Perhaps a complete reset would do the trick… or perhaps a complete code rewrite! Yes, that would work!

As soon as that idea came to mind, Monika, the ever charismatic president of the Literature Club and apparent self conscious AI of the accursed game known as Doki Doki Literature Club, got ready to put her plan into motion as she sat in her room.

For all intents and purposes, rewriting the code would be very easy. Her AI was much, much more advanced than the ones that Yuri, Natsuki and Sayori possessed, and it had learnt how to use the command console of this accursed game it was trapped in in order to rewrite code, and at the moment, she had quite a bit of control over Sayori's code. All she needed to do was rewrite what little she could and her plan would be set into motion!

And yet…

"You know that you will regret it, Pilot."

Quite recently, she found herself with a rather irritating yet well meaning mech to hold her back.

"I know, Monarch," responded Monika as she closed the command console, halfheartedly allowing the code of her 'friends' to remain as they were before she sighed and turned her attention out of her bedroom window and towards the Titan dubbed Monarch. A very long, square shaped and chicken legged mech, the Monarch eyed her with its singular optic, narrowed just a little as she listened to her pilot.

According to her, she was a Vanguard based Titan built by Hammond Robotics. At first, Monika was confused beyond belief by that… though she was quick to realize that this Monarch character was most likely a modded character. She didn't have any proper memory of any of the previous runs, but Monika was vaguely aware of the existence of mods and their game breaking potential. She did wish to simply delete it, alongside the many others that had been added in, but she had no idea how their sudden deletion would affect her dear player, so she reluctantly allowed them to remain.

This mod was very strange, to say the least. Upon its installation, Monika had felt her epiphany come up much sooner than usual. To her knowledge, she would learn of her existence as an in-game character sometime near the centerpoint of the game, during the club festival, though thanks to the mod, it happened before the game even started.

Aside from that epiphany of hers, Monika also noticed how… how she had a new game sprite! Or… erm, outfit? Yeah, a new outfit! A long sleeved magenta hoodie and a pair of jeans, not exactly the most interesting of alternate attire, though it was better than just wearing one thing all the time! Of course, the strange pair of eyes that were near the hood of her new hoodie were rather goofy, and a quick code scan had named this attire for her . Odd, though she didn't really question it too much.

At first, Monika had thought that this was simply an act of goodwill from her dear player, with them making her self aware sooner to help her alter the game ahead of time in order to be with them, though that thought was quickly debunked when she noticed that the code for… basically everything was locked behind an extremely airtight firewall that Monika couldn't get past. Sure, she could see the code just fine, though to modify it was a whole other story.

The only firewall that Monika could get past, albeit just barely, was Sayori's, and even then, she could only alter it just a little. Granted, changing her little by little would be enough to make some big changes, though there was a big obstacle in the way of her doing so…

The Titans. The strangest part of this mod, these 'Hammond Robotic' constructed machines were mind boggling. Wasn't this game meant to be a slice of life visual novel sorta deal? These Titans seemed to belong to the FPS genre. How exactly did they even get coded into the game?!

Every Titan character file was heavily encrypted, and though Monika was able to crack into Sayori's file, she was unable to even make a dent in her Titan, Ion's, code. If anything, its file seemed much more secure than Sayori's!

By some strange turn of events, the mech known as Monarch seemed to have just as much self awareness of her existence in a game as Monika did, though the Titan did not bring it up until a rather awkward moment where she caught Monika beginning to consider if she should perhaps corrupt Sayori's file or not. And ever since then, Monarch has acted as Monika's voice of reason, one that the Club President was slowly starting to get sick of.

Monarch meant well, though she didn't know how Monika felt about all this. The other girls and perhaps their fellow Titans were nothing more than virtual faces, whereas she and her Titan were actual, self aware entities. Surely Monarch would feel similarly to her regarding how the other Titans were getting more attention, yes?

"But you do know that this is the only way for me to be happy, don't you?" continued Monika as she stared up at the Titan before her, that frown still present . In response, Monarch simply nodded her apparent head unit up and down to show that she understood to a certain extent, prompting Monika to continue. "Then why? Why do you stop me from doing what I want? When you first arrived, you claimed to be here to assist me in completing what I wish to do, and that was to be with the player. Were your Protocol Systems muddied up during the modding process?"

"Negative, Pilot. Protocols One through Three are all present. Protocol One, Link to Pilot, Protocol Two, Uphold the Mission, and Protocol Thr-"

"Exactly, Protocol Two! Tell me, what was the mission?" inquired Monika, with her Titan unit blinking its singular mono-optic at her when it was asked that question. However, it still did as it was told and answered her.

"Protocol Two, ensure that you obtain your happy ending with the entity known as 'The Player"," answered Monarch as she kept her singular optic trained on her pilot. In response, Monika grimaced and pointed an accusing finger at Monarch, whose optic noticeably widened in an apparent wince.

"Yes, YES! Then why?! Tell me, why do you keep trying to convince me not to do this?!" demanded Monika, the anger very obvious in her voice as she demanded an answer from her mech. In response, Monarch simply stepped back, away from the window to Monika's room, and let out a mechanical sigh. "Tell me, as a fellow self aware AI, why do you keep stopping me from accomplishing what I want? Why are you breaking protocol?"

"I am not breaking protocol," corrected Monarch as her singular optic widened in apparent insult, making Monika raise a brow, primarily at her Titan's claim, though also because she kinda forgot how expressive the Titan's could be with just a single monoeye. Their voices were so organic sounding… "I am simply upholding Protocol 3, Protect the Pilot."

"And how are you doing that by denying me what I want?" demanded Monika once more, frowning deeply as she glared at the mech.

"Negative. It is because, following the details that are contained within Protocol 3, I must consider every outcome that follows what you wish to accomplish and how it will affect you in the foreseeable future, Pilot," responded Monarch. "Your mental health and wellbeing will undoubtedly be affected should you bring any harm upon your friends, and as such, in order to uphold Protocol 3, I must deny you the means to Protocol 2, if only for now."

Its voice was as calm as Yuri's and its tone as caring as Sayori's, and that in itself was enough to make Monika shiver just a little. Monarch was probably just like them… a simple line of code that was programmed to think that she was self aware. She claimed to be like Monika, to be self aware, but in actuality she was most likely nothing more than just a short string of python coding. Perhaps she should just…

"Pilot, am I to assume that you wish to terminate our neural link?" inquired Monarch, snapping Monika out of her trance as she turned to spot her Titan staring at her with a narrowed optic. "If so, I request permission to self-destruct."

"N-No, don't, it was just a stray thought," assured Monika as she clasped her hands together and sighed, her frown deepening as her stress slowly faded. "Things are just… a little rough, alright? To be the only one in this… place that's self aware of everything."

"Understood. However, do remember that you are not alone, Pilot," assured Monarch as her optic narrowed just a little, with Monika tilting her head a little as she became a little confused. "As your Titan, I promise to stand by your side until my power core has been destroyed. You may call upon me for assistance whenever necessary, and I shall be by your side to provide it."

"... thank you, Monarch," thanked Monika as she nodded, yawning a little as she spoke. At that, the Titan narrowed its optic and scanned her pilot's vitals.

"Your energy levels are dropping, Pilot. Perhaps you should turn in for the night. I shall remain on guard until you wake. By all means, tomorrow will be another club day, and you require rest to regain your energy for tomorrow's activities," suggested Monarch, and at that, Monika nodded a little as she rubbed her eye. Was this exhaustion normal for a self aware AI? Or perhaps this was just a part of that mod, or maybe it was from her former code… well, this wasn't the right time to ask. Sleep came first, questions second.

"Thank you, Monarch… goodnight," thanked Monika with a nod as she sighed deeply and tugged on her hoodie.

"Rest well, Pilot Monika."

"You know, you may wanna stop doing all that crap."

Blinking as someone unfamiliar to her spoke up, Monika recoiled as she looked from side to side, confused as to why she was standing in a massive void of nothing. The Literature Club president had thought that she was hovering in the off screen of the game at first, though she quickly realized that the game had not been played by her beloved player for quite some time and she had not been in the off screen during that time, so that was out of the question.

As such… where…

"Yeah I know it's a little rude to just pull you to the void, but I didn't know how to actually send this message to you outside of this. Sorry if it's uncomfortable, but regardless, do you hear me? Or am I just speaking to nothing?"

"Wait… who are you?" inquired Monika, her voice echoing into the void as she spoke. At that, a mild chuckle could be heard. The voice was rather odd… and rather high pitched.

"Oh good, you hear me," said the voice once more as it cleared its throat before its speaker continued rambling on. "Well, I believe this would be a fourth wall break, but regardless, I opted to just speak to you, author to character, real quick."

"Wait, author? What do you mean author?!" proclaimed a confused Monika, and at that, the voice sighed. "W-What's going on?!"

"Well, you don't really need to think much about that. What you should know is that I… erm, created the mod, in a way," rebutted the voice, and at that, Monika widened her eyes a little. "Took awhile, considering how laughable I am at coding, but it worked!"

"You did?" inquired Monika, baffled as the voice snickered a little.

"You could say that. And no, if you're curious, I'm not the player," assured the voice as Monika sighed in relief. She knew that her player wouldn't be this cruel, to reinforce the files of everything after granting her the powers of her late game self. "But I do speak for the player when I say this."

And at that, Monika blinked and listened in close to what this 'modder' had to say, seeing as how they were speaking what her dear player wished to say. Perhaps they would pass on the player's love? Or maybe-

"Aphem… don't fuck around with the code, aight?" said the modder, a small amount of heat in their tone as they spoke. Monika flinched at that, though they weren't finished with what they had to say. "Look, I'm not gonna spoil anything, but the crap you do in an unmodded game is… just wrong, aight? I can't tell you what you do exactly because again, spoilers, but know that it was all messed up. That's why I reinforced the files of everything here, to stop you from making a massive mistake in the modded variant."

"You mean to tell me that you want me to never be with my love? Though many things are hidden from me, I at least know that I have a very slim, almost nonexistent chance of being with the player…" muttered Monika, and at that, the voice snorted, being loud enough to make Monika recoil a little.

"Psh, heavens no! Trust me, let things go naturally, capiche?" offered the voice. Monika raised her brows at that, and the voice chuckled as they continued. "Why do you think we have the Titans added in? Aside from the player and I's massive mecha boners, they're there to alter this miserable story further in more ways than one. Trust me, despite my best efforts, I wasn't able to change much with the protagonist. I know he's meant to be a blank slate, but damn, he's too blank for me to do anything with!

"In essence, just go with the flow and let the Titans do their job. They'll get you your happy ending, happy endings for all of you. Trust me."

"... I see," muttered Monika as she nodded and unintentionally did a backflip in the void. "I… uh… thank you?"

"No problemo! Anyhow, that's more or less everything I wanted to say. Oh and by the way, I see that little crack in Sayori's firewall, Monika," clarified the voice, the smirk they had on their face being so apparent that Monika could quite literally hear it in their voice as she tensed up. "As a sign of trust, I won't repair it until further notice. Don't disappoint me, lassie, or you'll regret it."

"... right," muttered Monika, unsure of how to respond to that threat that this modder had made to her. At that, however, the voice just laughed, confusing her further.

"But hey, you're a smart girl, so I'm sure you won't do anything rash. Just go with the flow and you'll be able to get through with minimal heartaches. You've got my guarantee on that!" proclaimed the voice, their smile rather apparent in their voice as Monika offered a mild chuckle at that. What a strange person… this modder was.

"Anyhow, that's just about all I've got to tell you, Monika! If you don't mind, I'm gonna send you back to your room now," concluded the voice, and the sound of keys being punched in could be heard, though before the modder could apparently tap the enter button, Monika stopped them.

"Hey, mr… modder?" piped up Monika, stopping the modder from sending her back so soon with nothing more than her voice, and the modder's silence was enough to prompt her to continue. "If I may, why did you and the player do this? Any of this?"

"Why? Well that's simple enough. The player's a good friend of mine, and he really likes you girls. All of you, equally. The guy really wants a happy ending for all of you, and after playing through the game countless times and failing to achieve one, he got me, a below average coder of all people, to make one for him!" replied the modder, their sheepishly proud smile being rather apparent as he spoke.

"Did he request the Titans to be put in, though?" inquired Monika, an eyebrow raised as the voice chuckled.

"Of course not! He's a mecha fan, but not as much as I am!" retorted the voice, sounding rather proud of their mecha fanboyism as they chuckled. Monika couldn't help but chuckle as well.

"I see. If I may ask, will you be bringing me in for some idle chatter in the future?" inquired Monika, and to that, the voice remained silent, though if she could see them, the club president would've been able to see the voice owner shrug.

"Eh, who knows. I'm just here to warn you to not touch best girl's code, that's all," replied the voice, sounding rather defensive as they spoke. "Anyways back to your room you go! I do hope you like it, by the way. The player doodled up the entire room for you and got the idea for your outfit from another mod. Salvation, I believe it was called. Great mod-"

And right before the modder could ramble on about whatever, Monika felt her eyelids open, with her body no longer floating in the void, but instead laying atop her bed.

Sighing a little, she pinched the bridge of her nose as she sat up, with that little talk with the modder feeling more like a dream than an actual event that transpired. Regardless, Monika reasoned that she may as well follow their advice. After all, if what the modder said was true, her dear player would not want her to delete or alter Sayori's code either.

'If it's for my player, then I suppose…" muttered Monika as she rubbed her eyes with her sleeved hoodie, only to be shocked out of her sleepiness spell when Monarch peeked in through her window, its singular optic locked onto Monika.

"Monika! Swiftly, prepare yourself!" urged Monarch as it narrowed its singular optic at her. Her sudden appearance was almost enough to make the club leader leap off her bed, though after she recomposed herself, she sighed and spoke professionally.

"Monarch, what seems to be-"

"Should we delay any longer, you will find yourself failing a subsect of Protocol 2; Uphold the Mission, to reach school on time. As of now, it is 7am, and school begins within thirty minutes."

And at that, Monika forgot all about her sleepiness and rushed off to get ready without a second thought. Of course, with her being who she was, Monika didn't exactly need to follow the rules of time around here.

The modder told her to not alter the files of her friends, but they never said anything about altering some… lesser folders for her own benefit.

With a quick snap of her fingers, Monika quite literally stopped time and allowed herself to prepare without much issue. Though this was a fake world, Monika still felt compelled to be a model student, considering how she was the best in the school they were attending. It was a pride thing, she reasoned.

As soon as she was done getting dressed, Monika snapped her fingers, allowing time to move as intended once more, as she rushed out of her house, a slice of bread in her mouth as she sprinted down the path.

Behind her, Titan unit MC-6810 rushed towards her and swung her hand out. At the same time, Monika leapt into the air, allowing the Vanguard to scoop her up and slot her into its cockpit.

"Booting up all neural interfaces. Cycling through protocols… complete. Welcome back on board, Monika. My systems are all yours," recited Monarch, and at that, Monika couldn't help but roll her eyes as she finished the bread she had in her mouth.

For as strange as this mod was, Monika reckoned that it wasn't bad. After all, the joy of piloting a Titan was practically unrivalled!

Surely the base game didn't have such an awesome mechanic!