The vegimals were excited at their new fangled kitchen. It had been set up by Tweak on a small oceanic island for one purpose: to construct the world's largest fish biscuit. The vegimals all mixed bowles full of dough, kneading all the ingredients together.
Meanwhile, tweak was constructing a metal frame for the fish biscuit.
"Wonderfull," Shellington exclaimed, surveying the area, "at this rate we, the octonauts will hold the record for the largest fish biscuit!"
"Umm, sorry to break this to you Shelington," Dashi said, "but we already have the world record for the largest fish biscuit. Remember that time when Grouber was so hungry he shaped a whole batch of fish biscuit dough into one big one to save time."
Everyone turned to look and Grouber, who was licking all the mixture off the wooden spoons. Grouber looked up at them and shrugged, as if saying: why are you looking at me?.
"With this here, reinforced metal frame," Tweak explained, patting her creation, "you can make the biscuit ten times bigger than before."
Her construction loosely resembled a fish skeleton, with a lattice of metal poles designed to improve the structure."
"Vegimals!" Shellington announced, "it's time to assemble the fish biscuit!"
Tweak suspended the metal frame in the air and the vegimals all took globs of biscuit dough and moulded it around the frame, creating the shape of a massive fish biscuit. After that process, the vegimals collectively carried it to a massive open air grill, also constructed by Tweak, and placed it on the rack.
Kwazii and Captain barnacles swam along the Atlantic sea floor. Both of their arms were completely full of tiny vials.
"These sand samples are really hard to hold onto." the captain said.
"You said it matey," Kwazii agreed, "I guess I shouldn't have wasted the Octo-bot's battery. They could have done this for us."
"You know," Barnacles said, "sometimes I wish these moments of realisation will influence you then next time you want to do something stupid."
"Let's not dwell on the past, ok?" Kwazii suggested, "let's just get these sand samples into the Octo-Lab and then we can hop in the Gup-A and go back to the Octo-pod."
At that moment the captain sneezed and dropped all of the glass vials of sand onto the floor.
"Doh!"
The vegimals triumphantly carried the massive fish biscuit down the beach and tied it to the top of the Gup-X.
"You sure you're up for driving Shellington?" Tweak asked, "I don't want to have to fix another gup on the bottom of the atlantic."
"Oh, i'll be fine," Shelington replied, "i want to be the one who delivers the largest fish biscuit ever to Finnish World Records and receive the honorary plaque that comes with this great achievement."
"Well, ok then," Tweak said, "your route has been plotted on the gup's computer. safe travels."
All of the octonauts on that island waved Shellington goodbye as he drove off in the gup.
Shelington drove the gup steadily through the ocean. It lurched and swerved like mad but there wasn't exactly much to hit. His route was shown on the monitor of the Gup-X, plotting his course from the tiny Caribbean island to finland, where the Finnish World records had their headquarters. It placed shelington's position as in the mid-ish Atlantic, generally on course.
Suddenly, something started to beep on some screen on the other side of the gup. Shelington lent backwards to try and get a look at it and was just able to tell that it was the SONAR that was beeping and also the SONAR that showed a large shape closing in on the ship.
"Jumping jellyfish!"
The Gup-X rocked with the impact from some unseen object. Shelington pressed a button and brought up the view of all the ship's cameras, lighting up every monitor with many different camera angles of a Great White Shark.
"Mmmmm, I'm so hungry!" the shark said, its voice echoing strangely through the gup, "and this tastes good!"
The shark lunged at the giant fish biscuit and took a bite out of it. The shark swallowed the chunk of biscuit and got ready to get some more. It went for another bite but instead of biting the biscuit, it struck the cable that secured it to the top of the Gup-X.
The cable snapped and the fish biscuit slowly slid off the back of the gup and sank down into the depths of the atlantic.
"Uh oh," Shellington said to himself, watching as the giant snack slowly disappeared into the murky blue.
"Well," Kwazii said, his arms completely full of sand samples, "i think that's all of them."
"Nice work," the captain replied, "now just to get these things back to the Octo-Lab."
The two started to waddle uncomfortably back towards the Octo-lab, trying not to drop all of the sand vials again.
Just as they were about to reach the Octo-Lab's entrance, a huge fish biscuit fell from en high. It dented the door of the octo-lab, Crushed the gup A and flung Kwazii and the captain backwards with the force of the displaced water. They both dropped all the sand vials which all scattered in different directions and out of sight.
"Yow!" Kwazii exclaimed, "what the heck was that!"
"It looks like a huge fish biscuit," Barnacles said ,"but what's it doing here?"
"Let's call HQ and find out." Kwazii said. He pressed the button on his communication collar and began to talk.
"Hello? HQ? Kwazii speaking!" but all he got in return is static.
"I think it's broken," Captain Barnacles said, "i'll try my Octo-Compass."
He got out his Octo-Compass and tried to sound the Octo-alert but to no avail.
"The deep sea must be messing with our comms," Kwazii theorised, "let's try the Octo-Lab comms, they're made for the deep sea."
The two swam over to the Octo-lab entrance and noticed that it was quite damaged.
"I don't think that door will open, captain," Kwazii remarked.
"Nonsense!" the captain dismissed ,"it just needs a bit of polar bear strength."
The captain planted his feet either side of the door and pulled with all his might. It did nothing.
"Hmmm," Kwazii thought ,"at least we still have the Gup-Aaaaaaaoooh no."
Only then did Kwazii realise that the Gup-A had been completely crushed by the giant fish biscuit.
"I'm afraid that we have a problem on our hands," the captain realised, "we only have an hour or so of air left. If we don't get a stable supply of air soon, we'll both suffocate."
"You know," Kwazii reminisced ,"I used to like fish biscuits."
Meanwhile, on the surface, Shellington was tearing his hair out over his predicament. Suddenly, the crackly voice of Kwazii came in through the comms.
"ɦĘIIÒ!" his voice crackled," ÄņYÔʼnə! Ć ʎØu ĦÈąɾ ɱę?!"
Shelington pressed a button and spoke into a microphone.
"This is Shellington i hear you loud and unclear."
"Ɱɘ ÄʼnĎ ʗåpŧAÏn * Ňɵ ɑīʀ * ŝʊʄFÖɔàŤe * ʙį5Čʉĭť"
"Uh oh!" Shelington exclaimed ,"Sound's like they're in trouble. I need to sound the Octo-Alert!"
Shelington pressed the big orange button in the middle of the Gup-X controls.
"Octonauts! To the HQ!"
(queue Octo-Alert sequence)
Shelington's face flickered onto one of the monitors in HQ, greeting the other octonauts (except Kwazii and the captain of course) who were standing to attention.
"What is it shelington?" Dashi asked.
"Did you manage to crash the gup in the middle of the open ocean?" Tweek asked.
"Chupa chup?" turnip also asked
"No turnip," Shelington answered, "i didn't eat the whole biscuit, but i maaaaaay have dropped it."
All the octonauts gasped
"And Kwazii and the captain both seem to be in trouble, I received a distress call from tem not long ago."
All the octonauts gasped again and Tunip feinted.
"Can you send us the recording of the message?" Dashi requested.
"Yup, sending now."
Shelington tinkered with some buttons and managed to broadcast the call to the octo-pod for all to hear.
"Hmmmm," Tweak thought, "from the sound of it Kwazii and the captain seem to have some problem with air supply. I don't know how dire the situation is but it's likely that if we want to save them, it would take too long to send a gup from the Octo-pod. How close are you to the Octo-Lab Shellington?"
Shelington checked the map on the Gup X and saw that he was directly above the Octo-Lab.
"I'm right above it!" he exclaimed
"Ok," Tweak said, "we'll send Peso and Dashi out to the Octo-lab as a backup. But chances are, you're the only one close enough to save them. Let's hope you've been practising your driving skills. Tweak out."
Kwazii sat dejectedly on the sea floor next to the fishbiscuit.
"I sure hope someone got our message," Kwazii said ,"or we're in big trouble."
The captain was pacing in slow circles, scratching the part of his helmet that was close to his chin.
"Agreed," he said ,"we need a way to get air and fast."
He pulled out his Octo-compass and checked his air levels. They weren't good. Suddenly the Octo-Compass began to vibrate, it was a call from Shellington. Barnacles quickly answered the call and was greeted by Shelington's voice clear as day.
"Captain? Kwazii? Do you read me?" He asked
"Yes," the captain replied, "we hear you loud and clear!"
But on the other side of the line, all Shellington heard was
"Yɘ5 *Ħęɒʀ yÓ*ɭŎʊđ á*ÆŖ"
"I'm not sure if you heard me," Shelington said ,"but if you can. Please tell me how you got into trouble
"ʛïåŇɫ *$ĥ BÌşčūĭŤ!"
"A Giant fish biscuit!" he exclaimed ,"whoops, i must have dropped it on you, it's world record size. Don't worry,I'm coming to save you in the Gup-X, just watch out for sharks."
"5årķz!"
"Oh yes, when a huge amount of food appears at the bottom of the ocean, where there is very little food at all, creatures from miles around will come and feast. This usually happens in an event called a whale fall, when a whale dies, and then sinks down into the depths. Would you be able to do me a favour and observe what sort of creatures come to feed. It would prove useful for my research.
Well, i'd better get to saving you, good luck!"
Shelignton ended the call and then sat in the driver's seat of the gup-X wondering what to do.
"Sharks!" Kwazii yelled excitedly, "I didn't know there were sharks down here. YOW! And I thought the deep sea was a whole lot of nothing."
"Let's just hope the sharks are only hungry for fish biscuits," Barnacles said.
At that moment a shadow passed over the two of them, they looked up and saw a shark swim over them.
"Don't move," the captain commanded
"It can see us regardless of whether we move or not!" Kwazii pointed out.
"Yes, I can see you," the shark answered, "but why would I bother chasing you down when there's perfectly good food just sitting there?"
"Any idea what kind of shark it is?" Barnacles whispered
"No," Kwazii replied, "I like sharks, but not enough to learn anything about them."
The shark continued on swimming. It soon arrived at the fallen biscuit and began to dig in. Soon more sharks began to close in, appearing from the inky black and feasting on the giant biscuit. Soon more creatures began to approach. They looked like a cross between an eel and a slug.
"I know who these are captain!" Kwazii exclaimed, "it's the slime eels!"
(better known as Hagfish but they call them slime eels in the show)
"Hello again," one of the slime eels said, "no time for chitter chatter we have eating to do."
The hagfish swam up to the biscuit and began taking bites out of it, latching onto the side of the biscuit and tearing off chunks. The water filled with crumbs as the predators took messy bites out of their food. Neither of them had ever seen so many deep sea creatures in one spot, they were normally incredibly sparse.
"Should we be writing this down?" Kwazii asked, "so we don't forget which creatures we've seen"
"i'll record some messages on my octo-compus," the captain replied.
Shelington was unsure of how to get the gup-X to the bottom of the ocean.
"Hmmmmm," Shelington thought to himself, "how to get to the bottom of the ocean."
After a few minutes of scratching his head over the issue, he decided to just wing it. He grabbed the steering wheel and jerked it downwards. The Gup-X shot down into the depths. The ship swerved and dipped as Shelington tried to keep the gup pointing straight down. He couldn't really see where he was going but he didn't worry too much about it.
He looked out the window, expecting the water to be getting darker but, while the water was darker than before, it seemed to be getting lighter.
The Gup-X burst through the surface of the water and landed with a loud splash on the top of the ocean. He had done a huge loop underwater and ended up back where he started.
"Oooooh!" Shelington groaned, covering his face with his hands," what am i going to do now!"
The captain and Kwazii were both sitting cross legged on the floor. Barnacles checked how much air they have left on the Octo-compass. The air wouldn't last much longer.
The fish biscuit had been reduced to its metal frame, aside from little crumbs and pieces still clinging to the skeleton. After the majority of the biscuit had been gobbled up, all the deep sea scavengers filed away, continuing their unending search for more food.
"They can't be done eating yet!" Kwazii exclaimed, "there's loads of food still on there, i thought food was rare down here and it's just being left to rot."
"Not if we have anything to say about it!"
The two Octonauts looked behind them to see where the voice had come from. Assembled there was a larger crowd of countless sea animals of all shapes and sizes. Among them were octopi, crabs, shrimp, deep sea fish and all manner of other things.
"March my brothers and sisters!" shouted a large crab, "we shall comb this place for every morsel of food we can! Sift the sand, filter the water, suck these bones dry! The deep ocean is no place to go wasting food."
The hoard of creatures travelled over to the metal skeleton of the biscuit and licked it clean. Crustaceans combed through the sand, picking up crumbs and debris and eating them. Eelpouts and octopi methodically nibbled clean the internal frame of the fish biscuit. All in all it was a midnight zone food fest.
Suddenly, an indecent beeping sound snapped the octonauts out of their peaceful spot of Fish-watching. He checked his Octo-Compass and saw a minute long count down for how much air they have left.
"Uh oh," the captain said ,"Shelington better arrive here fast, we don't have much air left."
Kwazii squinted up into the dark sea, trying to catch a glimpse of the gup-X. As he squinted, he thought he saw a vague outline of something but it was a much thinner shape than the Gup-X. But as he watched, the form got larger, and redder. At the last second Kwzii realised that it was the gup, but just on its side, and falling fast. He grabbed the captain and leapt out the way, the gup slamming down where they were standing. The Gup-X landed on its side and then flopped back upright and the two saw Shellington in the driver's seat, looking like he'd just seen a ghost.
Kwazii and Barnacles swam over to the gup and dropped through the hatch. They took off their stuffy helmets and took a big breath of air.
"Hello!" Shelington greeted cheerfully, still slightly shaken ,"I realised that, to get the gup down here, i just had to sink it!"
"Well, whatever works for you matey," Kwazii said , "The important thing is, you saved us. I'm glad the last thing I had to see wasn't a half eaten biscuit."
"Oh, that reminds me!" Shellington exclaimed ,"i want to check it out!"
Shelington plastered himself against the glass of the gup-X and gazed in awe at the crew of sea creatures, all eating the remnants of the biscuit. "Ooooooooh!"
"We should probably get back to the surface and tell HQ, we're ok," the captain said ,"and, if you don't mind, I think I'll drive."
A while later, Shelington requested an expedition back down to the site of the biscuit incident.
"I don't see why you want to come down here matey," Kwazii said, as he piloted the Gup-A into the deep, with Shellington riding shotgun, "I mean, it's just going to be a pile of scrap metal. Speaking of which, we should probably clear it out so we can go back to using the Octo-Lab"
"Think again!" Shelington exclaimed ,"while all of the nutrients may have been stripped of the fish biscuit, the metal structure of the internal frame will prove a solid anchor for filter feeders, As the majority of the deep ocean is a vast plain of sand with no good place to settle down. This usually happens with whale skeletons but here we have made our own skeleton, or an artificial reef, if you will."
As the gup approached the ocean floor, the Octo-lab came into view, along with the pile of metal that once held together the world's largest fish biscuit.
Kwazii landed the gup next to the frame and both octonauts plastered their heads up against the glass of the gup to try and get a look at what happened to the skeleton.
Various deep ocean stationary filter feeders were all stuck to the whale skeleton.
"These creatures all feed off marine snow," Shelington explained, "they start their lives off as plankton but once they find a secure place to call home, they grow into these things. We had to make the Octo-Lab especially so that creatures like these don't grow all over it."
"There's sure a lot of life from just one fish biscuit." Kwazii remarked ,"i guess a little goes a long way in the deep sea."
"That's the jist of it!" Shelington replied ,"now I'm going to go study the creatures on our brand new artificial reef. We know so little about the deep sea that there is a good chance that there is an undiscovered species on there. Isn't that exciting!"
Shelignton then donned his deep sea suit, jumped out the hatch and swam towards the frame of the world's largest fish biscuit, ready for discovery.
~Creature report~*
Calling all Octonauts!
Kwazii, Peso, Shelington, Dashi, Inkling ,Tweek
Tunip!
Kwazi, activate creature report!
Creature report! Creature report! Creature report!
Facts:
In the ocean deep
Check! Check! Check!
There's not much to eat
Check! Check! Mee!
So when theres lots of food, creatures gather
Creature Report! Creature Report!
Around the food and devour
Creature Report! Creature Report!
This often happens when whales become dead
Check! Check! Chup!
And it's called a whale fall, unless it's a biscuit instead
Dance Break!
Go Whale Fall, Go Whale Fall,Go Whale Fall!
Creature report! Creature report! Creature report!
We're done with our mission!
Octonauts at ease, until the next adventure!
(as you may have noticed, i drasticly sped up the Whale fall process and skipped the sulphophilic stage. both for the sake of the narative.)