What's Going on at the Island? (Spoilers for Island Holiday Season)

Morgana woke up bright and early, eager to start a new day. She wasn’t quite sure what day of the round it was, but for whatever reason that didn’t bother her so much.

She was more focused on going to see Dawn and have breakfast with her! She left her room with a spring in her step, and a sunny smile on her face that seemed quite out of place for someone with her sense of fashion.

Not that you could ever convince her of that.

She reached the door of the Arcade Suite and was ready to knock, when she stopped herself, hearing something unusual from the other side.

Voices.

Immediately, Morgana knew that something had to be wrong.

At most, she should only be hearing one voice in the Arcade Suite, because Dawn’s roommate, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, was mute.

Instead, she was hearing two. And neither of them were voices she recognized.

“Excuse me?!” Morgana pounded hard on the door, heart practically leaping out of her chest. Her sense of self-preservation had taken a back seat to her overwhelming worry for her friend, and at this point she didn’t care who was on the other side of the door!

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

The two voices stopped whatever pitched discussion they were having, the conversation Morgana couldn’t quite make out, and fell silent.

Morgana gulped. Loudly.

“What the heck?! Is someone knocking on the door?” One of the voices spoke up, a gruff voice with a brash tone to it, but that Morgana could still tell belonged to a girl. “Fuckin’ A!”

“Oh! Maybe they know where we are and why we’ve been brought here! Go see who it is!” The other voice also belonged to a woman, but it was bubblier, with a cheerful lilt, like this was all a fun game, unlike her counterpart, who sounded worried and anxious… and angry.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” the gruff voice muttered, and Morgana heard the sound of clunky footsteps approaching.

A second later, the door swung open and Morgana’s heart nearly leapt out of her chest. Standing in front of her was a girl with short hair, wearing clothes that were even louder than her vibrant dye job. She looked like a strange cross between Gina and Mary, Morgana thought, but with an even fiercer look in her eyes.

Morgana gulped.

“Who the fuck are you?” The girl demanded, crossing her arms over her slim chest. Her eyes blazed. “Are you the one who brought me here?”

“And me!” Another woman popped over, this one all smiles unlike her compatriot, who was all scowls. Ironically, the other girl had a much more imposing figure, at least in theory. Tall and curvy, with massive breasts that bulged obscenely out of the tight dress she was wearing. The olive-skinned woman looked like she’d stepped right out of some teenage boy’s sleeziest fantasies, or off the cover of a Playboy magazine- fitting, considering she had bunny ears poking out of her dark hair. The way they bounced around signaled to Morgana that they weren’t just a decoration, they were the real thing. (Her ears, to be clear.)

Most people would have been far more surprised and confused by a living bunny girl, but having been on this show for as long as Morgana had, it barely even registered to her. She was far more flustered trying to answer the other girl’s demanding questions.

“I, um, I…”

“Spill it,” the redhead snapped. She was obviously in a bad mood, and Morgana couldn’t blame her. From what it sounded like, these two girls had no idea where they were, or how they got here. …And what about Dawn!? And Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin? Where were they?

“…Do you speak English?” The dark-skinned girl asked, tapping her cheek. She leaned forward, and Morgana found herself getting lost in her deep brown eyes. The goth girl swallowed, and started to sweat.

“I… I do, I, I speak… …English…”

“Wonderful!” The smiling woman pressed the tips of her fingers together. “Then can you start with your name?”

“And why are you dressed like a witch?” The redhead asked, suddenly taking notice of Morgana’s clothing. The venom faded from her voice, replaced by eager curiosity. “Is that why we’re here? Did you summon us with your magic?”

Something familiar clicked in Morgana’s head, and her face lit up with shame. Yeah. That definitely reminded her of something… …And shouldn’t this girl be upset if she HAD used her magic, then?!

But the redhead was staring intently at her.

“Well?”

“I… my name… is… M-Morgana…” Morgana managed to stammer out.

“Huh!? But that’s my name! And those clothes… you’re not trying to copy me, are you?”

“What!?” Morgana’s anxiety was trumped by her confusion and curiosity in a heartbeat. “Your name is Morgana too?!”

“W-well, it’s my middle name, technically,” the girl quickly backtracked. “Actually, my name is Christian… …Wait, no, forget that, tell me why we’re here! Why were we brought into this bizarre arcade?”

“I don’t know!” Morgana squeaked. “I just came here looking for my friend! This is her room!”

“My name is Dawn,” the perky girl introduced herself, since the two of them weren’t paying her any attention. “Nice to meet you girls.”

Morgana blinked. “Wait… Dawn? Not… my Dawn, right?” She squinted at the olive-skinned woman who looked absolutely NOTHING like her short, slender best friend. Bunny ears, cat ears… …The closest thing she had in common was that her hair was in a ponytail!

Dawn shook her head and giggled. “I’m not anyone’s Dawn,” she replied.

Morgana was left even more confused. But between the tall, bronze bombshell and the more confrontational witch enthusiast, she knew that this was way more than she could handle.

She needed help figuring out what was going on.

---

Luckily for Morgana, help was readily available. Everybody had gathered together downstairs in the Banquet Hall for breakfast, conveniently! Even Ella, who tended to avoid eating in front of others, and Nick, Mary, and Holly, who usually dined in the Master’s Suite! The only one missing was Dakota, unfortunately, who may have been the only one to know what was going on. But as for the rest of them…

It was almost like they had instinctively known something was happening today.

“You guys! You’re not going to believe this!” Morgana cried, bursting into the room. She was flushed and out of breath, and when she stopped running her boobs nearly smacked her in the face. “I… I wanted to go see Dawn this morning… …But she’s gone! Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, too! And in their place, it’s… there we these two women I’ve never seen before!”

Morgana stumbled aside, collapsing onto a seat to catch her breath, while the two strange women entered the regal Banquet Hall, neither quite sure what to make of it.

But then the other Dawn’s face lit up and she waved. “Oh, hello there! Nice to meet you all! Are you Morgana’s friends? My name is Dawn Moreno, and it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance!”

The other girl looked a lot less happy to be here. “…Christian Parker,” she introduced herself gruffly, looking very uncomfortable to be around so many strangers. “Can someone tell me what we’re doing here?”

“This is so weird,” Sylvia said, getting up from her seat and approaching the other women curiously. “Is this some ploy on Dakota’s part, I wonder? Bring in some new girls for Daddy’s harem to spice things up, perhaps?”

Christian made a face. “Daddy? …Uh, no thank you.”

“What!? Nobody told me about this!” Rose exclaimed, jumping up from her chair and crossing her arms firmly over her chest. “I have the right to vet all newcomers into Nick’s harem! Dakota can’t just bring in whoever she wants!”

“Weren’t you first brought into the harem by the host?” Dani reminded her with an amused smirk.

Rose ignored her.

“Also, I don’t think you have any right to ‘vet’ anybody,” Mary pointed out. “…I mean, yes, it’s important that we all decide who gets along with who, but… you shouldn’t have any right to veto power, Rose! It’s not fair!”

Rose gave her a sour expression. “Well, you can’t veto anyone either, Mary!”

“I-I didn’t say I was gonna-!” The redhead stammered, shaking her head furiously in confusion. “We don’t even know if they’re joining Nick’s harem!”

Dawn shook her head swiftly. For the first time, the smile left her face, replaced with a look of stern recrimination. “Absolutely out of the question,” she insisted, crossing her arms and making her chest bounce in the process. “I’m not about to join anyone else’s harem. I’m already in love with Andy! I’m in his harem, and I’m going to get happily married to him along with my friends! So if your plan is to abduct me and make me yours, you can just put a stop to that right now, mister!”

Morgana flinched, not expecting so much hostility from someone who had been so sweet and generous just before.

“Err… well, I wouldn’t exactly say I’m in anybody’s ‘harem’,” Christian said, her cheeks flushing at the idea, “but… I-I’m not gonna do any of that, either! I’ve also got, um… somebody I’m close to, and I’d really like to get back! My sister needs me!” She thought by throwing in a plea like that, even though Chloe would be just fine on her own, might help win them over.

“I think there’s been a big misunderstanding here,” Carly said, walking over to the two girls with her sister in tow. Dawn was surprised- this was one of the few women she’d ever met with boobs that could rival her newly-enhanced rack in terms of size!

“A misunderstanding?” Dawn’s face immediately softened.

“What kind of misunderstanding?” Christian asked.

“Well, that’s just it, we don’t really know either,” Carly said with an awkward laugh, glancing at Sylvia. Sylvia just shrugged.

“But what we do know is that Nick isn’t the kind of guy who would abduct you,” Marley said, nodding over to him. “None of us have any idea why you’re here, either.”

Dawn blinked. “Wait… Nick, you said? …Not Nick Reynolds? And that would make you…” Her voice trailed off as she took in the sight of the pigtailed redhead sitting next to him. “You’re Mary… his wife… and you with the blue hair… Dani?”

“Yeah, that’s me…” Mary scrunched up her face suspiciously. “How do you know our names?”

“Have… have we met before?” Dani asked, glancing at the tall girl’s bosom. She was pretty sure she’d remember seeing breasts like those.

Dawn laughed and shook her head. “No, this is our first time actually talking,” she assured them. “But I know all about you guys! Sam and Andy told me all about you! Oh, and Mary… Chloe was so happy that you two talked, she said she loved getting to meet you at the birthday party!”

“Wait, what!? Chloe?! MY Chloe?!” Christian’s eyes bulged in surprise. “My sister didn’t… huh!?”

She went ignored, as Nick realized who he was talking to. “Wait! Andy… you’re talking about Andy Cooper, then?! Then… that means you’re one of the people in his harem!” He began to recognize her.

“That’s right!” Dawn nodded rapidly, her breasts almost bouncing out of her dress. “Oh, it’s so good to be formally introduced! I remember seeing you guys at the party, but I don’t remember much from that night, which is probably why I didn’t recognize you at first…”

Yeah, it was all coming back to them. Dani thought she would have remembered those boobs, but no- they must have been the result of a transformation. Ignoring them, and focusing on the rest of her body, she did look familiar. And Nick was starting to remember the loud, drunken declaration she’d made in the middle of Andy’s birthday party about how much she loved everybody.

It had been a pretty wild night.

“Is anyone else here completely lost?” Ella squeaked in confusion. Usually she would rely on Dawn for something like this, but Dawn- her Dawn- wasn’t here!

“My brain hurts,” Kim sighed, rubbing her temples.

“It is quite a strange occurrence,” Amelia noted, taking a sip of her coffee. “It would appear that the Dawn we know has switched places with this young woman right here. And as for the other girl… curious.”

“Well, the important thing is that we have some new friends to get to know, right?” Vivian got up and sauntered over to Christian, who looked quite out of place on her own.

But Gina had already beaten her to the punch.

“Hey there,” the punk girl introduced herself, making Christian jump. “My name’s Gina! You said yours is Christian, right?”

“Th-that’s right,” Christian nodded. She was a little intimidated by the punk girl’s wardrobe, even if she was really impressed by it, too. “Nice to meet you… I guess… though I don’t really know why I’m here, really… I thought it was that witch girl, Morgana, but…”

“Oh, no chance,” Gina laughed, shaking her head. “Morgana’s a sweetie! She wouldn’t do something like that, even if she could!”

That helped Christian relax just a little bit. But she was still on edge.

“Well… look, I don’t know what happened to your friends,” she said, looking between Sylvia and Gina, both of whom were staring curiously at her. Carly and Marley came over as well, making her feel even more crowded. “All I know is that I woke up in a weird bed this morning, all tangled up with that Dawn girl over there! And I was in an arcade, for some reason? I have no idea what’s happening, can anyone explain this to me?!”

“I think we’re all a little lost,” Nick agreed, coming over to apologize to her. “Sorry, Christian. I’m Nick, and I’m-”

“The master of the season, yeah, I getcha buddy,” Christian said, her voice oozing with sarcasm. “Wasn’t hard to pick out. So you really have no idea why I’m here then? Or that Dawn lady? Because this makes two abductions back to back, you know.”

Nick frowned. Unlike Dawn, who was clearly a veteran who had been through many rounds of transformations and challenges already and was happily settling down with her master, Christian seemed to be on edge, like she wasn’t used to this yet. I wonder if she hasn’t even gotten through a single round on her season yet, Nick considered, and felt even worse for her, if that was actually the case here.

“…Well, I don’t know what to say,” he admitted, shaking his head. “All I know is that this isn’t how any of this is supposed to go down. It’s gotta be Dakota’s fault, she’s the host of this season. If anyone knows what happened and why you guys are here, it would be her.”

“And you just assume it’s my fault why?”

Nick jumped, spinning his head around and nearly tripping over his own feet in the process. There she was, Dakota, standing right in the midst of the crowd with a stern expression on her face.

“This is NOT my fault,” she asserted firmly, shaking her head. “I have no idea why these two women are here.”

She looked over at Christian, her piercing golden eyes reminding the redhead of a witch, but making her shiver all the same. Somehow she knew that this pale woman was bad news.

“…Although I can’t say they don’t suit your tastes,” Dakota added with an amused smirk that made Christian even more anxious.

“Dakota, cut it out,” Nick snapped. “Dawn’s already in a relationship, and Christian…” He glanced at the redhead, not sure what to say. She didn’t really know either, so she just shrugged.

“Relax, I was kidding,” Dakota scoffed, waving her hand dismissively. “You’re so serious, Nick, really. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for this.”

“Would be great if you could tell us what it is,” Gina said. Christian couldn’t agree more.

Dakota gave her a diplomatic smile. “…Of course,” she said. “Just give me one moment, I’ll relay your questions to the producers.”

Sylvia bristled and Nick swallowed nervously.

Then to everyone’s surprise, Dakota pulled out… a cell phone!?

“Hello? Service Desk? This is Dakota…” Dakota spoke with a sickeningly sweet voice into the phone, leaning lazily against her cane as she did so. “Yes, from Harem Hotel: Island Holiday Season, yes. …See, we’ve got a little bit of a problem here…”

Nick watched hesitantly as Dakota chatted with the “Service Desk” like she didn’t have a care in the world. He wasn’t even sure if he could trust that was what she was doing, or if she just doing a bit. Did she think this was a joke? Dawn and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin were missing! Who knows what could have happened to them? And in their place were two new girls. Nick was totally lost.

His eyes slid to Dawn and Christian, and he found himself growing increasingly worried. He needed to put himself in Dawn’s position right now, think things through calmly…

“Let’s think things through calmly!”

Nick turned to see Rose standing next to him. She was wearing a pair of glasses that she must have pulled out from who-knows-where, and a smug grin.

“Since Dawn isn’t here to do the math, it falls on me to be the ‘smart’ one, I suppose,” Rose said with an exaggerated sigh. “I’ve held back, because I would much rather prefer to be the ‘pretty’ one, and of course, the ‘nice’ one, but I suppose I can take on the burden of a third role, if it’s absolutely necessary…”

Kim stared blankly at Rose. “…I can’t help but feel like literally anyone else would be a better choice for that role.”

Marley nodded. “Yeah, same.”

Holly shook her head. “Even I’m a better choice.”

“What!? You guys have that little faith in me?!” Rose wailed. “I’m at least smarter than Gina!”

“Hey!” Gina exclaimed. “…No, wait, yeah, that tracks. Never mind.”

Christian shot her an amused look and Dawn giggled. Dani rolled her eyes in exasperation but even she was smiling.

If nothing else, Rose had lightened the mood.

But Nick was still worried.

“I think Rose is right though, we need to work this out logically,” Vivian said, stroking her chin. “So you two, you’re both from Harem Hotel seasons, right?”

The newcomers both nodded.

“Yeah, something like that,” Christian groused, tugging on her earring-filled ear.

Dawn’s grin was much more accepting. “I am!”

“So you’re both here, on this season,” the heiress mused. “It stands to reason, then, that maybe our two missing young ladies might have gone to other seasons as well. Wouldn’t that be a fair assumption?” She turned to Amelia. “What do you think, Teach?”

Amelia nodded slowly and adjusted her glasses. She took another sip of coffee. “…A logical hypothesis,” she answered. It sounded like acknowledging Vivian caused her physical pain. “But we still do not know where they have found themselves.”

“Good point,” Mary said glumly. “They could have ended up on any other season for all we know, right, Sylvia?”

Sylvia winced. “That would be a pretty big problem… there are a LOT of seasons out there… like, way more than I even know about, and I’m sure even more of them probably entered production after I lost my position as host… so yeah, they could be anywhere…”

“Oh, I have an idea!” Dawn raised her hand cheerfully, surprising everyone, but Christian most of all. The redhead looked at her in alarm.

“What? You do?” She gasped.

Dawn bobbed her head up and down eagerly. “Your friends both share the room Chrissi and I woke up in, right?”

“Don’t call me that,” Christian immediately interrupted her.

“…Sorry, force of habit,” Dawn sheepishly apologized, scratching her hair. Her bunny ears bounced on her head. “Anyway, if they both stay in that room, and that’s where we woke up, then maybe that means the two of them could have ended up on our seasons, then?”

Mary nodded. “It’s possible… but there’s no way to know…”

“True,” Carly agreed. “There could have been a huge mixup for all we know and a bunch of people went all over the place. I’m just glad I wasn’t grabbed up.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Dani said, nodding. “Me neither.”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Marley said, a shiver running down her back. “If you go to another season and I’m stuck here, what’s gonna happen to me!? Am I just gonna be a slime until the problem fixes itself?!”

“They might bring you with her,” Kim pointed out.

Marley shook her head. “That’s almost as bad! No, thank you!”

Sylvia giggled. “It’s fine, I think Dawn’s right,” she assured them. “They probably got mixed up!”

Nick was glad that everyone seemed to be handling this well, but he was still worried. He knew that Andy was a decent guy and that Dawn was probably safe with him, if that’s where she’d ended up. And he had faith that Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin could take care of herself no matter what happened to her.

But what if Amelia was right, and they had gone somewhere else? Or what if Dawn had ended up on Christian’s season? He didn’t know the master there, and he felt uncomfortable pressing her for answers given the circumstances. But if something happened to Dawn…

“Alright, thank you! I’ll let them know.” Dakota tossed her phone away and it disappeared midway through the air.

“Good news!” The host chirped, clapping her hands together over the cane. “Dawn and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin are perfectly fine!”

“They are?!” Ella sighed, letting out the tension she’d been feeling in her breast.

“Oh, what a relief,” Morgana said, finally letting herself relax.

“So what happened?” Sylvia asked. “Did they tell you?”

Dakota nodded. “So apparently what happened was some bimbo upstairs had a little accident, and a bunch of files all got mixed up. Someone didn’t know what they were doing, and put a bunch of different contestants with similar names in different seasons by mistake. Whoopsie-daisy!”

“Huh!?” Holly stifled a laugh at the absurdity of the situation. “How- how does that even happen?” She asked, shaking her head.

“That makes zero sense,” Kim agreed.

“Really?” Dakota looked at her with a bemused smile on her face. “It’s not that hard to imagine, Kim. You’ve worked at a Laundromat before, haven’t you? It’s like when you accidentally give the wrong shirt to somebody because you get the tags mixed up, happens every day.”

“…People aren’t shirts, Dakota,” Kim dryly replied.

Dakota blew air out of her lips and rolled her tongue. “What-ever. The point is, until they fix this little mixup, we’ve got some guests to entertain!”

“Whoopie!” Dawn cheered. “That sounds like a lot of fun!”

“Hey, wait a sec!” Christian frowned. “What about me, huh? Why am I here?” She looked at the tall, buxom brunette. “Like, I get what you said about her, that makes sense. Her name’s Dawn, and apparently there’s a Dawn here she got swapped with, but what about me? If anybody, I should have switched places with Morgana over there, because Morgana is my middle name, right?”

Dakota tilted her head to the side. “…Well, Morgana’s actual name is Gertrude, so…”

Morgana let out a squeak of embarrassment and Christian rolled her eyes.

“Oh come on! That is NOT the fucking point!” She groaned.

“She’s not wrong though,” Vivian said, stroking her chin. “I mean, technically, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin doesn’t even have a name.”

“Yeah, good point,” Kim said, stunned that she was agreeing with Vivian about anything.

“Dakota, why would Christian switch with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin?” Mary asked, curious.

Dakota stared at her with a blank expression on her face. “…No idea.”

Nick didn’t believe her for a second. But he kept his mouth shut.

“Maybe they just thought it would be funny that way?” The host offered.

Christian’s eye twitched in irritation.

“Well, maybe they thought she was a good fit for a different reason,” Rose suggested, walking over to Christian and giving her the once-over.

“Yeah, I mean, we call her Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin,” Gina agreed. “Maybe that has something to do with it?”

“Ooh, yeah!” Sylvia nodded excitedly. “Christian, are you maybe an Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin yourself?”

“What?! No!” Christian didn’t even know how to process such a bizarre question. “I’m not ANY of those things at all!”

Gina scrunched up her face in confusion. “You’re not humanoid?”

Christian stared at her, her cheeks flushing in a mix of irritation and embarrassment. “That-! I meant… listen, obviously THAT one is the exception!”

This was all getting her way too worked up. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. “Ugh, I just want to go home.”

“Well, I think it’s nice,” Dawn said with a smile. “A nice little vacation away from all of our friends, to have a good time and enjoy ourselves! Isn’t that just lovely? We can make new friends too!”

“I like the way you think, girl!” Vivian nodded in approval. “Hey there, Vivian Carrington! I think we’ll be great pals.”

“Be careful around her,” Kim said warningly. “She’s nice and all, but she’s quite sly.”

“Aww! Kim! You’re so sweet!” Vivian cooed, her eyes brimming with joy. “You called me nice and sly! Thank you so much!”

Kim’s face heated up. “N-no! I… look, one of those isn’t even a compliment!”

Vivian just grinned.

After thanking the girls for their kind words, Dawn went over to go keep chatting with Dani and Mary. She had so much to share with them about what everyone had gotten up to since the last time the girls had seen their friends! They could all chat about how much fun the party had been, as well!

Nick looked sympathetically at Christian, who was standing awkwardly off to the side, looking like she’d rather be anywhere else but here. He could sympathize with her. I guess she really is new to this whole Harem Hotel craziness, huh? He thought, biting his lip.

The good news was that Dawn and Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin were okay. Dakota said that they would work everything out soon. He just wondered how they were doing, and hoped that he could see them again as fast as possible. Dawn and Christian were okay and all, but they weren’t part of his harem.

He just hoped his harem would be complete again soon.