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shellingtons-failed-driving-test · 7 months ago

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Chapter One

4,311 Words

Authoru's Note:

Sorry, this doesn't have a title yet, but I'm trying to think up one. I just wanted to go ahead and post it to see what people think. If you have any suggestions pls put them in the comments.

Oh, my word this got way longer than I'd originally intended. I hope I was okay with the characterisation. I was worrying so much as I was writing it. I hope the interactions feel in character and you enjoy it.

Also, I have changed the ages slightly, which I think is fine because they're unspecified. However, it is canon that Peso has finished Medical school, but in the story, he has not. He's 19 and a half because he went to nursing school right after high school and plans to get a medical degree later.

And, in this universe, all humans are animal hybrids so they have actual hands and feet but still ears and tails. I'm not exactly sure how to explain it, but they're referred to by what type of hybrid they are as well as their race. Certain areas have more common hybrids that correspond to what "regular/normal" animals live there. EX: skunk hybrids are only in the Americas because skunks don't live anywhere else.

Anyway, sorry about my ramblings, and happy reading!

Peso's Perspective:

The big car stops with a squeal, throwing me forward with its sudden breaking. As soon as the door opens the sound of waves crashing and seagulls crying fills my ears. The sea breeze is refreshing after being cooped up in a vehicle for so long.

“Here we are.” The driver says curtly. He’s a state government employee with a scruffy beard that makes him look older than he probably is. He didn’t say a single word the entire drive, leaving me in silence broken only by the occasional crackling of the radio. In a way, it was good because it gave me a chance to do some last-minute studying of the Octonauts handbook pdf I printed out at home. Still, I felt like he was kind of glaring at me in the mirror. Maybe it’s just the anxiety. Maybe he’s just a grumpy person. He had photographs of his children clipped to his visor, but I didn’t see a wedding ring. Divorced, maybe?

“Thank you, sir.”

“It’s just my job. Say, you’re with that team of astro- er, aqua- whatever, scientist, right?”

“The Octonauts, yes.”

“Right, that’s what it was.” He nods as he helps me unload my bags. I gulp a bit at their size. I’m really going to be living at sea for months. I hope my family will be okay.

As soon as he sets the bags down, he closes the hatch and drives off, leaving me once again alone. The other Octonauts, the original Octonauts, have been at sea for a year already. They got a send-off with fanfare at their port in England, all I got was a crumpled map to try and find my way around this place. I’m not jealous but . . . it only reminds me that I’m the newbie, not one of them.

I’m only here as a filler for Dr. Deere, who had to leave due to a research development for one of his projects on land. They’re going to have a proper replacement, someone qualified, in six months at the latest, that’s what they said. It takes a lot to qualify for this programme, the best of the best with years of study in their fields and here I am, just some lucky guy. I’m not even an actual doctor, just a nurse, and even then I still have a few final training courses to complete. All week I’ve wondered, why on earth would they pick me? Am I even good enough?

I blink at the blare of a ship’s horn. Crap, I can’t zone out like that! I need to be prepared for anything, ANYTHING. I will be . . . as soon as I find the ship.

I was sent the training videos, all 600-something of them, on a hard drive the size of my hand, but obviously, I haven’t had time to watch them all and downloading them would’ve taken nearly all of my storage space, so I just packed the whole hard drive instead. The schematics are on the hard drive too, so I have no idea what this thing looks like. They said they’d go over plans and safety once I was settled, but I wish I could at least have a photo. It’s got to be some kind of submarine, right?

The port on the Isle of Skye is a small, but bustling place. The signage is old, and blocked by containers coming in. A crew pulls a fishing net of turtles out onto the dock, and I wince. Then, I see they’re all for studying. Several scientists surround them, scanning red tags on the fins and retrieving cameras from their shells. I smile as I pass them, waving at the turtles, who wave back. I notice one of the scientists, a brown-haired man hurrying around. When he looks at his tablet he jumps in surprise.

“Jumping jellyfish! We were totally wrong about the feeding grounds. This is amazing! I thought . . .”

I don’t catch the rest as I walk on. I’ve never heard someone so excited about being proven wrong before.

As I round the corner, I see it.

Dios mío . . .

It looks like an octopus. Of course, it does. I’m so stupid. It’s the Octopod. A state-of-the-art international research station with laboratories capable of housing a crew of 10 for extended periods. Can I just go in?

I stop when I get to the ramp, hesitating at the bottom, I survey the large oddly shaped submarine once more. My temporary home. As I look up something flickers in the window, like a lamp, or a streak of orange, but it’s gone before I’m sure.

I remember what my 4th grade science teacher, Mr. Perez always said: Take a deep breath. I do, and even after all this time, it helps.

The ramp echoes under my feet in a comforting way, assuring me of the ship’s solidity. A small yellow creature greets me, and I gasp. It frowns.

“Oh, I’m sorry, that was terribly rude of me. You’re very cute looking, you just scared me.”

It makes a chirping sound, which sounds affirmative. Laughing, I follow it into the elevator, as it closes I hear footsteps, someone running.

“Tunip!” A male voice pants, he has a heavy Scottish accent. “Don’t . . . leave me.”

Huffing and a little winded the scientist from before appears. The yellow creature makes a sound that sounds like a scold.

“Ah, well, sorry. I got distracted with the turtles.” the man says sheepishly. He’s the same scientist I saw with the turtles. Now that I can see him better it’s clear that he’s not too much older than me. His chestnut brown hair is messy and his eyes have bags underneath them but are still concerningly bright, He bears the appearance of an overworked uni student, and yet somehow still cute.

The creature blows a raspberry at him and starts to close the lift doors.

“Hey, now that’s not very kind! I was just trying to– Ah, hey! Don’t close the lift on me!”

The creature huffs, sounding almost affectionate, but allows the man into the lift.

Once inside he takes a deep breath, pulling a handful of Polaroids from his shoulder bag, looking at them as if to make sure they don’t disappear. They’re of the turtles, and a few have him in them, but he doesn’t spend as much time looking at them. Finally, he turns to me, as if he’s just noticed me.

“Oh, hello there. Forgive me, I didn’t see you. I’m Shellington.” He doesn’t extend his hand, only nodding, but the greeting is still just as friendly.

“I’m Peso. I’m the temporary medic.”

He nods, more to himself than to me, I think, muttering “Oh, good. It’s dangerous for us not to have one on board, especially with Kwazii.”

As the lift rises, it makes a loud mechanical whirring, as if no one had bothered to dampen it as they do in most lifts. In fact, the whole thing looks industrial and feels about five degrees colder than before the door was closed. I wonder why, I also wonder who Kwazii is. Finally, it dings and the doors open and he steps out into a small dark room. I trip after him, barely able to see a centimetre in front of me.

“Uhhh?”

My foot collides with something and I go sprawling over (except not really because there’s barely space in this room for my body length).

“Owwie! You’ve stood on my foot!”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. But, where are we?”

“Oh, whoops, I must’ve forgotten to mention. This lift is only here because some equipment would be unsafe to carry any other way, either because it contains potentially hazardous materials or it’s simply too large.”

“Oh . . . I suppose that makes sense.”

It would be hard to carry an entire x-ray machine up and down stairs, even a portable one.

“Welcome to my closet!” He says it with his arms wide to indicate the space around us with affected excitement, but the space is small so he can’t extend his arms very much. I can’t help but laugh.

The idea of being in a closet makes me laugh a bit, but I still don’t like dark spaces.

“Can we, um, maybe get out?”

“Oh, right, yes.”

He presses a switch I can’t see and light streams in. With a sigh of relief, I follow him into the larger room. It’s a laboratory. It’s very green, with light green walls, floors and posters. Now that I pay attention, even his shirt is olive green. He must really love green.

I turn to ask him about where I’m supposed to be, only to see he’s already gone back to work. Right, they don’t have time for a bumbling rookie. After a moment of debate with myself, I tap him lightly on the shoulder. It takes a few times before he notices, and when he does he jumps again.

��Excuse me, do you know where it is I’m supposed to go?”

He furrows his brow thoughtfully, “Hmm, I don’t have much to do with the recruitment process, that’s Professor Inkling and the Captain’s job, but I believe you’re supposed to meet with the Captain, he should be in HQ. I have to finish processing this data, but Tunip can take you.”

“Okay.”

The creature, Turnip, seems to smile. He chirps excitedly leading me back to the lift. When he gets in he jumps high enough to press the button that reads HQ. The ride is short and the doors open out to a large circular room. Glass makes up the top half of the room, a large skylight. I can only imagine what it must look like underwater. It must be incredible.

In the centre stands a tall man, not quite old enough to be my father, but a little older than Pogo, with neatly combed white hair, he wears a blue uniform with a tool belt. This must be the captain. He smiles, extending his hand. He towers over me.

“Good morning, you must be Peso. I’m Captain Barnacles, it’s lovely to finally meet you, Dr. Deere told me all about you.” His voice is loud, but kind.

“Oh, h-he did?” It comes out as a question, and I stutter under everyone’s sudden gaze. Even Tunip looks expectantly at me. “I mean, I’m glad he did. And I’m very glad to meet all of you and be working with you.”

“Us as well, we hope you can learn a lot during your time here. Let’s meet everyone.”

He waves for me to follow and takes me to a station full of buttons and computers. A woman gets up when she sees us. She has warm brown skin and hair cut in a fluffy chin-length bob, sunbleached with blond highlights. She’s a bit taller than me

“Dashi, meet Peso, our new medic.”

“Rad! Nice to meet you Peso. I’m Dashi, head of system and operation here in the Octopod. I run all the computer systems and track the weather patterns, but on my days off, I’m a surfer.”

With her Australian accent, it definitely makes sense.

“Ooh, fun.”

“It is, have you met anyone else yet?”

“The Captain, but that was obvious, sorry, and Shellington. He introduced himself as just Shellington, but does he have credentials I should call him by?”

“Not yet, but finished uni and he’s doing his PhD research on this mission, so he will. Have you met the vegimals yet?”

“The what?”

“They’re what he’s doing his research on. Oh, I’m sure you’ll just love them. I think Barrot is with Tweak right now actually.”

At this, Captain Barnacles nods, “Yes, I’m taking him to meet Tweak next.”

“Great, see you around, Peso!”

“You too.” I take a breath as we get back in the lift.

“This must be a lot for you.”

“Oh, no, sir. It’s really fine.”

“Oh, I’m sure you can handle it, but if you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask any of us. I know they can be a bit intense at first, but they’re all good people and they all want the same thing, to help creatures in the ocean. We’re happy to have you and they’ll be happy to help you adjust.”

“Thank you, Captain.” I can tell from his voice just how much he believes in the crew and in me, the only question is whether the crew feels the same, and if I even deserve that belief.

“I do hope you’ll settle in easily.”

“I’ll try my best. The crew all seem really nice.”

The lift dings then, relaising us to what looks like a garage with a large pool in the centre.

I see more of the creatures like Tunip standing next to a machine I can only describe as looking like a big orange shark, holding wrenches. What was it Dashi called them? Vegi-mals? The vegi-mal is as orange as the gup.

“47, please.” a female voice calls. Whoever she is, she has a southern United States accent like I’ve never heard before. I look around for the woman but I only see a pair of fluffy, light green ears sticking out from underneath the metal shark. They contrast oddly with the orange.

The vegi-mal hands her the large wrench he was holding.

“Thanks, screwdriver.”

She reaches up and he puts a small screwdriver in her hand.

“Thanks.” she hands the wrench back, “carrot.”

Huh?

The vegi-mal hands her a carrot straight out of the toolbox.

“Tweak, are you almost finished?” the Captain asks.

“You bet, I’ll be done faster n’ you can say buncha munchy crunchy carrots.”

Just as she pronounces the “t” she slides out from under the machine, half-eaten carrot in hand.

“What’s up?” Her hazel eyes sparkle in a nice way.

“Tweak, I’d like you to meet the new member of our team, Peso. He’ll be our medic for the next few months.”

She jumps up, striding over to shake my hand, “Nice to meet ya, Peso. Welcome abroad, and welcome to the Launch Bay.”

She takes a big bite of carrot, smiling, her green braid swinging as she walks over to the control panel. She’s more muscular than I am, wearing a jumpsuit not zipped all the way so it shows her tank top revealing her build. Her belt is full of tools I can’t even name, she looks like she belongs here.

“Thank you, it’s such a nice space,” I tell her honestly, looking around at all the gadgets. Finally, I spot something familiar. Ring of Fire, it's my younger brother, Pinto’s favourite video game. Seeing it makes me miss him more.

She follows my gaze, “You play? I’m always up for a tournament!”

“Oh, ah, no. My younger brother. I’ve joined him a few times but I always die before the first round.”

“Shame, maybe I can teach you. Perhaps I can even teach you so well you’ll beat Kwazii. Ah, speakin’ of Kwaz, I should probably put Bea way before he comes lookin’ for her.”

Two people now have mentioned Kwazii. I wonder what his deal is? Is he the Octonauts mischievous pet or something? Whoever he is, I really want to meet him now. Meanwhile, there's a bubbling and the orange metal contraption disappears into the water.

The Captain laughs, “Yes, you should. Thank you for taking the time for Peso, I’m sure we’ll be back soon to see which Gup he’ll be riding in.”

“Well I was working’ on a little project . . . but yeah, s’probably best if he just rides with one of us for now. Gup A’s probably safest. You’re going to see the professor?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, well tell him thanks for the book, it’s helped a lot with my design.”

“I will. He’ll be glad to hear it.” The Captain smiles as he takes us back to the lift.

“The Equipment elevator, really, Cap?”

“Well, I thought that—”

Suddenly there’s a whooshing, and somebody lands right next to me.

“Ahoy Tweak!” A male voice shouts.

Tweak looks unimpressed, but I can see hidden affection when she rolls her eyes. “She’s not here.”

“Not anywhere?”

“Nope, ya just missed here.”

He whines, “Tweeeak! When am I gonna get my Gup back?”

“Come on, it’s just repairs, we do this every quarter, you know this.”

“I know, but . . .” he turns, starting to stalk off, then calls over his shoulder, “Fine, but I’ll be back!”

“I’m sure you will.”

While he’s looking at Tweak he stalks right into me. I fall very gracefully onto my butt. He snaps his head back in my direction with surprise, looking down.

“Oh, hey there little fella. I’m sorry about that.” he bends down offering his hand, and after a second I decide to embrace the humiliation and take it. He smiles, “So what brings you here?”

“I-”

“Are you lost?”

“What? No, I-”

“Kwazii.”

“I’m just trying to make conversation, Captain.”

“I know but-”

“Are you here for a tour? I didn’t think they let people do that.”

“Kwazii.” Captain taps him hard on the shoulder.

“Ouch! What is it, Captain?”

“He works here now.”

The man, Kwazzi, steps back, eye wide, then narrowing into basically a slit. I shiver. “Oh.” he lifts his eyes patch, squinting to look at me . . . and then he bursts out laughing.

I feel my entire body heating up with humiliation. Tweak winces.

“Oh, matey, I’m so sorry!” he manages between laughs, “I thought you were a kid. My bad, my bad.” At last, he recovers himself, extending his hand. “You must be Peso. I’m Kwazii, First Lieutenant.”

I don’t shake his hand. He frowns, retracting it and crossing his arms in disappointment. He seems kind, like someone who cares but that only makes it more patronising, only he isn’t wrong. Of course, he thought I was a kid. I am a kid. I don’t belong here with these smart talented adults.

It must show on my face because he softens, he steps forward, then back as if unsure of what to do. I don’t want to be babied. I’m not some creature he has to help. I want to be here to help, and here I am obviously a penguin out of water.

“Oh, I’m not laughing at you, I was laughing at meself, for being so knot-headed”

It’s fine really. I’m used to it, to being underestimated (even though I’m not sure I even have the skills) I don’t let it touch me anymore. (at least that's what I’m trying to tell myself. It’s not working.) I shake my head, not able to help the sign that escapes me. I am so in over my head. I don’t think he meant to be rude (surely not, but maybe insulting rookies is acceptable in scientific communities. Even if he sounds like some sort of pirate, he’s probably waaay smarter than me). “Oh. No, it's perfectly fine, you’re not the first and won’t be the last.”

He stands even farther back, not saying a thing, arms still crossed. His eyes scan over me, as if picking me apart, definitely judging me. He almost looks still, almost, but I can tell he’s not, not on the inside anyway. He can’t seem to truly stand still, his tail and ears twitching impatiently. He rocks on his feet ready to go do whatever it is he does at a moment's notice. Now that he’s as close to still as I suspect he gets I take the chance to really look at him.

The last member of my new team is tall (well, tall to me, and most people are tall to me, so probably medium height), and ginger. Unlike most gingers I’ve seen he’s not actually strawberry blond or a carrot top, but a light shade of orange that changes colour as the light shifts. It’s pretty.

His eye does the same. I can only see the right one and it's hard to tell because he keeps twitching but I think he has heterochromia, the rarer kind where one eye has two colours. The eye that I can see is brown with an amber in a ring around the middle.

But that’s not the strangest thing about him, one of his ears has a piece missing from it. I shiver at the thought of what could’ve done that. Did he get it while on a mission? Luckily they said I won’t have to go on missions . . . probably.

The Captain coughs awkwardly to break the silence. “Kwazii is field personnel, so he spends most of his time outside of the Octopod. You most likely won’t be seeing each other too often.” he looks at me as if trying to assure me. I know it’s unkind, but it makes me feel a bit better that I won’t have to spend much time around Kwazii. He's loud, seems unpredictable and looks dangerous (though I’m sure he’s not).

“That must be very exciting. I’m sure we can get to know each other some other time, then.”

He smiles but like all cats he has fangs, so it’s all teeth. I try my best not to gulp. Thankfully Captain leads me toward the lift. As we walk away I hear Kwazii whisper to Tweak “Huh? Where are they going?” I don’t even know why I turn around, but I do.

“Why aren’t you using the octochute?”

“The what?”

“The octochutes, haven’t you been using them?” I can tell he’s not trying to be mean. He looks so genuinely confused that it’s almost comical. His face is like the "???” expression in real life. It makes me laugh a little, releasing the tension.

“No.”

“Well then how’ve you been getting around, then?”

“I just took the lift.”

“But . . . it’s for equipment?”

“Yes, Shellington told me.”

He still looks incredulous. “The equipment lift? Why in the seven seas would ya do that, matey?”

“I don’t know, I just . . . did.”

“Matey, we ONLY use it for equipment, plus it’s sooo slow, and cold.”

Oh, that would explain why it isn’t nearly as fancy as the rest of the ship and opens into closets. I feel dumb for not realising it before. I guess I just thought they were cramped for space, but of course not. How stupid of me.

“Kwazii. Be polite, I told him too. It is his first day, after all. The octochutes can be a bit shocking at first, and he’s already come a long way to get here. I wanted to ease him into it.”

Kwazii droops, face losing the confusion and entering to a neutral state with no expression at all, after seeing him so energised it looks wrong like excitement is the natural state of his particles.

The Captain leads me away, back into a second equipment lift (I didn’t know there were two), I exhale when it closes and Kwazii and Tweak disappear.

After escaping another closet, we step into a bright blue and white room. It’s filled with medical equipment. This must be the Medical Bay. Through the door’s small window, I can see through the window across the hall. In his laboratory, Shellington is typing away on a desktop. Probably finishing the data he was talking about earlier.

“Here we are.”

I turn back to where the Captain stands.

“This is the Medical Bay, where you’ll be working for the next few months. You share a sleeping pod with Dashi and there’s an Octochute that will take you there.”

“Sh-hare?” I mean, sure, I’m gay, I’ve known that since I was young, but still, wouldn’t Dashi like her privacy? I’d like my privacy. We barely know each other!

“Oh, not like that, this isn't a sleepaway camp. We’re all professional adults, she gets one half and you get the other, there’s a wall in the middle with an Octochute. If you want Dashi to show you how to use it she’ll be happy to, I’m sure.”

“Oh, okay. Thank you, Captain.”

“I hate to leave you all by yourself, but I have a meeting with Tweak to discuss her latest project. If you need anything just find one of us.”

“Oh, okay.”

He leaves, and then I’m alone. The Octopod must be soundproofed to outside sounds because I can hear nothing but the air system cycling. I pull my phone from my pocket for music, but the battery is dead. Great! And then, I’m not even sure exactly why but I start to cry. I’m an idiot, trapped on a ship with people I don’t know who probably think I’m incompetent and unqualified for a job I didn’t even sign up for. The meeting with Kwazii showed me exactly how much I don’t know. Now here I am, pathetically crying. I miss my family.

There was a cat in my class in primary school, an orange tabby just like First Lieutenant Kwazii. He’d been held back a year so he was taller and bigger than all of us and he was loud too and would always bully the smaller kids and get away with it. I don’t even know why I’m remembering him all of a sudden. I know he and Kwazii aren’t the same, but I’ve never liked loud unpredictable people. They scare me. Maybe that’s why.

And something tells me I’ll be seeing Kwazii in the Medical Bay somewhat often. I’m not sure how to feel about that. I don’t dislike him, of course not, but I feel . . . wary.

Oh well. I won’t allow him or anyone else to interfere with my job. I will prove to myself and them that I can handle myself for a few months. And then it’ll all be over and I’ll get to go home again.

Taking a deep breath, I keep busy by familiarising myself with the workings of the Medical Bay and everything in it. It’s fully stocked with any supplies and equipment I could need so all I brought were clothes. There isn’t much to do, so I resort to cleaning the space that’s probably already sterile, just because it calms me down.

After a while, an announcement comes over the speakers that we’ll be departing for the Mediterranean Sea to aid in the preservation of coral at sunrise tomorrow.

Before I know it I find myself falling asleep at the work table. Too tired by the day’s events I let myself drift off.

(A/N: Poor Kwazii, he can be kinda scary without meaning to be. He’s just so confused as to why someone wouldn’t want to use the super duper fun octochutes. LOL)

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pantpisser9000 · 9 months ago

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Octonauts; Combined Together: The last Chapter

Brief TW/CW for panic attacks/mental breakdowns

Shellington clasped his lab coat as he lay on the cool floor of his beloved lab. It was cold, in a sort of comforting way. Tail wrapped around his body and furred hands gripping onto his knees. He was breathing heavily, somewhat trying to calm himself. He’d been awake for too long, researching. He just wanted to know more about the vegimals, that was all. It sent him down a rabbit hole, and he’d gotten a tad distracted. And now, here he was, having a little bit of a breakdown.

He wasn’t sure if what he was hearing was real or not. He heard the Octopod’s ‘mouth’ opening, (which, even if it was, he shouldn’t have been able to hear from up in his lab) and way too much creaking. He was scared somebody was going to take the vegimals–his practically adopted children–away. Kidnap them, if you will. To experiment on the children he’d basically raised. And he knew he would be able to do nothing to stop it, like how he was now. Just. Curled up on the floor–unable to do literally anything.

He didn’t know why he was so frozen or why he was hearing those things or just anything. He was unsure. He knew so damn much and yet so damn little. Just then, light covered the entire room, spreading across each surface like rushing water. Shellington kept his focus on the ground, still finding himself unable to move. He could, and yet he couldn’t. He heard someone–Dashi–talking. “Shellington?” she asked, confusion lacing her voice. Shelington just kinda… whimpered. Involuntarily. He could see the shadows changing as Dashi walked around, before she made a little ‘huh?!’ sound, likely at seeing Shellington.

With the light clink of a plate on his desk, he was pretty sure Dashi crouched down. “...are you asleep?” she asked. Shellington just lightly shook his head, finding himself unable to speak. She walked around to the front of Shellington so she could look at his tear-stained face. Shellington could see she was concerned–obviously she was. She was a good friend, and even better at deciphering exactly what others were feeling (even if that skill wasn’t quite necessary in the moment, given Shellington was literally laying on the floor with a tear-soaked mug) and so seeing her close friend being so… depressed, for lack of a better term, would make her concerned. Would make anyone concerned. I’m just yapping though, so let’s continue with the story.

Dashi just sat there, and she asked a few yes/no questions, all which gave her just a tad more information.

“Can you talk?” a little shake of his head.

“Can you move at all, besides shaking your head or nodding?” another shake of Shellington’s head.

“Have you been laying there for more than a hour?” no response. Dashi figured he simply did not know the answer.

“Are you able to sleep?” another no response. She figured he didn’t know the answer to that one, either.

“Can I bring you to bed?” a little nod from the part sea-otter.

Dashi shimmeyed her hands, adorned with her various bracelets, (she changed them everyday; but she always kept two specific ones on: one with three beads that had “sis” spelled out letter by letter on each one that was a dark magenta on the first s, a purple on the i, and dark blue on the other s and a plastic one that consisted of light blue, light pink, white, light pink once more, and then light blue again as well) underneath Shellington’s body, and with great effort, scooped him up. She wasn’t very strong, though Shellington was really light. Too light in her opinion. That fact made the worry pool even more in her stomach then it already had. She brought him over to his bed, tucking him underneath the covers and switching his work-cap for his night time one.

She asked one more question. “Do you want me to stay here?” a little nod that wasn’t quite noticeable from Shellington. Dashi took a quick breath before sitting at the edge of the bed, and pulling out her camera. Might as well look at the photos she’d taken, she supposed.

***

When Shellington woke up, he noticed the weight at the end of his bed. It was Dashi. He remembered all of what happened the night before, evidently, and sighed. He’d had a little mental breakdown, freaked out, and laid on the floor (+ sobbed) for Meomi knows how long. Then, he felt a little hand grip onto his own, and he looked down and to the side. Three of his vegimal children on his right side (Tunip, Barrot, and Codish) and the other two on his left (Tomminow and Grouber). Tomminow, the smallest of the bunch, was the one gripping onto his hand at the moment. Their vine-tail was pressed up against their chest. Shellington knew it was to comfort him, obviously. He appreciated it, especially since these little plant-fish-human hybrids were kinda the cause of his breakdown, and knowing they were safe helped his mood.

He felt bad for Dashi, though. She was sure to have back pain when she woke up–Shellington knew that from experience (he had fallen asleep at his desk one too many times in a way not unlike the position Dashi was sleeping in). Shellington yawned, and then just simply curled back into bed, holding his vegetable children close to him. Eventually, after about a hour of going back and forth between sleeping and awakeness, Dashi awoke as well. “Are you.. Doing better, now?” she asked, stretching as she sat in a better posture on the side of the bed. Shellington yawned once more. “I.. ah, I suppose, yes.” he responded, rubbing the back of his neck. “Do you want to talk abou-” “No thanks,” he interrupted. He usually wasn’t the type, though this time? He.. just had to. Dashi just nodded, stretching and now yawning as well. “So, you’re good now?” she questioned. Shellington sleepily nodded. “I think so.” His mind had already wandered to some sea creature. Dashi got up, and tapped on the screen embedded in the wall. “Not too long before breakfast,” she said. “Should probably wake the vegimals up.” Shellington nodded, shaking all of them. They all gave him a quick hug before rushing out to prepare the meal. Shellington knew it would be delicious, it obviously would be. The vegimals were master chefs, gardeners, and just general assistants, at this point. They’d helped on missions on occasion too. Just all around brilliant.

Dashi looked back at Shellington. “Let’s go,” she said, grinning. Shellington tilted his head to the side in confusion. “What? Why?” he asked, and Dashi smiled. “We’re going to help them make breakfast,” she replied. “Dashi, I’m a wretched cook-” “None of that,” she grabbed onto Shellington’s arm, “Time to go cook.” she said, and he couldn’t really stop her. He slipped on his octoboots, satchel, and day-cap, and followed her out the door and into the kitchen of the octopod. The vegimals were a bit confused at first, though were pleasantly surprised and just utterly delighted once they learned what was going on (even if it was against their practical father’s will).

Shellington suffered, to put it simply. Batter splotched on his face, and somehow a part of the mixer got into his hair–he hadn’t been lying when he said he was horrid at cooking. Dashi and Tunip only giggled at the poor man’s discrepancies.

EIther way, the food turned out good, (Shellington was relieved it hadn’t turned out like the GUP D whenever he drove the thing) and at that breakfast, everybody complimented the vegimals and Dashi. Shellington, not so much, given Dashi yapping about what misfortunes he’d faced while in the kitchen. All of his other crew mates had a good laugh about the whole ordeal, and Shellington admitted it was a little funny, he supposed. Just a tad. A wee bit, if you will. He was really just glad that nobody had pointed out the whole “him being locked up in the lab likely having a mental breakdown” thing. Very fortunate for the part-otter.

And, another fortunate thing for Shellington–this day was pretty relaxed. He wasn’t sure if Dashi had a hand in it or not, but they really weren’t doing much for today’s mission besides looking at the sunset on top of the octopod at the end of the day–apparently flying fish were supposed to show up once more and it’d be all beautiful once more. Sure, they’d seen that before back when they almost lost the Professor’s book, but it was still a gorgeous sight nonetheless. The flying fish hybrids, gliding through the air–arms and the skin connecting their arms to their torsos almost translucent. The water glimmered through the clear skin, and they all briefly touched the water at multiple points, just slightly out of sync with each other.

He pulled his small notebook/sketchbook out, as well as a pencil. Pressing granite across paper, he doodled the gliding beauts. He, of course, (given he was a scientist, after all!) added little scientific notes and comments plus more detailed illustrations of certain parts of the creatures. Namely the skin connecting their arms and their torsos, and their unique faces. Kwazii leaned up against his sitting body, glancing over his shoulder at the drawings. “You’re talented, matey!” he said, and Shellington nearly blushed from the compliment. It was a nice thing to say, after all. Kwazii stood up, taking out his spyglass and peeking through it immediately before Shellington could mutter his “thanks” up.

Shellington glanced over towards Dashi, who had her camera out. He heard the clicking of her camera taking pictures of the gorgeous specimens, and he smiled. Looking over to the vegimals, they all seemed entranced as well. A couple of them trilling with delight. Before long, the flying people were gone with the wind. Kwazii raced to the side of the Octopod’s top, trying to see them just a little longer, but with the Octopod’s curved surface and the fact it was slippery (from previously being underwater) he slipped, plunging into the less-than-warm water. Of course, he immediately popped back out of the water, ears pressed against the sides of his head and hair sopping wet and sticking to his face and neck. He looked unimpressed, to say the very least.

Everyone else had a good laugh about it, though. Even Kwazii, after he shook all the water off of himself, that is. That night, Shellington slept surprisingly soundly. He supposed a nice time (plus all the vegimals curled around him) had helped with that whole ordeal.

***

Shellington woke up to the sound of the Octo-alert blaring, and he groaned. Pulling the sides of his pillow over his ears and squeezing his eyes shut, in his dazed state he forgot what the alert actually…meant, muttering to himself, “Stooppppp”, until a wave of realization came over him. Sitting up, he hopped out of bed, lazily threw off his nightcap and kicked off his slippers, attempted to slip on his Octo-boots and threw his Octo-cap onto his very messy brown hair. He quickly yoinked his satchel and he skid across the floor as he ran to the Octo-chute, jumping in.

He slid as he got launched out of the chute, breathing heavily, hand on his chest and shrimp-postured up. Everyone shot a quick glance at him before the Captain continued speaking. Shellington wasn’t really paying attention, as he was much too tired to do so, but he paid some when Captain Barnacles cleared his throat, saying, “Shellington?” and he straightened his posture, and nodded. “Um, yes Captain?” he asked. “Please bring in the vegimals–Peso may need them for assistance.” he said, and Shellington nodded. He hopped back down the Octochute, and jumped onto the tile with only a slight stumble. Even after all this time, he still wasn’t the greatest with that. He digressed, walking into the kitchen. The vegimals weren’t in there, but he could hear them in the upper part of the pod, in the garden. He climbed up the ladder, hopping into the pod. “Vegimals!” He called, cupping his mouth with his hand, and all of the small children’s attention shifted to him.

A few trilled and chirped at his presence. “I believe Peso needs you all, so if you could come with me down to the HQ?” Shellington politely requested, and of course his vegetable kids all nodded, following after him down the ladder and down the Octo-chute. Once they were grouped with Peso, Shellington realized he didn’t have much to do. Besides research. So, when he was no longer needed in the present moment, he headed down to his lab, and started up his computer. He interlocked his hands and stretched them outward. “Time to get started.”

***

Tightening her hairband, Tweak yawned. These past few days had been relatively boring, even if the week earlier they’d found the arctic-fox-hybrid professor in the Antarctic. And she got to see her dad once more a couple months ago, and Kwazii’s grandad even earlier (Plus Professor Inkling had gotten to reunite with an old friend priorly this year as well, and meeting Shellington’s sister and nephew the year before, Peso’s little brother and mother a couple months ago (and a lot of his cousins scattered throughout), Captain Barnacle’s twin sister and nephew + niece, and Dashi’s younger sister pretty recently–Huh, we’ve met a lot of family these past five years she remarked silently to herself) It was nice to see her dad again, of course, but nothing particularly exhilarating that she’d been involved in recently. At least not in those past few months, sure a few interesting things like the whole Ring of Fire situation and the whole Sac Actun ordeal, (plus the thing with defending the Great Barrier Reef, but nobody liked to talk about that) but none of those were recent.

Kwazii had crashed a decent amount of times, there were a lot of missions for Kwazii, Peso, and the Captain–though Tweak was rarely actually involved in those besides opening the Octo-hatch for the three of them. What I’m getting at here is that she was bored, even if she did thoroughly enjoy her job. She and Dashi had worked on a couple GUPS, a couple birthdays came and went, a shocking amount of family met–overall, her entire stay so far had been interesting, just..not these last few months.

Of course, she had ideas still, but she wasn’t sure if they’d fly given…none of them were (exclusively–save the GUP D and GUP H, and she supposed the GUP X?) really underwater ideas. All of them roamed on land. And the Octonaut’s whole thing was under the sea. So, a whole group of GUPS that were for land terrain? Likely wasn’t a good idea, as they’d probably go completely unused. Sighing, twirling a carrot in her hand before taking a chomp out of the orange vegetable, she leaned onto her desk. She knew they didn’t need any more underwater GUPS, nor did she have any good ideas for any at the moment, so she pulled out a sheet of paper (+ a pencil) and her Octo-tablet. Coming up with spare ideas wasn’t a bad thing–especially if something happened and they ended up needing one of these land-GUPS. Well, maybe ‘tera’ is a better prefix… Tweak thought to herself as she began doodling ideas.

***

Peso had everything in the infirmary perfectly sorted–all nice and tidy. And now he was fitting in some restocks of supplies into his organized collection–he enjoyed a clean workspace for three key reasons:

1: His mother always told him to do so, and so even if she wasn’t here with him, he could be fulfilling her wishes at least a little.

2: If it was all clean, then there was less of a chance of spreading more diseases he was curing. It was just a general medical thing, honestly.

3: He liked being organized–that way he knew where everything was exactly, so if it was an emergency, he didn’t have to dig through supplies or anything to get the cure or whatever was needed to help his patient.

As he put one more thing of the restock bandages away he heard a yelp from behind him. When he swiveled around, he wasn’t surprised to find out who it was. “Yoww…” Kwazii mewled, rubbing his head. Peso sighed (not really in an annoyed way though) and walked over to the ginger cat-hybrid. He held out his hand, and Kwazii grasped it, standing up with the help from the penguin hybrid. “Thanks, matey,” he muttered, and Peso sharply nodded. “Of course, Kwazii,” he responded. “But, um, why were you running–what made you fall?” he asked. Kwazii rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed.

“Well, matey, it’s dinner.” Peso blinked rapidly in surprise. “Already?!” he exclaimed, clearly shocked. “Yup.” Kwazii confirmed, and Peso held his hand to his mouth. “Flappity flippers, I didn’t realize it’d gotten so late….” Peso murmured, trailing off. He looked back up at Kwazii’s freckled face. “Though–why did they send you down instead of just contacting me through the screen?” he asked, pointed towards what was similar to an Octo-tablet cemented into the wall. Kwazii, who was now sitting down in Peso’s chair with his feet up on Peso’s desk, stretched out his arms as he responded. “Captain was going to, buuuuuuut I be uh- well, I be bored, me hearty. So, I requested to go fetch ya personally.” Kwazii said. Peso nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. We haven’t really been able to do much, I suppose, besides that mission a couple days ago..” Peso said. Kwazii solemnly nodded as well, “Aye, matey. We’ve had all sorts of adventures, though lately–I be a tad bored.” Kwazii jumped out of the chair, doing a spin as he spoke, “I want somethin’ to happen, you know? Somethin’ exciting.” he said. While Peso was fine with how things were going, (the reason he’d even joined was mainly just to help other creatures, not really to go on adventures and swashbuckle like Kwazii wanted to) he understood how Kwazii felt.

“I suppose that makes sense,” Peso replied. “I’m fine with how things are going, now, though.” he finished as he and Kwazii walked out of Peso’s medical station and into the hallways of the Octopod. Kwazii jumped down the chute, Peso following soon after. They both launched into the kitchen/dining room, (Kwazii (unsurprisingly) doing a backflip after they were propelled out of the chute while Peso just jumped out normally) sitting down to eat at the table along with everyone else. The conversation was normal–nothing too out of the ordinary, in all honesty. Just a bunch of friends chatting.

It wasn’t long before dinner was finished and everyone went to bed (except for Tweak, who –despite Peso’s (and the Captain’s) insistence that sleep really was important and she needed to get more of it–just wanted to play video games until she fell asleep), and Peso relaxed in his bed after waving goodnight to Dashi, as her sleeping quarters were right next to his. The Captain’s and Kwazii’s next to each other as well, Tweak slept in the launch bay, Shellington in the lab and the Professor in the library.

***

Peso woke up to a light much brighter than his nightlight (which he was a little embarrassed to still use, but it made him feel safe) shining from outside his window. He blinked, the feathers in place of his ears ruffling a little. Just as fast as the light came, it disappeared. It almost looked like two, huge white circles, and a barrage of seaweed going downwards. Peso gulped, praying it was nothing. Just a sleep-induced hallucination or misinterpretation of some normal not scary monster of a creature. Still, he felt he had to make sure, so he hopped out of bed, and palms pressed against the glass, he looked down. Nothing. Well, except.. Was that a little bit of seaweed, or kelp maybe, in a little.. Path of sorts? The currents lightly pushed the pieces of underwater greenery back and forth, and Peso just assumed that it was something washed up. Even if it was in a path of sorts, he figured it was just a coincidence it ended up ordering in that way.

Hopefully, at least. Jumping back in bed and curling under the covers, he tried to calm himself. “I-It’s nothing, Peso. Don’t wo-rry..” he reassured himself, voice cracking with his nervousness. It was nothing. Not out of the ordinary at all. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t get much sleep that night.

*** That next morning, Peso was tired. He couldn’t get much sleep the night prior, which he lamented about at breakfast that dawn. “I just.. I couldn’t get much sleep last night,” he said, which Kwazii interjected, “Didja see a monster or somethin’, matey?” Peso, who hesitated for a moment–which, in Kwazii’s eye, sparked some suspicion–which made Kwazii pipe up again before Peso could get his word in, lifting his eyepatch, “Wait, really, me heartie?” he asked. “W-well, kin-” Kwazii grabbed Peso’s shoulders.

“Tell me about what happened, matey!” The Captain shot a look in Kwazii’s direction, and he loosened his grip, backing off and sitting back down. He sent a nervous smile to the slightly annoyed Captain, who just sighed. Kwazii focused his gaze back on the medic. “....so?” Peso rubbed the back of his neck, “Um, I uh- I thought I saw two, round, bright, lights that kinda looked like eyes outside my wind-dow,” he started, his voice cracking, and he waved it off. Shellington chipped in, “Maybe another colossal squid hybrid, if anything. But, they don’t tend to roam this high of sea level….” Shellington trailed off, wracking his brain. The Captain chimed in before the conversation got too out of hand, (also known as–”Kwazii spouting off some wretched monster story that’d get Peso all (accidentally, to be fair) freaked out”) “Peso,” he started. “I’m sure it was a misremembered dream, or just.. A lot of bioluminescent hybrids all bunched up in a way that it looks like eyes,” and Peso nodded, feeling a little less scared. The Captain always knew how to comfort him, mysteriously.

Kwazii, who didn’t speak up now, (it was obvious he was itching to tell a monster story, but must’ve refrained in fear of the Captain’s “wrath” (being very lightly scolded)) looked off to the side, maneuvering a kelp cake into his mouth. Tweak suddenly spoke up. “Cap,” she began. Barnacles directed his attention to the green-haired engineer. “Yes, Tweak?” he asked. “I’ve got an idea.” she said, and Barnacles cocked his head to the side. “Come down to the bay after breakfast,” she requested. “You’ll see.” She got up from her position on the bench, walking to the chute. “Alright…?”

Eventually, everyone finished eating with just a little chit-chat, and they all headed their separate ways. The Captain to the launch bay, Peso to the infirmary (he still had a few things to restock), Dashi back to HQ, Shellington to his lab, Inkling to the library, and Kwazii… Probably his room, or something. Peso, Shellington, and the Professor all walked together given they were all going to the same hallway of the giant ship they all now called home, but split up when they reached their separate destinations. Peso walked in, still a tad shaken up by that experience the preliminary night, in all honesty. He began organizing all his things, until he heard the familiar walking of octo-boots coming into his medbay, and he swiveled around. Of course, it was “Kwazii?” Peso asked.

Kwazii tilted his hat, “Aye.” and he walked over to Peso. “Do… do you need anything?” the penguin hybrid (confusedly) questioned. Kwazii just sighed. “I just be bored, matey,” he said, sighing. Peso looked at the minimal amounts of restocks he had left. “You could help me restock,” Peso suggested. Kwazii grinned. He picked up a box, “Where do I put this?” Peso pointed to a cabinet, and eventually after a little bit of that, they had finished quicker than Peso had been originally planning on. “...I think we just both be bored, now..” Kwazii muttered, before he practically got one of those cartoon lightbulbs above his head, “Wait, matey” he said, and Peso looked at him. “Y-yeah, Kwazii?” Peso answered with a question, “You think you’d be up for some ping-pong?” Kwazii asked.

Peso put a hand to his chin. “I don’t think I have anything el-” Kwazii grabbed Peso’s wrist, “Ping pong it is, then, matey!” he exclaimed, dragging the shorter man to the chute. Peso just smiled. He was glad to have joined the Octonauts.

***

Kwazii, unshockingly, couldn’t get that thing that Peso mentioned out of his mind, even as he was playing pingpong with the guy. It seemed like it could be a real monster! Sure, he believed in plenty, but this was the first time somebody else had (sorta) claimed they spotted one! Peso may not have said he believed it was a monster, though given how clearly shaken up the medic was, it wasn’t that much of a ballsy assumption on Kwazii’s part. He wanted to go searching for this monster, obviously. He knew for a fact though that Barnacles wouldn’t let him. No damn way.

Especially since the Captain had already (mainly successfully, from the looks of it) calmed down Peso, he knew he’d get a lecture if he pressed Peso. So, he decided to bring it up a little more casually.

Thwack. Ball against paddle, “So, Peso, me heartie”

Peso hit the ball back thwack “Yes, Kwazii?”

Thwack. “...what do you think was out there? Cus I swore I heard something bumpin’ across the side, but couldn’t catch a glimpse of the beast.” A little lie, maybe. He just wanted Peso to fess up.

Thwack, then a gulp from the black haired man. “B-Beast?!

Thwack. “W- Well, I figured it be a beast, at least…”

Sigh of relief, Thwack. “O-Oh, alright…but, u-um, probably just a lot of biolumineeesh- bioluminescent- fish.”

Thwack. Kwazii tilted his head to the side in questioning. “Y’ sure, matey? What’d it look like?”

Thwack. “U-um, it was hard to see since it was so d-dark but like two, large glowing circles…”

Thwack. “Eyes, maybe?”

Thwack. “Flappity flippers, I hope not…”

Thwack. “Didja see anythin’ else, matey?”

Thwack. “I- I thought I saw some kelp or seaweed rapidly heading downwards, w-with the glowing bits, but I’m s-sure that was just a trick of the imagination!”

Thwack. Kwazii kept in his grin. “Oh, I see…”

“...”

“...Out o’ one eye, that is..”

Peso laughed a little.

Eventually, they finished up their ping-pong game, Peso excusing himself as he’d been called down to administer a bandage to Shellington, who had simply tripped over his own feet and scraped his wrist a little bit. Kwazii, on the other hand, had a idea. Kelp/and or seaweed? That meant there could be remnants, just outside of the ship! He knew it was obviously a glorious idea, so he headed on down to the launch bay swiftly (did someone say swift? As in Oliver Swift from hit game Dialtown: Phone dating simulator that is on steam for 7.99 but the demo is free so you should totally go play??! Okay back to the story now, sorry).

Tweak seemed to be keeled over, working on some sort of blueprint. “Tweak?” he asked, jabbing his finger back at the GUP B. “I’d like to take ‘er for a spin.” Tweak looked at Kwazii, then the GUP. “Go ahead,” she stood up, stretching her hands over her head. Kwazii could hear her joints popping. “I’ve been cooped up in ‘ere for a while, anyways, probably good to stand up..” she said, taking a bite out of a carrot as she walked over to the lever. Kwazii hopped in the GUP B with a back-flip. “Open the Octo-hatch, matey!” Tweak pulled the lever, and Kwazii sunk the shark-inspired submarine into the water, darting out.

Kwazii circled around to where Peso’s bedroom was, and they dived down near the ground, but obviously not hitting it. He was more careful than that. He looked, as just as he had hoped, kelp, and it almost seemed to be leaving a bread-crumb trail. He grinned, and followed along the green path, eventually leading him to a cave. He figured he might want to contact the others…but he also really wanted to go in that cave right at that moment. So he made the frankly stupid and illogical decision to go into the damn cave, speeding along in the GUP B. He was sure it wouldn’t be too deep, especially with a giant monster hidden inside! Plus, this was one he’d never heard of before.

***

Shellington had to admit, he was a little curious about those supposed fish. He wasn’t one to believe in monsters, or at least in the same ‘genre’ of monsters that Kwazii yapped about from his pirate tales, but the fact that Peso had seen it made it a little more believable. Especially because he couldn’t quite think of anything bioluminescent that would be in the area that they were in, and at the level of the sea they were on. There were animals that were bioluminescent in this depth level, of course, just not any that occurred in this area, and especially at this height. He hadn’t said anything about it at breakfast because he wasn’t entirely sure if they didn’t occur in this area, but with some research, he knew there wasn’t any.

It was strange, and he was excited at the prospect of a new creature. So, he decided to go and find Peso, question him a little, and see if he could find anything out. He knew he had gone to the infirmary to organize or something after breakfast, so he decided to check there first. Walking out of his lab/bedroom, he sauntered into Peso’s medical area. Peso wasn’t there, unfortunately. The marine biologist figured the next best place to check would probably be the medic’s bedroom, so he jumped into the chute. Now, in between the junctions of Peso’s and Dashi’s (he figured he’d ask her to come along given her camera) rooms, he heard a xylophone and he knocked on Peso’s door. He heard a faint voice, “Come in!” and Shellington walked in. Peso seemed to be mid-xylophone playing, the xylophone mallets still in his grip. “What is it, Shellington?” Peso asked, placing the mallets on the ground. “Well, ah, I don’t suppose you could give me some more information about those supposed bioluminescent fish you saw?” Shellington asked politely. Peso gulped a little.

“O-Oh, sure- um, what do you need to know?” Shellington smiled, pulling his notebook out of his satchel and sitting down opposite to Peso. “I’d love to know if it looked like one lightsource, or a lot of little ones” he asked. Peso put a hand to his chin. “It- It was like, t-two big circles. Huge. Could’ve been a lot of little ones swimming in circles, though….” Shellington scrawled it down, taking note. He couldn’t think of any animals that behavior matched, and certainly not any in the area they were in. “Hmm.. anything else important?” Shellington asked. Peso shifted. “I did think I saw some seaweed going rapidly down, b-but it was probably nothing… other than that, nothing else, I think.” Shellington, taking this all into account, nodded. “Thanks, Peso! This will help me figure out what creature or creatures that was!” Shellington said.

“..Ah, so it’s- probably a- a normal hybrid, right?” Peso asked. Shellington shrugged. “I don’t know yet.. But most likely, aye.” he said, and Peso shakily nodded. The penguin figured that if anyone would know, it’d be Shellington. “Well, goodbye Peso! This helped!” the part otter waved, and the medic waved back, picking up his mallets.

Shellington was mildly confused–he’d never heard of a creature like this, especially with the ocean greenery thing…he figured that he’d find out soon enough, though, and headed back to his lab to do a little extra research to see if he could find anything that even vaguely matched up to the thing Peso was describing.

Of course, he ended up finding nothing. A few things seemed possible, but not likely. And just didn’t match up incredibly well with all the descriptors. Shellington knew that the creature had more than likely completely cleared out by this point, but he figured taking a survey of their surroundings probably wasn’t a bad idea, at the very least! It was possible that it’d left something behind, especially if it was covered in seaweed or kelp or something like Peso seemed to be implying. One of the vegimals (Tomminow, specifically) came in at one point to pull him along, and he supposed he’d lost track of time, as it was already lunchtime. He walked with the red-haired vegetable to the dining area/kitchen area, and everyone besides Kwazii were already sitting down. Shellington sat down next to Dashi, who was next to Tweak, who was next to the Captain. Across from the Captain was Peso, and next to Peso was the Professor. “Ah, glad you joined us, Shellington,” the Captain said, plunging his fork into some food.

“Aye, Captain.” he said, and glancing around, he discovered––No sight of the horrendously freckled ginger. “Where’s Kwazii?” Shellington asked. Tweak put a finger up (“one second” without words) as she finished chewing and swallowing whatever (likely carrot-based) thing she was eating. “He asked to take th’ GUP-B out earlier. I figure he’s jus�� still out there, doin’...tricks, or somethin’.” she explained. Shellington nodded, taking a clam sandwich. “Yes, speaking of…” the Captain pulled out his Octo-compass, clicking one of the buttons on the side. He pressed something on it, before saying, “Captain Barnacles to Kwazii. Barnacles to Kwazii, are you there?” Shellington heard the static noise coming from the yellow compass.

He also heard the Captain’s sigh. “Of course.” he looked to Peso. “Peso,” and Peso nodded, jumping out of his seat. “Tweak?” Tweak shoved another bite into her mouth, flashing a thumbs up and swinging herself out of her place on the bench. “Wait, Captain-” Shellington asked, and the Captain looked back. “Yes, Shellington?” he asked. “Do you mind if I come with you?” he asked. The polar bear hybrid looked confused for a moment, but ultimately ended up nodding. Shellington practically jumped out of his seat, yoinking another sandwich for the road. Following behind the other three, they all jumped down the chute to the launch bay.

They ended up going in the GUP C, (“It’s more than likely he got stuck somewhere, and it’s better safe than sorry”) the three inside of it. The vegimals also brought down some fish biscuits, since this was done in the middle of lunch. They’d at least need something to hold them off before they could get back and finish, or … even in time for dinner, in all honesty, given the fact that nobody knew where Kwazii had gone.

As they jumped in, Peso piped up. “C-Captain, it might be possible that Kwazii was looking for the glowy things I s-saw last night, he was asking about it…” the Captain sighed a little. “Of course he did. He’d likely look where you saw it, right, outside your window, Peso?” the Captain asked, and Peso nodded. Shellington grinned—-this was perfect! He might actually be able to figure out what that creature was! He did regret not calling up Dashi, but he figured that if they needed backup, Captain Barnacles would contact her and Tweak pretty quickly.

***

Barnacles was annoyed, a tad. Kwazii really needed to tell him where he was going, it was getting quite frustrating. As much as he cared about the pirate, it was a little aggravating. Either way, he swooped near Peso’s bedroom. It was empty inside, of course. “Hm..” the Captain dipped down in the water, and noticed something on the floor. “...Kelp? Why is it lying on the floor like that?” he wondered aloud, and Peso gasped. “Oh, I didn’t mention this a-at dinner, but- I saw that dipping down after I saw the lights…” Shellington pointed, “It does look a little like a path, aye?” he asked. The Captain blinked. It did.

“Good observation, Shellington. Let’s follow it, I have no doubt Kwazii did.” he said, as they followed along the ‘path’. Soon enough, after a little bit of following it along, they came across a cave. They all knew exactly where Kwazii had gone. “I think we’re going to need backup.” Barnacles said, and he pressed a button on the GUP D’s panel. “Captain Barnacles to the HQ,” he said into the microphone. The little screen showed Dashi. “Captain? What is it?” she asked, swiveling in her chair. “We’re gonna need backup. Can you and Tweak bring the GUP Q, and other supplies? We believe Kwazii went into a cave..” Dashi nodded. “On it, Captain!” she said, and the transmission ended as quickly as it started. “Now we just wait.”

After a little bit, Tweak and Dashi arrived in the GUP Q pretty quickly. As soon as they got there, they noticed the GUP C parked outside of a massive cave. Dashi was surprised it hadn’t been marked on the map at all, but didn’t think about it much past that. Likely just an oversight or something. They all jumped out of their respective GUPS, chatting in the water to clarify everything. Barnacles started, “Somebody should stay in the GUP C outside, just in case.” Tweak raised her hand innocently. “I can stay back, Cap.” she offered. The Captain nodded. “Anyone else? Peso, I’d prefer you stay with me in case he’s hurt. We all know his affinity for that.”

“Captain, I really would like to go, as well.” While Shellington didn’t state why, Barnacles knew him well enough to deduce why—there could be a new creature in there. And of course, the polar-bear hybrid wasn’t about to not let him even if he wouldn’t be entirely focused on what they were actually going in for. So, he responded with a nod. “Very well. Dashi?” he asked. Dashi put a hand to her chin, bracelets clinking. “I really would like to take some pictures inside the cave, but,” she looked back at Tweak. “I don’t want Tweak to be all alone out here.” she said. Tweak blinked. “Aw, Dashi. Don’t worry, I’ll be just alright out ‘ere! If anythin’, I can call over th’ vegimals to keep me company.” Dashi grinned. “Well, it’s settled then. I’ll go with the rest of you.”

So, they bid adieu to Tweak, and all jumped in the GUP Q. It was loaded, of course. Since it was their designated cave-GUP (and after the close call with Sac-actun), they had all sorts of supplies inside. About a million flashlights, a couple cave-diving suits, Ryla’s old and new cave-diving books that she had gifted the crew, and loads of air-tanks. All good things to keep handy for their adventures. As they started gliding through the cave, it got smaller and smaller. That on its own wasn’t that surprising, but how rapidly it was was a little worrying. Eventually, they came to a crossroads. Two different paths, and both too tiny for the full GUP to fit.

All four of them got suited up. Dashi and Barnacles on one of the Q-scooters, and Shellington and Peso on the other. They were split up like that for a few reasons. At the very least, Barnacles knew basic first aid (given his role as Captain) and Peso was obviously the designated medic, so if either group came across their beloved pirate friend, if he was hurt, they could both help at least a little. And so that either way if they came across a new creature, they could document it one way or another (with a photo from Dashi or a quick sketch from Shellington).

Of course, each group brought six flashlights. Two for each Octonaut, and two more for if/when they found Kwazii. Both also brought an extra suit and three extra air tanks. Both also brought a few canteens of freshwater and some fish biscuits. Everybody hoped it wouldn’t come to that but, even if it was excessive, it was better safe than sorry. Barnacles and Peso were in front of their respective scooters. Barnacles because he was the Captain (and taller) and Peso because he was a much better driver and didn’t get as easily distracted as Shellington. And then, they went on their merry way to find the ginger cat.

Barnacles navigated through the caves, feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Even if he was much better about tight spaces now, he still preferred to stay out of them. Eventually, he and Dashi came onto another forked path. He looked back up at Dashi, who had her camera in her hands, unafraid as always. “I think we should head right. Look at this,” she said, holding up her camera with a picture on it, of the outside of the cave, which was mainly inside a bit seamount. “It looks like there’s more over on the right side. So I think we should go that way, since we’re presumably getting near the edge now.” she said, and Barnacles agreed. “Great deductive reasoning, Dashi. Let’s.” he turned the Q-scooter to the right, and they continued down the winding tunnels of the cave.

As they descended, Dashi still kept her camera up, ready to snap a shot at any moment. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to capture. Just gray and brown stone that made up the walls of the cave. There weren’t many hybrids of any sort, sure maybe a few, but not many. Nothing that interesting, either. A few pieces of kelp were on the ground, which both Captain and photographer thought was strange, but figured somebody’d just dragged that in while coming back home. But, traversing through the dark caves, they saw…more kelp? Dashi snapped a shot. Suddenly, Dashi tapped the Captain and he slowed the scooter. “Yes, Da-” she put a hand over his mouth, and whispered, “Listen.” Barnacles raised a brow, but halted his speech regardless. Sure enough, in the distance, he heard something. It was hard to distinguish, though there was something. Sounded a little like…. “...do you think it’s Kwazii?” he asked. Dashi pursed her lips, and shrugged. Silently, they moved forward–hopefully they’d be able to find their pirate comrade soon enough.

***

Shellington had almost fallen off the scooter about three times now. He kept on leaning over, trying to look at hybrids and plants. “Dr Sh-” Peso started, “Just Shellington,” he interrupted, not facing Peso at all and instead looking at some sort of plant on the cave’s floor. “S-Shellington,” the medic continued, “Please don’t lean as m-much…I’d prefer you not fall off.” Shellington murmured a “Mhm”, clearly not paying attention. Peso sighed, stopping the scooter and facing back towards Shellington, grabbing his face with his hands. “Aye?”

“Sh-Shellington. Flappity Flippers, you’re gonna fall off if you keep on leaning like that! Please, try not to lean as much..” he said, and Shellington nodded. “Aye, Peso.” Peso released his face cheeks from his grip. He swiveled back around, eyes back on the descent into the deep. He gulped. He wasn’t a big fan of the dark. At least the Q-scooters had lights on the front of them, plus between the two of them, they had six flashlights. Peso cruised forward in the Q-scooter, going down the winding hallway. Suddenly, Shellington grabbed Peso’s shoulder. “Peso! Look!” he said, excited. Peso turned back, and looked at what Shellington was pointing at (Oh, his nails were painted, probably by Dashi, that’s nice) and it just looked like…a piece of kelp? Or maybe seaweed? On the ground… “...w-what about that?” he asked. Shellington jumped off the scooter. “sh-sheLLINGTON?!” He pulled out his magnifying glass from his satchel, and unclipped his flashlight. He held his magnifying glass up to the greens, his flashlight shining right on it. “Hmm..” he muttered. “Wh- what’s so interesting about that, Shellington?” Peso asked. “It- It looks like kelp and seaweed twisted together! Very fascinating…” he said. He pulled out a small container from his satchel, and stuffed the ocean plants inside. “I’ll look at it more in the lab.” he said, jumping back on the Q-scooter. Peso sighed, and the two of them were off again, down the ways of the cave again. But as they went forward, there was more kelp and seaweed, which confused Shellington. “That’s odd… if anything, it should be the opposite…” he had pulled out his notebook and scrawled it down, and Peso had told him to grab onto something so he wouldn't fall off (that something ended up being Peso’s waist). As they trekked further and further, it just kept getting stranger, and more kelp and seaweed…

And of course, Shellington kinda forgot Peso’s earlier advice. His stomach was on the seat of the Q-scooter, and he was leaning over so that his face was near the ground. Peso heard a thud a few seconds later. Peso stopped the Q-scooter suddenly, and glanced back over his shoulder to look behind him. Of course, Shellington was laying there, face down on the ground. Peso hopped off the Q-scooter, swimming down to the otter-hybrid. Shellington weakly pushed himself off the ground with his arms. “Oh, the helmet protected you. That’s good!” Peso said, and Shellington nodded. “Aye.” “Please, no more leaning, Shellington.” the bird pleaded. Shellington nodded.

They both got back on the Q-scooter, and continued on their journey. Peso just hoped he and Shellington or Barnacles and Dashi would be able to find their fellow Octonaut again. He did really hope the guy was okay—sure, he was a lot, but he obviously cared about Kwazii. Even if he did get hurt a lot (usually his tail—-Peso was honestly shocked it was still attached, in truth) and if he was kinda cocky most of the time.

Cruising through the cave’s waterways, Peso and Shellington were making their way through, with still no sight of Kwazii. Shellington was finally listening to Peso, as he wasn’t leaning as much. No contact from Captain Barnacles or Dashi, either, Peso realized. He figured it wasn’t a bad idea to try, right? So he pressed a button, and the screen was all staticky for a moment, but then he saw the Captain’s face. Whew. He thought, briefly. “Captain?” he asked. It was grainy and not unlike a old radio, but Peso could make out what he was saying, “Y—--s, Pe—------ee—-e-s–oo-oo?” Yes, Peso? Was what he figured the Captain was trying to say. “Have you two found anything?” he asked back.

“N—-oo-oo-o si—----ght of Kwazii, b-uu-u-u-t, [static] noo-is—e oises, th—--at–at -at [static] s–o-o-o–ound, l—ike they c-oould [static] -im-him-im-m-m.” Peso could barely make it out, but he figured it was something like No sight of Kwazii, but there are noises that sound like they could [be] him. Peso nodded. “We’ve had no signs,” and Shellington interjected, “Just found this strange mixture of seaweed and kelp, I plan on studying it back at the lab!” Peso nodded. The Captain looked like he was giving a thumbs up. “G—ooo-d –uck-uck, P–es-es-o a—n–n-d She–lll–llin—lling–g–t-to–oon-n!” Good luck, Peso and Shellington! Peso nodded. “To you too, Captain!” The Captain looked like he gave another thumbs up. “E–n—ding–ing-ing-ing tra–traa—n–s—mi-mi–ssion” Ending transmission. Peso nodded, and the screen went back to complete static. “I really hope those noises they hear are actually him…” Peso mumbled, and Shellington nodded.

***

CLICK! Another few strange stray plants on the ground, and if she’d heard Shellington right, they were apparently a mix of seaweed and kelp. Of course, it’d been hard to hear both doctors, given how staticky all the transmissions were in the cave, (“s—s—-t—ran–ra-range–e mix–ix--ture of s—ea–sea—-we—-eeeee—d an—d–d k–kel–kel—el–p”) but she’d been able to gather that piece of information from the marine biologist. And, the sounds they’d heard before were… much less frequent. Still there, and getting louder, but much less than before.

That worried both the Captain and Dashi herself, but she kept a smile on. She and the Captain were probably the two most ‘cool-and-collected’ of the crew. The Captain in more of a leadership way, and Dashi in more of a chill way, though. Dashi practically never panicked—the Captain rarely did, but it was slightly more often the account of his claustrophobia and the fact he was actually out and about much more frequently then Dashi was. Even considering that, Dashi couldn't remember a time when she had actually panicked before. Sure, maybe a little nervous or worried, but that’s an entirely different feeling.

Either way, they were trekking forward. Then, a turn. Of course the path hadn’t been entirely linear before, but this was the biggest change in direction besides the fork in the road prior. The Captain looked back at her, and she nodded. They turned, and Dashi held up her camera and snapped a picture (it was practically her version of a gasp, which the Captain actually did). A gargantuan cleared out area. Well, not entirely.

Dashi snapped another shot of the creature. It was huge—Dashi guessed about two school buses long. They couldn’t see its face, a mass of seaweed and kelp (or what looked like seaweed and kelp, at least) covering its entire head and stretching down onto its scarred, greenish back. Huge, fin-like arms with claw-like hands at the end, and a massive eel-like tail, gills visible. Its body slowly pulsed–sleeping, Dashi presumed. The Captain looked back at her and put a finger up to his lips: Stay silent. Dashi nodded. They didn’t know what this thing was, how dangerous it was. It could be poisonous to the touch, or have a venomous bite, or just sharp teeth in general, or hell even produce electricity. They planned on leaving at that moment, until Dashi noticed something (or more like someone).

She rapidly tapped the Captain on the shoulder, and pointed, bracelets clinking. There was that familiar ginger. No sign of the GUP B, though. His tail was wedged between the rocks, it looked. He was clearly struggling to get out. The Captain motioned for Dashi to get off, and she did. She didn’t know what he was planning, but he always did have a plan of some sorts. And he’d never failed them before.

So, Dashi examined her multi-colored nails (She had recently convinced Tweak to paint them with her, and had ended up painting her own as green and pink (“It’s Salmon, not pink, Dashi” “Sure, sure”) as a tribute to the engineer, while the green-haired woman would only accept black or perhaps a dark green) as she watched the Captain maneuver the Q-scooter over to the pirate. Holding her camera up to her brown eyes once more, she looked through the view of the yellow device. It whirred as she zoomed into the Captain, who had now reached Kwazii by this point.

Squinting one eye and closing the other, snap, another picture. She watched as the Captain tugged at the distressed Kwazii, slipping his hands between his tail and the slippery rocks chaining him to the cave’s wall and attempting to release him. She saw the creature stir, plant-like appendages billowing in the minor currents of the sea-cave. It stirred again. Dashi pursed her lips. Once more. She clenched her teeth. It struck her—the creature was waking up. She pressed against the call bit on her helmet, fingernail firmly pressing down. “Dashi to Captain Barnacles. Captain, I believe the creature may be waking up–be careful.” she said, not a single shake in her voice. She saw the Captain dip his hand down, sliding his hand along the creature, before shoving his hand into the crack trapping Kwazii in the stone.

He managed to pull the cat out of the crack, suddenly. Dashi knew it was over when she could hear Kwazii’s exclamation: “Yeow!” and she saw two, blinding white lights. Eyes. Her memory flashed: “Um, I uh- I thought I saw two, round, bright, lights that kinda looked like eyes outside my wind-dow,”

Huh. She supposed Peso really had seen something, then. But she knew that wasn’t what should be on her mind. They could figure that out later, (and despite those thoughts, she held up her camera and clicked, bracelets sliding down her forearm) and she saw the creature slowly rise, and the Captain and Kwazii hop on the Q-scooter. Dashi raised her hand, and felt the Captain’s hand wrap around her wrist. It cruised fast, and the water whipped against her skin. Her bracelets rattled. Despite that, she still snapped a few shots as the creature was now swimming after them. She managed to shift herself onto the scooter, sitting behind Kwazii. “Dashi,” The Captain took a sharp breath, “Get another air tank for Kwazii.” he commanded. Dashi reached back, grabbing one and switching out Kwazii’s old one for a new one, securing the old one in the back. “Thanks, matey,” Kwazii breathily thanked. “Of course.” she said.

The Captain yelled—not an ounce of fear lacing his words. “Contact the doctors” (Shellington and Peso) “and tell them to start heading back now!” he firmly ordered. Dashi nodded sharply, gripping onto the scooter as she pressed her finger against her helmet once more. “Dashi to Shellington and Peso! Dashi to Shellington and Peso!” she was met with static. “They’re not responding, Captain. We’re too far away.”

The Captain growled, baring his teeth. Not in frustration at his crewmates, of course–just at the circumstances. The dog hybrid knew him well enough by this point to know that. “Dashi, take my Octo-compass and attempt to contact Shellington and Peso from there-–it should have a stronger connection than your helmet and be able to reach them,” he stated, plucking the yellow, circular compass off his utility belt and handing it backwards to Dashi as they weaved through the cave’s systems. Dashi took it in her hands, quickly tapping the button on the side of it. She called their Q-scooter. It only took a few moments of stutters and glitches to get through, and she saw Peso’s (glitch covered, to some extent) face. “Capt- er, Dashi?” he responded, confusion protruding in his speech. “Peso, you and Shellington need to get out of there now.” she commanded, calmly. She was always good at that, keeping her voice calm.

People’d said before she reminded them of a secretary, or the lady you hear on the airplane. That was probably part of the reason why she was hired as a flight attendant all that time ago–her calm demeanor. She was always good at customer service. She’d worked in a few of those jobs as a teen for some extra cash. Dashi was always grateful for her upbringing, even if a bit neglectful, so she never needed to do that sort of thing to support her family, but she liked spending money on all the things she liked. Nail polish, pretty dresses and skirts, bracelets and beads, makeup. Her parents didn’t care much that she was trans, but they didn’t really…do much. They slipped up on the name sometimes, but that wasn’t often. To be fair, that may just be because it wasn’t like they talked much in the first place….Her parents basically never sent her or Koshi gifts, though. Sometimes for Christmas, if they were lucky. So she got presents for Koshi. She’d always had to take care of herself and her little sister, as her parents were often away on business trips and the like. They were beginning to decrease on that when she started working as a flight attendant, actually. Either way, she was appreciative of the life she was given. Even if her parents weren’t around much, if she asked for things they’d usually send over money. That was how she paid for her ballet lessons, in secret, when she was younger, and later her brief surfing lessons (she later discovered she liked learning on her own).

Not quite the point, though. So, her conversation with Peso continued. “Wh- why? Did you guys get Kwazii?” Peso asked, voice stuttering, partially from the glitchy connection and partially just because he was an anxiety ridden kinda guy. “We’ve gotten him, yes. Unfortunately,” Dashi held the compass out so that Peso could see the creature chasing after them, which Dashi just now noticed was slamming against the walls as it did so, rocks falling as it knocked them down. “Something else wants to get us, too.” she finished, pulling the device closer to herself. “Flappity flippers!” Peso squeaked. “Yup. So, you guys should get out of there—-now. Especially in case this place comes crashing down,” she stated, and Peso looked petrified, even through the tiny screen of the compass, but nodded regardless. “W-will do, Dashi.” he said, and Dashi hovered her finger over the end transmission button. “Ending transmission,” she said, before clicking the button.

She glanced back at the creature chasing them, deciding to examine its features a little more. She put the compass between her legs for the moment, and held up her camera. She snapped a few shots, looking closer at the thing’s face through the screen. Its mouth was….strange. It looked disconnected, into about seven to nine slits. It was hard to tell, as they were opening and closing, as well as the fact that both parties were going at high speeds, though she could tell it was an odd number, with one primary one in the middle and the other slits to the right and left of it. Its skin was a muted green, and the kelp/seaweed that made up its “hair” was darker than its presumably slimy skin. Its eyes (or at least what Dashi was pretty sure were its eyes) were a bright white, maybe a tint of yellow to them. Dashi had never seen anything like this creature before—-her first thought was a heavily mutated whale hybrid or something, but its tail resembled more of a eel (and Dashi was fairly certain eels, even mutated hybridized ones, couldn’t get that big) rather than a classic whale or dolphin tail. Dashi wondered if she could get a good enough shot to get one of her photos on the Natural Seaographic again. So, she snapped more. She figured at least one of those sleeping ones were pretty clear, even if these ones were incredibly blurry, so discovering a new creature or mutation like this was sure to get her some sort of feature.

Idly, as the currents whipped against her face and her hair blew in the water, she thought about how Shellington and Peso were doing. She reckoned they were okay—-they’d have called in by now otherwise—-though she couldn’t help but wonder. She presumed they were likely cruising along quickly, but at a slower pace than they were, given the fact that they didn’t have the imminent danger of a creature chasing after them. Dashi clicked a few more pictures, and she realized the creature was lagging behind a little bit. It must be getting tired, she thought. It made sense, given how such a huge creature would likely need a lot of energy, and they had interrupted its nap. As she thought, she realized something. Tweak. She doesn’t know about this yet. She thought, and compass in hand, she spoke. “Captain, should we contact Tweak?” she asked, but she already knew the answer, turning the Octo-compass on and scrolling down to Tweak’s little icon. “Yes, immediately–I cannot believe that slipped my mind. Great thinking, Dashi,” the Captain said, still as thoughtful with his words as ever despite the predicament. Dashi tapped the engineer’s icon. It only took a moment for Tweak to respond, through the lens of one of the cameras on the GUP Q. “Cap– wait, Dashi? What’s goin’ on?” she asked, and Dashi held out the compass to the side to show the creature, at least to some extent, before pulling it in close to her face again. “We’re being chased, at the moment, by so-” Kwazii interrupted her, “We’re bein’ preyed on by some sorta beast, not one that I recognize…” Dashi normally would’ve corrected him, but this time? She wasn’t sure she could, at least not accurately. There wasn’t much other way to describe the creature chasing them. “For once, he’s right.” Dashi stated, and Kwazii mewled a “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Dashi ignored his interjection, wanting to convey as much information to Tweak as possible and not waste time with useless bickering.

“It’s an unrecognizable creature of sorts… I took some pictures I can show later. But, at the moment, you probably want to rev up the GUP Q and attach the GUP C to it so we can make a quick getaway. I don’t think this thing is willing to chat.” Dashi spoke clearly, and Tweak nodded. “On it, Dashi!” Tweak said, and Dashi smiled. “Ending transmission.” she clicked the button just as Tweak could be seen nodding her head. The Captain thanked her briefly, before focusing back on their path. Dashi felt like this should have been quicker, in all honesty, and that they should’ve been out of the cave by now. And as if her prayers were answered, she saw a sliver of light out of her peripheral vision. With Captain Barnacles behind the wheel, the Q scooter raced around the corner, and Dashi squinted at the bright light—she’d gotten a tad used to the darkness of the caverns, and now the glaring glow of the sunlight seeping through the ocean’s surface hurt her eyes. Seemed to hurt Kwazii’s eyes (or eye, she supposed) more, though, as he let out a little hiss and looked away completely instead of just closing or squinting his eyes. But soon, the GUP Q came into view. She noticed Shellington and Peso inside—she was a little surprised they got there before them, but in retrospect, it made sense. They likely weren’t as far in given Shellington’s tendencies to either fall off, stop to observe, etc. etc. The Captain immediately slid back into the GUP Q’s area for the scooters, and just as he did, the creature burst out of the cave, rock crumbling around it, arms stretched out and gaping mouths opening uproariously. The Captain slammed on the radio button, but he didn’t have to. Tweak immediately slammed on the brakes, rapidly turning the GUP Q around and pedaling the hell out of there.

The GUP Q cruised quickly through the depths, the creature now much faster in the open water instead of being confined within a cave. Dashi gripped for dear life onto the scooter—they hadn’t gotten the chance yet to get actually into the GUP Q yet, given how they were actively being pursued by a literal monster thing. The water whipped against them. Dashi glanced back—yeah, she was certain the creature was utterly pissed at them. No way it wasn’t. Dashi struggled against the currents, but still managed to hand the Captain his compass again, and he tapped it shakily. “Tweak, try to get it off our tail,” he spoke as clearly as possible, but it was a tad difficult given the situation. His words vibrated.

Tweak responded, “On it, Cap!” and the GUP Q swerved to the side, “Hold on tight, everyone!” she yelled, speeding up and rapidly zig-zagging back and forth to try to get the kelp creature off their trail. Dashi couldn’t see Kwazii’s face, though she had a feeling he was grinning maniacally, given his personality and what she knew about the fella. As they wildly raced through the waves, Dashi glanced back. It seemed to be tiring, if only slightly. Its movements were shoddy and one of its eyes (or at least what Dashi assumed were its eyes) was squinting. Dashi hoped this wouldn’t go on for much longer, and she was glad that it seemed it likely wouldn’t, if she was reading the creature correctly. It was somewhat hard to when the creature in question was so hard to tell the emotions of given it’s facial structure, but she was trying, and she was usually pretty good at accurately figuring out people’s emotions.

It was part of the reason she and Shellington were so close, actually. For many, it was sorta hard to tell what he was feeling when it wasn’t excitement or him babbling about a marine animal, but Dashi oftentimes seemed to read him quite accurately, leading to them becoming pretty damn close. Certainly best friends! Either way, even despite that prior experience, Dashi couldn’t entirely tell what the thing was thinking, again besides that it seemed to be tiring.

As they strided through the rough tides, it slowed, and slowed, until after a long while, it was nothing more than a faint outline in their view. “Cap,” Tweak came in, less staticky now, through the radio, “I think we’ve lost it. Y’all should get inside,” she suggested, and the Captain nodded, inhaling to steady himself. “Great idea, Tweak,” he responded, and Tweak flashed a thumbs up. “I’ll open th’ bottom hatch!” She said, walking over to a different area of the control panel as the three mammals hopped off the scooter, swimming underneath into the GUP-Q, and eventually surfacing into the GUP. With a few clicks and whirs, their helmets were down and they all breathed a breath of (slightly fresher) air.

Of course, Shellington was the first to speak up. “….so did you get any pictures?” He asked, obviously directed towards Dashi, with one hand lightly grasping onto his satchel, other hovering by his side. “Shellington!” The Captain lightly scolded, and the otter innocently held up his hands. Before he could defend himself though, Dashi jumped in, smiling serenely and holding up her camera. “It’s alright Captain. I did, after all.” Shellington silently pumped his fist. “I managed to get samples of kelp nearby, too!” He excitedly exclaimed, “it might have even been from the creature! Oh, I can’t wait to analyze the ph-“ the Captain cleared his throat, and Shellington shut his mouth immediately.

“We can focus on that once we get back to the Octopod. Tweak?” He swiveled his head towards her, hands still interlocked behind his straight back all professionally, and Tweak looked up. “I’ll set th’ course for home, Cap!” She half-jokingly saluted, turning back to the controls and clicking a few buttons. The GUP Q revved back up into action within seconds, and before long they were cruising back home, to their beloved Octopod.

***

The Captain, along with the rest of the Octonauts observed the photos Dashi had taken, after Shellington had ran down to his bedroom to start some tests on the kelp-seaweed twist. The most clear pictures were when it was asleep, given they didn’t have to be taken in motion, but the other photos were still helpful. Barnacles hadn’t gotten the chance to properly look at the creature while they were blasting off from it, so he hadn’t seen its face. Big, white-ish circular eyes and a strange multi-segmented mouth were the two noticeable features, even if the second was hard to discern given the blur from the photos showing that.

Peso had reluctantly been the one to speak up first, shockingly before Shellington. “Th-that is definitely w-what was outside my window,” he shakily confirmed. The thought had crossed Barnacles' mind, of course. There was no doubt this was the thing Peso had seen. But, it worried him immensely. Of course, he’d never show that worry, he was the leader, though it still chipped away at him. Why would it do that? What could possibly be the reason why it just…. Came up to Peso’s window in the middle of the night for seemingly no reason whatsoever? It didn’t bang on the glass or anything according to Pesos account, either. He reasoned it was just curious, though the thought still nagged at the back of his mind. Kwazii’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Knew it ‘‘twas some sorta beastie!” Barnacles glared at him. Kwazii muttered a small “sorry, Peso…” Peso just nodded in forgiveness. After not long, Shellington spoke once more. “Dashi, can you send me the photos?” He asked, and she swiveled in her chair. “Of course!” She answered, and Shellington curtly nodded. “I’ll be off to get these in the lab,” he said, walking backwards as he pointed towards his satchel, alluding to the samples left inside. Barnacles let him go. While all of this was interesting, of course, there wasn’t much else to do while they were waiting on that.

After a moment, “Anyone wanna play ping pong?”

***

Shellington had finally gotten the results back from the labs. He’d shared some of it with the Captain, given how he wanted to go somewhere specific because of the results. He had gotten a decent chunk of information from them. Hopefully, with these labs, they’d be able to figure out where this thing came from. Given its slight similarity to the vegimals, who were also plant-(presumably, for the creature)-human-fish (or just general marine animal) hybrids, Shellington had plucked a hair from Tunip and a leaf that had fallen off Tomminow’s tail. The creature’s DNA, or at least the amount he was able to get, confirmed a few of his suspicions. It had human, plant (kelp and seaweed), eel, and blue whale DNA. The human shone through the general humanoid shape, namely the torso, face, and hands. The plant bits seemed to give it its green coloring, as well as the oddity that was its “hair”. The eel bit seemed to be the eyes and most obviously the tail, and the blue whale bits seemed to mainly be its size but also the fin-like appendages on its arms. The vegimals Shellington already knew most everything about—the types of fish and vegetables they were combined with namely. He also, obviously, knew their age given how he was literally there for the hatching.

The creature was a couple years older than the vegimals, which matched up with Shellington’s current theory running through his head. His notes were detailed, but a little incomprehensible for the moment.

VEGIMALS & THE CREATURE CONNECTIONS

The creatures' plants are notably sea plants, not land plants like the vegimals. Possible reasons for this could be:

Easier access to those plants (most likely/def part of the reason)

Was just a experiment, not meant to actually be used for any recreational means

Possibly the land plants were not compatible with either the eel or blue whale bits?

The creature is most definitely mutated to some extent—I doubt the mouth is intentional. I believe that the size was certainly on purpose, with the blue whale genes—it could’ve been created to make a “living garden” of sorts, but that’s just a theory.

But I think the most important thing that we got was the location where that thing came from—with the analysis, we were able to figure out what specific types of eels and plants were used and have nailed down an area. We will be going there tomorrow. I will update these notes during that.

Shellington shut the notebook, walking over to his bed and sliding on his slippers, pulling on his nightgown and nightcap, and settling into his bed that the next morning would launch him into his seat. He slept rather peacefully, even it was a little hard to get to sleep given his excitement. But against his own wants, he forced himself into slumber—he needed to be well-rested for tomorrow. Maybe he’d finally figure out what madman made the vegimals (and by extension, the creature).

He woke up being launched, as expected, and landed in his chair. He blinked himself awake, glanced over at the tablet lodged in the wall. He had about thirty minutes before breakfast, and right after breakfast, they were going to be going off. He was ecstatic. He didn’t go out as much, and certainly not in such an exciting opportunity—-the vegimals were one thing, yet finally finding out where they came from?! It was exhilarating! He was certain he’d never want to recreate these experiments, still, knowing was enough for him. He didn’t really have much to do, so he decided he could go and try to help the vegimals or the Professor or something.

***

Breakfast had been good, cooked by the vegimals as usual. They’d done a great job, as always. Now, Shellington was with the Captain and Dashi, helping with figuring out where exactly they were going. While the labs gave him a general area, unfortunately they didn’t have an exact location, so they were trying to narrow it down to exactly where they were going to investigate. With any luck, whoever that lunatic was who’d done this was either still there or it was abandoned, hopefully with all the notes still intact.

After only a little bit of searching on the maps, though, it wasn’t too hard to find. The only lab in that area was abandoned, never to open up again. Apparently there had been some sort of accident or incident there that’d closed it off from business for good. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much information besides that, so Shellington figured they’d just have to gather that information when they arrived. Barnacles was mildly concerned about the legality of this whole exploration, though Shellington was able to convince him (with the help of Kwazii, who was more than happy to help coerce their Captain into letting them go into a creepy old “mad-scientist” (as Kwazii called it) laboratory) to let them go anyways. The area around looked pretty abandoned, too, so Shellington doubted there’d be security or anything. Or just…. Anyone.

So, they arrived at the coast later that day. The Octopod brought them (Shellington, the Captain, Kwazii, Peso, and Dashi) to the shore, before diving back down under the surface of the water to be concealed. They’d brought a variety of supplies:

A couple flashlights, obviously. Everybody had two.

Some emergency snacks (fish biscuits) plus water

Blacklight flashlights, just in case (only two, though).

A crowbar

Shellington’s usual day-to-day supplies (everything in his satchel: his notebook, magnifying glass, pencil, test tubes, etc)

Plus a few other supplies. Shellington didn’t notice it through his own excitement, though Peso was afraid. His scaredy-cat-ness had gotten better over time, though sometimes things still spooked him. An abandoned laboratory that had at once point held a creature that had attempted to eat all of them? Certainly horrifying. Peso couldn’t help but worry there were more creatures like that still contained, mean ones like the creature and not sweet ones like the vegimals that everyone had grown rather fond of (at this point, none of them could imagine life without the little fellas).

Stepping onto the sand, they began the short trek. Fortunately, the abandoned lab was relatively close to the coast, so they didn’t have to hike far. With a little bit of climbing rocks (with the help of the Captain and Kwazii), they got to the entranceway relatively easily. It was nailed over with wooden bars. “Hm,” was all Shellington said before Kwazii pushed him aside, “Let me handle this one, matey,” he claimed, twirling his crowbar before hooking it under one of the planks, pulling backward with his feet on the door. It came off, but he landed on his back. “Yeow!” He got the second and third boards off in a similar fashion, even with the Captain’s insistence he could do it.

Kwazii widely opened the door, letting them all inside first before he dashed in after them. Dashi flicked a light switch on the wall, though, expectedly—the area remained dark. All of them clicked on a flashlight, and the room was slightly more visible. Debris was scattered across the ground, things knocked over. Looked like someone had left in a hurry, except that someone was also a damn tornado. Shellington walked over to a random counter, noticing a notebook on it. He flipped through it. Nothing interesting. Disappointed, he rejoined the rest of the group to continue snooping around. They seemed to just be in the lobby of the lab, which made sense. The door they’d entered looked like a front door, anywho. Two big red doors were just off to the left, which Shellington entered without any acknowledgement of that to the rest of them. Kwazii followed after him, clearly wishing for adventure.

As they walked in, they were greeted by a long hallway. It didn’t look too different from a hospital, honestly. Shellington decided on walking into the first door they saw. Inside, a few empty tanks, some test tubes dry on a shelf. Shellington looked around. He heard Kwazii tapping his foot impatiently behind him, though he paid no mind to it. Even after looking through all the cupboards, (Kwazii had complained about that, groaning, “Matey, you’ve been in there for ages” while grossly exaggerating the last word, which Shellington responded with, “Just another minute!”) he didn’t find anything of value. He found it odd that a few things were slightly out of place or knocked onto the floor, still he didn’t question it much. He had other things to worry about, to find.

So, they walked into the next room, Kwazii being the first one to enter, though being visibly disappointed when there once again wasn’t anything all that interesting, especially not to him. Shellington noted that more things were knocked over in this room, yet he still brushed it off. Again, nothing interesting.

So, the two of them searched from room to room, and as they went further down the hallway, there seemed to be more knocked over, more stuff weirdly out of place. Kwazii didn’t notice it at all at first, though eventually, he spoke about it. “Shellington… maybe it be just me, but..” Kwazii motioned outwardly towards the rest of the room with his “Doesn’t it be weird that more stuff be knocked over every room we go into?” He asked, face a little scrunched and hands helplessly in the air in questioning. Shellington put a hand to his chin, other resting on the strap of his bag. “Aye, I.. I noticed that too. I reckon it’s nothing, though. Or it could be linked to that accident that they said happened…” Shellington idly thought, before looking back up. “I suppose we’ll just have to see as we continue.” he said, and the two of them briefly searched the room before moving on. Kwazii had to begun to help to “get it over with quicker”, and while Shellington was a little worried he’d overlook something important as he would find it “boring”, though he just decided to brush that thought off. He wanted to actually find something, too, so moving quicker wasn’t a bad idea.

Eventually, the rest of the group joined up with them, as they’d finished looking through everything in the lobby, to no avail. Dashi had taken a few pictures, Peso had stayed close to the Captain most of the time. Now they could help look around, too, and hopefully soon they’d actually find something. Shellington was really hoping they wouldn’t come up empty-handed, otherwise this whole thing would’ve been completely and utterly pointless. Obviously, that’d suck. So, they went through all the rooms, before they got to another set of large, red doors, with “LEVEL THREE PERSONNEL ONLY. DANGEROUS.” Kwazii, without any prompting, spoke, “So how do we plan on gettin’ in, mateys?” he asked, and the Captain almost looked like he was about to protest, but he sighed. He held out his hand. “Crowbar, Kwazii?” he asked, and Kwazii grinned maniacally, placing it into the polar bear’s large palm. “Please, everyone. Step back.” he requested, and everyone did as they were told.

Stepping far back and holding the crowbar high above his head, he charged, and Shellington thought he saw something sprouting out of the Captain’s head and his arms getting a little furry and clawed, though it lasted only a moment before the door was burst open, and the small tidbits of the polar bear parts of him disappeared in a instant. Peso muttered “f-flappity flippers…” under his breath as the Captain wiped off his brow with his forearm, before he motioned out. “Well. I suppose we should go in, correct?” and Kwazii pumped his fist in the air. “YEOW!” before he dashed in, “Kwazii, wa-” Shellington ran in right after him. The Captain sighed, as Dashi followed behind Shellington and Peso was still standing right next to him. The two walked in together.

Shellington looked around, though it only took a moment for him to see the shattered glass across the floor as it crunched under his boots. He was thankful these boots had been made to handle that stuff, because otherwise that glass would’ve gilded right through his foot. That thought only lasted a second, as his attention was turned to what those rigid pieces of glass on the floor were originally apart of. A huge tank, which had clearly been broken out of. It was mainly empty, until the back part of it, which had been destroyed, letting the salty air breeze on through. It was a refreshing cool compared to the stagnant, previously sterile air of the rest of the building. Shellington knew this is where the creature had been kept, clearly. A notebook laid on the floor. It was a little crumpled from water damage, yet still readable. Shellington pulled on his gloves, as he didn’t really want glass in his hands either, and picked it up, beginning to flip through the notes. Some of the ink had been smeared, but Shellington got the jist.

01 LARGE

APRIL 24

experiment 01, large, has been primarily successful. we were able to transport five different organisms' DNA (blue whale, eel, human, kelp, and seaweed) into it, and it seems to be growing rather fast. technically, it started just as a baby eel hybrid, so the human and eel bits aren’t all that impressive, but being able to combine it with those other three obviously is. it is developing fast. its skin has been slowly turning green, and from our samples, its “hair” is more plant-like. i imagine this is because of the kelp and seaweed

will update this log tomorrow

01 LARGE

APRIL 25

01 has been growing fast. faster than expected. it is also more violent than we were hoping it to be. we were hoping the blue whale and plant genes would mellow it out, though it seems the eel bits seem to be overpowering personality wise.

it only wants meat. it shouldnt, given the blue whale parts. fortunately, it is not attacking personnel. hopefully, that won’t change.

01 LARGE

APRIL 28

there wasn’t much to note that was different until now. its mouth is… wrong. it shouldn’t be segmented like how it is now. and it attacked a feeder today. it’s dangerous. hopefully, the smaller 02s will turn out differently. it seems the eel bits are overpowering, though it also could be a mutation. possibly, combining so many organisms caused this. maybe it’s a mix. we will have to tranquilize it for further tests.

01 LARGE

APRIL 29

01 is unstable. it continues to grow and it continues to thrash in its tank and hit itself on the back wall. with how big it will end up being, there is a possibility it is able to break out. the glass should be strong enough to hold it, but…

i don’t even know anymore.

01 LARGE

MAY 1

i believe it would be best if we euthanized 01. it is very hostile. for some reason, the boss wont let us use euthanasia or even just MOVE it. this is going to end badly, i know it.

There were no more entries after that. Shellington supposed whoever this mysterious journal writer was, they were right. He decided to take the book with him, tucking it into his satchel. Just then, Peso’s voice ran out. “Shellington! I think this is about the vegimals!” he called, and Shellingotn whipped around, running over to him. “Please, be careful!” the Captain warned, and it was probably because of all the glass and debris. Peso was in front of a shattered incubator, a notebook open in front of him. He flipped it to a beginning page, and handed it to Shellington. His eyes scanned over it.

02 Small

April 25th

The 02s seem to be growing magnificently. Their eggs are interesting, they resemble the eggs of the (fish) species they were combined with. I believe doing a smaller DNA combination will lead to them being more stable. 01 is a stupid idea. But this isn’t about 01, so.

02 Small

April 28th

They’ve grown larger. The shapes of them are somewhat visible within the eggs, though it is hard to tell. Nothing else of note.

There wasn’t anything else interesting about these notes, though Shellington took them anyways, even if it was basically just saying “the eggs grew bigger” each entry. Except for the very last one.

02 Small

May 1st

I wish I could take them out of here, but I am not permitted to. With how unstable 01 is growing, I have requested the 02s could be taken out at least out of this room, but for some reason, the boss is not allowing it. I want to see them flourish. It is out of my hands, though, I suppose.

The 02s are growing excellently. I suspect they will take a long time to hatch. Just a guess, though.

Shellington would’ve loved to chat with both of these writers, but it seemed that they were most likely both dead or just impossible to track down. Maybe one day. Just not today.They searched around the facility a little more, yet didn’t find anything of much value. A few slightly intriguing things here and there, Shellington took some data sheets. He would’ve loved to see what they had on the computers…. If the computers weren’t so water-damaged that they were unusable. Plus, they probably needed a password, which Shellington nor any of the other Octonauts had access to. Maybe Dashi’d be able to figure it out, though Shellington didn’t think on that thought for long before he noticed a sheet scattered on the floor. Looked like a fallen poster. He picked it up.

“KEEP WORKING!” with a little illustration of someone experimenting with test tubes cartoonishly was drawn and written upon it. Didn’t seem to be anything of value, so Shellington put it on a nearby table. As he put it down, though, something caught his eye. Another notebook! He instantly grabbed it and flipped it open, carefully, he scanned the pages. There wasn’t too much interesting about anything, for the most part. Just looked like a summary of what he had already seen. Despite the fact it wasn’t anything new, he tucked it into his satchel. He knew he’d regret it if he didn’t take the book.

***

After a little more searching, not much more was found. Shellington was satisfied with the information he’d gathered, Dashi had taken enough pictures, and everyone else was just a little tired out (especially Kwazii, who’d been running around and doing acrobatics like usual. He had an affinity for flipping, after all) so, they decided on heading back now. Shellington was thankful for all the information gathered, certain he’d be able to continue his research with this newfound information. Finally, they’d be able to figure it all out.

***

Inkling stirred in his seat, looking up for a moment from the book he was currently reading and placing his cup of tea down. The Octopod didn’t often shake when it was still, or at least it wasn’t really supposed to. Tweak, the engineer he’d sought out all that time ago, had made sure the Octopus-themed submarine/house was sturdy and strong. And there was another shake, this time larger. His first thought was a storm, but Dashi hadn’t mentioned any predictions of one. Unless if it was a somehow unpredictable hurricane or something, which he didn’t think was possible. He digressed, though. He was quite old after all. He figured going up to the HQ wasn’t a bad idea. He sipped the rest of his tea and walked over to the chute, jumping in despite his old age.

He exited by landing in his hover-chair Tweak had designed for him—-she really didn’t have to do that, but Inkling couldn’t imagine life (especially on the Octopod) without it now. It was quite convenient, after all! He directed it over to Dashi, whose expression was furrowed. “Dashi?” he asked, and she startled before realizing it was him. “Oh, Professor, it’s you. Um, yeah, this–” she pointed at the screen, and tapped against it, her relatively long nails clacking against the surface, “This storm is completely unprecedented. It’s… it should not be possible, is the problem. It wasn't predicted at all!” she cried, concern lacing her voice. She usually didn’t sound so panicked–she and the Captain were probably the calmest two on the ship (excluding himself)---so her tone worried the Professor. “I think the Captain will have to—no, I don’t think, he will have to steer the ship. It looks like a big storm.” she said, still a tad panicked. “Should we sound the Octo-alert?” he asked, and Dashi was stooped in thought for a split second before nodding. “Yes.” Inkling took that to heart, slamming his fist down on the big button, and it flashed, the WOOP WOOP echoing throughout the Ship. “Octonauts, to the HQ!” he called, and after only a minute, everyone had made their way to the head of the ship, the Captain being the first one to speak up. “What’s going on?” he asked, calmly, and Dashi swiveled her chair back to look at him, simultaneously pressing something to put her screen onto the TVs of the HQ. “There’s a huge storm rolling in, Captain. A completely unpredicted one as well! You will most likely have to steer once it comes in, and everyone needs to prepare themselves. Please, make sure everything is all secure—this could cause massive damage given how big it is. It doesn’t llook to be a hurricane, but it could turn into one, and given how the system didn’t even tell me there was a storm until just now, it could be entirely a much bigger one than expected,” she rapidly explained, changing the visuals slightly each time to accentuate her point. Inkling noted she seemed a little more zen now that the Captain and everyone else was there, and once she’d told all of them, but she was clearly still distressed. The Captain nodded slowly, taking the lighting round of information in. “I see.” he straightened his back and cleared his throat, “Octonauts,” he said, speaking to everyone again. “Like Dashi said, prepare. Make sure anything easily breakable or anything important is secured. Stay in your stations or areas unless told otherwise.” He turned to Tunip, “Tunip, you and the rest of the vegimals secure the kitchen and garden, then half of you go to the lab or library.” Tunip curtly nodded. Inkling was impressed with how calm he was remaining, and how quickly he’d taken everything in, but it did make sense.

He hired him for a reason, after all. He’d made sure to find someone confident (But not egotistical), brave, and who could handle situations such as these. He was glad he’d made the right choice all that time ago. He couldn’t imagine having any difference of a crew now that they were here—they were practically his family by this point. Wasn’t like he had much “real” family left though, he supposed. His parents (and obviously grandparents) died, his very few siblings as well. He only really had his darling Nephew, Squirt, left. A thought crossed his mind, wondering how the little man was doing. After a moment, though, he remembered the task at hand, and immediately hopped on down to his library. Fortunately, he’d waterproofed all of his books long ago, partially with the help of Shellington and Dashi. It had been nice, silently listening to their chatter as they all did the monotonous task, though that was now a figment of the past. If he didn’t want all that work to be lost, he needed to put the place he kept all of the things he cared about in lockdown. Obviously, he couldn’t manually tie up all the books, partially because of his age and partially just because it would take far too long. So, long ago, Tweak had made a little emergency button of sorts, that put solid steel sheets over all of the shelves. He pressed it with a simple push with four of his fingers, and he needed to do the rest of the preparations, now. He was sure it wouldn’t be long until a couple of the vegimals came down, likely with a couple of snacks (especially if Grouber came down—-the tallest vegimal always had some sort of food on him, even if it was usually just for himself). Usually the vegimals split into Grouber + Tomminow and Tunip + Barrot + Codish, (not always, though) so he’d most likely get one of those two groups. He guessed probably the prior group, though he obviously couldn’t be sure.

Moving on, he secured his record player and lamps into some cabinets, as well as his cup for tea that he’d finished earlier. He was fairly certain that was everything, but he made a lap around the library to check—better safe than sorry. He sat in his armchair, realizing that he should probably store that away somewhere. He huffed, though he knew he should be as safe as possible, again especially given his age. He pushed the armchair into a small nook he was certain it’d stay put in, and then sat on the floor. He figured he should stay away from the windows, but they were steeled up anyways, and even if they did break open, he’d be fine. While Peso, Barnacles and Shellington could all hold their breath longer, he and the vegimals were the only ones who actually had/could form gills. He was part squid, and the vegimals were part fish, and part plant, and obviously part human, given those experiments they’d only recently found out about. Idly, Inkling wondered about the creature that that “scientist” had created and that had apparently chased down most of the crew. He hoped it was doing alright—-even if it had attacked them, it wasn’t really its fault. Shellington had been talking about it and its creator, something from those documents they found,

“It’s like a failed… version of the vegimals, I suppose. I’m not entirely sure what went wrong, given the vagueness, but it clearly mutated, given its size. That thing was huge! Bigger than the GUP Q, that’s for sure. I imagine the vegimals were….Well, absolutely experimented on as eggs of smaller fish. That creature I couldn’t tell what it was hybridized with, possibly a multitude of plants and fish, and obviously human…Aye, whatever it’s made up of, it was too much. Maybe that scientist did it on too big of a creature or something, or possibly on an adult instead of an egg like the vegimals and it mutated horrendously. Unfortunately, my tests didn’t give us much, and given the damage at that scientist’s lab, I couldn’t find too much. But… I think that’s the most of it, aye? Um. Yeah.”

The conversation had gone on after that point, but that was the most important bit, especially regarding that creature. He figured it probably went back to where they’d found it, surely. It likely didn’t have anything else to do, really, besides eat. After a little bit, two vegimals exited through the chute—like he’d guessed, it was Tomminow and Grouber. Grouber’s little overalls were filled with fish biscuits, and he had one half-eaten one in his hand, too. He was grinning, still happy despite the predicament, and Tomminow looked a little scared, but they always were at least a little. “Tomminow, Grouber,” Inkling softly greeted, welcoming them with a warm smile. “Chiba chiba!” Grouber trilled in his (still shockingly) deep voice. Inkling wasn’t fluent in the vegimal’s language, especially not like how Shellington was, though he could understand a little just from being around them so often. He figured Grouber was saying something like “Hi Professor!” back. Tomminow weakly nodded, practically confirming Grouber’s words.

“I believe we should go into that corner over there,” he said, pointing. “It’s the farthest from the windows. I’ve taken out a book to read to the two of you” he said, holding it up. It was a chapter book, but it had a few pictures scattered throughout it. Tomminow grinned at that, and the two of them raced to the corner, Grouber stopping periodically to take a bite out of a biscuit. Inkling was slow behind them, but eventually settled into the corner with Tomminow on his right and Grouber on his left. He just hoped this storm would blow over rather quickly, or at least wouldn’t cause too much damage to the Octopod. Only a little after he thought that, he heard the whipping of the waves from the inside, but for now, the orange ship seemed to be rooted in place. Hopefully, it’d stay that way. He read page after page, the two vegimals enjoying it. Grouber fell asleep, biscuit mid-way into his mouth after a little, though Tomminow seemed to still be paying attention.

Inkling paused his reading for a moment—that sounded like a loud clang. To the point where it concerned him. He adjusted his monocle, slipped a bookmark into place, and put the book down on the carpeted floor. Tomminow trilled curiously up at him. He pat their head, red hair and stem now a little squished down. “Stay here, Tomminow,” he lightly commanded. He could never be as firm as Barnacles, but they listened nonetheless, staying in place. Just as he stood, the Octopod shook, and he grasped at a bookshelf to stabilize himself, heaving against it. “Oh my,” he muttered under his breath, straightening out his arms and adjusting his bowtie and monocle. Just as he did so, it jolted again, now to the other side, and he slid backwards into another shelf. He groaned, gritting his teeth. He supposed in his pain he couldn’t help the whole part-octopus thing, and he noticed his skin had turned a bit pinker, and his hand was more akin to a tentacle now.

He exhaled, calming himself. He should try to get to the screen to contact the Captain or Dashi. He just prayed he wouldn’t fall down the damn stairs and break his back, though he supposed he’d probably be fine given the whole octopus thing. Slowly walking down the stairs, he walked to the screen, and just managed to press his tentacle-hand to the little blue octopus-ensigma’d button. He was met with a view of the HQ—Dashi must’ve connected him to one of the TVS, he reckoned. “Professor?” she asked, before another jolt caused the both of them to begin to slide to the left, but Inkling used his tentacles to his advantage and suctioned onto the wall next to the screen. Dashi’s chair just went sliding, “Wooooooah-” she cried, before repositioning herself. “Dashi, there has been a lot of jolts like that. I am… mildly concerned.” Inkling stated, and Dashi nodded. “I- I know… It’s getting rougher. I think it’ll be best if everyone is in the HQ, so,” she tapped something on her board, “All Octonauts to the HQ once everything is secured!” she spoke clearly, voice reverberating around the ship. Inkling un-suctioned himself, yelling out to the vegimals. “Tomminow, Grouber—we’re going to the HQ!” he yelled, and Grouber startled as he woke up, before both nodded and slid down the steps, and Inkling hopped in the chute, them trailing behind.

As he got there, he realized Barnacles was already lifted into the steering wheel area. Most of the others were there, except for Tweak. He was confused by this, so he asked, “Where’s Tweak?” and Dashi glanced back at him. “Oh, hello, Professor. She’s down in the bubble engine—with how big this storm is, we’ll probably need more power.” she explained, and he nodded curtly. Made sense. “And….” he looked back up at her. “I don’t think the storm is our only worry,” she said, and Inkling raised an eyebrow. Dashi responded without words, pressing a button and in a moment the maps were displayed on the TVs. Some huge creature. Inkling held back a gasp. “Is..” Dashi nodded. “We believe it’s the creature. It matches up in size personally, and it’s coming straight for us. Unfortunately, staying in place isn’t the best idea.” she said, and just as she did, they heard the Captain’s voice. “Dashi, start taking off,” he ordered. “On it!” she immediately slammed the button, and the Octopod shook, causing most of them to slide across the floor a little. Inkling instinctively latched onto his chair with his tentacles. Kwazii yelped, “Yeow!” and a few of the others said their “catchphrases” (“F-Flappity Flippers!” “Jumping Jellyfish!”) and while he couldn’t hear her, he was certain Tweak was muttering “Oh me oh my” under her breath. The Octopod strained against the currents, but whipped seamlessly through the water despite that. Inkling just hoped that they’d be able to get out of this storm and away from what was presumably the creature.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, another sudden turn, and his chair slid over to the side. He readjusted his monocle once more. For a moment, the Octopod strained against the currents, until the Captain barked another order, “Tweak, turn up the strength on the bubble engines!” Inkling could hear him straining against the tough currents, but he was strong. He was able to hold them back for the time being. Tweak came in through the radio, “I need some help down here!” she cried, a little staticky on account of the storm. Shellington spoke up, “Tunip?” and the leader vegimal trilled something like “I will!” or “On it!” or something along those lines, and did a little salute before he jumped down the chute. Dashi responded for Shellington, “Tunip’s coming down to assist, Tweak,” and Tweak audibly sighed of relief. After a moment, seemingly Tweak and Tunip were able to help, the Octopod pushed further, albeit slower than it usually would be.

Inkling glanced back up at the map—the creature was getting closer. And fast. He swallowed air, but before he could speak up, the medic did. Inkling noted that his ears were more feathery than usual, though he supposed that made sense. Most people turned more animalistic with big emotions, and stress was certainly one here. “Dashi, it l-looks like it’s a-approaching f-fast!” he bawled, and Dashi pursed her lips. “...you’re right. Captain,” she spoke, pressing a button as she did. “It’s– it’s getting much closer.” Barnacles huffed through the mic. “Tweak, is it possible to get more power?” he asked, and Dashi relayed the question to her rapidly. “Not much more, I’m ‘fraid, Cap.” she admitted, and the Captain growled, but not angrily at Tweak or anyone else. Just at the circumstances. “Try to make it as powerful as you can,” he ordered, and Tweak responded with a little “On it, Cap” the Octopod seemed to go a little faster, albeit not by much, and it wouldn’t be noticeable if he wasn’t looking out for it.

The ship haggardly pushed on, and Inkling looked out the back window. For a moment, he thought he saw something. Approaching closer. It didn’t take long for him to tell it was green. He whipped around, though before he could say anything, Kwazii did first. “Mateys, I think it’s approaching!” Dashi glanced back up at the map, then out the window. “Everyone, prepare to get hit!” and as if it was magic, the creature approached faster and fast, eyes glowing bright and serrated mouth opened wide, plant-like “hair” whirling around it furiously. Inkling heard Peso gulp. Shellington, along with most of the vegimals, crouched under a desk. Kwazii was standing proud. Dashi covered her head with her hands. He himself covered his head with his tentacle-hands and pressed his eyes shut, bracing for the impact. He opened one eye a little, and he saw the green tail of the creature slap against the glass, sending them wildly off course. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH”

“F-flappi- AAA-”

“Oh no-”

“Jumping j-elly–AAAAAAAAAAAH”

“YEOWWWWWWWWW”

Lots of screaming and yelling and all of that was heard, as they spun through the water uncontrollably. Inkling could tell Barnacles was fighting against it given the strain, but even he with all his strength was unable to stop this. They were going to crash—whether that be into land or to the bottom of the ocean, Inkling was unsure. He was a little worried if it was the latter for the majority of the crew, even the ones that could breath longer periods of time underwater. He knew he and the vegimals would be fine, but what about the rest? His thoughts were interrupted after he realized they were heading towards some sort of landmass, but the creature apparently wasn’t done. It had followed them, and was gearing up its tail, and backed up, and striked again, slightly upwards this time, and for the first time, the Octopod flew.

***

Professor Inkling woke up with a horrendous headache. Slowly blinking his eyes open, his sight adjusted, unblurring, and he re-positioned his monocle. It was sand, for a long while. While he didn’t recognize it at first, he remembered the area they were in before the storm. The Atlantic Ocean, around Namibia. That meant that this area, this sandy, a little foggy, area was most likely one infamous coast.

They were stranded at Skeleton coast.

[AUTHORS NOTE]

Hello, authors note time, Candi/Chris/Pantpisser9000 here. First and foremost—-thank ALL of you. Whether you have read every chapter, just one, came from ao3 or from here on tumblr—-I seriously appreciate the support this has garnered. It is by FAR my longest work, ever, ending at about 102k words. While looking back, there are many things I would change on how I executed this fic and the plot points, I am still immensely proud of myself for it.

So, again, thank you all. Not just the people who’ve read this, but also this entire community—-which has been so wonderful and supportive and just great. I love this show dearly.

Now, I want to say something more serious and unrelated to the fic. There are two important things I encourage everyone to look into and support/help with.

The travesties happening in Palestine. If you aren’t educated I recommend doing some of your own research & helping.

KOSA, aka the kids online safety act. If this passes, EVERYONE in America will be affected (though especially minors).

I’ve retweeted/reblogged things relating to both causes both on here & on my Twitter (kiingcandi_) if you need a start

For Palestine, I recommend checking out these threads (though again I implore you to do your own research) & spread info + strike/go to protests IF YOU ARE ABLE TO.

https://x.com/bioloveds/status/1776687704669143526?s=46

https://x.com/bioloveds/status/1779208030166683958?s=46

https://x.com/bioloveds/status/1775615288618492298?s=46

https://x.com/txtarchivee/status/1769171443395526894?s=46 (survey from senate regarding this and some other issues)

For KOSA, if you live in the US, PLEASE call your senators. I know it’s nerve wracking but GENUINELY please do. If you don’t live in the US, there are petitions out there.

https://x.com/stxrduztedd/status/1768416180467798282?s=46

(This one is VERY VERY helpful!!! Makes it super super easy to call your senators! https://t.co/VRNTWKKsZF)

Again, I implore you to find your own ways to help with both of these causes and do some research.

Now that I’ve said all of that, I only have have final thing in order.

Thank you for everything.

Candi

#octonauts #octonauts fanfic #Combined together

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