-Chapter 36-

Today was the last day of the story. The agents were all excited for the ending, wondering what was going to happen now that Octari was on the surface. Cap'n tells the agents to settle down, then says "Alright squiddos, this is the last story. It all begins shortly after me and Agent 8 reached the surface."

-Octo Expansion: Finale-

Octari couldn't feel any more proud of herself then she was currently. She finally reached the surface and achieved her uncle's dream for her. And the surface was just as amazing as she herself had dreamed.

Then, Octari realizes something. "There's no bridge anywhere, just water. How do we get back to the mainland?"

Cap'n looks around and realizes that there was no bridge. "Either Agent 3 was brought here by air or boat, or she super jumped with that strange ability she had. Either way, we have no way of getting back." Cap'n turns to Octari to speak, when a sudden sound is heard. Music.

Octari and Cap'n look over the water and are surprised to see a fleet of helicopters flying to them. The helicopter leading the fleet had what appeared to be a stage beneath it. "HEY DOWN THERE!"

Octari squints, then gasps slightly. Marina was waving to them from the lead helicopter, and Pearl was striking a pose. They were both in their new stage outfits that Pearl made during Squidmas.

Cap'n smiles widely and waves back at the duo. Marina turns to someone in the copter, and soon it is descending down to the small platform the agents were on. Octari goes to Amber and throws her over her shoulder so they could get her on the copter.

The copter lowers down to only slightly above their position. The suspended stage beneath the copter was accessible to them and the two jump on, Octari careful to keep Amber from falling. Octari sets the unconscious agent down on the stage, then sits herself. She was only now beginning to feel the effects of her battle with Amber.

Cap'n dangles his feet over the edge of the stage and looks up at the pop stars above him. "That was quite good timing you had there you two."

Marina smiles and says "Well, I figured you would be reaching the surface soon. After I dispatched the drone to bring the dynamo roller, me and Pearlie got on our copter and flew over here."

Pearl nods with a smirk on her face. "Yeah! We never use this damn thing anyways, so it was the perfect opportunity!"

Octari nods as she hears the reasoning. Then, her eyes widen. Her gaze snaps back to Pearl and she says "W-Wait, was that Octarian I just heard?!"

Marina blushes slightly, but a big smile was on her face. "Y-Yes it was. I made a device that changes the sound waves an inkling or octoling produces so that others can understand a foreign language. The wearer can also understand what the other person is saying in return."

Pearl nods, then slaps Marina on the back. She grins widely and says "This is why 'Rina is the best. She is so damn smart!" Marina blushes and seems to try and hide behind her hair.

Octari giggles and says "That is pretty useful." Pearl nods, her arms crossed. Then, her eyes widen and she says "Oh! I bet it'd be better if you used it Eight. I can't speak Octarian, and neither can most inklings. I am pretty sure 'Rina here and the agents are the only ones who can, so it'd be better if you used it to understand Calamarese."

Octari blinks and her mouth forms an 'O'. Marina smiles and says "Hey, that is pretty smart Pearlie!" Pearl just grins in pride, taking off the device and handing it to Octari.

Octari fumbles with the device a bit, eventually being able to attach it to her current headset. Pearl then says "Does it work?" Octari smiles and nods.

Marina turns to Pearl and begins celebrating at successfully making such a device. Pearl simply smiles and goes along with it. Cap'n watches the two in slight pride. He considered all the agents to be like his grandsquids, so this was a nice event.

Octari smiles as she watches the two, but then her ear twitches. She turns around, then pales at the sight she sees. The platform her and Cap'n were on previously was rising, and it did not seem good.

Octari taps Cap'n's shoulders and says "C-Cap'n? Look over there!" Cap'n turns around, and his eyes go wide as he sees the rising platform. An intricate design was underneath, and it was raising Cap'n's suspicions.

Pearl and Marina also stop celebrating as they take notice of the rising platform. Soon, they could all see a massive statue with an all too familiar shape. Cap'n narrows his eyes and says "That shape, that looks like a human!"

The agents all stare at the gigantic statue warily, wondering what was going on. The a sudden voice echoes across the area. "TARTAR IN DA HOUSE!"

Every eye snaps over to the statue's left eye, wondering what made the noise. Octari's eyes widen, then narrow dangerously as she glares at the speaker. "It's that stupid phone!"

The phone shakes a bit, then says "TEMPORARY SPEECH MODIFICATION DISABLED." The phone shakes some more, and that's when Octari notices something disturbing. The phone was covered in the same blue goop that controlled Amber, and a single Octarian tentacle was sticking out of it. She covers her mouth and turns away, unable to handle the disgusting sight.

The phone then speaks once again, saying "My name is Commander Tartar. I am an AI made by a brilliant human professor 12,000 years ago. My job was to pass on the knowledge of the human race to the next intelligent forms of life."

Marina and Pearl look at each other, wondering where this random monologue came from. The phone shakes again as it says "When your kind became self-aware, I thought my wait would be over."

Tartar shakes violently, then practically spits out "But no! As I viewed your kind's evolution, it disgusted me! You warred over trivial genetic differences and cared more for materials then your own comrades!"

Cap'n looks down in slight sadness as Tartar says that. The great war did seem almost pointless once it was over. He could only regret the many lives he took in that fight.

Tartar doesn't notice Cap'n's regret and continues with "So, I devised a plan. I would rid this world of all the unworthy species and recreate a new species, just as the professor envisioned. Now, behold the instrument of your demise!"

The statue suddenly shakes slightly, and the mouth begins to open up. A large machine extends from the opening, looking too much like a laser cannon than the agents wanted to admit.

Marina instantly grabs her laptop and pilots her drone around the statue. "This isn't good." Pearl hops on her feet, suddenly anxious. "What! What isn't good?!"

Marina types a bit, her drone scanning every inch of the statue. "The phone wasn't lying. That machine has enough power to cover the whole main land in ink! All the inklings will die!"

Octari's eyes widen as she hears that. She looks at the size of the machine and says "How on earth do we stop something that big?!"

Marina frowns in concentration, then notices a shine on the statue's body. The entire covering was made of solar panels! She smiles and says "The statue looks like it made of solar panels and is drawing energy from the sun! If we can cover the whole thing in ink, then we can stop it from charging completely!"

Pearl frowns and says "But how do we cover that whole thing in ink! It looks like it's gonna fire any minute!"

Marina nods and says "You aren't wrong, we only have about four minutes until it launches. Luckily, I have a solution." She clicks a button on her laptop and all all the copters around them begin to surround the statue. Each of them all open a panel on the bottom of each copter and something begins to extend downwards from each copter.

Pearl's eyes widen as she realizes what the items are. "The Hyper Bombs! But I thought they were still in development?"

Marina nods and says "They are. I can't activate them remotely, but they can still cause massive damage." She turns to Octari and says "So, that means Agent 8 will need to activate them manually."

Octari blinks, then says "Me?!" Marina nods. "You are the only one with a weapon and they need to be shot to activate." Octari stares for a little longer, then nods. Her eyes instantly fill determination, ready to take on this task.

Marina smiles and says "I knew I could count on you Eight." Marina then turns to Pearl and says "The ink will stop the charge, but the statue could still fire. I want you ready to hit it with the full power of your voice!" Pearl stares numbly at the sudden request, then nods as well. She could do that.

Octari smiles as things seem to sort out, then she turns to the statue. She readies her gun and compresses herself. She then super jumps over, ready for the bombs.

Marina talks over the headset and says "The first set of bombs will be on the chest! There will be five of them." Octari nods and runs over to the chest of the statue. She sees five large reticles appear on the chest, and soon the massive suction bombs slam into place.

Octari takes aim and fires at the first bomb. It's color changes to Octari's red and generates a massive explosion. Octari shields her eyes from some of the stray ink, then smiles in satisfaction. This could actually work.

Octari uses the ink made by the bomb to swim over to the next three, shooting them as well. They all explode and all that was left was one bomb. She swims over to the last bomb, which was sitting slightly on the shoulder, and shoots it. It coats the area in ink, making a swimmable path to the neck.

Marina then chimes in and says "Alright, the next five are on the neck, since you are already there. Go get 'em!" Octari watches as five more copters unleash their bombs, all sticking to various points on the neck.

Octari swims up the path made by the last bomb and shoots the closest bomb. It explodes, giving her swimming access to the other bombs. After about 20 seconds, all the bombs blow up and have coated the whole neck in ink.

Tartar watches in frustration, then says "Do not think I was not prepared for an attack!" Octari suddenly hears a whirring sound, and soon multiple hatches appear on the statue. Her eyes widen when she sees multiple splatling guns appear on the statue. They all begin to rev up, and Octari instantly tries to swim away.

Sanitized ink rains down on Octari as she runs away. She swims desperately for some cover, but often finds none. Marina's eyes widen in worry and she says "Hurry, go to the back! Some more bombs are there and I can see an ink rail going along it! You have a minute and a half to get the whole statue covered!"

Octari swims through the giant sea of red ink on the statue in a slight panic. She reaches the back of the statue and finds five more bombs on the statue. She also notices the long ink rail going along the back.

Octari hops onto the ink rail and aims at the bombs. Numerous splatling guns were on the back as well, but they couldn't shoot fast enough to match the ink rail's speed. Octari is easily able to avoid the shots, shooting the five bombs as she passes by.

As she hops off of the ink rail, she notices that some of the ink bombs hit the splatling guns. A few were disabled now, but most of them were simply searching for her. She just falls into her ink and swims away.

Marina smiles and says "The next five are on the arm. We have one minute!" Octari swims to the shoulder, easily avoiding the ink fired from the splatling guns. She notices another ink rail and hops on top of it.

She circles around the arm, shooting four of the bombs as she went. She lands back where she started, most of the splatlings destroyed by the blast. She looks around in worry, then panic as she can't find the last bomb.

"On the top of the arm Eight!" Octari looks up and notices a platform above her. She swims up the wall and finds the last bomb on the shoulder. She shoots it, smiling as it coats the entire shoulder in ink.

Many loud pops could be heard as the final bombs are fired onto the head. "The last ten are on the head! Hurry!" Octari nods and jumps onto another set of ink rails. The head had less splatling guns, so she could fire without worry, but time was running out. She had only thirty seconds.

She manages to get down seven of the bombs in 15 seconds. She looks up, wondering how to shoot the last three, which were out of her range. That's when she notices a second ink rail going up to the top. She smiles and hops on.

As she circles the upper portion of the head, she shoots a bomb on the left side of the head. She continues to circle, then ducks as a splatling fires at her. The ink flies over head, and she stands back up.

Octari fires at the ninth bomb, it coating the head almost entirely in ink. All that was left was the forehead. She circles to the front, aiming at the bomb. Then, be it a sixth sense or something else, she looks down.

Tartar was staring at her, hatred somehow radiating off of the phone. Octari smirks, then fires at the bomb without looking. Tartar shakes violently, screaming indecipherable gibberish at her.

The octoling simply smiles in satisfaction and looks back up. Her eyes widen immensely as she sees the ink rail come to a sudden stop. She grits her beak, then jumps off of the rail. She looks to the ink below, then to the sea. She would land in one, but it was going to be close.

"Wait, look out!" Octari's eyes widen as she registers Pearl's cry. Her eyes widen even more when she notices the giant laser cannon right beneath her. She didn't even consider the cannon. She turns into an octopus, her eyes shut tight, hoping her stretchable body would lessen the impact. She wouldn't know this would save her.

Tartar, noticing where Octari was going to land, begins to laugh. He opens a hatch on the cannon through his wires, hoping Octari would land in the opening. Under the hatch was a swirling pool of sanitized ink getting ready to be fired.

Octari, with her eyes closed, doesn't notice what she was going to land in. Marina notices though and screams "OCTARI!" Octari's eyes widen, and she instantly emits an animalistic screech as she lands in the pool of sanitized ink.

The red octopus is thrown around like a rag doll as the ink spins around her. Her eyes are shut tight in pain as the ink burns her body. Something else was happening to her, but she couldn't care to notice. The pain was immense.

Marina grits her beak and sends her drone to the ink cannon. She pilots it above the open hatch and extends a claw down to the ink. "Grab the claw, hurry!"

Octari is just barely able to register the plea through her pain. She looks up blearily and is able to see the claw, just visible in the swirl of blue ink. She swims up, fighting the current, and reaches with her tentacle. She is able to latch a suction cup onto the drone's claw, and the drone pulls her out of the ink.

Tartar screams in frustration again as even his plan to kill Octari was thwarted. "Test subject 10008, you have caused me enough trouble! It is time for you all to be remade into the world the professor envisioned!"

The drone carries Octari over to the helicopter the agents were on. She lets go gratefully and lands on the stage platform. She was too exhausted to even switch back from her octopus form.

Pearl looks on in worry and jumps down. She brushes the blue ink off of the red octopus's body, then looks at Marina. She stretches her hands out to Marina, holding the octopus carefully. Marina nods and picks up Octari, carefully setting her against the wall to rest.

Pearl turns to the statue, who's laser cannon was beginning to spin rapidly. She grits her beak, then screams "PHONE! THIS IS THE LAST TIME YOU HURT MY FRIENDS!"

Pearl's tentacles suddenly start glowing, the inkling not paying any attention. Marina gasps and Cap'n goes wide eyed as he sees Pearl suddenly get a special without any devices.

The white inkling then flips over, and a killer wail was suddenly placed in front of her. Marina's eyes widen and she says "That's the killer wail I got her for Squidmas!"

Pearl grits her beak and glares at the statue. She grips the handles tightly, then takes a deep breath. With all the force she could muster, she then screams. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

The killer wail shakes violently, then fires a massive beam of pink ink. The statue's cannon also finishes preparing its attack and fires as well. The two enormous beams of ink collide in the center, each one fighting for supremacy.

Tartar laughs as he sees his ink beam begin to work its way forwards, Pearl's voice wavering slightly. "It seems that you cannot stop me! Accept your demise!"

Pearl's eyes shut tight as she feels her throat throb in pain. She couldn't keep this up for much longer, and the blue ink was inching closer. Flashes of her friends pass through her head as she struggles to fight back and power the killer wail.

Clementine. Whinter. Daniel. Callie. Marie. Ika… I can't fail the one time I get the chance to do something right! I won't let Inkopolis fall!

Pearl's eyes tighten even tighter, and she suddenly feels something bubble inside her. It was a strength she knew she had, but was too afraid to use. She caused an earthquake last time, and that was enough for her to block it. But now… now she would use it to its fullest potential!

Pearl's takes an even deep breath, the beam of blue ink moving dangerously close as its resistance falls. Then, multiple times louder than before, Pearl screams again. "BOOOOYYYYAAAAAHHHH!"

The killer wail seems to have trouble staying in place, ink flying out of the exhaust pipes in streams. The beam in front of it bursts into life again, growing many times larger and stronger than before.

The blue ink is almost instantly pushed back by the stronger ink beam. Tartar shakes violently, then screams "NOOOOOOO!" The beam of pink ink blasts through the beam of blue, slamming right into the statue.

Tartar shakes even more violently as the statue shorts circuits. The goo on him, unable to stay connected, flies off of the phone. The statue continues to short circuit, until the laser cannon blasts off of the statue. It falls into the sea with a mighty splash.

The phone simply twitches, sparks flying off of it periodically. It seems that it was finally defeated. Marina sighs in satisfaction, then tells her pilot to head back to Inkopolis. The pilot nods and turns the helicopter around, the fleet following back to the city.

-Inkopolis Square-

Pearl and Marina, along with Cap'n, sneak the unconscious agents into the pop duo's apartment. They lay them on the couch, Octari still in her octopus form. Marina looks at the two anxiously, waiting for them to wake up.

After a couple minutes, a soft gurgle could be heard. Octari's eyes blink some, then look around in curiosity. She sees Pearl and Marina sitting on a couch, Marina talking of something. Cap'n was asleep on the chair and Amber was next to her, still unconscious. Octari closes her eyes and reverts back to her humanoid form.

"U-Um, guys? What happened?" Marina instantly stops talking and snaps her gaze to Octari, her mouth set in a smile. "Octari! You're fina-" Whatever she was going to say was stopped as she notices something odd about Octari.

Octari looked fine, but her tentacles had faded into a deep blue color on the tips. Octari tilts her head and says "What?"

Marina stumbles on her words as she tries to say something. "Well… um… your tentacles, they changed color…" Octari's eyes widen, and she looks around in a slight panic. Her eyes land on a mirror on the wall, and she gasps in shock. Her tentacles were the same color, but the tips were the same dark blue most of the sanitized octolings had.

Her eye twitches, then she smiles. "T-This is fine. I can handle this." She stares for a bit longer, until her eyes eventually close. She takes a deep breath, then breathes out. Her eyes narrow somewhat, but now she was calmed down.

She sits back on the couch and smiles, saying "I can handle this." Marina smiles nervously and nods, wondering if Octari had gone slightly crazy. She then says "I think it was that sanitized ink you fell into. I saw the color change on your tentacles as an octopus after I pulled you out, but I thought it was just ink."

Octari frowns in thought as she considers this. "You know, I did feel something change when I was in that ink." She suddenly shivers and says "That ink was going to sanitize me! That was way too much of a close call."

Marina nods and says "You're lucky you turned into an octopus when you feel. You never would've been able to swim out otherwise." Octari nods, simply glad she didn't turn into a mindless zombie.

A sudden groan is heard and the two look over to Amber. The agent was rubbing her head, groaning in pain. "I feel like I was hit with a truck, then splatted by the Octo Bot King's fists."

Marina's eyes widen as she notices something different about Amber as well. "Amber, your face! It changed color!" Amber flinches as a flare of pain shoots through the place the goo was on before. She looks at the mirror on the wall and frowns. A patch of green-ish peach skin was now on the right side of her face, very noticeable.

"That is one weird scar. Oh well, can't change it." Amber looks back at the agents, then raises an eyebrow at Pearl. The white inkling looked like she wanted to say something, but she wasn't she. She was simply shifting in her seat, watching the exchanges.

"Pearl, if you want to say something, say it." Pearl looks away, her mouth shut. Marina looks at Pearl, then to Amber. "Pearl... lost her voice. She had to blow her voice out to stop the phone from destroying Inkopolis. She won't be able to speak until tomorrow."

Amber raises an eyebrow and says "Destroy Inkopolis?" Marina blushes and says "Maybe another time I can tell you. Right now, I think we have someone who needs to meet the rest of the city."

Everyone looks over to Octari, and she raises an eyebrow in confusion. Her eyes then widen, and she blushes in embarrassment. "O-Oh! You mean me." Everyone nods in confirmation.

The agents all get up, Pearl waking Cap'n gently. They all go to the door and Marina opens it up. The agents all trickle out of the apartment, ready to get back to their lives. Marina goes to leave as well, when she sees Octari still in the apartment.

"Octari? Aren't you going to go see the city?" Octari shifts on her feet and looks down.

"Actually, I was wondering if you could… take me back to the subway?" Marina's eyes widen and she says "But you just got out! Why do you want to go back?!"

Octari looks at the ground a little longer, then back to the famous octoling. "Because I still have tests to do. They give me mem cakes and I want as many as possible." Marina looks at the octoling agent a little longer.

Eventually, she nods. With a smile, Marina says "I'll bring you back." Octari's eyes widen and she says "Really?!" Marina nods. Octari smiles and says "Thank you!" Marina just giggles.

She then says "Well then, let's go, shall we?" Octari nods, her smile much more determined. "Yeah!" Octari finally walks out, and the two depart for the metro.

-Octo Canyon-

"And that is it. I hope you liked the little adventure we had." The agents all voice their agreements. "That was awesome!" "So much action!" "This subway sounds like fun…"

Cap'n laughs and says "Alrighty squiddos! Why don't we call it finished here and go finish our day. Agent 8 should return soon, so you can meet her then." The agents nod and begin exiting the canyon.

Cap'n watches as the agents leave the cabin. He smiles, then turns to his cabin. He sits on the chair, sighing in happiness.

"Is it true my grandniece is in this subway?" Cap'n's eyes widen and he looks around. His eyes then fall on a large octoling walking past the archway leading to the kettles.

Cap'n's eyes narrow slightly as he says "Yes, she is. What are you doing here Octavio?" Octavio sighs at the hostile response Cap'n gave.

"I've come… for your forgiveness." Cap'n raises an eyebrow at that. Octavio suddenly kneels in front of Cap'n and says "I have done many terrible things. It may have not been my choice, but it took me so much longer to fight back then it should've. Many brave people died fighting an unnecessary war."

Cap'n continues to stare in belief at the kneeling king. He eventually sighs, then says "You don't need forgiveness." Octavio looks up in disbelief, wondering what Craig was going on about.

Craig looks Octavio in the eyes and says "I too regret the past. I killed many comrades turned enemies in the great turf war and it haunts me every day. But, it was also not my choice. Do not let the past rule you Octavio, you cannot change it."

Octavio looks at Craig for a little bit, then stands back up. He plants his hands on his hips and smirks. "Still as overly emotional as always Craig."

Craig simply smiles and says "I try. Now, why don't you sit. We have much to talk about." Octavio nods and says "That we do." The octoling king goes over to the war veteran and sits down. The two friends, their friendship broken long ago, now begin to rebuild what was lost.

-Author Notes-

Thus ends the Octo Expansion. Things will be much more interesting from here on out, and a lot easier to follow. I hope you enjoyed!