-depth summary and highlight reel for SuperIdols! RPG Arc 1: The Gig and you can jump straight from here to episode 20!
Cast:
Additional Dialogue and Cleanup Editing:
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SuperIdols! RPG is a proud member of the Be Gay Roll Dice podcast network!
Join the Be Gay Roll Dice Discord!: https://discord.gg/cQ9h2me
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Logo Art: Prissmbell (@Prissmbell)
Character Art: Onsta (@onstamonsta)
Opening Theme: "Le Chevalier Noir 'version_instrumentale'" by Cyborgjeff (used under license from Jamendo Music)
Ending Theme: "Born to Drive Me Crazy (Instrumental)" by Humans Win (used under license from Storyblocks.com)
Jaiden's Song for RhythMixx: "I am the Violence" by Street Sorcery at https://streetsorcery.bandcamp.com
Music for Queen Bee's Dip: "Tubular Turmoil Zone Act 1" by Firage at https://soundcloud.com/firage
Music for VAPE or WAVE: "Early Riser" by Strawberry Station at https://strawberrystation.bandcamp.com/
Other incidental music and sound effects for this episode are licensed from Storyblocks.com, Freesound.org, and the YouTube Audio Library. For inquiries about specific tracks, please contact the GM on Twitter @eryncerise.
This campaign is played using Masks: A New Generation, written by Brendan Conway and published by Magpie Games, with custom moves by ErynCerise and Zak P.
SuperIdols! RPG is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Eryn: Hi there! My name is ErynCerise. What you’re about to hear is a summary of the first arc of SuperIdols! RPG: a narrative play podcast about a group of superpowered teenagers trying to become pop idols. This arc covers episodes 1-19, released from June 20th, 2020 to June 13th, 2021.
[mysterious music]
SuperIdols! RPG takes place in an alternate version of the modern world where many musicians and musical performers are able to draw upon a special kind of magic powered by their creative passions. Those who wield this type of musical magic are called superidols, or simply “idols” for short.
Most superidols use their powers to enhance their performances and bring joy to their fans. Others use them to help the world or protect innocent people from threats. Some choose to become threats themselves as they use their powers and talents for nefarious purposes. The music industry in this world can be just as cutthroat as it is in ours, and with magic in the mix? Band drama can really go off the charts..
The setting of our story is Cadence, British Columbia, Canada. In this world, the superidol phenomenon first began in the mid-to-late 2000’s, and Cadence was one of the first cities in North America to start catering to these powerful new performers. Now, about fifteen years on, Cadence has become one of the biggest hotspots in the superidol world, on par with the likes of Hollywood and New York City.
The story proper began in September 2020 (in this world, the COVID-19 pandemic never happened, thank goodness). It was the first week of school for the students of Fort McNally High—a small, unimpressive school in the south end of Cadence. The school’s idol club had always been small and unimpressive to match, but surely that was nothing a fresh batch of plucky young upstarts couldn’t fix if they put their minds to it.
The first meeting of the Fort McNally Idol Club introduced us to a few of our major players, most notably:
Dana: My name is Dana Lexa, she/her pronouns, and I will be playing Valerie Pearce, a grade ten student at Fort McNally High. She’s a trans girl, about medium height, and she has black hair in a short bob that falls over her right eye. She dresses like a pretty standard high school goth -- lots of black and mesh t-shirts, jean shorts over fishnets, dark makeup, the whole deal.
Valerie has always wanted to be rich and famous. To be adored. To have other people envy her like she envies other idols. However, despite her best efforts to become an idol herself, she never managed to gain any powers.
That is, until this past summer.
There had always been rumours about Rain Shadow Records. That their contracts were some of the most draconian in the business. That their top idol, Mary Rain, was a nightmare to work with. That some of their connections and funding sources were... shady to put it lightly. But the biggest rumour about them? Was that somehow, they could just give idols superpowers.
Desperate for powers and a foot in the door, Valerie recently chased down this rumour and found herself in a meeting with the executives at Rain Shadow Records. By the end of that meeting, Valerie agreed to sign with the label and received a set of powers from Mary Rain herself. Shapeshifting. Telekinesis. Psychic constructs. It was more than she could ever have imagined. Valerie was overjoyed.
However, it turned out the other rumours about Rain Shadow were true as well. Valerie’s idol persona-- the gothic lolita-styled Violence Violet, or “ViVi” for short --is now the legal intellectual property of Rain Shadow Records Inc. Any use of the Violence Violet image or name not approved of by the label can result in serious repercussions for Valerie, up to and including being stripped of her powers and blacklisted from the industry for life. If she doesn’t sing and dance to exactly the tune Rain Shadow wants, Valerie’s career as an idol is… doomed.
Eryn: And after Valerie, we next met…
Tea: My name is Tea, they/them pronouns, and I will be playing Evangeline Blake, or “Angie” to her friends. She’s a very tall and twiggy girl with some muscle definition from years of dance training. She has long blonde hair, often done up in a ponytail, and wears a lot of very fashionable dresses. Or, well... they were fashionable, anyway.
For most of her life, Angie’s parents were wealthy businesspeople in Cadence. They made more than enough money to keep their little girl in all the Gucci and Versace she wanted, and they paid for all her very, very expensive dance lessons. Ballet, tango, hip-hop, swing, capoeira: she’s done it all and more. And with the discovery of her powers-- super strength and minor fireworks effects --Angie was set to transfer to Starview Academy and begin her illustrious career as a dance idol.
...And then her parents had to go screw it all up by getting caught.
As it turns out, Mr. and Mrs. Blake had been embezzling money from their employers for many, many years. And the employers did not take kindly to that. They took the Blakes to court, sued them for literally all they were worth, and left the family with almost nothing. Great. Just… great.
Needless to say, Angie hasn’t been thrilled with all this, but all things considered, she has made the best of things. After her first year of public school at Fort McNally, she’s developed a little clique with some of the school’s other most popular girls, with herself at the centre. She may be wearing last season’s Gucci, but hey, it’s better than what everyone else is wearing. Right?
Anyway, last year, Angie tried joining the Fort McNally Dance Club and found them... wanting, let’s say. She tried to develop her idol persona-- basically just a flashier version of herself called Bane Raven --but unfortunately, practice sessions were inconsistent thanks to other members being flaky and not taking the club seriously.
Now, as she heads into grade eleven, Angie has decided to give the Idol Club a try. It’s a long shot, but who knows? Maybe this will be the thing that lets her burst the Blake family name back into relevancy: like a bull charging through the fence of “Temporary Financial Hardship” and into the wide open pastures of “Fuck You, I’m Rich Again”.
Eryn: Also present at the first meeting of the Fort McNally Idol Club was Synthia, a mysterious but unassuming transfer student (originally played by Michelle, who unfortunately was not able to play with us beyond the first couple of episodes).
Michelle: I'm just going to kind of keep an eye out, see what everyone's doing. I'm a loner.
Valerie: “Oh, uh. So you heard about that, um… You know the idol club?”
Synthia: “Yeah, I saw the flyer. I'm interested in checking it out. Are you in the club?”
Valerie: “No, no. I thought I’d maybe check it out, you know. It seems like they could probably use more members. You know, the flyers seem pretty desperate.”
Synthia: “Yeah. Do you want to check it out together?”
Valerie: “Oh yeah. Sure, if you're going in, I guess I may as well too.”
Synthia: “Yeah, sure. Let's check it out.”
And there was also… Karen.
Angie: “Um, Karen, have you ever danced before?”
Karen: “Hmmm. Dancing's nice, isn't it?“
Angie: “…Yeah. Have you done it?”
Karen: “Who can say in this world? You know? Man?”
Angie: “…Okay. Next question. Um, any singing ability?”
Karen: “I believe anyone can sing if they try.”
Angie: [sigh]
Eryn: Lastly, there was Diana, a girl with a quick temper who was eager to get straight to work practicing and honing the club’s skills. Unfortunately for her (and everyone, really), the outgoing club president, Amberlee, had other plans. Directing the club through a series of handwritten notes planted around the school, Amberlee sent the group on a scavenger hunt looking for clues that would point them to the location of their club room for the year. This went over about as well as most forced icebreaker activities tend to go: awkwardly and with much barely concealed irritation.
Along the way, Valerie revealed her tendency to keep secrets and act in her own self-interest by breaking off from the group and finding one of the clues on her own. Angie revealed her tendency to take charge by picking up the nearest clipboard and leading the rest of the group around the school like little ducklings. Synthia revealed in a meeting with her aunt in the school parking lot that there was more shady activity going on in her life than anyone knew about. Diana didn’t so much reveal her frustrations as she did make them loud and clear throughout the proceedings. And Karen. Was Karen.
Eventually, the group met their club advisor, Ms. Doyle the music teacher, and she pointed them to their club room at long last. There the group met up with Amberlee, who revealed that Karen was actually a veteran member of the idol club she had sent along with the group in case they got lost. This was the straw that broke Diana’s back, and she started yelling at Amberlee about wasting everyone’s time.
Valerie: “Whatever, we got here, are we actually gonna do any practice?“
Eryn: Um, and in the middle of all this Diana just, like, puts her foot down and she is… She's had enough at this point. She clenches a fist and says:
Diana: “Do you know—do you have any idea—how much time you've wasted? We… You just said! We don't have any time! We could have been– we could have been warming up. We could have been picking songs to cover. We could have been brainstorming routine ideas. Anything useful instead of you having us run around the school, doing sweet FUCK ALL!”
Eryn: And Amberlee, just shrugs and goes,
Amberlee: “I don't know. This seemed like a pretty good warm-up to me. Y'all look like you worked up a pretty good sweat.”
Tea: Angie just looks unimpressed.
Eryn: Diana continues, then. She says,
Diana” “Well, what good is all of that if we can't work on our performance skills? We need to be working on our techniques from day one. I was saying to these– to all of you earlier how competitive the inter-high circuit is. It's not a joke. Oh, wait, I forgot. That's fitting because your club is a fucking joke. Isn't it? McNally has never won anything in any live competitions. God. Can't imagine why that might be.”
Valerie: “Maybe they should enter the puzzle competition instead, since that's apparently what the club is for.”
Synthia: “You don't seem to be able to handle stress very well.”
Diana: “I’M HANDLING IT VERY WELL!”
Eryn: Diana soon became furious enough to transform into her idol form: a moon-themed archer named Lady Luminous. Valerie transformed to defend Amberlee, becoming the elegant gothic lolita, Violence Violet. Angie wasn’t far behind her, transforming into the fiery, fashionable street dancer, Bane Raven. Synthia hung back from the conflict with Karen, and the two shared a bag of popcorn as they watched the three superidols have a minor clash with their powers.
The fight was short, but... informative. With a slip of the tongue, Lady Luminous revealed that she was actually a student from Fort McArthur Academy.
ViVi: You… You're not even… You don't… [sigh] She doesn't even go here.”
Eryn: [laughter] I'm so glad someone took the bait.
Tea: [laughter]
Eryn Diana had originally intended to take over the McNally club and destroy it from the inside, knocking a potential rival to McArthur out of the running for the year. Everyone rightly pointed out that this was a silly and convoluted plan, especially considering that McNally had never been a threat to McArthur in the past.
Diana admitted that she also thought the plan had been silly, but that the McArthur club president had insisted it was necessary. Valerie and Angie both agreed that instead of focusing on elaborate schemes, Diana ought to instead focus on her strong work ethic and bring that over to the members of her own club. Angie in particular suggested that Diana should attempt a coup over at Fort McArthur, and Valerie agreed, encouraging Diana to become the new club president there. Diana took to this suggestion… distressingly well.
In any case, with Diana out of the picture and Amberlee moving on to university (yes, she doesn’t go here either), that left Valerie, Angie, Synthia, and Karen as the sole remaining members of the Fort McNally Idol Club. Valerie and Angie agreed to share the role of club president, and Karen was content to remain the club’s laid-back cheerleader.
Karen: “Yaaaay.“
Eryn: The four met again the next day to firm up their activities and goals, deciding that they should start by showing off each other’s musical and dance styles and figuring out how to incorporate them into a group act. The next day, however, when Valerie and Angie showed up to the club room, Ms. Doyle informed them that Synthia had been called away on “urgent family business”. This was disorienting enough, but it only became more so with the arrival of three prospective new club members, including…
Drak: My name is Drak, he/they pronouns, and I will be playing Jaiden Lott, a new grade eleven transfer student from the UK. He's a sweet boy, about 5’10”, black, with curly hair in a hi-top fade, and has the air of a giddy, excitable fanboy. He is often seen sporting idol-themed shirts and accessories and will absolutely talk your ear off about his favourite groups if you let him.
He grew up sharing music with his little sister. The two of them played at being idols and sang their favourite songs together whenever they could. This was just the kind of escape from reality the two of them needed given the way their family often struggled. While not exactly poor, the Lott family has always just barely gotten by, mainly thanks to the hard work of Jaiden’s mom and dad. When Jaiden was about 10 years old, he saw his dad pass out from being overworked. It was then that he decided: maybe if he could become an idol, he could help support his family and make it so they wouldn’t have to work so much.
Years later, at the age of 15, Jaiden’s powers finally manifested. He and his little sister were singing along to their favourite band, and something in that moment just… felt right. He felt the music so deeply in his soul that it seemed to literally burn within him. And, in fact, it did. Jaiden transformed into Elementum for the first time and let forth an uncontrolled burst of flames, accidentally burning his sister in the process. While she wasn’t badly hurt, Jaiden still feels guilty about the incident to this day.
Still, now that he had powers, Jaiden decided that he was ready to take the next step towards his idol dreams. He spent the next year and change saving up his allowance and money from odd jobs, all so that he could buy a plane ticket to Cadence -- the heart of the superidol world. He has an aunt in Cadence, a kindergarten teacher named Jen Corsair who lives in the Fort McNally area. Now that he has the money, Jaiden has made the move, leaving his parents and sister behind in the UK for the time being. He’s promised that he’ll make them all proud someday -- that, soon, they’ll see his name up in lights, shining brighter than the brightest Nova.
Eryn: And alongside Jaiden, there was also…
Luca: My name is Luca, he/they pronouns, and I will be playing Queen Bee. No, she does not have any other identity. What nonsense are you talking about? She’s exactly what you see: a tall, confident young woman. Her hair is jet black and cut in a sharp, chin-length bob with a fade in the back. She’s white with slightly tanned skin, and her eyes are grey with dark smokey makeup and a small beauty mole under her right eye. She wears a short black and gold jacket with a pattern that suggests stripes, along with a fitted black turtleneck, black leggings, high-heeled black boots, and a few thin gold necklaces around her neck.
And that’s definitely all there is to Queen Bee. Again, why do you keep asking if there’s more? Queen Bee is Queen Bee. Sorry to kill your buzz, honey, but you’ll just have to get used to the sting of disappointment.
Eryn: Of course, that was not all there was to Queen Bee. The gang didn’t know it yet, but actually…
Luca: So it turns out that maybe there is a little more to Queen Bee than meets the eye. Allen Micucci is a skinny teen with pale skin, grey eyes, a mole under the right eye, and short, light brown hair. They have always been an unassuming kid, uncomfortable in the spotlight. It’s not that they don’t love performing, dancing most of all, but, criticism has always hit them harder than it does for most. Never mind that Allen has been struggling a bit with the whole gender thing as well, which makes people’s criticisms of their image hurt that much more.
How fortunate then that Allen’s powers just recently manifested. The ability to transform into someone else has been like a wish come true. Allen can now create an alternate persona for themselves, a way they can perform and hone their craft without feeling ridiculed. Maybe they can even build up the kind of superstar confidence they could only dream about before.
Still, being an idol isn’t going to solve all of Allen’s problems in an instant. They have a lot of commitments to keep up with outside the Idol Club: school work, chores, a part-time job, and most important of all, they are a long-time member of the Fort McNally Environmental Club. Like the ancient Janus of myth, Allen passes through a door between lives, hoping anxiously that they can keep everything in balance.
Eryn: The last member to arrive was Ann Davil, played by Maria Fanning. Like with Synthia, Ann unfortunately only got to play with us for a few episodes, but she made quite an impression upon arrival. Her idol form was that of an eight-foot tall stone golem in a leather jacket—a form she had gotten stuck in after staying in it for too long.
Maria: To be fair, even before she became what she is now, Ann cut an intimidating figure. She was what you’d call "a punk". She did the headbanging, had a mohawk of a different colour every month, got in trouble at school all the time, and ran to the beat of her own drum. Still, she didn't run when she realised she was a girl. She didn't run when she had to scrape and claw to get enough money for her first guitar. And she’s not running now that things are a bit more… rocky, so to speak.
Most of her bandmates abandoned her after the change, So she started thinking: “Maybe I should look for others like me. Others with power. Maybe they won’t run away from me.”
Eryn: So, this trio of kids seemed even more strange and mismatched than the initial members. Yet Valerie, Angie, and Karen seemed to find a quick rapport with them. Everyone was immediately taken by Jaiden’s enthusiasm, and after he transformed into his steampunk-inspired idol form, Elementum, he showed off his elemental magic and drumming skills to the delight of all. Queen Bee performed a sharp, polished dance solo and showed off her wall walking and bee summoning powers, with only one person almost getting stung in the face... Ann was quieter and more of a dork than she appeared at first glance, and demonstrated incredible skill on her electric guitar. And Karen waved light sticks throughout the meeting. As always, Karen’s gonna Karen.
Eventually, after discussions of music, stagecraft, and disco bees (don’t ask), Ms. Doyle arrived with a sudden announcement: the club had a gig! What?!
Apparently, Valerie’s label, Rain Shadow Records, had called to inform them that there was an opening at a popular downtown music club called The Stormlight, and they were being invited to take this opening. It was just an amateur hour slot, but at a venue of The Stormlight’s calibre? It was still a big deal, especially for a club that’s barely existed for three days. The only condition on the club getting the slot was that Violence Violet (Valerie) needed to receive top billing for the show, as she was the main artist Rain Shadow wanted to promote. After some initial hesitance, the group agreed that the opportunity was worth it and accepted the offer.
The club members planned to meet again on the weekend to begin practice for the gig. When they arrived at the school on Saturday, Jaiden revealed that he had been so inspired by his first club meeting that he had composed a song for the group. Nerves prevented him from playing it the best he could, but the group was nonetheless impressed he had written something like that so fast.
At that moment, the door to the club room burst open, revealing none other than Diana—along with two other members of the Fort McArthur Idol Club named Rosette and Ashley. Apparently Valerie and Angie’s suggestion had gone over very well for Diana. She had convinced enough of her fellow club members to oust the old president and hand the title over to her instead. Together, they formed a new idol group: Sagittaria. And now that Diana had backup? She was raring for a rematch with McNally.
The Fort McNally club was understandably thrown off by all this, but still, they accepted the challenge. Outside on the school field, Sagittaria revealed their next surprise: a full-size pair of stages ready and waiting for their match. Ashley revealed that she had brought over the stages in a special pod with the ability to shrink and grow objects, courtesy of her rich father. Hmm, the wonders of new technology, it would seem.
Both groups transformed in preparation for the match. The Fort McNally members took their standard idol forms, Diana became Lady Luminous, Rosette became the Roman goddess-inspired Dame Divine, and Ashley became the cute 50’s pinup girl Flora Fantastic. The groups agreed to spar to a song called “Downpour”, trading verses and choruses back and forth while launching magic attacks across at each other from one stage to another. According to the rules, the last ones standing would be the winners.
At first, the McNally idols seemed to be holding up well. That was, until Violence Violet sent a barrage of psychic energy daggers over to Sagittaria’s stage. Flora Fantastic responded to this attack by throwing up a barrier, which bounced the attack straight back at McNally’s side. Unprepared for the sudden counterattack, all the McNally idols got hit by the daggers, which prompted a shouting match to break out amongst them.
Bane Raven: “Uuughhh!! The daggers have to go in THAT direction! Break their stage if you have to, I don't care.”
Elementum: “ViVi I… I thought this was a sparring session. Why… These daggers really hurt. Ow… Can you do something else please? Something that doesn't hurt us so much?”
Eryn: ViVi found herself the target of her group’s frustrations, and in response to her teammates provoking her to retaliate, she called upon far more psychic energy than even she knew she could.
Dana: I, uh… ViVi looks very obviously, uh– Like even her sort of unnaturally pale appearance when she's transformed kind of heats up in an embarrassed blush, and she says “Fine!” And then thrusts both hands up into the air and attempts to just destroy the stage. This is just losing… losing all sense of composure and just like, “Fine, tear it all down.”
Eryn: ViVi managed to summon not just a new wave of energy daggers, but a massive cloud of them, all pointed directly down at Sagittaria’s stage. Luckily, Dame Divine conjured angel wings for her groupmates, allowing them to fly out of harm’s way, but their stage was annihilated by the sheer force of ViVi’s attack.
The worst was yet to come, however. In the chaos of all the shouting and the flying daggers, Queen Bee’s powers surged out of control as well. This summoned a wave of bees that all zeroed in on the first target they could find. And with Sagittaria out of range, that target ended up being… Karen.
[distant screaming]
ViVi, overwhelmed by everything, fled the scene in a panic. Queen Bee regained control of as many bees as she could, Ann helped with swatting duty, and Elementum used his wind magic to blow away the rest.
With Queen Bee tending to Karen’s stings, Bane Raven set her sights on Sagittaria. She was enraged at them for starting all of this. She used her super strength to launch herself straight up at the trio, uppercutting Lady Luminous in the jaw and knocking her clean out of the air. On her way down, Bane Raven also pulled Dame Divine and Flora Fantastic down with her, slamming them both into the ground so hard that they de-transformed.
Tea: And I stand up. And I say…
Bane Raven: “We’re the last ones standing.”
Eryn: In next few days following, video of the so-called “Downpour incident” went viral online and made a few local headlines. Not as many as one might expect, since collateral damage from superidol battles had become a much more common occurrence over the past fifteen years, but it was still enough to make all the members of the Fort McNally Idol Club hide in their rooms sulking for the rest of the weekend.
Jaiden: “But that’s… It’s all over… The, the videos are all over Twitter. That was our first battle and we… we essentially wiped ourselves out.”
Allen: “So it was kind of the end of the world. We were a complete disaster, and… Allen was the worst.”
Ann: “Ann has mainly been kind of like working out intensely. That’s kinda like her de-stressor, I feel.”
Angie: “She would not tell any of her family what's going on. And she’s got the lock on her room. The trust is gone between them, so she usually doesn't talk to them at all.”
Valerie: “...M-Maybe I wasn't supposed to have this power anyway. Maybe, maybe there was a reason for that. [sigh] Maybe I didn't get any, any powers because I shouldn't have them. Because I'm just going to hurt people. Because I was never going to be an idol. And… [sniffle] I…”
Eryn: Some were, thankfully, able to recover after a while. Jaiden had a comforting talk with his Aunt Jen, who gave him an early birthday present in the form of an old electric guitar that she used to play back in college. He showed the guitar off to his little sister Alicia and regained his confidence by transforming and performing a song for her.
Drak: I think as he transforms, he probably starts getting a little bit more comfortable with the strumming of the guitar. But yeah, he just keeps playing for her. I think Jaiden is like… Oh he can't stop smiling. I think seeing his sister so excited is… It's probably one of the other reasons why he's doing this. So he's smiling from ear to ear. Yeah.
Eryn: Yeah, and she says,
Alicia: “I don't know how you lost before, but you're absolutely never going to lose again, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life!”
Jaiden: “Thank you.”
Eryn: Allen, feeling immense guilt for what they did as Queen Bee, made a care package and apology letter for Karen. They went over to her basement apartment as Allen, pretending to be just a delivery person who didn’t know what was up. Karen, knowing that Allen was a student at Fort McNally, nonetheless invited them in for tea and conversation. Allen listened to her as she reminisced about the past few years that she’d spent with Amberlee in the Fort McNally Idol Club.
Allen: “Mm, can't be easy. I mean, like you think it's just going to be dancing and being awesome and just having these powers, and then it just hits you that they’re real.”
Karen: “Yeah. I don't think the world has really accepted that, uh, in terms of what they're really capable of.”
Allen: “...They’re still pretty cool, though.”
Karen: She grins. “Why do you think I'm still in this club?”
Allen: [chuckles]
Karen: “I may not have powers of my own, but I'm a big supporter of anyone who takes the risk that comes with and still tries to bring smiles to people's faces
Allen: “Very nice way to put it. It makes for an interesting… Interesting world.”
Eryn: Valerie had a comforting talk with her sister, Alice, but was thrown into turmoil by a call from the head of Rain Shadow Records, Mary Rain herself. Mary had apparently been impressed by Valerie’s display of power during the Downpour incident.
Valerie: “Well, of course I will be performing as the lead in the group’s next performance. So I would have to perform no less.”
Mary Rain: “There is just one teensy thing I need to ask from you though about this, Violet.”
Valerie: “Yes?”
Mary Rain: “Remember that I gave you these powers for a reason. Audiences don't just come out for the music anymore. They're all there for the light show. For the sound and the fury. For the thrill of seeing all that we still don't know about our universe and this magnificent phenomenon that has blessed our world. You are a fountain of power now, Violence Violet. You've shown me that much. And during this performance, I need you to prove to me that you are grateful for it.”
Valerie: “Of course. I want to be an idol more than… more than anything, and… You'll see that come through in the performance.”
Mary Rain: “I expect nothing less, Violence Violet.”
Eryn: Angie visited her friend and dance mentor Kyle, the head of an underground dance battle circuit that she participated in sometimes behind her parents’ backs. Over the course of Angie venting to him, Kyle realized that he had met Ashley from Sagittaria somewhere before. She had been by the dance battle warehouse in recent weeks, and had apparently been trying to sell them on some of the same stage technology she had used during Downpour.
Angie: “I don't know why she'd want to try and hock her daddy's products towards a bunch of us who– Let's be honest, we clearly can't afford it. Like, we just can't.”
Kyle: “I think she said it was like… The company’s like ‘Crimson Signal’ or something like that? It even sounds, like, kinda sinister and stuff.”
Angie: “Hmm.” She pulls out her cell phone and she just types “Crimson Signal” in, like, her note pad app, just to look them up later.
Eryn: Lastly, Ann met up with her close friend Drew at the local abandoned warehouse district, as one does. Drew comforted Ann and helped her take out her frustrations on some empty beer bottles, until the two noticed a group of shady figures in suits nearby. Interestingly, they noticed Ashley was with them. Ann and Drew followed the group to one of the warehouses and listened in from outside a window. They weren’t able to catch much from their vantage point, but they did hear something about a specialized core at the heart of the shrinking stages, as well as something about “Crimson Signal’s business interests”.
Maria: And, like, Ann just slumps her head, ‘cause she’s just aware that this is some supervillain bullshit she’s in now.
Drew: “What– What did we just hear? Who do we tell about this? Like, is it even something we need to tell? Is this just like how business people do shit?”
Ann: “Drew, listen to me: you didn't see anything. Do not tell anyone you were there. Do not say anything. If… Do not put yourself in the way of this, okay? I'll take care of it.”
Eryn: Before the whole group could come together again, a few things happened. First, on Labour Day Monday, Allen and Angie ran into each other the Paradise Shopping Centre, though Angie was of course unaware that Allen was Queen Bee. While there, the two encountered a flashy ice-themed superidol named Zero Degrees, whose unstable powers ended up threatening to freeze the entire mall concourse. Long story short: the two ended up dance battling with Zero Degrees (come on, what show do you think you’re listening to?) and over the course of the fight, Allen transformed into Queen Bee, revealing her secret to Angie.
Zero Degrees: “You're not going to give up, are you? This is your time to shine! You don't have anybody upstaging you aside from me. Ahahaha!”
Queen Bee: “Oh please. What's that? That's just some dime store bad guy act. You wanna see a heel? I’ll SHOW you a heel.”
Nathan: Zero Degrees crouches low, and then kind of dash towards– We've got a close up with speed lines as Zero Degrees is yelling
Zero Degrees: “Poise! Grace! Perfectiioooooon!”
Luca: You lunge at me and I just grab your wrist, flip you around, and dip you, like it's a tango.
Nathan: Oof.
Eryn: (Holy shiiiiit.)
Luca: And then kick your legs from under you and let you fall.
Nathan: In the moment that there's the hold, a bunch of, like, rose petals made of ice flutter across the screen. [laughter] As a Zero Degrees goes,
Zero Degrees: “Oh. Shi–”
Nathan: And then you drop the him, and he hits the ground,
Eryn: [laughter]
Eryn: The two were able to get both Zero Degrees’ powers and emotions under control, but not before Angie wiped out after slipping on the ice. And as it turned out, a popular Idolgram star named Papaya had been in the crowd for the show and caught this wipeout on video. Queen Bee managed to negotiate with Papaya and got her to delete the embarrassing footage… in exchange for agreeing to attend an upcoming tour of Crimson Signal headquarters. Apparently, Papaya had connections to them as well.
After the chaos settled, Angie talked with Allen about their newly revealed secret.
Allen: “So I was kind of hoping I was going to be able to keep this up longer, but... this is it.” I de-transform. “So yeah, my name's Allen. Nice to meet you.”
Angie: Angie de-transforms as well. “Uh, nice to meet you, Allen. Do you prefer she, or he, or they…?” And she's asking Allen this. Just ‘cause, uh–
Allen: That’s probably the first time someone's asked Allen that. They look a bit conflicted. “Like, uh… When I'm Queen Bee, it’s she. But now just, like, anything goes. They?”
Angie: “Yeah, I can do that.”
Allen: “Thank you.”
Eryn: Later, after Allen and Angie talked things over and left, a mysterious figure in a cloak made out of fog appeared in Zero Degrees’ dressing room. From their sleeve, they shot out a strange red card which attached itself to Zero Degrees’ chest and restricted his movements, allowing the figure to take Zero Degrees away with them in a mysterious portal also made of fog.
Meanwhile, Valerie rounded up Jaiden and Ann to go to the Neon District and check out The Stormlight to make preparations for their gig. At the venue, they met the intimidating but warm-hearted bouncer, Petra, as well as another group who was rehearsing on the main stage called The Ex-Tensions.
The Ex-Tensions were a hair metal band in more than one sense of the word. And by that, I mean all of the members were able to control their instruments with their own hair.
Dana: ViVi’s calm mask kind of breaks for a moment as she just looks horrified at this.
Jaiden: “I'm kind of into what they're playing. The hair thing. Hmm… Never mind. My aunt said if I don't have anything nice to say, to not say anything at all.”
ViVi: “This is the worst thing I have ever seen.”
Joel: [laughter]
Eryn: The leader of the Ex-Tensions, Twiddle, took a fast liking to the idols of Fort McNally and offered to watch them play and give them tips. Two things prevented this session from getting very far. First was the reveal that Twiddle and the rest of the Ex-Tensions were from another dimension. P-possibly a-another Tex–? Another Texas, it was a whole other thing.
Joel: So I just look at Jaiden and am like,
Twiddle: “Here's the– Here's— Here’s the thing. So. I am from a town. In. T-Texas. Where everything is bigger. That's where the saying came from, it's called Biggerville. And so our hair comes from the oil. Of Texas. We're all Texans. From Biggerville.”
Jaiden: “Oh…”
Twiddle: “And that's you see– you've seen– You, you of course have heard of it?”
Jaiden: “Yeah, I think? Yeah. Yeah! I'm pretty sure I have.”
Twiddle: “Perfect.”
Jaiden: “I don’t know, I'm not really from here. So everything's new to me.”
Twiddle: “Exactly. Who's from anywhere?”
Eryn: Uh, anyway, where they were from, point being, uh, sentient hair creatures exist. So that’s some lore. For the story.
The second was the arrival of three agents from C-SHARP, or Canadian Super-Human Activities Response and Planning. They had come to take the Ex-Tensions in for questioning, by force if necessary. ViVi, Elementum, and Ann defended the Ex-Tensions, and Twiddle did some impressive fighting of his own. This ultimately proved unnecessary, however, when Twiddle realized that all the agents wanted to question them about was their home dimension.
Twiddle: “No, wait. Wait it’s… It's because we're from another dimension? I thought it was because all the crimes we keep doing.”
All: [laughter and disbelief]
Eryn: Umm. [laugh] Somehow, C-SHARP and the Ex-Tensions came to an agreement, and they drove off into the sunset in a bus made of hair. Seriously, do not ask. This was an episode.
Anyway. After ViVi, Elementum, and Ann went their separate ways for the night, however, the same foggy figure from Zero Degrees’ dressing room manifested behind Ann on an empty city street. The figure shot out a red card to restrain her and pulled her through a portal into a dimension full of fog. Drew was trapped in there as well, and though Ann and Drew struggled against the effects of cards on their chests, they couldn’t break free, and they were led away the same as Zero Degrees had been.
The next day, the rest of the McNally club (minus Ann of course, but also Karen for some reason) met up again at last. After some talk about the incident and their Labour Day weekend excitements, the group agreed that they needed to focus on gig prep. They went to book the school auditorium for practice and there they ran into the head of the Drama Club, another gothic lolita named Yasmin Brennan. There was some brief arguing with Yasmin due to tensions between the prior year’s Idol Club and the Drama Club, but they soon smoothed things out as best they could and agreed on a shared schedule for using the auditorium.
During the talk with Yasmin, the club members realized they still didn’t have a name for their idol group. They returned to the club room to deliberate for a while before eventually settling on RhythMix — a combination of the words “rhythm” and “mix” with a capital M connecting them in the middle. The name represented the different styles of all the group members coming together into one unified sound.
Still, everyone felt like it was… it was missing something. It needs a little more, like an “oomph” of something. And as they pondered what they could change, they received a message in their group chat from Karen that simply said “x”.So they added another “x” to the name and they agreed that it was weirdly perfect. Had Karen somehow heard the conversation, or was it simply a stray butt text? Who can say.
The next weekend, the club split up again. Queen Bee took Angie to tour the Crimson Signal building, as she had promised to Papaya. The tour didn’t result in much, but Bee and Angie did meet two people of note. The first was Sasha La Muse, the former mega-idol turned founder of Starforge Records. She had apparently seen footage of Queen Bee and Angie fighting Zero Degrees and was very impressed by their dance skills. She gave them both her business card and offered to act as a reference if they ever wanted to enter Cadence’s prestigious CING Star Tournament.
And the second person of note was Clayton Cervantes, the CEO of Crimson Signal. He turned out to be of even greater interest, and not only because of his shady-ass company, but also because it turned out that Cervantes had known Angie’s parents years ago. And he was a massive dick on top of that.
Angie: “Yeah, he's a total dick. I bet that's Ashley's dad.”
Queen Bee: “Hmm.”
Angie: “Can see where she gets it from.”
Queen Bee: “Yeah. Well, I mean, you kicked his daughter's ass. You're probably gonna get a chance to kick his too.”
Angie: “Oh yeah I did kick her ass, didn’t I.”
Queen Bee: “Oh yeah you did.”
Eryn: Apart from that, Angie and Queen Bee heard speeches from Papaya and the head scientist, Dr. Renard, and they identified a suspicious guarded door on the far end of the lobby that piqued their interest. They attempted to investigate the door, only to get thrown out of the building for attempted trespassing. Oops.
Meanwhile, Valerie and Jaiden went to Karen’s place to workshop the song Jaiden had written for RhythMixx. Karen apparently had her own dedicated recording space, which she had set up during previous years with the idol club. Jaiden and Valerie put the space to good use, and after some coaxing, they even got to jam out with Karen a bit. There was a slight hitch when Valerie received another call from Mary Rain about the gig, which shot her internal tension levels through the roof again Jaiden and Karen could both tell the call had made Valerie uncomfortable, though, and they both actively worked to make Valerie feel at ease again.
Jaiden: “Valerie, are you… Are you okay?”
Valerie: “Oh, o-of course. You know, the studio’s resources are one of the things that I am bringing to the group, so I'm glad that everyone else can keep up.”
Drak: Well, I think Jaiden goes,
Jaiden: “Oh, while you were on the phone we actually added a few more changes.”
Drak: And he just kind of tries to– ‘Cause he saw that Valerie seemed a lot more relaxed when they were working on the music. So he’s trying to, like, jump back in and hopefully help Valerie relax a bit more by jumping back into the music.
Eryn: The evening finished with a visit from Amberlee, who came to drop off cookies for Karen. The group talked and took a selfie together, and, by the time they were ready to go home, even Valerie had to admit to herself that she was having fun.
Dana: After we leave, Valerie starts to walk and realizes that it's maybe gotten late and then messages her sister, Alice, and says, “Sorry, need pickup, longer than expected, hanging out with friends.”
And I don't think that Valerie notices this, but Alice would: that this is the first time that she's said “friends” instead of “the group”.
Eryn: Never mind that odd black sphere that mysteriously appeared in the background of their selfie. That could wait… For now, anyway.
After the weekend, the members of RhythMixx really started to worry more about Ann, who still hadn’t been back to school or answered any of their calls and texts. They went out to the Neon District to retrace Ann’s steps and search for clues to her whereabouts. The search resulted in some unexpected attention and a surprise meeting with one of Jaiden’s favourite idol groups, the Bom Bom Brothers.
Drak: I think Jaiden's probably, like, hiding behind Angie and kind of peeks out from behind her, like,
Jaiden: “Can I, um, can I get your autographs…? …Please?”
Tea: Angie kind of tries to gently, like, push him so that he can be front and center and be like,
Angie: “It's okay. It's okay. They seem cool.”
Eryn: And that the brother in the middle of kind of like runs his fingers through his, like, silky boy band type hair and says,
Brayden Bong: “Well, we certainly can't ignore our fans, especially the ones who found our secret show.”
Drak: Jaiden is very close to swooning on the spot, but he's keeping it together enough.
Tea: It's cool. I've got him. I’ll just catch him if he faints.
[laughter]
Eryn: it wasn’t until they reached a lonely side street that they found a helpful clue. Reaching out with his powers, Jaiden pulled together water particles in the air and read the magical energies contained within them. Sensing something amiss, he pushed his powers even further, to the point where he almost felt like he was reaching into another plane of existence. And for a brief moment, he managed to manifest the silhouette of a misty, hooded figure for everyone to see, before it dissipated into the air once more.
Following this, RhythMixx searched online for idols in Cadence with fog or vapor powers. The only vapor-based idol they could find was a member of VAPE OR WAVE—a two-man outfit consisting of VAPE, who could control water vapor, and WAVE, who could walk on water and clouds. The duo had a show coming up later in the week, and so RhythMixx resolved to go there next in their search.
While waiting for the day of the show, RhythMixx commenced choreography and rehearsals for their gig, working with the Drama Club to learn the ins and outs of the auditorium and tech area. During that time, the group also helped work out some old bad blood between the Drama Club and Karen. The fact that Karen could even have bad blood with anyone came as a shock, but in the end, they were able to help re-establish some trust between her and Yasmin.
Eventually, the day of the VAPE OR WAVE show arrived, and the group snuck their way into an 18+ lounge to see them perform. Angie once again ended up drawn into performing on stage with them (not sure how that keeps happening), and she impressed both VAPE and WAVE with her dance moves.
VAPE: “Oh man, that was sick. What, uh… Who the fuck are you? What's your name? You're amazing!
Bane Raven: “Oh, I'm uh, I'm Bane Raven. And I'm just a… You know, a dance enthusiast!
VAPE: “Okay. Well, let us know if you, like, ever want to do anything again, because you are totally on our level. You’re like our VIBE, holy shit, man.”
WAVE: “Yeah. Why don't you give us your social media handle or whatever?”
Eryn: After the show, it became quickly apparent that neither VAPE nor WAVE had any idea what was up with Ann’s disappearance. The two were just a cute gay couple with a mildly unpleasant vaping habit. What can I say?
VAPE: “Not a lot of places will let you, like, vape vigorously and constantly. So we kind of have to take what we can get.
Queen Bee: “That is such a shame. I mean, it's such a– It's the healthier alternative.”
VAPE: “Yeah. It's like–” [inhale and gross exhale] “–it’s like a real drag, you know?”
WAVE: “I am so lucky. Like, VAPE, he… All I do is search YouTube for random anime clips and he makes such beautiful shit with it, honestly.”
Eryn: And he gives VAPE a little peck on the cheek.
[“Aww”s all around]
Eryn: And VAPE is like,
VAPE: “Aww, stop it!”
Drak: Aww, now I can’t be suspicious of them! They’re great.
Tea: Oh no. I like them now!
Dana: Yeah, now I like them!
All: [laughter]
Eryn: The visit was not fruitless, however. Jaiden was able to find an energy signature similar to the one from the Neon District, and it was inside of VAPE OR WAVE’s stage. Furthermore, there was a point where Jaiden felt like he sensed some other magical energy disappearing from within the stage. VAPE, WAVE, and Angie were all noticeably drained after performing, even more so than would be expected. Given all this, it seemed reasonable to conclude that something inside this stage—which had been provided to VAPE OR WAVE by Crimson Signal as part of a sponsorship deal—something about this stage had sapped some of their magical energy away. Now the group had even more reason to go back to Crimson Signal HQ at some point, as this shady new tech company seemed the most likely lead behind Ann’s disappearance.
Before they could do that, though, the gig was coming up that weekend, and it would be big trouble for them if they missed it. Despite everything going on, rehearsals were going surprisingly well, and it seemed that Jaiden’s song would be ready to serve as the big finisher for their set. They were so confident in their abilities that Queen Bee took it upon herself to write a smug letter to Sagittaria inviting them to the show.
Queen Bee: “To the members of Sagittaria,
You are cordially invited to attend Fort McNally Idol Club’s inaugural concert to be held this Saturday at The Stormlight. Tickets will be reserved in your name.
Best wishes,
RhythMixx”
Eryn: This, it turned out, was a mistake.
The night before the gig, Valerie’s assistant at Rain Shadow Records, Grace, called the group to inform them that the setup for the gig had changed last minute. For SOME reason, Sagittaria had contacted the venue last-minute and demanded the show be turned into a rematch between themselves and RhythMixx. And Rain Shadow Records had agreed to this on account of the viral publicity that it was sure to draw. On the plus side, this meant that the gig was now moving to the Stormlight main stage, rather than their smaller amateur stage. On the downside, this threw RhythMixx’s entire show into jeopardy. If they didn’t win this rematch, they would lose the right to play out the rest of their set, and all of their hard work would be for nothing.
Yasmin and the Drama Club overheard this news and agreed to help RhythMixx hone some of their stage fighting skills for the match. The two clubs spent the rest of the evening practicing together, and before everyone headed home, they received one last piece of correspondence… from Tyra Presley. Who is Tyra Presley, you may ask? Why none other than the former president of the Fort McArthur Idol Club whom Diana had ousted prior to the Downpour incident. Oh goody. Tyra sent the group a handwritten note bidding them to meet her the next morning at Lansbury Park, a neutral zone of sorts located between Fort McNally and Fort McArthur. Despite some reservations, the group agreed to at least go and hear what she had to say.
So, the morning of the gig, RhythMixx met Tyra at the park.
Elementum: “W-why did he want to meet with us?“
Tyra: “Let's just say I wasn't quite expecting a young upstart to be able to turn my entire club on me. And I would much prefer if we can put things back to how they were.”
ViVi: “And how's that relevant to us?”
Tyra: “Because you've already done half of my leg work for me. You made Diana's group look, let's just say, pathetic. And that has hurt Diana's credibility with the rest of the club. They're willing to give her another chance because clearly she is serious about things. But if she fails again in a very public fashion, it's going to be very clear to the rest of the club that she does not actually have what it takes to take us on the road to success. So. I’m hoping that we can strike a bit of a partnership here. I'm willing to offer you a bit of assistance with the show, if need be.”
ViVi: “So you're offering to sabotage Sagittaria during the show”
Tyra: “Precisely.”
Drak: Jaiden just kind of looks back at the rest of the group, just a little bit wide-eyed.
Bane Raven: “Ummm, can I talk to everyone for a moment?”
Eryn: Valerie briefly considered Tyra’s offer but was talked out of it by the rest of RhythMixx. Tyra accepted their “no” in a surprisingly casual manner, and she did offer them one piece of help regardless of their answer. Diana had been training up a few new club members to add to Sagittaria’s roster, bringing their total up to six performing members. In addition to Lady Luminous, Dame Divine, and Flora Fantastic, they would also have an acrobat named Sister Spectacular, a psychic swordfighter named Empath Esquire, and a peppy sports enthusiast named Maid Marvelous.
RhythMixx sat with that knowledge the rest of the day leading up to the gig. During that time, Angie, who had not told her family about her powers up to that point, finally told them about everything and invited them to see her at the show.
Tea: Angie is… nervous. So nervous that the night before, when one of her parents might've asked her what her plans are for Saturday, she might've told them that she had a gig.
Eryn: I think your parents aren't sure how to react, but they do know that they do want to, like, support you, especially since like, before everything happened, you were on track to like go to Starview whether you had powers or not.
Tea: Yeah. So I guess it's a way that I still get to dance and do my thing.
Eryn: Now everyone’s families would be there to cheer them on. Even Jaiden’s family from the UK would be able to watch via Skype as Petra the bouncer held up her phone in the audience for them.
Later, in the green room at the Stormlight, the group transformed to the idol forms. Violence Violet gave an encouraging speech to raise everyone’s spirits, and also finally apologized for what had happened during the Downpour incident.
ViVi: “I'm sorry that I… I lost control, and I know everyone kind of fell apart after that point, but I… I just left without trying to help or apologizing, and… [sigh] …But as far as I'm concerned, this isn't, this isn't a Violence Violent show. This is a group show. This is a RhythMixx show, and I'm really proud to be part of this group.”
Luca: I put their hand on Valerie’s shoulder.
Queen Bee: “You know I don't think you had it in you to apologize. I’m glad I was wrong. …Let's DESTROY them.”
Drak: Jaiden will just go up to Valerie and just say,
Elementum: “Can I hug you?”
ViVi: [inhale] “Okay.”
Drak: And Jaiden will just give the most big, big, old hug.
Dana: Valerie just accepts the hug with her arms at her side.
Bane Raven: “Um, thank you.”
Tea: She doesn't really know what to say in the moment. Right now, I feel like Angie's a little more nerves and stuff. So yeah, she's like, “thank you.” And then when Jaiden's hugging her, she kind of, like, does that awkward pat on her back kind of thing.
[laughter]
Eryn: Thanks to ViVi’s pep talk and their practice the night before, RhythMixx went into the rematch with a bang. They very smartly targeted most of their efforts on Diana, and to everyone’s surprise, she was the first to be knocked off the stage and out of the competition. Diana fumed as the rest of her club kept fighting, but the next big target, Flora Fantastic (a.k.a. Ashley), was knocked out soon after. It seemed RhythMixx’s teamwork and powers were simply too great a force to be reckoned with.
But not all good things can last. The first major hitch happened when Maid Marvelous made her way up onto a platform where Elementum was playing drums. Despite the fall of two of her teammates, it seemed like Maid Marvelous was having a great time. So great a time, in fact, that she ignored direct orders from Diana and used her idol power.
Her idol power, which was to turn herself into a Shetland pony.
Maid Marvelous: [neighing]
Eryn: With her powerful pony back legs, Maid Marvelous kicked Elementum clear across the stage.
Elementum: “A p– pony?! Why are you a goddamn pony?!”
Eryn: Reeling from the pain, he snapped at his groupmates in a way he normally never did.
Elementum: “Why did you all leave me alone? I just got kicked off the pedestal by a pony!”
Drak: And I'm just going to gesture to the pony.
Maid Marvelous: [whinny]
Eryn: As ViVi and Queen Bee encouraged Elementum and got him to his feet, Bane Raven rushed over and revenge-punched the pony off-stage with her super strength. Still that was not enough to quell Elementum’s anger and frustration.
Drak: I think right now is probably the least positive Jaiden has looked, He's not smiling. And he kind of just turns and glares, and the ground kind of quakes. And then a rocky hand just bursts out of the ground. And then another. And just a rock golem emerges from in front of– from the ground to make a construct, an animated construct.
Eryn: A rocky humanoid construct pulled itself up onto the stage, fully in Elementum’s control. For the time being, all it had to do was intimidate the members of Sagittaria into hesitating, which let Bane Raven handily knock another member off-stage.
In retaliation, Dame Divine formed a sword with her feather powers and took a cue from her opponents by targeting the group leader: ViVi. While ViVi was able to keep Dame Divine distracted from the rest of her team, she paid the price by taking a direct hit from the sword, which hit hard enough to immediately transform her back into Valerie. Luckily, she was standing close enough to the edge of the stage and in shadow that her identity wasn’t immediately apparent, but phones in the audience raised quickly, trying to get a glimpse of who Violence Violet really was.
The rest of RhythMixx rallied around Valerie, protecting her both from harm and prying eyes. Queen Bee in particular was furious about this.
Queen Bee: “That hits close to home. You don’t rip someone’s mask off on a stage.”
Eryn: She ripped apart Dame Divine’s magic wings with her bare hands, but getting that close left her vulnerable to another attack. Dame Divine struck with her sword again, knocking Queen Bee off the stage.
Sister Spectacular rushed towards the vulnerable Valerie, but Bane Raven was able to defend and use her momentum against her, throwing Spectacular off the stage in turn. That left Dame Divine as the one remaining threat. Luckily for RhythMixx, Elementum’s stone golem was still ready and raring to go.
Drak: He's gonna look to the stone golem, and then what you see is, like, its right arm kind of crumbles off and is replaced with just… It's like magma in the form of an arm. And then its legs kind of crumble and are replaced with just a single swirling tornado. And its right arm crumbles off and is replaced with floating, flowing water.
This fearsome elemental beast charged full-tilt at Dame Divine, careening off-stage with her with such force that they both hit the power barrier protecting the audience. The impact caused a surge in the barrier that sent sparks flying everywhere. Thankfully, the barrier held firm otherwise, but the audience was shaken nonetheless.
Still, despite the slight scare, RhythMixx stood triumphant, alone on the stage.
Tea: So there's like a moment when the music stops and Bane Raven is panting. And then she just does like a
Bane Raven: “YEEEAAAAH!!!”
Eryn: The entire crowd erupted into applause. Everyone who had supported them in their journey up to now was there in the audience—family, friends, and fellow idols alike. Finally. Finally, it was done.
Or so it would seem. If Diana had been angry before, she was enraged now that she and her entire team had lost so very, very badly. She raised her bow and arrow from the orchestra pit and aimed at Valerie, whose back was still turned to the audience. Diana let an energy arrow fly, and while the arrow had a blunted head, the impact still seared into Valerie’s back and sent her to the ground reeling in pain. Venue security quickly restrained Diana and removed her from the premises, but it didn’t matter. She’d done what she wanted. Seemed that Tyra would have no trouble re-taking the title after this.
RhythMixx took Valerie back to the green room and they all recovered over a round of fancy sodas. Transforming back into Violence Violet helped Valerie heal her wound somewhat, and the group took some time to enjoy their victory.
[synth music]
They knew they had more work ahead of them. They had to continue investigating Crimson Signal as soon as possible. For now, though, they could take pride in this win at the very least.
After some rest, the group made their way back out to the stage and played their set as originally intended. And they of course ended the set on Jaiden’s original song, entitled “I am the Violence”.
[electronic rock music]
At the very end of the number, the group finished with a move they had practiced to perfection in rehearsals. ViVi stabbed her psychic sword into the floor and stood strong in centre stage as Bane Raven and Queen Bee raised Elementum up in a cheerleader-style lift behind her. Bane Raven generated a wave of fireworks around them as Elementum raised both hands to the sky, shooting out two spectacular jets of flame. The applause roared around them. This was RhythMixx, and now? Everyone knew they were headed straight for the top.
Everyone, including one short, mischievous girl in the audience, who had come to the show with her father that night... and who now had no doubt in her mind that she needed to join RhythMixx.
[upbeat pop rock music]
Thank you for listening to this summary of Arc 1 of SuperIdols! RPG. You can continue the story from here with episode 20: Lucia, or, if you’re listening to this way in the future, by jumping forward to the Arc 2 summary.
Thanks so very, very much again to all our players from Arc 1: Dana Lexa as Valerie / Violence Violet, Tea as Angie / Bane Raven, Michelle as Synthia, Drakoniques as Jaiden / Elementum, Luca as Allen / Queen Bee, and Maria Fanning as Ann. Thanks as well to all our guest players and voice actors for this arc: Nathan Blades as Zero Degrees, Joel Ruiz as Twiddle, Lee Alder as VAPE, and Erik Seguinte as WAVE. You can find links to all their social media in the description, as well as a link to our website and information on the music and sound effects used in this summary. I’ve been your GM and narrator, ErynCerise. Thank you again for listening, stay well, and goodbye until next time.