*A/N incoming:

Hi there! If you're reading this, then thank you very much for showing enough interest to carry on to the second chapter. I've been working on this fic for the last three months (basically since I first got the game, ha), so updates should be decently consistent. Expect chapter lengths of 1500-2500 words (I personally don't like reading a lot at once, so I try to keep my chapters shorter). My goal with this fic was to develop my ability to create and use OCs, since I pretty much never do that to any great extent.

Thank you Kooliana for being the first to review! I do like my cliffhangers. I do take the time to respond to longer reviews and take all input into consideration. I don't usually bother holding up those that actually read author's notes, so don't expect them very often. That being said, let's get to it!

…

"…a…"

"…eph…a…"

Sepha blearily opened her eyes, wincing as blinding light assaulted her senses. Her head pounded and she dizzily put one hand against her forehead with a groan.

"Sepha!"

Sepha turned her head at the sound of her name, squinting into the sea-green eyes of an inkling boy. He was wearing his tinted shades on top of his turquoise head. It took Sepha a few moments to remember why she recognized him, and once she had everything rushed back at once. She scrambled to a standing position, but felt lightheaded and nearly toppled over again. Logan caught her by her shoulders and gently steadied her. Sepha swatted him away and sunk to her knees as she stared off the wall at the perfectly-normal setting of Bluefin Depot. Seagulls soared overhead, and the gentle sound of rushing waves overlapped neatly with the scent of salt water. "What… what's going on…?"

Logan circled in front of her, frowning. "I don't know. It's like nothing even happened." Sepha stared at him quietly, silently urging him to elaborate. "Everything went dark," he continued, "I felt like I was falling for a long time, then I landed kind of hard. When I opened my eyes, everything looked like this:" he gestured around, "normal. Are you okay, though?" His eyes shone with concern. "I couldn't get you to wake up for a couple of minutes. I think you whacked your head on the guardrail when we fell."

Sepha looked at the metal rail that protected the edge of the wall and rubbed her head with a grimace. It sure felt like that was what happened. But if they fell, then why were they still in Bluefin Depot…? "I'm fine." She didn't want to validate his concern by failing to stand up again, so she stayed on her knees and pulled out her map. It was still displaying the "Connection Error" text. She glanced around and was relieved to find her splattershot next to the guardrail where she had apparently landed. It looked unharmed. She picked it up and attached it back to her ink supply. "Do you have your splatterscope?"

Logan nodded and walked a few steps to go pick it up. He imitated Sepha and attached his weapon to the ink tank on his back. "Not that I'm any good with it…" he muttered. "This was my first time trying to use a charger. It's way harder than it looks."

"We'll swap weapons if we have to," Sepha said. Though she hoped they'd have no reason to use them, the situation was eerie enough to put them both on high alert. "You can at least use a splattershot, right?"

"Of course," Logan huffed. "You know how to use a splatterscope?"

Sepha shrugged. "I've never owned a charger, but I've practiced plenty in the store."

"Why only practice? Why not just buy one?"

Usually Sepha got questioned on her weapon choice with a lot more judgement, so even though she could hear the genuine curiosity in his voice, she felt defensive responding. "I just can't afford a new weapon right now, okay?" she bit back, avoiding his gaze. "My family needs my winnings more than I do."

"I'm sorry," Logan offered with a frown. "I meant it as a genuine question, honest!"

Sepha didn't bother responding. She carefully tried to stand up, but winced and put a hand to her head again. "Ugh… Come on, we need to get out of here."

"You might have a concussion," Logan suggested, his eyes wide. "Take it easy - "

"I'm fine, okay kid?!" Sepha growled, raising her splattershot to mark an easy path in front of them. She ignored her mild dizziness, refusing to prove Logan right. "Follow me, and don't you dare catch me in your fire."

"O-okay!"

The two made their way to the turquoise spawn point – or, what used to be the turquoise spawn point. The circle wasn't marked as either colour. Sepha arrived first, and gave the area a quick once-over before Logan had managed to ink his way over with his poor splatterscope skills. She stepped onto the metal circle, but nothing happened. The spawn point was where every inkling started from, respawned from, and, at the end of the match, exited from. Sepha had no clue how they were meant to leave if the spawn point wasn't working. Wondering if the problem was because she was orange and the spawn point used to be turquoise, she closed her eyes to shift her tentacle colour.

Sepha noticed first that the spawn point still wasn't working – she realized with a start a few moments later that her long tentacles were still orange.

"I've never seen a spawn point without ink on it before," Logan said. Sepha didn't bother telling him that he was stating the obvious.

"I can't change colours," Sepha said with a frustrated sigh. "I'm stuck orange."

Logan blinked at her. "Huh? Really?" He closed his eyes, then opened them a few moments later and looked at Sepha expectantly. "I can't see my tentacles without a mirror. Still turquoise?"

"Still turquoise," Sepha affirmed. "Must be because the turf war never officially ended, so the colour-lock is still on. Step on the spawn point, see if you can get it to work."

Logan obediently stood on the metal marker, but nothing happened. His eyes were wide now, filled with fear. "What do we do now?!"

Sepha tried to answer his question: she inked the spawn point orange, made Logan spray it turquoise, led them all the way over to the other side to see if there was any difference, and then gave up and sat down on the overhang looking out to the middle section. The ocean waves lapped around them, taunting them with the knowledge that there was literally no other way off of this particular map. If the colour-lock was still on, Sepha imagined the water-dissolve rule was still in effect… and if the spawn point wasn't working properly, that meant swimming wasn't something they could even attempt. "The officials must know we're missing," Sepha tried to reason, mostly to herself. "Even if they don't, Bluefin Depot is bound to come up again sooner rather than later…" Logan sat quietly behind her, occupying himself by playing with the zoom lens on his splatterscope.

They waited together for nearly an hour without saying a word. Sepha knew that they still had a ways to go until the four hour rotation would give them the possibility of freedom, but even then it would be just that: a possibility. They could be stuck for days, though she didn't want to voice her fears. She knew Logan had to be fully aware of this already, and she wasn't going to be the first to break down.

A faint whirring sound started above them, and both of the young inklings quickly stood up. To their relief and excitement, the spawn point was turning a light shade of green. This was the best case scenario in Sepha's opinion – neither turquoise nor orange was ever paired off against lime green, so they should stick out as an oddity rather than an opponent. "Finally," Sepha breathed.

"If I never come back to Bluefin Depot," Logan said, eying Sepha, "it'd be too soon."

"It was just a glitch," Sepha huffed. "And this is all gonna be over now, so just keep your weapon low and we can get out of here."

Green inklings began to materialize on the spawn point, but they took off directly from it instead of waiting for the signal to go. Sepha noticed that they were all adults – older than the typical age where turf wars were played. Only one, the leading male wearing a navy captain's hat, was carrying an actual weapon – a splattershot jr. The rest were armed with toolboxes, radios, and a large metal rod that Sepha didn't know the purpose of. Another round of four green adult inklings spawned shortly behind them, two of which were carrying large news cameras. Sepha didn't care about the crowd's oddities – all she cared about was getting out of Bluefin Depot. "Hey!" she called, waving as they rushed down the middle of the map.

"We got stuck here after the game crashed," Logan added. "Can you help us?"

The crowd of adults ignored them and hurried past. The lead inkling veered slightly to the left, nearly bumping into Sepha as he raised his splattershot jr. and inked a small pool off the edge of the overhang. The others turned into squids to leap harmlessly into the ink. "Didn't you hear us?" Sepha asked, reaching out to grab the sleeve of an inkling man who was lagging behind to bark something into his radio.

Her hand went straight through him. "What?!" Sepha flinched away. Logan stared at her with wide eyes, then reached out to touch the arm of an inkling woman carrying a news camera – just as Sepha's had, Logan's arm went through her, as if the woman was merely a hologram.

"They're… not real?" Logan guessed, staring as the adults began gathering in the center-left sector of the map.

Sepha knelt down next to a splatter of green ink that the splattershot jr. had left on the top of the overhang. She dipped a finger into the ink. It stuck to her hand and Sepha quickly shook it off. "No, the ink was real." She furrowed her brow at the crowd of green inklings beneath them. Their only way out of this situation was slipping out of their grasp. "…This isn't good…"