WAYNE "HAX" BRUCE flies into and collapses in the LIGHTNING ROD ROOM as all of your ITEMS clatter to the floor around him. For a moment, there is simply silence, as both you and TRENT are shocked and astounded that you actually won the battle. Once again, it was the CUP-DWELLING SPIDER that turned the tide of your battle. Perhaps your original "RIP 2009-2009" comment was made a bit too soon.

A bright flash immediately followed by an extremely loud THUNDERCLAP snaps you out of your REVERIE. Apparently, while you were battling HAX, the far-off STORM advanced towards you. The worst of it now seems to be directly over BURAM CASTLE. HAX lets out a short laugh, followed by a cough.

Heh...eh heh...wow. This wasn't how I...imagined our battle would end. There's no way the...two of you should have *cough* been able...to defeat me. ...But it doesn't matter, does it? Your victory is for naught. I knew *cough* that this was a...a suicide mission long before I entered Buram. Ha...ha ha...as soon as...as soon as lightning strikes the...strikes...

He stops talking mid-sentence.
HAX has died.

>> Do a short, discreet celebration of your victory. A high five is in order.
>> HIGH FIVES OH YAHH

You and TRENT give each other a MELLOW HIGH-FIVE for winning the battle. You can't seem to decide if it is morally okay to rejoice so much in front of a dead guy, so this simple act of "way to go dude" works well.

There is a bright flash of nearby LIGHTNING and another immediate THUNDERCLAP.

>> Jimmy: Say a prayer for the spider, hopefully he's doing well in boss-battle zone.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for the courageous SPIDER that has now saved the day not just once, but twice. Please watch over him/her/it as he/she/it endlessly tumbles through the BOSS HELL ZONE consisting of fast-moving lines and retro battle music. Please help the SPIDER to not starve, or get bored, or otherwise befall any ailment, and perhaps we will meet again someday.

Amen.

>> Jimmy: Put your helmet-bucket-santahat hat back on.
>> Jimmy: Retrieve the rocket gun
>> Jimmy: Equip ROCKET LAUNCHER

Yeah, you totally weren't leaving without your BUCKET MINING SANTA HELMET! But for good measure, you take HAX'S ROCKET LAUNCHER MACHINE GUN THING and equip it as well! To the victor go the spoils!

>> Steal anything and everything useful from Hax's corpse.

While a good idea, everything HAX had--his ROCKET LAUNCHER and MANAGERIAL LOCKER KEY--are already sprawled out on the floor.

>> Jimmy: Steal Hax's key
>> Jimmy: Flashback to locker room to see if it's where Dredlock's was as well

Upon further examination, this seems to be LOCKER KEY 109.

You do seem to recall LOCKER 109 being in the MANAGERIAL LOCKER ROOM on FLOOR 24 of the APEX MICROCHIPS BUILDING. Man, that sure takes you back! Nostalgia trips are fun.

>> Pick up your lost items.
>> Stash rest of stuff in the box.

The two of you quickly pick everything else up off the ground in near-equal quantities.

>> Jimmy: Gain LINGUISTICS experience points for the tingling sensation of the spider and successfully calling upon your friend.

Oh yeah! You totally forgot that it may or may not have been your SPIDERESE CALL FOR HELP that brought your SPIDER SAVIOR to your aid. You check your STATS TAB and realize you gained 23% LINGUISTICS EXPERIENCE for your actions!

>> Jimmy: Gain CHIMERAN experience points for the idea to throw all of your items at HAX and therefore win the battle. That's a pretty good idea, eh?

Think about it--that's not how you get CHIMERAN EXPERIENCE!

>> Jimmy: Look around for ANOTHER OTHERWORLDLY LINE to see if you get an inventory upgrade for killing HAX. Yay!!

You look around, but you don't seem to see any OTHERWORDLY LINES lying about. It seems the only upgrade you got for killing HAX was the level ups that resulted in +1 MAX MP.

There's another bright flash of LIGHTNING followed by a THUNDERCLAP so loud it makes you jump.

>> Trent: Look around for areas within the castle that could possibly have had an influence on the storm.

Nothing had an influence on the STORM; the STORM was simply already on its way. And the STORM hasn't affected anything in BURAM CASTLE, unless the LIGHTNING ROD is struck--which, at this rate, will probably be soon.

>> Look about and see if you can devise a way to disconnect the wires, or see if you can deduce what the lightning will do.

There doesn't seem to be any way to disconnect the WIRES--they're all protected behind that SEMI-TRANSPARENT UNBREAKABLE COVERING. The only way to even get at any of the WIRES would be to break down the PINK DOOR ROOM'S WALL, and given your attempts earlier, that would probably take...oh, about a half-hour or so?

...Oh wait, your PICKAXE vanished when you won the BOSS ENGAGEMENT! You have HAX'S ROCKET LAUNCHER, but that's unsafe to use in small hallways--it would be even tougher to break down that WALL now...

As for the LIGHTNING ROD's purpose, that's even less clear. As far as you can tell, if/when LIGHTNING strikes it, the ELECTRICITY would travel through the room you're in to the bottom-right corner, where it goes downstairs into the PINK DOOR ROOM. There, it goes through a lot of RESISTORS until the resulting ELECTRICITY travels across the hall and into a giant box filled with REFINED JAITIA.

Hmmmm.

>> Wait for lightning to strike.

TRENT takes the opportunity to speak up.

Jimmy...I think we're in danger! Hax mentioned that he was on a "suicide mission", and that our victory meant nothing, because of the lightning. Hax must have been the one to activate the lightning rod! If the lightning's power goes through all of those resistors, why does it empty into a box of Jaitia? We know the Jaitia's not reactive to high or low temperatures--but maybe electricity does the trick. The electricity would...would...

...JIMMY. What if it's a BOMB?

We don't have any time to test random theories! The storm outside is going crazy--I'm surprised the rod hasn't been struck already! Let's go--we'll come back when the storm dies down!

>> Ask Magic 8-ball what to do.

>> Pick up your stuff you threw and then flee the castle

You and TRENT make up your mind to not take any chances, and get the heck out of dodge.