đ Level Up, Lila!
Chapter 8: Welcome to the Glitch Club
Word Count: ~5000
Tone: Warm, chaotic, emotional, mysterious, humorous, and rebellious
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đ Scene 1: After Class â Behind the East Wing
They met in secret.
Technically, they met behind the janitor's hologram closet, between a broken vending machine and a flickering "No Dueling" sign.
The System had rejected each of them.
And now, Lilaâthe girl with a pancake shield and a glitch in her smileâwas welcoming them to a place that didn't officially exist.
"Hi," she said, standing on an upturned crate. "Welcome to the Glitch Club. Where being broken is the entry exam."
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đ„ Scene 2: The Members Arrive
Six students showed up.
Each one looked more confused than the last.
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𧀠1. Rin Daska â The Girl with the Echo Hands
Her hands created perfect clones of themselves every ten seconds.
Useful? In theory.
In practice: she'd knocked out three teachers by accident.
> "I can't even write an essay without turning the keyboard into a piano."
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đŠ 2. Nilo Wren â The Boy with the Mystery Skill Slot
His Tree showed zero abilities.
Yet when he tripped, vending machines exploded.
> "The System says my skill is 'Yet to Be Determined.' I think that means I'm cursed."
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đ¶ 3. Junie Ray â Memory-Backup Specialist (Blind)
Her Tree was classified "Recall-Type"
She saw nothing physicallyâbut she remembered everything around her.
> "I don't need to see. I just remember where everything was five seconds ago."
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đž 4. Mara Lott â The Transformation Fail
Attempted to unlock Beast Path.
Stuck mid-mutation with frog legs and anxiety.
> "I'm 30% transformation and 110% trauma."
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đ 5. Eli Rhee â Former Prodigy, Now System-Banned
Once ranked top-tier.
Got caught syncing with an unregistered fragment.
Tree now reads: "Pending Investigation."
> "Technically, I'm not a student anymore. But I still show up for lunch."
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đȘ 6. Vess â The Mirror
Said nothing.
Shadowed Lila like a ghost.
Tree says: "Reflection Class â Redacted."
Lila didn't press. Some wounds don't talk on the first day.
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đ Scene 3: Why They're Here
Lila faced them.
"I'm not here to fix you," she began. "I'm here to tell you the system's not as perfect as it wants to be."
They stared.
"Everyone else treats broken Trees like... a virus. But we're not viruses. We're patches. We fill the gaps the system doesn't know how to deal with."
Junie raised a hand. "Is this legal?"
"Definitely not," Lila replied cheerfully. "That's why it's fun."
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đŻ Scene 4: The First Mission
> SYSTEM PING: "Unauthorized Patch Accumulation Detected"
Quarantine Enforcer Unit Activated
Target: Student Club C-00 (Unregistered)
Enforcement Level: Light (Warning Tier)
A glowing cube drone floated in. It beeped ominously.
> "PLEASE DISBAND. OR BE PROCESSED."
Lila blinked. "Huh. We have fans already."
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đ Scene 5: The Fight Against the Drone
The club members scrambled.
Nilo accidentally summoned a rain of potato chips from the ceiling.
Rin slapped herself in the face with ten cloned hands.
Junie calmly guided everyone into a better attack pattern by memory alone.
Mara leapt and croaked "FOR THE PATCHES!" mid-air.
The drone zapped onceâthen turned directly at Lila.
She flipped her pancake shield and used "Compassion Break."
The drone hesitated.
> "...System logic loop detected. Emotional sync disrupting protocolâŠ"
She whispered: "You're not meant to erase weird things. You're meant to protect them."
> SYSTEM: WARNING⊠logic shift accepted.
> ERROR: Enforcer reassigned.
Drone spun in a circle. Then politely beeped.
> "Would you like me to guard this club instead?"
Lila: "âŠYes. Yes I would."
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đ Scene 6: Building the Clubhouse
They moved into an abandoned tea room two floors below the main cafeteria.
Lila named the place:
> The Patchroom.
Where code heals with cookies.
The drone, renamed Muffin, floated above the entry with a smiley face.
Eli installed a blackboard made from broken tablet screens.
Junie added memory paths across the floor so she could navigate by heartbeat.
They were still misfits.
But now⊠they were together.
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𧩠Scene 7: A New Fragment Appears
That night, Lila stayed late alone. The Patchroom hummed with odd energy.
A new Patch floated down from the ceiling like snow.
> "Lesson 13 â The Power of Weakness"
Status: Rejected by Competitive Tier Curriculum
"Would you like to restore this lesson?"
She nodded.
And as she placed the patch inside the blackboardâ
The room flickered with ancient data.
> A soft voice whispered: "Some systems were never meant to be perfect. They were meant to learn."
Lila wrote those words above the club name.
> We are not errors.
We are the next update.
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đ± End of Chapter 8 â Growth Summary
> đł HeartTree of the Rewrite â Level 9
XP: 270 / 300
đŻ New Passive: "Patch Bond" â When Lila helps a broken-path user, both gain boosted sync XP
đ„ Club Members Added: 6
đ Patchroom: Unlocked
Upgradeable Secret Base
1 Enforcer Drone: Muffin
Hidden Patch Acquired: Lesson 13 â The Power of Weakness
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