Author note: The Side Order spoilers start here! Read at your own risk!
Tartar looked around for Marina, but couldn't find her. He began to wonder if she had gone on to build the Shifty Station without him when the news began.
"Hello, Splatopia!" Tako cheered. "We're Tako and Yaki, sweeping the city with news!"
"Tako! Did you hear? The train finally activated the stop at Inkopolis plaza! I've always wanted to go there."
"Yaki...Did you hear about that rumor? The one about the subway?"
"You mean the one about the subway that runs under Inkopolis? The one where strange, green Octolings came from?"
"Do you think it could be real?"
"Oh, come on, Tako. You can't believe in every rumor you hear. Just because Judd was around for 12,000 years doesn't mean there is a train station under Inkopolis."
"Well, I know one green Octoling that proves you wrong!"
"Omg, are you bringing Error into this! That's so mean!"
"Anyways, not many people have come here from Inkopolis Square. Do you think something could be wrong?"
"Maybe they're shy..."
"Or they have a habit of falling asleep at the worst possible times like you do."
"Tako!" A sweeping motion went over the screen.
Tartar headed up the stairs to the Lobby, where the train station lie right across from. He decided to head to Inkopolis Square, knowing that is where Pearl and Marina took Agent 8 when she escaped Kamabo Co. He had the thought that Marina might have went back there.
Something crunched under his foot when he entered the train.
He lifted up his foot to find a stray shellphone, with a sea cucumber case. He broke it badly when he stepped on it, so he took it to the chair with him so he could repair it. To his surprise, Lil' Buddy hopped onto the seat at his left and snuggled up to him.
"Did you come here on your own? But Aniya never leaves your side..." He looked around for her. "Hm...Something's wrong. First, the rumor about Kamabo Co. and people from Inkopolis Square not coming to Splatopia, then Lil' Buddy coming onto the train himself, and Marina's missing..."
He went back to repairing the shellphone as the train started off towards Inkopolis. The conductor was taking them to Inkopolis Plaza first, then will make a stop at Inkopolis Square on the journey back. After the train began moving from the first stop, he had gotten the shellphone fully repaired.
He decided to test it first, just to check.
He used a jack that was attached to his headphones and plugged it into the shellphone. "What's this now? An Off the Hook song that I have never heard of before? 'Nasty Majesty?' Might be worth the listen..." He played the song. "Yeah, I like this one."
He felt a shock go through his headphones through the jack, and into his head. He screamed and held his head. He faintly heard Lil' Buddy squawking worriedly and tried to find him. His vision was all static.
"Lil' Buddy? Are you there?" He began feeling light-headed, and slowly began closing his eyes. "N...no...I have to...stay...awake..."
His eyes closed against his will and he felt himself fall into the seat, and kept descending. He barely opened his eyes to find his hand, outstretched, was glitching into ones and zeroes. He finally fainted.
"...y! ...ey! Hey! You! Get off of the floor! We've got work to do, and a tower to climb!"
The voice sounded familiar to him. He fought his eyes open. "Nuuh...?"
Above him was a small, pale pink drone with a small crown atop its head. The wing-like things on its sides looked like tentacles. The eyes were black, four pointed stars making up the pupils. The round, pale blonde eyebrows showed the drone was either angry or determined. Tartar heard the faint sounds of Nasty Majesty still ringing in his head.
"'Rina! They're up!"
Marina came over and held out a hand. "Let me help you up."
He grabbed her hand and she pulled him to his feet. "Are you okay? Did you suddenly wake up here too?"
"[My...head...Why does my voice sound so metallic now...? I need to wait a minute...My head's all fuzzy...]"
"Take your time. Do you remember anything? Do you remember, say, being underground?"
"[Underground...? Not recently...It's been a few years, I think...Where is that music coming from...?]"
"Music? There's no music!" The drone flew in a small circle around him. "Wait a minute. 'Rina, do you think this guy could be Commander Tartar?"
"Were you listening to music before you woke up here?"
"[Yes. I was-]"
"Pearl, I think you're right! I'd recognise that telephone anywhere!"
Tartar tapped his hand with a finger. "[You're not going to let me talk, are you?]"
"Chaos must be crazy powerful to bring Tart in here!" Pearl challenged.
"[Chaos? Why is Pearl a drone? Where am I?]"
"You're just as confused as Pearlie and Chronicle were. That means Chaos must have dragged you in here."
"[Chronicle? Would it bother you to get me up-to-speed?]" He folded his arms with a huff. "[And what do you mean by telephone?]"
"This place is a digital replica of Inkopolis Square, you could say. I made this place to help restore the memories of those...you um...Sanitized...This is really awkward to talk about with you here."
"[Keep going.]"
"Okay uh...Well, an AI named Chaos took over me and hopes to not only restore the Sanitized Octoling's memories, but also drag everyone else in here and force them to become chaos super soldiers."
"[Care to elaborate on that?]"
"I'm getting to it. Anyways, he wants people to basically fight each other to extinction. He's going to force all opinions on them, all at once. For example, instead of some people liking salad and some liking soup, they would like both soup and salad more than soup or salad, and they'll break into an all-out war."
"[So, who would this Chronicle be?]"
"She headed off to the Spire already, but we'll be able to meet her there. She was apparently dragged into here from an alternate reality, which is bad."
"[Because is Chaos succeeds his plan here, it'd bring people from multiple timelines into here and do the same to them. That sounds terrible; and I'm going to help you deal with this issue. Only one person is allowed to mess with my Octolings, and that'd be me.]" He rubbed his head. "[But this music is going to drive me mad.]"
"The music must have fused with your memories when Chaos pulled you in," Marina said worriedly. "That's not good."
"[Don't worry, Marina. We'll get your world back.]"
"Wait, you aren't helping because of the Octolings?" Pearl gasped.
"[Of course not. I'll explain when we meet up with Chronicle. We should hurry though. I'm picking up some outrageously powerful signals coming from the top of the Spire, and it's not good.]"
Marina and Pearl led Tartar to the Spire. They entered when the doors slid open, but he took the chance to examine his reflection in the windows. He was indeed the telephone again, but this time with the added perk of having a body, and his gear from his Octoling form had transferred over to his new look as well; along with the labcoat he had bought after recovering his memory chip. He entered to find Marina and Pearl waiting for him in front of the elevator.
When they entered, two people were already inside. One was an Inkling and Octoling hybrid, the ears and eye mask showing her Inkling side, and the ear dent and out-facing succors showing her Octoling blood. Her fingertips matched the red color of her eyes and tips of her hair. Her eye mask was white, along with her hair. He realized she was an albino.
The other one, Tartar recognised as Dedf1sh. They had willingly become Sanitized because they wanted to focus solely on their music. Their goggles had changed, however, and their left arm was wrapped in a bandage.
"[Huh? Dedf1sh? What are you doing here?]"
"It's Acht," they corrected angrily. "And who are you?"
He couldn't tell them who he was; they would probably try to kill him, weather they remembered why they were Sanitized or not. "[I'm Commander.]" He bowed. "[I was pulled into here, just as I assume you were.]"
"Alright, Chaos is taking shelter on the top floor," Marina explained. "I should go over the rules one more time for...Commander." She opened her laptop and turned it around. He smiled at her cute drawings, pleased nobody could tell he was. "Alright. So we already went over who Chaos was and what his plan is."
She clicked the mouse, and the drawing changed from a black blob into the Spire. Marina, Pearl Drone, Acht, and Chronicle were all inside the elevator.
"This only goes up one floor at a time. The objectives are kind of like what Commander Tartar prepared for Hachi. You get a color chip, which was supposed to hold a piece of their memory in it, before each floor. When you beat the floor, you get to move up. If you run out of lives, however..."
The image changed again, this time her, Pearl Drone, Chronicle, and Acht were being blasted out the side of the Spire. The pallet, which was just a white block, had colored squares flying off of it.
"...you'll get tossed out and we'll have to start over. We'd lose all of our color chips, but if we can get past 5F, then we'll get extra Membux when we restart. Membux is basically the currency here. You can use it on vending machine floors to get prizes like color chips, specials, and even replace lost lives."
The image changed into a strange-looking fish with a black border around it. There was also a drawing of Marina, trapped inside of a big blue blob, wearing strange goggles.
"If Chaos followed the program, there will be a boss every tenth floor."
"They'll be crazy strong, like the Marina Agitando Chronicle had to fight the first time round," Acht explained.
Tartar frowned at the Marina Agitando. She looked mindless, despite the fact it was a drawing. It was painful to see her that way.
"But I know Chronicle can climb this tower and beat Chaos' butt!" Pearl hyped. "Especially since I'll be helping her! Isn't that right, Chronicle?"
She nodded. Tartar noticed a tag on her right ear read "CR."
"[So Acht is in charge of the elevator, Pearl and Chronicle will deal with the floors, Marina is the plan-maker...]"
"I actually was able to hack into Chaos' system. I'm slowly lowering the difficulty and giving Chronicle perks when she gives me Prlz, which is what Membux and color chips turn into when we get kicked out the Spire."
"[Okay. So Marina is the hacker-and plan-maker-Acht is in control of the elevator, Pearl and Chronicle deal with the floors...What can I do to help?]"
"You said you can hear music, right? What song is it?"
"[Um...It's uh...Nasty Majesty.]"
"No way!" Pearl laughed. "You're an Off the Hook fan! That's awesome!"
"We're coming up to the first floor," Acht warned.
"Has it gotten any louder or clearer since entering the Spire?"
"[Actually, yes. It got a tiny bit louder when I entered the elevator, and louder still as we come to the first floor.]"
"You can help up with removing the corruption then," Marina said. "Is the music unclear?"
"[Very, and faint. It almost sounds like quiet static. What does that do with helping?]"
"You two can explain later," Acht interrupted. "Chronicle and Pearl need to hit the floor."
"You heard them, Chronicle! Let's wipe the floor with these bozos!"
The door opened, and Pearl flew out. Chronicle looked back at Tartar one more time before the doors shut.
"You can help us find Chaos' weakness with that!"
"[No way! Truly? How?]"
"The static means there's a lot of corruption in here, but you knew that already. When we get close to a strong enemy, say a floor boss, it's likely to get really corrupted again. But if Chaos isn't all corruption, then we'll be able to locate exactly where he is, using your corruption-detection ability! Cool, huh?"
"[I-I guess...!]" He blushed, embarrassed that Marina called him cool.
"Great. Let's get up to the tenth floor and see if my guess is right."
"[Sounds like a plan.]"