Chapter 4: Ao-Chan

Ina stared at the book from across the room. Her knees were tucked into her chest and she had bags under her eyes, something was different about the book in front of her.

It called for her in her dreams in the form of a woman with the book floating above her hands. for the past week she's been waking up mere seconds from opening it. Every day she hasn't been able to get more than three hours of sleep, even now she felt the urge to fall asleep, but she knew if she did that woman would enter her dreams.

"I need to get rid of it!" She told herself, standing up. She made her way over to the book and grabbed a blanket, quickly wrapping it around the book, and made her way to the door.

"I wonder what's in it?" Ina said, stopping dead in her tracks, "Wouldn't it be a waste to throw it out?"

She blinked and dropped the blanket, the book fell to the ground. Her eyes went wide, that wasn't her. It was the book. She had spoken, but that wasn't her thoughts, the book was controlling her! She backed away from the dropped book and sat down on her bed.

The moment she did the book began to glow and reveal a woman, the same one from her dreams, in front of her. This was the first time Ina had gotten a good look at her and was shocked to say that they looked remarkably alike, the only difference was the more squid and octopus-like features.

"Ninomae Ina'nis," The lookalike spoke, "My name is Ao-Chan, I am happy to be in your presence once again."

"What?" Ina, now standing on her bed, backed away further, "What do you mean once again?"

"You were once our priestess, the priestess for the ancient ones and held out power at your fingertips," They answered, "However, unlike those who have wielded us in the past you have shown us the good sides of humanity and treated us like friends instead of a means to an end, a path to power."

Ina just stared at Ao-Chan, her mind unable to wrap her mind around it. Ancient Ones? Powers? Priestess? What was this thing on about, she wasn't anyone special, she was just a normal girl!

"I see you're having a hard time with the truth," Ao-Chan began to walk towards Ina, "Let me help you see the memories that have been kept from you."

"Kept from me?" Ina asked as her room melted around her to an alleyway. She looked around and saw herself nearby, picking up the book that was talking to her now.

"This was meant to be a simple act of kindness," Ao-Chan said, "You wanted to return the book to whoever it was owned by, unknown to you we were searching for a new priestess."

"And I was the one you picked?" Ina asked, "It seems to me that you just pick the first person who looks at you!"

"There is more to it than that," Ao-Chan responded, "We look at who is most likely to merge well with our magic, and who has the best chance to adapt to the changes the ancient ones demand of their priestesses."

The scene around them changed once again, instead of an alleyway it was in a Cafe, she saw herself sitting across from a man in a suit. However, she now had the squishy hair that Ao-Chan had as well as the ear on top of her head. From where they were Ina could hear only snippets of the conversation, however, the words 'Idol' and 'Hololive' left his mouth. She watched as her head nodded and the man gave her a kind smile.

"You joined an Idol group named Hololive, they have been connected to dozens of supernatural beings and we wanted you to use them to further our original goal."

Ina turned toward Ao-Chan, "What goal?"

"World Domination." Ao-Chan responded, "However, thanks to you, that has changed."

The room around them changed once again, instead of a cafe it was now a table with four other girls around her. Three of them she knew, the blonde from the library, Miss Takanashi Kiara, and Calliope Mori, however, they were in different outfits. More akin to the art she had made from their inspiration, however strange that was. She tried not to focus on that and instead turned to the girl she didn't recognize. She was a short girl with white and blue hair in a shark hoodie with matching teeth. They were laughing, throwing jokes, and sharing snacks.

"It was your love for your friends that helped change us," Ao-Chan spoke, "However since the actions of the Archon and the destruction of Hololvie you and your friends have lost memories of each other."

"What… what about my artwork," It was the only question that could get through to Ina's mouth, the chaos happening in her brain was too much to handle.

"That was you once again proving to us that you were the best choice," Ao-Chan smiled, "Despite the actions of the Archon and his magic you were able to retain some form of recognition of your friends, including their traits and powers."

"There's that name again, Archon," Ina narrowed her gaze, "Who is the Archon?!"

Ao-Chan grabbed Ina's shoulder, "I will show you."

All around them images of different forgotten moments flew by. Watching movies while laughing at the chat, different collaborations with her friends, challenging each other to duels, and memories that brought warmth to her heart as she saw the smiles and love of her friends and those who watched and supported her. Unbeknownst to Ina, Ao-Chan was smiling too.

They finally arrived. It was a sunny day and the five girls were out in front of a large restaurant with the letters KFP lit up in bright orange letters.

"I couldn't believe how many people showed up!" Calli said, her eyes wide, "I think I'll be sore for a week!"

Kiara grabbed onto Calli's arm as tightly as she could, "Thank you so much Calli, this is why I love you so much!"

"Kusotori get off!" Calli recoiled with a massive blush.

The three other girls laughed, Amelia turned to Gura, "There's no stopping Kiara now, with KFP finally here her only goal is Calli!"

Ina giggled, "I don't think anything could stop her!"

Kiara let go and turned toward the others and bowed, "Thank you guys so much!" Her voice began to shake, beset by emotions, "If it wasn't for you guys I wouldn't have been able to pursue my dream and push myself this hard!"

Gura tackled Kiara, her voice also shaking, "You're so tough on yourself, you would have gotten here even if we weren't here!"

"But you guys helped so much!" Kiara cried out, grabbing the other three and giving them a spine-crushing hug.

"Are you guys members of Hololive?" A voice asked.

Ina turned toward the man and smiled, "Yes we are, Hololive English to be exact."

He had long shoulder-length blond hair and bright golden eyes. He wore a long black fur coat, with a black shirt and matching pants. He had a walking stick and a smirk on his face, "Good."

Kiara's sobbing stopped and she stood up, her eyes glowing with magic, "You're… a phoenix?"

"I am the Archon, I'm here for the power of the Ancient Ones," He spoke, "It's too dangerous to be left in the hands of a human."

"Ina's proven herself!" Amelia stepped in front of the girl, "Get lost!"

"If Death-Sensei is cool with a human having the power of the Ancient Ones then you should be cool too!" Calli grabbed her scythe, "By why do I get the feeling you're not asking."

"You have good intuition Calliope Mori," The Archon smirked, "Either give me the book or I will wipe not only you but all of Hololive off the map!"

Kiara's weapons materialized in front of her and Gura grabbed her trident, behind them Ina's tentacles began to exit the void.

"Archon," She began, "Why are the Ancient One's angered by your presence?"

"They know him!" Amelia grabbed her syringes, "Don't give him a chance!"

The blonde charged at him and with a flick of his wrist was thrown through the window of the restaurant.

The phoenix sidestepped a swing from Calli and punched her gut before holding out his hand and screaming out, "Rigescunt Indutae!"

Within an instant, Calli froze on the place and he turned his gaze toward the remaining three.

Ina brought her hands together and began to speak in an incantation. As she did so Gura and Kiara charged the phoenix in a pincer.

The Archon turned toward Gura and moved his arm in a horizontal motion, "Flamma Murum!"

Gura screamed as a wall of flames shot up from the ground throwing her into the air. With a screech, she threw her trident and in a split second the Phoenix let out a blood-curdling scream.

With the trident in his right arm, he raised his left arm above his face to block and enraged Kiara's swing with gritted teeth, "Crap!"

"We gave you a chance!" Kiara jumped away, revealing a fully charged magic blast from Ina, which hit him square in the chest and sent him into the opposite wall.

"That's more power than I remember, "The phoenix laughed through the dust, "Now then, let's get serious!"

He turned to Kiara and his eyes showed a white light for only a moment, however, a shockwave threw the Phoenix down the street.

"Give me the book!" He held out his bloody hand.

"Never!" Ina began to charge up another spell as her tentacles began to attack the man. Each strike was dodged and the stab was countered with a cut.

He frowned, "I've had enough of this, Urbe Somnia!"

As an orange shockwave began to flow out toward her, Ina finished her spell and shot it out, "Ward!"

There was an explosion and then everything went white.

Ina and Ao chan watched as the city was engulfed in the globe and was changed to a different world, one without Hololive and the magic of those within it.

As they watched this happen Ina could feel the magic from Ao-Chan merge with her. Ina closed her eyes as the memories returned to her and tears began to flow.

Now you remember everything? A voice spoke inside Ina's head.

Ina looked around inside the apartment she had been living in since the dreamworld had been created thanks to their fight against the Archon. She turned toward herself in the mirror and smiled, she looks the way she remembered, the squid parts and all, "Yes Ao-Chan I remember, where do we start?"

I would suggest we find ourselves a lucky charm.

Ina smiled, "Time to find a watch!"

A/N: Thanks for reading this! It's been an experiment for me to write more fluff than dramatic stiff like I usually do and it was my first Hololive fic, I hope you liked it!.

Sadly, I will not be continuing this story, the plot just... left me for some reason. Don't worry I have another Hololive fic in the works, it's just this one is over.

Once again, I hope you liked it! Stay safe and See you on the flip side.