The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. Chronicle walked out first, followed by Pearl and Tartar. Pearl stopped him once the doors had closed.

"Look, dude, I don't know what you're planning, but if you lay a single hand on Rina, you're going to have to start this tower over. Got it?"

"[I would never dream of doing something like that! Especially since she made all of this for the Octolings I had Sanitized...]"

Chronicle was waiting for them.

"I'm still keeping an eye on you," Pearl said. "So don't try anything unless you want another Killer Wail to the face." She flew next to Chronicle.

Tartar stepped onto the cage, and it started off. "[Marina, there's something I want to tell Acht when we come back.]"

It took a second, but she figured it out. "Tartar, that's sweet and all, but you should wait until a better time. Acht is pretty mad at you still. Just get their trust first, please."

"[Okay. But I have something I want to tell you.]"

"Can it wait until you come back?"

"[I want to tell you now.]"

Chronicle gasped lightly at the boss Jelleton, which made Tartar remember what they were doing. He looked around Chronicle. The boss was a Sanitized Octoling, their hair nearly matching Tartar's but with more dark green than it being balanced. They were stretching. They had a Jelleton arm, tail, and wings. A scar on their left cheek and right eye caught Tartar's attention.

"Let's get this done and over with!" Pearl challenged.

"That's not possible. I'm undefeated. And your...hybrid child is going to have to leave unless she wants to get h-" He made eye contact with Tartar. "Hm? Who are you? You look familiar..." He flicked his tail.

"[Do I? I've never seen you before in my life.]"

"What's your name, strangers?"

"Well, I'm Pearl, and that's Chronicle. And I don't care if you're surprisingly friendly, we're going to kick your butt and finish this tower!"

Tartar bowed. "[My name, my dear accomplice, is Commander Tartar.]"

His expression changed, and his pupils changed to slits. "You are unworthy of carrying that name! You're weak! You were destroyed! I'll end you, imposter!"

"[Imposter?]"

Before he could react, the Octoling tackled him to the ground. He held his thick, Jelleton arm to his face and a small, black orb appeared in his hand.

"Die."

Chronicle fired a few shots at him, clearly doing nothing. He whipped his head around, glaring at her.

"You're an idiot. Your ink has no affect on me."

She glanced at his arm. He got off of Tartar and charged for Chronicle instead. She quickly ducked into the ink to dodge, and popped out behind him. She fired at his arm.

"I said that won't work!" He suddenly stopped when the ink around his arm busted from her ink, and the Jelleton bones broke apart and fell to the ground. He was now missing his entire arm except for the shoulder. "That...did work?"

"Chronicle!" Marina called. "Go for the Jelleton parts! If it doesn't finish him off, it'll at least stun him!"

She nodded.

"I won't let you get me again, child! You're going to get hurt if you don't back off now!"

Tartar pulled out his charger. His static had cleared up a bit when they begun battling the Octoling, so he was now able to hold it. He aimed at his head. He whistled to get the Octoling's attention. When he turned his way, he released the trigger and hit him in the pupil of his right eye.

"Graah! You'll pay for that! It's fine! I don't need to see to beat you!"

"[Huh? Is his left eye blind?]"

Chronicle took the chance to shoot the Jelleton tail, it breaking making him stumble. He took flight.

"Good luck hitting me now!"

Chronicle tried tossing a Burst Bomb at him, but he dodged it. Pearl tried to use a Killer Wail, it also being dodged. Tartar carefully aimed at his left wing. He tip-toed right behind him and fired. The wing shattered, and he fell back to the ground.

"What?! Who did that?! Was it you, Tartar?!" He stood up and held out his remaining hand, which was his right arm. "That was your last biggest mistake. Say goodbye, you three, because now you've finally gone and made me mad."

A Hydra Splatling appeared in his hand. Pearl was startled, as he was holding the heaviest Splatling in one hand. He aimed it right at Tartar and charged it fully.

"The kid's next, Tartar."

He missed the fire when Chronicle tossed a Burst Bomb at his other wing. He quickly turned around, the Splatling still firing, towards Chronicle. She ducked into the ink to avoid the fire and waited until he had to recharge.

"Where are you, brat?! Come out now, because you don't want to fight me when my vision's come back! I can already see a little, so just give up and you won't get hurt."

Chronicle had already figured out how to beat him now, as she was slowly moving through her ink to go behind him, Pearl staying in front of him to throw him off. The ink rippled very slightly, and Tartar saw his ear twitch.

"There you are."

Tartar tossed a Splat Bomb in front of him, and he whipped back around.

"Where are you?" He held a bit of panic in his voice, which confused Tartar. Did he want to kill them or not?

Chronicle left her Swim Form behind him and fired at his leftover wing. He fell forwards and Pearl flew in front of him.

"Alright, buddy. Start giving us some answers!"

Tartar came over and congratulated Chronicle. "[Take him to the elevator. We'll get him to talk there.]"

Marina and Acht seemed a little surprised at the Octoling. Acht folded their arms when the doors closed. His wings, tail, and arm had come back by now.

"Alright, who's this?" Acht asked. "Did he come here like I did?"

The Octoling rubbed his eyes and leaned against the wall. "Fine you beat me. I guess I should explain myself now."

"Yeah! Start talking!" Pearl said.

"My name is Tartar Prototype Unit 7. I'm the last known Tartar...before this one showed up. You can call me Apocalypse though. The name's grown on me."

"[Unit 7? Does that mean there are others?]"

"Knowing I crossed from my world into yours for...reasons, most likely. There might even be a universe where none of us survived." He crossed his arms. "I suddenly woke up here. I only attacked you because...well..."

"Bad memories?" Marina asked. "I get it. You don't have to say anymore."

"To be honest, I let you win. I didn't really want to fight you. Especially not your hybrid friend here. What's your name?"

"Oh uh," Marina started, "she doesn't talk. Her name is Chronicle. Pearlie and I came up with it because of the tag on her ear."

Pearl poked the end of his tail with her little drone wing. "What's with the wings and tail?"

"That's confidential. Why are you a telephone?"

"[I came here like this!]"

"Your voice is extremely robotic..."

"[I would fix it if I could, but Chaos put up a pretty good firewall. I can't get past it. I've been trying while Chronicle clears the floors.]"

"Even I can't hack in," Marina said sadly. "And I created this world!"

"When we get to Chaos," Pearl threatened, "ooh, he'll be in it then!"

"Tartar...whatever your number is, did you hear a voice by chance? One that sounded young?"

Tartar nodded. "[When we battled the Asynchronous Rondo. I heard it, then this happened.]" He held up his arm. "[Being with you seemed to heal it a bit though...I wonder if I can...]"

"Can what?" Apocalypse had a bit of worry in his voice.

"[Nothing. I still need to think about it before saying anything.]"

"Wait," Acht held up their hand. "You said you let Chronicle win? But you looked pretty overwhelmed there."

"I wasn't lying when I said I didn't need to see to fight. I can beat this whole tower in the blink of an eye. Thanks for taking me from that floor, by the way. I was worried I'd be stuck there forever." He pointed at the eye with the scars. "This eye's been scratched blind. I trained myself to fight without my vision, just in case. My hearing's now permanently heightened. I also altered my Hydra Splatling so I can use it with one arm, just in case I lose my Sha-Jelleton arm, or my other arm."

"Still, those things are pretty heavy," Pearl said. "You seem pretty strong."

"No, I'm really not." He stopped when the elevator did. "Looks like we've reached our stop. Good luck out there, Chronicle and Pearl."

"Have fun in the boring elevator!" Pearl said as they left and the doors shut.

"[So you're a Prototype for Tartar?]"

"Unit 7. I've been sensing some distorted signals a few floors up, so I'm glad I'm able to hitch a ride with you. It feels like another Tartar unit."

"[Another one? But I didn't even know you existed! How can there be even more in here?]"

"Well, Chronicle's from a different universe, I can tell that much about her. I was also from another world. It's likely that Chaos found a way to connect the mulitverse and started dragging people from their worlds, into this one. Whatever he's planning, I don't like it one bit."

"How are we going to find this Tartar unit?" Marina asked.

"Yeah," Acht agreed. "These floors are small, but not much for exploration. We could try, but I don't think we'd be able to find your friend."

"I'm still picking up their distress signals, so I'll head with Chronicle on that floor and follow them. Unlike her and Pearl, I'll be able to fly the gap that seperates us from the machinery on the outside"

"Are you sure you should be messing with that stuff," Marina probed. "I mean, Chaos ruined things pretty badly already, so we have no idea what he has in store."

"Trust me on this, alright?"

"Hey," Acht said, tapping a hand to their chin, "I was wondering something. The name Tartar seems kind of familiar, but I have no idea why. I think I might have heard it before...recently. Maybe a year or two ago."

Tartar tugged at his collar. "[Oh...really? I wonder why.]"