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Kelly hugged her plushies tightly, as she giggled and shut her eyes, while venturing through the darkness with a glimmer of light surrounding herself.

"Huggy hugs!" She brought them closer to her throat. "I could hug them all day... and see my worries flying away..."

Her eyes reopened, as she stared at the top of three dolls' heads.

"Such a good idea having my own little guards with me..." She giggled some more. "... but where am I going?" Her head rose back, as she began scouting her surroundings with her sight.

Darkness, darkness and more darkness was around the young, but not lonely girl. Her mouth shaped as a w.

"Is there... anything around here?" Her right hand went on the top of a doll's hand, petting it. "The walls are walls, the floor is the floor... and the darkness is unfortunately too darky." Her mouth downturned.

Back to the other three Inklings, Mirii lowered her head while her eyes grew a bit and her irises shrunk just as much. She blushed a little too! Her Splattershot was standing in front of her feet.

"Wh-what the?!" Her hands went on top of her head. "S-someone is touching me!"

"Don't be silly!" Greta smiled at Mirii, as her right wrist rested on her right side. "No one is touching you, aside from yourself."

"No, someone else is definitely touching me!" Mirii shook herself. "I felt that before I touched my own head!"

"... ah right!" Greta's mouth opened a bit. "Kelly is affecting us with her touches!"

"Sh-she is petting my head!" Her knees bended, as her head lowered. "I-I hate this feeling!"

"Sigh... there is nothing we can do about it..." Carlson downturned his mouth. "Maybe she will stop on her own..."

Back to Kelly... her hands were holding the doll depicting Carlson, while the other two were in front of her feet.

"... I know you love Grina..." Kelly blushed a lot, while smiling. "... but I... I still... m-my heart... ... siiigh..." Her head lowered. "I love you soooo much...!"

Her head rose back. Soon, her head was slowly moving towards the doll's face...

Carlson was looking around... suddenly, his lips pulled and his eyes grew. His face went bright red.

"EH?!" Sweat jumped out of his head. "... what's this warm feeling I have on my lips?! It's as if someone is... KISSING ME?!"

His eyes squeezed, as his mouth was trying to move.

"KELLY IS KISSING ME!" His head shook violently. "INTENSIVELY TOO!"

"B-Barsy?!" Greta grabbed his shoulders, while her eyebrows went up and her Slosher was left behind. "Why are you making such faces?!"

"GH!" His eyes squeezed. "I-I can't tell Greta about this...! I-I don't know how she would react..."

Kelly, meanwhile, moved away from the doll's face, as she smiled and blushed at it.

"... ooooh, wait a second!" Her mouth shaped a big w, as sweat dominated her forehead. "How the doll interactions work again?! ... ah, yes...!"

She sighed silently, as she smiled in the end.

"It's just a matter of emotions!" She nodded. "Whenever I have strong emotions during those interactions, I can transfer my actions directly onto the Squid represented by the respective doll... tee hee!" She smiled widely. "I'm sooo safe, then!"

Her knees bended, as she put the Carlson doll down and grabbed the Greta one, raising her knees back up.

"No matter what I did, I never had any strong emotions during my doll interactions..." Her eyes sealed. "I could even make this doll fly around, while Greta would keep her feety still!"

The girl began moving the doll around herself... while Greta was suddenly fly around her friends.

"KYYAAAAAAHHH!" Her eyes almost popped out, as she almost hit Carlson during her fly. "HELP MEEEEEE!"

The boy let his weapon impact the ground.

"GRETA!" Carlson dived towards her, only to hit the floor with his stomach.

Mirii was screaming with her hands on her cheeks. Suddenly, Greta halted in thin air... before dropping and hitting the floor with her Ink Tank.

Kelly was standing still with her right hand holding Greta above her head...

"... oopsie..." Jerkily, she twisted behind. "... I think I made her fly for real...!" She swallowed visibly. "That faint scream belonged to Mirii, though..."

Behind Kelly, two pair of red eyes appeared out of nowhere.

"... the dolls."

Kelly gasped, as she returned back forward and noticed the glowing eyes.

"Who are you?!" Kelly immediately captured the other two dolls, before raising back up and frowning.

The red eyes advanced... until an unique figure surrounded each pair. The left figure had the shapes of an Inkling woman, while the right one was resembling an Inkling man. Both were almost twice as tall as Kelly, with the female figure being a bit shorter than the male one.

"... we can't introduce ourselves to you..."

Kelly looked at each figure.

"... which one of those two talked to me...?" Her eyes squeezed a bit.

"... our identity is lost in the forgotten memories..."

"... we are just empty shells who serve the only person that granted us this mere existence..."

"Th-this is terrible!" Kelly's eyebrows went up, as her eyes sparkled and her mouth waved. "Who stole your identity?!"

"... we don't care."

"... give us the dolls..."

Kelly took one step back, while sweating.

"N-never!" She brought her dolls closer to herself. "Go away!"

The figures' arms stretched towards her... Kelly showed her teeth, before dashing towards her right side.

She ran inside the obscurity, before encountering a wall and hitting it with her head. She yelped, but with a simple shook of her head, she resumed her rush. Running towards the right side, she found a large container hidden by the shadows.

She halted, before her head would hit another hard surface again. The young lady performed a high jump, landing on the top of the crate. She quickly walked towards the edge, before stopping just as she was bending her knees.

"What is this breeze...?" She rose her knees, before turning herself behind and looking upwards. "... it's... coming from up there!" Her mouth opened a bit. "Could it be the exit?! Or another place which is farther away from those two beings?!"

Kelly bounced again, while getting closer to the wall: she ended up entering inside a hole, hitting a cold, metallic floor. She yelped again, before crawling with the strength of her bare knees.

Her glim light was showing nothing but metallic surfaces on both the floor, the walls and the ceiling. She kept moving forward, taking the occasional turns and even climbing a few rises.

Eventually, her knees touched thin air: she immediately falls, throwing all her dolls once she hits the ground hardly. She quickly dived after her dolls, hugging them all before raising back on her feet.

"... where am I...?" Kelly was breathing deeply, as she took a great look around herself.

Her feet were stepping on a red carpet... but aside from that, the darkness was covering everything else.

"... hmm..." She began walking towards her right side. "... where am I, now...?"

She brought her dolls closer to her chest... she began shivering a little, but her heart was beating normally. The glim light exposed a part of something, which made the girl hesitate. Her stare was examining the found piece... and soon, she performed careful steps towards the unknown piece.

As the glim light exposed more of the unknown, the girl pressed hard on her feet, anchoring herself in position: she could see the face of a Stingling... but the eyes looked empty.

"... wait..." Her face went paler. "Is it... ..." Shejumped high. "KYYAAAAAAHHH!"

She ran away as fast as she could, as her scream was prolonging under the same intensity. As she was crossing the hallway, the glim light grew in intensity, dissolving more of the darkness surrounding the girl. As the shadows retreated, they revealed more Stinglings who were down on the floor.

No matter the type, all of them had emptiness in their eyes... Kelly lowered her head, as she screamed even more and increased her running pace.

Her feet hit a body, as she tripped on the floor with her arms hugging her dolls tightly! She rose up quickly... only to find another tall figure, whose eyes were as white as the ice.


Greta stood closer to Carlson, as she was sighing and shivering in front of him.

"I-I'm getting tired of standing in here, surrounded by this darn purplish cloud or wh-whatever it is...!"

Carlson shook his head.

"We can't leave this spot, no matter what happens!" He frowned. "Even though we are armed to the teeth, we can't underestimate anything we see..."

"... you are saying that because you are worried about me..." Greta's head lowered.

"What's wrong with that?! With Kelly on our side, she"

"She was playing with us before, Carlson..." Mirii approached the two, as she sighed and rose her eyebrows. "... are you sure we shouldn't try reaching her...?"

Carlson exposed his teeth in front of Mirii... before closing his eyes.

"She might have tried the doll features on us... after all" His eyes reopened. "Each of us was tested for one unique feature."

"... true..." Mirii bit her lips.

"As you can see, we are both normal now." He smiled. "She understood what those doll powers are... so, we have nothing to worry about!" He chuckled a bit.

Both girls looked back at the boy... with both their eyebrows up.

"You."

The three Inklings twisted towards the right side, watching two figures sporting each a pair of red eyes.

"... get out."

Carlson began rolling his Splatling's barrels, as he began shooting cyan ink projectiles against the living shadows.

The eyes disappeared... and the Inklings held their breaths. As soon as the Splatling stopped its barrage of ink, the unknown figures appeared behind the group.

"Your ink is futile."

They turned behind again, this time their eyes were seeing the shadow figures under the purplish cloud.

"Your curiosity too."

"Those who dared to desire more knowledge..."

"... they ended up losing everything."

"Who are you?!" Mirii growled at them.

"... our identities are lost in the forgotten memories..."

"We are just empty shells..."

"S-say something to them, Barsy!" Greta bended her knees, as she brought her Slosher back.

"... they must be Demon Squids!" He held the trigger, as his weapon's barrels began rolling again.

"What they have done to this place...?" Mirii was keeping a calm breath.

"Enough talk."

"We wanted to take the dolls... but in the end, we don't need them."

The three Inklings gasped!

"Your ink can't hurt us... your presence doesn't cause any problem..."

"We have observed you three too... there is no sinergy in your playstyle, nor there is any combat skill you might have with your puny weapons..."

"... for being empty shells, they sure talk like real Squids..." Carlson squeezed his eyes a little.

"You should had let your consciousness leading your way... but instead, you chose the unconsciousness."

The shadows rose from the ground, as their arms opened: each of them received a dark Blaster, coupled with an Ink Tank who materialized behind their backs.

"... you will regret your choices..."

Both aimed their weapons at the three. Carlson, Mirii and Greta bended her knees, while staring at their foes.

"... that woman..." Mirii stared at the Inkling woman-looking figure. "..." Her mouth stretched over her right side.