Across the worlds, another Shiver wasn't anywhere near as lucky.

She stared into the abyss where she had just lost her Big Man. She was alone, for real this time. There was no dream to wake up from for this one. Eyes watering and itchy, throat dry and nerves fried from the stress, she turned away from the hole in the bridge and stumbled further into the city. It was chaos, and not the capital-C kind that led everyone there to begin with. As she walked further and further into town, the ground beneath her became fuzzy and brown. No goop anymore, now the fur was just shooting through cracks in the ground. Like the very ground itself had been contaminated. Everywhere, former Inklings and Octolings, now covered in the brown fuzz from head to waist. Some were already dead, some where crawling around as the fetid fur posioned them from the inside.

This was madness. Why was Shiver a survivor amoung the dead? Why was she alive, when Splatsville was lying in state in its pink shroud?

She felt...intolerably lonely.

Drifting from street to empty street, unsure of where she was even going. There was no "away from here", anymore. No "safety". At any point the goop or any of the poor Octarians ensnared in its grasp could spring from nowhere and strike her down. Her head was a dull thump, nearly hollow, but a stinging pain was slowly forming. A sting, just at the back of her mind.

Finally, she made it to the centre. Where squids and octopi would usually sit around, play card games, buy new gear and get ready to play in Turf War or do a shift at GrizzCo. Heh...Grizzco. Where all this mess started. Shiver couldn't believe that she, Frye and Big Man had shilled for them so often back in the day. Advertising shifts, changes to the rotation, new gear. She...they...had fed into that ursine's mad plans. And let him win, perhaps. There was not a living soul in the city anymore. No living being, just the dead and the dying littering her feet. No music was playing, no talking. Not even the screams of frustrated inkos at the prospect of yet another Glowfly-related pay cut.

Sound had...ceased. While those sounds had still rung out, even a place as run down and ramshackle as Splatsville had seemed alive. But not all that remained was this...gaunt, quiet. Shiver couldn't do this anymore. What use was there being alive in this dead world? She could have just jumped into the fuzzy goop and ended it there but...something stopped her from even this. She had to think of something else. Rummaging around Ammo Knights, she found it. An NZAP. Perfect. She softly pressed the tip into some remaining fuzzy goop, and it seeped into the gun's own reserve. Most came from the user's inktank, but it still held a small amount inside it. Just in case. It rumbled and quivered, glowing purple and cracking among some of the thinner plastic. It wouldn't last long. But it was her best shot of just getting it all over with. She held the gun to her head, closed her eyes...and then, with trembling hands and fingers, sh-

[clack!]

Shiver felt the gun being ripped from her hands, which fell loosely to her sides. She shot her eyes open again, staring blankly into space. Was she denied even this mercy? Was she being toyed with?! She stood...and then, a familar voice rang out.

"Aww, Shivvy! For shame! You know there's always so much more to live for!"

...No. Impossible. She was...Shiver turned to her new intruder. It was...FRYE?! But, so different, for some reason! Rather than her light yellow shawl and tank top that bared her midriff, she wore some heavy military cloak that covered her entire torso, but was slit at both ends to allow her arms to poke out. She wore baggier trousers and army boots, as well as tactical gloves on her hands. On her head, atop matted dull yellow tentacles, was an army cap with an unusual symbol that resembled an eye carved into the front. And her...her eyes! They weren't the shining yellow they used to be, they were...black. Soulless black with bright blue pupils.

Shiver's breath catched in her throat, "...Frye?"

"Eh, wouldn't have worked anyway," this weird new Frye grimaced, pulling the trigger a few times, only to hear a clicking sound, "Firing mechanism's broken. Would've just exploded on ya, and that would've been a WORSE way to go. Still, worth a try. Excuse me...YEET!" with a yell, Frye threw the gun as far and as hard as she could into the air, towards the tower. Sure enough, it exploded into fragments of plastic and shards of plastic, dribbling and clattering down the steps, respectively. She turned back to Shiver, "There. No problem at all, eh-HURK!"

New Frye's breath was cut short as Shiver tackled her into a massive, tight hug. She was shivering, pardon the pun, the banging in her head only getting worse and more painful with every passing second. She was gibbering, her nerves well and truly shattered, "Fr-Frye...I-I thought..."

"That I bought the farm, huh?" Frye snickered, "WELL, good thing I kept the receipt, eh?" no response, just a slight tightening of the hug. Frye sighed and returned the hug, "...Yeah, I missed ya too, sharky. It's good to see you again..."

They broke from the embrace, Shiver looking to her friend's eyes, "Frye...what's going on? What happened to you?!"

"Hooooooooo that's a long story, Shiv," Frye sighed, "One we'll have to go over soon. Just know what happened to ME...is happening to you?"

"W-What?"

Frye responded by digging a mirror out of her pocket and showing Shiver her own face. She gasped; her own eyes were black as well! Only, her pupils were white in colour instead of blue. But there was a faint hint of...lavender? She tried to question this, but any thought process was stopped by a sudden, howling agony in her head. She screamed in pain, clutching her head and dropping to her knees. It felt like her mind was unravelling like a peeled apple. Voices, screaming voices, rang out in her head.

"Oooh look!" Frye responded, oddly amused with the scene, "It's starting already! It's only a little longer, Shiv! You're gonna be just fine, trust me! You're joining somethng HUGE, Shiv! Bigger than banditry. Bigger than those pencil pushers down at the Splatoon. Bigger than Splatsville! Somethin' MASSIVE."

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Shiver screamed out in response.

"Oh don't worry. You will..." Frye chuckled, her voice turning deeper. The world went...cold. Real cold, and foggy too. Shiver looked around, vision blurring horrifically. Behind this new Frye, suddenly stood a man. A tall, gaunt man, buried under dark blue robes. He stared at Shiver through red eyes, face obscured within smoky blackness underneath his hood. In his hands, a staff, cobbled together from brass and scrap, with a glowing purple gem lodged in the top. He stared, silently. Judging.

"They all do..."

Shiver's mind broke like a plate. Red fog overtook her vision as every synapse in her brain shattered like glass. She screamed.

And the world went dark.