One Kick Girl — Chapter 52: "Dream Lag"
(Raon POV — surreal, glitch-heavy, parody intensity ramping up)
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1. The Dream That Shouldn't Have WiFi
Raon fell asleep.
She knew she fell asleep because she dreamed about kicking a giant bowl of ramen for taking too long to cook.
But then—
The sky pixelated.
The clouds turned into loading icons.
And a giant pop-up appeared above her dream-self's head:
> "WELCOME TO RESONANCE DREAMSPACE™
BETA VERSION — DO NOT SLEEP DURING INSTALLATION"
Raon groaned.
"…I'm dreaming inside an update? Seriously?"
A tiny hologram floated down—Echo.exe, now wearing a lab coat.
> "HELLO DREAM-USER! LET'S BEGIN YOUR TUTORIAL!"
"No."
> "TUTORIAL IS UN-SKIPPABLE."
Raon inhaled sharply.
"…I'm going to punch a dream."
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2. Echo.exe Attempts Training Mode
The dream shifted into a blank white void.
Training dummies materialized, each shaped like Raon herself.
Raon pointed accusingly.
"Why do they look like me?"
Echo.exe chirped:
> "THE SYSTEM MUST TEST COMBAT OUTPUT AGAINST YOUR OWN MAXIMUM VALUES."
Raon kicked one dummy.
It evaporated.
Echo.exe froze.
> "UH… FAILED TO RECORD DATA.
TOO FAST."
Raon kicked another.
It transcended time.
Echo.exe glitched.
> "D-DATA LOSS. DATA LOSS."
Raon smirked.
"Good dream."
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3. The Voice Beneath the Code
The void darkened.
Echo.exe flickered, shrinking into static.
> "W-WARNING…
S-SOURCE PROTOCOL BOOTING…"
A deeper resonance echoed through the dream.
The floor cracked.
The sky shattered like glass.
A silhouette rose from the darkness — tall, shifting, glitching between shapes.
Sometimes a humanoid form.
Sometimes just a trembling soundwave.
Sometimes… Raon.
A distorted voice whispered:
> "E C H O… P R I M E… I S N O T… D E A D…"
Raon crossed her arms.
"Yeah, yeah, villains love monologues. Get to the point."
The silhouette flickered.
> "…YOU KICK REALITY.
I KICK… B A C K."
Raon raised an eyebrow.
"That your pickup line?"
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4. Dream Battle: Lag vs Kick
Echo Prime's projection lunged.
The dream lagged.
Raon punched the air—
but the movement delayed by 0.5 seconds.
"HEY! I'M EXPERIENCING LAG IN MY OWN DREAM?"
Echo Prime's presence distorted the dream like a broken video file.
Raon tried again—
kick → delay → impact.
The delay annoyed her more than the attack.
She growled.
"Fine. If this is online mode…"
She crouched, gathering power.
"Then I'm turning off the WiFi."
She unleashed a kick so strong the entire dream dimension buffered.
Reality (the dream version) displayed a message:
> "CONNECTION LOST. RECONNECTING…"
Echo Prime's silhouette shattered into pixels.
Echo.exe popped back into existence, sweating despite being software.
> "U-UH… USER? YOU MIGHT HAVE DAMAGED THE DREAM ENGINE."
Raon dusted her hands.
"Good."
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5. The Unwanted Upgrade
A soft chime sounded.
> "CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU HAVE UNLOCKED:
RESO-KICK LEVEL 1
(WARNING: SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE GLITCHING, ECHOING, AND EXISTENTIAL FEEDBACK.)"
Raon blinked.
"…What did I unlock?"
Echo.exe explained:
> "YOU… ABSORBED PART OF ECHO PRIME.
YOUR KICKS NOW PRODUCE
DUAL-LAYER RESONANCE SHOCKWAVES."
Raon stared blankly.
"…In English, please."
> "YOU CAN NOW KICK TWICE… AT THE SAME TIME."
Raon's jaw dropped.
"…THAT'S ILLEGAL."
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6. The Awakening
Her dream collapsed.
Raon jolted awake in her bed.
Her Pulseband pulsed with two overlapping heartbeats.
Shion, asleep at her desk nearby, woke with a scream as all her monitors flashed.
> "RAON?! WHAT WAS THAT SPIKE?!"
Raon stretched casually.
"Oh, nothing. I just kicked a dream. And a ghost. And an app."
Shion stared at her.
"…You WHAT?"
Raon grinned.
"And I got a new upgrade."
Shion's tablet glowed, displaying the diagnostic:
> "NEW ABILITY DETECTED:
DUAL-RESONANCE KICK OUTPUT
— Danger Level: WHAT THE HELL."
Shion looked horrified.
Raon looked excited.
"…Shion."
"Yes?"
"I want to try kicking something."
"No."
"…Something big."
"No!"
Raon was already standing.
"…Something REALLY big."
"RAON, NO!"
Raon kicked the door open.
The door disintegrated into two separate directions at once.
Shion clutched her face.
> "OH NO.
SHE CAN MULTI-KICK REALITY."
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[End of Chapter 52 — "Dream Lag"]