Archive of Our Own

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Jonathan set his cup of coffee down on the table and picked up the stapled together papers on the table next to him. Time for another day of recording statements.Hopefully nothing…bad would happen this time.“Statement of Galax—they…didn’t give a last name…” Jonathan was a bit confused at this, but cleared his throat and continued. “Regarding…a vision they saw in a mirror. Original statement given September 9th, 2024. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, Inkopolis.”“Statement begins.” “There’s one thing I want you to know before I begin. I’m not a normal Octoling, not even a normal inkfish. I have to hide my true form, lest someone sees it and I possibly end up in a paranormal statement just like this.”“I believe these abnormalities may be the reason why this…entity found me. Because I stick out from society like a sore thumb. Because I’m alien and weird…just like it.”
“Anyway, it was just a normal day when it all began. I had just finished up some Turf Wars with my friends Victoria and Xavier, and we were heading home. We arrived at the apartment, but it felt…wrong, somehow.”

“And yet, things continued somewhat normally for an hour or so. Until I ended up getting lost in my own small apartment. I was just walking to my room when the hallway seemed to get longer…and longer…and longer. There seemed to be a lot more turns in the hallway as before, and soon enough, I had no idea where I was. Familiar yet strange walls all around me, and I was alone, my friends nowhere in sight.”

“And that’s when I saw it. The door. A door with faded yellow paint, right in front of me. Inviting me, almost.”

“I had no choice to enter it. And so I did. Inside were more twisting hallways, with carpeted floors and a long rug running down the middle, the walls with a swirling pattern on them. I wandered for what could’ve been minutes, hours, or even days, I lost track while in that door. I wasn’t even sure if I was in my apartment anymore.”

“And soon enough, I came across a mirror. But the thing was, I couldn’t see my reflection in it. There was nothing in it at all except for the reflection of the endless halls, until I approached closer. Then a figure appeared in it, which made me jump.”

“It wasn’t me. It was…a human, first of all, a long-extinct human. They had a skin tone similar to my dark one, short, curly black hair, and purple glasses. Though there were no eyes behind those glasses, just an ominous shadow.”

“And the human…it spoke to me. It said: ‘What doesn’t exist yet is for certain. Embrace it. Embrace your true self. Follow me, Galax. We are but the same.’”

“I had no idea how this human knew my name, or what it was talking about at all. But…I think I know now.”

“That’s when I appeared back in my living room, back in the apartment before it became a senseless labyrinth. I was lying on my back, and Victoria and Xavier were standing over me, worrying over me. Apparently I had been gone for about three days.”

“I didn’t know how that was possible. I tried to tell them what happened, but…they didn’t believe me.”

“And since then, it feels like I’ve been in a sort of…trance? I’m not sure how to describe it. It’s like the world around me wasn’t quite…real.”

“And every time I looked in a mirror, I saw that mysterious human again. They had said we were ‘but the same…’ and to be honest, I’m starting to believe them.”

“Nothing feels real but that human in the mirror…”
 “Statement ends,” Jonathan said, setting the paper down onto the table. He took a deep sigh, gathering his thoughts as he adjusted his glasses.“This is…an odd one, and hard to track since this ‘Galax’ didn’t give a last name. I don’t even know if they have one…”“The only leads I could find on Galax was a missing person report from late September. They apparently just disappeared from their apartment one day, and hasn’t been seen since then.”“And the friends mentioned in the statement are Victoria Riley and Xavier Flores. I will try contacting them for a follow-up statement on the status of their friend.”“Though this very likely could just be a hallucination of Galax’s.”“End recording.” — Skull was lost for what seemed like the millionth time. And the truth was, he hated being lost. He always feared that he would never be found…He was wandering around an unfamiliar part of Inkopolis, trying again and again to call his partner Aviators, but to no avail. For whatever reason, Aviators wasn’t picking up.Which was very strange. Aviators always answered Skull’s calls…Suddenly, Skull stopped walking. Not on purpose, it seemed as if his feet had just…stopped. He tried to keep moving again, but he couldn’t. It seemed as if his feet were stuck to the pavement.Skull started to panic a bit, but despite this, tried his very best to stay calm. This was totally normal and fine, he was just…not able to move…And that’s when Skull saw the door.A yellow door.And his feet started moving again, towards this mysterious door.Skull wasn’t sure if he even wanted to go into this door. It seemed very suspicious, and it certainly hadn’t been there a minute ago.Or had it…? People often called Skull airheaded, so there was the possibility that Skull could’ve missed it.Either way, Skull entered the door. But it seemed like he had just…teleported inside. One second he was approaching the door, somewhat against his own will, the next the door was slamming behind him.Now Skull had no choice but to continue forwards.And so he did, and it turned out, these hallways were twisting and labyrinthe, almost impossible to fit inside a building. The spiral-design walls and rug-covered floors seemed familiar to Skull, somehow.Probably just deja vu, right?Skull wandered these hallway, and progressively got even more lost than he was before. His heart pounded fast in his chest, and his eyes widened in fear and panic as he realized he couldn’t find the door again.He was hopelessly lost.He would never be found.His worst fear come true.Eventually, Skull gave up on trying to escape these twisting hallways. He collapsed onto the ground, back leaning against the wall. He curled up into a ball and let himself cry tears of hopeless futility.Skull didn’t know how long he sat there crying, but then he heard footsteps. He looked up in joy, thinking Aviators had come for him—But no. It was someone…unfamiliar? Familiar? Skull could barely tell, he was getting that feeling of deja vu again.Anyway, this person was an Octoling, with light brown skin, purple tentacles fading into blue, and strangely, dragon wings and a scaly tail. Despite that, though, the thing that stood out to Skull the most was this person’s swirling eyes, almost like a kaleidoscope.Skull was never good with eye contact, but he couldn’t stop staring into this person’s swirly eyes.“Well, hello there,” the person said, looking down at Skull. “What are you doing here?”“I…don’t know,” Skull said, standing up. When standing, Skull was a lot taller than this person. “Do you know how to get out of here?”“Not quite,” the person said, which sunk Skull’s spirits. “Perhaps we could try together?”“Sounds good,” Skull said. “My name’s Skull, of the—”“Oh, I know who you are,” the mysterious person said. “I’ve been a big fan of your group for ages, Skull.”For whatever reason, the way this person said Skull’s name sent a shiver down his spine.“Okay…who’re you, then?” Skull asked, ignoring the weird feeling he was getting about this.“Oh, me?” the person said. “I…stopped caring about my identity long ago.”
“But you can call me Galax, I suppose.”“Nice to meet you, Galax.”As Skull and Galax walked through the hallways, Skull glanced back at them, and for a moment, he thought he saw a human walking in their place.But that was impossible…right?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The sound of the sirens would forever haunt Rider. He kept running even though he could hear them nowhere but in his own memories.

Tears ran down his face as he stopped momentarily, leaning over with his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

How had it all gone so wrong?

Rider looked up, panic growing in his mind as he realized he had stopped running, and was still out in the streets. The police could find him any second—

He looked up to the building he had stopped next to. The Magnus Institute.

He realized he couldn’t run for much longer. He was coughing and wheezing from sprinting for nearly twenty minutes straight, and his legs felt like jelly.

He had to hide. Hopefully these people wouldn’t rat him out to the police.

Rider stumbled towards the building, leaning against it. Cod, his legs were so tired he could barely walk straight. How embarrassing…

Finally, he opened the door and entered the Magnus Institute. He had no idea what this place even was, but it looked like a decent place to hide and rest.

Inside of it was a lobby with a few chairs and a counter with a typing receptionist behind it. She looked up when Rider entered, and smiled.

“Welcome to the Magnus Institute! Would you like to make a statement, perhaps?”

Rider stared at the receptionist for a few awkward seconds, and then collapsed onto a nearby chair. “I just…need to rest…” he wheezed out.

The receptionist looked a bit confused, but nodded. “Most people don’t come to a supernatural archive to ‘rest,’ but you are welcome to. Are you sure you don’t want to make a statement?”

Supernatural archive, huh…? Maybe that would be of some use to Rider…reporting what had just happened…

After all, the average person would probably describe it that way…supernatural…

Rider glanced out the window. The police didn’t even seem to be remotely near this place. There was no way they could find him here…right?

But if he made a statement he might be turned in to the police…

Fuck it,

Rider decided.

“Fine. I’ll make a…supernatural statement.”

“Wonderful!” the receptionist said. “Right this way, I’ll lead you to Jonathan to make your statement!” The receptionist rose from her seat and gestured for Rider to follow her.

Jonathan…

Rider thought.

Hopefully this “Jonathan” will understand my situation…

Rider got up from the chair, his legs still weak, and followed the receptionist.

…

Soon enough, Rider was led into a smaller room. There were bookshelves on two of the walls, and against the third was a desk covered in papers, a half-full mug of coffee, and a tape recorder. Sitting at the desk was an Inkling man with longish green tentacles, brown skin, and dark brown eyes behind glasses. He turned around in the chair as Rider and the receptionist entered the room.

“Jonathan, this young man would like to make a statement into the Archives,” the receptionist said with a smile.

“Is that so…” the man—Jonathan, probably—said.

“Yeah…” Rider mumbled, suddenly feeling very awkward.

“I’ll leave you two to it!” the receptionist said. And with that, she left, closing the door behind Rider.

—

Jon, frankly, was pretty surprised when his research had been interrupted by the arrival of a teenage Inkling that looked like he was straight in the middle of his emo phase, with a leather jacket with spikes on the shoulders, black combat boots, and yellow-green tentacles tied up with a spiky hairband.

Most notably, however, there was a teal splotch on the side of the kid’s dark-skinned face. Jonathan was tempted to ask about it as he gestured for the kid to sit down in a nearby chair.

“So, who’re you?” Jonathan asked.

“You don’t know?” the kid said. A rather pretentious kid, it seemed. “I’m Rider, Turf War legend.”

“I don’t keep up with the Turf War scene these days,” Jon said. “Also, first and last name please.”

“Rider Verdant,” Rider said. “I’m here to make a statement, apparently.”

“Apparently…?” Jon was quite confused with that choice of words. “Well, what’s it about?”

Rider sighed. “I…don’t have much time. The…the police might come here—”

“The

police

?”

“Don’t ask,” Rider snapped. “Anyway…I guess it’s about a lot of things? I don’t even know if I would even describe it as ‘supernatural,’ but you probably would, so that’s why I’m here.”

“I see. I’ll make the official notation,” Jon said. He turned to his tape recorder, which he hadn’t realized was already recording. “Statement of Rider Verdant, regarding…?”

“Um…” Rider hesitated. “A Turf War gone wrong.”

“Right,” Jonathan said. “Statement recorded directly from subject, 15 November 2024. Statement begins.”

Rider hesitated again, and Jon sighed. “This is where you make your statement, Rider.”

“Oh, sorry,” Rider said. “I’ve never done this before.”

And then Rider actually began to make the statement.
 
“Have you ever heard of the Deepsea Metro? I bet you haven’t, since you seem like the average Inkopolis citizen. The average Inkopolis citizen doesn’t know about it. It’s…it's horrifying, to say the least. I won’t go into much of the details, since this statement isn’t exactly about the metro itself, but I will provide some context to what happened today. Even though…I don’t like talking about it.”

“I went down into the metro in the first place to rescue my friends from being blended by an evil telephone from human times, and I succeeded at that. Then, to put it simply, I was mind controlled. With sanitization sludge, also known as the blended corpses of innocent Octolings who only wanted to get to the surface. And while mind controlled—sanitized is the right term, actually—I tried to…I tried to kill the same friends I had just rescued.”

“Oh dear—” Jon said—

“Let me speak,” Rider snapped.

“Sorry, go on.”

Rider cleared his throat and continued. “As you could imagine, I wasn’t doing well after being sanitized. For a while I was having hallucinations, nightmares, and paranoia, and the doctors diagnosed me with PTSD. The sanitization incident happened about a year ago, I think? I can’t remember all that well, but most of the hallucinations have gone away.”

“Anyway, all that leads up to what just happened…the reason why I don’t want the police to find me right now. I was playing a Turf War against Team Hachi, my…friend’s team, and everything was going fine and normal at first. But then…it happened.”

“...”

“I think the sanitization was taking over me again, for just a brief moment…”

“I hurt Hachi, the team captain. Badly. Covered him in bruises, broke his arm, probably gave him a concussion with my roller, and—almost ripped his hand straight off…almost

killed

him. I don’t even know how or why, it was…I wasn’t thinking straight in the moment. I wasn’t even thinking at

all

.”

“I could only watch as my body was being

puppeted

into almost killing my friend. And all this time…I was hearing the voice of that telephone, Commander Tartar, even though it’s

dead and gone

—”

“But I swear it was telling me this is what I truly was. A vicious killer.”

“Ambulances were called, and Hachi was taken to the hospital, luckily. But the police were also called, by spectators who didn’t know about the metro incident. I’m pretty famous in the Turf War scene, so my battles get a lot of attention. Anyway, the police came, I really didn’t want to get arrested, so…I ran. And ended up here.”

“That’s my statement, I guess.”
 
Jon didn’t know what to say at first. What was he supposed to say, anyway…? This—this teenager—just a

kid

—had gone through all that, and

survived

.

“So…” Jon said, “you went into an underground metro where an evil telephone blended Octolings to make into mind control goop, got mind controlled yourself, got PTSD from it, and briefly got mind controlled again and sent your friend to the hospital during a Turf War?”

“Yeah,” Rider said. “And I told you, the term is

sanitized

.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Jon said.

To be completely honest, he wasn’t sure if he should believe this statement. It just seemed so…out there, so unbelievably gruesome and dark, like no other statements Jon had ever heard before. It honestly sounded like just the kind of twisted story an edgy teen would tell.

And yet, somewhere in the back of his mind, Jon

was

believing it.

Rider had sounded completely serious while telling it, after all.

…But what if it was just an excuse to hurt his friend? What if Jon had not a victim of PTSD and unbelievable horrors in his office, but a lying, violent delinquent?
 
—
 
“Hello?” Rider said. Jonathan had just started staring into space, and he was confused.

He was also somewhat confused about what had just happened as he sat in this chair. He usually couldn’t even talk about what happened in the Metro to his closest friends. So why was he spilling all the details in front of a random adult he had just met?

Suddenly, Jonathan snapped back into focus. “Sorry…just zoned out,” he said. “...How old did you say you were?”

“17, almost 18,” Rider said.

“Goodness…” Jonathan said, and that look of ‘zoning out’ came across his face for a few moments.

The man was probably contemplating what Rider had gone through. It wasn’t the typical experience of a Inkopolitian teen, after all.

Jonathan quickly focused again, though. “Y’know what? Stay here in the Archives for now. I believe there’s a room where Martin used to stay…you can stay there, alright? I’ll vouch for you.”

“Huh?” Rider was confused. “But—”

“No excuses, young man,” Jonathan said. “You said you were on the run from the police. I don’t want you to get caught. You’re staying here.”

Rider huffed. Staying in a supernatural archive sounded better than being arrested…

“Fine. But…only temporarily.”

“Good.” Then Jonathan reached over and pressed a button on the tape recorder, and Rider gulped as he realized all that had been recorded.
 
…Sooner or later, Rider was going to have to face the consequences of his actions.
 
—
 
“Supplemental,” Jon said into the tape recorder. The Institute was close to closing, and Rider was in his room, probably asleep from the exhaustion of being on the run. “I’ve been thinking about Rider’s statement, and I’ve made a decision.”

“I’m going to investigate this Deepsea Metro. I need to know if this kid’s statement was true. This metro sounds…absolutely terrifying, but I

need to know

.”

“I’ll bring somebody else with me as well, possibly Martin. Just for safety reasons, and so if I die, someone will know how I did. I—”

Suddenly, the door opened. It was Martin, a large Octoling with orange tentacles.

“Jon?” Martin asked.

“Yes, what is it?” Jon said.

“Why is there a child in my former bedroom?”

“He’s seventeen—”

“Yes, but why is he there?”

Jon sighed. “It’s a long story, but…he just needs a safe space.”

“Running from bad parents…?”

“You could say that. He…gave a statement earlier today, and…he’s struggling a lot.”

“What was the statement about? Am I allowed to know.”

“The kid has PTSD from being mind controlled, okay?!” Jon exclaimed, not meaning to raise his voice. “I just felt…kind of sorry for him.”

Martin nodded. “I see…you never struck me as the type to be compassionate towards kids.”

“I never was,” Jon said. “But there’s something different about this one…”

He reminds me of myself, just a bit.

“I’ll allow it,” Martin said. “But you should really talk to Elias about this.”

“He’d never allow it,” Jon said.

“Shall we get going, then?” Martin said.

“I need to stay here. For Rider.”

“Oh, so you’re living in the Archives now?”

“Yes. Now go.”

“Alright…goodbye, Jon.”

“Goodbye, Martin.”

Martin closed the door, and Jon turned back towards the tape recorder. “End supplemental.”

After ending the recording, Jon sighed and stood up from his chair. He should go check on Rider…

It was strange, he had only known the kid for a few hours, and already had a parental attachment to him.

He didn’t even care if Rider was on the run from the police or not.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Army, I’ll just be right back, okay?” Aloha called out.

No response. Only that eerie silence Aloha had grown accustomed to by now.

Aloha sighed. “Don’t you worry, Army~” he said mostly to himself. Then he opened the door and left the apartment.

As he drove, Aloha’s head was swimming with thoughts. With worries.

With the fear that Army, his beloved boyfriend, had abandoned him for this stupid, possibly cursed book.

But he had to shake those thoughts away as he approached his destination.

Everything would be okay. That’s what he had been telling himself this whole time.

These people would certainly know what was happening to Army…right?

—

Today, Jon was taking another statement from a teenager. What a coincidence.

This time, the kid’s appearance was almost the opposite of Rider’s. He had pink tentacles, a pink golf visor, a bright blue Hawaiian shirt, and rainbow sneakers that slightly hurt Jon’s eyes. Jon tried not to pay attention to the kid’s shoes as he began the statement notation.

“Statement of Aloha Summers, regarding odd behavior from his boyfriend—what was his name?”

“Army Williams,” the kid—Aloha—said, wringing his hands together nervously.

“Right,” Jon said. “Statement recorded directly from subject, 16 November 2024. Statement begins.”

“...Are you ready, Aloha?”

“Yeah…I guess…” Aloha said.
 
“So…uh…where should I start…? Army’s been living with me for the past few weeks or so, because his parents are homophobic assholes and they didn’t react too well when they found out he was gay. Uh, yeah, and then things were okay for a little while, right? We were doing Turf Wars and stuff…”

Aloha trailed off, and Jon cleared his throat. It was surprising to him how independent teenagers were these days, with the emergence of Turf War. But that wasn’t important, just a random thought.

“Oh yeah…” Aloha said. He smiled nervously, and then continued his statement. “Like I said, everything was perfectly fine…until he found that stupid book.”

“We were on a library date—libraries aren’t my favorite since I have dyslexia, but Army loves them, and we always get coffee so I enjoy our library dates. And Army disappeared within the bookshelves for a little while. I wasn’t too concerned at first, I just sipped my coffee and chilled—until I realized he had been gone for almost fifteen minutes. I went to check on him—and I saw him sitting on a chair, completely absorbed in this huge book.”

“It was leather-bound, and strangely, had no library identification on it. The thing that stood out to me the most—for some reason—was the fact that there was a printing of an eye on the cover of the book. No other details…For whatever reason, that rubbed me the wrong way.”

“Anyway, I said Army’s name, and he didn’t respond. I tapped him on the shoulder and he looked up with such a panic in his eyes—I thought he was going to have a heart attack. I told him that it was getting late and we should go. He refused, until I reassured him that he could check out the book. This…was the only way I could get him to leave the library.”

“And ever since he checked out this mysterious eye book from the library, he’s been acting really strange. He barely even leaves our room, and every time I see him he’s absorbed in that

book

. He won’t sleep unless I rip the book from him, won’t eat unless I shove the food in front of him.”

“...I’ve also noticed that he’s taking notes as obsessively as he reads this thing—I don’t know how relevant that is…oh, also he seems scared when he reads this book.”

“Scared?” Jon asked.

“Yeah…when I sit in the room with him while he’s reading the book, he has these wide, panicked eyes. And when I manage to get him to sleep with me at night, he barely can. I always reassure him that he’s safe—and no, his parents aren’t watching him right now—but he continues to be paranoid. He tells me he feels like he’s being watched, and I can’t help but to think it’s related to the book. He usually isn’t this paranoid, you see.”

“And…here’s the scary thing, okay? The thing that made me come here—it happened last night. I was entering the room to get Army to sleep, and I saw that book in his hands, and I saw the cover of it. But—”

“The eye on the cover. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I swear it was a

real eye,

staring at me.”
 
“Hmmm…” Jon said. “Do you know exactly what this book is

about

?”

Aloha hesitated. “...No. He refuses to tell me anything about the precious knowledge within this book, other than that, well, it’s precious knowledge. He doesn’t let anyone see his notes, either, not that he’s actually left the house within the past few days.”

“I see, I see,” Jon said. “And…do you even know the title?”

“No. At least…it wasn’t on the cover.”

Jon sighed. This was going to be a hard case to track down.

“...Are you able to help?” Aloha asked. “I…I admit it, I’m scared for him. Surely this can’t be good for him.”

“Yes, we will look into this,” Jon said. “Thank you, Aloha.”

“End recording.”

—

A few hours after Aloha left, sitting in front of the computer, Jon sighed and turned the tape recorder back on. He didn’t know why, but he felt the…need to record everything nowadays.

“Supplemental. I’ve been able to find little information about Aloha’s statement. I’ve tracked down the library he and Army went to—difficult, since there are many libraries in Inkopolis—and there are records of Army checking out a book there about a week ago. And it seems Aloha had a point.”

“The records say that the book Army checked out last week…has no name.”

“Of course, it is difficult to find any more evidence on this case. I have found out that Army and Aloha are both famous Turf players, part of a group called the ‘S4’...but that’s not relevant at all.”

“

Why are all the famous Turf players coming to the Institute now…?

”

“Anyway, it’s almost closing time, and I’ve better go check on Rider. End supplemental.”

—

Army checked his watch. It was almost midnight.

And he was inside of the Magnus Archives.

He smiled softly to himself as he clutched his book close to his chest. His precious book that he had discovered at the library, filled with paranormal knowledge for his eyes only.

Then he looked at the bookshelf of him, tall and promising. He turned on the flashlight on his phone and started to scan the titles. All about paranormal and supernatural happenings. He then glanced across the room, and saw file cabinets probably containing statements of these happenings.

Statements like Aloha’s.

Why did Aloha have to go and report Army’s behavior? It was perfectly normal…right? Never mind the fact that Aloha had to force him to sleep these days, that was perfectly fine.

Never mind the fact that he always felt like he was being watched.

Army walked over to the file cabinets at the other side of the room, and started to rummage through one of them. He was looking for a specific statement. Aloha’s.

He wanted to know what he had said about him.

After a few minutes, Army was startled by the sound of soft footsteps entering the room. He yelped and jumped back, landing on his butt, and looked up.

It was…Rider?? He wasn’t wearing his usual clothing, instead he was wearing an oversized shirt and boxers.

What was he doing here?

Army asked him this question, and he said, “None of your business. What are

you

doing here? How…how did you get in here?”

Army was feeling particularly spiteful towards Rider, for seemingly no reason. “None of your business,” he said, echoing Rider’s response.

“You…you can’t just sneak into places like this, y’know. You could get in trouble.”

“And why are

you

here, exactly?” Army retorted. “You can’t just…

sleep

in places like this.”

“I got permission from the Head Archivist. Also I said it’s none of your

business

.”

Army huffed. “I’m…I’m looking for something,” he confessed.

“Oh really?”

“

Yes

. It’s—Aloha made a statement here earlier, did you know that?”

“Yeah. About your…weird behaviors lately.”

“They’re not

weird

,” Army said.

Rider then noticed Army’s precious book, lying on the ground, face up so that the eye was visible. He visibly recoiled, staring at Army with concern.

In response to that, Army hastily picked up the book, pressing the eye to his chest. “Like I said, not weird at all.”

“...Right. And that book of yours doesn’t have an actual

eye

imbedded into it.”

Army was about to say something…not very nice to Rider, but then more footsteps approached the room. A brown-skinned man with longish green tentacles appeared. He seemed quite annoyed and distressed.

“What…what’s going on here?” The man glared directly at Army. “Who are you and how…how did you get in here?!”

“Snuck in,” Army confessed. “The name’s Army.”

“Army…I recognize that name…aren’t you Aloha’s boyfriend?”

“Yes, yes I am. You probably heard about me from that statement—”

“How do you know about

that

?!”

“He confessed about making a statement on my behavior.”

“Could you get out of here?!” The man seemed almost panicked now. “You..what are you even

doing

—”

“I’ve heard your Archives have vast supernatural knowledge,” Army said, ignoring the man’s panic for now. “Will make a perfect accompaniment to…this.”

Army held up his book, the cover with the eye facing the man. He wasn’t as startled as Rider had been, but still seemed appalled at Army’s presence.

“Yes, yes, that’s the book that appeared in the statement, now please get

out

of here, young man!” the man exclaimed.

“Who even are you?” Army asked.

“That’s Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, Inkopolis,” Rider said bluntly.

“...Did you have to refer to me like that?” Jon said, turning towards Rider. Rider just nodded.

Army sighed. “Alright, Head Archivist, I’ll get out of here.”

“Good. Leave. Now.”

“Only if you…show me where the exit is.”

--

Jon reluctantly showed Army to the exit, and Army reluctantly left the Magnus Institute. And as he walked through the cold night air, he remembered what he had heard of just yesterday.

Rider had badly injured Hachi during a Turf War. And the police were allegedly after him.

These strange rumors had gotten Army out of the trance gifted to him by the book, if only for an hour or so.

But now…with Rider staying in the Magnus Institute, under the eye of Jonathan Sims himself, this piqued Army’s interest.

Was Rider hiding from the police? Why in the Magnus Institute? What other secrets was Rider hiding?

Army

needed

to know.

No matter the cost.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It had been three days since Aviators saw Skull. His partner got lost a lot, but it wasn’t like this. Not for

days

on end. Something was definitely wrong.

And that’s why Aviators had spent the last three days desperately searching for Skull, placing a missing person report and putting posters up all over town. He hadn’t slept, had barely eaten, and had searched multiple times all over Inkopolis until his feet ached.

But Aviators didn’t find him at all. Not until the morning of November 19th, when he was staring at one of his posters and feeling quite defeated.

He heard footsteps behind him. Familiar footsteps.

And Aviators turned around and saw his beloved partner.

Aviators was so fast to hug Skull, happy tears leaking out of his eyes, that he didn’t realize anything was wrong at first. He could feel Skull hugging him back, but slowly. Hesitatingly.

And the two of them stayed like that for what could’ve been an eternity.

After finally tugging his face from Skull’s chest and looking up at his face, Aviators realized something was wrong.

Skull’s eyes. They had always held odd…spirals in the irises, but not like

this

. Now the spirals in his eyes dominated the whole eye, without sclera or iris; and they were multicolored, like looking into a chaotic kaleidoscope.

“Skull…” Aviators said, tears still running down his face. “Your eyes—”

“What about them?” Skull said, tilting his head to the side.

“You…you were gone for three days, and you come back with swirly—”

“What?” Skull looked genuinely confused. “Three days…?”

Aviators’ eyes widened. “Skull…where…where

were

you?”

Skull hesitated. “I don’t know…I really don’t…”

Aviators reached a hand up and cupped Skull’s face in his hand. “Can you tell me what happened to your eyes, dear?”

“What do they look like, though?” Skull asked. “I can’t exactly see them right now.”

“Here.” Aviators took out his phone and snapped a quick picture of Skull. But when he looked at the picture, it certainly didn’t look like how it did in real life.

In the picture, Skull’s eyes were completely blacked out, as if somebody had dropped pitch black ink onto it.

“They look like…that?” Skull said.

Aviators, completely shaken, looked up at Skull’s impossibly swirly eyes and shook his head.

“Then…what do they—”

“Spirals,” Aviators interrupted. “There’s spirals in your eyes. Not like before, they’re taking up all of your eyes this time.”

“Oh,” Skull said. He looked slightly alarmed, but not nearly as much as he should’ve been.

Aviators took Skull’s hand, which he noticed was cold and clammy. Aviators’ own hands were shaking like crazy. “Sh-should we go home, dear?”

“Yeah,” Skull said. “I’ve really missed home…”
 
—
 
Life continued somewhat normally for about a day after that. Aviators and Skull hung out together, did their Turf Wars with the team, and went to sleep together for two nights in a row. Normal activities for a couple of partners.

Though Aviators couldn’t get Skull to talk about why his eyes were all weird, and what had happened in the three days he was gone. He didn’t like the feeling that Skull—his childhood friend, his queerplatonic partner, the person he trusted the most—was hiding something from him.

Two days after Skull returned, the day at least started out normally. But then Aviators couldn’t find his team after coming back from the bathroom.

“Skull?” Aviators called out into the Square. “Stitch? Paisley?”

After several minutes of searching for his team, Aviators started to panic. It seemed they had simply disappeared without him, and he didn’t like that one bit.

However, he was trying to stay calm, concluding that they had taken the train back home, and was on his way to follow them when he saw something he had never noticed before.

A grate off to the side of the square.

Aviators at first didn’t pay much mind to it, but he felt a strange…pull towards it. Soon enough, he was standing with his feet just inches from it, looking down into the darkness.

He was just considering shaking off the strange feeling and walking away when a clawed hand reached out of the grate and pulled him in.
 
—
 
Aviators awoke to the blazing sun shining in his eyes. Strange, since the sun had been setting when he was last conscious.

When he had fallen into the grate.

Suddenly panicking, Aviators sat up and looked around. He seemed to be sitting on artificial snow, and there were strange, multicolored patches of ink everywhere. But he barely had time to process his surroundings before something pounced towards him.

Aviators rolled out of the way just in time, and scrambled to his feet to see what had pounced upon him.

Turns out, it was an Octoling but it looked all wrong.

First of all, it had fur on its tentacles. That wasn’t normal at all.

And it seemed to be feral, staring Aviators down with swirly purple-pink eyes and growling.

That wasn’t good at all.

The feral, fuzzy Octoling pounced towards Aviators again, and Aviators swiftly turned and ran away. As fast as he could.

Aviators ran and ran and ran, not even looking behind him to see if the Octoling was chasing him. It definitely was, though.

As he continued to run and run, straining his legs as much as he could, he found an odd…thrill in being chased by this feral Octoling. His heart beat quickly in his chest, adrenaline rushing through his entire body. He liked that adrenaline rush, it felt like when he was doing a difficult Ranked battle, but with much more stakes.

He liked it a

lot

.

A smile was just starting to creep across his face before he tripped and fell. Face-first into some of the strange multicolored ink; swirly purple and pink like the feral Octoling’s eyes. But it was less like ink, and more like ooze—ooze with fuzz on it.

The same fuzz that had covered the feral Octoling’s tentacles.

Aviators tried to get up, tried to get out of this fuzzy ooze, but he realized he was stuck.

As brown fur swiftly began to cover his arms, legs, and tentacles, he came to the realization that this fuzzy ooze had caused the creature that was once an Octoling to become a feral beast.

Then the rapidly spreading fur filled his throat, blocking his breathing and causing him to pass out.
 
—
 
In all technicalities, Aviators should’ve been dead.

Perhaps he was, in some kind of twisted way.

But he wasn’t by traditional standards, because hours after he had lost consciousness, a clawed hand burst out of the patch of Fuzzy Ooze.

A fuzzy figure pulled himself out of the ooze, then shook head to toe like a dog.

It was Aviators…technically.

He reached up to scratch his head, which he realized was covered in brownish-purple fur.

Something was sticking out of his head as well.

Ears. Furry wolf-like ears. Aviators scratched behind them, and got a strange sense of satisfaction.

His tail was swishing back and forth.

His

tail

.

Inklings weren’t supposed to have tails. Furry tails, at least—tentacle tails were rare, but Skull had one.

Aviators looked at his hands, and realized his fingers had sharp claws at the ends of them.

It took him a few moments to realize anything was out of the ordinary.

When he did realize, he screamed, in a feral voice that wasn’t his.

After that long, drawn-out scream died out, Aviators glanced around in panic. He was still in this unfamiliar place filled with Fuzzy Ooze.

He hyperventilated as he scratched his fur-covered head again, his new tail now thrashing in agitation.

But Aviators didn’t have much time to freak out before he heard quick footsteps coming closer. He swiveled around, saw a fuzzy Octoling, and somehow recognized it as the one he had been chasing before.

A feral grin slowly spread across his face.

Now that he was fuzzy and feral as well, it was time for the tables to turn.

Aviators got on all fours and pounced towards the Octoling, who screeched and ran away. He chased it as fast as he could, his heart pounding faster and faster with adrenaline.

This

is what he always wanted, he realized. To be on the other side of the chase. To be the one who was hunting.

Soon enough, Aviators managed to pounce upon the Octoling and pin it to the ground with his claws. The Octoling squealed and wriggled to escape, but Aviators was too strong.

There was a sharp-fanged, feral look on his face. He had reveled in the thrill of the chase, and he had finally caught his prey.

But he wasn’t sure what to do now. Eat it? No…he never liked the idea of eating other inkfish, even in this fuzzy form, and besides, he wasn’t too hungry.

So he unpinned the Octoling from the ground and let it escape. His tail wagged as he watched it disappear into the distance.

Wow,

he hadn’t felt like that before. Giving in to that pure, instinctive feeling to

hunt

.

Perhaps it was something the Fuzzy Ooze had given him.

Either way, Aviators decided he was going to embrace this.
 
—
 
Aviators didn’t quite remember how he got back to Inkopolis. Must have been the Fuzzy Ooze messing with his memory.

But either way, he was back in the square now. It was afternoon, so it was bustling with people. People who stared at Aviators with judging eyes.

Aviators didn’t care at all. He was searching for one person.

And soon, he found that one person.

Aviators was filled with happiness when he saw Skull, his back to him. Without thinking much, he ran towards him and tackled him to the ground, which obviously surprised Skull a lot.

“Avi?!” Skull exclaimed, swirly eyes wide. “What—”

“I’m just—” Aviators said, voice hoarse from the fur lining it, “—so happy to see you, Skull.”

“Yeah, I assumed so,” Skull said. “But…what the hell happened to you?! I don’t…I don’t remember you having fur…and a tail!!”

“Oh,

that

,” Aviators said. “Um…it’s kind of a long story, but it’s fine…”

“It’s not fine, Avi!” Skull exclaimed. “You can’t disappear for three days and then come back with f—”

“Wait…

three days

?!”

“Yeah.” Skull finally took the effort to get up from the ground, and Aviators let him. Soon, both of them were standing up normally. “I guess we’re taking turns disappearing now, huh?”

“Three days…” Aviators echoed. He had been laying in the Fuzzy Ooze for a while…but he didn’t think it was

that

long.

He should’ve been in there for a lot longer. He should’ve

died

.

But he didn’t, somehow.
 
…Or had he?
 
“We should probably go home…” Skull said, glancing at all the people who were staring at him and Aviators.

“Yeah,” Aviators agreed, sighing—and then coughing up some fur. Skull widened his eyes at this.

“And there we can discuss…this situation,” Skull said, taking Aviators’ hand and leading him out of the square.

“And you can explain to me what happened to

you

,” Aviators said. “Like you’ve been refusing to…”

“We both have some explaining to do,” Skull confessed.

Aviators just nodded, fully agreeing with his partner.

But how was he going to explain to Skull this…new, primal feeling the Fuzzy Ooze gave him?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Jon, this is a supernatural archival institute,

not

an orphanage.”

It seems Elias was finally confronting Jon about adopting a kid and keeping him in the Institute. And the black-tentacled Inkling was not happy about it, not one bit.

“Elias, he needs a safe space. He’s comfortable here in the Institute. He’s not causing any harm—”

“He might be a threat to our knowledge. Our secrets. You wouldn’t want some random teenager getting into that, would you?”

Jon thought about Army breaking in the other day, but didn’t say anything. “He’s

not

random. His name is Rider, and I’m taking care of him.”

“Well…bring him to your house or whatever. Get him out of here.”

“A bit too late for that now.”

“Why? He can certainly go outside, can he?”

Not without significant risk,

Jon thought to himself, remembering that Rider was on the run. But Jon didn’t tell Elias this, within the risk that Elias might immediately report Rider. He was never the merciful type, especially towards teenagers.

Jon didn’t even know why he was taking so much mercy towards Rider. He didn’t know anything about his need to adopt a child and keep him in the Magnus Institute.

But he did know one thing. He wasn’t abandoning Rider anytime soon.

“I promise Rider won’t cause trouble. And I promise I won’t adopt any more children.”

Elias laughed. “You say that as if it’s a possibility.”

Jon shrugged. “It might be.”
 
—
 
“Are you sure about this, Jon?”

“Yes, I’m sure, Rider.”

“Didn’t I tell you about the Deepsea Metro?” Rider exclaimed, anger rising in his voice. “About how dangerous it is?”

“Yes, you did, in that statement,” Jon said. “And multiple times after that. Didn’t you help save the world from that evil telephone?”

“Yes, but…” Rider sighed. “I don’t know what’s still lurking in there. It could be anything.”

“I’m bringing Martin with me, I won’t be alone,” Jon said. “I’ll be fine.”
 
…
 
And with that, Jon and Martin left on their expedition into the metro. As Rider was left in his small room in the Institute, he couldn’t stop worrying about them.

What if they encountered the same horrors Rider had—all that time ago?

Who was he kidding? Of course they were going to.

But now there was nothing Rider could do but wait. He sat on his bed, blasting metal into his ears to try and drown out his anxieties.

But it didn’t work. Eventually his ears started to hurt so he took out the earbuds. With nothing but silence in his room now, he realized his chest was hurting as well.

He had been wearing his binder for a while, so that made sense.

Rider got off of his bed, made sure the door was locked, and took off his red shirt—his usual leather jacket already off and hanging on a nearby chair. He turned and looked at himself in a nearby mirror—and frowned.

He had been wearing a black binder underneath his shirt, which was visible now. He probably wore the tight thing way too often, but he didn’t care. He

had

to keep it on, so that he could feel somewhat comfortable in his own skin.

Key word:

somewhat

. With that teal scar taking up nearly half of his face, Rider could never feel fully comfortable again.

Damn, his chest really

was

hurting. Maybe he should take the binder off, just for a bit—

As soon as Rider merely touched the binder, however, a wave of panic came over him—as he was reminded of what he would see once the binder was off.

Flesh that wasn’t his. A reminder that his body was

never

his.

Rider took his hands away from his chest, his breathing quick and panicked. He couldn’t take his eyes off of his reflection—his horrid, horrid reflection.

This was not his body.

The teal scar on his face was glowing. Just like it had when he attacked Hachi.

Was this a sign that this—wrong, wrong flesh vessel he was trapped in—was about to become puppetted again?

Rider clutched his head in agony as he stared at his reflection with wide eyes—for so long that it started to twist and distort into horrifying hallucinations. First he saw that horrid teal goop—mixed with blood—dripping down one side of his face—just like in the metro. Then that morphed into something that was somehow even more terrifying.

One of Rider’s eyes—the non-sanitized one—was no longer there. It had been replaced by a gaping, sharp-fanged mouth.

And with this horrifying mutation on his face, Rider’s reflection was grinning so, so wide.

Perhaps it was because this version of Rider was finally in his true body. Was finally his true self.

Moving somewhat automatically, Rider punched the mirror, shattering the reflection and the hallucinations.
 
—
 
It took a while for Jon and Martin to even find the entrance to the Deepsea Metro. But they did eventually; it was down a staircase in Inkopolis Square.

Inkopolis Square. The place where the youngsters played their Turf Wars nowadays.

Jon remembered being a carefree teenager playing turf…

Anyway, Jon and Martin descended the staircase, and it got darker and darker the more underground they got. After a few minutes, the staircase stopped, and there was a flickering light illuminating a large room.

A sign nearby said this was the Grand Central Station.

“Well, seems pretty abandoned so far,” Jon observed, turning towards Martin. But the Octoling man seemed to have been distracted by something. A paper on the ground.

“What’s that?” Jon asked.

“Seems like some kind of missing poster,” Martin said, showing it to Jon. It had a picture of an Inkling girl on it, with cyan tentacles and wearing a gas mask for some reason.

“A missing poster…” Jon echoed. The missing Inkling’s name was Mask, apparently—what a creative name, Jon thought sarcastically—and she had been missing for almost two months.

Jon had just made the decision to fold up the paper and put it in his pocket for future reference when a loud sound suddenly reverberated throughout the station. Both men looked up in surprise as a metro train pulled up into the nearby tracks. After it stopped moving, the doors opened, and everything was silent again.

Martin, surprisingly, moved towards the train before Jon did. And Jon decided he had no choice but to follow him. The tension was almost insufferable as nothing seemed to happen as they got closer. Nobody got out of the train, and there was nobody else in the station.

Finally, Jon and Martin entered the train, and surprisingly, there were actually people inside. Most of them weren’t cephalopods—some strange-looking jellyfish and other fish people.

But there was one cephalopod sitting on the train. An Inkling. But something was wrong with them. Their skin—it was tealish-green that reminded Jon heavily of chemicals. Their tentacles—tied into a ponytail—were blue fading into that same teal.

And when she looked towards Jon and Martin, Jon noticed the scleras of her eyes were void black, with teal circles for irises.

And suddenly, Jon recognized this person.

She was the Inkling from the missing person. Same outfit and everything.

Mask.

“Uh,” Mask said in a raspy voice. “So, is there a reason you’re staring at me?”

“Oh, sorry ma’am,” Martin said, and Jon noticed he had also recognized Mask from the missing poster. “We…we recognized you, is all.”

“Recognized me?” Mask’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “For where?”

Jon took the missing poster from his pocket and showed it to Mask. “Is this you?” he asked.

Mask’s void-black eyes widened. “Y-yes, it is. I didn’t think…I was gone for that long…”

“Do you mind telling us what happened?” Martin said. “You…you don’t look too well.”

“I—well, take a seat first, so the train can move,” Mask said.

“Of course.” Martin and Jon proceeded to sit next to Mask on the train.

As the train began to move, Mask breathed out a ragged sigh. Jon turned towards her, and noticed something—positively disgusting, to say the least.

Maggots. Coming out of Mask’s ears and other parts uncovered by clothing and the mask. They squirmed about in her green flesh, the ugly white things, and Mask didn’t even seem remotely bothered.

“I guess I’ve better tell you two…” Mask said. “Do either of you know about sanitization?”

“Like…cleaning things?” Martin said, confused.

Mask rolled her eyes. “I’ll take that as a no…”

“I’ve heard of it,” Jon said. “I know somebody who got sanitized briefly, his name’s Rider.”

“Rider…” Mask said. “He…sounds familiar. He’s a friend of mine…I think…”

“He must have been awfully worried about you, if you’ve been missing for so long,” Martin said.

“Well, he hasn’t mentioned her to me at all,” Jon said to Martin.

Mask blinked. “He…he hasn’t?”

“Nope,” Jon said, not realizing his error of mentioning that right in front of Mask herself.

“Probably too caught up with hiding from the police,” Martin muttered. Both Mask and Jon turned to him in surprise.

“

What?!

” Mask exclaimed. “The

police

?!”

“It’s a long story,” Jon said. “Please explain to us how and why you are green.”

And Mask did. She explained in detail the process of “sanitization,” apparently injecting green goop of blended Octolings into one’s veins to make them part of a hivemind. She had ended up in the Deepsea Metro somehow—she didn’t remember how—died somehow, rotted as a corpse for a while, and then was found by sanitized Octolings living in the metro. The Octolings had attempted to sanitize her, though she had escaped before it could affect her fully—preserving most of her free will and some of her memories.

The death and rotting explained the maggots, Jon noted to himself. And Mask had only been partially sanitized—so the rot had not been fully expelled.

“So yeah, that’s the general gist of it,” Mask shrugged, the movement causing a wriggling maggot to fall out of her ear.

“Oh…” Martin said, clearly mortified, and Jon realized he didn’t fully know about Rider’s sanitization story.

There was an awkward silence for a bit, only filled by the sound of the moving train.

“Sooo, what now?” Mask said.

“Would you like to go up to the surface?” Jon asked.

“That sounds nice…” Mask said. “The only problem is, I don’t think the general population would accept a green rotting corpse.”

“Are you sure you don’t have any friends to stay with?” Martin said. “Maybe a turfing team of some kind…?”

“If I do, I don’t remember…” Mask muttered. “The memories…they’re scattered and random…I can only remember my own name, the fact that I’m trans, and a few faces and names here and there…”

“You could stay at the Magnus Institute,” Jon said without thinking. And he instantly regretted it. He had promised Elias he wouldn’t adopt another child…

Mask perked up a bit. “The Magnus Institute?”

“Our place of work,” Martin said. “You could stay with Rider, perhaps…? He’s been there for a while as well.”

“Huh…” Mask said. “If you’re offering, I guess I could stay there.”

“Alright,” Jon said, sighing.

He was going to have to keep this second, rotting child a secret, or Elias would become angry.
 
—
 
Rider was curled up in the corner of his room, trying to recover from his panic attack, when the door opened.

Fuck,

had he forgotten to lock it?! Jon couldn’t see him like this—

“Rider?” Jon’s voice came. Oh cod, Jon was going to see the broken, bloody mirror, he was going to see the tears on Rider’s face and the binder on his chest—he

couldn’t

know he had a panic attack, he

couldn’t

know he was weak, he

couldn’t

know he was

trans

—

And that’s what Jon did see. He looked at the broken mirror with concern, and then saw Rider in the corner, trying to hide himself.

Jon went over to Rider and knelt down beside him. “Are you alright?”

Rider hesitated before gently shaking his head, refusing to make eye contact with Jon.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

Rider took a shuddering breath. “I…I’m not a real…my body…isn’t mine…”

Jon nodded, rubbing small circles on Rider’s back. Rider didn’t mind this too much—it was comforting.

“I understand,” Jon said. “Is it…gender dysphoria?”

“How did you know?” Rider grumbled.

“I know what that feels like,” Jon said. “I’m transgender myself…felt a lot of dysphoria in my younger days before transitioning fully.”

Rider looked towards Jon in surprise. “R-really?”

Jon nodded again. “You don’t have to hide from me, okay? I know we’ve only known each other for a little while, but…you can trust me.”

Rider sighed. “Am I…am I a real guy…?”

“Of course you are. Just as much as I am,” Jon said. He hesitated for a few somewhat awkward moments. “Do you need a hug, Rider?”

“

Yes

,” Rider said, without much hesitation at all.

Jon hesitated again. It was clear he wasn’t great at comforting, much less physical, but he was trying his best for Rider. He slowly leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Rider, who responded with tightly hugging Jon back.

“Thank you…” Rider muttered, tears leaking out of his eyes again.

The two of them hugged for a little while, and then Jon pulled away. Rider looked up at Jon and smiled.

Jon smiled back for a brief few moments, and then cleared his throat. “Um. Anyway, I came in here to tell you that you may have a new roommate.”

“What…?”

That’s when Mask came in, very awkwardly. It became even more awkward when Rider noticed her, and the two of them just stared at each other.

“Well, um, I was told you two are already acquainted…so…I shall go,” Jon said, clearly sensing the awkwardness in the room. “I, um, have work to do, so…goodbye.”

And with that, Jon promptly left the room, leaving Mask and Rider alone.

“Hey,” Mask said, giving a brief, awkward wave.

“So,” Rider said, narrowing his eyes. “You disappear for two months, and then come back sanitized…?”

“Only partially!” Mask said, holding her hands up. “I’m…not going to hurt you.”

“What’s with the worms?”

“None of your business.”

“...If you say so.”

Mask sighed as she went over and sat next to Rider on the floor. “So, um, you’re trans too…? I overheard...” she said.

“Yeah, what about it?” Rider muttered.

“I wish we could switch bodies. Dysphoria is a bitch, isn’t it…?”

“Yeah,” Rider agreed. “Me too, Mask.”

“Me too.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“I hope the Watcher treats you well. Statement en—”At that moment, when Jon was just finishing reading a statement, somebody abruptly burst into his office. Startled out of his trance, he looked towards the door with irritation.It was that kid again. Aloha. But he looked…different. His skin was bluer, his eyes with black scleras. He had scales dotted across his body, and ears like fish fins. And he was dripping seawater all over the floor.“Can I…” Aloha said, his voice sounding panicked, yet…echoey and cold, “give a statement?”Jon scowled. “I was in the middle of one, actually. Until you interrupted. Did you even sign in?”“Yes I did,” Aloha said, crossing his arms. “I’ve given a statement here before. I know how it works.”“Let me finish the notes on this one,” Jon said, scoffing as he turned back to the paper. “ Kids these days …”Jon cleared his throat, trying to get back into focus. “We will try following up with Wynn Izayoi-Fudo, for this statement was given not so long ago. Though the most likely explanation is that these are simple hallucinations caused by grief, there is some evidence provided that they may not be. A rather strange case indeed…more information will need to be provided. End recording.”After ending the recording, Jon turned back towards Aloha with a frown on his face. “Whatever happened to you?” he asked, though he honestly didn’t care that much.“That’s why I’m here,” Aloha said. “To try and explain it…it felt supernatural—”“Yeah, you seem to have turned into a sea monster of sorts.”“Can I give my statement?” Aloha said.Jon sighed, turning back to the tape recorder. “Statement of Aloha Summers, regarding why he burst into my office with sea monster features and dripping water all over my floor. Statement recorded 23rd November 2024. Statement begins .”“I had no choice!”“Yes you did. Now give the statement.”Aloha sighed. “Well, it all started when I was going surfing today.” “It started out normal. I was going out to catch a wave, everything was fine—but then there was a really big one that pushed me underwater.”“I tried so hard to swim up, but for whatever reason, the water seemed to get deeper and deeper. Soon I wasn’t sure if there was a seafloor at all. I couldn’t tell where the surface was, I couldn’t even tell up from down. There was nothing but the vastness of the ocean around me…and it made me feel insignificant. Worthless.”“It was quiet and still, but I realized I was drowning. Which, fun fact, is my worst fear.”“There was…nothing…for a little while. I should’ve been dead. I was out of air, I was drowning…there shouldn’t have been anything after the nothingness.”“But there was. I heard a voice. I don’t remember exactly what it said to me—trying to remember feels like trying to recall a faint dream. But it said something to me. Something about…embracing the infinite abyss of the sea.”“And then next thing I knew…I was on the shore of the beach. The sun was setting, and everybody was gone. They probably thought I was dead. To be fair, so did I, at first.”“Then I saw, well—” Aloha held up his hand. The fingers were webbed and had black claws at the ends. “My new sea monster features, as you like to call them.”“And…that’s when I came running here.” Jon sighed. “So…you drowned and came back as a sea monster.”“Yeah, pretty much,” Aloha said, observing his new sea monster hand.“Seems pretty supernatural…”“Yeah, that’s why I came here.”“...Which beach were you at?”“Does it matter?”“I need all the details I can get, Aloha.”Aloha sighed, and told Jon the name of the beach.“An interesting case…” Jon said. “Thank you for your statement, Aloha. We’ll try to look further into this.”Aloha nodded, suddenly seeming awkward. “Uh…no problem.”Then Aloha got up and left the office. Jon sighed again and turned off the tape recorder.“Kids these days…” Jon muttered. — When Aloha left the Magnus Institute, he was certainly not expecting Army to be standing there. The book was in his arms again, and he did not look well at all—his widened, panicked eyes had deep dark bags underneath them.“Army…?” Aloha said. “What are you doing here…?”“Aloha, dear,” Army said, his voice shaky and as panicked as his eyes were. “I need to tell you something.”“Sure, what is it?” Aloha said. He gently took one of Army’s hands in his. “Remember, dear, stay calm. Nobody’s watching you. You’re alright.”Army looked up at the Magnus Institute behind him and Aloha. “We cannot discuss it here. Come with me.” — “...And that’s why you’ve seemed to have acquired these sea monster features after drowning,” Army said. The two were sitting at a table in Inkopolis Square, and for once Army wasn’t hugging the book up to his chest, his hands were on the table, and the book was sitting on it nearby.“Wow,” Aloha said. He noticed some people were staring at him and Aloha, but it was probably because of Aloha’s new sea monster features. Nobody had reacted to what the two were talking about. “That’s…a lot to take in.”“I know it is,” Army said. “But that’s what the book told me…and it’s the truth that you must accept.”“Are you sure it was a good idea to discuss all this in the middle of the square…?” Aloha asked.“...Maybe not,” Army admitted. “Shall we leave now, dear?”“Yeah, that sounds good.”…As Army and Aloha left, Aloha realized that Army had forgotten to pick up something.Somehow, Army had forgotten the very book that he had been obsessed with for days.Aloha didn’t tell him that he forgot it, though. In a way, he was glad that he forgot it.If Army was separated from the book…maybe he would return to normal eventually. — “I wonder what happened to Rider…” Headphones muttered, as she and Team Blue walked through the square.“Yeah, he seems to have disappeared after… the incident ,” Specs said.“The police are after him!!” Bobble said cheerfully.“Shhh!!” Specs said, covering Bobble’s smiling mouth. “Don’t say that so loudly!!”“I’m sure he’ll be okay!!” Goggles exclaimed. “He’ll show up again in no time, and then we can all be happy together!!”“So optimistic…” Headphones muttered.“And then you can kiss him~!” Bobble teased.Goggles blushed. “Y-yeah, sure…”“Somebody seems to have left a book here…” Specs said, walking up to a nearby table. Indeed, there was a large leather-bound book on the table.“Maybe it’s one of Army’s manuals!” Goggles said. “I saw him and Aloha sitting here earlier!”“Well then we should return it,” Headphones said. “You know how he is about his manuals.”Goggles walked up to the book on the table and picked it up, a dopey smile still on his face. He tilted his head with curiosity as he observed the thick book. Then his smile completely disappeared when he saw the front.An eye. A real eye, embedded into the cover. It blinked at Goggles as he stared with horror.Behind Goggles, Specs and Headphones screamed. Bobble just continued smiling, but she seemed scared as well.And Goggles was scared too. But yet…still curious.“PUT THAT DOWN!!” Specs yelled.Goggles didn’t listen to him.Instead, he slowly opened the book to the first page.His eyes widened as the contents. It should’ve been simply beyond his comprehension as the idiot of Team Blue, and yet—He immediately understood.“GOGGLES!!!!!!” Specs yelled. “DON’T READ THAT!!!!”“DON’T READ THE EYE BOOK!!!!” Headphones also yelled.But Goggles didn’t listen. He continued to flip through the pages, eyes becoming wider and wider, until he finally looked up.He looked at the world around him. It seemed…different, somehow.Now that he had this new knowledge about it.…Or maybe he was the one who was different now.Goggles’ breathing was quick and panicked, as he finally closed the book and held it close to his chest.He wasn’t sure if he could give it back to Army now.He wasn’t sure if he could part with it at all. — “Love,” Kaito said, as he cuddled with his boyfriend Wynn on the bed. “Have you heard about what happened with that famous Turf War player?”“Rider?” Wynn said. “Yeah, I heard about that…why do you bring it up now?”“...Because I think I know why Rider attacked that Octoling,” Kaito said.“Well, why did he?”“The Slaughter.”Wynn’s eyes widened. “Are you meaning to say…”“Yes. This Rider guy might be an avatar of the Slaughter, or at least touched by it,” Kaito said. He sat up in bed, his wolf ears twitching. Wynn could tell he was agitated by the very mention of the Slaughter.“And this means…you have to hunt him down,” Wynn concluded.“Yes,” Kaito said. “Slaughter avatars are dangerous. We must stop Rider before he becomes one. And if he already is one…”“We’re going to have to kill him.” Wynn sighed. He knew he shouldn’t be grieving for somebody who wasn’t even dead yet. Death came to all things eventually, anyway, it was the only certainty in life.And yet…Rider was just a kid. A kid touched by the Slaughter…and turned into a monster.“Rider…I know his face is half decayed…I can sense the corrupted stench as well as the Slaughter,” Kaito said. “This will be a good way to identify him.”“Do we have to hunt him down right now?” Wynn asked.“Maybe not now ,” Kaito said. “We were in the middle of cuddling…”Wynn gave Kaito a kiss on the cheek. “I love ya, Kite.”“And I love you.”Kaito lay back down on the bed, smiled at Wynn, and gave him another kiss, this time on the lips. Wynn giggled and leaned into the kiss.This moment of peaceful love was interrupted by a voice. An echoey, uncanny voice.“Hunting down Rider, huh? I think I can help with that.”Both Kaito and Wynn immediately sat up, startled. Standing at the other side of the room—in front of a yellow door that wasn’t there before—was a purple Octoling.“HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE??” Kaito exclaimed, throwing a pillow into the Octoling’s face.“Through the door, silly!” the Octoling said. “Anyway, my name is Galax. Kaito, Wynn, nice to meet you.”“How—” Wynn muttered.“You said you could help us,” Kaito said. “How?”“Welllll,” Galax said, “I happen to know a lot about famous Turf players such as Rider. My previous self did, at least. I could at least help you locate him…”Kaito and Wynn exchanged glances. “Should we trust them…?” Kaito said.“We should give it a chance,” Wynn said. He then got out of bed, walked over to Galax, and offered his hand to shake.“It’s a deal.”Galax smiled, and then shook Wynn’s hand.“This’ll be a very good friendship indeed.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Jon had just finished recording the ending notes of a statement when Martin walked in. He turned towards Martin and smiled when he saw he was holding a cup of tea.“Is that for me?” Jon said.“Sure is,” Martin said, setting the tea down onto the table. “How’s everything been going? With the kids and all.”“They’re…surprisingly quiet,” Jon said. “They hardly ever interrupt my work. Rider only does when he needs food or something…and honestly I don’t think Mask needs to eat.”“Seeing as she’s dead or something, I wouldn’t doubt that,” Martin said. He then sighed. “I…honestly still don’t understand all that sanitized stuff. And I really should…both of the kids have experience with it—”“Dear, it’s really okay,” Jon said. “You’re trying your best to understand them.”Martin smiled at this. “I’m…really surprised we’re being allowed to keep two—”“Don’t say that so loudly, Elias still doesn’t know Mask exists.”“He’s going to find out eventually…Wh-what do the others think of this, by the way?”“Tim thinks it’s odd, but as long as they’re not disrupting our work…Sasha feels similarly as well, I believe.”“I see,” Martin said. He gave Jon a quick kiss on the forehead. “Never thought we’d adopt two teenagers and keep them in our place of work.”Jon shrugged. “Life surprises you sometimes, I suppose.” He stood up onto his tiptoes and gave Martin a kiss on the lips. “Thanks for the tea, dear.”At that moment, Rider had appeared in Jon’s office, and was staring at him and Martin with incredulous disbelief. “You two are dating ?!” he exclaimed.“Oh! Hello Rider—” Martin said, quite surprised at the teen’s appearance.“Yes, we are dating,” Jon said bluntly. “Is there anything you need, Rider?”“Just…some food,” Rider said. He sighed. “You two make me miss my own boyfriend…”Jon raised his eyebrows. “Didn’t know you had one.”“Yes, his name’s Goggles,” Rider said, sighing. “Idiotic ray of sunshine…haven’t seen him since before that Turf War…”“I hope you get to see him again soon,” Martin said.“Me too…” Rider muttered.Jon gave Rider something to eat, then the teen disappeared back into his room. Who knew what he did all day…“Ah…young love~” Martin said.“That kid…” Jon muttered, looking back to the papers on his desk. “I’ve only known him for a few days, but if anything happened to him—”“You would kill everyone in this room and then yourself?” Martin chuckled.“Yes,” Jon said. “...I’d better get back to work.”“Alright then,” Martin said, giving Jon another quick kiss before leaving his office. — After Jon finished recording the ending notes of the statement, the receptionist of the Institute entered his office. He looked up with a bit of confusion.“There’s a child in the lobby,” the receptionist said bluntly.“Oh…” Jon muttered. “Another one…?”“They want to talk to you.”Jon sighed. “Bring them to my office.”…And so, after a few minutes, Jon had another child sitting in the chair in his office—the chair reserved for statement givers. This child was younger than the other teens Jon had met in the last few days—they seemed only about fifteen or sixteen. They had yellow tentacles in an unconventional style, and a fancy jacket—probably from the Enperry brand, though Jon didn’t know much about the latest trends.“So, are you here to give a statement?” Jon asked. The kid seemed on edge and timid, avoiding eye contact with Jon.“You could…you could say that,” the kid muttered.“What’s your name?”“Prince. Prince Houzuki.”“A pleasure to meet you, Prince. Now—” Jon turned on the tape recorder— “what’s your statement about?”“My…my brother. My brother and his…death.”Jon nodded. “Statement of Prince Houzuki, regarding the death of their brother. Statement recorded direct from subject, 24th November 2024. Statement begins.”Prince blinked. “Oh, uh…”“Tell me what happened, Prince.”Prince sighed. “Alright.” “My brother Emperor and I have— had —a complicated relationship. I was on a turf team with him for about a year, and he was strict. Always pressuring the other teammates and I to be the best, to live up to his standards. I remember him getting mad when I dared to have fun in that one Turf War…against Team Blue…”“But despite all this, after that battle, he seemed to learn the error of his ways, and handed the crown of team leader to me, seeming to retire permanently from turf. After that, you’d think things would get better…but they didn’t.”“Emperor had gone from the king of turf war to another opponent defeated by Team Blue. And that wasn’t good for his mental health, it seemed…he always told himself he was ‘training’ to learn about the ‘common people…’ trying to keep up his demeanor of an arrogant king…but I’m his sibling. I know when he’s distressed. And as he did Salmon Run and worked at a food truck of all places…I knew he wasn’t doing well."“Since I was appointed to be the leader of the team…we’ve continued turfing with our new teammate Laceless…but we all sensed that something was off with Emperor. We tried reaching out to him recently…but his health seemed to be getting worse and worse. He’d come back late some nights…acting as if he was high or drunk…”“And…to admit it, I snapped. I said that if he didn’t talk to us, his friends and his sibling , about whatever issues he was having, there was going to be a problem.”“But…he didn’t. He never did. He just brushed off the clear, serious mental issues he was having and said it wasn’t ‘kingly’ or whatever.”Prince hesitated for a few moments. Tears formed in their eyes.“Today, I found him dead in his room. His body was lying on the floor, and a bottle of alcohol was in his hands. He must’ve died of alcohol poisoning. But…the worst part was…the spiders.”“Spiders?” Jon said.“So many spiders,” Prince continued, shaking. “So many spiders, everywhere, crawling all over the floor and into all crevices of Emperor’s body…”“It was horrifying. I don’t know where they even came from…we’re rich, our house has never had infestations before. But suddenly, it seemed like there were millions of them, everywhere —”“And so that’s when I ran. Ran away from the spiders filling Emperor’s body, and I ended up here.”“That’s my statement, I guess.” Jon blinked, a little taken aback by Prince’s statement. He never liked spiders…“Emperor…Emperor Houzuki…I do recognize that name…” Jon muttered.“It used to be practically a household name,” Prince said, chuckling awkwardly. “Him being a Turf War legend and all…but now he’s fallen out of fame, thanks to Team Blue…”Jon nodded slowly. “We have had statements about…an abundance of spiders before…”“I’m sure you have,” Prince said. They sighed. “I…don’t know what to do now…I can’t go back home because of the…the spiders …”“You could stay here,” Jon said, almost automatically.“W-what?”“If you’re okay having roommates.” Cod, was he about to adopt another kid?? Why did Jon get attached to random teenagers so easily…“Roommates? How many people are staying here…?”“Two…are you perhaps acquainted with people named Rider and Mask?”Prince’s eyes widened at this. “Yes…yes I am…Mask has been missing for months and…Rider—”“Yes, I’m aware of Rider’s situation,” Jon said. “Now, will you take the offer?”A small smile appeared on Prince’s face.“Yes. Yes I will.” … “Soooo, lemme get this straight—”“Neither of us are straight.”“Not my point ,” Mask said, glaring at Rider. “My point is, you’re on the run from the fucking POLICE ?!”“It’s a long story,” Rider muttered.“And we’ve got nothing but time,” Mask said. “So c’mon. Spill the beans.”“What beans?” Rider said.“You know what I mean.”Rider sighed, and opened his mouth to speak when the door to the small room opened. It was Jon—but there was somebody else behind him.“Would you two mind another roommate?” Jon asked, voice quiet.Mask and Rider exchanged glances. Then Rider said, “I don’t know, it’s kind of cramped in here already.”“Too bad. You don’t have a choice,” Jon said. The person came out from behind him—and it was somebody both Mask and Rider recognized.“Prince??” Mask said.“ Mask?! ” Prince exclaimed. “What…happened to y—”“Please, don’t be loud,” Jon said. “Remember, this is a supernatural research institute, and you three are technically not supposed to be here.”“...Then why—”“Out of the kindness of my own heart,” Jon said, interrupting Rider.And with that, the door closed, and the three teenagers were alone.“Okay, what’s your deal?” Rider said.“My deal ?” Prince said, confusion in their voice.“Why are you staying here ?” Mask said. “Don’t you live in a fancy mansion?”“Why are you green?” Prince said. “And the maggots…”“It’s a long story…” Mask muttered.“Well,” Rider said, “we’ve got nothing but time, huh?” — Jon sighed as he entered his office, back from storing another teenager in the back room of the archives. He eyed the tea that Martin had given him earlier—it had probably gotten cold by now, what with Prince’s statement and sudden adoption.Jon knew this was going to have consequences down the road. After all, he had Elias as a boss.So why was he doing this? Why was he opening up his heart and storing traumatized teenagers in his place of work? Why did he give a shit at all?It had started with Rider—and that was because Jon saw himself in the kid. Struggling with trauma, gender dysphoria, and a generally grumpy and introverted attitude. Jon was almost exactly like him when he was a teenager—minus the spiky leather jacket, maybe.But why Mask and Prince?“Maybe you have more compassion than you realize, Archivist~ ”At this strange, echoey voice, Jon turned around, startled. Standing in his office was a purple Octoling—with colorful, swirly eyes, purple dragon wings, and a scaly tail.“Wh-who are you?!” Jon exclaimed. “How did you get in here—”“I am not a who ,” the Octoling said, approaching Jon, “—but a what .”Jon sighed. “Okay fine. What are you, and what are you doing here?”“You may call me Galax,” the Octoling said, grinning with far too many teeth.“Galax…” Jon muttered. “From that statement I recorded last week…”Galax laughed, an almost unreal sound. “I remember giving that statement…I was so foolish and naive back then…”“Why are you here?” Jon said. “...Are you going to kill me?”“No.”“Oh…”“I am simply here to find somebody,” Galax said. “Do you happen to know anybody by the name of Rider?”Jon sucked in a breath. “N-no I don’t…why?”“I can sense the lying in your voice, Archivist. I know you know Rider. You’re keeping him here, aren’t you?”“Why do you need him?”“That’s none of your concern.”“Are you going to kill him?”“I said that’s none of your concern.” Galax frowned.“I—” Jon looked at the yellow door behind Galax.There wasn’t a yellow door there before.“When did that—”“Oh, there was never a door there, Archivist,” Galax said, giggling, covering their mouth with their hand. Jon noticed for the first time that they—or perhaps it —had freakishly long fingers. “Your mind plays tricks on you~”Jon’s eyes widened, but he didn’t let himself panic. An angry look came across his face. “ What do you want with Rider ,” he said through gritted teeth.“When your boss finds out that you’re adopting children and keeping them in the Institute, oh he’ll be so mad~”“I’m not giving you Rider.”“Fineeee. Be like that,” Galax said, sarcasm dripping from its utterly alien voice. “But soon, Archivist, you will face the consequences of your actions.”Then Jon blinked, and both Galax and the yellow door were gone. — Wynn was cleaning his Aerospray when Galax suddenly appeared behind him. Which startled the absolute shit out of him. He quickly turned around to see the Spiral avatar standing behind him with a smile.“I know where Rider is,” Galax simply stated.“Where the hell—” Wynn muttered, then sighed. “Why am I even questioning you…”“I know where Rider is,” Galax repeated.“You do?” Wynn said, raising his eyebrows.“Yes, he’s with the Archivist in the Magnus Institute,” Galax said. “The Archivist has formed quite the compassion for him…”“Well, that’s good news!” Wynn said. “We…just need to get into the Magnus Institute somehow—”“And your boyfriend can take out that Slaughter avatar once and for all.” Galax smiled, with teeth too sharp and too many.“Well, we’re not sure if Rider’s exactly an avatar yet,” Wynn said. “But he could become one in the future. That’s why we need to take care of him now.”“Precisely,” Galax said. “Y’know, you’ve proved to be a good friend, Wynn…”“Oh…really?” Wynn said. “What a duo, huh…two avatars of completely opposing natures…”“What a duo indeed,” Galax said, smiling wider. — It was dark in the Houzuki mansion.A rotting corpse on the floor was filled with spiders.And, slowly but surely, the spiders within the corpse lifted it up.…Emperor leaned against the wall, small spiders leaking out of his eye sockets. He coughed, and a flurry of them flew out of his mouth.Then he hunched over, and screamed as he started to transform. Four slender, black, spider-like legs sprouted out of his back, tearing his jacket. His revived body then rose in the air as these new spider legs held him up.A smile then spread across Emperor’s face. And he began to laugh.Emperor shot spider web at the nearest window, breaking it. As he dove out of the window and landed on the ground harmlessly, he continued to laugh.For he had finally achieved his true form. He was finally complete.An avatar of rot and spiders. And an avatar of deceit and manipulation.And now, he was going to help others achieve this true form, as well.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Martin wrung his hands together nervously as he sat in front of the desk. On the other side of said desk was none other than the boss of the Magnus Institute. Elias.“I’ve told Jon this already,” Elias said, anger leaking through his voice. “But apparently, he didn’t listen.”“Wh-what are you talking about?” Martin said.“The children , Martin, the children ,” Elias said. He picked up a tape and put it in the nearby tape recorder. Martin sucked in a nervous breath as the tape began to play. 
“You could stay here.”

“W-what?”

“If you’re okay having roommates.”

“Roommates? How many people are staying here…?”

“Two…are you perhaps acquainted with people named Rider and Mask?”

“Yes…yes I am…Mask has been missing for months and…Rider—”

“Yes, I’m aware of Rider’s situation. Now, will you take the offer?”

“Yes. Yes I will.”
 “Martin,” Elias said, “what is Jon talking about when he says roommates ? Has he adopted more children?”Martin exhaled a shuddering breath. “Y-yes. Mask came in a few days ago…and Prince just yesterday…but I swear this is the last of them—”“I don’t care if this is the last of them. Three teenagers in the Institute is three teenagers too many. They all need to be gone , Martin.”“G-gone?”“You heard me. We cannot have these delinquents interfering with our very serious work. By the end of the week, I need them all out of here . Understood?”Martin nodded. Did he have a choice?“Understood, Elias.” —

“Aloha,” Army said, his voice frantic.“Ughhh,” Aloha said, slowly opening his eyes. It was morning, and Army and Aloha were both in bed together. But it seemed that Army hadn’t slept at all.“Aloha!!”“What is it, Army…?”“My book. It’s gone.”Aloha’s eyes shot open, remembering that Army had left his book on the table in Inkopolis Square.“It is…?” he said, feigning ignorance.“It’s gone,” Army said again. “I think I left it in the square."Aloha sat up, rubbing his eyes. “How…how did you leave it there? I thought you were so attached to it…”“This is what I’m wondering,” Army said. Aloha looked over at him, and he looked even worse for wear than before—his eyes bloodshot, his eyebags darker than ever. “How could I have left it behind?!”Army clutched his head as his voice became more and more panicked, and Aloha placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.“Don’t worry, love,” Aloha said, his voice soft and comforting. “We’ll find that book soon.”“But—” Army stammered, “ —what if it ended up in the wrong hands?”“In the hands of someone who isn’t worthy?” — Goggles hadn’t slept all night. He was too busy studying the cool new book he had found in the square.The book whose pages seemed to go on forever. The book with the eye on the front.By the time the sun began to rise, it felt like he couldn’t close his eyes. They were wide and bloodshot, dark bags already forming underneath them.He knew so much more than he did before.And this worried the rest of his team.The door to Goggles’ bedroom opened, and in walked Specs. Goggles realized he had forgotten to lock the door, but that barely mattered to him in his trance.“Goggles, have you slept at all?!” Specs said, abrasive as always. Goggles just shook his head.“You need sleep!!” Specs exclaimed. “We have Turf Wars to play today, you can’t pull all-nighters to—”“You’re scared of losing, aren’t you?” Goggles said, eyes still wide. “You’re scared of us becoming obscure and weak. You’re scared of yourself becoming weak.”Specs looked at Goggles with confusion. “Well, uh, yes, did I ever—”“And yet…you don’t like being known as the captain of the Idiot Team,” Goggles continued. “You wished we were recognized for our strength. Deep down, you feel disappointed in all of us for letting this reputation happen.”“But especially me, Specs.”Specs’ eyes were wide now, and he was trembling a bit. “Goggles…when did I tell you all this…?”Goggles’ straight face turned into a wide grin. “You didn’t.”“G-Goggles, you’re scaring m—”Goggles suddenly stood up and slammed the book shut, clutching it close to his chest. “Well, we have practice to get to, don’t we, Specs?”As Goggles stiffly walked out of the room, Specs’ eyes followed him, full of confusion—and fear.…“Hi Goggles!!” Bobble said as Goggles and Specs walked into the kitchen of the apartment.“Did you sleep at all last night?” Headphones said, concern in her voice.“Nope!” Goggles said cheerfully, as if he hadn’t just revealed all of Specs’ secrets.Goggles walked past Bobble and Headphones to get breakfast, as Specs sat by them at the table. Thinking he was out of Goggles’ earshot, Specs whispered to them, “Goggles is scaring me. He randomly revealed my thoughts about the team earlier. Thoughts I’ve never told him before.”Headphones’ eyes widened, while, obviously, Bobble’s expression stayed the same. “W-what?” Headphones said. “What do you mean—”“You guys talking about me?” Goggles said casually, mouth half full of cereal. “Can I join the conversation?”The rest of Team Blue stared at Goggles with fear. Then Bobble stammered, “Uh, no, we weren’t talking about you, Go—”“Silly Bobble!” Goggles exclaimed, sitting next to her, setting his bowl of cereal—dry cereal—down onto the table. “You can’t hide anything from me~!”More fearful stares. Goggles just smiled and continued to eat his dry cereal.After a few awkward minutes of silence, Goggles finished his bowl of cereal, and got up to put it away. At that moment, Specs leaned towards Headphones and Bobble and whispered, “I think it’s that book he picked up. It’s messing wi—”“Stop trying to talk about me behind my back, Specs!”Specs yelped and turned around to see Goggles standing behind him, with bloodshot eyes and a wide grin. It was quite unsettling.“G-Goggles,” Headphones stammered. “You’re really scaring us with all of this, y’know…are you okay?”“I’m just fine, Headphones!” Goggles said. “Better than ever since I found that book, actually! Now I know everything~!”More silence and stares. Then Bobble raised her hand and said, “Tell me my secrets, Goggles!!”“BOBBLE!!!” Specs exclaimed, turning towards the girl with wide eyes. “Why would you say that?!”“They’re called secrets for a reason!” Headphones said.“Hmm,” Goggles said. “Bobble, you don’t hide a lot from your teammates, or anyone, in fact. But I do know you have a crush on Headphones~”For the first time in a long, long time, Bobble’s smile faded from her face. Wide, heterochromic eyes of red and blue stared at Goggles in disbelief.“Goggles, I, never told you that—”“I know!”“Bobble, is that really true?” Headphones said. “Do you really—”“Oh, forgot to mention that the feelings are requited! Headphones has a crush on you too, Bobble!” Goggles continued. “Also, Headphones has some kind of inferiority complex! She thinks she’s not worthy of love, or of being on such a strong team!”“ Goggles …” Specs said, anger growing in his voice—“Prove Headphones wrong, okay Bobble?”Then Goggles happily skipped out of the kitchen. — Jon turned on the tape recorder and turned to the paper in front of him. “Statement of Vintage Sakki, regarding…an encounter with his teammate, Double Egg Sang. What kind of names are these…”“Original statement given October 31st, 2024. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, Inkopolis. Statement begins.” 
“You should know me. I’m none other than Vintage, the strongest X-Ranker in Inkopolis, leader of the X-Blood. I’m famous, everyone knows me and fears me.”

“Or at least…they did. Until that stupid Team Blue beat us…but that’s not what this is about. No, this is about something that happened just about a week ago. Team Blue happened…a while ago.”

“It all started when my teammate and I, Double Egg, were separated from our other teammates to…cod, I don’t even remember…but we ended up getting lost somehow.”

“I was quite angry about this, obviously, how could we have gotten lost like that idiot Skull? Double was trying to…comfort me, I guess? Saying that this would be solved soon…but neither of us had any idea how we even got lost in the first place.”
“We were wandering for…I don’t know, maybe fifteen minutes, before I saw it. It was…I can only describe it as a monster . Long and thin, with too many joints…everywhere…it was lurking in the back of an alleyway.”
“Double was curious about this, and I warned him to stay away. This thing looked dangerous, and though I may not be a coward, I’m certainly not an idiot, either.”

“But Double was.”

“He approached the…whatever it was…and it…attacked him. It seemed to…swallow him whole…almost…it all happened so fast—”

“And then the monster came towards me. I tried to run away, feeling so afraid in that moment…and I thought I was going to die.”

“But I didn’t. I thought the monster had swallowed me whole until I…somehow…woke up in a hospital bed. There was a heart monitor beeping. I was alive.”

“Barely after I had registered that, Omega and Red-Sole—my other teammates—came into the room. Along with…someone else.”
“I’m telling you, I did not know this person. He wore Double’s clothes, even his shades—which shouldn’t have fit him so well…but he was paler than Double had been, and had a slick-back tentacut instead of Double’s signature spiky style. I would’ve thought he was a new friend Red had picked up, if it wasn’t for the fact that he was wearing Double’s clothes, and Double himself was nowhere in sight.”
“Omega and Red gave me condolences on ‘the accident’ and said they were glad I had survived, while this mystery person just kind of hung back and smiled, not saying anything. I had to say something about this, obviously. I gestured vaguely to him—my arm was heavy and in pain—and asked who the hell this guy was.”
“And Omega and Red seemed confused. They said that was Double, and ‘the accident’ must have messed me up. But with time, I would get my memories back, they said. I told them that no, I didn’t have amnesia, and that was not Double. But the mystery person just laughed—it was not Double’s laugh—and said that it was him, in the flesh.”
“I cursed him out and said he would never be the real Double, would never be an X-Ranker…but he just laughed and laughed.”

“And since then, this imposter has been acting like he is the real Double. Coming to all of our meetings, playing in all of our games…and he doesn’t even act like Double, either. Double was an abrasive and loud asshole, and this guy was polite and friendly. It made me gag…still does.”
“I’ve looked through photos on my phone, but the weird thing is…in every photo that had Double in it, the real Double was replaced by this new guy.”
“Except for one polaroid we took as a team, a few days after Team Blue beat us. That’s the only place I can see my teammate’s face. The face of an X-Ranker, and not an imposter.”

“And…I should’ve been scared over this. My teammate had seemingly been replaced by a polite imposter, after all. But…I wasn’t. Angry, sure, and also grief-stricken at losing Double, but not scared.”

“I haven’t felt fear since the attack of that monster.”

“Since the red gradient in my tentacles was replaced by a white one.”

“I’m not going crazy.”
“X-Rankers don’t just go crazy .”  “Statement ends,” Jon said. “I do recognize this name. Vintage of the X-Blood. I’ve heard his name a few times in passing, though I do not pay attention at all to these kinds of things.”“A monster attack and a replaced teammate…this certainly seems far-fetched…but not impossible. I’ve seen things.”“However, I have seen pictures of the X-Blood here and there…and I remember seeing a pale-skinned Inkling with a slick-back tentacut and sunglasses as one of the teammates. No spiky cut at all.”“The fact that this spiky-haired Inkling only appeared in the polaroid…it seems familiar. I’ve read a couple other statements with this exact premise, actually.”“I believe Gertude called them the NotThem.” — A few hours later, Jon was cleaning everything up, and was just about to go check on the kids when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around casually, thinking it may be Martin or possibly one of the kids—but it wasn’t at all.“Hello there, Archivist ,” the Inkling said with a hissing, uncanny voice.And suddenly, said Inkling had an arm wrapped around Jon’s throat. Despite being shorter than him, this person was strong .“I do believe we have a score to settle.”Suddenly, Jon’s breathing was completely cut off.Right before passing out, he saw the general appearance of his attacker.A pale Inkling with a slick-back cut and sunglasses.