Chapter 10:

(Okay, we're near the first ending! What? Ya think I would end it without getting to the other Palettes? But all things considered, I'm glad people like what I write, I try my best and I know I've made tons of errors. But I thank God that I have a good affinity with writing. Btw, this is NOT that chapter. The second phase will be in the next one after this. Anyways, enjoy.)

Eight was about to take a bit of a nap at the vending machine corner. After buying a few more chips and an extra life, he was beat.

"And assuredly this is okay, Pearl?" Eight asked. "Yeah, we'll be fine. If Snorder up there hasn't made a move yet, I don't think he will. Eight looked into his eyes, taken in a minute to realize that they became pale in the time he'd been here. His green irises were replaced with a pale metallic silver. "Do you…belief—believe my eyes will return to its original color?" Eight asked.

Pearl had patted Eight's shoulder, "Definitely! This is a VR, Eight. It's not like Order can truly affect that. Unless you let him, yo." Pearl said, "But I know you, homie. You ain't a chump to let something like that ruin your life."

Eight had understood, "I can't wait…We're so close." Eight had smiled, "You're right, Pearl. Order can't affect me. My life dependent on both Chaos and Order. I understood that now." Eight said, messing a few of his words up.

(Back in the elevator)

Acht had straightened her glasses. "Top floor, everyone." She said to the others.

"Order must be waiting for us there. All rested up, Eight?" Marina asked. "Yes, I'm ready to end this!" Eight said, affirming his confidence. Marina had looked to her side, "I'm partly responsible for what's going on, so…I'll go out there with you, Eight." She explained, which shocked him and Pearl.

"Without a weapon?! Forget THAT!" Pearl said, "Marina, you don't need to go out there!" Eight said.

"I know, I know! But I have to." Marina explained. Acht was hesitant, but she spoke in her defense. "Look, it's pretty much impossible to change Marina's mind once it's set." She said, "But she CAN handle herself without a weapon. That shouldn't be a problem." Eight was still unsure, Order is still unknown to him, any move that program could make is potentially dangerous. "That's so sweet of you, Acht!" Marina said, "Eight, what about you?" Eight had looked at his friend, "I trust you. I'll keep you safe if Order tries to re-assimilate you." Eight said.

Marina smiled, "Oh, thank you, Eight!" Marina said.

Pearl had sighed, "Alright, I can see when I'm outvoted. No big blazes of glory, though. From BOTH of you. Ok?" She asked.

Eight had smiled, "Affirmative." He said, while Marina gave a thumbs up. "You got it, Pearl!" She said.

The Inkling-Drone turned to their fourth member, "You coming too, Acht?" Pearl asked.

Acht rose her hand up in objection. "Nah, I'd rather not get in your way. I'll watch from here in case things go south." Acht suggested. Pearl did another flip, "Good looking out. And yo, if things go real bad, keep Marina safe!" Pearl said, to which all three of them agreed.

Pearl had given a brave stare, "Get hyped! Get psyched! Get ready for a big ol' messy FIGHT!" She said.

(Here we are…)

Eight ran out and watched his Dualies materialize into his hands. The Octoling kept running and turned on the platform. The cage lifted and he could the ghoulish looking program staying right where he was last seen.

"Yo, look! It's Order!" Pearl said.

The group hadn't landed on the platform. "A perfect world is a stable world. It has no need for change. For variation." Order had said to the group.

Eight's eyes looked fierce at his opponent, "Perfection is nonexistent here. Your concept of order contravenes any reason we want to exist." Eight explained.

"You prove my argument. Stability doesn't function with REASON. Too much debacle around multiple reason. It has no need for desire. For conflict." Order said to the Octoling.

"Then, your world has no reason to exist." Eight said, which confused the program. "Illogical. In this world, none desire what might be. They embrace what is. Their lives are peaceful ones." Order explained, assuring itself it will achieve a peaceful world. "Reasons to oppose this include: …ERROR: no reasons found." Order said.

Marina shook her head, in shame and sympathy. "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." Marina explained, understanding why she originally disliked the idea of full blown Chaos.

"There've been times where I wished everything could stay the same forever." She admitted this part of herself. "I never wanted order because I hated the chaos." Eight spoke up, "I understood the beauty of it. The power to keep onward towards your horizon. To find the calm in the middle of storms." Eight said, which surprised the rest of the group. "That is why I chose Order in the Splatocalypse. Because I valued the progress of my and my friends's lives!"

She smiled at her friend, and then turned back up to Order, more determined.

"Sometimes when colors clash and mix, you end up with mud. But every now and then, you get to see a beautiful rainbow!" She said.

Eight had smiled, "And in the end…"

"That's a gamble we're willing to take!" They both shouted at Order.

Pearl was so happy for her friends, "With Pearl, and Marina…" Eight said.

"And Eight, and Acht, and everyone else!" Marina said.

Order stood in confusion. "This world's architect…my creator…would deny me. Illogical. Irrational. ERROR." Order couldn't understand why its own creator would deny her own dreams. This Octoling was like an anomaly, as well! Rejecting stability for insanity, finding beauty in the progress? What platitudes WERE these?!

"ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. An unrecoverable mentality error has occurred." Order said, eye twitching before going into the virtual sky. "The sentence for interruption of order is eradication." It declared, phasing into the center of the floor.

Eight had tried to prepare, and then the ground shook beneath them. "Guys!" Pearl shouted, seeing a Jelleton forming out of the middle, it was bigger compared to the other Jelletons they fought to get here.

Its body and skeletal structure resembled the octopi of a bygone era.

At the center of its face were two red eyes, made of 8-Balls from the Deepsea Metro. It was a Magistrate of Order…

Overlorder.

Eight wasn't afraid. He had been waiting to end this shallow ideal, "Bet you're itching to take this thing down. Let's get to it, Eight!" Pearl said, running with her friend.

Overlorder had protected itself behind a force field just like it had before with Marina Agitando and created the hubs Eight needed to destroy to break its shield once again.

Eight made a path and then swam his way to destroy the first hub. As he and Pearl expected, Jelletons spawned out of the hub and tried to attack. Pearl had used one of her bombs to ward off a few of them, and Eight dodged out of their way to move. And he had taken down the first portal. "Great job, Eight! We gotta take the other one down next!" Acht said.

Eight had honed his focus and waited for the right time to implode his Reefslider. He drove it through the ink and waited for the Jelletons were in close range, a lot of them were small fry, but it was the Gushing Trionfale he was aiming for.

The bombs had been shot into the air and Eight had stopped in place, ready to blow up the bombs.

Not only did that do damage to the portal, but it blew up the Jelletons he aimed for, adding to its damage. "This one's mine, Eight!" Pearl said, shooting a Killer Wail at the Portal and it exploded, unable to take more hits.

Overlorder's shell had broken and left him exposed to fire.

"We smashed 'em both! How do you like THAT?!" Pearl said, cockily. "We broke the barrier! Time to take the fight to this creep!"

"All really on it!" Eight said, shooting his Dualies at Order. The giant program had moved its tentacles around. "Generating tentacles modules to suppress target." Overlorder said, creating a wall of tentacles to drop on Eight, but the Octoling dodges with another juke to keep up the fire. Covered up completely in ink, Overlorder had blown up. Black ink had shot out of where the program stood, and it re-emerged. "Activating restoration process." Overlorder said, recreating a shield.

"It's regenerating?! Not cool!" Pearl said, "It can't keep it up for long. Come on." Eight said, heading toward a portal. He could see that the Jelletons were coming out of another one. He started shooting at the one they came to, and he couldn't tell, but it looked like it was moving! "Wait, the portal can MOVE?" Pearl asked, "It's thankfully slower than it ought to be." Eight said, shooting the portal and destroying it alongside a full Jelletons.

"Next one!" Eight had taken a deep breath and ran through it all, he dodged a few of the Jelletons and threw a bomb close to him, safeguarding himself and Pearl from a few of them. Pearl threw a bomb and watched the portal move to evade destruction. Eight had dodged to his left and shot at it again. Eight shot it and it blew up. "There must be one more portal somewhere!" Acht said, watching everything play out. "Eight, I see it!" Marina had said, seeing it in the corner of the battlefield. Eight swam and toiled to get to the portal.

(After That)

Eight and Pearl had stood at the nearly defeated Overlorder. "Looks like you're donezo, Snorder!" Pearl said, confidently. "Such chaotic strength. It is fearsome." Order said. "I'll taking that as a condiment…er…compliment." Eight said. Order had stared at the two blankly.

"But the program is now fully executed." Order said, which widened Eight's eyes in panic.

"Wh-What…?!" Eight asked, quietly.

"The rebooted world will know the tranquility of order." Order said, before beginning the Grayscaling process.

Marina could see darkness swirling all around them, "No…After all that, we were too late?!" Marina asked, still in her computer.

She watched in horror as Eight fell to his knees.

"Eight! Eight!" Pearl shouted at her friend. "No…I can't…give up…" Eight had collapsed under the Grayscale's effects.

"Eight!" Marina's eyes began to tremble in fear, "No…I don't want a black world." She said, still fighting. "Hang on, Eight! I'll fix this!" Marina began typing on her computer. "Maybe I can shut down Order's program!" She said, trying to delete Order.

Acht started running toward Marina, "No good! It's propagating too fast!" She said, looking up at Pearl and Eight. Pearl tried her best to wake up Eight, "Pearl…Eight…I…"

Acht took a leap of faith and jumped to reach Marina's computer, her eyes shown visible and determined from behind her glasses, along with the fact that her bandages were gone. Everything begun completely glitching out.

Everything had become white.

No color. No nothing.

Eight had been subjected to repose as Order would win. "Is this…all I can do?" Eight said, feeling a fleeting moment of sadness. "I can't…get up…" Eight tried to lift himself up, but he couldn't move. He could feel something faintly, however.

His heartbeat…it was…beating like a rhythm.

He could feel something spark back into him that gave confidence. He could hear music as lights of pink and green had emanated from within his heart. The rhythm and beat had gotten louder the more Eight could move, feeling the need to tap his finger to it! Parts of Eight thought this was the work of the Calamari Inkantation. But…this felt like something else, because it wasn't the same melody to him. A different kind of music, and it became more familiar. The rhythm in Eight's heart had gotten louder along with the music. He looked over to a stage that wasn't there before and understood what it was, now. "Marina…Pearl…My friends!" He thought to himself, realizing where his freedom and life truly began. The day he met Off The Hook!

"They're why…I want to keep moving!" Eight said, confidently getting up. Order couldn't BELIEVE IT! Eight had gotten up, and his eyes…the metallic silver had been replaced with the original emerald green he had before. Eight could hear the music play throughout this battlefield.

Pearl had gotten up herself, returning to her Inkling form and looked at her friend, "There it is…Eight! I'm feelin' your vibe!" She said, seeing the pink and green glow coming off of him. She smirked confidently at her friend, "And Marina! Your backing track SLAPS!" She said, excitedly giving a thumbs up to Marina.

Eight looked at Pearl and smirked, "Hit 'em with it, Pearl!" He said, confidently. "Cancel that snooze button! Hit me with the beat, DJ!" She said, watching Acht & Marina on the side.

Marina and Acht were now sitting on a stage, with spotlights and lots of speakers! Marina smiled, relieved and happy that they're still in this fight. "Coming at you, Pearl!" She said, typing on her computer to create a set of DJ equipment. Acht had felt her injury was gone when she looked at her hand. Marina and Acht looked at each other and got to work on the backing track! Acht bopped her head to the beat and Marina lifted her hand in the air!

"Of what use is this resistance." Overlorder said. "Happiness is stasis. Unchanging. Forever." It didn't understand ANY of their resistance. "You kidding? We're still on tour!" Pearl said, outraged! "The show don't STOP!" Pearl swiped her hand in defiance. "Keep your boring gigs for boring people. We're out for LIVING, loser!" Pearl said, with Acht and Marina smirking and smiling.

Overlorder now REALLY couldn't understand this resistance.

This Eight, especially. He was perfectly pale, now shines with hints of green and pink. "A world with no joy or strife is NO world at all! Which is why we raise the roof!" Eight shouted, smirking at Pearl.

"Right, gang? Crank it up!" Pearl said, Marina and Acht danced to the rhythm as they played the song! Marina was ready, "Mic check!" said, turning up the volume!

Pearl jumped into the air and shouted:

"Boo-YAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Pink shockwaves began to form and fade into the whole arena. It felt like an earthquake was shaking and before they all knew it.

The Spire's entire top floor's walls had completely disappeared.

Overlorder could hear an extra beat being played, and out of nowhere, his tentacles had begun to dance to the beat. "My limbs are self-animating. Why." He asked, feeling himself dancing still. "This is outside my parameters. An undefined error is occurring."He said.

Eight had sighed, "Still can't perceive it?" He asked the program. "Ha! This world you dreamed up is so boring, even YOU can't stand it anymore!" Pearl said, reading what was happening! Pearl felt the yellow light shine over her and converted back into drone form. She spun around and pointed at Overlorder. "But we got the ink to fix that!"

Marina, Eight and Pearl all shouted together: "Don't get cooked…Stay off the hook!"

(Ok, here we are. The Penultimate Chapter of the First Ending! Anyways, I hope u guys liked it. Sorry for ending it where I did, but I know it was around before we started the final phase in of the fight was where I tried to find a good stopping point. Sorry also for the divergence that I included with Eight, I figured it would raise the intensity and coolness. Anyways, I hope to hear from u. Stay strong and awesome!)

Proverbs 1:7 KJV:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction.