Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“NEW RUN! GET PUMPED! ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN!” Pearl screamed as everyone entered the elevator. Thankfully her drone form has an automatic volume scale so they weren’t all deafened. “Rein it in a little. Though I agree with the sentiment.” Acht responded. 8 paid them no heed, readying the Order Dualies and ready to make this run happen and go home.

Her eagerness sped things up quite a bit, holding a Zone for 40 ticks and somehow finishing the stage in 39 seconds, pushing an ∞-ball up a hill in 20 seconds flat, carefully aiming some spinners at Panicking Alla-Mambo, pushing ∞-balls down a hill, riding rails in a circle shooting balloonfish and so on. Not even rigorous difficulty floors were stopping her.

“It’s been smooth sailing so far.” Acht commented “Hmm, we’re about to face a boss though. Keep your eye on it and don’t get cooked.” Marina cautioned. Indeed, they were on floor 10 already. Which meant boss fight time.

Really the only reason I’ve written this is because going straight into a boss felt weird to me. If you're upset by how short these have been, don't worry; they get longer after this.

Chapter Text

8 stepped out of the elevator and was immediately greeted by…

“Inklings?!” 8 exclaimed. Indeed, what appeared to be a group of Inklings were waiting on a platform not dissimilar to the one 8 was on, and they were all waiting. Marina then chimed in, “I don’t think they’re actually Inklings…I’m only getting vital signs from one thing on that side of the floor.” cautiously, 8 stepped into the cage and rode over to the stage.

As soon as she landed and started claiming turf, a voice from above yelled “INCOMING!” before a Triple Splashdown exploded on the high ground in the centre. Rising from a superhero landing was a tall figure wielding an Order Shot, they had their tentacles in the Slick style and were wearing a strange grey mask with big red eyes. Once they were standing at their full height, they aimed their weapon forward and said, “Sup, 8?” “4!?” 8 immediately yelled back. “Unfortunately, yes. Anyway, I am going to try to kill you now, so… Good luck!” he responded before leaping towards the Octoling and her drone companion. Both fighters opened fire, 8 dodge rolling out of harm's way and asking, “Why are you here? And why are we fighting?!”

“I’ll give you the short version,” 4 began, “Marina asked me to help her with something and showed me this cool video game she was making-”

“The Memverse is NOT a video game!” Marina interjected, but 4 paid her no mind. “She wanted me to be the template for cyber security or something like that, but then this fuzzy cloud thing showed up and shoved me in a box. Eventually I get let out of the box and get this mask slapped on my face. I haven’t been the one moving my body since.”

After a bit of back and forth firing 8 asked “Who has been controlling your body?” “Probably the drone that’s been following me around.” 4 answered. “What drone?” Pearl questioned. She quickly got her answer when a black drone with one red light like an eye tackled her. “OW! Oh, you wanna mess with me?!” Pearl taunted before headbutting the enemy drone back. “Is that Pearl? Damn, didn’t think she could get smaller.” 4 quipped. After chuckling to himself he yelled “DUCK!” as he lunged forward. 8 did as he warned and ducked under a flying roundhouse kick, turning to shoot at him while he was still in the air. 4 then shifted to Swim Form and did an impressive series of midair twists to avoid most of her shots. “Ugh, this is just like in practice…” 8 growled. “Well, now’s your chance to win one of our practice matches!” 4 encouraged. 

The fight went back and forth for a while, neither 4 nor 8 could get an upper hand for long. Occasionally Pearl and the enemy drone would whizz past, similarly in a stalemate. 4 eventually shouted “For fucks sake, 8, just shoot me in the face!” and 8 finally realised what he meant by that. She ran in close, dodge rolled into close range and shot the mask right off of Agent 4. He stumbled back a little, but before anything meaningful could happen, the enemy drone zipped over and materialised another mask and forced it onto the Inkling. 

“God damnit!”

“We probably should have expected that…”

To make things worse, Acht pointed out, “You guys have company.” as several cages started carrying the Inkfish-like Jelletons into the arena. “8, MOVE!” 4 suddenly demanded, and the Octoling reacted on instinct with a dodge roll. Just in time to avoid a Charger shot. “Oh, cool, my weapon-swapping still works in this!” 4 realised. 8 started running as 4 leapt towards her with a Roller in his hands, splatting one of the copies that had dropped in as she went. “These echoes may be based on Agent 4, but they’re certainly not as good as he is.” Marina commented. “Flattery will get you nowhere.” 4 responded as he fired Stringer arrows to stop 8 from running. “Where did you learn how to use that?!” 8 demanded. “What, did you think I’d just been twiddling my thumbs for the past few years?” 4 ran in close with a Brush whilst 8 thinned the horde of copies. She saw him approaching and went to intercept. She ended up bumping straight into a Brella Canopy and had to run from a Splatling barrage. “You fall for that every time, 8!” 4 yelled and chased after her. Thoroughly done with this situation, 8 yelled “SHUT UP!” and backhanded 4, knocking the mask off his face. 

The enemy drone flew over again, only to be caught out of the air by the fully autonomous Agent 4. Agent 8 saw the dangerous gleam in his eyes before he turned to face the army of his clones. Seeing his hair begin to shine brighter, 8 dove for cover and Pearl followed her just in time for the

*KABOOM*

4 looked at the crushed drone in his hand, threw it on the floor and stomped on it. “Unmanned drones? What’s next? Fucking laser sights?” he wandered over to where 8 and Pearl were hiding and tossed a locker key their way. “Let’s get outta here.” he said. “You read my mind.” 8 responded.

Back in the elevator, Pearl, Marina and Acht gave 8 a verbal round of applause before checking on their new arrival. “How do you feel, Agent 4?” Marina asked. “Well, when the adrenaline wears off-” 4 started, only to pitch backwards, slam against the wall and sink to the floor. “Yep. There it is.” “You OK?” Acht questioned. “I’ll live, but don’t expect me to do much. Feels like my hearts are about to stop.” he answered. “I guess Davey’s pacemakers are helping for once.” 8 commented, 4 shot back “Nope, they’re definitely causing this.”

Chapter Text

The Vending-Machine Corner was a welcome change of pace after the madness that just happened. “Rest while you can.” Acht simply stated as 8 stepped off. Pearl decided to stay with Marina this time as they’d started being all lovey-dovey with each other. It was really making things awkward in the elevator, which sucked for 4 and Acht because they couldn’t leave. So while 8 was off buying stuff, Acht just had to ask “So, uh, Mr. Agent 4…sir…” With that, 4 already knew what was coming, but let them continue regardless, “Could you…do something about your face?” wordlessly, a pair of tinted shades appeared on 4’s face. “Cool.” Acht thanked him. 

8 returned to the elevator and saw Pearl and Marina still being mushy with each other. Fed up with their PDA, 8 yelled “Alright we get it, you love each other! Stop flirting already!” The two idols quickly separated, both blushing hard. “Not all of us have girlfriends, geez!” 8 finished with an exasperated sigh. “Oh, I thought you and 4 were a thing.” Acht mentioned. “What? Ew, no.” 8 instinctually responded. “OK, I know why you said ‘ew’ but it still hurts.” 4 interjected. 

*** Reality Check *** 

“Hey, think I found the brakes!” Radio proclaimed. “ Now we just need to stop at the station. ” Buddy replied. The beginner train drivers were currently on their third loop around Splatsville and Inkopolis Square. Don’t ask what happened the other two times. Nobody else was run over at least.

The joy of possibly, maybe, actually reaching their destination was shattered by the sound of boots against metal. Someone was entering the conductor's cabin. The door slid open and in walked a strange…thing. Its skin was grey, its hair was black and its eyes were big and red. It was also wearing a cowboy hat for some reason. “Dissidents located. Commencing eradication.” the thing spoke. “‘Scuse me?” Radio asked, only to receive arrows being shot at his face. Reacting quickly, the boy ran up and kicked his assailant as hard as he could, sending it up and out through one of the ceiling hatches. “Buddy, drive!” Radio ordered his companion before jumping out to face this attacker. “ What, alone?! ” It cried back, but followed its given orders anyway.

But we’ll have to come back to this later. Sorry.

Chapter Text

We join Agent 8 in the process of taking on a floor of the Spire of Order. It is not going well. “Man, I’m outta breath…and I don’t even need to breathe like this.” Pearl huffed. “How…do you think…I feel?!” 8 complained, running back up to the Zone, unable to swim there because of enemy ink. “I’d love to come out and help, 8, but my legs feel like lead.” 4 apologised. “And if my injury is anything to go by, I don’t think you’ll be getting up anytime soon.” Acht told him. “Oh good, I’m useless…” 4 sighed to himself. “Let’s look on the bright side!” Marina declared, “You’ve already passed the first checkpoint for the timer!” “On the downside, there’s still a full minute left on said timer, and it’s already been five minutes.” 4 told them all. Marina turned to him and angrily reiterated “We’re looking on the bright side, Agent 4!” 

I’m sure all of you who’ve played Side Order know what’s up with this floor, but for those of you who don’t let me explain it to you. The stage is like a miniature figure-8 racetrack, with a bridge over the top and a valley at the bottom. All the terrain is right angled as well so it’s a sort of rhombus type shape. The two Zones you need to defend are diagonally opposite to each other on the ramps that go up to the bridge. In the centre of the bridge and valley are indestructible portals which spawn enemies that go after you, obviously, but they also spawn in three Drizzling Capriccioso which fly towards the Zones, covering the Zone itself when they reach it and the whole ramp on the way up/down to it. 

You either need: long range, a lot of speed or the power of premonition to do this without losing a Zone. Because it’s two Zones you need to control both of them for the timer to tick down, if you lose one you need to reclaim it but while you’re doing that the other Zone gets taken so you run back to that one but then more Drizzling Capriccioso spawn and take the other Zone and so on and so forth ad infinitum. And you can’t ignore them either, unlike other Zones levels, the Drizzling Capriccioso keep moving towards the other Zone if they pass over one. 

There are Inkrails at the bottom that take you up to the Zones as a shortcut but you’ll have to deal with all the other enemies that spawn in if you want to use them. Anyway, complaining is over.

Chapter Text

“We’ll be seeing a boss next. These things mean business.” Acht announced. 8 had been tearing it up once again after the…brief intermission that was CruelSisypheanEight-Shaped.Floor. “Yeah? Well, I’m in the BUSINESS of splatting suckers! Let’s go waste ‘em, 8!” Pearl confidently answered. 8 stepped out of the elevator to see… a pinball table and a giant ball that sounded like it was breathing heavily. “Go kick some arse for me!” 4 told her as they rode over to the arena.

As soon as they landed Pinging Marciale roared and threw some Splat Bombs in front of itself. Although 8 was nowhere near it, so they weren’t an issue. After they exploded 8 went in close to deal some damage. She then discovered a glaring lack of range with her main weapons, unable to actually hit the weak spot of the boss. She still hit it and it started rolling around, quickly firing off a series of Killer Wails from its shell. 8 avoided them, but those sound cannons go far and through walls, as the elevator occupants soon discovered. “You OK, 4?” Acht asked. “Yeah, just got a laser beam through my chest, no biggie!” 4 irately responded.

8 kept shooting the boss, and it kept rolling backwards. Then it reached a wall and bounced forward, almost flattening 8. Luckily she moved aside in time. It released some Jelletons from its shell and hopped in place. “It’s about to charge, 8!” Pearl realised, “Swim for your life!” 8 heeded her friend’s warning and got out of the way, seeing the giant ball barrel past her and leave a trail of Suction Bombs behind it. Then it stopped and let off steam. “The shell’s open! Go, go, go!” Pearl yelled. 8 ran in and shot at the exposed parts of the boss, breaking the first layer of its shell and causing it to get smaller.

“Whoa. Are there even more bumpers now?” Marina questioned. The Elusive Bounder responded by spitting out bombs and some Homing Arpeggios before bouncing away into a bumper. This seemed to damage it, sending it into the air and slamming back down with a shockwave. Its shell was open, but from the open shell emerged more Jelletons. “Gah! Is it gonna call for backup every time it hits a bumper?!” Pearl yelped. It proceeded to then roll into another bumper, sending out another shockwave and more enemies before hitting the same bumper again, launching all the way to the other side of the arena and dropping more enemies. “Watching it bounce around is kinda fun, but it’s getting away from you, 8!” 4 commented. Before 8 could activate her Reefslider and get over to it, the boss bounced off another bumper and landed in front of her. “Oh it came back.” 4 muttered as 8 jumped over the wave and shot at the boss.

The shell of a Whirling Accelerando 8 pushed bounced around and into Pinging Marciale, conveniently breaking its second shell. “ It’s all itty-bitty now! Take us home, 8!” Pearl encouraged. It let off another Killer Wail that 4 was lucky enough to avoid, but 8? Not so much. “You OK, 8?” Acht asked. “Yeah, I’m fine, just got a laser through my everything.” 8 responded as she kept attacking. The boss spat out some Splat Bombs and 8 was forced to dodge roll away while Acht simply said “You and 4 are clearly close.” The boss tried to launch more Homing Arpeggios, but the way it was situated caused it to just shoot them into the floor. So it righted itself and rolled towards 8, who was unable to get away in time and had her armour broken. “Here it comes again!” Pearl warned as the boss revved up for another spin dash. 8 dodged the ball itself and rolled again to get out of the splash radius of the bombs it left behind. “That was too close.” she said to herself. The boss used rollout for a third time before finally coming to a stop. “Its shell is open a crack! Get in there!” Marina directed. 8 used another Reefslider and after a bit more knocking around, the boss exploded in spectacular fashion. “FINALLY!” Pearl cheered, “I can’t tell if it was more annoying when it was charging at us or rolling away.” 8 just grabbed the locker key and went back to the elevator.

“Welcome back! That seemed stressful.” 4 greeted. “That Order creep ain’t pulling its punches anymore, huh?” Pearl commented. “It must have made these to stop anyone from ruining its plan. I remember it said it wants to turn the Memverse into a ‘colourless world of order.’” Marina theorised. “A world of mindless puppets, huh? Sounds exactly like where I was before I came here.” Acht said. “The Deepsea Metro?” 8 guessed. Acht nodded, “Someone or something there took my will away. I was forced to DJ for it.” they explained, “I don’t remember much about my time there. Except… I heard this voice…” Acht shook themself out of it as they started to get too deep it thought, “Point is, it’s better left in the past.”

“Still think we should’ve demolished the place.” 4 stated. 8 kicked him and told him to “Shut up.” because Marina was explaining stuff. “I developed the Memverse in the first place to restore the minds of ‘sanitised’ Octarians like you, and since we’re having this conversation, that means it must’ve worked!” “Huh.” was Acht’s response. “That was you, was it? I’m racking up quite the debt.” Pearl chimed in to say “All the more reason to take back the Memverse from Order. Those other Octolings need help too!”

“Then Marina can buy more land in the metaverse!”

“4, you made this joke to me before!”

“Yeah, I feel like these Prlz bouta go nuts!”

“Et tu, Pearlie?!”

Chapter Text

After making it through everything in her path, including Danger floors making every enemy a fight for her life, 8 and the team have made it. “Top floor, everyone.” Acht announced. “Order must be waiting for us there…” Marina thought, “I’m partly responsible for what’s going on, so…I’ll go out there with you, 8.” she decided. “Without a weapon?! Forget THAT!” Pearl argued but her partner didn’t back down, “I know, I know! But I have to.” Acht told Pearl “Look, it’s pretty much impossible to change Marina’s mind once it’s set, but she can handle herself without a weapon. There shouldn’t be a problem.” “That’s so sweet of you, Acht!” Marina thanked them. Pearl relented “Alright, I can see when I’m outvoted. No big blazes of glory though, OK?” “You got it, Pearl!” Marina agreed.

“Acht, 4, you coming too?” Pearl asked. “Nah.” Acht answered, “I’d rather not get in your way. I’ll watch from here in case things go south.” 4 meanwhile pulled himself to his feet and, despite remaining upright, said “Yeah, nope. I’m firing on all cylinders just to stay standing… Sorry I’ve not been much help…” “That’s OK, 4. No need to push yourself.” 8 consoled him, “Oh, save it, I get enough of that from my therapist.” he shot back, “ Go save the world, or I’m going to haunt you.” Pearl gave a rallying cry of “Get hyped! Get psyched! Get ready for a big ol’ messy FIGHT!” as 8 stepped out to face Order.

“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.” Order monologued. Marina argued back, “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 colours 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, and 8, and Acht, and everyone else!” Order did not understand. “This world’s architect…my creator…would deny me. Illogical. Irrational. ERROR.”

“ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. An unrecoverable mentality error has occurred.”

“I think you made it angry.”

“The sentence for interruption of order is eradication.” 

Order flew up and landed in the ground, from that a large Octopus emerged. The Magistrate of Order , Overlorder, was ready to fight. Just so long as fighting meant staying behind a barrier. “Bet you’re itching to take this thing on. Let’s get to it, 8!” Pearl declared as Portals began spewing out Jelletons. “These are the portals that showed up when saving Marina… Which means they’re powering the barrier!” 8 reasoned, so she destroyed them both, causing the barrier to shatter. “Time to take the fight to this creep!” Pearl yelled after the shield broke, and 8 opened fire on Overlorder, avoiding its shots until it burst.

“Activating restoration process.” Overlorder announced as it reformed with a new barrier. “Bosses never stay beaten do they?” 4 sighed as more Portals appeared. “It’s got to have a limit, keep trying!” Marina encouraged. 8 approached one of the Portals and attacked, only for it to start moving. “What the-?!” 8 yelped, but she resituated quickly and destroyed both portals, but the barrier stayed up. “There’s one more portal at the back!” Acht informed them, so 8 hopped on a Reefslider and rode over to destroy it. “The barrier’s down again! Hopefully for good this time?” Marina hoped. 8 opened fire again, but Overlorder retaliated. “Initialising Super Chump firing sequence.” it stated as decoys dropped from the sky, but 8 popped the ones near her and kept attacking until the boss dissolved again.

“These chaotic dissidents are a potential threat.” Overlorder claimed as it reformed again. “Only a potential threat?!” 4 questioned. “Knew it. Our plan’s working.” Acht interrupted. “One more push, 8!” Pearl cheered. Third verse is the same as the last two, destroy portals and don’t get shot. “Increasing standard ink pressure. Firing Sting Ray.” Overlorder announced. “Avoid those.” 4 helpfully suggested. 8 ran to a dash pad on a wall and used it to fling herself into the air and have Pearl Drone fly her to safety, away from the lasers. When they stopped, 8 dropped down and used a Reefslider to destroy the third Portal. “You're down to the last Portal!” Acht told them, but Overlorder spoke over them, “Launching successive Reefslider sequence.” forcing 8 to take the long way around to the last Portal. Once it was destroyed the barrier went down and Overlorder declared “WARNING. Barrier dissolution confirmed. Danger … D a n g e r …” and 8 attacked, avoiding another Sting Ray attempt with the same method as before.

Generating tentacle modules to suppress target.” the boss announced before four octopus tentacles burst from the ground in front of it, throwing 8 into the air. She caught onto Pearl and floated away from the now falling tentacles, intending to not get hit. After landing on the ground again, and shredding any last attempt at defence, Overlorder was beaten.

“Looks like you’re donezo, Snore-der!” Pearl taunted, but despite being beaten Overlorder didn’t seem worried. “Such chaotic strength. It is fearsome. But the program is now fully executed. The rebooted world will know the tranquillity of order.” With a roar to the sky, Overlorder’s plan came to fruition. A mass Grayscaling of every being trapped in the Memverse began, soon the whole world would fall into order.

“No…after all that we were too late?! I don’t want a blank world…” Marina lamented, but the idol resolved herself, “Maybe I can shut down Order’s program!” she got to work, typing away, but it was no use. “It’s propagating too fast!” she lamented. Acht ran out to reach their friend but the world faded to white as Marina whimpered “...Pearl… I…”

Chapter Text

So, the world fades to nothingness. Game over, you lose. Is this what you wanted? Of course not! There is hope. A beat . Quiet at first. Almost imperceptible. But it slowly grows louder and is eventually joined by more. Life begins to fade back into colour.

And, for the third time today, Agent 8 is lying on the floor. Not to worry, though, Pearl is standing. “There it is… 8, I’m feeling your vibe ! And Marina! Your backing track SLAPS!” She then pointed to Acht and Marina. “Cancel that snooze button! Hit me with the beat, DJ!” Marina grinned and shouted back, “Coming at you, Pearl!” She then gave Acht and herself a full DJ table to work with, and healed Acht’s arm. Order was confused as the pair began to start beat smithing. “Of what use is this resistance. Happiness is stasis. Unchanging. Forever.” Pearl yelled back “You kidding? We’re still on tour! The show don’t STOP! Keep your boring gigs for boring people, we’re out here LIVING, loser! Right, gang? Crank it up!” Marina did as she was told, with a quick “Mic check!” before Pearl let off an ear-splitting

BOOOOOOOOOYAAAAAAAAAH

Loud enough to quite literally scream the roof off the Spire of Order. “My limbs are self-animating. Why.” Order questioned as it began to dance. “This is beyond my parameters. An undefined error is occurring.” “Ha! This world you dreamed up is so boring, even you can’t stand it anymore!” Pearl laughed, and returned to her drone form “But we got the ink to fix that. Don’t get cooked… Stay off the hook!” she proclaimed. “Useless. Try all you like. The result will never change.” Order told them as it recreated its barrier. “Now this is an order that should have been refunded!” Agent 4 mocked as he landed in the arena beside Agent 8, and offered her a hand. “On your feet soldier, we’ve got work to do!” 8 took his hand and pulled herself up, “Feeling OK?” she asked. “OK? I feel POWERFUL! You can leave this to me!” He boasted, 8 responded “And let you have all the fun? Not a chance!” Their banter was interrupted by Acht pointing out “Hey…the Palette’s empty! Did Order do this?” followed up with “Look! I think I see colour chips trapped inside those portals.” 

“Awww yeah! We’re turning up the intensity on this fight! It’s encore time… Ready to take a bow, team?” Pearl asked. “Running compulsory Grayscaling. Error. Retrying… Error persists. Order stated. “Watch this!” 4 demanded with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. He went into an impressive series of flips, capping it off with a Splashdown powered kick that obliterated the first portal and added the whole spectrum of Mobility colour chips to the Palette. “Whoa! It feels like I’m everywhere at once!” 8 breathed, “Now it’s my turn!” she declared as she ran at incredible speeds to the next portal and burst it, adding the full spectrum of Range chips to the Palette. “Heh, nothing’s outta reach now!” 4 chuckled, pulling off an impressive Charger shot and destroying another portal, adding Support chips to the Palette.

“Sorry, Order, it looks like the world is on our side!” 8 taunted, not even needing to aim as her shots went straight for the portal. “What is happening.” Order demanded “Running diagnostics… Error!” The portal exploded and Lucky chips were added. “Jackpot!” 4 cheered. “Grayscaling is running in reverse. Impossible.” Order stated as Agent 4 crushed a portal beneath his Roller and gave Pearl her full power. “You’re welcome!” he yelled as Pearl cheered “Aw yeah, I’ve been waiting for this!” as she proceeded to launch everything at the last portal and add Power chips to the Palette. Order’s barrier shattered as it groaned, “Ngh. Hrgh. ARGH, Colour…overflow…” “Let’s hit this creep with everything we got! You folks ready to see a Colour Wail?” Pearl called out.

“Let’s hear it!”

“This Order is being sent back! …That sounded cooler in my head…”

“Ha! This is gonna leave a stain.”

“Pour it on, Pearl!”

“Incompatible…with program…”

After uttering some more techno babble, Overlorder exploded in a spray of colour. “Did we win?” Pearl asked after the paint cleared. Only to see a tiny figure in the aftermath. “What the…?” “What is that?” Marina questioned, “It’s… It’s so cute!” This Smollusk began to sulk, “You wuined everything. I was so cwose to my perfect world of order.” 4 held a finger and a thumb in the shape of an L on his forehead, and loudly proclaimed it the “LOSER!” Marina ignored him and said “It’s like Order, except…a lot less scary. I don’t think we have anything to worry about here.” “Sweet! Case closed, then!” Pearl exclaimed before addressing Smollusk, “Yo, babypus! You were down with our music, right? We can getcha VIP seats to our show…IF you promise to be on your best behaviour!” she offered. Both Smollusk and Marina gave an “Aww, Pearl!” to her offer. Before Pearl declared “Awright, time for us to bounce. We gotta get back to the REAL Inkopolis Square!” After that, an elevator conveniently appeared to take them up and out of the Memverse. 

“Have fun explaining this to the rest of the Splatoon.”

“Me?! Why can’t you do it?”

“Because you were there for all of it, I was a fish in a birdcage for most of this misadventure.”

“Ugh, fine…”

“Maybe I got a wittle cawwied away back there. But this isn’t over yet. They still want their coworwess world of order. And I’m gonna give it to them!”