Chapter 1: Arrival

"So they're finally here, performing for you."

"Come on, Marie! Pick up the pace!" Callie called out while waving at her slow cousin.

Trudging through the dirt forest path was tedious enough. But of course, today just had to be a hot day. "How do you have so much energy..." Marie panted, feeling her legs slowly morphing into jelly.

They'd been walking for about an hour now, which wasn't long, but the distance they covered was more than Marie would've willingly trekked through. It was a miracle the two cousins were dressed in their casual attire instead of the clothes they strutted around Inkopolis in. Otherwise, Marie was certain she'd be cooked alive.

"Move any slower, and the day will have passed us by! Come on, shake a tentacle!" Callie said, a meager attempt at encouraging Marie to move faster.

"Why'd we have to go and spend the day hiking through the woods anyway? I could be doing something way better right now." Marie complained.

"Like what? Sleeping?"

"Exactly!"

Callie shook her head. "Don't be such a downer! We're almost there. See, look!" The younger cousin pointed.

Marie looked up, seeing they were now on top of a hill—which had a gorgeous view of their destination: Mount Nantai. "Why are you suddenly so infatuated with that mountain?"

"Pearl says the view from there is to die for, so I wanna see if she's telling the truth or just speaking out her blow-hole," Callie exclaimed, still pointing excitedly at the distant mountain.

"Why'd I have to come along again?"

"Come on, Marie. How often is it that we both get a day off on the same day? Besides, we need to make up for lost time!"

"I feel like we already have..." It's true, the cousins rarely have enough free time to hang out with each other. Plus, it hasn't been that long since Marie saved Callie from the tentacled grasp of the octarians. However, it was also true that after she was rescued, they had a whole month and a half to reconnect and spend time with one another.

But in Callie's eyes, that wasn't nearly enough. So ever since, whenever the two had any spare time, Callie ensured it was spent with them being together, even if it was just for a moment. Did Marie mind? No, of course not. In fact, for every second Callie wasn't in her sights, she was constantly worried.

Still, the daunting activities they often did were exhausting. The mere sight of how much ground they had left to cover made Marie want to crawl back into bed. "We really couldn't just catch a ride to the mountain?"

"Nope! A hike is perfect for bonding sessions!" Callie said with a cheeky smile. "Now, c'mon, the mountain isn't gonna come to us!" She bounced along the dirt trail, followed by Marie sighing.

Before she continued after Callie, her tentacles suddenly tingled with an odd sensation. Marie perked up and looked behind them. Inkopolis was in that direction, but no longer in view.

Callie stopped and turned to her cousin. "Marie!" She called out, getting no response or reaction from the older cousin. Callie pouted before moving next to her statue of a family member. "Earth to Marie? Heeellllooooooo." Callie waved her hand in front of Marie's face, who continued to stare blankly in the distance.

After failing to get her attention, she looked over to see what had Marie so captivated. In the distance was a thin but noticeable white line on the edge of the horizon. Callie squinted, realizing the white line was moving. "What's that?" She questioned, only for the line to approach them rapidly.

It quickly brushed over the trees and forest landscape, only to blow past the cousins hard. The oncoming wind the white line brought caused Callie's tentacles to flail around, eventually slapping her in the face.

Marie turned, watching the white shockwave brush over the land ahead of them, including Mount Nantai. Eventually, it disappeared over the horizon, leaving both cousins confused.

"What was that?" Callie asked again.

Before Marie could respond, the ground shook violently, scaring away hordes of birds in the vicinity. An earthquake? Now? Marie thought, convinced this wasn't a coincidence. The earth rumbled and quaked, almost throwing the cousins off their balance as they hugged each other tightly.

With a thunderous boom, the top of Mount Nantai exploded into a pillar of fire, ejecting lava high into the air like some massive laser beam.

At the same time, small but visible boulders of molten rock flung from the stream of lava. When the boulders broke, something came out of them. They were hard to see, but they looked like... Tikis? Marie couldn't believe what she was seeing. Was this real?

As she attempted to process everything, the stream of hot lava calmed back down into Mount Nantai, which was now an active volcano. An outrageous amount of steam clouded the mountaintop, but even so, Marie saw some massive entity emerge from the lava within.

A massive tower with a terrifying-looking face appeared from the inside of the volcano, only to let out a booming roar that echoed throughout the land. She blinked a few times, just to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. But judging by Callie's shocked expression, what she saw was real.

When everything finally calmed, Callie and Marie were stuck watching the wooden creatures that broke from the molten boulders hover down into various parts of the forest.

One such entity landed in front of them. With it being up close and personal, Marie could confirm these creatures, or at least this one, was a tiki. It was large, bigger than her head even, and had long black arms with three pointed ends as fingers. The top of its body seemed to be adorned with some crown, while the main torso—if you could call it that—was painted red and blue. Some of the paint looked worn off.

The biggest detail Marie noticed was its black and white eyes. Something about them was... strange.

"That... kinda looks like a kalimba, doesn't it?" Callie blurted with hints of worry and caution in her tone of voice.

The moment she spoke, the Kalimba tiki took action. It waved its long black arms in a rhythmic motion and played a soft melody directed towards Marie.

The music was beautiful, but the scenario was weird. Prior to the kalimba playing music, it looked mad at the two cousins, so why would it be playing tunes for them? Matter of fact, what exactly was this thing anyway? Last Marie checked, tikis weren't living creatures.

The melody lasted for a few seconds, and when it ended, Marie was left a bit confused. Was something supposed to happen?

Just as the thought crossed her mind, it played its tune again. This time, Marie noticed how its black and white eyes were spiraling. Was it trying to hypnotize her? That's what the whole trick reminded her of.

Marie gave the tiki an unimpressed look after its second attempt, being moments away from backhanding it.

"What was that all about?" Callie asked, making Marie look toward her. In that same instance, the kalimba tiki also looked at her. Soon after, it played its tune for a third time. Unlike Marie, Callie fell unresponsive, and her pupils matched the black and white swirling eyes of the tiki.

"Callie!" Marie called out, realizing what was going on a bit too late. She reached for her cousin, but was not fast enough. The tiki would disappear into Callie's body as the music faded.

Callie's pupils would return to normal, but something about her changed. Her smile was gone, and her expression was deadpan.

"Callie?" Marie took a step back, only for Callie to snap her head in her direction. Her stare was intense, sinister even—which was unusual for the friendly and outgoing Callie.

Before Marie could speak again, Callie rushed and tackled her onto the ground with a roll. The two tumbled down the hill, ending with Marie throwing Callie away from her. "Callie, stop!" Marie pleaded, not wanting to fight her cousin.

She stood to her feet quicker than Callie. Callie's eyes were still glued to Marie, which freaked her out. It reminded her of the time she was hypnotized by Octavio's hypnoshades. What's with Callie getting hypnotized all the damn time?

Marie gritted her teeth, unsure how to deal with the situation. Unlike with the hypnoshades, there was nothing for Marie to take off her cousin. That tiki had hijacked Callie's mind in a more literal fashion!

Lacking the weapons and the heart to harm her cousin, Marie turned and ran away. She headed in the direction she believed Inkopolis to be in, thinking if anyone could help her, it was one of the agents.

As she ran, her eyes widened at the realization of something dire. If these tikis could hypnotize people, it wasn't just her cousin who was in danger. Everyone was!

Why the hypnosis didn't work on her was a mystery to solve another day. For now, she raced back to Inkopolis. She had to warn everybody before it was too late!

...Assuming it wasn't already.