Honestly, rewriting is a lot harder than it looks. I honestly thought it was going to be easier. Regardless, I'm not going back. I said I could write this story a little better and I'm gonna do just that (or at least try). Okay, here we go! The first chapter of updated Octo Rising. Hope y'all enjoy it!

Darkness. That's what greeted him when he awoke again. How long had he been trekking through the dark tunnel? If you asked the Octoling, he wouldn't be able to tell, for there was no way for him to tell time. He didn't have a watch and his little octo-shaped smartphone had run out of battery (he had the charger for the phone with him but there were no outlets in the tunnel). He did have a flashlight(which he used to illuminate the dark tunnel) and a backpack full of rations he had stolen during his exit from his old home. Luckily, the tunnel hadn't diverged yet and was entirely (at least he hoped) straight.

So, after a few stretches to loosen his muscles after sleeping on the floor of the tunnel, he turned on his flashlight and kept wandering down the tunnel.

'I wonder if this tunnel ever ends?' he wondered as he proceeded onwards. He was really getting sick of this tunnel. He was sick of being in the dark. All he wanted was some light (that didn't come from the stupid flashlight). He didn't know how much longer he'd last, and he was done to his last ration. All he could do was hope that there would be a light at the end of the tunnel (metaphorically and literally).

'Still better than back home though…' he thought as he proceeded forward. He continued his monotonous journey for a little bit more, but his flashlight started to flicker. Knowing what that meant, he quickened his pace. As he sped up his movement, his flashlight's flickering became more rapid. Unfortunately, he couldn't move fast enough and with one last flicker, his flashlight was out.

"Ah, piss." He cursed as he threw his flashlight against the floor. The "clang" sound it made reverberated throughout the tunnel. He slowly sat down, with his back up against the wall. He wondered if he had made the right choice. He wondered if this old tunnel actually led to where he wanted to go (the tunnel had been dug over 100 years ago and hadn't been used in almost 70). He wondered if his decision to leave his old life behind was the choice he should have chosen. He wondered what would have happened if he had just stayed if he had just continued being a soldier of the Octarian army? That last question brought him back to one word: nothing.

"Nothing will change if we continue being a part of this society. This place will work us until the day we die. Out there, however, out there we can be free. We can have a choice. We can live, actually live."

Some tears began to trickle down the octoling's face, as he remembered the one who had told him those words.

"Fuschia…" He sobbed. He sat there for a few minutes more, allowing the sadness to wash over him. Once there were no more tears to cry, he got up, picked up the flashlight and stowed it in his backpack, and continued down his way down the tunnel. His journey had gotten a lot harder, as he had to stick to the walls to navigate the tunnel. However, he was more determined than ever to find the exit and get to his destination. After remembering Fuschia's words, how could he not be?

'I will get there!' He said determinedly. 'For you Fuschia, I will make it!'

The octoling then spent another unknown amount of time but kept surging forward, with only his dream in his mind and heart. This determination, this resolve, this will power would all pay off for the octoling.

As he continued forward through the dark tunnel, he found it increasingly difficult to walk as the floor became rougher. It was then that as he took a step, his foot caught on a protruding rock and he fell to the ground, face first.

"Dammit…" he cursed as he got back up. He looked straight ahead and all he saw was the darkness and a faint light.

Wait. Faint light?

He immediately got back to his feet and squinted to get a better look. His eyes widened as he realized it wasn't some illusion or hallucination. The light was real. The octoling sprinted towards the light, his heart filled with so much hope it could burst. He stumbled over some more rocks but he did not allow them to stop him. He quickly used his arms to push him back up whenever he tripped and fell on the floor, almost losing no momentum. As he got closer, he saw that the light he was running towards was peeking through a thick wall of bushes. He had gotten this far and he wasn't going to let some old shrubs stop him. Once the shrubs were within his arms' reach, he quickly tore and push them to the side. He couldn't move all the branches as some of them scratched him, but just like with the rocks on the tunnel floor, he didn't let them stop him. He kept pushing and pushing, and as he did the light slowly got stronger and stronger. Finally, with one final push, there were no more branches and the radiance of the light was now fully on him. He quickly brought his arm to cover his eyes, as the splendor of the light was simply too much for his eyes (after all he was in the dark tunnel for some time). He stood there in place and slowly allowed his eyes to adjust to the brightness. when the brightness no longer strained his eyes, he slowly lowered his arm and took in his surroundings.

Upon seeing it clearly, he didn't know what to say. A part of him couldn't believe where he was. He felt big, fat tears fall from his eyes and down his cheeks. These were tears of joy and relief. Standing before him on the horizon, was a city only talked about in rumors and tall tales. A city he and Fuschia had dreamed about. A city that was really real and standing on the horizon before him:

Inkopolis.

"I made it." the octoling sobbed. "I'm actually here!" He was so ecstatic he couldn't contain himself. The octoling proceeded to jump for joy, laughing and shouting happily. His long and taxing journey had all been worth it. As soon as he was done, he quickly reached down his shirt and pulled out a silver locket. He eyed it fondly, and then looked back to the horizon.

"If only you could be here to see this, Fuschia…" he said sadly, before tucking it back into his shirt. Suddenly, he heard a loud growling noise and felt a painful sensation. It took him two seconds to realize that he was just hungry. He took off his backpack and rummaged inside for his ration bars. He was very surprised to see there was only one ration bar left.

"Lucky me…" he muttered to himself as he undid the cellophane wrapping and dug right in. The ration bar was a gray, bland-tasting bar of crushed and mixed food. Its texture was extremely tough, but it did the job of satisfying an Octarian's hunger. As he was eating, he stared back at Inkopolis. He couldn't stop staring at it. It was big, bigger than any settlement he had ever seen. His head was filled with ideas and imagining what it would be like to live there was he got into the city. He raised his ration bar in the air like he was raising a glass for a toast.

"Here's to a new life." He said as he took a big, hearty bite and finished the bar. He then proceeded towards the city, where he would begin anew.

And that's it. Dang, this came out later than I promised. Sorry 'bout that folks, but life is often a big mess that requires me to take time away from my hobbies. Regardless, I'm glad I managed to get this done at least before the end of 2021. Anyway, let me move on to some changes.

As you may have noticed, I have dropped the whole amnesia aspect of my main character. Why you may ask? This is because while at the time I wrote the first story, it was more there because I thought it was cool. Also, I didn't know to write a good amnesiac character and trying to learn how to write a good one only served to stress me out, and the whole point of me writing fanfics is to destress and escape. So now we have this character who is not amnesiac, but bits of his past is still unknown and will be revealed as the story goes on.

Also, you may notice that I started a new story altogether instead of updating the old one. I'm doing this because it saves me a bit of time deleting old chapters and putting in new ones.

And that's everything. I hope you'll stick with me on this journey. See you next chapter!

Ciao!