"Alright, here we are." Acht pressed the button for the next floor. "10F is next. Any clue on what the boss would be?"
"Commander, how's the music sounding?"
"[It's losing meaning. The static is too bad.]"
"Hm, this enemy is going to be pretty powerful then." Marina sighed. "But if all the enemies are Jelletons, then I have no idea what the boss is." She reopened her laptop and showed them all a picture of a curled tower. "This is supposed to be the 10F boss."
"Who says it still can't be your little enemy?" Acht asked.
"[Well, if the Jelletons are able to corrupt Marina's data, then I don't see a reason on why they couldn't corrupt a enemy. What is that tower, anyways?]"
"It's called the Asynchronous Rondo. You want to aim at killing the toppest layer. Once that's down, the whole tower comes down too. I'm not looking forward to what Chaos did to it..."
"[That's a musical term. So was the Marina Agitando. Is everything in here based off of music?]"
"Actually, yes! I made it that way because Calamari Inkantation seems to have some sort of power that sets Octolings free. It helped me, after all."
"Is that what happened to you?" Acht leaned against the wall as the elevator slowed. "I was wondering why you suddenly vanished. I was really hoping I'd be able to see you after we split up. When I finally got to the concert, it was over."
"You must have missed me then. I'm sorry, Acht."
"Heh. Don't be. We all have our reasons for things happening. Maybe it just wasn't my time to run yet." They poked their head out the open doors. "And speak of the foe. Those Jelletons messed up your Asynchronous Rondo pretty bad."
"Those faces..."
"[Those are going to be its weak points.]" Tartar faced Chronicle. "[You'll need to remove the faces so you can get to the uppermost spire.]"
"That spotlight looks suspicious," Pearl said. "I wouldn't want to get caught in that if I were you! But we've got this covered! You wait here!"
"[No, I'm coming with you. I can reach those faces better than anybody.]"
"Oh, come on! You're powerless without your little statue!"
"[Are you really sure, Pearl? I've been training in Turf Wars. I think I can handle a charger pretty well. Chronicle, what do you say? Think you'll need my help?]"
She nodded.
"That's nice of you to help, Commander." Marina smiled. "Just be careful. I don't know what will happen if you die in here, Commander. I ran a few scans, but your memories don't show up in the system at all. But...that might also mean you don't have a pallet. And having no pallet means having no weapon. You might not be able to help, Commander."
"[I can still try.]" He followed Pearl Drone and Chronicle out the elevator.
Chronicle entered the cage, Tartar following still.
"What is that?" Pearl gasped outside the cage.
In front of them stood a giant tower. It was identical to the one Marina had shown them, but the colors were much darker and the faces were just black blobs with grey eyes floating around in it.
"That thing is so creepy..." Pearl muttered.
As Chronicle flew in close on Pearl, the eyes turned red and the sections of the tower rose to make it grow even higher. Tartar noticed Pearl squinting at the screen under the Asynchronous Rondo's spotlight as it slowly moved past Chronicle's hiding place in the ink. It completely ignored Tartar.
"Chronicle, hey! The screen shows a picture of an Inkstrike. What's up with that?"
"Wait...it looks completely different than what I designed." Marina said sadly. "It wasn't supposed to look like this at all. It was supposed to be a spinning top-like boss, not a panopticon prison..."
"Wait, what's a panopticon prison?" Acht asked as Chronicle splatted the second layer of the tower with her Octoshot.
"[It's a prison designed to watch the people inside without their knowledge. I find them to be kind of creepy.]"
"Yeesh," Pearl responded. "And they don't feel like they're being watched? I know I would catch on to that."
"[The humans had...strange methods for fixing issues.]"
The Asynchronous Rondo began spinning faster, and the Jelleton's black ink covered it.
"I'd move if I were you," Acht warned.
Chronicle ducked behind the blue bumper that stood behind her. Tartar was knocked backwards from the sudden, hurried, spinning.
"Hey, Commander!" Pearl called. "You good?"
Tartar stumbled a bit, then finally figured out how to draw his E-Liter. "[I'm doing fine. I'll focus on killing the spire on top. You deal with the enemies it spawns, and the lower layers.]"
She nodded again and swam towards the Asynchronous Rondo when the Splat Bombs it tossed finished exploding.
"[Alright...Just like the battle with the Yellow Jackets...]" He fully-charged the weapon and aimed towards the top layer. He waited as it slowly turned towards him, but missed the face when it began spinning faster. "[Huh? Why is it going so fast?]"
Chronicle splatted the new bottom layer, and was knocked back by a Whirling Accelerando.
"[Chronicle!]" There was a loud scream from the Asynchronous Rondo, which caught Tartar's attention. "[What's going on? That's so loud!]"
"Commander, nothing's happening." Marina asked, worried. "Are you okay?"
Tartar covered his head with his arms, but the screaming had completely devoured the music. "[Chronicle, please finish it off! It's doing something to me...]"
"Yo, Commander isn't looking too fresh," Pearl told Chronicle.
Chronicle destroyed another layer, but was seen by the spotlight of the next one. It sent a Toxic Mist at her, slowing her down and causing her to get splatted by a Marching Andante.
"Chronicle, are you okay?" Pearl flew back to the start.
The Jelletons went after Tartar as Chronicle respawned. He desperately tossed a Splat Bomb at the Marching Andantes' face. It blinked when the bomb hit its face, and stopped moving. The others stared at him in confusion, then went back at their slow charge for Tartar.
"[Maybe we can discuss?]"
One bit his leg. Pearl screamed, and Marina gasped. Acht was silent, but horrified. Chronicle was finally coming over now, as the cage kept getting stuck.
"[Maybe not.]" He kicked it off.
The Splat Bomb exploded, sending a few of them into the air. Tartar aimed at the Marching Andantes' face between its eyes, and shot it-and the two behind it-and splatted them.
"[Chronicle! Kill the tower! I'll cover you!]"
She nodded again and started back to the Asynchronous Rondo.
Tartar tried for the face again, but the screaming resumed and he dropped his charger. Chronicle and Pearl were bringing it down at record speed now. Tartar flinched when the last spiral was destroyed, and it exploded in pale pink ink. Chronicle grabbed the floating key and went over to Tartar. She crouched down to his knelt-down level and handed him his charger.
"[Thank you, Chronicle.]" He reached for the charger, but his hand fazed through. "[What the...]"
"Hey guys, come on back." Marina called. "We can discuss further strategy inside."
Tartar stood and followed Chronicle back to the elevator. Marina seemed kind of worried when he entered.
Weak, he slumped against the wall.
"[What was that back there? I've never seen anything like that.]"
"Commander, are you okay?"
"That doesn't look like it feels good," Acht said.
"[Is something wrong...?]"
Marina did something on her laptop for a little bit, then turned it around so Tartar could see it. The image was a poorly drawn picture of him, but half of his right arm and a bit of his face was colored over grey with green ones and zeroes inside of it.
"You seem to be...converting into code. It started when you said something about a sound."
"[The Asynchronous Rondo was screaming at me. Well, I don't think it was what was causing that interference.]"
"Really? What do you think it could have been?"
"[It was...higher pitched. The sound was almost like when a television loses its signal. It almost sounded...young to me. Like a youthful AI...]"
"A 'young AI?'" Acht said in disbelief. "How can an AI be young? They don't age."
"[AI learn, and grow. Similar to how you Octolings grow. Take Tartar for example. I'd bet when he was first made that he had no idea how to even speak. He just sat there, silent. Listening to everything...Learning slowly.]"
"Um..."
Chronicle held up the key.
"Oh, a new key! That can unlock the next locker! I hope another page of my Dev Diaries isn't in there...You've already run this tower so many times, so I hope it isn't another weapon. I'm happy for you, because this is the furthest you've gotten!"
Pearl cheered, spinning in a circle.
"[So Chronicle's failed before?]"
"A lot," Acht told. "She's been trying at this for a few hours. Maybe even days."
"[Marina only vanished a few hours ago, so the time must be distorted here. Hours are days, minutes are hours, and so on.]"
Chronicle pointed at something on the map.
Marina leaned over to look at it. "Huh? Another boss floor? Right after this one? Chaos must be bringing out everything he's got to stop Chronicle. Commander, do you think you're fine enough to go with her? You can always stay back..."
"[No. I'll help her in any way I can. Let's go, Chronicle.]"