Chapter 2: Reorganizing

Monika had experienced many things, but becoming a squid ex-pop star idol? Definitely not one of them.

After a lengthy investigation of the game's code, and researching Splatoon's wiki, Monika was able to pinpoint her exact lines within the game and general personality outside of the campaign. Monika, or should she say now an omnipotent Marie, was already making some progress. It had been a mentally exhausting few hours, but she was able to pinpoint every single dialogue line, movement animation, and Original Marie's (as that was what Monika had taken to calling the Marie that had existed before she came) AI. Apparently, the life that Monika now had was one of fame, action, and a bit of loneliness sprinkled in. Marie had been a pop star idol with her best friend and cousin Callie, forming a duo known as the Squid Sisters. She was a part of a world inhabited by Inklings, a race evolved from squids after humanity died out thousands of years ago. Inklings feuded with another race of evolved sea creatures, known as Octarians. Since the general public usually only used weapons to battle in Turf Wars, an elite squadron of individuals was formed to combat the forces of the Octarians, which consisted of Captain Cuttlefish, Marie and Callie's grandfather, Callie and Marie, aptly called Agents 1 and 2, and two random people snagged off the street who just so happen to be really good at fighting: Agents 3 and 4. Later, three more people were added to this line of defense, which were an Inkling and Octoling named Pearl and Marina, who formed another pop group named Off the Hook, becoming Agents 5 and 6, and a rehabilitated Octoling, called Agent 8, saved from the hypnotic grasp of the Octarians' leader, DJ Octavio. Who Agent 7 was and why they're never mentioned (or if they even exist) eludes Monika.

(AN: Sorry for the exposition dump.)

She was now able to properly fit in, and even have a bit more leg room to actually express herself, but she still felt trapped. Still trapped in a cycle that she was to succumb to. She had just broken away from a hellish pattern that made her mind break and kill her friends, and now she had to obey another set of rules keeping her from doing anything worthwhile. Just sit on the side, say your lines, and maybe you can fight a thing or two.

Monika was sick of it. She wanted to break free from the loop. And she was determined to, through whatever means possible.

It wasn't often that Natsuki woke up on the wrong side of the bed, yet this time her morning dreariness hit hard. She shuffled in bed, pulling her pillow over her head to soak in these last remnants of sleep before she had to get up and be responsible. Expecting to hear her father's gruff shouts, Natsuki cringed at what could possibly come afterwards. Obviously confused when nothing of the sort happened, she pulled herself out from under the covers, head still pounding from whatever happened last night. What did happen last night, Natsuki couldn't remember for the life of her.

She glanced around her room, with drowsiness still clouding her vision, yet tilted her head. Something wasn't exactly right, though she quickly dismissed it as another effect of her usual late night sleeping. Natsuki sat up in bed, stretching her arms out. Rubbing her eyes to clear out the early morning blurry vision, Natsuki noticed how foreign her movements felt, as if she were a completely different person. Like... she'd been transformed into someone else. The young schoolgirl briskly hopped out of bed, and with the effects of sleep now fully shaken off, Natsuki was now completely aware of her changed surroundings.

"What," she mumbled to herself, trudging over to the door. She immediately noticed that she was a lot shorter than before. In fact, when she opened the door, the handle was much higher up than she remembered. Weird.

Natsuki opened the door and plodded down the stairs. As she looked around, she noticed that the walls, the decorations, the furniture, everything was completely different. That's when it hit her. This wasn't her house.

She nearly stumbled down the stairs.

When did I get here? How did I get here? Who's house is this? Millions of questions raced through her mind, as she quietly crept through this unfamiliar home. She had to find out who brought her here, and why, and how, and a long list of other interrogative sentences to be delivered angrily into someone's unsuspecting ears. Natsuki tiptoed into a hallway, lined with posters of some pop duo. It was a medium sized house, or even possibly a large apartment. Whoever lived here must enjoy a lavish life.

As Natsuki rounded a corner, she came face to face with the oddest looking creature. It looked human enough, yet there seemed to be a couple odd quirks. The creature in front of her had some weird black raccoon-esque mask going around its eyes, for some reason, and its hair on closer inspection seemed to be tentacles. From its agape mouth, you could see two fang-like teeth sticking out from the top of its mouth, and one from the bottom. It was also pretty short, the same size as Natsuki was.

Natsuki tentatively stepped forward and waved her hand. "Hello?" she slowly questioned, noting that her voice sounded somewhat off. "Are you the owner of this house?" No response. The creature in front of her simply waved at her with a slightly confused expression painted on its face.

"Hey, I'm talking to you! Do you understand what I'm saying?" Natsuki waved her hand a bit stronger, trying to get the creature to respond at all. Weirdly enough, all it did was move its mouth whenever Natsuki spoke and wave its hand vigorously.

Natsuki was getting annoyed now. Stomping her foot on the ground and crossing her arms, she grumbled, "Hey! Quit copying me! I gotta find out who kidnapped me and get outta here! And I'm not gonna let some weird octopus runt like you bog me down. I'm. Leaving." The creature stomped its foot as well, and crossed its arms too.

Suddenly, Natsuki stopped, realizing something. She lifted her left arm. The creature lifted its left arm as well. She turned to the right. The creature turned to the right too. Natsuki walked up to the creature and lifted one finger to try to poke it. Accordingly, it copied her every move, until Natsuki made contact with it.

It was a mirror. Natsuki was fooling around with a mirror this whole time. She was the weird octopus runt.

Natsuki, shaken by her jarring shift in location and appearance, somehow clambered her way into a living room of sorts, and flopped on the couch, literally. Her body felt more flexible and squashable, as if she were a human stress ball. Or maybe, squid person stress ball? She didn't know, and was too puzzled to ponder that thought any longer. Natsuki, or whoever she was at this point, sat up and decided to go back to the bedroom from where she came, figuring that she'd be able to piece together what happened to her by looking where she had started.

Natsuki lumbered into the bedroom, though taking awhile to find it again. When she opened the door, Natsuki's eyes darted around the room, looking for some hint as to whatever caused her to suddenly become an octopus... thing. Jumping at the sudden sound of a phone vibrating on a desk, she nearly fell on the floor. Natsuki looked around, taking a few seconds to locate the source of the noise. She walked over to the nightstand next to the bed. Upon it, a smartphone, oddly shaped like an arrow of some sort, vibrated, the face of another human-looking squid person plastered on the screen. Tentatively, Natsuki picked up the phone, and pressed the green "Accept Call" button. This was possibly some other person's life, after all. Natsuki didn't want to go around clumsily screwing up what relationships this squid person could possibly have.

"Hello?" Natsuki quietly answered, unsure.

"Hello. I don't know how to explain this, but since apparently you're one of my close friends, I think that you won't think I'm crazy," a voice on the other line said. It was female, yet the tone and inflection of the voice sounded... oddly familiar. "I'm going to have to tell you this. I'm not actually your friend. Uh, as of now." Natsuki couldn't place it, but some nagging feeling at the back of her head screamed that this person talking to her was actually someone extremely, importantly, relevant. "I-I don't mean to offend you, because if you're taking this like I'm breaking up ties with you, I'm not." Natsuki's eyes narrowed. The other caller took a deep breath.

"How do I explain this? Um, I'm actually another person, in this person's body. Please don't be weirded out."

There it was. Natsuki had a sneaking speculation, so she decided to affirm it as discreetly as possible.

"YURI?" she screeched. "IS THAT YOU?"

Haha, left ya on a cliffhanger there. Sorry for the long wait, Christmas, holidays, etc. etc. This chapter, we have more of the Dokis introduced. PLOT! I typed this chapter up in a few days. Anyway, I'm just going to say. Anyone of you that follow my other story, The Omnigame, may have to wait a bit longer before the next chapter.

*does not even have a full paragraph typed*

Okay, maybe a bit longer. I am still working on it though! I've just not have enough time. I'm hoping to be able to pump out more chapters after January, when all my tests are over. Make sure to check me out elsewhere (links in profile) to keep up with what shenanigans are keeping me from writing (besides school). See/read you/me later!