They tell me that they can help me, I got this

“Like, are you sure about that? I don’t think that’s the right way to go…”

“How could it not be the right way to go? It’s the only exit out of this place.”

“Oh my gosh! But like, that’s totally my point! Don’t you think that would make it an obvious trap?! I don’t want to spring any traps, that would be so scary!”

“Don’t be a coward. A real witch wouldn’t panic over something like that. Even if neither one of us is actually a ‘real’ witch, even if we can use magic.”

Dani stared at the surreal conversation in front of her, not sure what she should even say at this point. The two Morganas, one in silver and one in gold, were bickering with each other! It was like she was getting a front row seat to one of Morgana’s internal dilemmas playing out in real time!

“…This is… bizarre.”

Both girls turned to her. The wide-eyed Morgana with the blonde hair looked shaky, like she was hurt by Dani’s comment, while the stern silver-haired Morgana just looked cross and indignant.

“Really?” The cold-eyed Morgana asked, glaring. “Dani, just because I respect you, that doesn’t mean you should be so rude.”

“Huh? But that’s not like Dani at all!” The golden-haired Morgana protested, shaking her head frantically. “She wouldn’t be rude or mean to us!” She glanced hesitantly at Dani. “…Right?”

Dani’s head was starting to hurt.

“No, you’ve got it all wrong!” She said, holding up her hands. “I didn’t mean that you two were bizarre! I meant that this whole situation is bizarre! I mean, you’re both Morgana, right? But you’re, what, two different sides of her or something? And you’re arguing with each other? Don’t you two think that’s really weird? And you aren’t even questioning it at all?”

The two girls glanced at each other.

“Um, like, she has a point…” Gold Morgana mumbled.

“…Indeed. I did not consider it that way,” Silver Morgana admitted, a sheepish expression crossing her stoic face.

Dani sighed in relief as she felt the hostility die down. This was definitely going to be a pain… Dani had gotten used to Morgana’s eccentricities in the time she’d spent getting to know the frenetic goth girl, but this…

This promised to be a whole new challenge.

Dani tried to change the subject to avoid any further headaches or misunderstandings. “Look, I think Morgana is right.” She didn’t realize how stupid that sounded until the words passed her lips.

Both Morganas stared at her in confusion.

The golden-haired Morgana pointed cautiously at herself. “Like, are you talking about me, or…?”

“Obviously she means myself,” her silver-haired counterpart replied, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and straightening the brim of her hat, puffing herself up with pride. Dani guessed that whatever snippets of self-confidence Morgana clung to, they’d gone into this version of her.

Sighing in exasperation, the tomboy pinched the bridge of her nose. “What I mean is, it’s likely, yes, that there could be a trap down that path,” Dani said, gesturing towards the exit to the cavern. “But the, um…”

She glanced at the silver-haired Morgana and pointed at her. “…Like you said, it’s not like there are any other exits out of this place, right? Unless we go back the way we came. So… well…”

“So we should leave through the other exit,” the silver Morgana said, nodding. “Indeed, just as I proposed.”

Gold Morgana pouted. But when Dani put it like that, she really couldn’t argue. “Yeah, I guess you have a point,” she begrudgingly admitted. Her disheartened look lasted only a couple seconds. “So I say, let’s go! We should try to make the most of it! And if it’s a trap, well… we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!”

She laughed wholeheartedly while the other Morgana just gave her a look like she was talking crazy. Dani really wasn’t sure WHAT to think herself.

This was just so surreal.

Now that they had that settled, though…

“One more thing,” Dani said, getting both of the witch girls’ attention. “It, uh, it’s a little confusing to call both of you Morgana, right? So, um… should I just call you, like, Gold and Silver or something?”

That sounded kind of weird too. Dani had watched a couple anime that had premises like but, well, she didn’t know Japanese, so that was what she was stuck with.

Both Morganas looked at each other. Even the gold one wasn’t smiling, which Dani took as a bad sign.

She quickly pivoted. “Well, I mean, that’s assuming you guys want to change your names!” She quickly clarified. “If you two like being called Morgana, well, sure, it’s a little confusing, but I can make it work!”

“Oh gosh! No, that’s not it at all!” Gold Morgana’s eyes widened and she quickly waved her hands.

“We were simply thinking… if I understand my counterpart, that is…” Silver Morgana cleared her throat. “Would it perhaps be better to choose our own names, like you suggested?”

Dani calmed down, relieved. “Oh! …Uh, yeah, you’re right, that’s definitely the better choice,” she agreed, nodding. “…So what were you guys thinking, then…?”

Gold Morgana’s face lit up and she puffed out her chest with pride.

“It’s obvious, is it not!?” She declared, adjusting the brim of her hat and cocking her hip to the side. “A magnificent beauty like myself, shining brightly like the sun… with my golden magic I enchant the hearts of all those who lay their eyes upon me, igniting their strength with blazing passion! Yes, I am the Golden Witch of Dreams, Magnifica Sun!”

Dani just stared.

“And I…” Silver Morgana stepped forward, brushing an ethereal strand of hair out of her face as her deep red eyes gazed forward wistfully, “am an enchanting figure whose mysterious magic draws in the unsuspecting. With the glimmer of radiance in the midnight sky, I strike down those unworthy to gaze upon my grace… The Witch of Glimmering Silver, Moonshadow.”

“Uehehehe…”

“Mfufufufu…”

As the two girls laughed with pride at their new names, Dani just stared at them both, slowly shaking her head.

Right, I can’t forget, they’re both Morgana. Honestly, I should have expected this, Dani thought, rolling her eyes.

“Well?!” The two girls said in unison, startling Dani. Two sets of intense red eyes were staring at her.

“Huh!? What? I didn’t say anything!” Dani sputtered in a panic, afraid that her real feelings had inadvertently leaked out.

The two girls continued to stare intensely at her.

“Which one do you like better!? Which name?” The gold Morgana, who wanted to be called “Magnifica”, demanded.

“Indeed, your answer is required,” her silver counterpart who claimed the name “Moonshadow” agreed, frowning.

“Uh…”

Dani honestly, sincerely did not care.

Which name is better?

https://strawpoll.com/BDyNzpepJyR

---

“We’re making pretty good time,” Carly said as the group of four traveled down the hallway. “And it’s all thanks to my lovely little sister here! Way to go, Marley! You’re such a great help!” She cooed, patting her sister on the shoulder.

Marley rolled her eyes, as her breasts were rolling in her shirt. “Gee, thanks for the supportive words,” she said, with only a PINCH of sarcasm. Or maybe more than a little pinch.

“Come on, don’t be like that!” Carly pouted. “I mean it! That transformation of yours is a lot of help!”

“Your glasses are pretty helpful too,” Gina pointed out. She looked slyly at the cosplayer. “So you can use those to see through anything, then? Walls? Clothing, even?”

“Do you think I can borrow them for a little while?” Holly asked, trying not to drool. “You know, after the challenge and everything.”

“Hehehe, we’ll see,” Carly said with a saucy wink, liking the way Holly’s brain worked. Gina snickered a little herself.

Marley sighed. “We don’t even know if you’ll get to keep them when the challenge is over,” she pointed out. “Dakota said it herself, everything is going to be reset at the end of the challenge.”

“But that was only transformations and stuff, I thought!” Holly pouted. “Boo, no fair…”

“Hey, it’s alright, maybe you can buy some of those glasses yourself,” Gina suggested, giving the shorter girl a supportive pat on the shoulder. “I’m sure this Little Miss woman who gave them to you would be happy to give Holly a pair, right, Carly?”

Carly laughed. “Who knows? Maybe.”

Marley frowned. She wasn’t sure she liked the direction of this conversation. Not because it was about Holly getting a pair of x-ray glasses (although that was also a bad idea in her mind, for obvious reasons) but because of how Gina was acting.

It was strange. The way she and Holly were palling around like old friends, it was like the glimpse of Gina’s tearstained eyes before had just been an illusion. Was she really that happy now?

Or was there something else going on here?

Marley would have liked to pull the other girl away for a little chat, but she was the one leading the party, so she couldn’t do that. All she could really do was keep shooting furtive glances over her shoulder at the punk girl, and wonder…

Her eyes met Gina’s for a moment, and she couldn’t turn away in time as the two of them noticed each other.

She saw Gina’s brow furrow just as she snapped her head forward.

A second later she felt a finger tapping on her shoulder.

“Yo, everything good over there? Earth to Marley!” Gina called. “You been giving me some real weird looks for a while now, you know?”

Carly looked at her sister in surprise. “Wait, really? What’s up? Everything okay, sis?”

“Yeah, no, it’s not… um…”

Marley bit her lip, not appreciating being put on the spot like this. Three sets of eyes were staring at her now. “…Gina, um… I just… can we talk in private?”

Gina whistled. “What, you mean like a date?” She chortled. “Hold on, lemme check my schedule… maybe I could pencil you in for a little lat-”

“I’m serious here!” Marley groaned in frustration. She hated how the other girl always had to turn everything into a joke. She looked sharply at Gina, and Gina paused.

Seeing that Marley really wasn’t kidding, she nodded. “Yeah, I mean… sure, it’s not a problem,” Gina agreed. “But like… does it have to be now? I mean, we’re in the middle of a challenge…”

Marley blushed. When Gina put it like that, she realized that what she was suggesting sounded pretty silly. She was concerned about Gina’s feelings, but at the same time, she was the only one making a big deal out of this. What was the matter?! She should know better than to pry!

“You’re right,” she mumbled sheepishly. “No, it… it can wait for later.”

“Plus, it’s not like you guys can really get any privacy in here, anyway,” Holly pointed out, gesturing up and down the long hallway. “We’re kind of in a big corridor here.”

“Not to mention if Marley goes more then ten feet away from me, well…” Carly spit on the ground to prove her point.

Marley rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know,” she grumbled. “Trust me, I’m not going to forget about something like that.”

She shook her head, exasperated. “Sorry, I think I made a bigger deal out of it than I should have, we can drop it.” She glanced at Gina one last time. “Just… Gina, can I ask you something?”

Gina blinked. “…Sure, what is it?”

“Are you okay?” Marley asked. “Like, you’re feeling good, right?”

“In a general sense?” Gina shrugged, looking at Marley, confused by the question. “I guess so? I mean…”

“No, it’s okay,” Marley said quickly, walking back what she’d been about to say. “You just seemed really off earlier… so I was worried about you.”

Gina blinked. “…Oh. Yeah. Like… Holly and I, we had a really intense conversation. But it’s okay. It was… what’s the word again? Catheteric?”

“Cathartic,” Marley corrected her, making a face at the sickening thought Gina’s idea had brought to her mind. She stuck out her tongue and shook her head. “And that’s good. I’m glad you’re… feeling better. Really, I am.”

She smiled at the other girl, and Gina smiled back. The kind of genuine smile that Marley found so rare from the punk girl.

“Aww! How sweet!” Carly cooed. “You two are just the cutest together!” She draped an arm over her sister and Gina each. “…But let’s not forget, we’re in the middle of a challenge, here,” she reminded the two of them. “Friendly bonding moments are great and all, but you know what else is great? Winning.”

Marley laughed at her sister. “Are you sure that Dawn was the one split up from us?” She joked. “She didn’t hitch a ride on your body or something?”

Carly laughed right back and Gina snickered as well. Holly was full-on giggling.

Once the girls got it all out of their systems, they headed off down the hall towards the next turn, and arrived at a brand-new room.

“…How spacious,” Carly said, looking around the chamber. It was the nicest thing she could say about the place.

It was completely empty. Just a barren room of flat tile, the walls so far away that she couldn’t even make out the individual bricks. If there was some sort of puzzle to be solved or prize to be won here, she couldn’t begin to guess what it was.

“Maybe it’s just here as, like, a placeholder?” Holly suggested, scratching her chin. “I’m not complaining, but it just seems kinda… bland, you know?”

“Boring’s the word for it,” Gina said, not as delicate as the other two. She didn’t have any qualms with calling the situation out as she saw it.

“Let’s just get a move on, then,” Marley said, heading towards the door on the far wall. Her breasts continued to bounce in her tight princess dress, threatening to jump clear out of it. So she knew they were on the right track.

“Sounds like a plan,” Gina agreed, nodding. The four girls headed towards the exit, happy that there weren’t any obstacles or puzzles needed to get through.

At least, that was their assumption. But when they got about halfway to the door, everything changed.

Holly was the one who sensed it first. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, and she had a strange feeling in her belly. The sort of feeling she got when she sensed that something erotic was happening somewhere, like an instinctive affinity for all things sexy and depraved.

Only the “somewhere” was right here, as she soon found out. Because while it appeared as though the room they were in was devoid of anything notable, that was only because the girls had not been looking in the right place. They had focused on the far walls and the empty space ahead of them, and not one of them had thought to crane their head and look above, to where the creature who dwelled in this room had made its nest.

A long, slimy tendril dropped down from the ceiling. No one spotted it, not until it had already wrapped itself around Holly’s waist and hoisted her up into the air.

“Uwaaah!” Holly wailed as she was yanked up off the ground. The tentacle held her aloft as she squirmed in its grip, and the other three girls all scattered, startled and afraid by the sudden incursion.

“Holly!” Marley cried.

“Oh no! Holly!” Carly’s face went stark white.

“Shit! This is bad!” Gina cursed, looking around frantically for something they could use to fight back. But the room as empty, and their friend was ensnared in the creature’s tight grasp.

Now that the girls were actually looking at it, they saw the hideous thing. It looked like a twisted, sentient brain almost, with the squirming tentacles wrapped up in on itself like they were, throbbing and colored a deep pink. And more tentacles than the one that grabbed Holly could be seen as well, dangling menacingly towards the other women, threatening to grab them.

“It… it’s okay, you guys!” Holly cried. “You can go! Just leave me! I’m wearing my chastity belt, so it’s not like this thing can **** me anyway!”

Well, that was good to hear. But still, Carly doubted something like that would really be on the table anyway, even on this demented show. Nick would never allow it. So she kept her cool, and opened her mouth to tell Holly that everything would be alright, when…

“How rude! I would never do something like that!” A warbling voice pierced the air, indignant and loud enough to startle all four of them.

“Did… did that thing just talk?” Marley’s jaw dropped.

“I-I think so?” Gina knew she hadn’t taken any **** that would make her hallucinate ever since coming to the island, so this had to be some trick of the maze, right? It was the only explanation.

“Of course I did!” The voice answered them, booming even louder. “You girls were making up such spurious allegations about me, I had to stand up for myself! I’ll have you know, I have NEVER assaulted a woman before in my life! What a thing to say!”

“Well, you kinda didn’t make the best first impression,” Holly replied, squirming against the tentacle monster’s grasp.

The creature let out a huff. “I’m just doing my job!” It replied. “I’m supposed to waylay any trespassers who try to cross this room! And that means all of you!”

Its tentacles lowered, moving menacingly towards the girls… towards Carly and Marley in particular.

They paused as they approached Gina and turned away.

“…Oh, but not you, though.” One of the tentacles pointed directly at Gina. “You, you’re free to leave.”

“…Eh?” Gina blinked, looking at the creature in confusion.

“The audience decided that you get a pass,” the tentacle monster explained. “I’ll take your companions and hold them for a while, but you’re free to go. Besides, from what I hear, you like being bound? That’s so weird and gross. It’s like you’re using me as a sexual plaything, disgusting!”

The tentacles shivered like the creature was revolted by the idea. While holding Holly prisoner.

Its morals were as twisted as its tendrils, apparently.

“Well, uh… that’s real decent of you,” Gina said, swallowing. Not like she was going to ditch the others to save her own hide. She didn’t consider that for a second. But what could she do to help her friends out of this mess they were in?

“Hey, I like being bound too!” Holly pointed out. “Let me go!”

“…” The creature considered this for a second, its tentacles pausing in place. “…No, the audience kind of wants you to grabbed and played with, so I can’t let you go. No matter how much your presence disturbs me.”

“Aww!” Holly’s face brightened. “That’s so sweet of them!”

“No, it’s not!” Marley snapped at her.

“Hey, maybe don’t upset the tentacle monster?” Carly advised her sister. She looked around, and saw that while the creature was conversing with them, more of its tentacles had dropped down from the ceiling.

The twins were surrounded!

“…Shit,” Marley muttered.

What’s going to happen now?

https://strawpoll.com/mpnb18B8Yy5