Chapter 4:
(Anyone else afraid of Splatoon 4 not being a thing? It'd be weird to end the series now, since it's gotten so big. Anyways, we're on chapter 4! So let's get this party started!)
(Quick note, the fanmade lyrics for Unconscience are owned by Caitlin Koi, I do NOT own anything here. Quick reminder)
(Flashback)
Eight had finished setting up a few boxes for the day, waiting for when it was time to start setting up the next concert on the tour. He went to go get some food with Pearl and Marina. "There he is! Eight, over here, yo!" Pearl said, Eight smiled and walked to see his friends. "Hi, you guys. Preparations are completion…err, complete." Marina chuckled a bit, "That's great, Eight. You've been a big help. Although, we didn't call you on the tour to be a roadie." Eight sat down and put his hand on his cheek. "Nonsensical. I am indebted to you guys." Eight had said, Pearl snickered, "Pearl, come on…" Marina said, getting a little annoyed.
"Did I say something incorrectly once more?" Eight asked, "No, no, it's just how you said, I'm guessing." Marina said, Pearl laughed a little. "Sorry, guys, I didn't mean to. It's just…You used to keep your volume at a zero, but now it's maxed out, and you just spittin' out poetry left and right!" Pearl said, Eight looked a tad confused at that remark, and sighed, stoically.
"Marina, you are able to speak Pearl, what is she saying?" Eight asked. Marina just chuckled at that comment, "She's just saying you've come a long way with the language and starting your life here, is all. She's right, you know. You could have a future in creative writing." Marina said, pointing out that Eight has an elaborate speech, despite its errors.
Eight smiled, "I have you guys to thank for that, alongside Three, Grandpa and Father." Eight explained, "Besides, I'm not the only person who has received succession. You guys have made great strides, settling this tour up…" Eight called out how he wouldn't even be on this tour to Off The Hook if it wasn't for Pearl and Marina. "Whoa, for 'eel, Eight. Ha, you spitting straight facts, now! 'Course we're successful!" Pearl said, sitting back into her chair! "Yeah, of course! We worked hard for this!"
Marina said and smiled before she pulled out a notification on her computer. "Ok, I've gotta work on something else for a little bit. See you at the show, you guys!" Marina said, walking off ahead.
(Back to the future)
The gang was almost there, they had made it to the ninth floor! The objective this time was to destroy the portals once more. "That color chip there is called Max Lucky Chain." Acht said, Pearl looking back at the Octoling. "Wanna explain what a Lucky Chain is?" She asked, "Eight, look to your top left. See a little box that looks like a gauge?" Acht asked..
Eight could see that there was a gauge there, newly added. "Y-Yes." Pearl looked a little confused. "Beating two enemies right after each other starts a Lucky Chain." Acht had explained, "The higher your Lucky Chain goes, the more likely it is that you'll see items or Lucky Bombs."
Pearl spun around in her drone form, "So basically…we wanna go on a splatting spree. Hah! We were gonna do that, anyway, right?"
Eight looked lost in thought for a second, staring at the Lucky Chain gauge in the corner of his eye and then back at the holographic projections on the Dualies. "Marina…" Eight muttered under his breath. "Eight. You wanna be here all day?" Acht asked.
Eight snapped out of it, "A-Apologies. Just thinking for a moments…" Eight said. Pearl hovered close to her friend, "All right, let's get this fish done!" Pearl said. Eight furrowed his eyebrows fiercely. "Right. Let's proceed!" Eight said, heading to the cage to be lifted to the platform. Eight took a look at the grounds before letting the cage take him. "Three portals…What's that at the centerpiece…?" Eight asked, "Yo, you mean that little thing in the middle? I'unno, actually." Pearl said, "Looks fairly harmless. Try touching it and see." Acht suggested.
Eight thought of a good strategy while they investigated that strange top device, the cage lifted itself into the air and Eight got ready for the drop. "Here goes!" Eight said, feeling the floor beneath him drop. Pearl helped him land safely down. The Octoling noticed that it looked like it had some of his ink on the device, "I have an idea!" Eight kicked the top and it shot off and blew up the first portal. "Whoa! It zoomed off!" Pearl said, watching Eight shoot the coming Jelletons. Eight focused his shots equally, returning and shooting at each Jelleton to take them down easy. This was essential to taking advantage of the Lucky Chain, he could see that the chain only maxed out to 10 in it. Eight managed to damage the portal enough with each Lucky Bomb and threw the final nail in the second portal's coffin;the Curling Bomb. Eight could hear it blow up as he went to the next portal, "Got your back, Eight!" Pearl said, launching a Killer Wail at the enemies.
"Thanks, Pearl!" Eight said, dodging to make it to the portal. "We're almost done, just hang in there!" Acht said.
Eight and Pearl launched their final attack with the Dualies, Lucky Bombs from defeating Jelletons and Pearl's Killer Wail. With that, the 9th Floor was clear!
"We did it!" Pearl was even more excited. Eight smiled and nodded solemnly, "We're almost to Marina." Eight had said, returning to the elevator. Eight took a look at his hair, the color was now orangish-gold with the added hint of red accents. "Isn't this color…"Eight looked at this color with a sense of nostalgia. He believed this to be the color that Team Chaos was represented by during the Splatocalypse from 5 years ago. Eight felt a sense of shame that Team Order hadn't won, especially since he followed his heart on the idea of a world of order. "Marina…How did YOU feel about all this?" Eight had remembered that Marina had been acting unusual during the tour whenever they mentioned the Splatocalypse, and then the burying herself in working on her computer. Eight took a deep breath, "We're going to find you, Marina. This wouldn't have been the world we desired." Eight had hoped that his newfound theory would turn out to be incorrect, but the conjecture began to feel like everything was falling in place.
(Later)
Acht accessed the display to the 10th Floor, taking a breath. "Ok, heads up. We're coming to the top floor." She said, Eight had felt a tad anxious about what they would be awaiting them. "That's where we'll find Marina, right?!" Pearl asked, Acht nodded, looking at how different the display was for this floor. "Probably. Though something about it seems…different from the floors up to now." Eight looked at the display, there was no assigned Color Chip for this floor, and no mentioned difficulty level. There was not even a rewarded amount of the Membux upon completing this floor. "We're going into an unknown territory on this one as well." Acht looked at the two of them, "Eight. Pearl. Watch yourselves." Pearl flip around, "Aww, what's this, Eight? Is she worried about us?" Eight sighed, "Do not underestimate myself and Pearl's determination, Acht." The Octoling said.
"Sheesh, I get it. Don't shoot the messenger." Acht said, "Why was that so funny to you, anyway, Pearl?" Acht straightened her sunglasses. "Oh, nah, it's nothin'. You just sound like Marina when you say that." Pearl explained, Acht sighed.
"But that's enough messing around! Let's go find Marina. No holding back, Eight—this is it!" Pearl said to her friend. Eight mentally prepared himself for whatever will be behind the elevator door. Maybe he'll finally receive some answers.
(Let's make it outta the elevator with this one!)
Eight and Pearl looked over and saw a bizarre looking machine up front. "Is this…some sort of control room?" Eight suggested, Pearl looked over and she think she sees something even MORE off. "Eight, it looks like someone's trapped! Let's get going!" Pearl said, the Octoling nodded and entered the cage to reach the platform. Acht's sounded shocked when they moved closer to the strange device. "Is that…No way." She said, with Eight and Pearl realizing who was in this machine.
"Marina!" Pearl and Eight shouted, their missing friend had been in this machine, almost like she was hooked up to it completely. She was wearing her outfit from the Splatocalypse, alongside a strange headset. "Hey, 'Rina! Yo, can she even hear me?!" Pearl asked.
"Marina, it's us! Eight and Pearl! Your comrades!" Eight said, the Inkling-drone turning to her friend. "Guess not. She's all tangled up in that weird machine!" Eight further observed a few details of the machine. He noticed a few things that looked like speakers, hiding a lit up number 8. "Wait…the 8-Balls from Deepsea Metro?" Eight thought to himself. They were alarmed by a noise, seeing a red light on Marina's headset shine. The very headset started showing signs of glitching, and Marina's hands started moving, before returning to a meditation position.
"Intruders confirmed. Commence Grayscaling." Marina had said, very robotically, with her command, the machine had started running.
Pearl got ready for this fight, "Sit tight! We're gonna get you outta that thing!" Pearl turned to Eight. "Ready to rock, Eight?" She asked her friend, Eight stood determined and brought out the Dualies! "Indeed!" Eight said, ready to fight the Administrator of Order.
A digital barrier had been erected from thin air, with tentacles resembling portals from the past few floors to get this far. "That's a powerful barrier between us and Marina." Acht said, Eight was now fighting off Jelletons, "Well, now we know what to take out first!" Pearl said, launching a Killer Wail toward the first portal. "Detecting resistance to Grayscaling." She said, before…
"Chiara età…(A bright era…)
If you listen, see eye to eye…
Echo through the halls.
Just, just so natural…" Eight could hear Marina singing. Having been trained to learn multiple languages, he could understand what was being said. Eight dodge rolled out of the way and destroyed the first portal! Marina had loved to a pose similar to the Off The Hook pose and smiled. She had then ordered a strike on Eight, shooting shots of black ink at him. "Scratch one portal!" Pearl said, before Acht gasped, seeing something different. "Hey, I think those portals are powering the barrier. It weakened when you destroyed the first." Acht said. "Good, let us focusing on those first." Eight said, letting stubbornness get the better of him. "Is this even her volition?" Eight questioned, as Marina kept singing. While the Octoling and Inkling-Drone kept fighting the coming Jelletons.
Marina smiled and did the pose of her messing with a record and hyping up an audience. A standard DJ-pose with another wave of attacks. "Low-level threat confirmed. Barrier status: holding." Marina said, interrupting her song and speaking once more like a robot. Eight looked angry for a second, "I don't have any ideal of who you are, but you are NOT using Marina for ulterior motivations!" Eight had said, shooting the next portal until it blew up. "You've still got two portals left!" Eight started running up to the next primary target, using the Reefslider to take down Jelletons.
Marina's voice began to heighten as the attacks kept coming!
"Oh the pain, like rain, trickles down!
Just keep dancing on the floor~!
You can't shut me down, give it up!
Don't you want to, want to work with me?!
That poor soul awake at night!
Told me that it's all order~!
So I gotta challenge this world!
Don't you want to, want to rule with me?!
Arriverà~!(We will arrive~!)" Eight could hear what this song was about and felt shame for the piggybacking the idea of a world of order. This entire exterior, the dead white coral, the lack of colors. "A world without color is order? That's one of the most detestable thing I've ever heard!" Eight shouted, destroying the third portal. "One more and the barrier crumbles!" Eight had said, seeing a Jelleton coming toward them. "Pearl, behind you!" Eight said, dodge rolling and shooting the heavyweight. "Okay, NO ONE comes for MC Princess's life!" Marina had given another order and it sent a move similar to the Super Chump decoys. "We need to elevate!" Eight said, seeing an Ink Rail faucet. Eight dodge-rolled from the Jelletons and shot it. The Octoling returned to his Octo form and went into the rail to escape the attack. "Pearl, get ready!" Eight had a plan in mind, "Got it, yo!" Pearl said, Eight jumped out and grabbed the handle so Pearl could slow their landing. "Over there, almost above the spinner Jelleton." Eight said to Pearl the two looked over at their friend. "We're almost done here, Marina." Eight said, dropping off of Pearl and shooting the spinning Jelleton. The enemy had been defeated and turned into the top from the 9th Floor. "As I suspected from the last test…" Eight said, kicking the former Jelleton into the final portal. "This shallow order deserves its end!" Eight said, "That's all of them, right?!" Pearl asked, the two making it back to their friend in the machine.
"ERROR! An unexpected barrier issue has arisen." Marina had said, now sending out Jelletons directly from the speakers. "There we go! The barriers down!" Pearl said, getting pumped. They were so close to saving Marina, "Eight! Take out the gunk she's tangled up in!" Acht shouted, Eight obeying the order and shooting the gunk!
"This isn't what we wanted, Marina! This! Isn't! Order!" Eight shouted, the gunk covering itself in the color that represented chaos. "Whoa, Eight! I ain't ever seen you this mad before! I kinda like it! YAAAHHHHH!" Pearl shouted and shot another Killer Wail.
Marina gave another order and sent more Super Chump bombs. Eight only had shot a few more and the gunk had blew under the instability.
The machine slightly short circuited, Marina grunted, before the machine released her. Eight held his arms out, ready to catch their friend. Marina's headset had vanished upon her fall.
Eight and Marina fell to the floor, "Urgh…Marina…?" Eight asked, checking to see if she was okay. Marina opened her eyes and felt "Uuuugh…Is that…Eight? And Pearl?" Marina asked, seeing her friends.
The three of them heard something else from behind them and looked back in panic. "It's not over yet, get back!" Eight said, staying prepared. The machine started whirring and black smoke started coming from it. The smoke began to show a holographic glitching image of something resembling a face. "ERROR. Grayscaling interrupted. Intruders confirmed disorderly. Classifying as dissidents." The being had spoken, "Who's THIS fool?" Pearl asked. Eight looked on, he could feel his heart pounding. The being resembled something that made him reminisce bad memories, "T-Tartar…?" Eight muttered under his breath.
"Incorrect. I am Order itself. A consciousness generated from the processes of many who yearn for stability." The being explained, "I am now fully realized. I therefore have no further use for a host vessel. All things…will be converted to memory." Order had begun to manipulate the room and emitted an ominous power. Eight stood his ground. "Whoa!" Pearl said, "Oh, this is bad…The tower's shaking like crazy!" Marina said, beginning to panic.
The room was shaking, "We need to move—!" Eight tried to say, before they were propelled out of the spire by Order.
Eight could see as he was falling at an alarming rate, that the building began to glitch itself out, the Octoling looked on, beginning to feel faint.
"This place…Marina…is this…what you were..." Eight felt he was losing consciousness as he fell out of the Spire of Order.
(Okay, we made it! I hope the chapter was a good read! I wanted to add a few layers to Eight's newfound shame about desiring a world of order and seeing the corrupted concept of an idea. And we finally made to Marina Agitando and have reached the true beginning of this story mode!
The headcanon voice for Order is Michael Emerson, the voice of Brainiac from My Adventures With Superman.
Anyways, I hope u guys enjoyed it, and I thank you guys for reading. I thank God that I can find joy in this, I'll be praying for u guys! Stay strong and awesome!)
Matthew 6:31 - KJV:
31. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink, or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32. (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.