Hey guys, I'm back! I'm really sorry for the long wait; I was struggling with the climax, and a lot of other stuff happened too. But the other stuff has cleared up, and I would like to give a special thanks to my good friend, ReaderandWriter9000, for helping me solve the climax complications. I think I've got a clear ending formulated now, but of course, if you all have any suggestions you'd like to give in the reviews, I would still appreciate reading them. :)

Without further ado, here's the next chapter we've all been waiting for.

Chapter 13: The Oceanographer

The sun disappeared underneath the horizon, leaving a pinkish-purplish aura where it had once been, surrounded by a deep violet sky. Juleka gazed out through her bedroom's porthole in fascination. She loved it when the sky took on various shades of purple, since it was her favourite colour. It had a way of helping her feel relaxed, even on particularly tough days like this one.

She glanced to her right and sighed. After the unexpected visit at the Louvre and what happened just before Rose left, Shellington had asked Juleka if he could sleep with her tonight. Luka had decided that was a good idea, so after their musical performance with Anarka, he moved the cot into his sister's room. Shellington was now sitting on the cot, staring at the floor. He was more calm now, but he still felt a little rattled from his argument with Rose. Juleka hadn't yet told him that Dashi and Tweak had heard everything he'd shouted, but she knew he had to know about it sooner or later—for many obvious reasons.

Juleka sat next to Shellington on the cot, and as soon as she did, he peered up at her. She tried to think of what to say, but nothing came to her.

Shellington noticed her expression. "Are…are you alright?"

Clasping her hands together, Juleka took a deep breath. "Shellington…there's something I should probably tell you. Um…when you and Rose had that…disagreement…I uh, I wasn't the only one who heard it. Someone was in one of the cars nearby with the windows down, and they heard you shouting. It was…Dashi. It was Dashi and Tweak."

Shellington cringed, so Juleka quickly said, "I mean, I know how much it hurt when she didn't tell you about the videos, and I know how that feels too. You wouldn't believe how much Marinette's been keeping inside her lately, and I still don't know what it is yet."

"It's alright," said Shellington. He wistfully stared through the porthole, out at the water below the ship. "I really thought they understood me. I thought they were true friends, and that they would always be there for me. Not just because my intelligence helped them on missions, but because…we were family." That last word stung the most as he said it, and once it came out, he could feel the sadness he'd been feeling all week slowly beginning to come back.

Juleka put her arm around him. "You don't know for sure if they've just been…you know..."

"But what if he was right? What if I really am just…too clumsy for them?"

"You mean she."

"I wasn't talking about Chloe. I meant…him."

"Oh, Mr. Cataldi."

Shellington shook his head, and Juleka did a face palm. Now she knew another reason why he felt betrayed by his friends: something that, based on past experiences, she knew she should have expected right from the start. Of course Shadow Moth had something to do with Shellington's belief that his friends didn't care about him. He'd pulled that stunt with many of his victims; Luka had been one of them.

Juleka held Shellington's paw. "Don't listen to anything he said," she told him, "Whether it was true or not, he only said that to make you feel even worse. When someone's letting go of their negativity after his akuma touches them, he says anything to make them more upset. Saying their friends or their family don't really care about them is the excuse he gives the most, and it always works. If anyone's taking advantage of people, it's him."

"I thought that too, at first," admitted Shellington, "But Dashi's never kept any secrets from me before, and Tweak is always very upset when she hears I've crashed one of the gups. Kwazii even thought he could look after a book better than I could…" Tears formed in his eyes once again, but he pressed on. "I never thought much of it then, but when Dashi kept all those videos a secret, and Chloe said all those mean things, and Shadow Moth said…" He couldn't say anything more and covered his face with his paws, crying. He wasn't sobbing loudly and uncontrollably like he had done with Zoe or back in the octopod, most likely because he was around someone that he knew understood how he felt and wanted to help him. But thinking about the strong possibility that particular friends he'd known and trusted for years had actually just used him was still as painful as ever. He'd formed a strong bond with the Octonauts, and he doubted he'd ever truly overcome how much the situation hurt.

Not knowing what else to say, Juleka scooted a little closer to Shellington, who gently leaned against her and tried to pull himself together. He now knew he wasn't the only one with imperfections—Juleka, Rose, and everyone else in Paris had them too. Knowing there would always be someone who understood how he felt had helped him overcome his self esteem problems. Juleka had assumed the problem regarding the rest of the crew was triggered by his sadness over his lack of confidence, and for all either of them knew, it could be true. Then again, there was also a chance Shadow Moth could have been right, even if he'd only said what he said to manipulate one of his victims.

As his mixed emotions played throughout his mind, Shellington wiped away his tears, staying close to Juleka for comfort. As he thought about the other Octonauts again, he suddenly realized that neither he nor her really had any way of knowing for sure what the crew thought of him. Only they would know the true answer to that, but no matter what they might have told him, Shellington didn't think he could trust that they were being honest.

"It's okay," Juleka told him, "it's okay…"

Shellington held her hand. "I'm sorry…I've known them and trusted them for so long…and knowing they didn't really care about me just…hurts…"

"I know," whispered Juleka, "Believe me…I know…"

Rose got off the subway and climbed up the steps to the city. She made it to the sidewalk and headed forward, doing her best to stay positive. A lot was on her mind though. Would Shellington ever be on good terms with the other Octonauts again? And if he really wasn't going to forgive them, what did that mean for him? Was he just going to live with Juleka and her family from that moment on? If so, what would happen with the rest of the crew?

As she arrived at a curb, Rose looked up at the sky, hoping a few stars were out by now. She was surprised when she noticed the humongous amount of stars in the sky. It was only twilight, and the sky was already filled with stars. Pink stars, she couldn't help noticing. Now that was strange—normally the stars in Paris were all white. Even more strangely, most of the stars were dancing around each other in the sky, soon creating a constellation brought to life; a scene that looked strangely familiar. It took Rose a minute to recognize where she'd seen the round object in the constellation before, but eventually it came to her. It was one of the Octonauts' submarines!

A sinking feeling came over Rose. Not her chronic illness, but a bad feeling that the stars weren't simply being projected by an astronomy show or something. Slowly, she looked behind her…and screamed. A giant floating pink camera was levitating behind her! A neon pink beam was aimed at the sky, controlling the colour and movement of the stars.

"Rose?" a familiar voice called from above.

Rose looked up and saw someone perched on top of the giant camera. Dashi. Or at least, an akumatized version of Dashi. Her eyes and nose had all turned different shades of pink, her face was now sky blue with a round mask-shaped ocean blue area around her eyes, her hair and ears were a bright shade of pink (the same colour as the stripes on Rose's shirt), and her hair clips were both light pink. Her Octonauts cap was now a pale, light-coloured cerulean blue, and its octopus symbol had been replaced with camera-like features. She was wearing bright magenta tights and boots, with a supersuit the same colour as her cap. The suit had a bright magenta O printed on the chest area, and it came with a skirt that was decorated with two light pink linings. There were also light pink linings around her arms and wrists, almost like cuffs.

"Dashi!" Rose exclaimed in horror.

"You can call me the Oceanographer now," said Dashi's akumatized form, smiling smugly.

Frantically, Rose glanced around her, hoping Ladybug and Cat Noir were nearby. They weren't, but Alya was. She sent a text to Marinette and then began filming Rose and the Oceanographer for the Ladyblog. "Yo peeps," she said into her phone's camera, "Alya here! Live blogging from near a subway station. Tonight there's not only an akuma attack, but also a sentimonster attack! Better postpone the celebrity photoshoots, because this photographer has snapshot plans of her own!"

Rose wasn't entirely sure what Alya did that got on the Oceanographer's nerves. Maybe it had something to do with her mention of celebrity photoshoots, since Aurore and Mireille were celebrities and they had been among Sir Perfect's targets. Or maybe it was simply the fact that Alya's style reminded her of Alec Cataldi, who could sometimes be just as crafty when it came to puns. For whatever reason though, Alya's report prompted a huge glare to appear on the Oceanographer's face—the most intense and scary glare Rose had seen in her entire life. A bright white light shot out of the black lens in the villain's cap, surrounding Alya and sweeping her right off her feet. She was sent zooming straight toward the Oceanographer until they were face-to-face.

"Hey," yelled Rose, "let her go! She didn't do anything wrong!"

"Was it that thing I said at the end?" Alya nervously asked, "'Cause if so, I meant no disrespect!"

The Oceanographer hollered loudly, even though Alya was right there in front of her. "Did Alec send you to mock me and my friend because he was afraid to do it himself?!"

"Of course not," said Alya, "why would he do that? And I wasn't making fun of anyone!"

"You were," the Oceanographer practically snarled, "I could see it in your eyes. How about I have a turn with that phone of yours?" Before Alya could respond, she took her phone out of her hand, holding it up high so she couldn't take it back from her. Then she looked Alya in the eyes and, with a more upbeat tone and a smile, said, "Say seaweed!"

Rose had to shield her eyes as the white light disappeared, and a blinding pink light shot out of the Oceanographer's cap lens. With the typical click sound a camera made when taking a picture, Alya was hit by the light. When Rose finally felt it was safe to look again, she opened her eyes to find the Oceanographer and her giant camera were gone. Alya was still there, but now she looked different. Her head and face were the same, but her hair was now completely bright orange, and her legs and jeans had been replaced by a mermaid tail with the same pattern as her shirt.

"Alya, are you okay?" Rose exclaimed, rushing to her side.

"Can't complain," the journalist replied, "We both know she could have done something a lot worse, and not just to me."

"I'd better call Juleka," said Rose, taking out her phone and dialling her girlfriend's number, "There's only one person that could have made Dashi an easy target for Shadow Moth."

"Think Chloe's ever gonna learn?"

Rose sighed. "No…but for once, Chloe isn't mainly to blame."

"Yeah, well, if you're saying Shellington got her akumatized by accident, than who's responsible for that? The person who got him akumatized!"

Rose finished dialling and held her phone to her ear. As she waited for Juleka to answer, she turned to Alya and said, "The point is, Shellington's likely her main target, and since he's with Juleka, this is the quickest way to warn them both."

Alya nodded. "Reconciliation or revenge. Either way, it's a huge scoop."

Juleka lay in bed, wide awake. She glanced at Shellington, who was lying in the cot nearby, trying unsuccessfully to get to sleep. She could tell both of them were thinking exactly the same thing: what would happen now? Juleka had done everything she could think of to bring Shellington back with his friends, but at this point it seemed like only a miracle could succeed in doing so. Only the other Octonauts could provide a certain answer to how they felt about their botanist, but if he didn't trust them, then what would they do?

Their thoughts were interrupted when Juleka's phone rang. Sitting up, Juleka grabbed her phone, saw that it was Rose calling, and answered it. She was worried when she saw Rose's fearful expression.

"Juleka," Rose exclaimed before she could ask her what was wrong, "Dashi's been akumatized!"

Juleka gasped. Shellington, even more startled than she was, leapt off the cot and climbed up next to Juleka so he could see Rose too.

"Oh, hi Shellington," greeted Rose, smiling briefly. Then her smile disappeared, and she aimed the camera towards Alya, who had been turned into a mermaid. "She just showed up out of nowhere, turned Alya into a mermaid, and stole her phone!"

"Don't worry about my phone," Alya said, "I set it on live blogging for the Ladyblog before she took it, so it's still gonna go online."

Sure enough, Luka rushed into Juleka's room, holding his phone. It was on the Ladyblog, and a live video narrated journalist-style was playing on it. However, instead of Alya, an akumatized victim was filming and narrating. Shellington went wide-eyed as he recognized his former friend onscreen. She looked very different now that she'd been turned into a supervillain, but the one thing that truly indicated she was under a spell was the smile on her face. It wasn't the cheerful, excited, and kind smile Shellington was used to seeing on her face—it was a sinister smile that would have made anyone nervous. Even he had to admit that, despite everything, he simply couldn't imagine Dashi with such a fearsome expression!

"Hello everyone," said Dashi, her upbeat tone of voice replaced by a more malicious one, "I am the Oceanographer. There's been too much cruelty on the internet lately, so I'll be taking over the rest of this report. Tonight my camera sentimonster, Apparealm, and I are going to clear up all the trouble by teaching those monsters something they should have learned long ago," An intense glare suddenly appeared on her face, and she angrily yelled, "My friend Shellington is NOT clumsy!"

"Jumping jellyfish," Shellington murmured. A lot of people in Paris had said he was clumsy. He didn't know how exactly Dashi—or the Oceanographer, as Shadow Moth had apparently decided to call her—was going to teach those people a lesson, but he could only imagine the amount of destruction and danger it would cause. Turning people into mermaids probably wasn't the only ability she'd been given, and the fact that she had a sentimonster helping her only made things worse. The thought that she was doing all this just so he would come back to the octopod only made the situation more overwhelming.

Luka looked a little nervous. "I saw Tweak with her this morning. I wonder where she was when the akumatization happened."

Suddenly a notification popped up on Juleka's phone. She couldn't read what the whole thing said, but she managed to glimpse the words, "Photographer villain ambushes TVi Studio. Local rabbit captured by giant camera sentim…"

"She must have seen the whole thing and tried to stop her," said Juleka.

Rose gulped. "She probably got sucked inside Apparealm. That was what happened when we found your sentimonster in the bathroom, and all we did was find it."

"You're talking about the day I got my Magical Charm, right?" Juleka clarified (that wasn't the only time she'd been akumatized and given a sentimonster at the same time).

"Yeah," said Rose. She glanced at Alya and concluded, "I'm going to find the Oceanographer and see if I can calm her down. Make sure you text Zoe about this, in case Chloe's gonna be in danger soon!"

"Rose, wait—" Juleka started to say, but Rose hung up before she could finish.

"I'm going to warn Mom," said Luka, turning off his phone and stepping out of the room.

"I'd better text Zoe," said Juleka, going to the Messages app.

As Juleka typed, Shellington stared out through the porthole, hoping he wouldn't have to get involved in the superheroes' upcoming battle against the villains. The Oceanographer was clearly getting revenge on everyone who had been mean to him just so she could win him back—and apparently she'd been desperate enough to endanger Tweak, her best friend, first. He also knew it was only a matter of time before Chloe would be swept into the conflict as well, and maybe Sabrina too. Their insults and rudeness along with the Oceanographer's attempts to make him forgive her were things that he just couldn't bring himself to deal with.

Juleka finished her message for Zoe, and as she sent it, she noticed Shellington's overwhelmed expression and put her arm around him. "Don't worry," she reassured him, "you won't have to deal with her. Ladybug and Cat Noir have it covered, and if they need to, they'll call on Rena Rouge, Carapace, and the rest of their teammates. You won't have to face her."

Using her pink bike, which she'd accessed once she got home, Rose rode down the streets of Paris, searching for the Oceanographer and her giant camera. Luckily, she had a pretty good idea of where they were going: the Le Grand Paris hotel. She doubted Dashi had known ahead of time that Chloe lived in that hotel, but Shadow Moth was her master, and many of his victims had gone to Chloe's residence to get revenge on her in the past. Kung Food, Lady Wifi, Vanisher, the Evillustrator, Reverser, Stormy Weather…the list was endless. Even Rose had done it when she was akumatized into Princess Fragrance. Not that she remembered what happened that time, of course.

Rose biked past the TVi Studio, and she gasped when she saw what was going on there. Giant pink waterfalls were streaming downward from every window on every floor, and she could hear many employees including Aurore, Mireille, Clara Contard, and Alec Cataldi screaming as they tumbled out the windows in the water. She noticed that all the employees had been turned into undersea creatures—some of them had become merpeople like Alya, while others had become fish, dolphins, and in Alec's case, a whale-shark. It was obvious that none of the studio employees were used to not being human, or used to riding down waterfalls.

"I can't let the same thing happen to Sabrina and Chloe," Rose whispered to herself as she continued forward on her bike.

Eventually she arrived at the Le Grand Paris hotel, but before she even got to the front doors, she could see the Oceanographer's giant camera photographing one of the windows at the top floor. A mob of people who lived in the hotel was evacuating the building, and Rose recognized Chloe's mother and butler in the middle of the crowd. As the last of the mob came out, Mayor Bourgeois appeared at the doorway and worriedly shouted, "Come back! My daughter, her best friend, and my stepdaughter are still in there!"

Without thinking, Rose threw her bike aside and dashed into the hotel. She summoned the elevator and used it to get to the top floor, which appeared normal at first. But when she opened the door to Chloe's room, she screamed, seeing it was flooded with pink water. A fierce whirlpool was in the middle of the room, and a terrified Sabrina was trapped inside of it. Zoe was standing on a table at a corner of the bedroom, and Chloe was sitting on her bed. Unlike her half-sister and BFF, Chloe didn't look scared at all, and was instead rolling her eyes and saying, "Ugh, seriously? Is that the best you can do to scare me?"

Rose couldn't see the Oceanographer anywhere, but she could hear her voice loud and clear. It seemed to be coming from the middle of the whirlpool. "Your best friend is about to be swallowed up by my powers, and yet you don't seem afraid at all!"

"Oh please," said Chloe, "It's not like she's my most prized possession or anything. And turning yourself into waterworks is an utterly ridiculous power. Utterly ridiculous!"

She can shapeshift into water too, thought Rose, gulping. She was about to shout something in an attempt to reason with the akumatized victim, but before she could say anything, the Oceanographer hollered, "Apparealm! Take a picture that she'll never forget!"

A loud camera click was heard, and the roof and ceiling vanished, making way for the night sky and all of its pink stars. The giant camera, which Rose guessed was named Apparealm, floated inches above the room as the pink whirlpool rose up, and the Oceanographer shaped herself back into her akumatized form. Sabrina collapsed onto the floor, soaked and out of breath from her struggle against the whirlpool's current.

"Now look what you've done!" Chloe yelled, pointing at the wet floor and furniture around her bedroom, "You ruined my floor, my shoes, my dresses, my Queen Bee costume, and even my Bee Signal!"

"Chloe, none of those things are nearly as bad as someone getting hurt," said Zoe.

"But I am hurt! All my stuff is soaking wet, and Sabrina's too soaked to do something about it!" Suddenly noticing Rose at the doorway, Chloe turned to her and ordered, "You! Clean my stuff now!"

"Don't worry, Chloe," the Oceanographer stated with a naughty smile, "Apparealm will make sure that's no longer a problem for you." She shapeshifted into a pink foamy wave and splashed onto Apparealm, where she turned back into her akumatized form on top of the giant camera.

Rose stepped into Chloe's bedroom and stood on a chair so the Oceanographer could hear her. "Dashi, please stop all this! Revenge doesn't solve any pr—"

CLICK!

SPLAAAAAAAASH!

Before Rose knew it, she was trapped in the middle of a giant pink tsunami created by Apparealm's photography powers, holding on to her chair for dear life. Zoe, Chloe, and Sabrina were stuck in the humongous wave too—Zoe holding onto her table, Chloe clutching her bed's mattress (her pillow, blankets, and bed frame were lost in the water), and Sabrina riding on a rug she'd happened to collapse on (which was definitely a lot more nerve-wracking, as you can imagine). All four girls were screaming in terror, and above their screams and the sound of the roaring tsunami, Rose could just make out the sound of buildings collapsing and breaking as the immense amount of water plowed through them.

Suddenly Rose felt herself being yanked out of the tsunami and up into the sky. She screamed again until she became aware of what was happening. Ladybug was riding on a red hang glider with black spots (which she guessed had been produced by her Lucky Charm), and she had lassoed Rose's waist with her yoyo. Cat Noir was riding the hang glider too, on Ladybug's right, and to her left was Ryuko, a dragon-themed superheroine with elemental powers she sometimes recruited.

"Thanks Ladybug," Rose said as she was placed on the hang glider in between the spotted heroine and Cat Noir.

"No problem," said Ladybug, lassoing her yoyo again and successfully reeling in an equally thankful Zoe.

"So how are you three going to save Dashi?" Zoe asked after she was placed between Ryuko and Ladybug.

"Actually it's more than just us three," said Ladybug, "Carapace is on his way to protect the residents who haven't been swept in the current yet, and I sent Pegasus to pick up some friends of mine who might be able to snap the Oceanographer out of her little photoshoot. I put King Monkey and Polymouse in charge of saving the civilians who are in the buildings."

Rose peered to her right, and she saw a portal appear on the roof of Montparnasse Tower. Pegasus emerged from the portal, followed by Captain Barnacles, Kwazii, and two sea otters that resembled Shellington. One of them was a female and had different hair than he did, and the other one looked just like him, except a lot smaller and younger. As the portal disappeared, Rose also noticed Peso, Professor Inkling, and the vegimals had already been on the roof, presumably waiting for Pegasus and his companions.

Pegasus used an ear communicator to talk to Ladybug from where he was. "They're all here, Ladybug. What should I do now?"

"Go inside the building and recharge your kwami," instructed Ladybug, "The rest of us will take it from here." Turning to her companions in the hang glider, she said, "Ryuko, on my signal, lead the Oceanographer to the roof of Montparnasse Tower. Her friends from home are going to try reasoning with her in case there's a chance she'll break free from Shadow Moth's control. But if it doesn't work, then you and Cat Noir combine your powers on her hat and hair clips. The akuma and amok must be hidden there."

"Can I help with the reasoning part?" Rose asked.

"Can I help too?" added Zoe.

Ladybug smiled. "Of course you can."

And that's that for the thirteenth chapter. Will Ladybug's team and the Octonauts be able to save Dashi? Or will they need some kind of backup plan? Feel free to express your thoughts through the reviews, and I'll see you real soon (by that I mean no more than a week, at least)! ;)