Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners
Before the Paradox Titan Pokemon Were Fought
"Eight? Eight! Wake up! Eight!"
"Uuungh… huh…?" Eight rubbed her eyes as she found herself in a white washed Inkopolis Square. "Whoa!"
"Oh good, you're finally awake!"
"Huh…?" Eight rubbed her head and noticed a robot flying up to her.
"Oh thank Cod you're okay!"
Eight shook her head with a groan, then noticing her own clothing was white washed as well. "What the…?"
"Yeah, you're just noticing everything is lacking in color. I don't know what the heck happened… or why I'm a drone."
Eight looked at the drone curiously. "You… sound familiar."
"Oh, that's because it's me! Ya know… Pearl? Off the Hook? Besties with you?"
Eight blinked, tilting her head. "How do I know it's really you and not just someone using an AI voice modifier to make it sound like you?"
"I… uh… hmmm…" Pearl looked away. "Ya know, that's a fair question but it's definitely me for sure!"
"Right…"
"So anyway, I was supposed to be meeting Marina but yet… she disappeared, and then next thing I know, I wind up here as a drone… and you're here too. Though, now that I think about it, someone else came in but I don't know where they are."
"How could you tell?"
"Oh, I picked it up on my scanners. I was busy playing around with my doodads when I found you sprawled out."
Eight sweatdropped. "I… see."
"Anyway, let's go into the tower and figure out this mystery. Marina should be around here somewhere." Pearl said as they walked toward the tower.
"Uuungh… what did I eat last night…" A voice said as the duo turned to see Namine walking over while rubbing her head.
"Oh!" Pearl flew over to Namine. "Yo, Namine! What is up, my dude!"
"Hmm…? Oh, hey… wait… Pearl? Are you… flying a drone?"
"More like I am the drone. I don't get it either."
"Hey." Eight waved. "So, how'd you get here?"
BGM: Just Wondering (Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories)
"Well… I was busy making an art project in Toad Town's Art District-"
"You mean where they can legally vandalize stuff in that district?" Pearl asked.
"Yeah." Namine nodded. "I spend a lot of time there… but anyway, Demyx calls me over to help him out with placing a signboard on a wall for his own project, and as I helped him, I overheard some Inklings mentioning a weird anomaly happening in Inkopolis Square. This got me curious… so I make my way over here and I overhear something about Pearl and Marina disappearing-"
"I've heard the same thing." Eight spoke up. "Some folks were ending up disappearing so I walk around and I see some sort of digital rift. I bring out my weapon and cautiously approach it… and just when I was about to see what it was, I hear Marina's voice, something grabs me and pulls me in. Next thing I know, I wake up in this… white washed Inkopolis Square."
"I think I entered just after you because I heard this weird noise. I walk into an alleyway and see this rift, heard Marina's voice and then… well, here I am." Namine shrugged.
"So we all got pulled in by something. That's terrific." Pearl said. "Question is… why am I the only one that's a drone?"
"I still think it's someone piloting it and using AI to modify your voice. It's definitely a… oh, what do the squid kids say these days… deep fake?"
"Oh, the kids are calling ME a fake, are they! Why I oughta…" Pearl growled.
Namine closed her eyes, aiming her hand at the Pearl Drone as magic swirled within her hand and fired a beam of light into her.
"Wah! Hey! Watch where you're using your witch magic!" Pearl exclaimed.
"Just as I thought." Namine said as she opened her eyes. "It's Pearl. There's no one controlling her."
"Oh… ooooh, my bad." Eight grimaced.
"Nah, you're cool."
Bzzzt! Krrrrk!
End BGM
"Pe… arl…"
"Marina?!" Pearl looked up. "Are you up there?!"
"...Elp… m-" CLICK
"Hang on, we're coming!" Pearl exclaimed as she turned to Namine and Eight. "We gotta book it! Go!"
The three of them ran into the tower, where black ink suddenly rose up from the ground in front of them as a big skeletal fish came out of it and stared at the trio.
"Whoa! What the heck is that thing?!" Pearl wondered as Namine immediately summoned her Spray Can Backpack. "Eight, use your weapons!"
Eight nodded, reaching for her weapon, only to realize it wasn't on her. "Huh? But I thought I had it on me!"
"Ah geez… here, use these!" Pearl tossed her some Dualies. "They're my dualies, but I can't exactly… fight with them."
"Alright, here goes nothing!" Eight said as she and Namine proceeded to make quick work on the new enemy, and then tinier skeletal fish came out and started to go after them, but were disposed off, then a bigger skeletal fish came out, tanking quite a bit of ink before it was destroyed.
"Is that all of them?" Pearl asked.
"Seems like it." Namine put her spray cans back.
Ding!
The elevator doors started to open up as Eight and Namine pointed their weapons at the elevator.
"Alright, whoever's in that elevator, you're about to get a real ass whoopin'!" Pearl said.
"Chill. It's just me." An Octoling emerged from the elevator.
BGM: #12.2 awakened (Splatoon 3: Side Order)
"Dedf1sh? You got sucked in this mess too?" Pearl asked.
"Yes, I heard Marina calling out for help and I was brought here. Also, for the record, Dedf1sh is just my musician name. My name's Acht."
"You never told me your name. I just kept calling you Dedf1sh." Eight said with a shrug.
Acht blinked through her glasses. "I swear I told you… ah, never mind. Come on, let's go. Gonna be honest, I wasn't expectin' a human to get sucked in this mess too."
"Long story." Namine waved it off.
"Oh yeah, you two probably never met." Eight said. "This is Namine. Namine, this is-"
"Namine?" Acht raised an eyebrow. "As in the Rainbow Witch that loves to participate in Turf Wars and other activities?"
"Rainbow… Witch…? Never heard that one before, but yeah… that would be me, I guess."
"Cool. From what I've heard, you're a legend amongst the community, with how you use your spray cans gracefully in combat and how you sometimes move around all witch-like, not to mention how much of a badass you are with the Rainmaker. Their words, not mine."
"I guess my reputation precedes me." Namine chuckled. "I'm just here for casual fun."
"Well, clearly you've made a name for yourself." Acht chuckled.
"So, why were you camping out in the elevator?" Pearl asked.
"Well, Marina and I go way back, so I thought I'd go up to the tower and find her… but then these bony fish creatures suddenly attacked me. I'm not much of a fighter compared to most of the squid kids, so I hid in the elevators for safety. I call those weird creatures Jelletons."
She pulled up her bandaged arm. "Unfortunately, The Spire is crawling with Jelletons. They wounded me and it's never healed, so that's fun. That just leaves you three while I'm stuck in the sidelines."
"Oh, I have a few friends who tend to be mission control, so it's not that bad." Namine said. "Though, one of them is a little more battle heavy when she became the Winter Maiden…" She mumbled to herself before waving it off.
"By the way, this tower has a bit of an interesting feature to it." Acht spoke up, pulling out a data chip. "Apparently, this data chip I've found enhances your capabilities. Not sure how it works exactly, but if you put it inside of Pearl, you should be able to enhance yourself."
"And how exactly am I going to do that? Does it look like I have a palette?" Pearl wondered. "I mean, it's not like-" She fiddled with her controls as a palette showed up. "...Okay, that was just by accident."
"Hmm…" Namine rubbed her chin in thought while Eight put the data chip in said palette, then Pearl put it back in.
"Whoooooa! Apparently your dualies just got powered up by a little bit!" Pearl said in surprise.
"Indeed. That should help us with these Jelletons." Acht said where Namine closed her eyes as a white aura surrounded her and to her fingertips, no one noticing what she was doing.
"So, can't we just pick the top floor and go up?" Eight asked.
"No can do. It goes up one floor at a time. Believe me, I've tried it."
"Well, I guess we can-... whoa!" Pearl exclaimed, shaking her body.
"What's up?" Acht wondered.
"No idea, I just got a head rush for some reason." Pearl said. "I didn't know it was possible in this robot body."
Namine opened her eyes, her body stopped glowing.
"Alright. Let's get this done."
"Right." Eight nodded as Acht pushed a button.
"Next stop… the first floor."
End BGM
BGM: Upgrade Station (Team Fortress 2)
"Hmm… that's peculiar." Acht said. "We should've stopped by now."
"Good grief. What did you do?" Pearl asked.
"I didn't do anything. All I did was push a button."
"Soooo, either we're on the world's slowest elevator or the elevator's malfunctioning."
"No, I think we're moving at a reasonable pace." Eight said. "The corridor might be longer than we thought."
"Gah, it doesn't take this long to reach the first floor!" Pearl complained as Namine casually leaned against a wall with a silent chuckle, pulling out her notebook and started to draw while they waited.
Pearl paced around, mumbling to herself as an idea popped into her head. "Teeeen million tentacles on a wall-"
"Please don't." Acht interrupted.
"I'm just trying to pass the time! I swear, this elevator is slower than molasses."
"I think we're slowing down." Eight said. "...I could be wrong."
"By the way, isn't it strange how Namine isn't complaining?" Acht asked.
"Probably not her first rodeo with slow as kelp elevators." Pearl responded. "So anyway-"
The elevator stopped.
Ding!
"Now entering the tenth floor."
"See? Now that wasn't so ba-... did it say "tenth"?" Pearl wondered.
"You're welcome." Namine put her notebook away.
"Wait, what did you do?" Eight asked.
"I'm a witch. I can manipulate anything if I feel like it. Granted, at first, it was just messing with memories but I've trained myself to where I can do so much more than that. Not to mention you pick up on a few things hanging around a scientist for a year."
"Sooo, you were the one who manipulated the elevator to take us to the top floor?" Acht asked.
"Yes."
"So, that headrush I had-"
"Gave you more chips to work with."
Pearl's robotic eyes sparkled. "You are a GENIUS!"
"Shoot, I could've used you earlier before I got injured." Acht said.
"Ah… sorry about that."
"No no, you're fine." Acht waved it off. "Marina should be in this room, so go nuts. I'll stay here."
With a nod, the trio walked out as they found a cage in front of them. They hopped in as they went toward a gigantic black blob in front of them.
"Wait a second… is that…?" Pearl wondered.
"No way…" Acht said Eight's earpiece as they dropped down and moved forward to see Marina trapped in a black blob-like thing in front of them, wrapped around in electrical wiring. She also had a black visor over her eyes.
"Marina!" Pearl called out to her. "Yo, Rina! Can you hear me?!"
"I don't think she can…" Eight said.
"Shoot…"
Suddenly, a red light flashed on Marina's visor.
"Intruders confirmed. Commence Grayscaling."
"Grayscaling…?" Namine wondered.
"That doesn't sound good!" Pearl said. "Hang on, 'Rina! We'll get you out of there!" She exclaimed as Eight summoned her Dualies and Namine with her Spray Can Backpack.
BGM: Unconscience (Splatoon 3: Side Order)
The Administrator of Order - Marina Agitando
Four tentacles popped up in front of them, summoning Jelletons.
"You take the left, I'll take the right!" Eight said.
"Got it!" Namine nodded as they split up, with Eight running over and taking care of the Swarming Languendo and Marching Andante. She quickly took care of them and proceeded to shoot up the Portal, destroying it after several shots were fired.
Nearby, Namine took care of the first one on the left, effortlessly destroying it while taking out some Languendos. She hurried over to the one up front as some Battering Lentos and Whirling Accelerandos popped out and attacked her.
The Nobody swiftly backflipped and snapped her fingers as a Thundaga slammed down on the Lentos, causing them to explode while the Accelerandos spun around and charged straight for her, but Namine vaulted over them and sprayed the Portal in front of her until it exploded, where the explosion destroyed the Accelerandos once they turned around to get her.
Once the explosion settled, Namine looked down and realized she was covered in black ink. She shrugged it off and went to take care of the last portal right as Eight swooped in with a Reefslider to take care of it, weakening the portal as they both destroyed it.
"ERROR! An unexpected barrier issue has arisen." Marina said as the barrier shattered.
The ladies immediately started to run around and fire/spray on Marina, with Eight dipping herself in her own ink to recharge and fired once she emerged while Marina sent out Super Chumps to fend them off, but it was in vain as they swiftly destroyed the gunk that Marina was in.
End BGM
The visor short circuited and disappeared as Marina fell to the ground as Eight raised her arms to catch her, as the Octoling landed on her and they both slammed into the ground. Namine and Pearl went over to check on them.
"Nnngh…" Marina groaned as she came to. "Ugh… Eight? Namine…? A… drone?"
"I see I'm cross wired circuitry."
"Oh! Pearl! I'm so sorry…"
"Nah, it's fine."
Suddenly a black mist surrounded what Marina was in, causing them all to turn around as a shadowy digital face appeared in front of them all.
"ERROR. Grayscaling interrupted. Intruders confirmed disorderly. Classifying as dissidents."
"Who's THIS digital clown?!" Pearl squared up.
"I am Order itself. A consciousness generated from the processes of many who yearn for stability. I am now fully realized. I therefore have no further use for a host vessel. All things… will be converted to memory."
Order unleashed a shockwave, causing the whole place to rumble.
"Whoa!" Pearl exclaimed.
"This is bad! The whole tower is shaking!" Marina exclaimed as Order unleashed a wave of energy toward them as Namine quickly used Reflega to try and push it back, but it broke through the magic and sent everyone out through the wall, forcing Acht to quickly close the elevator doors and made her way down.
Luckily, Pearl had caught the trio and descended to the ground.
"Pearlie, we're going in kinda hot!" Marina said.
"Hnnngh! I'm not used to… three… passengers…!" Pearl grunted as they started falling faster to the ground.
CRASH!
"Uuuungh…" Eight groaned as she slowly came to, rubbing her head and seeing a concerned Marina and a non-robotic Pearl in front of her.
"Oh thank Cod you're alright!" Marina smiled.
"Hey, Eight! Check me out! Marina managed to make me back to my old self!"
BGM: Origin of Order - Acid Hues (Splatoon 3: Side Order)
"Cool! …Wait a second, where's Namine?"
"I'm here." Namine said, holding a Blizzaga cube over her head. "A bit banged up, but I'm fine."
"Cool… wait, how did Marina turn you back to normal?" Eight wondered.
"Oh, she used her fancy schmancy computer nerd magic to get me back to my ol' fleshy self."
Marina sweatdropped. "That's the most… crude way of putting it but you're not entirely wrong."
She pulled up her laptop. "I'm really, really sorry though. It was the Dramatic Days in Orderland module that stuck you in drone form. And… did all the other stuff too."
Pearl looked at her weirdly. "Dramatic Days in… what now?"
"Right… let me back up a bit." Marina pushed a button. "This is the Memverse. It's a prototype VR… that is, a virtual reality that I made."
"Your virtual reality? Hold up! You're saying we've been in a fake place this whole time?!"
"That's right. The only "real" things in the Memverse are our minds."
Eight blinked. "Okaaay… I think I'm following…"
I think Sora would be fascinated by this… maybe. Namine thought.
"That fuzzy cloud we met was Order. It took control of me and caused the whole Memverse to go haywire. It's forcibly connected who-knows-how-many people to the Memverse. Their minds are all here now."
"Which is how I got pulled into all this, right?" Acht approached. "And not just me, but Eight and Namine as well."
Marina sighed. "I'm so sorry, guys. I never intended for all of you to get roped into my mess."
"Oh, don't worry about it. This isn't the strangest thing I've dealt with." Namine said.
"Right." Acht nodded. "For now, we gotta focus on what to do with the situation that we're currently in."
"We gotta stop Order." Eight said.
"Agreed." Marina nodded. "We need to do something about it. Order's ultimate goal is a colorless world of order. A place where nobody has a will of their own. They just do whatever they're told, day in, day out. Order's using the Memverse to make the dream of that changeless world a reality."
Namine frowned. "That sounds completely boring. It'd drive me insane."
"Time out. What's its beef with change anyway?" Pearl wondered. "...Actually, wait, hold up. I thought the Memverse isn't real? Even if it gets what it wants in the Memverse… who cares? The real world stays the real world, doesn't it?"
"Yeeeeahhh, about that… Order is using what it calls "Grayscaling" to neutralize the will of everyone that's trapped here."
Acht rubbed their chin. "So if someone goes through Grayscaling here in the Memverse… it has an effect on the real person. That about sum it up?"
"Yeah, anyone who goes through Grayscaling will slowly start to lose their will in actual reality too. And Order's just getting started. It plans to keep pulling people into the Memverse. If we don't stop it, people all over the world will lose their wills. Life as we know it will be over! And as far as I know, it's only aware of our world, so the other worlds should be safe… but it might start to take notice and start Grayscaling everything outside… and I'm pretty sure Remnant doesn't need another end of the world scenario after what happened with Eggman."
"Yo! That sounds horrible!" Pearl exclaimed.
"Well… I'm glad I stumbled in here by accident." Namine said. "Now let's go take down Order."
"Yeah, let's kick this Order to the curb and save Inkopolis before things get dicey!"
"Oh, Pearlie… you say the coolest things!" Marina smiled.
"Quick question!" Eight spoke up. "Is there a reason why you made a digital version of this place?"
End BGM
"Oh, right…" Marina sighed. "Well, I wanted to create something to help you and those who were victims of Kamabo Co to regain their memories back. So I created the Memverse to help people out with that… I even made an AI to help it along. Decided to do this while we were planning out our world tour, and then by the time I finished during our mid-season break, we got caught up with that Mr. Grizz business… and then as I did some more testing, well… Eggman happened so I put it to a halt and talked with Pearl to hijack Remnant's network and played a song to help calm everyone down. When Eggman was defeated, I finished everything up."
"All of that just to get our memories back from Tartar?" Eight wondered.
"Yes. I was also hoping this would also be some sort of therapy for Captain Three to get her back to her chipper self… or so I've been told by the Squid Sisters."
She let out a groan. "I just never imagined the AI I made would… do this. I got squidnapped and dragged you guys into this mess."
Eight smiled, putting her hand on Marina's shoulder. "You're doing wonderful. I'm sure this AI probably had some kind of glitch that made it go crazy. We'll fix it up!"
"Oh… Eight." Marina smiled as Eight hugged her, where Marina hugged her back as they pulled away.
"So… Namine. You think you could do your magic again?" Eight asked.
Namine chuckled. "I'll see what I can do."
"Hup!" Pearl transformed back into her Pearl drone form. "Alright, lay into me. Show me what you got, girl!"
"Ooooh, let me help too. There's a few modifications I want to put in." Marina said.
Some time later, back in the elevator…
"Alright, top floor… here we go." Namine said as the elevator started to move.
"Soooo… considering how long this is gonna be… anyone want to do anything? Truth or Squid? Tableturf Wars? Spin the Tentacle?" Pearl wondered.
"Instead of a tentacle, we could play Spin the Drone." Acht said.
"Whoa, no thank you! I'd rather not get dizzy, thank you very much."
"You're currently a drone. Worst that can happen is… probably irritation." Acht responded.
"I wonder…" Marina walked over to the control panel and unhooked it. "I wonder if I can speed things along…"
"We could probably sing songs. Anyone know anything trendy these days?" Eight asked. "Like, I dunno, what's Chirpy Chips doing these days?"
"If I cross this wire, this should-"
Suddenly, the elevator went up like a rocket.
"WHOA!" Marina yelled. "Welp, that did the trick!"
"Hopefully we won't rocket out of the tower!" Namine exclaimed.
"Working on it!"
Marina quickly moved some wires around until they came to a complete stop.
Ding!
"You have reached the thirtieth floor."
"Well, that was exciting. Let's never do that again." Acht said.
"Agreed." Eight nodded.
"Sheesh, where's your sense of adventure?" Pearl rolled her eyes.
Everyone walked out, where they would see Order on the other side.
"A perfect world is a stable world. It has no need for change. For variation. It has no need for desire. For conflict. In this world, none desire what might be. They embrace what is. Their lives are peaceful ones. I will achieve a quiet and peaceful world. Reasons to oppose this include: …ERROR: No reasons found."
Marina frowned while Eight and Namine got ready to throw down. "I can't deny that a chaotic world is an unstable one. That uncertainty can tire you out or make you scared of what tomorrow might bring. There've been times when I wished everything could stay the same forever. Sometimes when colors clash and mix, you end up with mud. But every now and then, you get to see a beautiful rainbow! And in the end… that's a gamble I'm willing to take! With Pearl, Eight, Acht, Namine and everyone else!"
"This world's architect… my creator… would deny me. Illogical. Irrational. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. An unrecoverable mentality error has occured."
Order started twitching violently.
"Sounds like a skill issue to me!" Pearl taunted.
Order launched up into the air. "The sentence for interruption is eradication."
Order turned around and slammed into the ground, as large tentacles rose up from the ground as a massive octopus came out and let out a massive roar.
BGM: New World Order - Free Association (Splatoon 3: Side Order)
The Magistrate of Order - Overlorder
Namine shook her spray paints. "You ready, Eight?"
"Oh yeah!"
Two Portals appeared in front of them as they both split up to take care of the two portals. Overlorder would respond by shooting tons of ink blots at the duo, but Namine slid while Eight jumped out of the way as both of them made quick work on the Portals, causing explosions that destroyed any Jelleton that came out of them.
The barrier shattered.
"Increasing standard ink pressure. Firing Stingray."
Three stingrays shot out of Overlorder's eyes and mouth, focusing on Namine while a tentacle wall came up to block Eight's advances, but she shot the ground and swam around it before she threw a few Splat Bombs to get Overlorder off of Namine's name.
Overlorder turned toward Eight and proceeded to swing his tentacles at her, but she Squid Jumped out of the way to avoid and shot him on the way down while Namine sprayed him from the back as the two of them made quick work on Overlorder, with Pearl setting a few Ink Mines down and blowing up in Overlorder's face, then Namine threw a Fizzy Bomb, exploding into Overlorder's face where it proceeded to sink into the ground…
…Only to come back up with a new barrier and three Portals opened up.
"Knew it wouldn't be that easy." Namine said.
"Well, we just gotta keep at it and… why are those portals moving?!" Pearl wondered in surprise as the portals started to move.
"Oh good, I love a challenge." Eight smirked as she ran off while Namine went to deal with the one near her.
"Initiating Reefslider protocol."
"The what?!" Namine asked in shock as Overlorder turned to Namine and fired Reefsliders at her, where she immediately used Reflega to push them back, and while it didn't do anything to the barrier, it was enough to protect her for a bit as she sprayed the Portal until it was destroyed.
Eight splatted an Accelerando as she kicked it back, destroying several Jelletons in the way and knocked down a Towering Nobilmente to her level, where she tossed a Splat Bomb on it to finish it off before turning to destroy the Portal.
She then turned to the last one and hopped on her own Reefslider and rushed over, hurting the portal and killing the Jelletons as Namine came in and helped out to destroy the portal, then the barrier shattered as the ladies turned around and fired, running around as Overlorder sent in minions for backup, only for them to get destroyed as Namine kicked an Accelerando back to Overlorder to dish out some damage before summoning her Triple Inkstrike and threw them down to deal a lot of damage to it.
Overlorder slapped Namine away before turning his attention to Eight and sent out a plethora of Super Chumps, only for them to get destroyed by a few Thundagas as Namine had recovered and joined Eight to knock Overlorder down.
With a roar, Overlorder came back up with a new barrier and four portals.
"This is not good… error. Errooooorr…"
"We're in the final stretch!" Pearl exclaimed as Namine and Eight fist bumped as they went toward the portals, spraying and shooting their way through an army of Jelletons and destroying the portals before they could have a chance to summon more Jelletons.
Once all portals were taken care of, not to mention Eight dodging a Tri-Stingray attack, they proceeded to lather Overlorder up with ink until he let out a roar of defeat and fell limp.
End BGM
"Ha! How do you like that, Over-Snore-der?" Pearl taunted.
"Such chaotic strength. It is fearsome. But the program is now fully executed. The rebooted world will know the tranquility of order."
Overlorder let out a roar, causing the place to rumble and static.
"Wait, no! After all we've done… it still wasn't enough?!" Marina exclaimed as Inkopolis and Splatsville proceeded to get grayscaled from it.
Marina clenched her fists. "I don't want a blank world…" She proceeded to start typing on her laptop. "Maybe I can shut down Order's program!"
Acht started running toward Marina.
"No good! It's propagating too fast!"
Acht desperately reached toward Marina's computer.
"Pearl… I…!"
Everything went grayscaled.
…However…
BGM: Spectrum Obligato ~ Ebb and Flow - Out of Order (Splatoon 3: Side Order)
A strong beat started echoing throughout as Eight, Namine and Pearl started to come around from the sound of the music.
"Uuugh…" Pearl shook it off. "There it is… Eight! I've feeling your vibe!" She turned toward Marina and gave her a thumbs up. "And Marina! Your backing track SLAPS! Cancel that snooze button! Hit me with the beat, DJ!"
"Coming at you, Pearl!" Marina said as she started typing as a DJ set appeared in front of her and Acht, where Acht's bandages digitized off of them, causing them to smirk as they both started to turn it up.
"Of what use is this resistance. Happiness is stasis. Unchanging. Forever."
"You kidding? We're still on tour!" Pearl said. "The show don't stop!"
Namine rose up, rolling her neck and her shoulders. "This is not how to live!" Namine said.
"You're damn right it's not!" Pearl agreed. "Keep your boring gigs for boring people. We're out here LIVING, loser! Right, gang? Crank it up!"
"Mic check!" Marina called out as Eight and Namine instinctively covered their ears.
"BOOOOOOOYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Pearl's scream was enough to shatter the roof, causing sunlight to spill out… and while at the same time, Overlorder's tentacles started to move freely.
"My limbs are self-animating. Why. This is outside my parameters. An undefined error is occuring."
"Ha! This world you dreamed of is so boring, even you can't stand it anymore!" Pearl said as she transformed back into her Drone self. "But we got the ink to fix that! Don't get cooked… stay off the hook!"
Pearl let out a chuckle. "Eight! Namine! Let's kick his tentacled ass to the curb!"
"Couldn't have said it better myself!" Eight said.
"Let's roll."
"Useless. Try as you like. The result will never change."
"Guys? I'm picking up that the Palette inside Pearl is completely empty. Did Order do this?" Acht wondered.
"I see color chips trapped inside of those Portals!" Marina added.
"Awww yeah! We're turning up the intensity of this fight! It's encore time!"
The girls ran over toward the Portals as Namine took the left and Eight took the right as Jelletons came swimming over to try and stop them, but were quickly overwhelmed as Eight took care of the right portal, destroying it as blue chips came out and absorbed into Pearl.
"Hey Eight, try these out!" Pearl shot at Eight's feet as rollerblades appeared underneath her.
"Whoa! Mobility… nice!" Eight said as she rolled around and helped out Namine until they got the orange chips freed and was absorbed into her.
"Range is off the hook!" Pearl said, firing into both Eight and Namine to enhance their range, while also giving Namine a skateboard as more portals opened up as both of them skated over to them while also taking care of the Jelletons, where they destroyed the next portal as yellow chips were absorbed into Pearl.
"Woooo, I'm feelin' lucky!" Pearl exclaimed, dropping some armor for the two.
"Neat!" Namine said as they both grabbed it as barriers surrounded them, then they took off while taking care of the minions, all the while Overlorder could only just watch on.
"What is happening. Running diagnostics… Error!"
They then destroyed the next Portal, as cyan chips came out and went into Pearl.
"Have some of this!" Pearl said, dropping Splat Bombs, Burst Bombs, Killer Wails, Inkstrikes, and Ink Mines while having a Sprinkler over her head. "You like that, don't you!"
"Grayscaling is running in reverse. Impossible."
The next portal was immediately destroyed as red chips were implanted inside of Pearl.
"Ooooh, feel the power, baby!" Pearl exclaimed, powering up Namine and Eight as Overlorder tried to fight back by spraying ink bubbles at them, but they outmanuevered him as they got the purple chips inside.
"What's that one?" Eight asked.
"I'm feeling more supportive! Ooooh, I feel like a finale's comin' on!"
"Ngh. Hrgh. ARGH. Color… overflow…"
"Alright! Y'all ready to see a Color Wail?!" Pearl exclaimed as Eight and Namine laid into Order.
"Ha! This is gonna leave a stain." Acht said.
"Lay into it, Pearl!" Marina exclaimed.
"Alright, stand back!" Pearl said as Namine and Eight took cover as Pearl unleashed a rainbow-esque color wail on Overloader. "BOOOOOOOOOOOYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
"Incompatible… with… program…" Overloader said as Namine and Eight helped Pearl out until Overloader was completely overloaded as it let out digital screeches.
End BGM
"WaRnInG. aN uNdEfInEd ErRoR iS oCcUrInG. wArNiNg. An UnDeFiN3d ErR0r Is OcCurrr1innnggg."
Overloaded lit up and exploded, unleashing a shockwave that blew their hair/tentacles around but didn't blast them away.
"Was that it?" Namine wondered.
"I think so…" Pearl said. "...Wait, what's that?" She pointed up ahead as they saw a tiny little baby octopus floating in front of them.
"Oh… oh my gosh! It's so… so CUTE!" Marina gushed.
"You wuined everything!" Order, now Smollusk, said. "I was so cwose to my perfect world of order!"
"Part of me wants to keep it as a pet…" Namine said. "Not sure how that'd work out as an Ai…"
"Well, there's not much to worry about now." Marina giggled.
"Yo! Babypus!" Pearl said. "You were digging our music, right? We can getcha VIP seats to our show… IF you promise to be on your best behavior!"
"Awww…!"
"Come on, let's go… I'm beat." Pearl said as an elevator appeared where they all walked in and made their way out.
"So, anyone up for a post-save the world meal? I'm kinda hungry after all that." Marina said.
"I could eat." Acht said.
"I'm down." Namine giggled.
"Sure, why not?" Eight chuckled. "It's not like Order is gonna be doing anything stupid, right?"
"Here's hoping…" Pearl nodded.
Later, back at Radiant Garden…
"Mmmm…" Ienzo stretched as he walked off for a bit.
Suddenly, his computer screen static'd a bit before Smollusk appeared on Ienzo's screen.
"Down but not out… hehehehe!"
"Hmm?" Ienzo wondered as he returned. "Oh, hello little guy. What's your name?"
"The incwedible nightmare you will weceive!"
Ienzo blinked as he did a virus scan on it.
Virus detected. Eliminating threat.
"EEEEK!" Smollusk quickly disappeared.
Error. Virus… ran away?
Ienzo shrugged. "Well, I'm sure it'll be fine." He said as he turned off his laptop and walked off, unaware of Smollusk appearing on Tron's monitor.
"Incwedible bane of your existence!"
Ya know, when Nintendo announced Side Order, I thought (Along with the rest of the Splat community... I think) it would be an AU when Marina won the FinalFest in Splatoon 2, so I thought "Eh, I won't do a story on Side Order." and then it finally launched and realized it was still in the main universe. From what I understood, it seemed like Nintendo was implying this was an AU, but it wasn't at the end. Guess they had the last laugh... but anyway, I went "Ya know, heck with it. Let's do a Gaiden over this." Took me a while to actually get around to this Gaiden, but it was worth it!
Ibuki: You think Smollusk might be an issue later on?
Deadpool: Nah, doubtful!